Before old rap metallers Clawfinger were to take the stage at Amager Bio, old school rap metallers Sickret were there to get the crowd all warmed up, stretched out, and ready to go.
But how did they fare in this endeavour?

“Yo, we are Sickret from Switzerland! Can I get a ho yah?! (Ho yah!) Oh, you sick bastards!”
- Timmy Michels (vocals)

Sickret was a new name to me, and I expect several others at the show as well. As far as I can see, their 16 year long career has never before led them to Danish shores. With this in mind, I didn’t really know what to expect from them. They had a Cthulhu like face on their backdrop, painted up in graffiti style, so off to a pretty good start there, even though I’ve never thought about a connection between old squidface and street culture.
Their intro came as a bit of a surprise as well, a low droning melody with airy female vocals singing gently. Where might this be going?
Soon enough we found out that it led straight into something that sounded like early wave 90ies nu metal combined with post millennium screamy core. Limp Bizkit was obviously a huge influence on the band, with vocalist Timmy Michels coming very close to sounding just like Fred Durst in his clean bits.

The music was hard, heavy, and groovy, setting up for a lot of action. A bit too much action perhaps, as the performance couldn’t quite keep up. I’m not saying Sickret didn’t perform, far from it, but the music gave the vibe that this would be a band flying off the walls, jumping high with every step they took; while Michels did give a few high kicks throughout, guitarist Sandro Büchler and he stayed on the ground grooving instead. Bassist Cristophe ‘Grille’ Krippel and drummer Andi Emmenegger took it easier than that, and while the latter did try to do some fancy stick tricks along the way, he did miss grabbing said sticks, at least the times I was watching. To his credit, he did have the presence of mind to acknowledge it with a smile rather than trying to pretend it didn’t happen, which was nice.

The response from the half-filled hall of Amager Bio wasn’t exactly overwhelming, but people played along when asked to do so by Michels. A bit of first meeting awkwardness perhaps, though not an outright refusal by any means.
Sickret was quick to move from song to song as well, and didn’t really give the crowd an in on the gig, more playing for the crowd than with it. Oddly, though thankfully for them, Sickret also went about ten minutes over their announced timeslot. I say thankfully, because during the last two-three songs they opened up a lot more, addressed the audience, and in general seemed like they themselves had finally had time to warm up and get loose.

I guess Sickret did what they do well, the problem being mostly that what they do has never really been my thing, so despite the few things up front that seemed interesting, this just wasn’t for me. It makes sense for them to tour with Clawfinger, but you can’t expect that just because you like some rap metal, you’ll like all rap metal.

Setlist:

Time For Change
Tripping Hard
Pressure
Deleterius Drama
The Contract
Tortured
Pomme De Terre
Bring The Peace
Worship
Greetings From Babylon
So Sick