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..
10
tracks 62mins of intensity from Boston.. Sometimes rock and roll like Signed
Epstein’s Mom, stoner rock (Bald Bull), metallic riff rock (Charles Bronson
Pinchot), QOTSA like tracks but with heavier guitar (Irish Dart Fight, Salty
Thumb), slower heavy stuff (Disco Related Injury), etc… Traci Lords is a slower
moving moody piece with an intense ending. Ghost Wipe has a very powerful
guitar riff but slides into the melodic side when the singing comes in, not the
aggressive. I have to say that the singer Marc writes some excellent lyrics on
this record. Snake Plissken is totally different than most of the other track.
The vocal is sung mostly with a totally different feeling until they decide for
a mainstream like chorus. Almost punky. The band save their best song for last
with the Ceaseless thunder of Surf! What a super cool 24min song with a mixture
of all the things these guys do good, but with an experimental improvised feel.
There are still nearly no guitar solos of any significant length on the entire
record (until this last track) which I think is a bit strange. Got two guitars?
Check these guys out..
This
is split LP by the two cool Dutch bands on the Elektrhasch label. it is limited
to 525 numbered copies. It is cool to hear the bands also doing something a bit
different. They both used to sound like Colour Haze but they have shed that
skin now. The question is whether you will like it or not. Both bands perform 3
songs. Both bands have a great sound on this record. Dopo starts the side
though with a very jammy track with heavy bass and some really cool spacey
guitar. Great song. The Sungrazer tracks have a very laid back vocal that
reminds me so much of Kurt Cobain when he sung in this laid back mode. It is
quite clear on the chorus of Yo La tengo, they know this as well. Flow through
a good story is a slow stoney track that just glides and cruises until a more
upbeat ending. Flip the record over for the Machine. The first track is really
slow and doomy, almost reminds me of Toner Low! Not Only is a very fast and
short rocker, while Slipface is the good old Machine that we love, with some
amazing guitar and jamming feel to it. I happen to like this side quite a lot
more than the first but I am also sure many will think just the opposite!
really cool artwork on this LP…
GOAT,
the now famous underground phenomenon from Sweden, have allowed the following
artists to remix on track from their cool debut LP. The artists are: Thought Forms, High Wolf,
Redg Weeks, Tom Furse, Teeth of the Sea, GNOD and Raikes Parade, Cherrystones,
Hookworms, Cage and Aviary. I originally thought this was going to be remixes
of a lot of different tracks but everyone is remixing the same track, Run to
your Mama now. Many are totally far out quite crazy while some have thrust in
quite a cool groove, others have played more with the vocals,etc.. Teeth of the
Sea does the coolest remix on the Volume 1. Sticking with GNOD’s recent drone
music their version reflects that with turning the track into a drone thing
with just occasional use of the vocal in different echoed versions.
Cherrystones version is totally deconstructed into something nearly
unrecognizable. Hookworms has some guitar and has made the track into a more
floating spaced out piece. This is the best version by far. Cage and Aviary
turn it into some sort of almost techno track. Bizzare. Anyway, none of them
sound much like each other but it still would have been much cooler if more
different tracks from the LP were remixed. If you really dig the band you might
want to check this out but like the Wooden Shjips remix record, this is only
for real psych heads. These are pretty limited to a few hundred copies on
orange vinyl.
Riff
Fist is a new Australian stoner rock band featuring Cozza (bass and vocals)
whom I had met at Roadburn Festival a few times and he does a cool radio show
in Australia as well. Anyway, this CD has 4 songs in 23mins of straight up ass kicking
stoner comedy rock and roll. Spud King starts things off, a song about potatoes
and hash! Might remind some people of the heavier side of Clutch. Fingerless
Ben has a more phased out guitar part at times and is a bit more psychedelic
and has a slower doomy section before picking up the pace at the end again.
Like the band’s name suggests the band is into the riff, as there are not a lot
of guitar solos but Casey sneaks in a few. Riff Stew is next short but monster
track. Ride the Pony ends this EP and it starts off with a bass line before a
spacey guitar slowly comes in as Grondo and Cozza lay down the groove. Just at
a minute the main riff kicks in hard. The song is sung a bit in the way early
Monster Magnet is sung. Long rocking track at 8mins. This is a really cool EP
and if dig Clutch, Monster Magnet, WO fat, then check these guys out….
Isaiah
(Earthless) is back with his new family band 7”. Two fresh new tracks, which I
hope will not be on the next Golden Void release, like the first single they
released and both song were included in exactly the same version on the debut
LP. Rise to the Out of Reach starts side
A. It starts off very melodic with some nice guitar and the same guitar line
continues when the vocal (quite far in the back compared to the guitar) comes
in. It is an ok track but not as good as anything on the debut record. There is
not even much of a guitar solo. Smiling Raven is the B side track and starts
off like coming out of a jam and the track continues just as such with some
awesome guitar playing that for sure makes up for the not that interesting A
side.
First
off, this is the first CD release I have heard of from this awesome label. This
UK band recently released a super cool compilation record of material from most
of their releases and now this is all new studio material, including 14 tracks.
Psychedelic pop music inspired by bands from the 60s primarily. After a small
intro you go straight into the first track Seeing. I like the song but the
chorus is repeated far too many times, perhaps 100. The title track is a bit
Syd Barrett like but more lush sound both beautiful and floating at times. I
love the rhythm on Songs from the River, really nice instrumentation that
surprises and makes you smile. Turn the Tables is an acoustic track which
sounds normal on the surface but has a lot of interesting stuff happening in
the background and you can’t help but think of the Beatles in someway. Flip the
record for Seaside and the Giant Sound. It starts with drums and a jew’s harp
and then the other instruments kick in (do I hear a banjo?). It gets quite
bubbly at the end. You have to love these wonderful lyrics they sing on this
entire record. Halloween People has some nice dualing acoustic guitars in this
short track. Trees in the Wind, reminds me of a Pink Floyd song I can’t recall
at the moment.. One from Meddle, I believe. The Monsters of ID has this very
rhythmic singing that additional singing is layered on top and lots of other
stuff is happening in this psychedelic soundscape. Panorama is the last track
before the outro and the longest on the record at 7 mins. It is one of the few
songs to feature an electric guitar solo and in fact quite a few instruments
surface and disappear to play cool parts as the vocals slowly disappears as the
track evolves, twists and turns. Lovely album. I wonder if there are any scientists in the band??
