Metalrage.com

Corey Taylor - Forum or Against'Em

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200

The worldwide pandemic has resulted, next to the obvious health crisis we as a world are facing (wouldn’t be too bad to live on a bounty island now), in many negative side effects. The effects on the cultural and music industry are well documented. Artists have a tough time keeping their heads above water, some even were forced to stop as a band (Anathema), since their main income, touring, has fallen away. A lot of artists went out to find different ways to make their cashflows not run dry completely, but only a few made as large production as Corey “MF” Taylor did with his Forum or Against’Em gig at the LA Forum. Metalrage got out of hibernation to report on this unique event. Neurotic and a special guest reporter were able to tell you about it!

The whole program was more than 3 hours long, which was presented by Beez, seemingly a superfan of everything Corey Taylor touches. It wouldn’t surprise us if Corey would take a pee, Beez would find it “amazing”, “what a talent” etc. To keep a story short, while the few minutes are tolerable, he wears his welcome out shortly after those few minutes. This guy is just too much! Best term to describe Beez is skippable.

Before the concert starts we get shots from the bus ride towards the Forum, interviews with band members and Corey, a behind the scenes look at the making of the video of CMFT Must Be Stopped, interview with his wife and leader of the Cherry Bombs dance crew, his manager etc. Just a few interesting pieces you can find in this bit, the majority of the content is redundant and telling how amazing Corey is. It gets a bit uncomfortable, as if Corey is the second coming of Christ. He is really talented and a good vocalist, but this is clearly too much for us level headed reviewers. Then finally the show we were waiting for starts!

The set up at the forum is tasteful but not spectacular. Lights are good, the stage looks traditional and without any props, so nothing fancy, it is clearly the aim to get the music across without a lot of distractions. Personally we weren’t that familiar with his new music prior to the concert, except for the few singles that were brought out in anticipation to the whole album, so we were ready to be surprised by all the new stuff Corey released and of course silently hoping we would get some Stone Sour/Slipknot songs.

They kick off with the song ´HWY 666’, a song that was played a lot during the build up towards the show. It can best be described as a rock ‘n roll song on overdrive and with a tad more testosterone, basically Corey in a nutshell. What strikes immediately is the sound quality, guitar sound is spot on and also Corey is very well audible. This is excellent news for the rest of the concert, because for people who have watched Slipknot shows in the past, they know that sometimes his vocals get drowned in all the musical violence. The song is fun, gives energy and is an excellent concert opener. If there was a crowd, chances are big they would go frantic from the get-go.

After this we got treated on 3 other CMFT songs (‘Meine Lux’, ‘Halfway Down’ and ‘Silverfish’). They don’t have the same impact as the opener. It is all midtempo and especially ‘Halfway Down’ isn’t too strong, that the vocals were drowned a bit due to the guitar volume also didn’t help. The first cover of the night ‘Shakin’ an original from Eddie Money fit the setlist well, but also doesn’t break the monotony of the tempo.

Then the first Stone Sour song made it to the setlist ´Song #3’ one of the lead singles of their last album. The background colored red during this song, to emphasize the Hydrograd album it stems from. The song breaks the tempo a bit and is a welcome change. Then it is back to the CMFT album again with ‘Everybody Dies On My Birthday’; a punky balls to the wall song. Very nice to get the energy back into the concert! It isn’t too difficult, but definitely serves its purpose.

Following that was for us the high note of the concert commenced, the lights dimmed a bit and Corey got his guitar ready. The moment he started the first notes of ´Snuff’, the hairs on my arms immediately popped up. It is a powerballad classic and one of the better slower songs ever written by Corey. But this wasn’t everything! Directly after that ‘Taciturn’ was presented. A very very underrated song and it made me wonder how on earth I have always overlooked this song. The setting of the empty Forum was made for this song. You get the feeling that you are only there with the woman/man you love and he sings this song specially for you both. Goosebumps everywhere! What a great song!

After this highlight it is back to business as usual, with three CMFT songs of which ‘Culture Head’ is a personal favorite and brings you back to earth. Especially noteworthy are the backing vocals during this song. Backing vocals with a lot of band are normally cringeworthy in a live setting (looking at you Metallica), but these fellows show how good vocals can really elevate a performance. The other two songs ‘Maria Fire’ and ‘Home’ (a song Corey wrote for his wife) can be described as poor and decent. During the interviews ‘Home’ is being put forth as a big thing and we had high hopes for it, but after ‘Snuff’ and ‘Taciturn’ the song just doesn’t have the same impact. It flows in ‘Zzyxz Road’, which was very well done. The normal setlist, after a few covers and CMFT songs, end with ‘Through Glass’, which is played a bit more up tempo and is a staple in a Corey Taylor setlist. It remains a good song, but after all the midtempo songs a really uptempo brawler would be a better choice.

The encore consisted out of a cover (‘On The Dark Side’ – original of John Cafferty), ‘Bother’, ´ETBBS – European Tour Bus Bathroom Song’, ‘CMFT Must Be Stopped’ and ended with the cover ‘Watchin You´ originally performed by Kiss. Besides the fireworks and the energy and dance crew during ‘CMFT Must Be Stopped’, the encore didn’t leave a lasting impact, which could be due to the fact there were no fans present. Perhaps in these settings an encore isn’t really fitting.

It could come across that the review is a bit overly critical on the performance of Corey and his band, but that wouldn’t be fair. The guys performed really well, the sound was spot on, Corey hit all the right notes, the instruments were clearly audible so the mix was excellent, it is just overall the new song material isn’t too interesting to fill a whole show with. It isn’t bad, mind you, but more diversity in tempo would have done the concert a huge favor. It just got dull at times and then you miss the audience quite a bit. Besides that we enjoyed it a lot and getting such a well produced alternative is just a big boon during these uncertain times. A job well done!

Review Rundown: January edition - A quick look at January releases

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0200

Since articles at Metalrage were very scarce in 2017, lets see what 2018 brings. The new year is an excellent start for new traditions, failed resolutions and good starts to crash land somewhere a month later. So also time for a “new” feature that will work or will suffer the same fate as any other good idea (you remember the time, say first of January, that the new fitness subscription would work out and you will create a new and enhanced self. That seems a long while ago, right?).

What does this feature entail? It will be a monthly rundown of interesting releases just solely based on my taste. So unfortunately no one man black metal projects, 12 minute long post metal compositions or ear blistering grindcore records. No, this guy likes his metal and rock straightforward, not too extreme and with some good melody. These are also no long thought over reviews, with multiple listens, but more easy short cuts to albums that caught my attention. Some have been given more listens than others, but in the most cases if the first few listens are good, they are good.

The goal is to give an overview from the albums listened to per month, so it is not exactly the month it was released in, but more when it come on my radar. Without further ado, hereby the January edition.

Machine Head – Catharsis

This one received an enormous amount of flack on the internet and also in the print magazines there was quite a division. Despite the released singles didn’t pull me in immediately as other Machine Head releases did, I still ordered the album when it was released. Disclaimer while reading this part, I am only one of few, but I actually liked Supercharger. With this in mind, it won’t come as a surprise that Catharsis is actually a nice album to listen to. It is no Blackening, no Unto The Locust, but I enjoy it already a lot more thanthe very mediocre Bloodstone & Diamonds, which for me sounded like a watered down version of Unto The Locust.

Catharsis is different yes and indeed people only interesting in the heavier side of Machine Head won’t find anything interesting here. The variety on the album is one of the strong points of the from my favourite song Bastards (a nice folky take on groove metal, something they could explore more in the future) to California Bleeding (brings some rap to the table). Not everything is a homerun though and the album is a few songs too long and I noticed myself losing attention after song 10/11.

The album starts really well Volatile, Catharsis and Beyond The Vale are typical groovy Machine Head monsters. Triple Beam is nice, if you don’t pay too much attention to the lyrics, which are cringe worthy. Kaleidoscope, Bastards and Hope Begets Hope are also songs that do well in the car.

Verdict:

If you like the more groovy side of Machine Head this is a good album, if you look more in the thrashy side of them or the more technical side and that is what appeals to you, then it warrants a few listens to decide if it is a buy or no buy. For me I am definitely not disappointed with buying the album.

Avatar – Avatar Country

For me Avatar is an excellent live band. The last few albums I have bought, there are some great tunes on it, but as a whole the albums don’t have a lot of staying power. With Avatar Country I have the same feeling. It is a short album, with 10 songs in total, and they close the album with two instrumentals, which aren’t really remarkable and with two in a row even too much. Also The King Speaks is a fun intermezzo, but after hearing it a few times you will skip it. That leaves with a grand total of seven songs and again it is hit and miss.

Verdict:

Avatar Country has been listened to only a few times without making any impression, perhaps when the songs are given a bit more time the album will open up, but for now there are much more

interesting albums been released in the beginning of the year.

