Crown Lands - 66 Crusher - DHG

Three different angles of looking at progmetal.

Crown Lands - Fearless

The orgins of Progmetal? well you better read Jef Wagner's Mean Deviation to have extended input on that discussion. For me the first candidates I heard in the seventies are the first Uriah Heep albums and the Rush epic albums. Now Rush stayed always great but for many their peak was at the Caress/2112/Kings/Hemispheres era. For those fans the opening track Starlifter: Fearless Pt.II with 18:22 minutes holds everything you might have missed over the past 45 years. Is this a copycat or a very good band? For me the latter and what is more impressive they are a duo. The remainder of the album is also very much old Rush style, with in Right Way Back some Led Zep blended  in. This is the second full lenght by Cody Bowles and Kevin Comeau after also four EP's and one live album. I don't know how many times per year you can talk about a candidate for album of the year, but this late discovery made me very happy as it should put all 70's Rush fans a smile on their face. 

66Crusher - Limbo

These Norwegians play Progressive thrash metal according to Metal Archives. I do hear some traces of thrash, but in general it is progmetal of the heavier kind. Exactly up my alley so to say and with vocals being strong too this is another winner. This also is another band that exists over 20 years with Limbo being their 4th full lenght. Released in Feruary this year I only recently bumped into them while surfing the internet. Makes you wonder how many bands must be out there, you love or would love if only knowing of them. Not all is painted Black coming out of Bergen.

DHG - Black Medium Current

DHG or Dodheimsgard are also new in my CD collection, but I knew of them long time and saw them playing Musicon a few years ago. That was an interesting set and this new album is a great journey for the open minded music lover. They started of as a Black Metal band, while nowadays avant-garde prog is heavily blended in. This mix is leading to some beautiful atmospheric pieces, which can blast full out at times. Most songs have plenty of time to build up and calm down. An album to play many times, before grasping all and recommended for those who dare to appreciate the different..

 

Ross the Boss, Sanhedrin & Savage Existence - Baroeg Rotterdam, 9 May 2023

By moonlight we ride, ten thousand side by side. Well the cloudy day hid any moonlight and the ten thousand turned out to be a hundred, but you get the geste. Baroeg was having a party for a reduced army of the immortals to celebrate the music of Manowar in the eighties through Ross the Boss. I don't know why Baroeg was so empty, but the people I know from greater Rotterdam or those who always walk around when eighties metal is on the bill were amost all not there. Maybe WASP celebrating 40 years drifted some to Eindhoven. Anyway Magchiel and I were looking forward to this one. The last time we saw Manowar together was in 1989. This year in February we tried going to Manowar, but I was in Portugal and Magchiel had work blocking the fun, so this was an almost as good alternative for about 22% of the price.

The first band of the evening came from Costa Rica, which might have been the first band from that country I saw. Savage Existence played a thrashy kind of metal, which got me confused at times. I mean during the last song when they started singing I want to be a Rock Star they sounded like Kiss. At other times they went much heavier with vocal acrobatics touching slam death at times. A nice warm-up, but not a band that made me run to the merch stand.

Second band Sanhedrin I saw before in Little Devil. I remember how I liked them at Mario's birthday party and picked up a CD afterwards. This week was the first time I revisited their second album, but live this band stands firm. No bullshit, no constant request for cclapping, just straight forward rock and roll of the heavy kind. Erica Stolz is an example how I like to hear my female vocalists. plain heavy metal without anything fairytale or operatic voices. If you than add guitars and drums of the highest level, we got a top performance of a sympathetic band. I did not pick up there CD this time, but would love to see them returning fast.

