A night packed with eclectic bands and a brilliant way to start 2025
Skin On Flesh
Opening band Skin On Flesh, a Berlin-based alternative punk rock duo, created by Michiel Sybers and Laura Jiménez. They provided a high energy set which never slowed down during their short but sweet set.
Miruthan
Next up Miruthan, who are an eight-piece Blackened Death Metal band from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is renowned for their theatrical live performances and dark, folklore-inspired narratives. The band’s entrance was marked by members donning ceremonial robes and masks, creating a ritualistic atmosphere. Nzambi with the growl vocals and Mvumbi providing soaring guitar licks together with the Priestess on clean vocals and screams provided a real focal point for the band This immersive approach led to a dynamic and, at times, chaotic environment, with the band’s aggressive sound resonating throughout the venue. It was clear their influences are from melodic black metal and death metal, enriched with dark folklore and horror themes.
Elyose
Then was time for Elyose, a French nu-industrial metal band led by vocalist Justine Daaé, and Anthony Chognard. They were on the tour to support their recently released new album, “Évidence,”. The band’s energetic stage presence and the intimate atmosphere of the venue helped to bring the songs alive. Singing in English as well as French Daaé’s vocals were faultless coupled with Chognard’s exuberance on stage enhanced the overall experience. On this showing they are truly are a really innovative act.
Semblant
Next up were Semblant, the Brazilian melodic death metal band, had the Castle and Flacon audience captivated with their dynamic live performance, characterised by a blend of aggressive riffs, melodic elements, and the dual vocal interplay between Mizuho Lin – clean vocals and Sergio Mazul – growl vocals. Kicking off with Incinerate then Dark of the Day with Lin interacting with the audience getting htem to clap and sing along. Johann Piper – bass – was a striking figure helping to fill the bijou stage. They then rattled through The Shrine, Scarlet Heritage (Legacy of Blood Part III) and What Lies Ahead. These guys are destined for bigger and better things during 2025.
Infected Rain
Rock music has always been a voice of passion, and self-expression, and Lena Scissorhands from Infected Rain embodies this spirit like few others. I was lucky enough to catch up with her prior to their show at The Castle & Falcon in Birmingham to ask her about the new album, writing songs and touring.
AS – Hi, hope you are well?
LS – Thank you, Sir.
AS – You’ve just started the tour, one of many, many tours you always seem to be on, how is this one? So far so good?
LS – Yeah. We just started the tour, and this is actually our show number 3 today. This is one of the many tours that we planned for the year and one of the many shows that we planned for the year. It’s just the beginning. It’s gonna be a 5 week long tour. And, yeah, we are so far so good.
AS – Every time I check your socials you always seem to be touring. Does it all sometimes feel like a bit of a blur?
LS – Some periods are more busy, for sure. Sometimes of the year are more perfect for touring, and all the bands are touring mainly in, like, spring and autumn. Sometimes we wish it was longer just to spend more time with the loved ones and family and just solving some personal things, you know, paying bills and stuff like that. When we are home for too long, we wish that we were on the road. Because it’s a lifestyle already after all these years, it has its ups and downs. But, definitely brings a lot of satisfaction when you are actually on stage and, you know, receive all that energy from people.
AS – “Time”, the new album, is a fantastic album.
LS – Thank you.
AS – And it seems a significant progression for you as a band, musically.
LS – Thank you. I don’t know if that’s right, I mean, we didn’t do anything specifically on purpose directed in in in in a specific direction to have a different sound or to have a different, um, in I don’t know, uh, imprint on the album. It it was just very organic. It just one thing led to the other. We had a small change in the band in our lineup right around the time when we were already composing for this album. It felt like we had so much to say and new gear, new experience. It brings you to maybe a different sound. I think every album, is different one from the other.
AS – A lot of the music that you are writing is very personal to you. How do you balance the fact that you’re putting in a lot of personal experience into it, and then you are singing it every night as well?
LS – In the beginning it was quite difficult. I’ll be honest. When I was just starting, it was very it was a lot and I didn’t know how to cope with it because, my lyrics are very personal. I actually started writing poems, way back when I was a young teenager. I believe I was 14 when I started and I was just writing poems in different languages throughout my life, right before I joined the band.
So I wrote in Russian, I wrote in Italian, I wrote in English later on in life. And when I joined the band, I was already used to put my thoughts, ideas, and emotions on the paper, but I never was used to sharing that with people and or, you know, exposing myself to that level, to the world. And in fact, it was quite frustrating in the beginning. I didn’t know how to really, find that balance between being a professional vocalist and being very concentrated on my instrument, which is my body, and not lose that emotion that is behind every song, behind every lyric. What I’m trying to say is that it’s very easy when you write about something painful to get too emotional and to lose that focus as a vocalist and to either ruin your voice or ruin your entire mood for the night.
It’s very thin line that, it’s different for everybody, of course. But once I figured it out and once I felt how healing that is to actually talk about your, frustrations and to share about your wounds and pain. It’s almost like going to therapy only better, to be honest I’ve tried therapy a couple of times and it worked for me very well, but it doesn’t work as well as this job. When I say it’s it’s my job because obviously I’ve been doing this for a while now and it is a dream job for many people. I think I’m very lucky that through my job, I can also heal of my mind and my body.
AS -But you’re all then putting it out there and people are interpreting what you are saying. A lot of us are putting on our own kind of interpretation.