Audrey Horne – Blackout

Audrey Horne gradually changed from a modern metal band during Le Fol to a more straightforward rock band. Both Le Fol as their selftitled album are still on rotation, Youngblood passed me by and Pure Heavy is recently bought and I had to get used to their “new” style. With Blackout they convinced me that the new rockier style fits them beautifully. Real solid songwriting, with a lot of diversity between the songs. From Audrevolution which is a nice straightforward rocker to a subdued mellow rocker in Rose Alley, everything they touch on this album works. One of their finest albums to date!

Verdict:

A must buy for all rock fans out there!

Black Label Society – Grimmest Hits

For some reason Black Label Society hasn’t been much on my radar. Didn’t come to mind to check one of their albums, while they got solid ratings. Too much music to listen to every year, month, week. So Grimmest Hits is my real first introduction to BLS. And it is a pleasant one! The soulful way of guitar play, Zakk’s voice that fits the music like a glove and on top of that interesting songs to boot.

This is still an album I need to listen to more frequently to come with a good conclusion on the separate the songs, but the album as a whole is convincing. When put on shuffle on my Spotify playlist, the songs of this album sticks out between a lot of other music on said playlist. Every time a song stops by, it shows how well the rock songs are put together and they peak my interest.

Verdict:

Good album, worth picking up.

Black Veil Brides – Vale

A much hyped band that appeals a lot to the younger crowd, while completely being demolished in reviews by the more experienced metal reviewers. I understand why, this music is so sugar coated and polished, it is more radio stuff than genuine, a bit “dangerous”, heavy rock. But this music has its audience and even quite a big one.

After a few listens I don’t really know what to make of it. The compositions are okay, but all really samey. It is a bit like the equivalent of rock elevator music. Excellent music to clean your house to, since it doesn’t warrant much attention, since it is so easy to digest. It doesn’t bother me at all and it all sounds okay, but it also doesn’t do much else. It doesn’t give me any emotion or the need to put it on repeat.

Verdict:

It is an okay album, but nothing more than that. If you like this kind of polished modern rock than you should give it a try. For BVB fans, they will already have put it in preorder. Personally this one will be skipped or it should be in a bargain bin for a few euro, because it is not a bad album by any means, but just a bit safe.

Earth Caller – Crystal Death

Some heavy hitting metallic hardcore from these Aussies! Music that is a bit within the early 2000s metalcore, but with a genuine hardcore twist, think TRC but also some NYHC. Next to that you hear some technical elements in songs that are reminiscent to the djent movement. But everything is delivered with a real hardcore element, I think Death Before Dishonor is quite a good comparison, with the song Suckafor example you can also hear some clear Madball elements in it.

Their take on hardcore is quite interesting, since it is a mix of a variety of styles, which is entertaining.

Verdict:

Personally I am quite the hardcore guy, when done well, I’ll eat it gladly. Same with Earth Caller, the album is interesting and while the song writing could use some work (I am missing some hooks in a few songs), people who are into this style of hardcore won’t be disappointed. Nice one!

Defecto – Nemesis

With Nemesis Defecto comes up with a modern rock/metal hybrid. On first listen I put it off as generic, nothing special. A sound we hear a lot especially in the States (As Lions, Starset, Imminence and those kind of bands) or in Great Britain. Basically a sound that tires me more and more, too polished, nothing really exciting.

But due to several positive review on the interwebs I gave them another try and after more and more listens, the songs really stuck into my head and it seemed that the album has more to offer than it gave away on first impression. I am returning more and more often to this album and especially a few songs keep drawing me in (Endlessly Falling and Nemesis for example).

Verdict:

This isn’t a must buy, since a lot of bands are operating in this genre, but if you do buy it and are into this modern sound, you won’t regret it. Nice solid album!

Mother Misery – Megalodon

The Swedes deliver us an alternative rock/metal hybrid. Normally this is one of my favourite styles, as long as it is not too clean and too sterile. I had some real fun with this disc! Ideal music for in the car and I really dig the vocals. There is some rasp to it, which sometimes lacks in this type of music. It is hard to compare to other vocalists, it has a bit of a grunge feeling to it, but also some old school heavy metal vibe. Ashes Of Your Crown shows this really well.

The music contains a lot of hooks and memorable melodies. Of course this isn’t too complicated and if you want challenging music, just go look a door further, since this is as straightforward as it gets.

Of course some lyrics are a bit mind boggling if you take them too seriously (like in Megalodon), but it is also part of the fun. How much fun can you have while screaming in the car about some seemingly (or perhaps not, who knows?) extinct mega predator? That is metal right?!?

Verdict:

Like I said I really like this album a lot. Already ordered the album at my favourite online music shop. Perhaps for some it is too much cheese, but for me it hits all the right spots.

Nordic Giants – Amplify Human Vibration

And now for something completely different, Nordic Giants! These progressive dudes bring instrumental music, but instead of being totally without voices, they use fragments of speeches to fill the gap the lack of vocals leave. This leaves a very powerful impression. The music seems almost written for the old speeches, as if this was really at the background while Martin Luther King was speeching. Really nice job from the guys!

Normally this kind of music isn’t something I listen to on a regular basis and it hit me from leftfield that it made such a huge impression. I have never heard something like this before and it was very welcome!

Verdict:

Nice, entertaining album. Definitely something you want to pick up, if you are in need for some more mellow music in your collection.

In Vain – Currents

In Vain impressed me big time with their predecessor Aenigma. A wild progressive death metal ride, with loads of atmosphere, excellent vocals and well written songs. It ended up in my top 10 of the year and rightfully so. They have been away for a while (5 years) and unleashed Currents, in two different versions. One consisting out of seven tracks and one with two bonus tracks. I have only indulged myself, which is a treat on its own, but it seems that both bonus tracks are quite essential.

Too bad that I can’t find this version in record stores online yet, because this album is a must buy!

It is a more melodic affair compared to Aenigma, but it has even more variety and the light/dark division is more prevalent. Interesting is also to see the name of Matt Heafy popping up, not a name I would expect on this kind of album.

Verdict:

GET THIS NOW!

Walking Papers – WP2

Their debut was a quite convincing one, although it has been quite some time since the last time I listened to it. Nevertheless it was a nice album, but it was missing some real “go-to songs” on it. Those special songs that you want to hear over and over again.

With WP2 the guys turned it down a notch. The music is very mellow and contemplating and light on the rock. Because of this, there is too less variation in tempo and therefore WP2 is for me not on the same level as their debut. The songs on itself are all from quite a high level, but the album as a whole lacks the variety to listen to it in one go.

Verdict:

Starting with high expectations, it was a bit of a let-down. The musicians at hand are more than capable song writers, so the songs on the album show us, but the album as a whole didn’t leave an overwhelming impression.

White Wizzard – Infernal Overdrive

White Wizzard is a well-known name in the old school heavy metal circuit. Infernal Overdrive is my first proper introduction to them. It is quite a diverse record, since they don’t stick to the classic heavy/speed metal style, which I expected frankly. I hear some more modern rock sounds, some nowadays power metal anthems, progressive touches here and there and some older heavy rock influences. Quite a nice mixture of styles, which give this album just a bit more than expected.

The songs are on average quite long. Even too long to be honest. Voyage Of The Wolfriders for example starts really good and you expect that you are in for a treat, but not the whole song grabs you. Somewhere halfway you are checking the duration and if it is still the same song you are listening too. It is a bit all over the place. There are more of these kind of examples.

It is not to say that this album is a bad one. Far from it, I enjoy it quite a bit, but the songwriting could be a bit more focused.

Verdict:

I advise to give this album a few spins to sink in. At first listen it doesn’t do itself enough justice. Also when approaching this album, don’t do it in the mind-set I did. Just let them surprise you.

Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons – The Age Of Absurdity

As mentioned before I have a soft spot for just plain simple rock music, with some good hooks and melodies. And this band delivers it in spades! Music you just drive a little faster to and sing a little bit louder. Easy songs, but deceitfully well crafted and brought by some really soulful vocals.

Phil shows there’s life after Motorhead and with his sons and Neil Starr on vocals he is ready to write some new chapters to his rock ‘n roll legacy. The Age Of Absurdity comprises of no filler tracks at all. All songs deserve to be heard, if I have to nit-pick though is that I am missing a few really stand out tracks. Nevertheless listening to this album is a blast and the melodies kept finding its way into my head, a sign of well written songs.

Verdict:

What do you expect? Just go buy it and support the guys on tour!

January 2018 was an odd month, but in a positive way. I can’t recall a January month in recent years, that was so filled with worthwhile albums. If this is the step up for 2018, there’s something in the waiting for us rock/metalheads. Unfortunately the bank account isn’t unlimited.

Selfmachine - Societal Arcade

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200

With Societal Arcade the Dutch metal band Selfmachine unleashes their second full length on the metal crowd. Their previous album, Broadcast Your Identity, didn’t reach Metalrage HQ, so the band is fairly unknown to yours truly. According to the bio that was enclosed with the album it seems that the guys already have done a European tour with headliner The Agonist. That in itself is already quite an accomplishment for such a “young” band.