The
Glasgow spaced out rock outfit, the Cosmic Dead are back with another cassette
release. The bands for two cassettes are sold out but have now come out on
vinyl on a couple of different labels. Anyway, this tape is pretty long
(74mins) featuring 4 tracks recorded on March 31st in Glasgow. Most
of the set the band played at Roadburn seemed to be from this tape. Side A
starts with the Custa v Bjornstrand track with a mid pace and heavy bass line.
The guitars are pretty psyched out and the synthesizers slowly get louder and
start to dominate the sound as the band jams away in the background. A spoken
word vocal or sample comes in eventually. The track is a long trip. Some cool
guitar at the end. The Mass of Betelgeuse is the 2nd track. This
starts heavy, slow, almost doomy bass line and very spacey guitar and synths as
it slowly builds up. Wow. Super cool track.. Flip the tape over for the title
track, Inner Sanctum. Again the spaced out jam starts with a cool driving bass
line as the guitar just gets totally spaced out. It takes a long time for him
to come back down to earth as the band maintains this high energy and really
spaced out vibe. Phew.. The last track, Hello Satan, starts slow and heavy but
then builds up much like all the other tracks. A pretty damn cool release. I am
sure it will show up on vinyl like the other cassettes have now. Cool band. Was
one of my favourite at Roadburn this year…
I
quite liked the bands previous release (Mode 0909) and I was quite surprised
when this one came through the mail slot. The five piece band plays
instrumental music and hail from Heidelberg, Germany. The CD is split into 14
tracks (46min) but there are really just 7 real tracks and 7 strange spacey
interlude tracks that are given 3-5 symbol characters. Time Wave Zero starts
things off with a pretty fast pace and then slows down with the Hammond
appearing before they take it up again. No guitar solos in this track, just
some heavy riffing. Arrested Development starts heavy but then the organ and
guitars play a more psychedelic role as the track takes a slow more stoned
groove. Then piano for a short interlude before the pace really picks up and
then back and into a lead guitar section. Spanish Revenge starts quite frantic
before settling down a bit into one of the more melodic and longer tracks at
nearly 8mins. Later the track gets heavier and features a cool synthesizer
solo. Debris Moon (8:45) is a slow and spacey track with some really deep bass.
Great floating ambience. The Monkey stealing the Peaches (cool title!) is the
shortest of the main tracks at only 3 mins but is lead by a really cool guitar
line. Tzameti is a fast paced track with some cool lead guitar and organ
interactions. The CD ends with Psychonaut. Another more spaced out track like
Debris Moon. This is a damn cool record with a
lot of moods and changes and comes across as quite jamming and free flowing and
not all super highly composed, which is nice. Sounds great if you crank it up!
I
have never heard of this band. They are a four piece from New Hampshire and two
of the guys played in Scissorfight. This record has 11 tracks in 41 mins.
The opening track, Solution is pretty tuned down heavy riffing stuff with a
great wah guitar at times. David Nebbia, the lead vocalist has a pretty
distinct voice and they add some effects on it sometimes. Broken has another
pretty massive riff and this track has a more melodic sound like Alice in
Chains or Soundgarden. The solo section is quite bluesy and different, which I
really liked. On the next track, Transformer, Jay, kicks down another cool
catchy and heavy guitar riff. MT is another melodic track that could be like
Soundgarden, even Nirvana with the way the vocal is sung. Josey Wales is a more
bluesy track but Jay shifts back and forth between this bluesy feel and his
signature heavy riff which is used in many songs. Flesh Farm reminds me of
Soundgarden at least the beginning of the track. The end is a bit different.
Think 1990 Soundgarden. David is not singing in that kind of range but he has a
cool voice. I dig it. Buffalo combines a more bluesy thread with the “std heavy
riff” and a cool vocal. It really picks up speed towards the end but they don’t
jam it out at all. Pill Cruise has one of the more aggressive riffs if not the
most on the record but then it goes somewhere else. Crutch, Jay has this really
cool effect on his guitar. Heavy Bullet is one of the more bluesy 70s style
tracks on the record. Warlord ends this album. I think you have an idea of what
these guys sound like now. This is very inspired by the Grunge era bands but
with a more stoner rock guitar riff and sound and throw in a little blues. Good
singer.
This
just came out of nowhere and luckily for me, Nils scored me a copy. I have not
heard Pyramidion before. The LP comes with a small insert with some info about
Pyramidion and nothing but a symbol for BONG. They are a four piece band and
like BONG perform an lp long side track called The Gargle Decree (Flabbergasted
Vatican). The track is a bit like Circle but with two guitars that nicely
interweave in and out with each other in a cool dynamic. Think of My brother
the Wind or Øresund Space Collective but with a less dynamic bass player. Great
track. BONG starts off with a slow spacey vibe with the fuzz guitar mixed quite
far to the back and the Indian instrument up in the front. It is slowly stonely
drifting towards the horizon of Mars. Take the trip, it is long and slow and
some slow lead guitar bubbles up from the depths on occasion as you feel you
are drifiting into the outer depths of your mind… Towards the end, the main
guitar gets much louder and starts to dominate as the wall of sound saturates
your cortex with reverberating DOOM…..
A
Russian label has released this split cassette of new material from these two
bands. GNOD is making music in a more drone spaced out fashion like their last
couple of not that interesting releases but I think this cassette was quite
cool with their side long track called The Choice of a Nubian Generation. It
has more intricate synths, not so minimalistic. It is quite nice and floating
and good for the early morning to start the day and includes some guitar as
well. Towards the end of the track you can hear the drums (or machine) and some
far away vocals if you listen closely. Flip the tape over for Bear Bones Lay
Low. Their side features 4 tracks. Quemacoco starts with some fast vibrating
sound and then layers of lead synth come in over the top. It is very spaced out
and psychedelic. Roswell Romance II is something totally different with some
strange samples, disconnected electronic rhythm beat generated drive. Tripped.
Warmth, ever so Pleasant is next and more back to like the first track with a
fast oscillation and some layers of synths. Llévenme con Ustedes ends this
psychedelic instrumental soundscape tape. Hope you enjoyed the trip.