LS – That’s the goal because I am a human being just like you and I have feelings just like you and like everybody else that comes to the show or listens to the album. I never tried to to look like I’m a superhuman or to seem like I’m a superhuman, I’m fine with everything. Yeah. There are things that I’m fine with. There are things that are frustrating. There are things that piss me off. There are things that hurt me, and there are things that make me happy just like anybody else. I just choose to be as genuine and as true to myself as I can, only then I receive back this healing. And I can tell that people can relate, in their own way and connect because my life experience is, of course, my own and it’s unique to me. But give or take relationships, love, frustration, and injustices, they are all pretty much, give or take, in a way, similar to everybody.
AS – I think it helps a lot of us, to be honest. And I don’t mean that in a patronizing way. I really do.
LS – It’s actually a big compliment. I myself have bands that I listen to when I’m down or when I’m I listen to when I’m in a great mood. I have bands for different moods.
AS – How have the new tracks been sort of received so far?
LS – I think with this album, we have received super high amount of positive feedback, even more than we ever expected. Even though we try our best we never have expectations. We care that people like our music. We care for that very much. And if that will bring us to a higher level, bigger stages, and so on, great. If not, we will just continue doing what we’re doing for our own pleasure, and the few people that can feel it.
AS – I don’t know if people reading will know, you had your tonsils over a year ago Has that helped? Has it had an impact, either positively or negatively, on the way you sing?
LS – Absolutely. the extreme type of vocalizing, was always something that I was fascinated with, even in other bands growing up, you know. I thought that it delivers emotions so much more, and it’s a different level of impact. You can sing very emotionally, even in a pop song. I am a music lover. I don’t just listen to metal. Metal is my favourite, but I listen to many bands in different genres. And what I learned by listening to this quantity of music and seeing different shows and playing in the band, I’ve learned that as long as it delivers emotion, just do whatever feels right.
So I work with my vocal teacher and by myself a lot to try to improve as much as I physically can to my best ability. And that, gives me more opportunities, to to deliver certain things. I love clean singing. I love screaming. I love rapping very much, you know. And I think it’s just great. I think people should just experiment and mix it all together.
AS – By having your tonsils out did that did has that changed your voice in any way?
LS – In my opinion and in opinion of my vocal teacher, it didn’t. Um, I didn’t feel it right away. I felt it more like better resin resonation of my voice, if that makes sense, because there’s more space in my throat right now. They were supposed to be removed when I was a child because of there enlarged size, I was born with them like that. It’s something you get hereditary from your parents and grandparents.
And my father used to have them like that. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that as a child, so I was terrified that my voice will change. And I spoke with my vocal teacher about it a lot. She’s absolutely amazing, Melissa Cross. She’s always there for me, and she is not just a great vocal teacher. She helps with self esteem, she helps with believing in yourself and my mentor, forever in-debt to her forever. I sound the way I sound due to her, for sure. She worked with me after the surgery to make sure that I get back into my voice back gently and slowly. She said she heard a change right away. She felt it. I recorded 2 albums that year after removing my tonsils. I removed them in December, and,the year after a couple of months after, I recorded 2 albums. I recorded Time with Infected Rain, and I recorded an album with Death Dealer Union, which I was a vocalist as a side project.
I am very proud of both albums, very proud, and I think I was only able to do that because of my so called new ability. I feel almost like I have a new superpower.
I just think that my voice finally sounds the way it can sound. Because something was in a way blocking it. It’s like having a wall between your vocal cords and your lips, basically. You know, you open your mouth and your palate and your tongue, they have a specific role in the sound you’re making. But when there is an extra thing in between blocking it, there’s nothing you can do because it’s just your body. This is how my body was, And now I don’t have that wall. So it’s just probably just this is my voice now. It always supposed to be something like this.
AS – What long term aspirations have you got for the band?
LS – Hopefully, a new album very soon. And hopefully, we get to visit places that I’ve never visited before. Maybe a collaboration of a lifetime, there are some great vocalists out there that I would love to collaborate with for Injected Rain and hopefully, big stages like, I don’t know, Rock am Ring because a bigger amount of people get to see you and hear you because I feel like for a band from Eastern Europe the opportunities are a little bit shorter than from other bands from Central Europe or from America. And we need these opportunities because a lot of bands, a lot of fans, they don’t even know we exist, or they know of us, but they don’t even know where we are from.
AS – Thankyou so much for chatting to us from ROCKwell Unscene Magazine, have a great show and the rest of the tour.
Then was headline time with Infected Rain, the Moldovan metal powerhouse fronted by Lena Scissorhands touring on the back of their new album “Time”, a good portion of which was played during this set. Kicking off with The Realm of Chaos then a couple of brand new tracks PANDEMONIUM then VIVARIUM was an amazing start to the evenings proceedings. Vadim “Vidick” Ojog – guitars and Alice Lane – bass were in full flow together with powerhouse Eugen Voluta – drums – created an amazing sound.
Lena Scissorhands, with her signature brightly coloured dreads, commanded the stage, delivering a performance that was both humble and ferocious. Then into Fighter, new song THE ANSWER IS YOU and Orphan Soul. Infected Rain’s live performances have intense energy, professional execution, and the ability to connect deeply with their audience. Their blend of aggressive metal elements with melodic intricacy, combined with Lena Scissorhands’ dynamic stage presence, continues to solidify their reputation as a formidable force in the modern metal scene. The set ended with stunning new track BECAUSE I LET YOU then finished with Sweet, Sweet Lies This show can be described as a big venue performance in a compact room, with Infected Rain looking unstoppable during 2025.