Describing Selfmachine their sound is quite difficult. They mix a lot of styles and influences through their music, sometimes it is quite straight forward melodic metalcore, ‘The Great Deception’, other times we hear more modern rock influenced stuff. The sarcastic ‘No Cliche’ is a good example of this, where we can hear some clear Staind influences (does this band still exist?). Almost every song is quite different from the other, although from ‘Lifeblind’ until ‘Superior’, metalcore is a big pillar in these songs. Nevertheless variety reigns supreme on this record!

And this is a huge plus! This is not the only aspect of the band/album that is appealing, though. They are really well in writing excellent hooks in almost all of their songs. It doesn’t happen very often that I am humming a tune of a band I have to review after only one listen, but I caught myself humming the melodies of ‘Giddy-Up!’ during work. This is quite a testament to their capabilities of writing accessible but intelligent songs. The songs don’t surpass the 4 minute mark (except for the power ballad ‘Luminous Beings’) and this length fit the songs well and they never overstay their welcome. It is also clear that we are dealing with some talented musicians, guitar play is functional but tasteful, the rhythm section is well audible and is really driving the songs and also the vocals are up to par.

Of course not everything is 100% and there is still room for improvement. Steven Leijen his performance is good, but he doesn’t ace it in every song. His screams and grunts are good and the way he switches vocal styles is even excellent, but his clean vocals, while he has a nice timbre, aren’t everywhere top notch. ‘Join The Hatetrain’ is a good example of this, it almost seems that his reach isn’t there. Where top vocalist stretches their last tones to give the vocal lines a bit more balls and dynamics, you hear that Steven isn’t yet capable of that. This is something that can be improved, but besides that his voice is nice to listen to and ‘Luminous Beings’ can attest for that. It is not easy to pull off a power ballad, but he does it. Another point of criticism is the song order, like mentioned before they have a part on the album where the metalcore influences are a bit too prevalent compared with the rest and while they are okay songs (‘The Valeyard’ is even more than okay), it is too much of the same stuff in a short stretch. They could have sprinkled those over the album.

As you can read these are minor criticisms and the album as a whole can be recommended for people who like their rock and metal with a lot of variety and modern influences. This is not suited for the old school metal fans though, they won’t find here what they’re looking for. Job well done guys, can’t wait to see you live!

Best of 2016 - A very late best of 2016 in metal and rock according to Neurotic

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0200

2016 was personally an excellent year of releases in the realms of rock and metal. Of course the Grim Reaper took quite a few legendary musicians last year, which put an unfortunate black line around 2016, but in this piece I want to focus solely on the best 10 releases according to my infinite wisdom (okay and a bit of personal taste). DISCLAIMER: While I have listened to a huge amount of albums last year, I couldn’t form an opinion on every album, because of too few spins (Oceans of Slumber come to mind for example). Next to that there are albums that I just haven’t got to yet (Meshuggah, Testament etc.).So basically this is a list with album I listened to frequently enough to form an opinion and which I enjoyed the most out of all those albums

It was really difficult this year to form a top 10 and I noticed while writing this article the order of top 10 or even which albums were or weren’t in the top 10 changed almost daily, which is a testament about what a great musical year 2016 was. So I included a honourable mention for those great albums, which just missed the cut this year.

Honorable mentions (in no specific order):

· Anthrax – For All Kings: Good album, but no Worship Music or We’ve Come For You All. While there are some excellent songs (‘Breathing Lightning’ for example), it had less replay value for me than their previous two.

· Megadeth – Dystopia: One of my favorite all time bands. Dystopia was one of the last cuts. Really good album and a return to form after Supercollider and Thirteen.

· Dear Delusion – Sleep Of Reason: A January release and for me a totally unknown band, but I really am impressed with this really. Highly recommended for people who have a weak spot for a grungy, dark rock sound.

· Textures - Phenotype: Was floating for months on the top of my list, but also failed to make the top 10. A few really great songs, but with two instrumentals I felt that it could have used a bit more “real” songs.

· Wolfmother – Victorious: It was nog given as much attention as the first two albums and it is not in the same league, but highly enjoyable!

· Alter Bridge – The Last Hero: An album I first was a bit let down with compared to for example Fortress, but it is creeping up in my rotation and I tend to go back to it quite often.

· Ignite – A War Against Us: Not much to say about it, just pure quality.

On to the top 10!

10. Metallica – Hardwired….To Self Destruct

Worked its way into my top 10 just barely. This is basically because of the stiff competition of for example Megadeth (how fitting). I read numerous reviews on Hardwired and they are really divisive. I am in the group of people, who really enjoyed the album. A mix between Load, The Black Album and ..And Justice For All, but still with a somewhat bluesy like undertone. Some real bangers like ‘Moth To Flame’ and ‘Atlas, Rise’, but I also got sucked in songs like ‘Am I Savage?´ and ‘Dream No More´. Much better in my opinion than Death Magnetic, but I do share the opinion that it is a bit too long and there are also some skip worthy songs on it.

09. Dark Tranquillity – Atoma

Dark Tranquillity had lost my interest a bit with lacklustre efforts like Construct and We Are The Void, but with Atoma they are back in the mix. It brought me back to albums like Damage Done (my favourite DT album) and Character. Excellent melodic death album that brings the melodeath champions back on their throne!

08. Black Income – Noise Pollution

What is it with me and Danish rock bands? A few years ago Malrun surprised me, two years ago Saint Rebel and now Black Income. Grunge was booming during my formative years, I exactly know when it was the first time I heard Nevermind and Ten. Superunknown is still one of my favourite albums ever made. Black Income’s Noise Pollution is of course not up to that level, but it is still highly enjoyable and highly recommended for people who have a soft spot for grunge music. I am very sorry that I don’t hear that many new and upcoming bands that play this kind of music anymore (the last band in this vein that impressed me was Battalion Of Flies, a Scottish band who stopped after one album). Black Income has pumped some fresh blood into my veins!

07. Walls Of Jericho – No One Can Save You From Yourself

The best hardcore album of 2017 came from Walls Of Jericho. After a very very very long lay of, they finally returned to the scene. A very empowering and positive record, despite all the rage that found its way on the album. ‘Relentless’ is one of my favourite and most played songs of 2017. The intro and the subject really brought chills to my bones.

06. Death Angel – Evil Divide

The old thrash giants all came with some excellent albums. Hardwired made it to my top 10, Dystopia just missed the cut and also For All Kings I enjoyed. The Testament album is still on my “to listen list”, but got some really good reviews. Of all the thrash albums I listened to though, there was only one that topped them all. Relentless Retribution was a huge let down for me after Killing Season and it hasn’t left my cd collection after the first few spins when I just bought the album. The Dream Calls For Blood was already a tad more interesting, but I didn’t know that the sympathetic fellows of Death Angel had it in them to write such a great thrash album (again). It even tops Killing Season for me and that says a lot in my book. Great album, can’t wait to see the guys again in The Netherlands!

05. A Day To Remember – Bad Vibrations

A band that frequently popped on my lists of bands that I still had to listen to sometimes. With Bad Vibrations being their sixth studio album and my introduction to the band. I had a blast listening to this album, it showed to be an excellent album for in the car when I was on my way to some uninteresting projects for work. It definitely gave me a good feeling to start the day ‘Naievty’ is, I think, one of my most played songs of 2016, but the rest of the album is also more than worthy of your time. How does it stack up against their previous albums? I don’t have a clue, but what I do know is that I am going to spit around in their back catalogue a bit.

04. Giraffe Tongue Orchestra – Broken Lines

A supergroup in the truest sense of the word. No guys that played only on tours with a well known band or interim drummers of a Billboard darling, but real artists that play big roles in their respective bands. The biggest surprise is William Duvall, while I like his vocals on the Alice In Chains records, what he shows here is really remarkable. Multiple great songs with interesting build ups makes Broken Lines a must hear.

03. Highly Suspect – The Boy Who Died Wolf

A late inclusion in this top ten, but it stormed it’s way near to the top immediately. For me this album came literally out of nowhere. It was recommended through Youtube, when I was listening to some run-of-the mill band, which didn’t stuck with me. The moment I heard ‘My Name Is Human’, I was sold. This album has everything I like in a good rock album, anthems, clever hooks, excellent vocals and interesting chords. Rock it is, no metal to be found here at all. The vocals of Johnny Stevens pulled me in, but the mix of various genres is what made me stay.

02. The Temperance Movement – White Bear

When I take my notes on their self-titled album, it basically reads like it was an uninteresting album. After multiple listens to White Bear and the love I have for this album though, I assume that I listened to their self-titled when I was not in the mood for some high quality bluesrock. White Bear breathes atmosphere and positivity. ‘A Pleasant Peace I Feel’ and ‘Get Yourself Free’ are on

continuous heavy rotation.