Purson
are back with their first single from the new record, The Circle and the Blue
Door, which is due out in May 2013. I quite liked the debut single that was
released and is now long sold out. The
beautiful, friendly and mysterious guitarist and lead vocalist Rosalie also
co-writes all the songs. The title track starts side A and it is a very 70s
organ driven rock track. The song has a nice groove and during parts of the
song they put this strange effect on the vocal, which I am not that keen on. No
guitar solo but a nice organ solo (short). Pretty cool song. The B side is a
unreleased songs called Let Bloom. It is a laid back more melancholy track with
some beautiful singing. This track is also greatly lead by the organ, which has
become the center point of the bands sound. I look forward to hearing the full
length record that I have pre-ordered.
Vidunder
is a pretty new Swedish hard rock trio from Malmö. The band released their debut 7” on
Crusher Records last year. Summoning the Not Living is a great opening track
with a more intense vocal. Into the Grave (features John Hoyles on lead guitar
from Witchcraft/Troubled Hourse) and Trees are nearly Graveyard cover songs as
they play so close to the style, it is almost a crime, I would say. Trees mixes
things up with a bit of organ but so did the last Graveyard record. Threefold
now sounds nearly just like Witchcraft but not as organic in this ballad track.
Försummad och Bortglömd is sung in Swedish and has two nice guitar solo
sections. Asmodeus, the track from their debut single in Nov 2011 is next and
is an ok song but it just did not grab me on the single or here. Beware of the
Moon is a slower, heavier track featuring the organ. It still annoys me that
the singer, rather than trying to sing in a unique way tries just too hard to
emulate sounding like Magnus from Witchcraft. This will only hold the band back,
not bring them forward. Do your own thing, guys. Fire again is a slower track
and quite short, under 3mins. Threat from the Underground speeds things up
again and reminds me of the opening track. Your Ghost ends this short record
with another Witchcraft inspired track. (10 tracks, 34mins). The band is trying
a bit too hard to sound like their fellow Swedes in Witchcraft and Graveyard at
times. If your favourite bands are in this genre, then check these guys out as
they do have some great songs.
Deville
are a Swedish Stoner rock band that are keeping 90s stoner rock alive, well and
true to its roots. 11 tracks in 45mins.. Lava kicks in fast and will remind
people of Unida and Kyuss but without the intense low end. A fast one to start
off. Iron Fed is another fast paced one. I really like the sort of ominous
thread that runs through the guitar in the non-singing parts. In Vain slows
things down and has a pretty catchy swing to it. The Knife has a more intense
guitar line and punch to it. The end instrumental section is quite melodic but
really lacking for a guitar solo. Now to think of it, there might not have been
any guitar solos yet despite the band having two guitar players. Over the Edge
is a classic stoner riff and this track does have a 10 second guitar solo but
mostly just heavy riffing. Powerful track. Burning Towers slows things down but
keeps it heavy in this great track. let it Go is a more melodic uptempo track. Battles
will be Born has a slow almost heavy metal riff that slowly builds up in this
short instrumental track. It really could have built into a monster but they
ended it and did not evolve it much considering how cool the track is.
Strange.. Blood Crown comes back to the fast and furious but a very melodic and
quite mainstream feel to the vocals. Riff is still hard edged. Imperial is
another more melodic track with a heavy riff and a short ripping solo. Stay a
little Longer is the closing track and one of the longest. This is a pretty
cool record. I think the band are sounding more like fellow Swedes Mustasch in
someways, who are very popular these days. It is a more mainstream sound in
someway but they still have some great powerful songs that I really like.
This
is a very limited 7” that the band sold at their Roadburn Festival gig 2013. It
is pressed in only 200 copies and each one is numbered. The 7” plays of 45
speed and is one jam track split into parts 1 and 2. I have to say when the
needle hit the vinyl and this one started to play I was totally caught off
guard by the real 60’s vibe with the way the guitar and organ is played on this
one. I half expected Marty Balin to kick in an awesome vocal followed by Grace
Slick! A really cool groove. When you flip the record that is when Mathias
really plays a excellent guitar solo. The track just sort of jams it out until
the end with a nice groove and feeling. Hope you can find one of these.
Two
exclusive new tracks by these cool bands from the Small Stone Label. This was
released for the bands European Tour 2013. I picked it up at the Roadburn
Festival. The Abrahma track is a Edwin Starr cover called War. It starts off as an acoustic blues track with
some slide before the dramatic change into a angry anti-WAR track with some
heavy riffs. War- what is it good for? Wo Fat do a new track called Broke down
in Texas. Very tuned down heavy riffing nasty distorted stuff to start. Mr.
Stubb takes his time building up the intensity of his solo guitar in this
instrumental track. Cool 7”.
Many
people may not have heard of this psychedelic rock band from Finland. I only
recently got their record and this is a new 7”. Ovi starts the side A off. This
track is an uptempo track with some frantic drumming and a funny groove but
unless you understand Finnish you will not get the vocals. She has a cool voice
that fits well with this. The track has two small psychy guitar breaks. Vastaus
Rukouksiisi is also a quite fast track and is also quite frantic but the
melodic guitar lines are what make the track different. A very special band and
quite hard to describe. The end of this track is totally spaced out. You just
have to go check them out.
First
off, this is a damn strange record. I have to give the band some credit, they
have made a very strange stoner rock record, one that most out there will
think, what the fuck is this??? Give it a chance though… The singer sometimes
has this very laid back, stoned vocal style, very drugged, then he will burst
out like a hardcore singer, ok that is only on the first song. Dumbfucker is a
downtuned angry track. Very doomy also. Ztupe/Red Area is a fast paced track
with a slight melodic thread while staying pretty angry and aggressive. The
guitar solo section is pretty crazy and out of control. The God Replacement slows
things down at bit with a heavy stoner riff but has this sort of tension in the
track, where you wonder what will happen next. Tekken has a guitar like “The
End” from the Doors, just briefly, to start the track and then the heaviness
begins and the track becomes quite massive. Big Fat Killing is a 1min track
that reminds me of Suicidal Tendencies. Black Trekker pushes the vocal back a
bit as this has a nice slow stoney groove and riff, a bit bluesy and perhaps
the most psychedelic track on the record. Bootes, the last track is 8½ mins and
perhaps the most dynamic track with slow, heavy, faster and repetitive heavy
riffing with psyched vocals. Cool new German band.
