This is a site where I post reviews of CDs, DVDs, LPs, and concerts. I have been writing music reviews on and off since 1984. I ran a heavy metal fanzine from 1984-1988 called Metal Madness and have been a staff writer for Aural Innovations for many years. I have also contributed to Chrohinga Well (RIP), Bad Acid (RIP), Lowcut (RIP), Roadburn and a number of other zines as well. I recently moved to Portugal so please request the new address and do not send any music to Denmark anymore. Tak..
HDDT is back with its 3rd
edition and another great and very unique music program. While a few of these
bands played at Roadburn and the Desert Fest, this line up is really different
and also diverse but heavier… The organizers have done an amazing job and
remember this is do it yourself (DIY) festival, all volunteers run, organized,
etc… real amazing dedicated people pulling this together. The booklet has a lot
of great info and also explains the ethic of the festival and the organizers
motivations. One must really congratulate them on this. Great descriptions of
all the artists who create the posters, t-shirt designs, gallery displays, etc. There over 10 artists given detailed descriptions and involved this year, which included making some super cool imagery in the rooms and in the courtyard. Also, each band is given nearly a half page in the booklet with a picture and
good description of the band. On the excellent website you even get the
discography!
May 1st
21 I arrived at Loppen a bit too
late to see the artwork displays upstairs next to the restaurant. I got my
press card and wristband and started running into people from all over Europe
that I have met. Very cool to see people again. A decent amount of Roadburn
people. My friend, Jens, was spinning the cool records (The Golden Void,
Hawkwind, US Christmas, etc..) and getting people ready for the Swedish Space
rock band, Yuri Gagarin that were to
start things off at 22. I have the bands vinyl record and while I dug the songs, the sound production was not that great so I was curious to see them live..
YG
hit the stage right at 10 and blasted us with 4 nearly 10min each tracks. 3
were from the record and one was an untitled new track. It was really loud and
powerful. The synth guy has two old Soviet era synths from the 80s (I think).
Cool heavy looking… They really rocked the place with high energy space rock
and some great lead guitar by the guy on the right. He broke a string and took
5mins or more to change while everyone stood around not knowing what to do.
Usually, people are in a hurry to get the show going again but not this guy. He
was ready when he was going to be ready. The next track the other guitar player
broke a string but thankfully, he just left in the middle of the song and they
just kept on and he came back before the song was over and was playing again.
See the track below. They had to cut the
set short by one song due to the delay. This is a really great band. I loved their powerful space rock. I can't wait to see them again and they were also really nice people. Great set.
Set List: First Orbit, Untitled
new song, At the Center of all Infinity, The Big Rip
Switchblade are normally a duo but they
had the organ player, Per, who plays with Candlemass and Spiritual Beggars on
the organ and this for sure made things more interesting. The band played heavy
repetitive stuff with heavy almost but not quite doom guitar riffs. I only saw
and filmed the first track but it seemed like they just repeated the same theme
over and over again in like 3 min intervals 4x… no real organ and certainly no
guitar solo. I was really bored but this was also the description. At least the
organ or guitar player could do some solos to mix it up.. Anyway, people were
engaged and seem to be into it, so they must have an audience. It was too late
for me so I missed the heavy US duo, Evil Twin. I had to work the next day and
the Friday was a full schedule with bands starting at 17..
May 2nd
The buses were quite delayed and
I barely got there in time to see Oranssi
Pazuzu from Finland. There was already a good amount of people around and
the room got pretty packed. Damn, these guys were really LOUD… Bass was like
Conan or something to start but not the rest… I was standing with my friend
Jacob near the front. Sound was amazing. This is a very difficult band to
describe. Lots of cool spaced out synthesizers stuff, two guitars (not typical
metal sound, one was a telecaster!), bass and drums. The vocals are in the
intense black or death metal style but the music was anything but. Intense but
with lot of very interesting guitar parts and twists and turns.. I was blown
away by this. Very psychedelic.
Set List: Vino Verso, Uraanisula,
?, Thysä Temppeu, Olen Aulaissut uuden, Ympyri on viiva tomussa
Vidunder (Sweden), are a band from Malmö, who has some releases on
the Crusher label. They are very young and since they played here last in
Copenhagen, they have added an organ player with a cool old vintage Leslie
speaker. The room was totally packed and the band play well but unfortunately,
they don’t really offer up anything new for me as they just sound too much like
Graveyard, the way he sings, the guitar lines and sound. I really keep hoping
that they will develop more.. It will take them time to get out from under this
influence and now with the organ player they could really jam and develop these
songs. We will see.
Dread Sovereign (Ireland), was a three piece with a lot of
attitude. This was heavy doom metal rock and the band even did a Venom cover
(live like an Angel, Die like a Devil! The crowd really loved them. I was also totally
sucked into the vibe and enjoyed their entire set. I shot a video of one of the
songs.. Heavy Metal Lives!!!!!!!!
Leechfest was so packed in the dødsmaskinen that I could not even
get into take a picture. The music was super intense… phew…. Abysmal Grief from Italy, were a huge
surprise for everyone and I heard many thought this the best band of the
festival. They were a four piece group that played this uptempo hypnotic doom
rock with a lot of crosses on the stage, candles, the guitar player even had a
priest thing around his neck! The singer was really into it and intense and
played this organ in the style of the old Goblin soundtracks for the Argento
movies. I really liked them as well but after 4 songs they lacked variation.
Nearly every song was quite similar, in the style he sang, the way he played
the organ, etc.. Still a very cool band..
