Fen - Mastodon - Miscreance - Nefarious - North Sea Echoes - Todomal

Herewith some more CD tips of albums I bought over the past weeks (months).

Fen: Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth

The atmospheric blackmetal band Fen are back with a part one of Elemental. I had a few of their albums, missed a few and than saw them live again last year at Samhain festival This made me realize I should follow them more closely, as they were great. Now they are back with six songs spanning just over 45 minutes, which in Fen's world means short songs. While the music is their usual dark self I believe the vocals are more on the background this time. Only when clean sung they are clear in the mix. The album does manage to bring you back to swampy fen areas and for me they could return to The Netherlands soonest.

Mastodon: Marrow Deep

Now here is an album many people were curious to hear. After first the departure and shortly thereafter the death of Brett Hinds, how would Mastodon sound and recover. Well upon first listening I could hear that the typical Mastodon sound is still very present. Bretts voice is not here, but in the lyrics many times he is remembered (even if the album is also dedicated to  Michele J. Lawrence). I think this one is pretty accessible again, but maybe a bit less so than Hushed and Grim, which came before. The line-up now also holds a permanent Keyboardist in Joao from Pernambuco. That should result in some mood addings on stage. Later I can better compare where this album stands in the Mastodon discography, but first impressions ar every positive for me.

Miscreance: Reminiscence

In Canada Christian picked up the free magazine Absolute Underground, which held an interview with this band. Next steps were checking them out online and ordering the album and while at it, pick up their debut Convergence too. Reminiscence musically is the best tech metal album made so far this year. So fans of Watchtower, should take note. The strange language song titles and lyrics in one case, mean that Cynic also is never too far away I guess. So musically absolutely top, I can imagine the vocals are not for everyone. I believe they fiit well with the music though. With this very intense music a total lenght of 37 minutes is just fine Funny how a coincidental interview encounter, can lead to a new favourite band. 

Nefarious: Addicted to Power

Nefarious are this all star thrash metal line-up band. Last year this album was released with Katon W, de Pena on vcals. I missed it at the time,and got this album now after seeing the band with Sean Rivera on vocals. The band re-released the album with Sean singing and that is the one I got. Now I love Hirax live and Katon is a brilliant showman, but here the mix of thrash metal with more Heavy Metal vocals is what makes this album so good. Well the line-up also helps as when you can name drop Exodus, Death Angel, Blind Iluusion and Heathen as past bands of members, something must be right. Here I saw the live show first and than got to know the album later, highly recommended.

North Sea Echoes: How to Cast a Shadow

The second album of this band, which is mainly Jim Matheos and Ray Alder of Fates Warning fame. This is their second album and it again is far aaway from anything Fates Warning. Jim's project Tuesday the Sky at times comes closer and also Chroma Key can be mentioned. Yet, when Ray Alder sings on any album my interest is risen. This time a bit more guitars compared with their debut album Really Good Terrible Things. Still it is no metal and better suited for waking up slowly or nice eveing background music. And man how I would love a Fates Warning farewell tour still.

Todomal: Graveyards of Joy

Now here is a strong candidate for my Doom Metal album of the year. As the name suggests Todomal (All bad) are from Spain and these graveyards do bring tremendous amounts of joy indeed. This is epuic doom, which at times reminds me of Anathema during their best period (Judgement) Some Gothic references too appear at times. The songs are fairly to the point for doom metal with 9 songs clocking in at 43 minutes. The band only consists of two men Wildman and Mile. Still sorry I attended a birthday party the very afternoon they played Baroeg.

Into the Void - de Neushoorn Leeuwarden, 26 September 2026

Into the Void is mainly a stoner and doom festival which is the reason I never attended before. Mind you, I do like both genres, especially live, but won't travel too far for either and Leeuwarden is bloody far (whoever said The Netherlands are tiny?). I actually thought I once visited the festival in the same venue, when I went mainly to see Bell Witch playing Mirror Reaper in full. Turned out that festival was called Into Darkness and it held also more Black metal in the line-up. Actually I do travel for some doom, but than more bands like Sorcerer who mix their doom with Heavy Metal. Today there were two bands whom I would love to see live and that made me train some hours up north: Anciients and Ponte Del Diavolo. I decided not to sleep over in Leeuwarden and last trains already told me I could not see 1000 Mods , Tankzilla and Kryptograf anyway. Pity as what I heard online, these all might have been interesting.