ZigZags
play a very uptempo aggressive fuzz rocker called Runaway. Sung with a punk
rock mentality and driven by a heavy nasty guitar sound. Cool track and short
song. The Shrine came and played a bunch of gigs in Copenhagen last year and
everyone raved about them but I missed them all. Their track is called Spit in
my Life. It starts with a spoken word
diatribe before they turn on the rock! Quite raw, nasty rock and roll..
straight up, no fucking around worrying about song arrangements, just let it
roar…..
This is the festival’s 2nd year and it looks like it is going to be a great success once again. For those who do not know this is a DIY festival where no one is paid and all artists play for expenses only and what they can make from merchandise. IT is a combination of heavy intense music and ART! They have brought in like 10 artists from all around the world to create unique displays and exhibitions. There are people from all over Europe at this festival, with most coming from Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Lots of Finns!
19:30 Tom (Ex- Church of Misery) and his girlfriend, arrived in Denmark at 17:30 and we had some food at my place and took off for Forum station to drop off most of my synth gear for the ØSC gig on Sunday and then a walk over to Stengade 30, where the first bands play and people can get their wristbands, etc.. Those with a 4 day ticket. Bottom Feeder was already playing when we arrived and the room was packed and hot, so we hung out outside and chatted with a lot of people and checked out the art upstairs. I saw 2 songs.
Set List: Void, Tension, out of the..., Grinding Teeth, On Life support, Trusted by Few
22:00 Saw High Priestess of Saturn from Norway play. I really like the new record they released on Svart and was really looking forward to seeing them. They play slow doom with a female vocal and heavy organ sound. The organ player plays a lot of cool stuff while the rest of the band lays down the riff and groove. In the middle of their set they did the song Cymbaline by Pink Floyd, which was a real surprise and quite cool. The last song, On Mayda Insula, was a sort of a jam track and the organ player did a great solo while the guitar player seemed uncomfortable soloing, more a riff dude, and he did not let himself get lost in it and really go free. Anyway, it was a solid set of all the songs from the record. Cool stuff. High Priestess of Saturn Mayda Insula live
Huata (France)
24:00 Huata from France were up next and I was starting to feel really out of it and tired as I have just arrived from Tokyo the night before and am still getting used to the local time again. Anyway, the singer was dressed like a monk in a red robe and guzzling off a wine bottle (pretty sure if was filled with beer though as it foamed..) and the band laid down some heavy stuff. The singer was excellent and really powerful and also played organ stuff on a small Korg keyboard. They had some sound samples here and there as well as some pre-recorded psychedelic sounds on a few of the tracks. The bass player played some really cool stuff with some nice use of effects. I think the guitar player, while playing really heavy stuff was not very interesting at all. Saw him tune is guitar and he only tuned the top E string as that was more or less all he needed! Anyway, it was a very intense band and great heavy evil pagan lyrics and sound. People were pretty high and drunk by now and really into it as well.
I left before they finished and did not get to see Hexvessel. That is like the 3rd time I have missed them. End of day 1.
Day 2
Toner Low is on first at 17 and I also want to check out all the art exhibits upstairs in the library adjacent to the main hall, so I hope to get there a bit early.
18 Toner Low were great and had some nice marijuana visuals and the crowd dug the grooves but the set was a little short at only 40mins. We hung out a lot with the band after their set. TONER LOW Live at HDDT 2013
Alunah
I saw a bit of the UK band Alunah but I have never really liked them that much. The female singer also plays guitar, but her voice just does not really speak to me with much emotion. The songs are ok but also, not really doing anything that interesting or new for me. The room was pretty full and people seem to enjoy it but I just could not get into it. They for sure have some great riffs and strong songs from time to time and we could hear them outside the room as they had the door open.
Set List: Demeter's Grief, oak Ritual, Call of Avernus, Feedback/Phaser, Heretic Order, Chester Midsummer, White Hoarhound, Belial's Fjord
Saturnalia Temple
19 Siena Root (only had a brief minute to say hello to my friends in the band) had a different singer and 2nd guitar player from the last time I saw them. The band is changing all the time. The singer has this great husky voice and I think it worked well. I think he is the guy from the Swedish southern rock band, Backdraft. The other guitar player was very bluesy and great as well. I had not seen the band so loose and jammy in a long time. Much less controlled in their 1hr set including a drum solo with all the fire and stuff. It was a great set of mostly older songs and two new songs. They opened with a jam into Trippin’ from the first record. Into the Woods was a heavy one for the HDDT crowd. Conveniently Blind was a short new rocker that I filmed. The band ended the set with Coming Home. Great short set.
Approx. Set List: Dreams of Tomorrow, Trippin', Into the Woods, Words, Conveniently Blind, Mishra Kafi, Coming Home
20 Saturnalia Temple had the small room totally packed and I was up front with the bass player from Toner Low. We were totally into it. This is a great psychedelic DOOM band from Sweden. I love the way the guitar uses these really far out effects and delay. There is not a single guitar player in this genre that plays like he does. Very cool. Nice delay on the vocals also gives it a more psychedelic sound. Great 1hr set.
21 Procession, a doom rock band from Chile (but live in Sweden) packed the Main stage hall and gave a very rocking set, much more heavy metal than anything else so far at the festival but people really dug it and the sound was very good. I was outside listening for most of the set but saw a few songs.
Bell Witch
22 Bellwitch were a strange duo from the US. A drummer who sang deathly vocals at times and a player with a clean voice and a 6 string bass. He played some really interesting stuff with tapping, octaves, and then this doomy stummed bass sometimes. Some parts were heavy and intense and others were very melodic and droney and while some of it was really good some parts were just too boring. They needed some really far out projections while they play. It would make a huge difference. The room was totally packed like sardines to start but after 10mins people started to leave. Interesting and different for sure..
23 CONAN… what can I say, this was unfucking believably massive… Shit.. The volume was like 130db and the PA went out twice during the show. The bass frequencies vibrated the hair on the back of your head! Very intense stuff. The crowd was really into it. About half way through the concert, Dave (who lives in Denmark), he used to play bass with CONAN, joined the band on 2nd bass for one of their old tracks (from the Slomatics split). I filmed this one. The sound was just so massive… Wow.. cool live band even though I don’t listen to their records..
I was pretty blasted and did not stay to see Beezelbong or Samothrace.
