Ultima Ratio Fest 2025 - Tivoli/Vredenburg Utrecht, 29 September 2025

Ultima Ratio Fest is a metal package of different styles travelling Europe in autumn. Today Iotunn were for me the reason to go, but with also Soen on the bill, this could be seen as a sort of ProgPower warm-up show. A Monday night holds a risk, but the Ronda hall filled up pretty nice. Tickets for the package were fairly priced given you got four bands.,T-shirts at major tours not so much. I travelled alone, but knew I would meet friends and before even entering I already saw Ton and Peter making their way up to Ronda too.

What if you have four bands and the one that made you go opens and only gets half an hour to play? Well enjoy the hell out of these 30 minutes Iotunn who once agan proved to be a force on stage with long epic progmetal anthems. Most remarkable to me was that without vocalist extraordinaire Jón Aldará I was expecting differnces in the overall sound. Well Morten not only came close he managed the swap between the dramatic clean and grnts also without great problems. 30 minutes in Iotunn's case meant three songs only, but I got to see Kinship Elegiac live. That must be the one of the best break-up songs this century culminating in a desperate cry out of You Left Me! So yes Iotunn delivered again and I am sorry I won't be around when they get more playing time at Brainstorm in November.

After such a high a low must follow. Equilibrium from Germany formed in 2001, but I never heard any music by them until now. Two gitarists and no bass. A folky dressed stage and an enthusiastically shouting vocalist. Yes I did see they brought energ and people jumped (da fok up?), but with me this did not click. The metalcore leanings and folky tapes were just not my cuppa.

Soen followed being teh lightweight on the bill style-wise. Now with Soen I have some history, resultng in anger issues. Their frst appearances in The Netherlands were at ProgPower, where they were received with open arms twice. Hereafter they decided to play The Netherlands three times during Progpower weekend, but in other venues. To me that is showing the finger to your original fans. Soen also belong to me in the category of progmetal bands I buy three CD's from and than stop as I find hardly playing any. This while live I still can enjoy the shows (other examples of such bands Leprous, Vola, Kingcrow or Voyager). Antagonist is to me possibly their best song and they played it as second. During the song Joel went to say hallo to Henriette and Harry who are the most travelling to see Soen fans around. So a nice gesture. Final note to Andrew: Yes the black flag was waved again, still no bloody clue what it is all about.

Headliners today were Dark Tranquility who quickly proved why they were this. Their set consisted of three blocks. First five songs of 30 year old The Gallery. Then five songs of 20 year old Character.Finally closing with five newer songs. The result of this build-up was to me that through the set the energy levels slowly reduced. Still I did like the whole show and what a good presentation this band holds. Main man and oldest member is vocalist Mikael Stanne, who with his Jesus with beer belly looks knows how to work his audience. Dark Tranquility gave a great show and all seemed to be pleased with this Monday night well spent. On the train back with Frank and Arno I worried about turn out in Musicon this very same evening.

Jack the Joker - Martyr - Pentesilea Road - Philosophobia

A Progmetal extravaganza this time with four albums you should check out.

Jack the Joker - The Devil to Pay in the Backlands

Jack the Joker are a band from Fortaleza Brazil, formed in 2012 and releasing ther debut album in 2014. For me they were a new band, also probably as Fortaleza is not around the corner from Rio and I never saw them touring around. Well late or not at the party, this album is an absolute feast. Progmetal in the original style which was big in the nineties. At times a bit heavier and at times reminding me of Pain of Salvation in their best years. 11 songs mostly around the 5 minute mark with two epics in XV 8:56 and closer Hope lasting 13:00. So if you like strong vocals, solid musical performances and songs with hooks and melodies you should simply try this album out. Jack the Joker are the next progmetal band on Frontiers Records which means that there must be chances to get them over to Europe. Especially a tour with DGM should be a nice label package. And if Europe is too far, maybe I can convince Josie we need a small holiday to beautiful Ceara, when in Brazil.

