RENTRER EN SOI One-man CARVE STIGMATA

RENTRER EN SOI held their one-man live CARVE STIGMATA at Holiday Shinjuku, a rather small venue that quickly filled up with eager fans. The crowd began growling for the band as it got closer to starting time, and a little behind schedule, the curtain was drawn, causing everyone to erupt in cheers. The band all looked stylish as usual with spiky hair and rather visual looking clothes as they entered the stage.

They appropriately started their set with their newest single, STIGMATA, to much cheering from the audience and the concert seemed to be off to a good start. They continued on with JUST MAD PAIN and the audience went wild to the heavy rythms, headbanging and jumping around along with the band. There was a slight pause before the next song and the audience screamed for more until they were rewarded with AMONGST FOOLISH ENEMIES and resumed their crazy headbanging. The pounding beats and catchy chorus filled the venue while the audience got more and more excited. The show continued with MISERY LOVES POISONOUS BLUE and the band ran around on stage obviously wired from the elated mood. Satsuki poured all his emotions into his singing and stretched out towards the audience, emphasizing his desire to share his feelings with them through the music. Next up was I WAS DAMNED during which the band stirred the audience up, urging them to scream along with the music.

Then came another brief pause before they continued with the somewhat quiet but intense THORNY RAIN BREAK. The lights switched to blue and the mood was perhaps changed to a slightly more melancholy one for a while. They followed up with the ballad TO INFINITY, where the audience stood completely still just taking in the emotions the band was pouring into them.

Shinwa was a pretty special song since most of it consisted only of Satsuki's vocals accompanied by piano before the rest of the band joined in towards the end for a powerful finish. It was interesting to see such a song performed live and Satsuki's amazing voice truly got a chance to shine through this song.

It was followed by yet another ballad, Ushinawareta fuukei no yume, before the pace was once again increased slightly with Taiyo no Todokanai Basho. At one point everything went completely quiet and Satsuki sang a part of the song without his microphone, leaving everyone in awe of his beautiful voice.

There was another small break before the familiar intro to Karasuiro no taiji could be heard, a song with mostly beautiful clear vocals that again brought the audience to life. It was followed by the slightly arrhythmic Misshitsu to Kodoku ni Dokusareta Yuutsu, whose screaming guitars compelled the audience once again to launch into headbanging. THE ABYSS OF DESPAIR and its catchy rhythms also had the crowd dancing and headbanging along happily while the band moved around on stage to the music and the lights blinked frantically. I HATE MYSELF AND WANT TO DIE only inspired wilder headbanging with its growling and pounding beats while Binetsuka de shajitsu shita shinso wa atesaki fumei no tegami to naru started quietly and turned into a beautiful melodic piece with a nice guitar solo completely in sync with the mood of the song. This made for an emotional finish to their set and the band walked off stage while the audience immediately started screaming "encore".

After a while the band returned to the stage and everyone became quiet for a short while before they started playing the familiar PROTOPLASM. Encore number two was the hard song Murder Intent, and red and yellow lights blinked frantically while both the band and audience screamed along to the song. They continued with another hard number, Strawberry Oblaat and the audience screamed and headbanged accordingly. The last encore was Bunretsu LE+DD Jinkaku which made everyone jump, and both the band and the audience poured their last bit of energy into this powerful finish. They all tossed their picks and drumsticks to the audience and playfully threw water over each other before they left the stage for good and the curtain was drawn to great applause from the audience.

All through the concert the band seemed absorbed by their own music and Satsuki poured his soul into his singing. He also kept climbing up on the amps so that everyone got a good view of him even though it wasn't always so easy to see the rest of the members. They put on a powerful performance, their communication more intimate and direct than through a CD. Overall this was the kind of enjoyable concert that leaves you with a good feeling and only wanting more.


Set-list:

01. STIGMATA
02. JUST MAD PAIN
03. AMONGST FOOLISH ENEMIES
04. MISERY LOVES POISONOUS BLUE
05. I WAS DAMNED
06. THORNY RAIN BREAK
07. TO INFINITY
08. Shinwa
09.Ushinawareta fuukei no yume
10. Taiyo no Todokanai Basho
11. Karasuiro no taiji
12. Misshitsu to Kodoku ni Dokusareta Yuutsu
13. THE ABYSS OF DESPAIR
14. I HATE MYSELF AND WANT TO DIE
15. Binetsuka de shajitsu shita shinso wa atesaki fumei no tegami to naru

―Encore―

01. PROTOPLASM
02. MURDER INTENT
03. Strawberry Oblaat
04. Bunretsu LE+DD Jinkaku