And then it was up to Ross the Boss to make us lose our voices. Manowar in the eighties means battle epics of the shout along kind and shouting we did. Baroeg might have been far from packed, the noise after the show told it all. Thoseewho came to see Ross the Boss got what they wanted and more. Main point when playing Manowar songs is that the vocals must be ace. Marc Lopes proved he is no Eric Adams (as who is apart from Eric Adams), but he stood firm throughout the set. Helped by the many chorusses sung by the audience as well. The setlist was a feast of recognition, but one comment I need to make. Manowar ignored Into Glory Ride many times and now Ross the Boss did the same. It remains beyond me why you would skip your best album altogether. Highlight now was a pretty neat version of Battle Hymn, what an alltime classic that remains. Another plus compared to Manowar is that Joey de Maio does not play with Ross. Therefore we get no long bass-solo, nor endless speeches about true or false metal. This was one evening filled with heavy metal and no bullshit. If Ross himself can actually talk, we do not know, but his pointing and smiling were good to watch. Kill with power Die! Die!

O.R.K & LizZard - de Boerderij Zoetermeer, 6 May 2023

Noone understands the music world and how popularities function. Or why do some bands grow big and others remain under so many radars? O.R.K. is way up there on the list of criminally overlooked bands. I guess touring and appearing might help, but looking at tonight's attendance we are not fully there yet. The good thing is that I did go see O.R.K. with Hans and Jonathan, while Ton had to cancel last minute. All three normally have several forms of metal as their go to nusic, So O.R.K. do appeal to heavier fans. By my mistake I did not ask Peter to join me. He is more into alternative guitar rock bands Hardrock stopped for him with UFO and the likes. I am sure he would have loved O.R.K. and probably would appreciate LizZard as well. Long introduction short, why are O.R.K. not playing Pinkpop mainstage at peak hours? I am sure that if known they would appeal to a wide arrange of fans. For now they remian our little secret for those in the know. Their European tour kicked of some days before Prognosis a few weeks ago. That Sunday had for me with Voivod and O.R.K. two bands to look out for most. Unfortunately there was an overlap and I could not walk out of the spell Voivod put over us. So seeing only the last 70% from a busy balcony is hardly a full concert experience. Now in a Boerderij with plenty of space we could get close to the stage and see what was going on during their set. O.R.K. are masters in going from the beautiful to the full out blast, which blows you away. Amazing good vocal performance by LEF and also Carmelo as second voice. The instrumental domination can not be an issue when you have Colin Edwin on Bass and Pat Masteletto on drums. Announcing songs and words of thanks were divided over the band as well. If you than add good songs you understand we had a perfect set. Only point you can raise is that the first two albums were ignored and I would love a Funfair inbetween. With one hour only this was not that strange really. Hoping they keep on growing slowly as a full house would have made the night even  better,

This was a double headline tour and LizZard were going last tonight. I managed to miss this band three times over the past year, but tonight there was no escaping. At Comendatio they played the day I did not see as I opted for Haken, Kandia and Godsticks day. Then they supported Soen during ProgPower weekend, so another miss. At Prognosis I came close, but the packed small hall stopped me from entering while arriving late. So now I could see them and realized I might not have missed all that much after all. Main problem was that O.R.K. had just been brilliant with some very strong vocals. LizZard turned out to have vocals as their weakest link for me. While the main voice of the guitarist is average, the second voice I could hardly hear. The songs were all new to me and I heard some I liked better than others. The acoustic guitar ones made the mood lower as well, while the first song thereafter with the guitar loops was pretty nice. All in all decent music, but not really for me. So time to get our last beer and head home, when the barman charged me a few euros too many. In these bloody cashless days he could not return me the money, so offered two additional beers on the house (well I paid part of them). That meant one randstadrail later home, but pleased with a good evening of music in a far too empty casual Friday Boerderij (thanks for that one Jonathan). 

 

Raven, Vicious Rumors & Overruled - Musicon The Hague, 1 May 2023

A Monday night in weeks filled with gigs. You might think a risky affair, but with bands like Raven and Vicious Rumors on the bill, many found their way to Musicon. Turned out they all were right, as yet another highlight in gig year 2023 was celebrated. Originally I was also intending to open my HM B&B last night, but a last minute decision of a manager changed that plan. Raises the question if we need managers and as a result I now will eat the cake that Josie baked for Raven's breakfast alone.