So before going to my two reasons to go, let me quickly share some thoughts of what I did see further. Upon arrival El Altar Del Holocausto were on stage. These Spaniards play instrumental post-rock and what I saw sounded pretty good. Dressed all in white, including covered faces with only eyes out resulted in a nice presentation too. Still shaping your hands in a heartform towards the crowd is not a very mertal. doom or stoner thing to do. Herefater I saw a bit of Komatsu, whom I saw before I believe. This heavy trio from Eindhoven delivered, but I was not standing all that comfortable in the smaller Arena hall. Like more festivals, entering the small hall after a band started and most people arriving from the larger hall want to have a peek, resultsin traffic jammed entrances. Not as bad as de Effenaar, where I saw people being banned from the small hall in the past, still not overly comfy either. I anyway left in time to go see Ponte Del Diavolo.

At 15:00 hours Ponte Del Diavolo hit the stage. The intro was a song sounding fifties and sung in Italian. Tells you something about their not standard presentation and we were in for a treat indeed. The female vocalist calls herself Erba del Diavolo and she does know how to attract attention. Some might not like her presentation when she can play arrogant, bored or cocky at times. I loved her presentation and her voice went from clean to possesed at times, sounding like she had crossed the devil's bridge indeed. In advance I thought I could brush up my rusty hardly existing Italian, but that was impossible sung this fast  or angry. But it is not just Erba who draws attention. In times when bass players suffer and at times disappear (especially among our djenty brothers) Ponte brings along two bassists. This guarantees a heavy sound. The program told us that the band call their music Blackened Post Punk. The cover they played was a Bauhaus song. So very differnet they are and I loved this set. They often played The Netherlands before, glad I finally managed to see them too. Got the Tee in appreciation.

I discovered Anciients only after they released their sensational album Beyond the Reach of the Sun in 2024. They soon became yet another Canadian band among my absolute favourites. They play extreme progmetal,where the balance between clean and fierce vocals should make them acceptable for fans of both styles. Musically they are a fortress, with great double guitar work and at times some keyboards on the background. Today they did fit in the festival (just) as there is some sludge in their progmetal too. Well looking at the reactions in the hall I was not the only one loving this set. Opening with Forbidden Sanctuary and closing with the epic Buried in Sand (thanks Kenny) we got 45 minutes flying by. I never take notes, nor can I name songtitles immediately, but we got a focus on the last two albums and it was great. When not at a festival they get another half hour or so. So I checked options this tour, but that won't work out for me unfortunately. So I shall be back seeing them, when they return on a next tour to The Netherlands. They actuall come back playing Nijmegen at Soulcrusher 10 October, but I have Metal Exeperience Fest obligations that day. If you are free, do go see them. Not often you get to see a band this good from front row, yet with an audience loving their show too. If they than also bring along nice Tees and a beer cooler at the merch stand. it becomes easy to show your appreciation to the band.

After my two highlights of the day I did loose interest a bit. I often suffer from this at a festival so bands better play before my highlights. I did see very little of Coltaine, which surprised on the vocal front. Many female vocalists today and luckily not of the operatic kind, but proper singing and shrieking. At the main stage I did see Belzebong and their instrumental stoner doom sounded very nice. Still after a few songs I went to see if Anciients were at their merch stand and I could speak a bit with Kenny and Brock. I saw a tiny bit from  Spirit Mother's set and liked the doom off Daevar. Still I decided to call it quits soon and went off to the station and train home, arriving at a decent enough time home. One fine day was had and thanks goes out to organizers. If next year they manage to give me two new highlights., I probably shall be back.