The US band Taurus had to cancel
their show due to pregnancy advancement and a Swedish band called Noctum (recently signed to Metal Blade)
filled in and man, they were excellent. They really took me back to the 80’s
with great songs that reminded me of Angelwitch or Mercyful Fate at times and
other great NWOBHM bands. The place was also packed the people were totally
banging their heads.. The band was super tight.. They ended their set with a
cover of Crystal Ball by Candlemass! It went down well. A huge surprise as
well.
Noctum
LOSS
LOSS was next but I did not see much of them as Glitter Wizard was having a crisis as
their bass player broke his ankle very seriously and was in the hospital so
they either had to play without him or cancel the gig. They had planned to
cancel but I spoke to them about Doug playing some of the bass lines on the
Andromeda and I could help out with the space sounds and so they decided to
play anyway! It was not planned at all but what the hell, I played with Glitter
Wizard and it was fucking fun. I knew a lot of their songs. As the band went to
go change into their costumes, I made some crazy synth improves for like
10mins.. People seem to dig it.. The
place was pretty packed with people and the energy up front was totally crazy
how people were going wild for these guys. I could not hear the guitar player
that well but I tried not to play the sounds over the vocalist. The singer,
actually played bass on the last song which was a long crazy jammed out track.
I think the whole concert was about 35mins or so….
Set List: Fungal, Worship the
Devil, Snow Crash, Motorider, Circle, Mirror Man and Summertime.
I was pretty blasted by the time
this was all over so I only heard one song from the Dwellers in Twilight. Room was filled and it sounded great..
Day 3
I was pretty damn tired to start
this day and had a short nap after lunch and headed out at 15:20 and I was
hoping to get there in time to see and record my friend’s band, Demon Head and we made it. It was their
7” release party and they had been playing quite a bit so were really tight and
had developed some cool stage presence since the first time I saw them, which I
think was their 2nd gig ever! They clearly have their local fans but
I hope some of the foreign people could make it this early to see them lay down
their early Pentagram influenced style of music. Thor is really coming a long
and developing a lot as a lead guitar player as this is something they really
need. Great grooves, cool songs, people were into it. I filmed the song that is
their new single.
Set List: Undertaker, Ventilate,
Revelations of April, Ride the Wilderness, Book of Changes, Demon Head, Master
of Confusion, Worthless slave to the Night, Sinister Purpose
Next up was Isole from Sweden. They were a four piece where both guitar players
and the bass player all did lead and harmony vocals, which is pretty unique.
They rhythm guitar player did most of the clean, early Candlemass style singing
while the bass player, did the more angry stuff. A really classic doom metal
style and sound but sadly the hall only had about 100 people but they were into
it and played 100% for whoever was there. There were some die hards up front
that new all their words as well…
Dopelord from Poland were next in the small hall and this was
described as stoner doom with a spacey edge and that was exactly what it was. The
room was packed and the band had their own projector with a movie and images
that they showed onto the black backdrop. There was a lot of stoners and smoke
for these guys and they totally delivered the goods. I thought they were
awesome. The sound guy could have mixed the lead guitar player, who played all
the cool parts a bit louder though. They played one song from their debut album
but all the rest of the songs were from the new one that just came out in
April. I will review it in a few weeks. Anyway, they were great and ended the
set with a really stoned some in which the entire band smoked a joint and then
kicked into their track called Pass the Bong!
Set List: UFO, Addicted to Black
Magick, Ghost, Acid trippin’, ?, Pass the Bong
The US band, The BODY was next, a duo that plays super intense stuff. I heard
they blew everyone away at Roadburn. Place was pretty packed but I needed an
ear rest so I sat outside and heard them and spoke to some different people
from Sweden and Holland.
Witchsorrow (UK), a band from the Rise Above label, were here
playing their first ever show in Denmark. I was not sure what to expect but
they were really good. Especially the main set. They are a three piece with a
female bass player and intense drummer. The guitar player was also a really
good singer for this style of music and passionate. He also occasionally played
some ripping solos but a bit too few. They had excellent dynamics. The last
song they played was a new one and it was a bit boring actually and too long. I
think people were really into it before then, but still a great show.
Set List: Aurora Atra, God curse
Us, Trial of Elizabeth Clarke, Love, Freezing Moon, Mysteries
Graves at Sea was next in the big
hall and the place was the most packed I had seen for any band at the festival
and the sound was massive. They are a really intense band with a powerful
singer, some killer guitar riffs and just pounding bass and drums and very
fucking angry! This kind of stuff I can only handle in small doses but the
people were totally into as they got blasted for an hour. Phew…
Nightslug played a super loud sludge show in the packed small hall.
I was outside chatting with TJ, the singer from Sourvein, who stayed at my
place some years ago when the toured with Church of Misery. Really nice
people..
Sourvein was next and then it would be Skepticism from Finland but I was just too damn tired to see the
rest so Steve and I headed home.
Day 4
The Copenhagen Record fair is
today so on the way to the festival I had to take some record to the dealers.
Me with the Sourvein Guys
14:30 Arrived early so I had some
time to chat with the guys in Sourvein, go see the artist displays in the
gallery they created at the local library. Lou (Halfway to Gone, Sourvein, and
5 Horse Johnson) was a super cool guy and he actually has diabetes and takes
the medicine that the company I work for makes and it has changed his life he
said! We had some great conversations as he is really tight with the guys in Monster Magnet all their music projects.
16 Whitehorse from Australia hit the stage at 4 and there was not that
many people at the festival yet but a decent crowd. This is one hell of an
intense band. The singer looks fucking mean and angry and has a powerful voice.
