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.

Redemption - Cross Country Driver - The Banishment

Some CD's for you to check out.

Redemption - I Am the Storm

There was a time almost 20 years ago that Redemption were to me the new kings of progmetal. Fates Warning went on a long hiatus and Pain of Salvation lost the plot after Remedy Lane. All four albums released in odd years between 2003-2009 hit the bull for me. Than 2011's This Mortal Coil had a high emotional value as I spent the summer of 2009 also far from easy. After that the albums became less frequent and to be honest the surprise had gone a bit. Still all of Redemption's albums remain to be among the very best in progmetal, since their style is very much Redemption. Even the loss of Ray Alder and entrance of Tom Englund did not result in a major change. So when I Am the Storm was announced a smile passed my face. What after several spins? Well the smile is still there. The album holds everything we came to know and love by Redemption. A fast and heavy opener, two epics well over ten minutes, lots of melody and that riffing that makes them so recognizable. Any critics? well maybe the fact that the last two songs are adding less for me. A second version of The Emotional Depiction of Light is for me not necessary, neither is a second cover song. Than again the album is long with 71 minutes and this gives the opportunity to push stop after one hour. Redemption are back and they did it again. No surprises, but top class progmetal.

Cross Country Driver - The New Truth

Rob Lamothe is back with a band. Well the basis of a band, with lots of guest appearances. Ever since the debut alum by teh Riverdogs, Rob Lamothe remained among my favourite voices in rock. With guests like Dug Pinnick, Mike Mangini and Vivian Campbell, expectations were high. Were they met? yes songwriting wise, no on the heaviness side. Overall the album falls somewher between Riverdogs and Rob's solo singer/songwriter work. The luck is that his voice lost nothing of his power yet and some bluesy rock on a Sunday morning falls always fine. So don't expect a very hard rocking album, but some classy songs you will get.

The Banishment - Machine and Bone

George Lynch, the guitarist is the one that drew me towards this band. Known from Dokken and Lynch Mob this is a whole different affair. The Banishment goes industrial here with a dirty edge at times. When I first heard the song Got What You Wanted via Youtube I was sold and noted down the date to purchase this album. Now that I played the full album a few times, I realize I might have been won over by the best song. Still the rest is not bad either and the album gets better every next time I play it. Another good thing is that it is different from what I usually put on. I saw the Aardcschok review panel being far from amused by this album, I would like to see this band live on stage as I do appreciate the sleazy industrial rock and George Lynch can still play, even if not attacking you with solos.

Sorcerer & High Inquisitor Woe - Ragnarok Bree, 25 March 2023

15 November 2018 The Netherlands were saying goodbye to Slayer. Not Hans and I as we preferred a show by Sorcerer in Dynamo. The band exists since 1989, but only got into my picture, since their 2015 release of In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross. Sorcerer play Royal Epic Doom, as the shirt said and they were rather brilliant that night. In March I saw some local shows, but no bigger names. Than Mario started sharing this gig in Ragnarok and a roadtrip sounded interesting to both of us.

Off we went to Ragnarok for an evening of doom. The north-easter area of Belgiun has lots on offer for metal fans, but it is just a bit too far a drive for frequent visits. Today was the exception and we had dinner in nearby Tongerlo, where I shot for free a picture for Sorcere's next album cover.

Inside Ragnarok the place was slowly filling up nicely and Belgian doom band High Inquisitor Woe opened the evening. This band plays a kind of doom not miles apart from Sorcerer. I felt that at time the guitars were a bit low in the mix, making solo's not always standing out. The best was kept for last. First a cover of Reverend Bizarre's Doom All Over The World and than an epic song about Neptunes' Trident. A nice warm up for Sorcerer they were.

15 minutes before announced Sorcerer kicked off. It did not take long to discover why we loved their show in Dynamo. Sorcere play epic indeed and a solid rhythm section supports two flying guitars and a great voice. teh setlist went through their career and mentioing highlights is hard when the set is this good. A special mention goes out to drummer Richard Evensand, who could not yet walk straight after a hip injury, but drummed tight as doom. Further I do not know if Bree gets this a lot by English speaking bands, but Ragnarok is in Bray  and not French Cheese Brie. A great set was appreciated by all in and thanks go out for all organizing this on short term basis as Sorcerer were originally scheduled to play a festival that was cancelled. Glad they came over anyway and see them next time in The Netherlands. Proof of me loving their show attached below.