A long evening, so an early start at 19:30 when Overruled kicked of. While Geoff Thorpe later in the evening called them local openers, they come from as far as you can drive in The Netherlands. They did present us another fine opening slot of 30 minutes, with their thrash sounding good and necks could slowly warm up.

With a double headliner, the question is who goes first and is that bad? Did not matter much as with early finish all could catch their transport home. Vicious Rumors  came, saw and conquered. Ronnie Munroe now on vocals was top and the band  stayed in their early years only. When they played songs like Abandoned and Digital Dictator I realized that maybe this style of metal is the one closest to my heart. Still I never attended Keep It True or Headbangers Open Air, while those line-ups are usually filled with bands playing NWOBHM and US Metal. The setlist was great, the band in form and the atmosphere even better. Ton later wondered if a trip to Little Devil coming Friday is an option. I already am in doubt between Musicon BloodofJupiter or de Helling Mol/Countless Skies, so let's not add more options and doubts. This does not mean that anyone being in the area should not visit Vicious Rumors Friday. I can promise they will be better than all bands playing our national liberation day festivals that day combined. So March to Little Devil or Die.

After a real high Raven had to close the night. Can they follow this up? Yes of course they can as their athletic rock is always a party. Their new (since 5 years) drummer Mike Heller bringing the power and the brothers Gallagher running like it is 1983 still. Talking about 1983 it is 40 years ago that Raven toured the USA with a certain Metallica opening their Kill 'em All For One Tour. This weekend Metallica played two nights in the Arena, while Raven played Musicon, Little Devil and Hedon. At the same time I think most agree that the last three Raven albums are much more relevant than Metallica's latest output (since Master of Puppets I know). While on stage Raven still give it all and their energy is contagious. Tonight's set held the full All For One album. So we had two great headliners on a Monday night. Even Aardschok came by with a large delegation, so Musicon will make their debut in their live review section. In three weeks time another Metal Monday awaits when Exciter and Artillery come by. Already looking forward to that one.

Threshold, Virtual Symmetry & Oddland - de Boerderij Zoetermeer, 21 April 2023

An evening of proper old style progmetal in de Boerderij headed by the mighty Threshold was a no-brainer to me. Last time they toured through The Netherlands was 2017 after releasing Legends of the Shires. That marked the return of Glynn Morgan on vocals and he was in Weert a bit uncomfortable at the time. Curious how he would be now, as Dividing Lines to me also was an improvement from the already good Legend of the Shires. But first there were two supports.

Oddland

I saw these Fins before, but do not really follow them in a sense of buying albums. Upon arrival first thing standing out was the fairly empty hall. Had Threshold been away too long? Well luckily that changed over the evening to a pretty good packed hall. Oddland meanwhile started treating us on their progmetal with a set promoting their 2022 album Vermillion. As I don't know any of their music I started blank and was not overly impressed by the first song. This improved however, throughout the set. An added altsax and lots of double guitar fingerpicking riffs made it an enjoyable set. Even if at times I had the impression that some guitars came from tape. Nice opener they were.

Virtual Symmetry

This Swiss/Italian band opened late last year for Evergrey and were a few months later back already. I remembered a decent show, with a bit too many requests for clapping or shouting along. So when they came up and the drummer asked us to clap I thought counting the times they asked for this (see pic), but I stopped at five. Overall their presentation was sympathetic and their music good. They know how to play, but the songs did not really stuck in my head. When the singer stated that Bambi Galore in Hamburg was loud the day before asking us to shout loud, he should realize that where I see Bambi hosting many metal events, de Boerderij is more a classic rock venue, in the sense that half the audience is not into metal. So the hey hey shouting was limited. Finally asking us to support our local venues was not my case tonight as I would love to see Xeno in Musicon, but Threshold is of the Champions League category.