The bass, drums and guitar are just powerful heavy riffing stuff and one guy
making strange white noise sounds from time to time. The bass player he was
getting some real stretching exercise and he would jump-lunge forward with the
intensity of the music. Phew.. Powerful, intense, heavy as hell…
17 Purple Witch Hill was a totally new band for me from Norway. They
have a new record (June 2014) and a 7” out on the Church Within Label. Young
kids but nice. The guitar player and singer reminded me of James Hetfield, the
way he looked, not sung. The band really took me back to 1980-1982 era of the
Neat Records when I used to listen to the NWOBHM 7”s in my bedroom. He room was
pretty filled up and they played a solid set. I think their main weakness is the
vocals but he is not bad, just really learning how to find his way to project
his vocals. They had a lot of good songs and nice dynamics. They finished their
set off with a cover of Witchfinder General.
Set List: Karmansaka, Queen of the
Hill, Astral Booze, Untitled, Alchemy, Aldebaraniad Voyage, The Final
Procession, Doomsday Calling, Witchfinder General
18 OF the Wand and the Moon are a Danish band with strings, acoustic
guitar, keyboards, etc.. This was a very nice change and I think people liked it
a lot. They have played around in Copenhagen but I had never seen them. I could
see that had made several records and a DVD. The drum rhythms were very
interesting and they had a laid back vocal and they started quiet but really
grew in intensity but the songs were all quite short.
Set List: A Cancer called love,
Here’s an Ode, Tear it apart, Sunspot, A pyre of black sunflowers, Absence, lost
in Emptiness, Lucifer, My Black faith, I Crave for You, We are Dust, A Tomb of
Seasoned Dye, The Lone Descent
19 Goatess are a cool stoner rock band from Sweden featuring Christian
(Lord Vicar, Terrafirma and others) on vocals. I saw them at Roadburn and
really liked them a lot but for them that was not a very good show, while today
they felt it would be much better. They were insanely loud to start with and
the bass was just so massive you could not hear the guitar. I was recording
right behind the mixer guy and we talked about it and I ended up going up and
telling the bass player he had to turn down his amp as the sound guy could not
turn the guitar up anymore at the soundboard. Eventually, the sound balanced
out and they did a great show. They played one new song at Roadburn called
Shadowland but they played one more new one today and that was great. People
really dug it.
20 Sabbath Assembly was next and they did not have Jex Thoth of vocals
but the lady from hammer of Misfortune. She was intensely tattooed and also
played the bass. This band had a really cool and interesting vibe but sadly
their music did not evolve enough for me or a lot of people as they had a big
crowd to start but it got smaller and smaller as people did not stay engaged. It
is very nice music. I liked the tubular bells that the drummer played with
small hammers.
21 The Graviators are a Swedish band I have been following and also
corresponding with since the early days of the band but had never seen live. I
was really up for seeing these guys and they did not disappoint. This was the
last night of their 2 week tour and they were pumped! I am not sure what the
set list was but it was great. A lot of diverse songs and intense vocals, great
guitar solos and use of effects and the last song they dedicated to me and it
was long jammed out track, a bit like
Grand Funk! Awesome concert..
22 Baby Woodrose were a very cool and different choice for the
festival and great that they come out and support the event. I was wondering if
they would go for a more heavy set and sure enough they really did. In fact,
this was one of the best Baby Woodrose shows I have ever seen. Guf was totally
in the zone and played killer psychedelic guitar! He writes such cool songs and
is a great singer and frontman.. People were totally into it as they jammed out
on several songs starting with Here Today.. What a concert.. Awesome sound as
well.
Set List: Information Overload,
What a burn, Disconnected, Let yourself Go, Here Today Gone Tomorrow, Nothing
is Real, Volcano, LCD, Light up, Did you get what you want, A child of a few Hours, Born to Lose
Uzala
23 Uzala are a three piece from the Idaho in the USA. I spoke with the
guitar player on several times and he was really cool and was at the festival
for most of the days. They also have a female singer that also plays guitar and
very intense drumming. I don’t know who to describe them but some sort of acid
metal. She sings really well, one of the best female voices we had at the
festival. It was very loud and intense so I heard most of the show from
outside. People dug it for sure.
Windhand
24 Windhand, is a band that I have heard a lot about and I heard their
show here last year was great. I missed them at Roadburn and was hoping to hang
in there and see them this time and I did manage to catch a few songs before
heading home after a great festival. The room was packed for them and they had
a huge wall of sound and channel a vibe like Electric Wizard, whom, so many
bands try to emulate these days but they have a charismatic female singer. The
first two songs of the set sounded nearly identical. They next, they took it
down a bit. The lead guitar player on the right played some cool solos. I am
sure I would have dug it more if I had stayed for the whole show…..