Day 3
Slept into 9 this morning which was great. The festival starts at 16 today and Danava is on at 17, whom I really want to see. Not sure I will get a nap before I head out today or not. We will see. Lots of cool bands today as well.
16:30 Grime from Italy just finished playing and this is some pretty heavy sludgy stuff, not really my cup of tea. The room was not totally packed yet as people are starting to come back to life and arrive again. They only played like 30 mins. Vocals sounded like screams from the Grave.
Great sunny weather and people are in a great mood. I went and checked out the artists in the library but the displays were very small. I was surprised so little artwork was there. Some really cool stuff for sure.
Danava Take 1
Met Johnny and Tobias from Transubstans and some more Finnish people.
17:20 Danava had the nightmare of not only monitor issues on stage but the main PA fuse box blew out and they had to stop their show after only 3 songs. Done… Major bummer. They are right now trying to figure out where to reschedule them. We will see if they play again or not. I spoke to the guys and they are really cool people.
18 Lecherous Gaze really kicked ass. I had fun talking to the guitar player Graham earlier. All really nice people. This was just kick ass rock and roll music with a bit of punky attitude. Think Black Flag but with Ted Nugent on guitar or something like that. They ended their set with a crazy version of Johnny B goode with the singer out in the audience going crazy with the fans. Fun stuff.
Set List: Animal, Ravenous, Scorpion, Bagagazo, Lyrin in the Road, Skidz, Born on a River, War Woman, The Grasp/Redeemer, Johnny B Goode
COUGH
19 COUGH was super loud, slow, heavy and depressive as ever. These guys are really intense. I only heard about 30 mins but they are a super powerful band. Phew.. Crowd was packed and totally into it as well.
20 So the guys from Shadow of the Torturer are late so they slotted in Danava in the small room and they played a kick as 45mins set and were excellent. It is cool music and really complicated stuff. Like math rock in a way but with a 70s blues rock feel. Very cool and and great players all of them. Everyone is like soloing all the time. The best bass and drummer of the entire festival probably. Blew us away…
Pagan Alter
21 Pagan Alter had the main hall packed and the sound was great and they totally smashed the place with their great NWOBHM style. They were all in a great mood and happy to be part of this festival. The singer had a cold but was great. I thought they were much better here than at Roadburn. Lead guitar player was excellent. Crowd really seem to know a lot of their songs as well. They played a little over an hour. Great concert.
22 Meth Drinker, like the name implies was insanely intense. Grindcore DOOM, just plain nasty angry heavy shit…. some people were totally blown away but for me it was too much. I had to go outside.. Room was packed and hot as well.
Mournful Congregation
23 Mournful Congregation from Australia had a good crowd in the main hall for their brand of Funeral Doom. They have three guitar players who mostly play the same lines but the guy on the right with the flying V did most of the solos and they had some nice harmonies as well in the more mellow parts. They were doomy but not tuned down that low and had a cleaner guitar sound. Songs are long and pretty slow but people were into it. Good band.
HEAT
24 HEAT, a band I was really looking forward to was next and they were great. I was up in the front and it was a bit to crazy with people smashing you around all the time. There was one Danish asshole who was just being a jerk and provoking this cool guy with the big Vol 4 back patch who was front and center. Just pushing him all the time and finally the girl next to me had had enough before this guy was going to turn around and smash him and she just dragged his ass straight out the door and threw him out and came back. That was cool.. Anyway, they were way more bluesy than I had thought they would b. This has one or two of the guys from Samsara Blues Experiment in the band. While the singer is not that strong, he puts in a great performance, while the rest of the band kicks some ass. Lots of nice solos from both guitar players. It was a great set especially the last song, was long and great. Crowd loved it.
Set List: Daymale, Warhead, Siamese Smile, Illusion, Barbarossa, Loving Devotion, Old Sparky, Ending Agirj, Better by You
Day 4
14 I was just about to go out the door to the Metro and the bungy cord holding the the box of CDs onto the trolley with all the vinyl records snapped off and hit me in the face slashing my cheek and lip and now I am bleeding like crazy.. I hope it does not swell up too much…
15 I finally made it to the festival and stopped bleeding after like 10 mins. A bit sore on the lip. A really nice girl offered to help me from the bus to the festival with all the merch as it was pretty tough to hall this by myself. I have a very good merch spot where everyone walks by. Hope we sell some things. Thomas should be here with the gear anytime. Stefan and Jesper will both come later.
Nocturnal
16 Seremonia played on the big stage to a decent sized crowd but they played a really cool concert. A strange psychedelic rock all sung in Finnish with some pretty frantic drumming that seems like he is running ahead of the band all the time. It gives the music this special edge. Pretty high energy stuff and they had a really cool piece towards the end of the show that was really spaced out. Not a lot of guitar solos but cool textures and songs for sure. They only played about 35 mins. Oh yeah.. the drummer came out and did a 1min flute solo during one of the last long pieces as well. That was something unexpected. Here is a cool video from the show.. enjoy...
17:30 Nocturnal are jamming away in the Dødsmaskinen (small hall). I am not so wild about the singer but they had good energy and a lot of guitar solos. Very 70s rock style. Crowd seem to dig them as well. I bought their 7" record.
19 I had some food with the guys and gal from Seremonia upstairs. Super nice and cool people. Dark Budda Rising just totally blew me away. Super loud, super heavy and psychedelic. The set was not that long but so powerful. I think they played 40mins. The blood ritual makes it all so intense but the mix of this super heavy stuff, then a really spacey part and the end with all this psychedelic guitar textures from the guy on the right.. Nils and I were blown to bits… Amazing band…. One of the best of the entire festival.
Dark Budda Rising
Saturnus
Resounaut
Resonaut is playing now. I saw the first couple of songs and did not really get into it at all so I am back at the merch stand, where I can hear them but not see them. I have to say that they did not really catch a groove at all to start but the end of their show they sounded really great and it all really built up in a super cool way. The festival is packed with people now. I think I heard it was basically sold out now.
20 Saturnus, a 20 year old Danish melodic doom death metal band play in the big hall now. A really good crowd. I have not really ever liked this band much mainly due to the death metal vocal. It just kills it all for me but they played extremely well and craft some great songs as well. All the guys in ØSC are now here and in a really good mood.
