Live review: Porselain, Tjalling and Doodswens at Willemeen, Arnhem, The Netherlands, December 20th, 2019

In October Porselain released their debut album, titled Duende. Recently DutchMetalManiac’s Tim van Velthuysen reviewed Duende here. On Friday December the 20th Porselain had Duende‘s releaseshow in Willemeen, Arnhem, The Netherlands. The bands that performed, in addition to Porselain, were Tjalling and Doodswens. But that’s not all, Jim Onstenk, Porselain’s bass player, as well as Tjalling and both members of Doodswens, Froukje and Inge, also showed their work other than music at an exhibition that took place in the backstage-area during the evening.

Once inside the venue nice, dark, electronic, industrial-like music can be heard that fits perfectly with the dark atmosphere of this evening.

The band that is going to kick off this evening is Doodswens. Before drummer Inge and vocalist/guitarist Fraukje appear on stage there are already burning candles to be seen in front of the drumkit, as well as some skulls. As soon as Fraukje and Inge appear on stage, Fraukje first lights some incense to create a bit more of the already perfect dark atmosphere for this show. When she hits her guitar and Inge hits her drums an almost constant huge wall of sound arises to which Fraukje adds her chilling, hellish screams that are a bit on the background, but that only gives an even more obscure effect to it. Inge’s drums pound very heavily, with the bassdrum thundering so heavily that the floor is constantly shaking. Doodswens’ show is pretty static, but that is also quite logic since both members are quite bound to one spot due to the drums or mic stand. Fortunately due to their extremely brutal show and the huge energy coming off of that, it doesn’t matter that much that their show is quite static. The lights could be a bit better during this show though, at least for a part of it. The white and red, quite static lights, were very fitting, but the blue, yellow and the busy-changing lights weren’t that fitting in my opinion.

After Doodswens’ set I went to see the exhibition in the backstage-area. There also was a very nice vibe, also due to the special music that could be heard there. Porselain’s bass player Jim Onstenk showed some of his own work as well as Porselain-work, including for example the stop-motion-work out of Porselain’s Mortiferous videoclip and his original piece of Duende‘s album cover. Al his work includes quite a lot of depth which gives it a special and somewhat psychedelic vibe. Tjalling’s work mainly consists of photos of at first quite simple things that were made to particularities by adding a moving effect to it. The pieces of Doodswens’ Fraukje and Inge consist of photos as well as paintings that are extremely dark, obscure and fit very well with the band, Doodswens, but in a different form than music.

The next band performing is Tjalling. Musically a lot happens in Tjalling’s music and so of course also during this show. It goes from grooving bass parts to guitar-effects to synthesizer-pieces to heavily pounding parts in which Tjalling’s drums stands out very much. This all is delivered with the inclusion of many quite abrupt transitions that are making Tjalling’s music even more special. The fact that this is done in a very tight way clearly shows that the members a very well attuned to each other. I rarely saw a band that knows how to transfer emotion this well. Especially vocalist/guitarist Dany, who also plays the synthesizer, seems to feel everything for 100% and is transferring that so well that you almost are going to feel those same things. She does so by her regularly overdriving vocals, with especially her screams going through marrow and bone and causing goose bumps, the to her vocals linked very intense looks on her face and laying crawling from emotions on the ground. Bass player Lars Anthonissen also stands out very much and adds a lot to this special show, he looks very stoic during the entire show and his looks, a highly pulled up overall and a beanie, also can be seen as a bit special. He also behaves very special with his wild moves and the fact that he regularly flies over the stage, and beyond, doing so. Once this almost goes wrong, because he hits a pile of speakers, but luckily the speakers didn’t fall down. Just as with Doodswens’ show, there also is a lot of energy coming off of Tjalling’s show, in a different way though, and Tjalling convinces even more than I expected.

After Tjalling’s show it’s time for tonight’s headliner, the band that is having their release show this evening, Porselain. They played their debut album Duende in its entirety tonight, as well as one new song, titled Eunoia. During the short soundcheck right before their show it already becomes clear that this is going to be a very special show, not by the soundcheck itself, since that was pretty short, but more due to the fact that Porselain already was wearing the by frontwoman Micky for this release show self-made clothes. It’s a nice combi of black draperies with white dread-like accents, alongside black and white paint on their faces and upper body parts, with especially the black paint around Micky’s eyes, which adds much to the dark atmosphere of Porselain’s show, standing out. It all has a bit of a ritualistic feel to it. The banner in the back of the stage also contains black and white and is made in the same style as Jim’s pieces that can be seen at the exhibition. Porselain delivers, just as the two earlier bands, a very energetic and very convincing show with the energy mainly coming off of the very powerful transitions between the heavily pounding pieces, in which Wouter’s powerful way of drumming stands out much, and the more calmer pieces, as well as the combination of those with Micky’s beautiful vocals, that regularly hit very high notes and are transferring a lot of energy together with the shouting backing vocals of guitarist Cas and bass player Jim, with Micky sometimes joining them in that and doing so alone at a few other moments, such as her very last and very powerful shout of this evening at the end of closer Mortala. Ending the show with this song is a perfect choice to get those last, not yet by goosebumps affected hairs up. This isn’t the only thing that stands out  during this last song though. Now we also get to see that the white clothing-accents and the white paint also have another, extra function. During Mortala the standard stage lights are off and the extra for Porselain added standing stage ligths are only shining at some moments. During the dark parts we got to see that those white parts have a glow in the dark effect to it which gives this last track a very nice, extra dimension. Porselain’s entire show convinces very much, but of course I can’t end this live review without mentioning the first time played, very new song Eunoia. Without disadvantaging Duende‘s songs of course, but what an immensely strong song Eunoia is. A very energetic, very nice and very special pounder of a song that surely is worth to be heard as much as possible.

This was a very nice evening, with the combination of music and exhibition being a very refreshing idea. All three bands really convinced me a lot and I will surely keep track of these bands in the future!

You can also read the interview we had with Porselain one day before this releaseshow here, as well as an earlier part of Promoting Bands including Porselain here.

Porselain Official Website
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