Well,
that was it for Heavy Days in Doomtown 2014.. I think it was a great success
once again. A great vibe, excellent diversity of bands all playing really well
and the same cool community and environment that draws people. There were
certainly less people this year but still at least 500 people so if everyone
went into the main hall, it was totally packed. If there were finance issues,
they should probably just try to be stricter about people bringing in their own
beer and wine, as the prices are really cheap anyway. Congrats to Daniel and
all the organizers for putting on this killer festival… Awesome…
Go
Bananas are a band from Salszburg, Austria, who I met and became friends with
when ØSC played with Baby Woodrose in 2012 in Salszburg. They only had their
debut album out at this time. This is a super cool record. All the covers are
handmade and it is made in only 111 copies. The Banana theme is still in place
and the band has a lot of humor as well as a cool mix of serious spacey stoner
rock! The record features 7 tracks over 4 album sides. It starts off with the
track, Never buy weed from an Alien for more than 386 liters of Water! A very
nice spacey guitar line starts things off and some spacey sounds here and there
before it starts to get much heavier a stoner rock like groove kicks in. A
fantastic song.. Inna jo Inna Ging is a more uptempo stoner rock track with
some psychedelic effects and sounds thrown in and some cool guitar solos as
well as the stoned groove. The band has really grown in it’s sound and song
writing from the first record. Flip over to side B for the long Vulko, which is
instrumental and starts off with a slow building guitar line and spacey section
before it builds up with some nice bass lines mirroring the main guitar while
staying quite spacey and floating. It ends in a heavy fashion with some wah
guitar solos. SUN starts with some beautiful guitar and then really takes off
and develops into a real rocker but with a great sense of melody. BP-Black
Death starts off side C with a beautiful guitar line before the rest of the
instruments slowly enter into the mix. This track takes the entire side and
takes a dramatic and heavier turn around 3mins. The mid-section has some nice
ØSC-Hawkwind like space synth sounds as the rest of the band rides the track
through all the different changes and themes that come and repeat themselves as
it builds up to its ending. The final vinyl side has two tracks, GB and Ondas. GB
is a short intro track, while Ondas starts off with a killer guitar riff, even
though it is one I am sure I have heard before. Man the band really groove on
this one but the band brings it down and really spaces it out. I have to say I
really love this great record and cool to see the band taking a pretty
different path from their wild stoner rock beginnings. Great stuff…
The
German instrumental band Space Debris is back with another 4 track double
studio album. Sides A-C were recorded in August 2013 and side D October 2013.
The band has a new keyboard player (Winnie) from the last studio album that I
heard. Each side includes track that fills the entire song. Side A starts off
with Colossus Stranded, a piece which has some singing here and there by Magic
Petra, who did the fantastic artwork. The piece starts with a slow build and
long organ solo. Magic mixes in some singing that I am not so fond of and this
leads into a longish guitar solo and Winnie switches to the Fender Rhodes sound
and a more upbeat heavy jam begins. The band is really great at keeping things
dynamic, if they had a 2nd guitar player they could create dynamics
like the Allman Brothers. Side B is the title track and starts off with some
pretty cool and far out keyboards and then Tommy kicks in with some jazzy
guitar but the whole thing really builds up and gets quite funky and
psychedelic. What a great jam… Side 3 starts off with the Fender Rhodes solo
and then the bass and other instruments slowly enter. The piece has a quite
happy mood to it. Tommy sort of takes the lead for a while on guitar and then
Winnie switches to the organ and they do a bit of back and forth intermingling
for a while. This track is more loose and jammy and everyone plays to a really
high level, with Mitja really grooving on the bass and Christian on the drums
as the track just builds and builds. Journey back to the Moon ends side D and
is another long jamming track with a bit of an almost Spanish style theme to it
to start. The track comes to an almost complete stop where you might think it
is ending but then it slowly grows with a long guitar part complimented with
some nice drifting organ. The track does actually stop completely and start
again, which is quite strange before fading out one more time… Cool record..
Ad´Absurdum are an underground
band from Switzerland that have been around since 1991 in one form or another.
They are happy living just beneath the surface of the musical world, where
people leave them alone to make their own universe of instrumental, psychedelic
space rock.. I have reviewed quite a number of their releases over the years.
This one is coming out in May on vinyl and CD and as a digital download.
Previously, many of the bands releases have been in very small numbers,
sometimes only 50 copies. Anyway, this album has 9 tracks and a wide variety of
material. Atomonoton starts things off with a quite repetitive guitar line that
the whole track builds off and goes and comes back to. A very cool dynamic in
this track with a great mixture of cool guitar effects, synths sounds and other
oddities thrown in to make it quite psychedelic…Phosphor reminds me of Circle.
It keeps the mid-paced drive in place with the guitars playing nice melodic
lines but the pace keeps the hypnotic train on course. The train changes course
dramatically at the end with a dark strange, piano soundscape. The next track,
Deep #2 was recorded live and a bit more dissonant and challenging as far as
the guitar parts go. The organ gives the track a sort of sense of balance as it
floats and glides. There are some echoy vocals that can’t really be understood
very well but are mostly for effect. Sunshine Baby is the sort of pop psych
track on the CD with some melodic and distant vocals. Territor starts nice and
slowly with a strummed guitar and flute like keyboard. The last three songs are
a grouped together and called Suite about a Day at Home. This track has a lot
of dynamics and reminds me a bit of Hawkwind, Circle, and AdÁbsurdum. I really
like this creative band, just doing their own thing and not sounding like any
other band from Switzerland.
Acid
Elephant are a new band for me. This is apparently their third release. The CD
features 5 long songs and the band is from Pori, Finland, one of my favourite
countries ad the home of CIRCLE. The band is a four piece of guitar, bass,
drums and keyboards. They describe themselves on bandcamp as drone stoner rock.
Las noches del desierto is the first track and the music is pretty stoned, with
a cool smooth groove and vocal. Cool song but I did not hear any keyboards. Red
Carpet Lane (10mins) continues in the same vein but the guitar has a slightly
heavier tone this time but the same repetitive stoner groove with the smooth
style of singing continues. The long spacey mid-section of this track takes
things down and there is some nice hand drumming to compliment the guitar
lines, with a slight eastern feel and then they build it up at the end with
some nice psychedelic double tracked guitar for a short section (wish it was
longer). 7th Stone starts off slow, searching, exploring, finding
it’s feet, direction as the track slowly takes shape. The drums and percussion
change the feel of the song but it stays out there is experimental drone-space
land until the end (14mins). Godmason has a far out sounding intro with some
effects on the bass and guitar as it slowly drones in. Quite suddenly, you get
jolted out of your place when the drums kick into compliment the heavy bass and
the guitar line slowly develops. Finally you can actually hear some spacey
synth-keyboard sounds for a few small parts as it builds up in intensity and
into a super cool track. So far each of the tracks on this record has been
quite different from each other, something I really like about this band. BOG
is the last track to end, mostly likely your first Acid Elephant, journey.. BOG
is another trip unto it’s own, with some buried vocals at the beginning and
heavy on the distorted bass… this last track is a far out droney monster….
