Yes I know the festival is called Dutch Doom Days and a two day event. Yet I had a family weekend with Josie and Tiago, so only after bringing them to the airport and Leiden student room re-decorating I could head to Baroeg. In spite of some competition on the concert front (Myrath 013, Leporus/The Ocean Nobel) I opted for Baroeg as I wanted to see Swallow the Sun again and was curious about the others I could still see.
Entering Baroeg Polish Monasterium were on stage. First obvious standout was the strong voice of the vocalist. Frank told me that on Saturday he was on the same stage with his other band Evangelist. This band played doom heavy metal in the style of Scandinavians like Sorcerer, Candlemass or Krux. Not quite at that level yet, still sounding welcoming and a good belated start of the festival to me.
Oceanwake from Finland were next. This band went for the epic and long building approach. A nice mix of grunt and clean voices over layers and layers of doom. This was soon to be the first winner of the day to me as they managed to get my full attention in spite this being all new long songs to me. At times including some post metal atmospheres this mix worked very well and went down good with the audience.
Swedish October Tide play Doom Death and were the heaviest band of the day that I saw. This style brings other levels of energy coming off the stage and I thought that contagious. Two guitars bringing at times melodic intermezzo's we mainly doomed on heavy. When the whole country starts complaining about the weather (it's that time of year again) asking if we want 12 days of rain is a dubious question. Luckily the killer song with that title made us forgive them. I did not remember that ex Katatonia members founded October Tide until Alex told me. Nowadays obvious a heavier version of melancholy in this band I liked the full set and got their latest album :In Splendor Below after the gig. Definite highlight.
The reason I took a train to Rotterdam was Swallow the Sun. Their last album "When a Shadow Is Forced Into the Light" is one of my favorites of the year. When earlier this year they toured the album with none other than Oceans of Slumber they skipped Holland. So I drove down to Bochum to catch this bill. Now in Baroeg I did not want to miss out and what a beautiful set we got. Opening with the title track of the last album the sound was perfect. The mix of sad pieces and heavy outbursts came over strong and all individual instuments were clear in the mix. Lost & Catatonic followed from their incredible triple piece of art Songs from the North. A setlist build around their last album went in the end back to early years. I loved this show from start to finish and saw a band that should be able to reach so many varied genre fans Alex already suggestd PPE to look into them and I guess he is right there. If there were complaints it must have been the lack of XXL size of the neat baseball shirt. And one tip to the man behind the keys with the strong clean voice. If you wear a beanie under a wide hanging black hoody, the thought of a headbanging nun never really left my mind. Swallow the Sun were righteous headliners to me and I hope to see them returing to Holland next year. So Dutch Doom Days was a success again. Since I am not a specialist in this genre I always discover nice bands that are new to me and the atmosphere in the most metal venue of Holland was as good as always. Thanks to the organizers and see you at DDD2020.
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