Threshold

Let me put my personal ballpark as Threshold fan first. It was 1993 and Manus CD store had moved from the border of town to the centre of The Hague. One day entering Kees told me that since I loved bands like Queensryche, Fates Warning, Dream Theater I should listen to this British progmetal band Threshold who just released Wounded Land.   Well that was a blow and I recognized Damian Wilson's voice, whom I had seen wit Landmarq before in de old Boerderij. The rest they say is history. A year later Psychedelicatessen was released with Glynn Morgan on vocals and in 1995 they came touring Europe and I visited a few shows, with the Twilight Zone in Wassenaar 7 April being my first. This means 28 years and two weeks ago I saw them for the first time, which proves both band and I are getting old. Later that tour I attended shows in Vienna and Scum Katwijk. Unfortunately both times Glynn had voice problems and only Psychotic Waltz performed. The show in Vienna Pieter and I attended as Ajax had to pick up a Champions League trophey later that week. We talked football with Threshold both in Vienna and Katwijk and they supported Ajax in that final. Fast forward 28 years and Johanne James thinks it is wise to enter stage wearing a black Feyenoord training jacket. Conclusion mixing music and football not necessary But this is all about the music and how were Threshold this evening? Well here the surprise starts as last night on my way home I saw how friends on the right sde of the hall complained about the sound. This while I saw the best Threshold show I can remember in years and  those around me agreed. Glynn was more comfortable than at the Legends tour and the band were in peak form. Bad clothing or not Johanne showed again he is among the best drummers and performers behind his modest kit and Karl Groom is one of them unsung guitar heroes. The sound issues I read about were Steve Anderson's bass being too loud and Richard West'keyboards unheard. Well to me the bass was not dominant and keyboards might have been low, but I focus more on guitars anyway. Best example of the latter was in the encore when King of Nothing was presented in a heavier and thus even better version to us. An absolute highlight next to probably Defense Condition and Lost in Translation. The whole set was build mainly around the last two albums. At times i did not recognize which song it was, but just wait for the last line of teh chorus and 9 out of 10 times they mention teh title for you. With a band like Threshold and so much to choose from no problem for me. Next tour a trip through history again please and Slipstream remained in and is an eternal favorite. So when it was all over, Peter, Pieter and Ton agreed we just saw a very good Threshold show indeed and we will be back when they come to Holland again, well not tomorrow that is. People living not far from de Bosuil, head to Weert tomorrow as the band are in fine form and than it is hard to beat Threshold. Or as they sing: You know that something's going on, but it's so complex.

Aftermath - Ice Age - Lunar - Martin Miller

Four surrpising CD's three new finds plus one unexpected comeback

Aftermath - No Time To Waste

Aftermath came to me via a mailing list I am on. It described the band as Technical Progressive Thrash Metal. Well that got me interested as within thrash I am most drawn towards the technical progressive bands. Listening to the videoclip that was attaced We Can Do This Together I found Aftermath not all that technical, but something did grasp my attention and interest anyway. The album is angry pointing towards many things that are wrong in the world, which is a very thrash ting to do. Most songs have a catchy shouting choruss where the songtitle is often repeated. I can see Aftermath playing live for an audience knowing their songs and an absolute party emerging. They even manage to turn Give Peace a Chance into a reasonable heavy song (see clip on Youtube). Not the tech fest I expected, but as different and interesting in my collection. Bought the previous album (2019 Ther is Something Wrong) along, now chasing their 94 debut Eyes of Tomorrow for completion reasons as the three make up a trilogy apparently.

Ice Age - Waves of Loss and Power

Now this was a surpise. I thought Ice Age long ceased to exist. They came with two strong albums in 1999 and 2001. In 2004 they played Headway Festival, but due to family circumstances I only went one day and opted for the Watchtower/Death Machine day. Then it went quiet. Until this album was suddenly announced. Ice Age sound still the same being either a heavier Styx or a lighter Dream Theater. As I like both bands this also suits me fine. I forgot a bit about them, but when I read the tracklist including Perpetual Child Part II lots came back. Perpetual Child the opener of their debut album is  one of the best opening tracks in progmetal from that time. With To Say Goodbye Part IV and V they further refer to their first two albums. The two short songs on teh album have a double meaning. It is nice to hear them more to the point, but the chorusses lack expression to me. Still a very welcome return and one fine album this is. 