Sadly, there was some glue or something on the cd so this track was skipping a
lot.. Cool trip..
Ethiva
is a new Spanish band released on the German Clostridium record label. Hope of
Lamp of the Universe, Arc of Ascent, Propane Propane and other cool bands. The
LP starts off with Forest of Pigeons. This track starts with very beautiful,
melodic and building guitar parts before the vocals come in. The track just
floats in a nice way and javi plays some fantastic guitar. Jandro plays the
bass and does the lead vocals. Clouds has this airy singing that sort of floats
over the guitar lines while Ramon builds the drums up. This one gets quite
heavy as the riff repeats itself and then comes down to a more spacey feeling. When
the Great Whale Comes is the heaviest track on the side with some more heavy
slow parts. Fantastic guitar on this track. Flip the record over for the
Eleventh. This song has a beautiful guitar line and again those floating
vocals. The end of the track kicks in with a riff a lot like Monkey3. Chemical
train is a bit more uptempo at the start but then really floats with some nice
bass playing to lead the spacey section. Great track. No Birds soars too High
ends this excellent record with an uptempo track with a rocking solo.I highly
recommend this for people who like mostly instrumental music with some really
nice and dramatic guitar parts mixed with a great Pink Floyd vibe at times. I
really love this record. The artwork is really amazing and if you get the die
hard version it includes a small puzzle. I have never seen that in any record.
Lords
of Saturn are a new band from Norway. The band is led by Mathias Lodmalm who
also wrote both the songs, does the vocals and plays guitar. The band is a 5
piece with drums, bass, percussion and additional guitars. The A side (Plays on
33rpm) starts with Black Triangles. This is pretty heavy and dramatic stuff.
The singing in the heavy part reminds me a bit of Metallica. The track has good
dynamics but I missed a guitar solo, just a lot of riffing and intensity. The
title track is on side B. It is also a slow heavy riffer with some dark
feelings and moods as the track does from dark to light. I don’t listen to much
music like this so it is hard for me to compare it to anyone I know. Check them
out on the web.. You get the lyrics on the back of the 7” to both tracks, which
is nice. Cool artwork design.
This
was a pretty cool stoner doom rock band that I caught some of their set at
Roadburn. They released this nice CD single in only 25 numbered copies in a
small case with a clear top and a sticker and info card. I got number 24 of 25.
It features two tracks. Ananta start
things off with a good mid-paced stoned groove and some passionate vocals. Hollow
has a nice melodic guitar line but then the track slowly builds up and gets
pretty intense and heavy, more heavy than the opening track. The singer is
really good and there is a guitar solo in this track. I look forward to hear
more by this band. They have already made two records.
Albino
Rhino is a new three piece Finnish band from Helsinki. They had an EP out last
year and this is the new full length record. The CD is 4 tracks in about
40mins. The Forest Prevails starts things off with 9mins of heavy riffing. The
sound is very compressed and strange with the bass and guitar mixed really in
your face. It is very repetitive and then changes slightly at times to give it
a bit of a twist and turn like some wind sweeps and the riff will change a bit.
You can tell these guys like Electric Wizard! Sanctification is next and
features Kimmo, the guitarist on vocals. The vocals are in the style of OM and
Sleep as the heavy riffing continues. There is a short guitar solo section
before back to the heavy riffing. Blue Mist is sung by the bass player Ville.
While the vocals have changed, the music stays very down tuned and heavy. This
track is more uptempo and reminds me of someone but I can’t place it? Kimmo
plays some solo guitar which really changes the feeling of the track towards
the end. The CD ends with the 14½ min track, Uphold the Light part 1. This one
starts off with a really cool almost like solo guitar riff before the heavy
stuff kicks in and it for sure brings some more light to the heavy start of
this record. Each track is a bit different on this EP, making it pretty cool.
Clearly, groups like Sleep, OM and Electric Wizard are the major influences on
this group. Check them out…
Circle
has already released 4 records this year and it is only April! This is a very
short 7”, showing yet another side of the band, the PUNK side. 4mins of total
music on this 7”. The title track starts things off and is all sung in Finnish
with a snotty attitude but the music is actually pretty melodic and like pop
punk! Liian Paljon Liimaa (Too Much Glue) is a bit longer and in the same vein
as the first track but more energetic and a bit harder edge but still that
slight melodic thread. This is actually a pretty fun track, especially if you can
understand the lyrics!
The
Socks are a new French band on the awesome Small Stone label. The band is really rocking out with a 70’s vibe for sure. They
are a four piece band that have heard a lot of the current crop of Swedish
bands like Graveyard, Witchcraft, Horisont and others, but they throw in their
own twist here and there. The album starts off slow and building with Lords of
Illusion. This one starts to build up with the rhythm guitar player Nicklas
also adding some keyboards. Julien takes care of the lead guitar, lead vocals
and can sound exactly like Eric Wagner of Trouble! This track really rocks out
at the end. Some Kind of Sorcery sounds like they stole it from Graveyard. A
high energy and passionate track but almost a cover song. Next to the Light
slows things down and shows the strong side of this band, with great dynamics
of guitar and keyboards and passionate singing. New Kings is back to the
Graveyard boogie and vocal style with a hard hitting riff mixed with slower
parts. Holy Sons is a great song and one of their most original with a heavy
riff combined with the organ in a really effective way. Julien plays a very
passionate solo and this is the most jammed out track on the record. Electric
War goes back to the uptempo Graveyard style that they emulate so well. The mid
section is a bit more doomy like Trouble. Nice double tracked wah solo as well.