Martyr - Dark Believer

What is Martyr doing in a progmetal extravaganza?  I know, but they just released rather strong Dark Believer, which gets it's live presentation tonight at P60. Further when you hear the opening song starting a hint to Queensryche is more than present. Further the middle part of Cemetery Symphony screams Screaming in Digital. But overall Martyr play Heavy Metal with speed and power tendencies at times. Personally I think Dark Believer a great album again and the current line-up is a fine one. Let's see if they can stick together for more albums. Pretty sure I will see Martyr performing the se songs any day soon, so something to look out for.

Pentesilea Road - Sonnets from the Drowsiness

It was early 2021 when Pentesilea Road released their full lenght debut album. Turned out that while Italian main men Vito lived just around the corner. So occassionally when meeting him at shows I heard the new album was progressing till finished. What I did not expect was that we would get over 100 minutes of progmetal of the lighter and melodic kind. This time a real band performing with no guests performances I believe. Weird is that while I love the voice of Michele Guaitoli it is the instrumentals that speak loudest to me. Not unlike the debut really. Yet with 18 songs I shall need much more time to grasp it all. With me going to Brazil and Portugal and Vito passing Italy I did not get a physical copy, but I found that when abroad my bandcamp app is a main source of music I play, so it will spin around many times still.

Philosophobia - The Constant Void

Philosophobia debuted in 2022. I heard the album online, but never got round to purchasing it. Strange as their style is the progmetal I love. Being an international band, mainly from Germany the one band member I did know is Dominik on vocals. Giving us early this century some real gems with Wastefall. So on the vocal department no worries, also on the full album the band is on a high. This is what one can call proper progmetal. An instrumental short opener, a heavy opening track with great hooks and than some ballad alike work and closing the album with a song of 20 minutes, where parts of the album highlight The Forgotten Part I are coming back as it is called part II. I guess that ProgPower 2026 can not afford to skip this band really. Just to keep the old school progmetal fans happy. 

Mearfest Space - Queens Hall Nuneaton, 29&30 August 2025

Mearfest the lovely charity NWOBHM festival hosted by Brain and Claire Mear. Over the past ten years it was dedicated to their stillborn daughter Molly and the legacy became great with the powerfull hand with her name as symbol of it all. Mearfest Space was this year's edition called and it is the final year remembering Molly. The festival travelled across the UK over the years, but the last three years they found ther final home in Queens Hall Nuneaton. I do understand that choice as this venue has lots going for it. First there is the hall itself with a good capacity for this event and downstairs there is Rockpub the Crew where you can chat, drink and even watch the footy if you feel like it. Last year was my first trip to Nuneaton and it felt great. So this year Magchiel joined me again for a weekend in Nuneaton. Of the old versions I did attend the London Borderline one, as well as the Slough edition. If there is one thing all Mearfests did have in common it must be the atmosphere. You are more than warmly welcomed by Brian and Claire and I don't now if it is the good cause or the good music, but everyone is so friedly and open to each other, that this is really a special event. So Friday 29 August it meant off to Nuneaton and with flights and trains on time we arrived around six in the hotel. This year no Chase Inn for us, but the newly opened Hampten, which had the huge advantage of being just around the corner of the Queens Hall.

Inside the Queenshall first memory to come back was that the floor gets sticky. Turns out that carpet does not work all too well with spilled beer, so we decided to drink carefully over the weekend. The weekend was introduced by MC Neil, who wrote a poem on Mearfest that very day. Nice touch I thought. Opening band of the weekend were Hedra from Norfolk. Spoiler alert, next year's Mearfest outfit award goes to Hedra. They took the space element serious, but somehow I can't imagine these alien suits were very comfortable. I did not know Hedra and went in open minded and open eared. Turns out that their Heavy Metal was nice enough, but inbetween songs they got some hick-ups. Good opener who apart from the stage outfit award also were candidate for most diverse merch stand award.

The next band would be more known as More already formed in 1979. It showed that this was a band with many years of performing under their belts. We got a set of old songs as their two albums so far are from 1981 and 1982. Well guess what a new album is on the way making them candidate for the longest gap between albums ever. I don't own their old Lp's, but I loved their set and it was clear that the band loved being on stage as well. For Magchiel the best band of the Friday, for me let's wait and see what was yet to come. This set was exactly what I love too about Mearfest. You get bands I did not see playing live before and who bring me straight back to the early eighties when it all started for me too. 