Lunar - The Illusionist

This band came to me via Jon Asher's hints and is at the moment the album that I play most. With this one more playing means discovering more and you will be rewarded. What an absolute gem of a progmetal concept album this is. An ilussionist questioning his path in life and choices made. This all packed in nine stunning songs. The band starts off instrumental, but goes from grunts to jazzy intermezzos to all out progmetal. Already their third album the members and guests come also from all kind of ranges. OK one line of bandname dropping being it either full members or guests just to point at an impossible direction: Exmortus, Witherfall, Obscura, Caligula's Horse, Mors Principium Est, Thank You Scientist and Gleb. So no common ground there and still the album is very focussed and flowing smoothly. This really is one to check out yourself and get thereafter on CD. Well  I was lucky here as shipping doubled CD price, but I won a pricedraw for their second album and could add this one without postage costs. So what you see on the picture above must  one of the few CD's that made it to Europe. For now I am guessing this one will return very high on my end of year list. Check them out on Bandcamp or Youtube.

Martin Miller - Maze of My Mind

Sometimes it only needs one raving review and one song on Youtube to convince me. Especially if the review is written in depth by Matt-the manofmuchmetal. So I ordered one of the 300 availale CD's immediately as I understood this might well turn into a collectors item if Martin breaks big. It seems that he is known on Yotube from cover versions of eighties bands in the pop/prog/hardrock corner. He even comes to Utrecht playing in May, but I am attending Toxik that night.  Also Martin informed me, that this will be an evening of covers with his band. Musically two bands are mentioned often as comparison, but read Matt's review to find out who they are. I would like to add Boston as the mix of AOR with hardrock and often stunning guitars is here. Martin also sings and does so very well. The album holds only five songs, but lasts 40 minutes so that's a nice average, without any second you find yourself drifting away. Definitely one of the more interesting finds for those who like there prog rock heavy or progmetal light, while not shying away from a healthy dose of AOR either. Now hope he comes back playing his own material, since who needs covers, when the originals are this strong?

Prognosis Festival - Effenaar Eindhoven, 15&16 April 2023

Prognosis Festival is the one organized by Loud Noise. I attended one day of the pre-covid edition and missed out last year. The budget is fair, as usually each day holds three bands whom would headline at ProgPower the mother of all progfestivals. This year a varied line-up got me enthusiastic for a two day trip. Originally I booked a hotel in Eindhoven, but when seeing the line-up and time-schedule I decided to take a train home inbetween. So that meant some 600 km or 6 hours trains during the weekend. I love my prog, so nerdy enough to also like trains and in the end before I knew it I arrived in Eindhoven de gekste or back home again in my beautiful hometown behind the dunes. In Eindhoven I knew I woud bump into many friends, so travelling alone, meant not that I would attend a festival by myself. The catching up with many was nice again. Upon arrival I already found I was not the only one focussing the Saturday on Obsidious and Disillusion mainly.André attending a movie inbetween took it even very literally.

Obsidious

Not every festival has the guts to open with the best band of the weekend. While saying that not every band sets the bar of my expectations ridiculously high and then meets same. . Obsidious did just that. Expectations were high as with Iconic they released one of the best albums of 2023. Their mix of Tech-death with power metal vocals plus grunts and super catchy chorisses is an absolute gem. Opening with Devotion their gathering the masses song with the lines Join the Family, Drink with me got me hooked. What followed was a trip back and forth through their album with most songs played. Impossibe to mention individual highlights, as all songs speak loud to me and all four band members absolutely dominate their instrument at crazy high levels. This includes the voice of Javi Perera who mixes powerful metal lines with grunts apparently simple. So opening a festival like this made all look bleak for the followig bands. If there was one point of criticism it must have been the lack of merch. Having the CD I wanted to buy a T-shirt in support of this band. Brexit made sure that was not possible I understood. Hope to see them back on stage soon, as this sounded like much more.Below picture proves that at least, Ton, Marcel, Jonathan and I enjoyed Obsidious big time.