01. Gojira – Magma

I am not alone in my opinion on this album nor am I very original for making it my number one album, but how on earth could I make a different decision? L’Enfant Sauvage was for me already a step in the right direction, but Magma expands and improves Gojira their sound in every way. Songwriting has been stepped up a notch and feel less repetitive than previous records. This is also one of the main critiques a lot of people had on this album it is too song orientated and less riff orientated, it is indeed less heavy than their previous efforts, but I don’t give a damn if less heavy means better songs. ‘Stranded’, ‘Silvera’, ‘The Shooting Star’….this disc is filled with some marvellous songs, which also translate excellently to their live performances.

Concluding, music wise 2016 brought me a lot of great discs and tunes. Happy to see my favourite bands came up with some quality material, although Rival Sons and Amon Amarth releases let me a bit down compared to their previous work.

The Raven Age - Darkness Will Rise

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Renowned magazines like Metal Hammer and Kerrang call you the “The UK’s next brightest metal hope”, your producer listens to the name Matt Hyde, on top of that you are signed by an enormous label like BMG and opened gigs for well-known names like Slipknot. Man those credentials lead to some serious expectations!

Let us first start with what Raven’s Age brings on their debut, before we answer the question if they have met the expectations or not. They play a brand of modern rock/metal with sometimes an old fashioned edge, which is mainly caused by Michael Burrough his vocal style which is clean and has a story telling like cadence. In the mix his voice is put really in the forefront of the music as if all other musicians don’t play a big role in this band. This is normally not a big problem, when your singer is the ace of the band and has an extraordinary voice.

Unfortunately this is not the case with Raven’s Age. Michael his voice is definitely not bad or terrible or anything along that line, but also not much more than average. Average vocals is something I can live with, when we hear some good and interesting performances out of the other musicians. Due to the fact that the other instruments are pushed back to give way to the vocals, it’s not easy to decipher what the level of the other musicians is. And that’s a shame!

If we look at the songs itselves it is also not really diamonds that we see shining. The album starts off with quite a nice intro, which unfortunately (I hope it is the promo that we received) doesn’t blend into the first real song, but after ending it is 2 seconds complete silence before

‘Promised Land’ kicks in. The first impression of this song is very favourable, vocals sound interesting, nice build up and has a nice chorus and it finds its way into your head quite easily. Too bad it has a case of Metallicavitis, since after the 4 minute mark they should’ve cut the song. It overstays its welcome. ‘Age Of The Raven’ is an excellent follow up and the small let down is easily forgotten. One thing though that already warranted some attention is that already the vocal lines seem eerily similar. Michael has an interesting and quite a unique voice in the genre, which could set them apart, but because of the use of the same vocal progression and a lack of dynamics in his voice and intonation, it misses some surprises which the album really needs.

With ‘Salem’s Fate’ it seems that they have found a bottle of inspiration and variation, but unfortunately again rhythm and tempo is too similar to the above mentioned songs. This problem keeps repeating itself on this album, which makes it as a whole a very boring ride. Due to the need of reviewing it, I had to listen to it completely multiple times, but it was a real chore. The songs on themselves are quite okay and some even more than that, so in a vacuum the songs are fine and you hear that the guys are definitely capable musicians, but as a whole the album is just too repetitive.

Perhaps I am quite harsh on this album, but if you are considered a new hope for metal and you are being produced by a top notch producer and clearly a huge record company has faith in you, the expectations are high and you are measured against it whether it is fair or not. It could also be the case that I am missing something and the penny hasn’t dropped for me, but I am just not nearly as positive as those two rock/metal institutions.

Complexity Fest 2017 - Second edition delivers the goods!

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Complexity Fest kicked off their sophomore edition Saturday the 25^th of February. The organization again came up with a varied line-up of bands, but all with a technical component one way or an other. Metalrage was also present this edition after a very positive experience in 2016. Due to personal circumstances we arrived after the first few bands, so the venue was quite busy already.

Gorod was the first band that we witnessed. Gorod plays a technical version on death metal, with some small jazz influences in their songs and also some variation on deathcore in their sound. A good sound is very important for the performance of a death metal band. Without a good sound all nuances get lost and it is basically a wall of sound where in the meanwhile somebody screams some inaudible words. Luckily the sound in Het Patronaat was quite well during the whole festival. It also helps that, because of the jazzy intermezzos, the sparse clean singing and core-like grooves that Gorod has in their sound, the sound breathes a bit more so the various numbers are well distinguishable. While the music of Gorod is normally not my cup of tea, their performance was highly enjoyable, which has mainly to do with the enthusiast performance of Julien Deyres. He was clearly having a blast on stage and his enthusiasm transferred seamlessly to the audience. A nice way to kick off Complexityfest!

After Gorod we went on to the smallest stage of the festival to witness fellow Frenchmen Kadinja. A band totally unknown to me, but after listening some Youtube snippets I was intrigued enough to go and watch them and leave Bossk for what they are. The performance was quite okay, although not good enough to keep my attention focused on the stage the whole time. Their version of Djent is quite straightforward and not something new. Well executed, but not a performance that really stuck with me.

Agent Fresco was the third band we witnessed. While my Portuguese companions made some jokes on the “fresh agent” name of the band (fresco is seemingly fresh in Portuguese), we witnessed a very professional performance. The sound was crisp and the performance to the letter. The songs showed a lot of variety with a good balance between heavy and atmospheric. The only drawback was the performance of vocalist Arnor Dan Arnarson. He was staring to the ceiling or sides of the stage a bit too much to my liking, shying away from eye contact with the public completely. A bit strange for a performer to basically completely ignore your audience. Anxiety, shyness or arrogance? I don’t have a clue, but weird it was. Besides this detail, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and Agent Fresco rightfully is mentioned as one of the bands too watch.

We witnessed a little bit of Napoleon and it seemed that some part of the public was really enjoying it with even some hardcore dancing going on. They have one of the more accessible sounds of all the bands performing that day and has more than average –core influences incorporated in their sound. Good to also hear some less progressive bands, since all the complicated stuff can grow wary on your ears. Due to the need of drinks and food (we’re still human), we only watched this band for a bit, but what they showed on stage was a lot of energy and fun.

German tech-death masters Obscura were the next to watch. Their tech-death has a lot of nuances when listening to them on record and I was wondering if these technical details will be highlighted during their gig. I must say I was a bit disappointed, it was a really straightforward performance with a very sympathetic Steffen Kummerer, but for the non-Obscura listener it seemed that a few songs just blended too much with each other, as if you were listening to one song. To be frank it bored me a lot and I left to get a good spot to watch Exist Immortal.

Exist Immortal was one of the bands I was looking forward to the most of this evening. Their album ‘Breathe’ has had some glowing reviews throughout the net, so they got my attention. I must say they didn’t disappoint at all. Despite the small stage they had to play (the smallest of the venue), they really showed some excellent musicianship and also performance wise it was spot on. The vocalist showed his reach in the slower and the more heavier work and also the drumwork and guitar play was tight. Really good performance, I hope these guys will get their break and will be picked up by more people.

Headliner of this evening was rightfully so Ihsahn. He played an excellent mixture of really heavy black metal stuff and more jazzy and progressive lighter work. His vocal delivery in both was remarkable. The switch between vocal styles seemed completely effortlessly and his laidback, friendly way of addressing the crowd was very pleasant. Of course with such a backing band as Ihsahn has it is almost “easy” to translate those difficult songs from record to a live situation. What are those guys extremely talented! The music of Ihsahn is not really something I will listen to when I am at home or in the car, but I can appreciate it for the musicianship that it shows. That they are also capable of bringing it live is a testament to the musicians involved. The audience was really digging the performance, so it seems that Complexity Fest had a winner with Ihsahn.

After Ihsahn we had to go home, because of the detriments of living in the middle of nowhere and no public transport is providing service after twelve o’clock to get us home. Complexity Fest 2017 was a nice follow up to their 2016 edition. Again compliments to the organization for getting such a varied line-up, but still keep true to the technical nature of the festival. Job well done! The atmosphere during the festival was also really well, not too crowded so every stage was well accessible. Hopefully the turnout was big enough to get together a 2018 edition. Metalrage will then be represented again!

Win! Win! Win! tickets for Complexity Fest 2017!

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Complexity Fest is going for their second going around after a successful debut on the festival agenda last year. This year the Patronaat again made an excellent effort to gather an interesting line-up comprising of young and upcoming acts (Napoleon, Uneven Structure a.o.) and more established or veteran acts ( Ihsahn, Obscura). Unfortunately Suffocation and Cryptopsy had to cancel their appearance this year, but still the line-up is more than interesting.

Het Patronaat has given Metalrage.com the opportunity to give away free tickets for this festival. All you have to do is answer below question to have a chance to win tickets for you and a friend. We give away 2x2, but react quickly since the festival tickets are high in demand!

Scenario II - A New Dawn

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Scenario II is a Dutch band from Eindhoven. They describe their music as melodic dark death/thrash metal, which is inspired by In Flames, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir and Amorphis. They have done gigs with bands like Volbeat, Dark Tranquillity, Testament and Orphanage. Some of my favourite bands, so A New Dawn tickled my interest.