21 Skraeckoedlan are a fairly new Swedish band with only 2 records and this is the last gig of their tour they said. The room was quite packed and they rocked the place with some high energy stoner rock but with some cool twin guitar parts, almost like southern rock a few times and good melodies. I expected them to do a lot more solos and stuff since they have all these guitar pedals but did not seem to use them much. Rocking stuff.. Here is a video of the opening track from the show.
22 Kadavar are playing in the big hall now but I have to set up and soundcheck for the ØSC gig at 23. I only heard a bit of some of the stuff but I could see the hall was packed.
01:20 Wow.. what an amazing gig for us. We had so much energy. Not a lot of slow spacey stuff but a lot of high energy 70s blues rock and roll with heavy riffs and massive guitar solos. Tom and Stefan really connected on a higher level and played killer together. Amazing musical communication. Jesper and Thomas really held the bottom down and I just spaced out. Sound was amazing on the stage so we all could play our best. We played for nearly 2hrs and people were totally into it. The room was never totally packed but a lot of people. Daniel the organizer popped in a few times and seemed to dig it. The Finns were up front and said they were blown away. Great comments from the Dark Budda Rising people. I had a great time but am totally exhausted now. Thanks to Love from Siena Root for helping me out with selling the merchandise.
Amazing festival and so glad I was part of it once again. Congrats to the organizers for a wonderful event. This will grow to be considered one of the best music festivals in Northern Europe if they can get this kind of line up of bands each year.. Hope to see you next year.
I think this is my 8th year in a row attending the Roadburn Festival and writing a long report about this amazing once a year experience. I would call it a festival, which it is but it is much more. It is a gathering of people who are intensely and passionately into music of the heavy kind. Whether it be heavy doom riffs or heavy electronic sounds (think Godflesh) or heavy guitar psych and just about every other kind of intense music. Hope you learn something new. Check out the videos for the full experience...
18/04/13
12:40 I am still in Copenhagen as the plane can’t leave due to windy conditions in Holland. I was already going to be in a rush to try to catch Blues Pills at 16:15 but now it will likely be impossible. I had to leave late for the festival this year due to my daughter’s birthday the day before and me needing to spend some extra time with her since I am going directly from Roadburn to Japan on the Sunday and will miss the amazing Afterburner..
15:57 I am on the train and we just past Den Haag and Delft and I will have to change trains in Rotterdam. even more delays as one of the train lines was not running, my bad was one of the last to come off the flight, etc… Probably not in Tilburg before 17:30 now. I really wanted to see Black Bombain from Portugal but that was impossible anyway. But some of the DOOM on the big stage starting the day sounded great as well.
17:40 Wow.. how my luck changed. I was told there would be no trains to Tilburg before 18 and I would be stuck in Breda but as we were nearly at Breda suddenly they said the signal problem was fixed and the trains were funning to Tilburg. When I arrived ai walked as fast as I could to the O13. Saw Walter just as I was arriving and said hello and went to the baggage check and put all my things in and I was ready for Roadburn. Missed Blues Pills and caught the last song of Penance in the big room. I squeezed into the Bat Cave to see Robert Hampson from Loop, do some strange electronic stuff. I stayed for like 15mins but almost nothing was happening. Some noisy fast ossiclations from this equipment but not a lot of growth in the sound or anything interesting at all. Room was packed when I came and now half the people had left as it was not very interesting. It might become later but he was way to slow to make his music evolve and people lost interest.
18:50 I watched the complete opening of Gravetemple and it was a similar experience. Very slow for anything to happen. 3 piece band with two guitars (tuned very low) and a guy doing some spoken word stuff in Latin (?) and making some sounds at times. We were all very patient and not much was happening. Check out the video and see what you think. Now I was back at the Bat Cave for Magdalena Solis. This was a duo on guitar and one keyboard and they played short pieces of music to short specific films, so of which they acted in themselves (I think). The sound was not very good though as you could hardly hear the guitar playing at all and I was right in front of him. I liked some of this.
19:03 I am getting some food with Magnus now. He is really tired as they got very little sleep the night before. I helped him to get back on his feet and I think he appreciated it. There is like 15mins until the old Dutch stoner band, Candybar Planet starts.
20:30 Wow.. I really dug Candybar Planet and the new songs sounded really good as well. The crowd was not that big but they were cool and really grooving. Sometimes quite heavy but other times just a bit more melodic. I did not see the whole show as Magnus wanted to see some of High on Fire so we headed up to the Balcony and it was totally packed and really loud! I am glad I have my new custom earplugs. They make a huge difference but I am still not used to the way they feel. Anyway, HIGH ON FIRE were really intense and I only really liked their first record, which has been more slow than all these almost thrash things they do now. Pretty cool and the crowd was really into it.
21:00 Next up I went over to the Church and saw Nate Hall from US Christmas perform 4 solo songs on electric guitar. He seemed a bit distant, stoned or something.. drugged.. did not have the passion of his records but it was nice to see him as I love his record. I also spoke to him for like 15mins later this evening. Super nice person. Next, John Balzley and Katie Jones joined Nate and they played some Townes van Zandt tracks and Katie sang and also played violin and Nate switched to acoustic guitar. This was a really cool and nice change. Great stuff.
21:45 I hurried over to squeeze in the room to hear Maserati. I missed the first song or two but totally got sucked into the groove when I moved close to the front. This was pretty cool stuff. Two guys on guitar, prerecorded bass and some sounds and an intense machine drummer who just kicked ass. The one guitar player does all the delay guitar stuff while the other guy does more of the leads and noisy guitar stuff. They don’t do a lot of leads though, it is mostly just groove music but damn cool. Not a single band has had any cool visuals except the films.
23:15 Now there was a bit of a break and I talked with a lot of old and new friends and popped outside for some air and some chicken wings and a beer. Saw a couple of songs of the slow Mournful Congregation but none of Lord Mantis or Intronuat or Primoridal. Now it is time for Psychedelic Warlords, whom I was supposed to guest with but it did not happen, which is a pity.