Ithaca

Always an uphill battle this would be for Ithace, with me arriving completely Obsidious overwhelmed. I knew nothing about this band. Their music was screaming a lot and songs started and finished without the need of adding clear melodies for those hearing them for the first time. The presentation was very lively, but the vocalists dress was in the category too much information and were those croggs? No fair chance given by me, no chance to impress presented by them.

Hippotraktor

Back to the small hall it was time for Hppotraktor from Belgium. This band played a kind of progmetal with a thundering sound and hypnotic rhythms. I quite liked ther songs, even if after a while I missed some variation. The added percussion played by the vocalist gave some songs a rhythm that spoke to te Brazilian in me (more drums) Nice live band, but no need to get their album. Talking of which, I noticed at the merch floor, that many bands did not bring CD's along. I hope this trend is not going farther, as I love to pick up a CD after a good show.

Vitam Aeternam

And then for something completely different Vitam Aeternam took the main stage. This cnematic show held some members of Devil Doll. I bumped into that name many times, but never heard one note by the band. The movies on a big screen, wide range of instruments made this something different indeed. I have some of this cinematic music at home, but could not remember references. Also Ton and I had more or less decided to have an outside foodstop also looking what was coming later on and should not be missed. So I saw only a short part of their set, but especially liked the guitar soloing melodic over musical landscapes.

IAmTheMorning

I saw this band once before in Patronaat at the cafe stage. Now in the small hall, it was too crowded so I was not bothered to fight myself in. Looking a split second around the corner I could see there was a band on stage and not just Gleb on piano.

Einar Solberg

The voice of Leprous going solo. Leprous is a band I loved during their first two albums. The next two I still bought and then I stopped buying music, still ok to see them live. If Leprous live can both overwhelm and underwhelm Einar solo fell in the latter category for me. Soft songs filled with his famous Aaaaaaaahhaaaaahs did little to me. Ron and Astrid found the bar dowstairs as good an alternative as well and suddenly I found that with beer coming from several angles the Saturday would not be the healthiest of them all. 

PG.Lost

When the beer tastes good and better things are coming later it can happen I forgot all about even looking around the corner during PG.Lost. Having a laugh during a Prog affair is important too.

Soen

Than it was up to Soen to get our focus back on the music again. Well they succeeded. Their melancholic moody dark progmetal with great melodies worked again for me. Now it was not all shining as the infamous Prognosis overlap of sets was rearing it's ugly head. This day was for me build around Obsidious, Soen and Disillusion. I opted for the latter during overlap, but was pleased to see Antagonist live in full blowing version. What a killer song that is. 

Disillusion

The title of band that should have been much bigger, but are not goes to Disillusion. Ever since their wonderfull debut Back to Times of Splendor (2004) I am hooked. Maybe their ten year hiatus did not help them grow in popularity. Last year's Ayam is a masterpiece though and I would hav eexpected Disillusion at the main stage. Fact is that with not everyone being convinced yet the small hall worked perfectly packed with those who do get them. With The Liberation from end 2019 also missing out on touring promotion the set was build mainly around these last two albums. Their different album Gloria was represented by the Black Sea and showed what a nice break in style this shorter song had. The setlist that Annemiek got after the show showed us the three songs we did not get, due to limited time. Still with their one hour an absolute second highlight of the day (as predicted by me and those around me).

Zeal & Ardor

Closing the Saturday evening would be Zeal & Ardor and with the three vocalists they gave us one hammering set. This band turned into a powerful machine since I saw them last and deserved to be headlining day one. Their mix of gospel and black metal is developing further, but I loved what I saw. Also I had to be wise and catch a train home in time. So I did not stay until the end. Saturday ended good.

Enma

Sunday started of in PPE style with a Dutch band: Enma. The big hall looked surprisingly empty on day two. Like Saturday the number of people not checking out the first bands turned out to be big. Enma played a sort of harmless progmetal. It all sounded OK to me, but songs did not stick in my head. Highlight was the artwork and nice effect to it with the water flowing the eyes winking.Both Jeffrey and Ton mentioned to me Alice in Chains references, but I don't know AiC all that well to confirm.