Callous Intent & Dance with Dragons - Musicon The Hague, 17 March 2023

A tiny footnote in the book of Heavy Metal, but Callous Intent played their last show ever with Maus on drums in Musicon. As that book is my bible, I decided to attend. The second band Dance with Dragons was a blanco for me, so open for new music. Musicon friday nights are as unpredictable as Dutch elections audience wise. Usually it depends on who the bands bring along and what the competition is over the weekend. This weekend many people choose Baroeg either the Saturday, the Sunday or both. As I can't make both it was close to home Musicon for me. Tonight it was not all that busy as people tend to get picky. Next to the Friday evenings with Dutch Metal, there are also a lot of big international names announced recently. So with shows of Rhapsody of Fire, Raven, Vicious Rumors, Exciter, Artillery and Evilded being recently announced some might snub your national underground. well not me.

Dance with Dragons was completely uknown to me, even if coming from nearby Delft. Six band members including a female vocalist. Now female voices come in different categories for me. First there are the top voices (Oceans of Slumber, Madder Mortem) than there are the heavy metal voices (Leather Leone) the extreme ones sounding like one of the boys and finally the operatic ones, whom I tend to avoid. Upon first notes it became clear that Dance with Dragons go for the operatic voice. So for me they started losing like Tome Egbers entering a Jinek studio filled with female guests only. Luckily matters were not all that bad as the band obviously holds some experienced players and the songs were built up pretty fine as well. Further teh girl can sing operatic or not. I did not get why their friends and fans decided to stay at the back, as getting an empty Musicon going needs some help. An OK show they gave us, while I thought the song Betrayal could have been dedicated to many famous Dutch men being judged by national press nowadays.

Callous Intent were to close the evening. I saw them several times before (first as Priapsis) and quite like their Death/Thrash metal. Remember how in the eighties you would check out LP's by the bandshirts members would be wearing on the bandpicture? Well if tonight that was anything to go by it meant two Callous Intent shirts, plus Revocation, Anihilated and Gojira. Not meaning all it gave a direction, as did the Sepultura cover Slaves of Pain. What we mainly could see is that it is a pity that Maus is leaving the band as he is one hell of a drummer. Callous Intent gave us a proper metal set, where I believe their anthem on the killer Uhu went missing this time. Still a nice set and curious how and if they will recover from their loss of drummer. 

Haken - EBB - Insomnium

Some more albums you might want to check out (read should check out). The artwork alone of all three should be reason enough to buy the albums.

Haken - Fauna

A new Haken album is always a matter of let's wait and see what they come up with this time. For me the double Vector/Virus was a clear step back up from their The Mountain / Affinity dip. When I read trusted sources reviewing this album (Matt manofmuchmetal and Andrew at Ave Noctem), both mentioned this album needs time. I only received my copy a few days after release and thus after a few hundred reviews. Haken we all look at from another angle so what did I find? Well a first spin at the background was slightly disappointing. Then I played the album with headphones reading along with lyrics. Well that meant a major improvement. Now a few plays further I still didnot get everything, but can safely say it is a great album. Diverse as always and enough songs to make me happy. The artwork is also a joy, with animals appearing all over the fauna cover. I saw pictures of Haken on stage in Hawaiian shirts with the wallpaper design. If that is available at the merch stand I might need to go to 013 after all next week.

EBB- Mad & Killing Time

For this discovery all credits go to DPRP. I encountered the name EBB before, but never checked out this album. And then DPRP went raving mad on it. Reason enough to go to bandcamp and guess what I got their enthusiams. What a great discovery this is. The label quoted a comparison as bastard daughters of Heart and King Crimson. I see where that came from, but it is too simple. Five women and one man play an alternative kind of prog, with a dirty edge at times. Brass instruments can pass by, but darkness reigns in this story about a war veteran who lives with a sex worker. Unlike DPRP I do love the cover as well and artwork in general. My CD came in a small booklet with some backgroud information on the story, lyrics and photographs. I would love to see this band at Complexity 2024, as I gues sthey would go down fine there.

Insomnium - 1696

Insomnium take us back to 1696, when witchhunts were going on and the church had far too much to say in the world (so what changed?). This all packed in already the best package of 2023. A short story tells us the tale of the album in both English and finnish. Further some great drawings make all clearer as well. Lots of options for nice merch here. And most important of all the music is as good as what I came to expect from Insomnium.  I came late to the insomnium party when Shadows of a Dying Sun was their best album. Winter's Gate gave us also a story and my first live show by them. Heart Like a Grave had a beautifull Nordic large picturebook and now it combines all three in one album. Insomnium's Melodic Death Metal is possibly my favorite one in this style. So much to enjoy here the special edition is a must, you even get a bonus disk with 3 extra songs keeping you another 22 minutes far from sleeping.