The Artfx gig began with a joyful fanfare that was quite original especially how contrasting it was compared to the band’s grinding metallic sound. Artfx’s style is progressive metal with elements of death, groove & power metal. They performed their debut album “Turning Point” in its entirety as well as a brand new song that they played as a final song. All right, not quite the final song, because soon after they were replaying “Written In Blood,” this time in front of a moshing crowd. Despite a few technical hurdles at the beginning and the band botching some stuff in their earlier songs, they did show genuine energy on stage and frontwoman Elke wasn’t shy to jump into the crowd on several occasions and scream out her lyrics when standing in front of a random audience member (yours truly included). Also every band member showed genuine technique with their instruments and Dempsey & Tom did some sweet guitar and bass solos respectively. Only thing missing was an equally sweet drum solo from Ivo. In any case, I now definitely want an instrumental track in ArtFx’s next release, be it an EP or another full-length.

Visually, Artfx already created a few traits that I think could make them look pretty unique. For instance, all band members had distinct clothes or accessories. Vocalist Elke sported a leather jacket and spandex pants which gave her an imposing biker attitude. Bassist Tom wore a bright orange shirt with Miffy the rabbit’s face on it, providing some comic relief. Guitarist Dempsey had a torn-out jeans and chains for a guitar strap, giving him a straight out of jail look and finally drummer Ivo wore a fedora hat which gave him a classy gentleman look. The band also made effective use of colored lightning effects which were nicely timed to their songs. Unfortunately the lights were a bit too often aimed directly at the crowd and I would’ve preferred the lights to be put higher above the stage as to not aim straight at the crowd’s faces. Also I believe a projector would be nice to further add to the band’s stage presence. That projector could just show a looped video of the endless void of space with stars and planets flying by and so give the impression that the band comes from another dimension, with the multidimensional portal remaining open behind them.

The fact that just a day before the event the Belgian government had changed the COVID19 rules to code orange (which meant no more mandatory social distancing or facemasks inside the venue) must had been a huge motivational boost for the band and crowd. For me, it certainly was. I’ve always preferred smaller events wherein you can really get up close and personal with the band and as I mentioned earlier ArtFx is one of those bands that really flourishes when they can closely interact with the crowd. Add to that all the other great stuff I talked about earlier in this article and a solid live sound mix and needless to say, we all had a great time in the Torhout city hall. An unusual venue for a metal gig, but an effective one nonetheless.

It took a few months before we could once again enjoy a gig the way it should be (meaning no facemasks or social distancing) and this ArtFx gig was one hell of a show. They proved themselves a band with genuine showmanship and musical complexity that we hope they’ll be further expanding upon in future gigs and releases. All things considered, both live and on record ArtFx’s cocktail of prog, death, groove & power sure as hell is a tasty one.