Gypsy Lady has a cool footstomping groove with a nice organ line that drives
the track to start and another one of their more original sounding tracks. WE
LIVE (not the Electric Wizard song!) is driven by some cool bass lines and
aggression which comes and goes. The CD ends with another very Graveyard
inspired track called The Last Dragon. Almost a cover song, it is so close to
the Graveyard sound and feel. Anyway, despite them borrowing a few too many
ideas from Graveyard, this is a solid record. This is a record, like most, that
sound best when cranked up really LOUD… I hope to catch these guys live soon..
Following
the trends of a lot of cities in Europe (Berlin, Oslo, Liverpool, etc...),
Kasper from Levitation Records decided to organize our very own here in
Denmark. It was pretty ambitious to try to get around 50 bands, mostly pretty
unknown, underground and mostly Danish at a small venue. The web sites for
this festival were a disaster with little or no information about the bands. A
name and a link to a Facebook page is not information about a band, I hate to
tell them. Nearly worthless… You need to have a written description of each
act, a link directly to web sites where one can actually read about the band and
a place where you can hear some music or a video link, as this could really
help to bring people in. Anyway, they will learn for the next year….. let’s get to the positive side of things,
which was the cool gathering of mostly young people I had never seen at any of
the shows I go to, the great sound (thanks to the very hardworking WILL), the
bands for putting on interesting performances, cool psychedelic wallpaper
projections by the Malmö Kristallen people (although they could be more active
in changing them more often and giving some sort of light show, which was
really lacking..).. The wallpaper made the places look cool for sure.
The
main hall was where all the more known bands played, while upstairs, a smaller
scene was set up where there was also a bar, smoking room and a small place for
selling merch. This could have been greatly improved with a long table on the
wall giving each band some space to sell stuff. The merch was just chaos and
most bands never even had anything or sold very little as it was not clear to
anyone where it was, how to see it, etc. This could be improved a lot. There
was plenty of space along the wall where the smoking room is and a lot of that
was just filled up with junk, a sofa, extra tables, etc.
The schedules were off by 15mins
to an hour so it was quite hard to figure out who was playing when and then
they switched theLittle Brain Attack
(France) with the Wands and it was not posted or announced at all. Anyway, I
arrived straight from work on the Thursday and Turquoise Sun was the first band on at 16:15. This is the guys from
the old band from Jylland called Ancient Monuments. ØSC played a gig with them
a year ago or so. Very nice folks and the new band are pretty eclectic. A wide
range of songs from very dreamy pop like Tame Impala plays to more diverse
stuff with saxophone (he never really plays any long solos, just small blips
here and there), funky at times, etc.. The keyboard player is very good and
they all play excellent together and three of them sing. The last track was
called Oracle and I liked this one a lot. It started off with a theme on the
guitar quite close to One of the Days by Pink Floyd and then a funky riff
kicked in and it totally changed direction. A promising new band, pity only
about 20 people saw them play.
I
had never heard Echo Electric before
but they reminded me straight away of Brain Jonestown Massacre style material,
with that 60’s edge and good energy and a quite clean sound. They are a five
piece band and had a very passionate and excellent front singer who also played
guitar. The vox organ really gave them that 60s sound. The lead guitar player
had this twangy almost surf guitar like playing style at times. Solid set but I
did not see it all.
Set List: Nothing without You, I
fell Blue, Cruel (video), Medicine, Wanna be with You, Night Time Queen, Baby,
you’re on Fire, You don’t really care about me
Next, I went upstairs to catch Thor Bøding (guitarist and vocalist in
Syreregn), who was playing solo upstairs. He played a mixture of his own
originals (see the video for Stoffet), young flowers, and some other obscure
Danish stuff from the 60s. He is excellent. He played to maybe 15 people like
Echo Electric… not many people showing up. They had a 160 3 day tickets
pre-sold, so that is pretty good.
The Roosters were a young new band that
I had not heard of with some members for the hedgehogs (I think). These guys
were young and just did not catch my ear. They are playing 60’s inspired stuff
but it was just too straightforward, not really trying anything new or
different and not very psychedelic at all. In fact, none of the bands so far
would I consider psychedelic rock. I went back upstairs now to see what the
hell KogeKunst was and got a great
surprise! This was a duo that were really interesting, passionate and doing
their own thing. They had a two piece drum kit that he played standing so he
could also play guitar (sort of) and the other guy also played guitar. They
also had a keyboard they would use later. This is really difficult stuff to
describe but let’s just say the guys were into and giving 200% and playing raw,
messy, music with a special energy. I was sucked in and enjoyed it a lot.
Little Brain Attack
A
few more people where now around by the time Little Brain Attack(France) hit the stage around 20:30... They
were running about 30mins behind already. I had never heard of this band
before. They played to about 40 people I guess and they had a great time and
had driven all the way from Paris to play. They were a 5 piece band and
reminded me a lot of the UK band, Spiritualized. It was the same sort of vibe
with some nice spacey guitars at times but no real solos in this band either.
They played a bit too much the same to start but then got more energetic at the
end of the set, which I liked better. The band had a lot of technical problems and considered the gig to be quite horrible. Pity..
Below Dreaming switched with ET Tumason. He is a great performer and
this was the 4th time for me to see him. He is from Iceland and a
passionate solo performer like a sort of twisted John Lee Hooker or something...
