Lumous Gothic Festival 2015
Lumous Gothic Festival 2015
Red Sun Revival, Los Carniceros del Norte, Das Ich
Klubi, Tampere, Finland
3-4th July
Lumous Gothic Festival, Finland’s main goth event is now in its fifteenth year. While it may not be as well renowned as the larger goth festivals such as Wave Gothik Treffen, it has a strong following within the goth and industrial scene. I’ve been attending this festival for the past three years now, and this year there was an exceptionally good line-up.
Friday
First up was the Berlin-based, minimal electro band Afghan Dance. They played some rhythmic and fairly catchy synth tunes with darkwave-style vocals. It was definitely a good start to the night. 3.5/5
There’s not an awful lot that I can say about German goth rockers Golden Apes. They basically played some decent and standard goth rock, which is great for those who like that genre. Personally I’ve never been a massive fan of this style and there’s only a handful of goth bands out there that I enjoy. However, their performance was good but not exceptional and none of the songs stuck in my head afterwards. 3/5
The Russian harsh electro band Sleetgrout were the main band that I came to see and by far the best performance of the evening. They were meant to play at Lumous last year but they had to cancel due to problems with their visas. Their show was very energetic, full of adrenalin-fueled harsh electro with trance elements. I couldn’t stop dancing, especially when they played two of my favourite club tracks ‘Coffin With Two Suicides’ and ‘The Strings’. 5/5
Now, when I say that I’m not the biggest fan of goth rock, that’ doesn’t mean that I’m completely adverse to genre. There’s certain goth bands whose music I adore and occasionally there’s the odd goth rock band that captures my attention. Red Sun Revival was one such band. I’m not sure if it was the singer Rob Leydon’s mesmerizing vocals and the beautiful sound of the electric violin. Whatever it was, it worked because I enjoyed their show and even ended up buying one of their albums afterwards. 4/5
Saturday
In the three years that I’ve been attending this festival, there has always been at least one dark ambient or noise band present in the lineup. This year that was the Estonian electro duo Forgotten Sunrise. Their sound comprises a variety of electronic styles ranging from dark ambient, industrial experimental to noise and synth pop vocals. It was rather slow paced and too ponderous for my liking. 2/5
The Spanish punk band Los Carniceros del Norte clearly like their horror movies and theatrics. I’m not normally into punk or post-punk but that did not stop me from enjoying their show. They were very energetic on stage and the singer’s over the top theatrics were fun to watch. Two other factors that helped me get the most out of their performance were that I understand Spanish and I happen to like horror movies. These guys played some clips of my favourite movies on the backdrop including The Shining, Nosferatu, The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 4/5
Speaking of theatrics, that’s one thing that the German dark electro duo Das Ich have in abundance. Now, for those who don’t know, I have a bit of a soft spot when it comes to German electronica. I like most styles; whether it’s the industrial rock of Eisbrecher and Rammstein, the creepy harsh EBM of Wumpscut and X-Fusion or the catchy darkwave Gothic sound of Blutengel. And as of yesterday I also like Das Ich. These two freakish and creepy Germans put on one hell of a show. I really enjoyed the whole performance and it didn’t take long for me to start dancing along. 5/5
So there you have it. Another great edition of Lumous Gothic Festival. I’ve finally been to see Sleegrout live and I discovered Das Ich and Red Sun Revival. It is performances like these that make me want to come back year after year.
Iza Raittila
Valkyrian Music 
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