Headliners of the Friday were Sacred Alien. I had never heard of them until they were announced for Mearfest. I checked out their 2021 full lenght The World Doesn't Care About You and bought it after hearing. So my hopes for a good show were there, until Sacred Alien really took us to space and back. I loved every minute of this set and this mix of great music blended with an interesting presentation and a healthy dose of humor, made this one of the weekend's highlights to me. I shall keep watching the Skies and got their EP and Tee after the set was finished. A great first night was had and the next day lots more was to come.

Saturday started of with a full English Breakfast and a small walk through Nuneaton. The park was nice and missed by us last year and a visit to Waterstones resulted in a recent book by Sebastian Faulks for me. Than we split. I know Magchel for 55 years now and we have little surprises. He does not love 12 hours standing on his feet and watch bands like I do. So he prefers to blend metal with a football match. Last year he field tripped to Leicester City, this year it was  Wolves'turn. Now my favourite team is Fluminense and Wolves bought our two best players at a bargain. So Magchiel put on my Flu shirt, which resulted in zero comments, not even by Andre or Arias. Well my problem was elsewhere as even loving it, how would I survive twelve hours in Queens Hall and The Crew?

I did start early enough as before the music there would be the Gathering from 12:00-14:00. Brian not only hosts a festival he also writes poems and performed some of them live on stage. I did want to see this even knowing  matters might get emotional. Let me first put some personal background here . Just like Brian I got seriously into Heavy Metal through seventies hard rock and than the NWOBHM got me hooked for life. Just like Brian I am also the father of a stillborn daughter. Our girl was called Taina and she would have been 21 by now. Just like Brian I also faced times in my life were I used writing poetry as a tool to give things a place.  Obviously they tend to be in Dutch, but when some years ago a Mearfest compilation was released and Praying Mantis song Naked was on it I did write a poem to commemortae what would be Taina's 17 birthday. As I might reach some audience here I just repeat same hereunder. Meanwhile Brian did touch us with his recitals. Being poems on people lost around him, this only could get emotional for him too and respect for pulling this off. So here is my poem on our daughter Taina's 17th birthday who wa p resnet on the huge banner behind Brian. feel free to skip.
 

17

Seventeen this week and almost a woman

And I can’t stop thinking, How would you be?

You were given no chance that black February

Now we shall never know, nor shall we ever see

Both the sadness and anger passed by over time

We could still cry ‘bout injustice, all being unfair

We had to simply move on, living our own lives

Knowing you wouldn’t join us, never be there.

And onward we went into different countries

Only certainty now, life would not have been same

No Beja or Portugal and who knows what else not

No Taina amongst us led to a whole different aim.

During dark end February, everything’s coming back

Hopelessly desperate, the fact we’d stay three

Accepting life’s path seventeen years down the line now

All I wanted to know is, How would you be?

A great cook, into movies just like your mother?

Or the brains of a genius like your older brother?

We can only make guesses how your future would be

Who knows I was lucky, you’d love metal like me.

In the end does it matter how you would turn out?

As long as you’re happy, healthy and mentally strong

I accept everything, even what we’ll never know

And that shall never heal fully, cause it’s so bloody wrong

After the emotional openin Clientele made matters a little bit lighter, even if they also remembered two lost bandmates during their set. Just like last year they gave us half an hour of acoustic songs, which stood really well due to the strong vocals over the nice guitars. Guests would appear and the mood was set for another day of Mearfest.

First band on were Incubus Lovechild. I knew nothing of them before and let them surprise me. That morning in the elevator of my hotel I met a family where father and daughter were wearing a bandshirt of Incubus Lovechild. So I asked if they were with the band. The man replied I am Incubus Lovechild, which sounded a tat arrogant to me. Tunrs out he was right as Incubus Lovechild is a one man project. So there he was with guitar and microphone and some boxes. Rather interesting it was, but I must say I preferred the songs where he played solo guitar over the ones where he sang playing chords only. Vocals went spacy at times by effects and the space theme was met. A nicely different opener.