I just love the guy and he is a very cool person as well. I filmed one of his
songs…
The
Wandsare one of the more well-known bands on the bill today having released
music outside of Denmark and played around a bit in Europe. I had seen them
once when I played with White Hills in Malmo and they were very good. They just
have a great authentic 60’s sound with really nice dynamics between the guitars
and the singer has cool lyric just like what they would write in the 60s’s,
even though I doubt these guys have even tired LSD.. Seems the young generation
are not into psychedelics or even smoking weed, as I don’t think any of these
bands were high. Seems they are more into speed, cocaine, MDMA, etc... much
worse and dangerous stuff and of course drinking! Anyway, this is a great band
and the best so far today. The room was pretty filled up by now.
Set List: Circles, Door, Totem,
Colours, Hello, Spell My, She’s Electric, the Dawn, Get it Out, No one,
I went upstairs and caught a
little bit of Below Dreaming, which
features a female vocalist, two guitars, bass and drum machine. This was not
really my thing but it was pretty out there and experimental for sure. There
were only about 15 people watching them. The smoking room upstairs always
seemed to be filled up there... A lot of Danes are showing up to be seen and to
hang out and are not really into the bands anyway… They are often quite rude
and just talking loudly, even when these bands play mellow tracks, not even
caring or aware that this is annoying and disrespectful for the artist. Go
outside if you just want to talk and have no interest in the music…
Fribyttedrømme
One
of my favourites on the Danish scene these days, Fribyttedrømme was next and the room was pretty packed and the band
was in a great mood. The first two songs were really energetic and the audience
was really into it as well. The band is more relaxed and feeling more
comfortable with their songs which take inspiration from the Doors, Pink Floyd
and Alrune Rød. The highlight of the show was the long spaced out Pink Floyd
piece called Fribyttedrømmen. This was a least 15mins and towards the end the
crazy guitar player, he came out into the audience and actually lay down on the
floor and then his friend laid down and suddenly, nearly the entire audience
was lying on the floor as the track just slowly came to an end. Wow…. What a
trip. Never seen that before at a show… The band ended their 40min set with
another upbeat track. Fantastic set... That was the 3rd or 4th
time I had seen the band.
Set List: Kosmonaut, Himmellegemer, jeg graver huller I Mørket,
Fribyttedrømmen, Fem er det magiske nummer
A Tree of Night
Sadly, by the time they had
finished and I had run upstairs, A Tree
of Nightwas just finishing. I saw like the last 30 seconds. ØSC played a
gig with these guys two years ago in Roskilde and they were really good with
some cool songs. I basically saw nothing... Damn… got the set list though:
Set list: Vulture, Call, Sunrise,
Absent, Raga, Tree
It
was getting quite late and Papir was
supposed to start at 22:15 and it was almost 23 now so I sadly had to leave as
I had to be up at 6:45 to go to work. So I missed Papir but was told they were
absolutely amazing and floored the place. I also did not get to see Baby Jesus, Wonderland or The Electric
Set. I spoke to some of my friends and they all left after Papir who
finished at midnight. It was a great night and a lot of young people I had
never seen before... something is happening… the scene is growing...
Day 2
I
left work about 2:45 and got home around 3:30, had some time to change clothes
and pick up my equipment for the gig later with Agusa. All the heavy stuff was
put on one day, which was an interesting choice and a pity that the great
Finnish bands, Mr, Peter Hayden and Dark Buddha Rising were so early. Magnus
was there and managed to get one of the 1 day tickets so we had a beer in the
sun with Daniel and his girlfriend from Heavy days in Doomtown festival..
Jesus on Heroine started things off
about 16:15. It was a beautiful sunny day outside so people were happy to just
hang out in the nice weather rather than be inside. I think there was like 20
people watching this band. Their opening song reminded me a lot of Sundial
(UK). IT was a big band with 12 string acoustic guitar, two guitars, bass,
drums, keyboards and a percussion guy. Some of the guys switched instruments
and vocals but more or less their sounds sounded really similar and in this UK
psych view from the 80s..
When
Mr. Peter Hayden (Finland) started
at 17:30, there was only 2 people in the room besides the staff and myself. I
even told my friends they were starting but they did not come in from the nice
weather for another 10-15mins… Anyway, the band sounded great and the set was
more or less one long 45min trip and only material from the new double CD-vinyl
release called Arch Dimension Now. This is dark moody music, mostly
instrumental but some vocals by one of the guitar players. Heavy riffing,
occasional solos, loud, penetrating… hypnotic… Not a whole lot of people
experienced the show, perhaps 20.
RA is a four piece band and I am not
really sure how to describe them. There were still very few people here yet. It
was a bit too normal or something for me. I filmed one track and you can see
what you think. Upstairs was a unique act called Jin & Daun, as Swedish synth duo with Rikard from Flowers must Die and a nice Asian lady.
I filmed nearly the entire last piece of their set (missing the last 1mn or
less). They had a lot of gear on a small table and she seem to make the mostly
deep drone stuff while Rickard experimented with some small gadgets and a
kasossolator pad, etc.. I like it..
Dark Buddha Rising (Finland) was up now
and this features two of the guys from Mr. Peter Hayden (the keyboard player
from MPH plays guitar) and the other guitar player. The usual singer, who lead
the blood ritual has left the band as he is moving to Brazil. They had a keyboard noise maker guy instead. Some people like my friend Jacob came out
from hiding to see these guys. A pretty small crowd still, maybe 30-40 people
to see this intense show. They played 45mins and it was 3 pieces of music, I
believe. Not sure from what releases. I really love the moods these guys
create. Powerful music…
I
was playing on the main stage next with the Malmö based band Agusa, who has recently released their
debut record on the Kommun2 label. I played with the band previously in Malmö
but this was the first gig with the really cool new young drummer. It took us a
while to set up but in the end the sound was great on stage and the room filled
up and two girls came and danced on the stage and we played a solid concert.
