Almost unnoticed 16 Horsepower has attained a status that effortlessly fills the Ancienne Belgique. An enthusiastic Ancienne Belgique moreover, with fans who recognize the songs by the first chord and who take the heavy lyrics about sin and penance to their hearts.

At the centre is David Eugene Edwards, son (sic) of a preacher and not devoid of some rhetorical verve himself. He is seated centrally and looks at the auditorium intensely. Around him Pascal Humbert, who bows his double-bass as if he wants to tempt the devil, Jean-Yves Tola on drums and Steve Taylor, whose electric guitar resounds in such a manner that you spontaneously imagine gothic cathedrals.

At the centre are the songs of the latest cd, Secret South, a title that perfectly covers the cargo. "I am a poor wayfaring stranger/travelling through a world of woe", Edwards sings, while he repetitively strikes his banjo. It is his outlook on the world. You see images of American plains, of the civil war that tears mankind asunder. In the United States, but on the Balkans as well.

Edwards fits in the musical tradition of the "deep South". His music relies on the stringent belief "that the devil is everywhere, but always short-lived. And that God is hard to find, but absolute" (Greil Marcus). With that he matches Nick Cave. Both perceive the world as the playing-field for the struggle between those forces, and capture that tension in their songs.

16 Horsepower used to lean heavily on traditional folk music, which has now been broadened with a heavy, gothic streak. For me that is not an improvement. Too many songs become bombastic for that reason, and Edwards' manic delivery sometimes seemed a gimmick in the Ancienne Belgique.

The problem is that the songs are rather simple and direct. Instead of widening them harmonically, existing attributes are over-accentuated, also because the band is playing ever bigger and bigger venues. In itself those dynamics suit the music's dramatic power, but because they keep hitting the same nail on the head, monotony sets in.

Besides Edwards, seated on a stool and illuminated vertically, could hardly be seen from the hall. That's a pity, because those close to him, can only be moved deeply by the passion with which the man narrates.

The band ended the first round of encores with a cover of Joy Division's "24 Hours". A worthy salute, but once again emphasizing the music's dark doom. Whereas exactly the alternation with lighter sections, that were more present in former days, to me seemed nearer to the truth of the world.