Demon & Steelover - Musicon The Hague, 18 September 2026

Demon coming to town. Not something we could say often, I guess never. Even The Netherlands are not all that often visited by the band., As support they brought along Steelover from Liege. A place they are playing both today at the great Golden Age of Rock Festival, which I unfortunately could not attend this year. So a mid road stop in Musicon it was for Demon and if upon entering I feared a very empty venue, it later filled up better. Many people in I knew not from Musicon, but from other  old skool metal parties. My post on our gig app group resulted in Peter and Rene showing up and Hans already confirmed before that Demon was a good excuse for some beers in Musicon.

So Steelover could open the evening for us. Thier first run was from 1982-1986when they released the LP Glove Me. I don't remember ever having heard their name in the eighties. Reformed in 2016 I saw their name appearing on festival posters, but I never saw them live before. Their music is strongly footed in the eighties and their straightforward Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal went down well. They just released a new album Devil's Highway and most songs came form that album. All new to me that did not impact. A nice enough opener that brought what I expected, but did not make me run to the merch stand really.

Demon opened with the expected Night of the Demon and closed with the equally expected (Guest?) One Helluva Night. Inbetween thsoe two classics we got a ride through their now 47 year career from first single Liar until a song from their last 2024 album Invincible. It soon became clear that Demon were in good shape and a very tight band was headed by vocalist and only original band member Dave Hill. He deserves a special mention as I don't see him being mentioned often on discussions of vocalists of respectable age who still did not loose any of their power. Apart from a great performer he also delivers the classics as if we are still in the eighties. Many highlights throughout the set, for me the best came when they reached my favourite album The Plague, which for this evening was turned into The Hague. Title track and Nowhere to Run both stood firm and who does not like shouting along with The Hague?. A very entertaining set by Demon it was and one fine evening in Musicon yet again. 

Raven & Vortex - Musicon The Hague, 8 September 2026

Tuesday night and it was raining cats and dogs. So I was worried about turnout for the great Raven tonight, turned out I was wrong again. A nicely packed Musicon was filled with even different generations all ready for some eighties metal by Raven and Vortex. 

Vortex opened the evening as Vortex, not Metal Bats even if teh merch said Metal Bats.Not sure how their loss of Martjo influences the name under which they perform, but for me Vortex means Open the Gate. They managed to produce one of the cult underground metal clips of the eigties and I believe we even got to see it at Sky TV Monsters of Rock at the time (the show with Amanda Reddington and Mick Wall). So in a way I was this evening waiting for Open the Gate, while knowing they would close their set with this hit. Eighties hard rock/metal we got before and the off the wall presentation made it a nice enough show. Pieter arrived as per his tradition way too late, but just in time to see Open the Gate.

Raven always deliver a good show, giving it their all. As they said today they have been coming to The Netherlands for 45(!) years now and shall keep on returning as long as we want that. Looking at tonight's audience and reactions that shall last a while as in my memory it was more busy now than eight years ago on a Friday night. The band keeps on releasing new albums too, so the set consisted of songs from many different albums. Of course we rocked until we dropped and did so all for onne, but some songs I did not know were nice surprises too (Pick Your Window). The band did give their usual energy with the attitude off what you hear is what is played. They also seemed genuinely pleased that in spite of the awful weather outside it seemed pretty packed on a Tuesday. Anyone watching them running across teh stage, must sympathize with the band and I have no problem seeing them return every few years to Musicon (or elsewhere). Tonight they play Little Devil, so anyone not depending on striking public transport enjoy.

Nefarious & Defazer - Musicon The Hague, 6 September 2026

Nefarious playing Musicon, meant metal royalty was coming to town. This because of the 18 Nefariouses on metal archives we got the one from the USA playing thrash/heavy metal. So introducing the band on drums we have Will Caroll (Death Angel), On bass Tom Gears who played with Blind Illusion. The guitar double means Rick Hunolt (Exodus throughout teh 80's) and Doug Piercy (Heathen among many others). What made the package complete is Sean Rivera on vocals, who adds the heavy metal touch and just released with Coffin Hunters one fine album in Cosmic Dawn. So Sunday afternoon meant Musicon and again it was a pity that the youth of today does not appreciate proper metal.

