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.
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