After the two major German gothic festivals WGT and M’era Luna, the end of July marks the time fro the third and slightly smaller one: Amphi Festival in the centre of Cologne. Amphi did not have its own camping grounds this year, so we went down to the city a day before in order to get a spot on one of the campings closest to Tanzbrunnen. This turns out to be a very nice way to visit the festival: you can get a good night’s sleep, see part of the city on your way over to the festival and get the experience of the number of fellow amphi goers steadily increasing as you get closer to the festival area. Some funny sights guaranteed.

Day 2

Heldmaschine (****)
For us, day two was kicked off with some good quality industrial metal by Heldmaschine. The band clearly took some lessons from metal giants Rammstein. They drank from jerrycans and the singer had some eerily similar vocals on some songs. But rather than just plain copying the style they used part of it for their own thing by varying both the vocal and music styles throughout the setlist. They also had a much more accessible vibe and sought more interaction with the audience. A very fun way to start off the day. One serious detraction, though: the lack of a live keyboard player. This always bothers me when it is an integral part of the music and entirely feasible to do live.

Synthattack (**1/2)
These guys were after Centhron’s  crown for the hardest kickoff of their show. Their intro trailer denounced “outdated” genres like rap, rock and folk only to follow up with an eponymous synth attack. They went in hard and fast without pulling punches and even brought their own dancers. Clearly inspired by the rave track from Blade, one of their pieces featured a montage of clips from the movie. Some other bits and pieces throughout their set also reminded me of 90’s dance tunes. Interesting and highly accessible take on aggrotech, and dance inclined folks were loving it.

QNTAL (**)
Another odd one out in the main stage line-up, QNTAL is a blend of historical(ly inspired) folk with electronic beats. The folk-electro balance shifts both ways between different albums. I’d wanted to see this band for a while so was happy to see this one. They started out with almost pure folk and progressively added more electro to the mix throughout their set. It was quite a good set, but the contrast with the other bands was almost a bit too much for the Main Stage. Perhaps they would’ve fitted better on the Orbit stage.

After QNTAL we planned to check out Grendel in the Theater and left before the former’s set had finished. Sadly there was already an enormous line to get in the building. Enough to tell us we wouldn’t make it in… Unfortunate, but choices have to be made when there is so much overlap.

We finished QNTAL’s set instead before going out to pay the Orbit stage a visit. Because the water level in the Rhine was low after a month of drought, the MS Rheinenergie that’s home to the Orbit stage had to be moved from right next to Tanzbrunnen to about 20 min walking away (there was a shuttle too) on the other bank of the river, making it much harder to visit the stage without missing too many bands at the Main or Theater stages.

Corde Oblique (***)
When we came to the ship in between bands, there weren’t that many people on board. Some were relaxing on the upper deck, but we gratefully made use of the indoor airco to cool down a bit. We’d never heard of Corde Oblique before, but were pleasantly surprised when a semi acoustic Italian trio took the stage. Classical vocals, guitar with loop pedal and violin combined to beautiful dreamy music that spoke directly to romantic sensibilities. Halfway through each of the band members did a solo piece with only one person on stage, which they pulled of very nicely.

Agonoize (****)
Not listed as a headliner, but this set felt very close. From the stage presence to the band to the way the crowd was riled up! Agonoize kicked the proverbial door down for an all-out show without compromise. Bad mic? Just throw it away! Censorship riding on a little Trump? Beat it down. Get a “blood fairy” to supply the audience before the frontman transformed into a cardinal baptized in blood by hooded figures. All this while pumping out good stomping aggrotech tracks like Femme Fatale, Koprolalie, Deutsch,… one after the other.

Oomph (***)
I saw Oomph for the first time at GMM two years ago, but only stumbled in near the end and didn’t really get in the vibe then. So this was a good opportunity to set things right. Oomph is almost more famous for being Rammstein’s inspiration than for their own music with us. That’s kind of a shame, really. They sounded more youthful and enthusiastic than their more bombastic and distant offspring. They also have a bit more varied style live. With a lot of hits like Labyrinth, Augen Auf and Der Neue Gott on the setlist, they easily got the crowd in their palm and singing along.

And One (***)
And One decorated the stage in a very stark, minimal setup that reminded a bit of Kraftwerk. Every musician perched atop or behind their own pure white block from whence they wouldn’t move. Contrary to Aesthetic Perfection earlier, however, that didn’t pose any barrier to reaching the audience. The atmosphere was great with a lot of singing along, both spontaneous and invited. The 80’s sound with more modern influences resonated well with all before the Main, making it a very nice closing act for the festival.

For the pictures go to the photo coverage here.