The description of the band is not too far from the truth. Especially the melodic death and gothic metal influences are there, with also some clear influences of symphonic black and traces of thrash metal when the speed limits get bumped up. One band that immediately came to mind is the sadly defunct Orphanage. The grunts are sometimes eerily similar to that of George Oosthoek, that I sometimes had to check if the Orphanage grunter wasn’t a guest on this album. This is not a bad thing by the way, since George has one of the best grunts of The Netherlands, so the vocals of Bas are more than okay in my book. Another band that Scenario shared similarities with in the mid-tempo, less symphonic parts is Amon Amarth. The sometimes groovy melodeath riffs in ‘Hysteria’ are good examples of this.

Scenario II shows a lot of versatility on their second album. ‘A New Dawn’ has some authentic gothic metal chops, with a Myrthe who shows what her pipes are made off. While in for example ‘Rapture’ you hear some symphonic black metal in the vein of Dimmu Borgir passing by. These elements are mixed with all other aforementioned elements in almost every song. Technically it shows that all musicians involved know what they do and their skill levels are quite high. The problem only lays in this mixture is that the songs sometimes sound a bit too massive as if all influences needed to be cramped in one song. A bit more breathing room within the songs would serve them well. Big plus of this choice though is that you find a lot of variety on the album, which makes it interesting and could lure people back to it.

A New Dawn is an album that shows quite some potential for this band, although it is hard for me to say how they’re going to evolve, because of the diversity and the surplus of influences they put in their music. They show the ability to write good songs (with ‘Hysteria’ as a personal favourite), but the songs should be a bit more focused. The above mentioned reason makes it sometimes hard to keep the attention to all the songs, writing some more simpler hooks could make a next album more memorable. Also the production could use some improvement, especially the drums sometimes feel like they were pasted to the music instead of it being integrated part.

Despite this critique, it is a promising sophomore release and I think that Scenario II has it in itself to write a tremendous follow up. There is room for improvement, but also a lot of moments to enjoy. People who like their melodic death symphonic and are not afraid to listen to some other influences in their melodeath will have quite a good time with this disc.

Trivium, Martyr, - An intimate show during festival season

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Everybody knows that from June until August the most bands are touring from festival to festival. Luckily this also means that sometimes there is a little club show in between for the quite bigger bands, so instead of a headline show in 013 or sometihing, Trivium was booked in Dynamo. They had released their 7th record last year and therefore it was a very good reason to tour once again. The support this evening would come by the band Martyr.

Although the website stated that the supportact would begin at 20:15, it was last-minute changed to 19:45. Due to this last-minute change I was only able to see the last 5 to 10 minutes. It was too short to judge the whole act of coutse, but to me it seemed like it was a little missplaced. The crowd reacted okay to the band, but nothing more than that.

After this very short support for me, it was time for a great band called Trivium. After 'Run To The Hills' by Iron Maiden was played with the light's out, 'Strife' was the first song to be played by the band. While the vocals weren't very hearable during the first part of the song, the rest of the band felt like one huge, perfectly playing, sound wall. The crowd was quite surprised by this opener, but went kind off insane during the next song called 'Rain'. It was very nice to hear that the band returned to the city they first played outside of America. Yes indeed it was Eindhoven after all, in café Alstadt as a support act and as Matt said "Nobody knew us back then". The band was enjoying the crowd and vice versa today, as it has to be with such an intimate show in my opinion. What was also noteworthy was the temperature today, it felt like it was almost 40 degrees Celcius and the lights and energy didn't really help today. Luckily for us the band noticed this as well and started to spread out bottles of water to the crowd, which they kept doing throughout the set.

The set didn't pass without any problems for the band though, there were a few errors with the guitar of Corey, but Matt just took this time to talk to the crowd about stuff as Alstadt, the Orlando Shooting, but also their tour and how they were enjoying this show and couldn't wait for shows like Graspop. Meanwhile the band kept going with the set with a very nice mix of songs as 'Requim', 'The Deceived', 'Into The Mouth Of Hell We March', 'Built To Fall', 'Dead And Gone' and 'Until The World Goes Cold'. After 'Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr' it was time for a one song encore with 'In Waves', which they used to open with. The band really ended with a huge bang and left the crowd hungry for more, luckily for them they are set to play a lot of festivals and they will probably return again quite soon!

Yes of course it was quite a pity that a lot of the "hits" weren't played, but therefore the band had to play at least 2 to 3 hours. So no "A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation", "Dying In Your Arms", "Vengeance", "Washing Away (Me In The Tides)", "Shogun" and "Anthem (We Are The Fire)" (and the complete album The Crusade), but somehow it wasn't even noticed that much. The reason was quite simple: This was once again a very solid show by the band and the songs that they did play were amazing as well. It was amazing to hear "The Deceived" live again for the first time since 2012 and hear a few new songs live as well. It is highly recommanded that you see this band, even if you have before and think you know their set already!

Fortarock 2016 - A heavy day in the park

info@metalrage.com (Buzzin Hornet) — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Organized since 2009, Fortarock is back for its 8^th edition. Once again the Goffertpark was the place to be, although this year was organized as a 2-day event with a 8 bands on 2 stages on Saturday and a whole festival day with 18 bands divided over 3 stages on Sunday. Metalrage was present on the Sunday with Buzzin Hornet, Niamen and Gilles. Let’s see how this year’s edition went, knowing just before arriving that Rock Am Ring was cancelled due to heavy thunderstorms.

Although not the first band of the day, when Monster Truck was playing a lot of people were still entering the festival area and were busy with tons of other things. The merch needed to be checked, tokens had to be bought and there were friends to catch up with, because you only see them at these festivals. For many visitors Monster Truck therefore was nothing more than some pleasant background music during the first moments at the festival. The sound was good, the people who did watch the show saw a heavy, grooving band playing straight forward rock ‘n roll. Pleasing for the ears and very accessible as a kick-off. (Gilles)

Since it’s widely known that Suicidal is definitely a live band and considered their amount “hits”, I’m quite surprised by their early spot on the mainstage. On the other hand considering the names that are on the same stage the organization had probably no other way. But since ST started the set with their infamous ‘You Can’t Bring Me Down’ it’s pretty obvious that it really doesn’t matter when the band is playing. Mike is always running around like a total lunatic and doing his signature moves. Although he is not always completely on point with his vocals. It’s easily forgiven since he made up with the energy he puts into the show. A lot of younger band could learn from this. Backed up with a rather old school set they do get the party started and is definitely one of the highlights of the day. (Niamen)

Next up on the smallest of the three stages, the Heavy stage, were the doom metallers of Swallow The Sun. Last year the released the triple album Songs From The North I, II & III, which received positive critics. Today the played early on the day and although their music holds a lot a quality, their doom goes better with a dark and sweaty little venue than on an open stage, at the beginning of a festival with a bright sun and high temperatures. They did a good job and the fans probably liked it a lot, but I doubt if it attracted people who hadn’t heard from them prior to Fortarock. (Gilles)

Dark Funeral has just released their latest effort called Where Shadows Forever Reign which led them to the second stage of Fortarock. The organization was probably looking for a band they could combine with Abbath who would take the same stage an hour and a half later. Considering black metal isn’t definitely everyone’s favorite I didn’t expect to see the huge amount of people showing up to check out the band. But on the other hand I also didn’t expect the tent to be half empty at the end of the set. It has probably something to do with the fact that the entire band acted like a bunch of grumpy old men. Between the songs vocalist Heljamadr mumbles somethings in the microphone but that’s it. Too bad since I do dig their latest effort. (Niamen)

With the Northern Gods on their side, Amon Amarth were the first band to really get the big mass excited. With songs from the latest record Jomsviking and a best off selection from their older work they got the horns up high in the air. Both the new and the old songs got quite a good response. This was definitely one of the bands people were eager to see and they definitely delivered. Their Viking themed music went well with the beers that were being poured. Later this year they’ll be doing a club tour again and I think these shows will be sold out quickly. Their fan base keeps on growing and with these kind of quality performances they also get on the festival bills higher and higher. (Gilles)

Cranky old Dave, otherwise known as Dave Mustaine, gave a rather descent show. But considering a festival show you could’ve chosen to bring in more old songs instead of playing 3 songs from the new album. Definitely if you see all the old farts present at the festival and know that Babymetal is to play next so all the younger folk would probably leave early, which of course happened. In the end it was a descent show but missing out on In My Darkest Hour, Poison Was The Cure or even A Tout Le Monde was a bit pity. (Niamen)

One of the most appealing bands on the bill prior to the festival was the Japanese act Babymetal. Three cute teenage girls, dressed in Japanese gothic/punk lolita styled dresses and backed by a heavy metal band were the cause of many raised eyebrows. When the first song kicked in, the Large Rockhand Stage was fully packed and during their show it didn’t get any emptier. It was the first time for them to perform in The Netherlands and according to some it’s just a bad gimmick, others were shouting along word after word though. They got the most extravert fans and we saw multiple fans dressed in the Japanse anime style to express their fandom. Fact is, whether it is metal enough for this festival or not, the show was highly entertaining and a great amount of people enjoyed this unique act. (Gilles)

