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.