So it was 15:30 when Defazer hit the stage for an audience mostly off my generation. Defazer are The Hague's leading thrash metal band. I had not seen them for a while and again loved their energetic set, which did include some songs not released yet. It seems a new album is in the writing stages and what we heard so far did sound very promising. A good warm-up for Nefarious they were and yes originally Grindpad were supposed to open the evening, but circumstances forced them to cancel.

After a fairly long break, which was no problem with many usual suspects in this afternoon Nefarious hit the stage. It did not take long for me to realize we would be in for a treat. This is one fine band and their songs were easy on the ears at first hearing for me. Sean Rivera's voice makes them stand out from others, and their full debut album was played (whose new version I picked up with Sean's vocals). Given the band members we also got some covers and Goblin's Blade (Heathen) and Metal Command  from Bonded by Blood seemed good choices. Everyone I spoke with after the show agreed that we got one fine afternoon of prime metal delivered to us. To see a band of this level play Musicon always makeds me smile. Cheers to anyone putting this afternoon together for us.

Exist - Iconic - Karcius - Lex Legion

Some more CD tips from the last months.

Exist - Beyond Purpose

One of the albums I picked up at Progstorm is this EP by Exist, which was released the week before only. I discovered this progressive death metal band in 2017 when they released So True, So Bound. I loved next album Egoiista and missed Hijacking the Zeitgeist due to postage issues (also picked up at Progstrom). I can safely say that since returning from Canada, thsi is the band I played most. Also as I had two new releases. Still trying to figure out why Exist are not huge. Max Phelps is known from his work with Cynic and Death to All. Alex Weber is now also in Revocation and together they play in Wait. Anyway anyone into progressive death metal where both grunts and clean vocals are great try out Exist. Three songs only this time, with in the middle an epic track of almost 8 minutes, like they do so often. And now I know that live they are sensational too.

Iconic - II

Frontiers records love to put together super groups and Iconic is number 872 in that row. As the title states this is their second album. The members are Nathan James (Inglorious) on vocals with further Michael Sweet, Joel Hoekstra, Marco Mendoza and Tommy Alridge completing the band. If you don't know these names you are not into melodic hard rock and can stop reading. I bought this album as it was released at the right time for becoming an often played summer album. Musically you can guess the direction by reading the band member names and Whitesnake can be name-dropped. Is this world shocking original? Of course not. But both performance and songs are so fine, that you gotta love the album. No tours expected I guess, but to be revisited when uplifting moods are required.

Karcius - Black Soul Sickness

Karcius are a long running band from Canada, but I only discovered them with their previous album Grey White Silver Yellow & Gold. I was drawn to the band when reading that their vocalist is Sylvain Auclair from Heaven's Cry fame. Karcius are a bit less metal than that band and play music in the range of heavy prog rock or progmetal light. In heaviness Enchant comes to mind. With this album being more moody also a band like Wolverine pops up. Always a brave move to open with the epic track, but Wallow sets the right mood over 13:28 minutes. Just like the previous one, a very fine album by this band. Maybe time to explore a back catalogue?

Lex Legion - Lex Legion

Anyone into plain old Heavy Metal already owns this album and has read about it. The band is the King Diamond line-up of Them with not King Diamond, but Pagan's Mind's Nils on vocals. All songs very close to four minutes, there is no time wasted in showing off. Mosty fast and the voice of Nils surprised me, as when I saw him with Pagan's Miond a few times I never was this impressed. In the eighties it was the voice of King Diamond that kept me away from Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. Later my mind became more open and I do have the Abigail and Them double. This is must have material for heavy metal fans and I believe that they are talking about touring too. Tees can use the nice logo, but should stay away from the album cover really.