Disturbed released a new record last year, but for most of the people it remains the band from the album The Sickness and more specific the song ‘Down With The Sickness’. Today they played on the main stage, just before headliner Volbeat, and for some this was a perfect festival setlist. For others it was just waiting on closing track ‘Down With The Sickness’. Personally I think they did a good job quality-wise, but you can argue about their chosen songs. Or should I say: covers. In total they played 5 covers and for me this was just too much. ‘Killing In The Name’ was a good choice, but covers from U2 and Simon & Garfunkel were a bit questionable. (Gilles)

“King Diamond plays Abigail”, definitely a show that I wouldn’t miss for the world and it turned out to be the best show of the entire festival. The impressive stage production made expect a lot from the show and from the first chord till the last notes the expectation that I had was completely fulfilled. The cast that acted throughout the show took their job very seriously and even the stagehands where clothed in cowls. All this combined with the music made it an experience to remember. While the band played their asses of an acted like it was the last show on earth lifted the king himself the entire set to another level. Being able to still hit the notes after all these years and do some acting along the way was certainly the highlight of the day. (Niamen)

Headliner Volbeat literally started with a big bang and some fireworks. They did their best to headline this festival in a good way, but I don’t think they’re really headliner-worthy when looking and the closing acts from the past years (Rammstein and Iron Maiden amongst others). The biggest focus for the band was on their brand new record Seal The Deal & Let’s Boogie. Although there’s a new record, the band tends to let every song sound alike and personally they couldn’t convince me it was something different this time. Fans got a solid performance, but the general metalhead lacked a fierce closing act of proportion. Also because this year it was organized on a Sunday, many people watch a couple of songs and returned home to still get a good night sleep before going to work in the morning. (Gilles)

Fortarock got a bit lucky with the weather and the festival had a great vibe, but being organized on a Sunday was a bit of a letdown and Volbeat as a headliner was a bit of disappointing as well. Hopefully they’ll manage to get a big closing act for a Saturday next year and build their program around it.

Neuk! - Bloedend Hard

info@metalrage.com (Buzzin Hornet) — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Neuk! (Translated: Fuck!) is a Dutch rap metal/hardcore formation which formed back in the mid-nineties and released three albums between 1997 and 2001. The vocals are also in Dutch which is a rare phenomenon but the band does manage to impress and are able to build an impressing following. When they break up in 2006 and play a one-time gig in 2007 they announce new material will follow soon. Now 9 years later the band has finally delivered. The album is called ‘Bloedend Hard’ and contains 17 brand new tracks.

It is always difficult to write an English review regarding an album with Dutch lyrics and most foreign people will probably never listen to this record. For a lot of the older generation of metal heads in the Netherlands however this new album might be an interesting listen which will bring back a lot of nostalgia.

After a one-minute intro the first song of the album kicks in called ‘Nageboorte’ (Translated: Afterbirth) where the band claims this is not a comeback but proof that they cannot be broken and they are a hit producing machine. A clear statement which flows throughout the record and overall it clearly reminds the listener of their older material. The in your face riffs and sometimes extremely catchy lyrics take me back to the early times of the genre. Personal favorite of the album is ‘Een Knaak in je hand Bloed in je onderbroek’.

It is great to have these guys back with a new record and let’s hope they are going to play some shows or festivals again. It will amaze a lot of people how many people these guys still attract when they play but when they start playing you understand why this is. It took them 9 years to release this album but it was sure worth the wait.

Roadburn 2016: The Afterburner (Sunday) - Dreaming Postrock from Jakob in a sea of heavy lords

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200

After three days the feet are hurting more and more but our souls want more and we get more at the Afterburner. With sets from Jakob, Neurosis and Amenra there is enough pleasure to endure.

The visuals of Jerome Siegelaer in combination with the heavy and focused Postrock of Jakob bring the crowd in a dream state. Sitting on the stairs of 013 and listening to the distinct instrumental tunes is a great moment to overlook how great this weekend was. The New-Zealanders have the ability to completely balance the instruments drums, guitar and bass and create dynamic songs that go from high to low and bring the listener in a euphoric state. The bass and guitar are on loud volume so you stay focused as the members of Jakob are. The relative unknown band drew a packed main room and showed they took the stage by rage and energy. (Maurice van der Heijden)

Also back on this last day of Roadburn are Amenra. This time not with an acoustic, but with a ‘common’ set. Amenra never fails to deliver as they prove again this time. The tense and brooding sound is overwhelming, as is the tormented screaming of Colin van Eeckhout to whom every show seems to be a new penance. Kneeling in front of the drum kit, his back characteristically turned to the crowd, exposing his tattooed crosses and inverted gallows. Together with the macabre visuals and the bombardment of strobes during the eruptions, it’s hard to stay untouched during this cathartic black mass. (Astrid Zijl)

Still standing on your feet and being alive after almost four days is not the best start to undergo the second two hour Neurosis set. As a diehard fan I have troubles to stay focused. Again the band is mixing the punk songs from the beginning with the heavy sludge (with industrial hints) and the more mellow Post-Metal songs. Today the combination doesn’t feel that natural. After almost an hour I feel distracted a bit. It’s not the band because they are staying focused and still knocking down every single band with their punishing work. They close their set with “The Tide” and “The Doorway” and I am happy to be part of them being played live.

After the heavyweights from the Bay Area Buried at Sea is closing off the festival at the main stage. The small underground band drew a pretty packed crowd and with a great sound the dragging monsters riffs of Sludge and Postmetal are hitting your ears like Bongripper did last year. The band has the ability to stick to one main riff and stay focused for a minute or 5 to start a break and to continue into the next flow. With the sound of a murmuring sea in the background the band feels like being left alone at a small sailor ship hoping to get home soon. The crushing waves in combination with a touch of melancholy give the crowd goose bumps.

The quartet should be proud how they finished their first European tour and Roadburn 2016 should be proud how they again give us so many good bands and vibes over the weekend. With an extended 013 this year the festival drew more visitors than ever. Metalrage cannot wait to be part of the festival again in 2017. (Maurice van der Heijden)

Photos by Paul Verhagen (Achrome Moments)

Roadburn 2016: Saturday - Acoustic finesse matched with heaviness from Neurosis

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Early today is the Roadburn introduction session of Dool in the Cul de Sac. In a packed room Elle Bandita and her band give everything in occult rock songs. With no record to be displayed on the merch table the band shows how to write a couple of songs that stick in your head immediately and are hair-raising too. With dynamical vocals from loud screams to a sultry voice the girl from Rotterdam knows how to add up energy to the psychedelic spirits she and her band are giving to the crowd. The energy is flowing spontaneously back and forth and we have a new Dutch band that has international capabilities. There was something special in the air today and the first highlight of the day is a fact.

A few steps further in the 013 Yodok III is bringing their heavy free form of Jazz. Multi-instrumentalist Dirk Serries has joined two Norwegians to drone away with tuba sounds and a monster on the drums that knows how to start the set timid and explode in chaos in the end. The other two follow and the maniacal end is the perfect climax. In the true Roadburn style we catch the last part of a band that is playing at the same time. The difference couldn’t be bigger with Skepticism. Their funeral doom hymns are sad and beautiful at the same time. With white roses on the monitors and an organ (including mirror) these Finnish melancholic guys set the standard high for the rest to come at the main stage.

We are heading back to the Cul de Sac where Belgium Partisan is playing their asses off for thirty people. It was nice to catch a great band with plenty of space around you. At the same time it was too bad no more people captured the mixture of Alternative nineties Rock and Post-Punk. The guitar melodies are great, the voice is etheric and cold and the songs are perfect for a melancholic day in spring. A small sparkle of hope is always around and I cannot wait for more songs than the four released on their first EP. (Maurice van der Heijden)

Converge are back today with Blood Moon, a selection of the band’s more ambitious and slower work within their legendary catalogue. Aside from featuring longtime friend Steve Von Till (Neurosis) and Stephen Brodsky (Cave In), “Blood Moon” also features Chelsea Wolfe and her bandmate/producer Ben Chisholm. The collaboration with Steven Von Till was powerful and Chelsea Wolfe’s ghostly voice blends beautifully with Jacob Bannon’s. The only minus is that the piece of the set where Wolfe joins in is a just a little too long and therefore lacking in power and conviction. The ending with an almost unrecognisable version of ‘Last Light’ and Bannon and Wolfe’s vocals drifting over feedback to give way to a brutally heavy ending with the charismatic Bannon bellowing ‘This is for the hearts still beating’ makes up for this. Impressive how the band were able to completely transform their own songs to sound like something completely new and yet sound still as brilliant.

On Saturday one of the most haunting and intense bands Amenra are turning the volume down and are playing an acoustic set of their EP Afterlife (2009) with an expanded band of musicians. The performance is really impressive, but even more impressive was that all 3000 people in the room were so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Their version of the Tool song "Parabol" and the Flemish classic "Het Dorp" is impressive. The respect this band gets is enormous and absolutely well-deserved.