Next band were The Dead Can Wait from Reading. I checked out their 2024 album In Lumine from 2024 on Youtube and new I probably would get it at Mearfest. This was a truly nice surprise indeed as it turned out that TDCW were a force on stage. The band might be young, the members were not and the music sounded like the eighties as well. for most present that is a positive thing and they went down pretty well So yes I got their CD after the show and enjoyed a first proper metal set of the day.

Bleak House played Keep it True 2024. One of the many bands from the early NWOBHM days that I missed completely at the time. They were formed in 1972. Called it quits in 1983 and reformed in 2020. Three early members in it seems and yet another great surprise we got. This band were tight and heavy and the crowd screamed Bleak House Bleak House at just the right moments. It seemed to me that this band drew a few extra fans in for the day and they were a huge succes indeed. Loved their set, would check their merch later and rushed out at the end for a quick bite.

That is when what shall go into my gig history as the Nuneaton Pizza incident happened. I crossed the road as it rained and ordered a pizza. Seconds after me some ten more orders arrived and I sat with the German delegation of Siegfired and friends. I was a bit surprised when Siegfried's piza arrived first, but the place looked chaotic, so no alarm bells ringing yet. Later I saw already what happened they forgot my pizza and burned it, so they made a new one. In the end I received two pizzas, one black and one normal. So the quick bite took almost an hour and as a result I missed big part of the Desolation Angels set. Luckily I saw them before, but unfortunately I love their music with nods to Saxon and the last few songs proved they are still great on stage. Another side effetct of the incident was that when I finally returned to the merch tables Bleak House had packed and gone. I wanted to get their compilation CD, but that shall stay for a next time.

Now the night would start and the metal would become melodic mainly. First band were The Deep and I saw them before in Musicon and at Mearfest. From that line-up only Tony Coldham is still around. Luckily as with his voice alone a good show is guaranteed. The set was build up mostly around their full lenght Premonition, but also here we got a new song. That promised more for any upcoming release. Three of the members of The Deep played with Tytan recntly and they did stand still at the recent sad loss of Kev Riddles before playing You Take My Breath Away. Tony was visibly emotional as we understood, but still he pulled it off well vocally. Their set flew by and I was remembered why I loved the Deep live before.

The next band Stormchild also had a short run from 1979-1982. They reformed since 2016 and brought a first and last to the festial:. keyboards on stage. I only heard of them when they got announced for Mearfest and bought album Lightning Never Strikes Twice after hearing it online. This band plays on the more melodic side of NWOBHM, but they were among my absolute highlights of the weekend. Performing extremely well individually it was here that I noticed that we got only great frontmen through the weekend and Col Berry was certainly no exception. If I had one complaint it must be that their T-shirt was not as awesome as their set. So Magchiel decided to buy them a drink instead. Very nice guys too they turned out to be and you get to love Mearfest for introducing bands like this to me. A bit a repeat of Gypsy's Kiss last year they turned out to be, both musically as well as being good company.

Headliner of the day and the festival were Praying Mantis. They played after the raffle, where the orange battle vest surprisingly did not go to The Netherlands. Praying Mantis are also partially dutch with Jaycee and Hans in the band. I saw them before and knew they were a good choice to close the festival. Lots of albums to pick from, with obviously their classic debut Time Tells No Lies at the core. A full set they got and the 90 minutes passed by in a blink. Many albums got visited and a well build set ended with Children of the Earth. And than it was over and another wonderful weekend was had. Magchiel and I went to the Crew with John, only to find that this year no metal covers band played, but a DJ going through classic pop rock songs. Closing down the pub we were pleased with yet another great Mearfest. So thanks to Biran and Claire, all the staff and volunteers at Queens Hall and the Crew who were so welcoming. And of Course the bands, with no miss inbetween them giving us lots of hours to love. Next year Mearfest shall continue, but no longer in memory of Molly. I will make the effort to be there again, but only time shall tell (no lies) if it works out again.