Progstorm - Club Soda Montreal, 21-23 August 2026

Progstorm held it’s second edition in Montreal this August. Second edition it might be, for me this was a long series of firsts. To start with a first visit to Canada. Looking at the program also a first time seeing several bands I never expected to see live. Progstorm would also be my first festival in North America and I was curious to see if they could match enthusiasm of their Southern American cousins. Regarding a progmetal festival this was far from being my first as I do attend the father of them all Prog Power Europe since 2000. Actually two of the Canadian bands who played at PPE recently were The Anchoret and Voidchaser. Members of both bands started off this great initiative of giving Canada it’s own progmetal festival. So reasons enough to book myself a ticket to Montreal and I did not even mention  the PPE delegation coming along, some of whom I never spoke with over the decades in Baarlo so another first.

What definitely also drew my attention is Canada. Many of my favourite bands in several subgenres of metal and hardrock are Canadian. Of Course there is Rush and Triumph too. Annihilator are among my favourite thrashers, Voivod are wonderfull and Beyond Creation is one of my preferred Techdeath bands. Passing the melodic hardrock from Harem Scarem and Alias to the old days of Santers. Even in more recent progmetal years The Anchoret and Voidchaser were both great at PPE and Crown Lands is awesome when they don’t go ambient. Than you have Noor and Karcius and I am skipping so many great bands. Or resuming Canada is great for metal and hard rock bands, so how about a festival? From my progrock side I now that Marillion loved to organize many weekends in Montreal too, but I only attended European versions. After their Montreal version, they even wrote a song about the city, so something must have been OK.

Arriving on the Wednesday night meant I had two days to get used to the local clock and try some local beers. Very nice some of them Brewsky’s. The city itself looked not overwhelming at first arrival, but slowly won me over too. So what possibly could go wrong? Friday came, the sun was out and at 15:00 hours we could head for Club Soda, which was just around the corner from our hotel.

Attending a show in another country is always nice for spotting the differences, or similariies. The program did not state how late doors opened, nor how long bands played, so when we were heading for a birthday cake at Kim's hotelroom, a small queue was waiting already for a closed club soda. Entering ourselves at 15:40 the wristbands were handed out without name-checking. The bars were plenty as we soon found this was not a heavy drinking crowd and the hall looked like Melkweg Max, with more seats above. I would guess these seats were for rotating people who wanted to sit during less interesting bands for them. Some people seemed to prefer a permanent seat and with the tables around it looked comfortable indeed, but a bit far from the stage for me to go up in a show.

Hillward opened the festival. This band was local or at least from Quebec. How I know, well they spoke French to us (tip: don't at an international festival). Their music spoke better as I liked their form of more traditional progmetal as well as their sympathetic presentation. Not boundering breaking original, but a very pleasant opener they were. 

Next on were Fractal Sun. They formed ten years ago, are from Costa Rica and 60% female. Now I am from Holland and we have a whole wave of bands, where female sopranos destroy a good metal band (Epica, Within Temptation, The Gathering, After Forever, Delain). I do understand that this is personal taste, but as soon as Fractal Sun came to the lyrics they were fighting an uphill battle with me. The band themselves looked pretty fine and they fingerpicked like a techmetal band at times. Towards the end vocals also shifted to more variation and I liked them better. In October they play Progpower, so I shall see them again and if I pick a part only, I better watch the final.

Friday started with four bands I did not know on forehand, but Aeternam I checked out on Youtube (still no spotify for me). They are from Quebec City so speaking in French, but progdeathing with oriental influences. The album is symphonic, so no way these four guys could represent all this live without the help of some tapes. Luckily in this case it did not matter much and Aeternam quickly became the first absolute festival highlight to me. This set flew by and before we knew it Constantinople was falling. Got their last CD, to play at home amd relive this fine hour.

For those considering Aeternam heavy, Greylotus from Baltimore upped the heaviness even further. Unfortunately to me this resulted in a sound, where I could not hear much more than a heavy blur. At times the band went calmer and the vocalist sang clean. Like most Deathcore bands the presentation was energetic. Unfortunaly they also proved that both death and metal core are still not among my favourite styles.