Another Belgian band VVOVNDS for me was the suprise of the day. Playing in a packed Cul de Sac the energy this band delivers is impressive. With their mix of hard and grindcore and the frantic performance of singer Jenci Vervaeke the crowd goes wild. With only 20 minutes one of the shortest Roadburn sets, but hey a band that burns twice as bright has only to burn half as long.
(Astrid Zijl)

Neurosis is celebrating thirty years with two different sets of two hour each. They play something of every period so for the first time in a long time you hear their raging and gloomy punk stuff with bass player Dave Edwardson ranting and growling in the microphone. He is also doing this in the older doomy stuff. After roughly an hour a calmer song (“Left to Wander”) from ‘The Eye of Every Storm’ is played to bring peace and awe in the heavy set. From that point on the band lost a bit of focus or I lost the focus.

In the end the band is coming back and after one hour and 45 minutes it looks like the band ends with the monstrous “Through Silver in Blood”. They are outrageous and extra toms are on stage to go out with a bang. They play another song, at first I thought why but when they started “Stones from the Sky” I couldn’t be happier since this is one of my favorites. The end riff is genius and went on to high rooftops until everything collapsed. The set might be a bit too long but the end part was superb. (Maurice van der Heijden)

Photos by Paul Verhagen (Achrome Moments)

Roadburn 2016: Friday - The oldies saved this disappointed day at Roadburn

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Some days are not the best days. Today at Roadburn we couldn’t catch the awesomeness we wanted to feel. Way in time for the Steve Von Till set in Patronaat hanging out at the merchandise tables was not a good idea. In time for the show the line was too long to get in so Metalrage missed his set. The same thing happened with Dark Buddha Rising and Úlfsmessa; there was already a line thirty minutes before stage time. Too bad we missed these shows. (Maurice van der Heijden)

In times of disappointment it’s good to rely on an old friend and Repulsion managed to give the most kickass show of the day. For a festival that is associated with all the different subgenres of stoner rock and doom metal, booking Grindcore legends Repulsion may seem a bit off. Their only album, the Grindcore blueprint ‘Horrified’, will reach the noble age of 30 this June. They started their show with the subtly titled “The Stench of Burning Death” and they immediately showed they were still on top of their game. The sound and the rabid intensity haven’t changed for a bit since the release of the album, and the new drummer did a great job emulating Dave Grave’s recognisable single-foot blast. All of the songs of the show were played in the same order as they appear on the record, with Scott Carlson jokingly stating “This is where we flip to side B”. Motorhead’s song “The Hammer” was covered somewhere in the middle, and after some 40 minutes of top notch Grindcore they left a sweaty audience wanting for more. (Bart-Jan Stoutjesdijk)

Members of Cathedral and Electric Wizard started With the Dead. The show is full of nasty Stonerdoom with Sludge hints and is crawling around your neck for the whole set. The sometimes out of key but very instinct vocals of Lee Dorrian grabs your soul immediately. With this first show outside the UK and one album in the pocket they convince the main room for a full hour. The curator has picked some black-white scenery that fit the rough songs of these oldies pretty well. (Maurice van der Heijden)

Without any doubt, G.I.S.M. was one of the most exclusive shows of the entire festival. Information about the band is very scarce, though there are many gossips and ghost stories dealing with the insane antics of this band, ranging from shooting a helicopter from the sky with an RPG to jumping in the audience with a (real and working) chainsaw. They’ve had a massive influence on metal and punk with their bleak image and their fierce and totally off the hook hardcore/metal records. Needless to say, expectations were higher than the average Roadburn visitor and before the show the venue was packed with punks and metalheads clad in leather and spikes. G.I.S.M. opened with “Endless Blackades for the Pussyfooter” and from the moment they hit the stage they were met with great enthusiasm and constant shouting and moshing from the audience. Their new guitar player proved to be a worthy replacement for the late Randy Uchida and everything about the chemistry and stage performance of the band was just as good as everyone hoped it to be. The 50 minute set seemed like it was over in a flash, and let’s hope we’ll see them again sometime. (Bart-Jan Stoutjesdijk)

Another friend to rely on is good old Pentagram. Bobby Liebling was already crawling around in the venue during the With the Dead show. On stage during his own band he of course did the same during the instrumental parts of the heavy & doomy seventies Hardrock. No surprises today but a band that really had a kickass time to play all the classics like “Sign of the Wolf” or “Relentless”. Bobby is in a very good mood and his voice too. At this late friday night this the best headliner to witness at the Roadburn festival and Pentagram saved the day for us. (Maurice van der Heijden)

Photos by Paul Verhagen (Achrome Moments)

Roadburn 2016: Thursday - One of the heaviest Roadburn days and we survived

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200

The Poisoned Glass is a bit too much to start with. The full on Doom-drone with torturing vocals is approaching like zombies with axes. With a bit more alcohol during the night this would’ve been a better idea and also the black and white visuals are better to digest. Fast forward to highlight number one: Cult of Luna. With the new album ‘Mariner’ on board (a collaboration with vocalist Julie Christmas) it’s strange we get the Somewhere Along the Highway album in full. Since this is one of my favourite albums I don’t care. After the introduction ‘Marching To The Heartbeats’ there is a small hick up, the band recovers with the majestic ‘Finland’.

The album deals with male loneliness after a relationship breakup. Especially the middle part of the record is typical stuff to sit in your couch full of negativity. This depressive mode is not working well on stage. The end of the set is superb with ‘Dim’ and my favourite Cult of Luna song ‘Dark City, Dead Man’. The endless echoing guitar melody and the anxious screams in the end are heart-breaking and the perfect end of the show. (Maurice van der Heijden)

Doom-Crust four-piece Usnea are not the most technical and innovative band, but they bring downer vibes so dense they couldn’t seem to let any light escape. Both guitars tuned to the key of destruction in slow-motion and drums and bass located centre-stage to foster the punched-in-the-stomach resonance. Joel Banishing’s grunts and Justin Cory’s high-pitched screaming, combined with the repetitive and hypnotising doom make for a fine performance.

Maryland grindcore four-piece Full of Hell is a touring warhorse. Their message of hostility and provocation is a proof that the boundaries of grind and noise can be cross-connected in interesting ways. While other bands in extreme music typically lapse into mediocrity at some point, Full of Hell are well-deserved respected innovators in their scene. The performance is from time to time disorienting (in the best possible way). Where it feels like things should be heavy, there’s abrasive noise, and where it feels like there should be a blast, there’s electronics. The vicious screaming of Dylan Walker giving a misanthropic sermon on the end of the human species creates and David Bland speed-of-light blasts and drum solos over which abrasive noise which makes for an impressive performance.

To celebrate the fifteen year anniversary of the album, Converge played Jane Doe in its entirety. A first timer according to vocalist Jacob Bannon who mentioned that the band never performed an album in its entirety before. Jane Doe has been Converge’s calling card since its release in 2001. The cover art has become an icon and the album has developed a cult following since its release. According to Bannon the album’s lyrical themes were born out of a dissolving relationship and the emotional fallout from that experience. A fair amount of the songs on Jane Doe are near guarantees on any Converge setlist and even more obscure songs like “Heaven in her Arms” will be played from time to time. To hear and see the album being played in its entirety is a one-night-only chance. Never before performed songs 'Phoenix in Flight' and 'Phoenix in Flames' make the performance even more special. Where 'Phoenix in Flight' gives the audience a chance to breath, 'Phoenix in Flames' immediately afterwards punches all the air out of your lungs at once with Bannon screaming his lungs out before starting the album’s closing tracks. The always captivating Bannon, who earlier on performed his no hand’s mic spin from the “Fault and Fracture” video grabs you by the throat with his performance building up the tension before bringing the songs to its peak and cutting it off with a bang. (Astrid Zijl)

The Body never disappoints. The duo is making a harsh mix of poisining doom and noise. The venomous spits of guitarist Chip King makes this the vilest duo you can ever imagine. After 35 minutes their sonic attacks are over and you are happy you survived their monstrous doom sound.

Roadburn is all about surprises. One is the Swedish band Moloken, they take the cultural heritage of old Cult of Luna and mix it with Meshuggah influenced drums. They hardly ever tour so it was so nice to see how these folks loved to play in a packed Cul-De-Sac and impressed with their unique approach of Doom, Hardcore and Post-Metal. Chrch is a new Doom band in the vein of Windhand and impressed the scene with a nightmarish tape. Too bad they are scheduled in the Extase venue. The venue is way too small for Chrch and the sound is horrible. The setup of the room is a nightmare; when you are halfway or further away you see nothing of the band. Please fly over these guys and girl next time and position them in the Patronaat.

