GORGON ELECTRO MINI FEST 2011
COMBICHRIST, MORTIIS, Shrine

2.03.2011, 'R.B.F.' club, Sofia - Bulgaria

words byВ Nick The Stripper, photo: Gorgon

After the fantastic third edition of the Gorgon Electro Mini Fest a couple of years ago, this one has a lot to live up to. But we neededn't have worried, for GEMF 4 was just as good and gloriously soul-ravishing as its predecessor. Sofia's colourful "freak" community was out in full force, to fill up the RBF club, which is a relatively new venue and a pretty good one at that, especially fitting for a gig like this.

The PA and stage are quite decent by any standards. my only gripe would be with the overpriced alcohol on sale and the tragic state of the men's toilets downstairs. Anyway, a most versatile crowd - from young proto-groupies to old legendary figures of the Sofia underground scene, who were thumping out Sheep on Drugs and Pigface back when everyone else was running around in chequered shirts and pirate Nirvana and Pearl Jam cassettes and CD's.

Events at GEMF 4 kicked off with a pretty uncompromising set by local DJ Shrine.

Then came time for the berserker invasion, courtesy of first Mortiis and then headliners Combichrist.

It's fair to say they knocked our fucking blocks off. Which is actually what we expected and wanted. And so, we got it. Twas sweet pain and pleasure. Before the gig I met quite a few people who said they were only there to see Andy LaPlegua and co, but afterwards they all admitted they rather enjoyed Mortiis' set too. The latter and his band launched into a searing industrial noise metal attack, the sheer intensity of which took some people by surprise and not before long, the band had the entire crowd on their side.

The latest Mortiis album - Perfectly Defect - came out only a few months ago and so we got an (un)healthy doze of tracks off of that mean fucker.

Havard Ellefsen hardly said anything in-between songs, an approach that suited him. The time between Mortiis and Combichrist seemed to elapse rather quickly, probably because I was, by that stage, on ym way to being gloriously wasted.

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So when Andy and his troops hit the stage I was in excellent spirits, ready to enjoy the Combichrist onslaught.

When you see this band live, it very quickly becomes crystal clear as to why they've enjoyed success throughout the years and got asked to open for Rammstein on their tour last year.

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They are, simply, very very good. They have the energy of a million fresh Duracell batteries, they have ripping tracks and they also have a certain charm. This gig was similar to their first one in Sofia two years ago, but also different, in a good way. Both were great. The band played like they were playing a stadium, which, in a club envirnment, makes for a rather incendiary show. We heard all the "hits", plus a good bit from the brilliant new album ‘Making Monsters’.

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Of course, there was an encore and the show ended in customary Combichrist fashion - with the stage being trashed to bits. As pieces of the two drum kits rolled about on the floor I found myself happily muttering: "welcome to the church of Combichrist!".В