After the next break (which were remarkably fast during the day) I would enter known territory, as Vulkan from Sweden would hit the stage. A few years back they were great at Progpower and I do own their last album Technatura. Tonight they impressed again and even more if you consider their guitarist could not make it and Voidchaser came to the rescue. A very fine show of heavy prog they gave us. They also manage to sound like Vulkan, meaning they do have an own sound mainly caused by the voice. I did recognize mosts songs, so Technatura was the base. Touring Europe in November I shall not be around to see them, but definitely worth a visit.

Headliners of Day 1 were Cynic, the band I own full discography off. I saw this line-up twice in recent years. First at Prognosis, whenpart of this line-up was just together and not a machine really. Last year they were much better on tour with Beyond Creation and Rivers of Nihil, but Paul's voice suffered. Tonight was easily the best show I saw in a long time by them. Both Focus and Traced in Air were visited often, but we even got a new song or idea. The band was tight tonight and Max Phelps did up the heaviness when needed. Glad to see Cynic in great shape again. Even so, when a huge image of both Sean's appeared I realized again how much Cynic broke boundaries over time and how unafraid they are of change. What a great way to end Day 1 we got and to our surprise 5 minutes after the show,95% of the people had left the room already. Our tradition of having a beer and day evaluation is obviously not shared in Club Soda. Well staying half on Dutch clock, back to the hotel was the alternative.

Day two started after a walk through the park with a surprise while entering Club Soda. Even wearing a wristband, we were asked to show our day ticket at the entrance. So why the wristbands? Which brings me to another recommendations (not critic) for an even better festival. One side of the balcony was blocked for bands and family. Why? now it was most of the time empty. Bandmember roaming freely through the hall improves the atmosphere and chance to thank them for their set. This day promised to give a lot of reasons for me to thank bands, as the line-up today was for me the main reason to fly to Canada. So curious I was and upon entrance I completed my Dessiderium and Exist collections and got the first band Tee of the weekend.

Before it got exciting we first got to me unknown local opener Chronochromie. Extreme progressive rock and metal music their bandcamp page states and I heard mainly lots of notes being played. Not the easiest band to get into when hearing for the first time and overall I liked the instrumental songs better than the ones with screamo vocals. Warming us up, but not really my thing they are.

The next band were Dessiderium whom released with Keys to the Palace one of my favourite albums of 2025. Now Dessiderium is really Alex Haddad doing everything, so how does he pull it off with a band? Well that quickly became clear was no problem, with some fine artists around him and a very enthusiastic hitting drummer. Alex himself also takes care of vocals and both extreme and clean convinced. Basically Dessiderium were a notch better than I hoped for and my hopes were high. Great band, superb set and get these guys over to Europe I'd say. To make it an even better 45 minutes my team Fluminense were 0-1 behind when Dessiderium started and won 2-1 when they were done.

The party would not be over as next on would be Exist. This band I follow since discovering So True, So Bound. Max Phelps now also played guitars after his vocal parts at Cynic the night before. What a band they are and it soon became clear that also Exist topped my already high hopes. Presentation, songs and setlist were so good, that this show flew by too. When the extreme progmetal is upped by very good clean and grunting vocals you are the right band for me. I got the new EP and the Zeitgeist which I missed  so far due to crazy postage costs. Proudly wearing their Tee at shows to come.

An Abstract Illusion from Sweden came next. Now I was a bit sceptical as their show at Progpower a few years ago, was suffering from sound problems and ended up messy. This after releasing with Woe one of the better albums in the dark extreme prog genre. Today it was for me time for their revanche and man did they deliver. This time a machine bulldozered over the stage and when the vocals needed clean, the bassist stepped in impressive. I was not expecting a show this good and shall now replay their albums when home, with even more interest. Their first North American show became a victory.