01:00 For psychedelic Warlords, Nils, Ole, Tom, Sven, Jesper and some other all hung out to the right side of the mixer. The sound was great, the vibe good and some ok visuals but not that impressive and nothing like Hawkwind would have in the 70s and they used no strobe lights at all. The band was playing very well and I think this was the 6th time they have played Space Ritual live so they do it well. I still think it is funny that one of the headline acts is a cover band but that is the way it is. Eugene, who was a guest sax player on one of the jams at the end of the Herne Bay Space Ritual show was playing the Nik Turner parts. Ray did all the vocals except for the great Rob Calvert (Julian) parts. Rich Om was great on the spacey things. Nate from US Christmas came out and played on Brainstorm, Master of the Universe and one other song. It was a great set and the crowd really liked it as well pity they did not have the lights real low and more dark spacey visuals and strobes, it might have then blown people away.
We did not hang out long and were back at the hotel at 1:30…. Pretty cool first day..
Day 2
9:30 I have a single room right next to the bathroom so it is pretty noisy here. Sunny with some clouds but it looks like it is getting more cloudy not less. Today is the Electric Acid Orgy. Should be cool.
12:10 Had some juice, tea and a sandwich and am feeling good to go now. Everyone is sitting out in the garden and having some beers and joints even though it is quite cold. The first act we will see today is Dream Death. I have their first one or two records including a rare test pressing!
12:35 Sven called me and said the guys in Goat could not find the person who is to pick them up at the airport in Dusseldorf and could I help them contact Walter. I used to have his phone number in my phone but not now so I hurried off to the venue to find the personal and let them now. They took care of it right away. Turns out that they were all in the wrong places and just missing each other.
13:50 We got all the GOAT stuff sorted and I had a nice chat with Nate Hall and he said US Christmas was not dead but just sleeping. He said it was just a lot easier to do his solo stuff these days and he was enjoying it. In the Bat Cave they have turned it into a theatre and they will have films and some live music all day today. The Electric Grindhouse Cinema and it features Niklas Barker (My Brother the Wind, Anekdoten), Shazzula, Adertaling and Void ov Voices at different times playing to the films. I checked out the first film and it was a strange erotic horror thing about a girl who got off on killing people in strange erotic ways. The musical soundtrack was killer though, lots of acid guitar solos and wild drumming. Cool…
15:30 I saw most of Dream Death and although they have a dated sound they still sounded pretty good and they have some really great songs. They even played a Penance song that he said was written when Dream Death was still a band. I wanted to see Kadavar but the room was too full so I came back and caught the rest of Dream Death. It was good.
16:45 Nils and I went to see the Finnish stoner band, Tombstoned and they were pretty cool and the room was damn packed with people. Very loud. These are young kids and they had never played to a crowd like this. The bass player is not really playing that well and just slapping the strings in time with the bass to get this heavy sound but the guitar player who also sings plays cool stuff to make up for it and the drummer rocks. He is not very comfortable singing and has a long way to go to develop his voice so don’t focus on that as they have some damn cool songs. I liked them.
17:55 I ran over and got some food and heard 3 songs by Witch Mountain. They have a female singer who is almost like an opera singer. Doom with operatic vocals. Most of the time it worked very well but sometimes he was nearly irritating. I could have used some more lead guitar but when he did play he really ripped it up. The song that I filmed was excellent and they said it was one they rarely played live. They were great.. Crowd really liked them a lot as well.
19:00 Uncle Acid.. Huge expectations from everyone on this one and the room was totally packed. They had a great sound and really cool film visuals going on the huge screen. Clips from several common movies that we have seen before like Mark of the Devil, El Topo, etc. Looked great and sounded great. They more or less played the songs exactly like the record but a few solos seemed a bit extended. They were clearly having a great time and the crowd was digging it as well. Really solid set from this promising new band…
Set List: I’ll cut you down, Crystal Spiders, Mount Abraxax, Mind Crawler, I’m here to kill You, Valley of the Dolls, Desert Ceremony, Death’s Door, Poison Apple, Over and Over, Vampire Circus
22:00 I watched a bit of MOSS and as I expected it was a bit too slow and depressive for me but I know the people who like these guys were blown away once again. I think the lack of a bass player takes too much power away but he is a powerful vocalist and the drums and guitar are slow and doomy as hell.. Anyway, the Pretty Things, I did not have a huge expectation but it was one of the absolute highkights on this day. To see a few of these guys in their 70s still totally rocking was awesome and they wrote some many great songs. Dick Taylor was really ripping it up on the lead guitar as well and they got really psychedelic with the two guitars on several occasions in the set. Crowd was really into it as well and the sound was amazing. I wish I knew the set list they played. I hope they release this one!
I only could see about 20 mins of Eternal Tapestry before Electric Wizard but they were really cool and trippy with low lights and focus on the projections. They reminded me a bit of Carlton Melton like vibe but with more synths. Would have loved to have seen more of them. Damn..
00:00 Wow.. What can I say, Electric Wizard, the headliner for Roadburn this year totally delivered the goods with a set of really heavy jammed and spaced out doom rock. As soon as the lights went down, people started smoking joints and there was a great smell in the air as the band kicked into DOOM gear for the next 75 or so minutes. Lots of guitar solos, amazing sound and visuals that just combined into an amazing trip. I was totally blown away, especially with the last track of the concert and the amazing projections. Amazing set..
I wanted to go see GOAT but it was totally full so no chance to see them perform. We got up close in front of the young guitar player for Satan’s Satyers and you could tell this was going to be a crazy rock and roll party for sure. Most of the Danish folks were in the same area and they love this band so they were totally up for it. I had only heard a few tracks and it was really a raw and nasty sound and I was wondering how they would pull that off. Well, I have to say that guitar player had the most dirty nasty distortion I have ever heard. It was like on the verge of breaking apart into noise all the time. Crazy…. Reminds me of Blue Cheer, Dzghenis Khan, Orange Sunshine… raw, nasty rock with super loud guitar that almost drowns out all else. Far out!
01:00 I went over to check out Psychic TV and man was I glad that I did. I think I saw the last hour and they had probably the coolest visuals of the entire Roadburn Festival and played mostly cover songs when I was there. The first song I saw was a pretty psyched out rock song with spoken word vocal delivery. It was a strange band of men who are now women and women and a very tall and think lead guitar player. He was amazing and played killer guitar solos. The long 15min version of Maggot Brain with some spoken word poetry was really great. They followed this up with Hurry on Sundown by Hawkwind. I was told that they opened the show was a strange version of Silver Machine. What a great way to end this totally amazing day of high quality and varied performance. I saw a lot of music this day, nearly non-stop..
