Throned By Tyranny
The second act was Throned By Tyranny, a gothic black metal band that has arisen out of the ashes of Memphisto and Death Semblance both regional metal bands. Throned By Tyranny has a history with Staddijk. They played the venue before and even recorded their demo there. It was obvious that quite a few people had turned up to watch their friends play. There even was a dad to capture all his son’s actions on video tape. This was probably one of the main reasons why the band looked so relaxed on stage.

The venue was filled with about fifty people clearly appreciating the music but without getting overenthusiastic. After little more than one hour time was up and the stage was set for the headliner of the day.

Sengir
The Belgian gothic metal / rock band Sengir had travelled all the way to Staddijk to entertain gothic minded Nijmegen. It was therefore sad to notice that the people in Nijmegen did not seem to have any appreciation for this promising band. When Throned By Tyranny left Staddijk, they took along most of their friends / fans with them, leaving behind a handful of people.

The first compliment I have to make is that despite the very small audience Sengir gave all they had to entertain the few people left. It took over one hour before some of the band members couldn’t keep up their appearance and became slightly corny: understandable. The larger part of the songs the band played came from the 2003 debut album Guilty Water. Listening to the band made it even more sinful that so few people had turned up.

It’s easy to compare Sengir with bands like Within Temptation and After Forever, but watching these Belgians reminded me most of a 2003 Epica gig. You could just sense that the band on stage had great potential. The Epica gem shone long before I had expected, I wonder how long it will take before Sengir sells out venues.

(Review & Pics: Geert Oldenmenger)