The crowd seem to really be into it. The music is like Progressive rock from
1975, with some Swedish folk music themes thrown in and me making space sounds
in the open sections…. I had a blast…
In
between a few bands were playing upstairs and I occasionally ran up there and took
a photo or shot a short video but since the schedules were all off, I don’t
know who these acts are but enjoy…
Narcosatanicos from Jylland were pretty
damn cool. They play dark, slightly chaotic, heavy spaced out psych music. They
are pretty powerful, with three guitar players, bass, drums and saxophone. They
also have their own movie projected on the screen. The lead guitar player on
the left, I don’t think he realized but he was standing in front of their
projector and so he blocked off usually about 50% of the screen with the shadow
of his head! Anyway, the place was packed and it was a really cool concert. The
first part of the show they had really short songs, one was really a lot like
1972 Hawkwind. Later they had somewhat longer tracks but nothing like a 10min
freakout… High energy dark psych stuff… Set List: Narcodoom, Vile, Voodoo Jesus, King Crust, Sax Jam, Nausea, Salt, Haunzinationsrhusch
Trummor & Orgel(Drums and Organ)
are a duo as the name suggests from Sweden. They had to drag this huge Hammond
B3 and Leslie speaker onto the stage but in the end they sounded great and the
crowd and people were quite into it. This kind of set up really limits what you
can do but the organ player was fantastic, as was the intense drummer, to
really mix it up a lot. Sometimes they were funky, happy, high energy… People
dug it.. Westerbur and Rowe, is an US drum and organ duo, but the organ player
also plays a lot of spacey keyboards.. some of it reminded me of what they can
do also…
Things
were more than 1hr behind now so it was looking like the Cosmic Dead would not
hit the stage before 1 in the morning. I was getting really tired but I had to
see my friends in this band play.. De
Underjordiske was next on the big stage but I ran upstairs and caught a
couple of songs by Danske Så ddddwho I think was Danske
Spor. This was a young kid playing his guitar and harmonica and singing his heart out in Danish. Not too many people but a few.. The Technicolor Poetshad a completely new line up from the last time I saw them at Drone. It was now a female singer, drums, bass and guitar. Previously they had two guitar players and I did not recognize any of these people. Anyway, some of the new tracks
reminded me a bit of Jefferson Airplane. The guitar player had an intense way of playing
but did not do any solos. Seems hardly any of the young bands know how to play
solos or fit them into the music properly.. I am not sure..
De Underjordiske(it translates to the underground
people or something like that) were also very young and had a good crowd. I was
getting really tired and don’t really recall much of what they were really like
but I was not into it. They had a really good groove that people were into but
again, all these guitar players and long rhythm sections without singing and no
solos. It was one of the few bands with a lead singer and he was really into
and very good as well. The crowd liked them..
The
last band of the day was the Cosmic Dead from Scotland! They had flown over
early and slept most of the day and were pretty fresh and happy to be in
Denmark. I spoke to them on and off over the last many hours when I came
outside. It took a while for them to set up so it was perhaps 1:20 or so before
they started. They said they would play the entire new record and then the next
record which is not out but they played a very short and intense set of only
the new record and were done in like 35 mins or so. Pity they played so short.
I think people really wanted more. They technically had a curfew at 1 at the
venue due to the neighbours but it went well overtime last night and that was a
Thursday. I loved them and people were also into it… A great night.. I shot
about 10mins of video from the back of the hall.. Great 2nd day…
The Cosmic Dead (always facing the back of the stage....)
Sadly,
I could not make it to the festival on the 3rd day due to having to
spend sometime with my family. This day featured 17 bands including The
Hedgehogs (the band the organizer plays in) VED (cool Swedish psych band),
Elevatorfører, Telstar Sound Drone, Lorenzo Woodrose (solo), ET Tumason, and
the Telescopes plus many more. I am sure it was another great day.. thanks
again to Kasper and everyone at Stengade for making this a smooth and great
event. For next year perhaps they should have fewer band and start a bit later.
I don’t really see any point in having these bands come on at 16 and play for
5-10 people. No one came to see the bands before 19… I was there both
days and not a single band that played between 16-19 had more than 20 people
watching. This is not cool really. So start a bit later, have fewer bands and
perhaps let a few of the bands play longer sets. Try to get Vibravoid and make
a proper web site also.. Congrats to the organizers... KASPER..... Peace..
HDDT is back with its 3rd
edition and another great and very unique music program. While a few of these
bands played at Roadburn and the Desert Fest, this line up is really different
and also diverse but heavier… The organizers have done an amazing job and
remember this is do it yourself (DIY) festival, all volunteers run, organized,
etc… real amazing dedicated people pulling this together. The booklet has a lot
of great info and also explains the ethic of the festival and the organizers
motivations. One must really congratulate them on this. Great descriptions of
all the artists who create the posters, t-shirt designs, gallery displays, etc. There over 10 artists given detailed descriptions and involved this year, which included making some super cool imagery in the rooms and in the courtyard. Also, each band is given nearly a half page in the booklet with a picture and
good description of the band. On the excellent website you even get the
discography!
16 Whitehorse from Australia hit the stage at 4 and there was not that
many people at the festival yet but a decent crowd. This is one hell of an
intense band. The singer looks fucking mean and angry and has a powerful voice.
The bass, drums and guitar are just powerful heavy riffing stuff and one guy
making strange white noise sounds from time to time. The bass player he was
getting some real stretching exercise and he would jump-lunge forward with the
intensity of the music. Phew.. Powerful, intense, heavy as hell…