Day 3
10:30 My feet were so tired last night and my back was aching a bit. So much volume and intensity yesterday, it was pretty draining. This is my last day as I have to fly to Japan for work tomorrow morning. So I will miss the afterburner once again. Damn..
12:30 We are in the buss and heading into the festival site once again. I will first go get my train ticket for tomorrow sorted out.
13:50 I met up with the guys in My Brother the Wind at their merch table and bought the limited edition 7” they were selling. Only 200 copies. They flew in yesterday. I will go check out some of the Ocean. Not a lot of people in the main hall yet. It is sunny outside but cold and maybe people are a bit drained after that intense day yesterday. Met the guy from Soul Manifest and he has a new band called Bright Curse. A bit more heavy but still very jamming he said. I can’t wait to see Wo FAT today..
The Ocean started off with really amazing visuals and play some riff rock with pre-recorded samples and synths that they play along to. A bit post rock and dreamy at times, a mix of beautiful, heavy and intensity. Not a lot of guitar solos. This opening instrumental piece was really good but then this guy came out and started like screaming, and was really angry and it just totally destroyed the vibe that the band had created. It did not work for me at all. It was different reactions from different people in the crowd. Some got more into it and others like me were like what happened?? Ok.. off to See Black Magician at the Church..
Black Magician played traditional doom but with organ. Singer was a bit like Lee from Cathedral, who were a clear influence on this band. They had some cool films but they were drowned out by the too bright lights. A decent crowd but not too many people so early in the day yet. They were good but did not offer up much new or fresh in the DOOM area.
Monomyth, one of the guys from 35007, were next playing all instrumental psychedelic groove rock. I loved what the guitar player did and they had great interaction with the two synths players and solid bass and drums. Wow.. They have an album out in May on Burning World, I am told. Great show and I shot one video. I think I saw the entire set. Awesome band and a total surprise.
15:50 I am getting an early dinner as I can’t see any big breaks later and I don’t want to miss any music. One of the tough things at Roadburn, never any time to eat!
19:00 I saw the entire WO Fat show from up in the front and stood for a while with HP from the Obelisk! We had never met and had a great chat before WO FAT. He never seems to get a chance to see a band play an entire set as he goes for being up in the front to get the best pictures so he has to go early for all the bands and always misses the ends of bands sets. The sacrifices we have to make to see as many bands as possible and to write about them. Anyway, WO Fat opened with the Black Code and just kicked ass! Doomy stoner rock with an nice groove.. The room was pretty packed and people were really into it for sure. Not a lot of stoner rock at Roadburn anymore and I think a lot of the fans miss this. They played like 8-9 songs and mostly from the new record. I wanted to hear Analog Man but they did not play that one.
I met with Nils and we tried to get up front to catch In Graved, Victor Griffin’s new band with the old drummer from Trouble playing keyboard. Victor was late, having left the stage just like 1min before they were to start and just disappeared leaving everyone just standing there for like 5 mins. A bit annoying and even the band were like what the fuck is going on as we were just about to play and he just left.. Anyway, they got it together and played a great show and no Pentagram songs. They played the entire new record and a few older tracks, I think one from his first solo record.
Next Nils and I stumbled into High on Fire and heard three great songs, one was really slow and massive and he played this pretty long almost blues solo, I had never heard Mike play like that ever, so I was so surprised. Very cool. They were on top of the game giving a very powerful performance. Next we popped over to check out Jess and the Ancient ones. They played at Heavy Days in Doomtown last year but I did not see them. Svart has released their record as well but I did not know their music. They were a big band with like 7 people on the stage and reminded me of melodic folk metal and she has a great voice but it did not catch us right away so after the first song we squeezed into the Bat Cave for Teeth of the Sea.
Teeth of the Sea are from the UK and reminded me a lot of the Swedish band Flowers must Die. The guitar player with the Plasmatics shirt on played some really space guitar stuff. Their 3rd song they had some like techno beat rhythm that seem to turn some people away but they really built off of it really nicely. One of the guys even played trumpet (like Flowers must Die) on one of the songs. Psychedelic stuff… I really liked these guys and wish I could have seen more than 3 songs but I really needed to go see Elder and I know this one was going to be packed and if I was late I would not get into the church to see them.
21:20 Elder was really hot and packed with people. Elder delivered just what this crowd wanted and needed, jamming stoner rock!!!!!!! I had never realized how inspired the guitar player and singer was by Stefan of Colour Haze but he riffs a lot like Colour Haze but has a completely different guitar sound and does some really cool guitar solos and mixes up the riffs a lot which is great. All the Elder songs are these long complex journeys. They were excellent but I did not see the entire set as I needed to see the Finnish band, Mr Peter Hayden. I have all their 7”s, records, cds, etc.. and really wanted to hear this show.
The room was not as packed as I had expected it to be (Godflesh on the mainstage?). They played one long hr long trip (the entire latest record) and once they turned down the bright lights and you could join the trip along with the visuals it was really cool. It was like a space doom trip on acid! A mix of BONG, Dark budda Rising and space rock vibes. Pity I hardly knew anyone in this room except a lot of Finnish people and this band was one of the best of the day. I was pretty blown away. Awesome stuff and much heavier than most people had expected.
I only was able to catch about 30mins of My Brother the Wind and they played fantastic and had a really great like Spanish inspired jam. I shot a video of one of the tracks. The crowd really liked them a lot and it was pretty packed as well. Nicklas even had the mellotron a long which adds a lot. I have seen them with it and without it before. I think they had a new drummer since last time I saw them.
00:45 I just had my mind completely blown by the Cosmic Dead… WOW… what can I say. Pity the crowd was so small. I guess maybe 60 people at the end when the band just blew the place to bits with high intensity space rock grooves. They played about 4-5 pieces of music, most from the new cassette release (I think) and they just built up such an intensity it was really hard to describe. Lots of really cool guitar from the guy on the left and he had so much energy. He must have run, jumped 10km during their set and really cool guitar but hardly any guitar solos from these guys. I would love if they added another lead guitar player.
I went into the main hall to sit down and hear some of Endless boogie but after one song, jam.. I had to go outside, my brain was blasted by the Cosmic Dead and I would not recover for an hour or so… What a way to end Roadburn…. I am blasted to another universe once again……
My favourite bands this year- The Cosmic Dead, Electric Wizard, Mr Peter Hayden, Momomyth, WO Fat, The Pretty Things
