LIVE REVIEW: Godhead, Mortiis, Christian Death; Detroit, MI
- Mike Pfeiffer
I expected to see a dark show with a bit of horror thrown in, but damn, what I experienced was down right evil!
Driving through a cold, rainy night, I arrived just in time to catch most of Godhead's show. Godhead play industrial goth with a '90s metal influence. They have a strong stage presence and decent songs, and the lead singer reminded me of a cross between Billy Corgan and Uncle Fester from the Addams Family -- wait a minute, aren't they the same person?
Mortiis followed with a stage show that is still affecting me days later. For those of you not familiar with Mortiis, he's a strange fellow to say the least. Picture a trollish man, with spock ears, Pinocchio's nose and dressed in a mixture Medieval wizard garb and S&M bondage gear. Mortiis' stage set included three sets of drum pads -- each with skull on the front -- a kettledrum, a torture post, an axe and other assorted torturing material. His band included two very goth percussionists and a female vocalist.
Mortiis' music is hard to describe. Mostly it's epic chamber music, very atmospheric yet not relaxing at all, probably due to the pounding rhythms driving each track on like a battle march. It would be quite difficult to translate this music live, so Mortiis doesn't even try; he and his percussionists play their drum pads to sequenced music coming through the speakers. Mortiis is in it for the show. His scary presence was only the beginning to the horror he had in store for us.
During his second song he spoke in his low demonic voice. Later he brought out a bucket of blood and poured it over his head. Then, covered in blood, he brought a woman on stage and attached her wrists and legs to the torture post. I was a bit shocked, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. With a look of terror on her face as she hung there suspended, Mortiis continued to play.
After this song, a torch was brought to Mortiis, which he blew heartily at, throwing the flame from the torch, I could feel the heat and smell the flames. My already heightened apprehension grew at this point.
Before I continue, let me tell you about the audience. I was expecting a crowd of goths in leather and make up. However, in addition to the goths, there was something of a much more sinister element here: older men and women dressed in black, some long hair death metal fans and two clowns with hideous make-up. Basically, this was a gathering for satanists, serial killers and freaks.
Mortiis finished his song with the woman still attached to the post, he then got a knife, gave an intense glare to the audience and proceeded to cut the woman open, spilling blood from her stomach. The audience cheering for this horrifying act, coupled with Mortiis bringing his victim down, putting her over his shoulders and running out into the audience, was the final straw for my anxiety. Shaking, I watched Mortiis run off through the audience to "dump the body." I was seriously scared about Mortiis returning to the stage (I didn't want him coming near me!). He ran back through the audience, got on stage and finished his set. With a sigh of relief, I wasn't harmed during his set and eventually found out that it was all staged, I realized for his show to affect me this much -- he was fucking awesome!
Christian Death, even with their elaborate stage show and Valor, the lead singer, at his most charismatic, couldn't really impress me. Starting their set in wedding dresses and covered in veils, they played loud gothic rock, with some extreme guitar playing. I'm not really a fan of Christian Death. They rely far to heavily on their guitars to carry the songs and Valor's shrill voice tends to annoy me. Their presence was good though. After a few songs draped in the veils, they left the stage and returned in outrageous black outfits. The songs became heavier and faster, with Valor looking like an Egyptian demon parading around the stage. Before too long, their bassist broke a bass string (how hard do you have to be playing to have this happen?) and they took a full ten minutes to get her guitar restrung. During this time I thought about how late it was and there was no way I was going to see more than what I've already seen. A disturbing night I wouldn't recommend to anybody, but being near Halloween and always liking a good scare, you could say I got what I came for.