Usually during a festival I suffer keeping my interest after an absolute highlight. Now after three highs I could not drop the ball yet again as Anciients came next. This band blends some stoner influences in their extreme prog. The result sounds very interesting and gives them a chance to blow you away for the full hour. With most songs coming from their ridiculous good album Beyond the Reach of the Sun, not much could go wrong really It does not happen often that I get blown away by four bands in a row, but Progstorm managed to pull that off. The good news, next month Anciients come to The Netherlands.

And than Car Bomb had to close the day. Well without a chance for me after such a day. I saw Car Bomb last year at Complexity fest and was not so much impressed. I can see they can play and all, but the style just does not do much for me. So after a long day and halfway their set I decided to join Esther and Michel for a bite in a sportsbar. Car Bomb were popular enough, but after so many highlights I was not open for a band I do not know or care for much. What a beautifull day of extreme progmetal we got and ready for a more traditional progmetal day 3 I was.

Day three started with lesser weather, so no long walk. Watching English football while trying my first poutine in a sportsbar was the program. That would be my last poutine too, as my taste is apparently not local. I forgot to take a picure of the bands playing at the entrance (rain) and knew I had to show my QR code for day three again. Today would bring progmetal, so bring it on.

Sky Passage from Quebec opened the day. I did not listen to anything beforehand so let them surprise me. They opened very calm with only violin and keyboards. But after a short while 5 more men followed and we had a full stage. They played progrock and I do like my progrock at times. A nice long song opened and almost closed the set as it wasreally long. After yesterday's storms this calm opening was welcome to me.

And than it was time for some nostalgia with Heaven's Cry. They had not played for 8 years and would celebrate 30 years of Food for Thought Substitute their classic debut album. The band played PPE twice and were very pleased to see two organizers of that festival in the crowd, thanking them plus some three times for their presence . Regarding the show I can be short. How is it possible that after an 8 year hiatus the band sounded so tight and good. One strong point of them has always been that with Pierre and Sylvain they have two great vocalists in the band. For me one image symbolized it all. The Progstorm logo with bandnames behind the band showed an angel. The apostrophe of the band name, was placed as if the angel was crying one tear. A show to get emotional about indeed. now all that we miss is a return to Baarlo. And if you did find the band sympathetic on stage, at the merch stand they sold hoodies for 12 euros and T-shirts for 6. Unfortunately not in my size. 

Nospun came on next and also they played PPE before. Only last year so not that nostalgic. Like last year, I again loved their show, while not being sure if at home their music works for me too.The best part is that they obviously do not take matters to seriously, while in the meantime playing very well. When they needed a heavy voice, again Chad Voidchaser came to the rescue. A very entertaining set by Nospun we got. They even got moshpits going, which I was not expecting with this kind of music.

Hereafter we would enter unknown territories for me again as I did not pre-listen much to Dawn of Ouroboros. That was a surprise, as they were very loud and the longhaired vocalist (as in knee low) screamed angry at us, while moving over the stage. For me it was a bit much in the end, so I used halfway an escape to find some food. 

Wilderun I do know and love, so moving more upfront again was the thing to do. They gave us an overview of their discography and early in the set, my favourite Wilderun song Far From Where Dreams Unfurl was played. For the band today was a special show, as it was their last with Dan on bass. Giving him a Wilderun fish on stage and  us a great show was the result. After the show I got to talk with them and the wait is now for a new album plus a tour. Curious in which country I shall see them next, as this third show I attended, meant country #3.

And than it was over and we gave our applause. Pure Reason Revolution were the closing band. I saw them touring their debut in 2006 and at PPE a few years back. So I knew they are not fully my thing, so no need to judge anything. Their calm music did go down well with their fans, while I stayed at the back talking with Wilderun and friends mostly. Now Canada has it's own progmetal festival and they can be proud of what they put together in two editions only. For next year a movie introduced Native Construct as first band. Now that is a surprising band I almost forgot about. As Christian said, if  Watchtower comes, we have to be back. Well time shall tell, as Montreal is not around th ecorner, but Progstorm is here to stay. A huge thanks to Jici and Eddy for giving is this very nice weekend and I hope to return one day.