| CD REVIEW Doncker |
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Band : Doncker When former members of L.O.I. and Sengir joined to start up a new band, they soon agreed on it that the new musical direction would be a timeless one, combining the groove of the more commercialized music scene with influences from Rammstein, Gothminister, Disturbed, Korn, Godsmack, Arch Enemy, Katatonia, Moonspell, and Marilyn Manson into a mold which contains elements of Electro, Goth, Pop, Groove Rock, and Metal! The now Wijgmaal (a town situated between Leuven and Aarschot) based Belgian quintet of singer Serge Vandepoel, gitarist Chris Slight, keyboardist Win Schockaert, bassist Jurgen Van Kerckhoven, and drummer Bruno Goethuys soon started making waves (which is no surprise, as some of them already have a large field of expertise behind them that has seen them play at such huge events as Grospop Metel Meeting and MFVF), and have already got some nice things on their resumé as Doncker: performed at last September’s Glaspop (where the temporarily unavailable Vandepoel was replaced by Jo De Boeck, singer for Beyond The Labyrinth), after which they went on a little trip to Nothingham and Hull in the UK (where the band already has a street team, apparently!) for some gigging, and made it to the finals of the TMF/ MTV Road To Fame competition (where they eventually secured 2nd position thanks to the amount od sms messages sent in by their loyal fanbase). Somewhere in between the hectic things happening around the band, the quintet still found time to finish this 5-track demo, which they are now unleashing onto the world. Our editor-in-chief was impressed enough to agree on doing a bit of extra promotion for the band, sending out the demo to the most relevant media in our neighborhood. And when listening to the demo only once, you’ll understand why he felt that strongly about the band indeed! Actually, you can do exactly that (partially) by surfing to myspace.com/doncker, where you’ll find full-length versions of three songs, and teasers of the two others! I still wonder how that sample from the movie The Elephant Man (it’s where the deformed young man, first followed my a spectacle-greedy mob and cornered shouts out that is is not an animal, but a human being) relates to the lyrical subject of the song (as far as I can remember…and I just saw the movie only a month and a half ago…the “Elephant Man” never had any nagative feelings towards other people at all…somebody please enlighten me!?). In spite of the fact that the songs immediately settle down into your mind as easily identifiable entities, each song contains enough tension and details for one as experienced in music listening as myself to wanting to continue to listen to the songs over and over again! I mean, I must’ve listened to the demo at least some 10 times now, and still I can’t get bored for even the slightest bit! To me, that is a sure-fire indicator of high quality contents! Something which should get signed as soon as possible with the best deal, allowing the band to continue creating such kind of musical jewels as already dispplayed on the demo! So, don’t be surprised to find A New Era (that’s the name of the demo indicated on the band’s MySpace media player, even iff it’s not indicated on the demo cover itself) into that “Best Demos Of 2008”-list of mine! 98/100 Tony. |