Rosalie Cunningham

In the small hall Rosalie Cunningham and band came on next. Another band I knew absolutely nothing about. Turned out to be the surprise of the festival to me. Starting with the looks transporting us straght back to the late sixties early seventies. The keyboardist with his at times dominant Hammond looked still fairly average in his denim shirt. The female bassist in her silver trousers and bra covered by a huge silver cape was very present. The drummer with his big afro hair and peruvian shirt was hippie and the guitarist looked like stepping out of a seventies Southern Rock band. Rosie herself looked as if she just stepped out of an episode of the Avengers or Austin Powers for my younger readers. So five characters on stage with charisma pouring out from all directions. Than the music was a proggy early seventies sound, with Amy Winehouse blended in at times. I loved their set from start to finish and wanted to pick up a CD, when Rosalie told us that due to Brexit no merch could be brought along. A complete surprise they were to me and a band to see live again. Last month they played de Boerderij and I was not there, oh the ignorance in hindsight.

Fixation

After an overwhelming experience disappointment always lurks around the corner. If Fixation showed us one thing, it must be that they should have played the small stage, while Rosalie and friends would better fit on the main stage. Formualic djenty metal played by somewhat angry Norwegians. They toured with Devin Townsend, but failed to impress me, so an early dinner break it was.

Lizzard

Coming back finding the small room packed, made me consider if these two halls do work. Ton and I decided to sit in the main hall at the back and were treated on Voivod's soundcheck. Now that was nice and Sunday could start now officially as I came to see Voivod and O.R.k. mainly. Lizzard now has to do in de Boerderij where they play next month with O.R.k.

Voivod

Celebrating 40 years of existence with a setlist going through their long discography. Voivod are not for everyone, so suddenly the main hall was left with those who got them. Apart from playing crazy well, Voivod also showed us that even at a prog festival there is space for some humor. Hope those overly serious progheads watched and learned. Snake was surely not the best vocalist of the festival, but definitely the best performer (thanks Ton for capturing that so well on the picture below) Voivod's music is hooky and uncomfortable, but man did they rule Prognosis. I was in advance in doubt between Voivod and O.R.k. for the overlapping 15 minutes, but simply could not leave during this show. And then came the song Voivod and  we knew it was over, what a blast.

O.R.k.

Last minutes changes in the time schedule made Soen and Riverside start 15 minutes later. So now we had 15 minutes no band playing after O.R.k. while they overlapped with Voivod. Call me stupid, but I thought the solution was there plain to see for all. No it wasn't so after Voivod I only managed a spot at the balcony where we could see parts of the stage, until people in front of me left  and I could see, why I will give O.R.k. another full chance soon in de Boerderij. The old man in me at times thought I would deserve a place in the hall centre stage, as I was one of the only 40 people supportin them when playing The Netherlands for the first time. That is not how it works and a full repeat coming soon.

Soen

In the nineties MTV had this habbit of having bands play an acoustic set and film same. Usually this bored me to tears with Tesla being the only exception. So when Soen came on with a female background vocalist and four violins and whatever I knew this woudl be a challenge to me. Opening with my favorite song Antagonist showed this was not for me. So off I went.

Astronoid

The misleading dresscode on stage. When looking at Astronoid I expected thrash metal. The tight black jeans, the black T-shirts, the long hair and strong drummer ticked all the boxes. Well they played something else. A post-rock wall of sound with a weirdly light squeeky voice over it. Musically kind of interesting with some nice fast guitar solos, it was a fine twenty minutes for me. Than it was time to head for the station. Riverside doesn't do it for me anymore and it has been nice. Proudly picked up my Voivod Outer Limits Tee and Ton sending pictures with both Voidvod and O.R.k. who showed up later. A fine festival was held, mainly due to the people I met and the bands I looked out for meeting (or surpassing) my expectations. Thansk to organizers for these two days, still hoping the overlap and hall division will be better during the next edition.