Metalrage is closing off today with the Finnish maniacs of Abyssion. Their psychedelic (with a lot of Circle madness) approach to Black Metal might be childish and funny but their weird music is kicking ass. The drunken front man is screaming in Finnish and doesn’t give fuck about anyone. The visuals in the back are kitsch and so do the psychedelic synthesizer sounds. After a day of serious music this no-nonsense approach on heavy music is the best way to leave and go to bed. (Maurice van der Heijden)

Photos by Achrome Moments (Paul Verhagen)

Sun Worship - Pale Dawn

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Transcendental Black Metal is an overrated term nowadays; Sun Worship is one of the few that brings the listener in a state far away from here with their repeating Black Metal riffs and fast hitting drums. They have the ability to change the pace of a song just a little bit to not be as boring as other bands. Take the organic, back to basic production and you have the perfect mindset to immerse in the sound of the German trio.

While the concept of the previous record Elder Giants was based on the Earth and our solar system, the new one Pale Dawn goes deeper and further into the cosmos. Yes, there are some hints to the repeating movements of the important Berlin School of electronic music. Mostly they drew inspiration (sound, coldness and repetition) from the first Mayhem album.

In the first song ‘Pale Dawn’ the band surprises with a bit more groove and the riff after the break and the drum rumble is genius. The end is pounding and mid-tempo. Heaviness before the cold fast riff in ‘Lichtenberg Figures’ starts, after 45 seconds the amazing fast drums are kicking in and this song is continuing into a glorious masterpiece. ‘Naiad’ has the same whirlwind experience if you are walking on the North Pole and the storm is raging over the land.

As usual the staccato drums are still tight as fuck and in the fast whirlwind of blast beats mister Hagedorn is still able to come up with kickass fills. Especially in ‘Perihelion’ there is some amazing breaks to discover. New in this song are clean vocals instead of the raspy ones we are used to with Sun Worship. The nasal sung vocal lines match perfectly with the transcendental state of the music.

The Germans still prove they are at the top of the European Black Metal scene. No gimmick, no bullshit just playing high quality tight Black Metal. The four songs are all killer, so no fillers to discover here.

My Dying Bride - Next year's headliner of Roadburn

info@metalrage.com (Niamen) — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Due to some stupid meeting at my work I wasn’t able to catch the support act of the evening since Oceans Of Slumber was scheduled at 7PM. So after I rushed myself to the venue I was a bit bummed out that I had to miss the support act of the evening. Especially since I entered the building when they had just finished playing. According to several visitors the show was quite okay but a bit proggy.

After some short interviews with visitors about the support act I decided to grab a drink and find myself a sweet spot for My Dying Bride. This was very easy since the venue wasn’t sold out. They even closed the balcony. Which is pretty strange for me since I expected way more tickets to be sold than a couple of weeks ago with Amorphis. I don’t know if it has something to do with the fact that Roadburn is just one week away. But on the other hand all those chickens that didn’t have the guts to face My Dying Bride missed quite a show. The last couple of years the set list has been altered for many times and because of the huge amount of great My Dying Bride songs it’s always hard to please everyone. But tonight they did quite a good job to satisfy me and all the other visitors. Starting with ‘Your River’ from the infamous Turn Loose The Swans album and ‘From Darkest Skies’ from The Angel and the Dark River they immediately pulled out two great albums. After this the new song ´And My Father Left Forever’ shows that the new songs are quite a match for the early work of the band.

Vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe, dressed in a white blouse with a red tie showed himself once more a great vocalist and even better frontman. The guy manage to grab the audience by the throat and drags them down into the darkness of My Dying Bride. He embodies the pain and misery that is described in the lyrics of the songs. He spits out his growls over the audience or he mumbles and moans his spoken words into the microphone. Sometimes he even loses himself so much in the song that he almost looks a bit scared when he opens up his eyes at the end of the song.

After ‘Feel The Misery’ and ‘Thy Raven Wings’ the band decided to take everything along to a darker path and starts with ‘The Prize Of Beauty’ followed by ‘Erotic Literature’. This is a turning point in the set, the red tie of Aaron has come off and he takes the venue deeper into the misery with ‘The Cry Of Mankind’ and ‘She Is The Dark’. Between those two sets of songs another new song is played, ‘To Shiver In Empty Halls’, and once again it shows how easily it can measures itself with classic My Dying Bride songs. During these 5 songs My Dying Bride is clearly working to a climax. The intensity of the show increases as well as the headbanging. Pretty obvious they let the crowd hungry for more when they went offstage after the last song.

During the encore they definitely delivered the final blow. Starting with easy with ‘Like A Perpetual Funeral’ and building up the tension before they kicked in their latest track of the evening. Their epos ‘Symphoniare Infernus Et Spera Empyrium’ was truly the highlight of the entire evening. Truly a great band that showed themselves at the peak of their career. I wouldn’t be surprised if they headlined Roadburn next year.

Roadburn festival - As always the flame of Roadburn burns on in 2016

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0200

It’s that time of the year to prepare for the Roadburn festival in Tilburg. Things have changed in 2016; first of all 013 has expanded its main hall & the green stage to a capacity of 3000 and 700 people. Also the smallest room (the Batcave) is gone. This implies it will be much more relaxing to shift between stages and the merch area. Cul-de-Sac and Patronaat stayed as venues and included now is Extase; a cozy venue around the corner of 013 that fills up for the disappeared Batcave. What has Roadburn to offer this year? Be prepared for heavy stuff. Metalrage picked three heavy outfits per day you should not miss. Dig into the rest of the program yourself and discover what you want to add to the list.

Thursday

One of the inventors of Post-Metal is back at the festival to play the classic album ‘Somewhere Along the Highway’ in its entirety. On this record Cult of Luna made the bridge between Neurosis and Mogwai and songs like ‘Dark City Dead Man’ will echo in your mind forever after you have seen these masters in the main hall.

It took me ten years to finally understand the massive milestone ‘Jane Doe’. The record will be played by Converge on Thursday. On Saturday they play another special set with guests from Cave In, Neurosis and Chelsea Wolfe. The hardcore band is the most important genre expander of the last twenty years and borderless heaviness need to be part of this year’s festival. Expect chaos and heaviness.

Hell really sounds if you have arrived in hell. The claustrophobic doom feels like if you are run over by a train while in the meantime being choked by Satan. Hell has made a new meaning on the word HEAVY and you should be happy to have them for the first time in Europe.

Friday

Roadburn is always hosting super groups. 2016 is the year where they invited With the Dead; a group of members from Cathedral and Electric Wizard. Rise Above main man Lee Dorian has spread out his vocals over evil psychedelic stoner doom riffs. When you listened to works of the members other bands you will know. Their debut album was hailed in the scene by lots of fanatics; let’s see if With the Dead can fill in the high expectations.

Lee Dorrian invited Repulsion on the Roadburn Friday. The dirty old fast Grindcore from these oldies is a welcome change in between the slow and long doom mongers. The band still sounds if we are all stuck in the eighties and that’s a good thing with all these technical perfect sounding grindcore bands nowadays.

Sometimes you have to endure a difficult band to get your rewards. Greg Chandler from funeral doomers Esoteric has started the baroque styled black metal band Lychgate and they have created two albums that take some sessions to understand. On stage you have to use your patience but when you understand their whirlwind directions the energy you receive is enormous.

Saturday

Finnish masters Skepticism perform Funeral Doom as no one else. The main instrument is an old-fashioned organ that makes the sound even more funeral. Slowly you are immersed in dreary hymns that are selected by the fans so expect your favorite songs to be played on Roadburn’s biggest stage.

The last time Amenra played Roadburn there was something in the air and the catharsis they brought in the Patronaat was one of the best I have endured. Today they perform an acoustic set based on the ‘Afterlife’ album. No heaviness this time, but fragile and etheric hymns to dream away on. On Sunday they are back with a normal heavy set.

It’s a bit obvious and no surprise to name Neurosis as a must see. To not name them is also silly so please see the originators and inspirers of all the heavy Post-Sludge, avant-garde metal bands and celebrate their thirtieth anniversary. They have promised to play some old stuff too, so expect oldies like ‘Grey’ and the Joy Division cover ‘Day of our Lords’.

Sunday

New-Zealand post rockers Jakob returned last year with a new album. They have the ability to spread out their songs to long hymns but never will they lose the focus. In the sea of Post-rock bands they keep the genre urgent. Live on stage (for the first time in the Netherlands) they deliver pure quality. Their dreamy tunes are a perfect match to relax at the afterburner.

The guitarist of Amenra, Mathieu Vandekerckhove has his solo project running for a couple of years. Syndrome is all based on soundscapes, loops and black & white visuals. Especially when you are exhausted after three days Roadburn just chill out on a chair in the Cul De Sac and mesmerize on the tunes of Syndrome.

To go out in style (and I mean go out HEAVY) please don’t miss the brutal monster Buried at Sea. Producer and musician Sanford Parker’s infamous project has been on a hiatus for years. Their monstrous underground sound inspired a thousand bands. Finally he has picked up the amps where he has left them and will destroy you at the last moments of Roadburn 2016.

http://www.roadburn.com

Timetables: http://www.roadburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016_Roadburn-Schedule-A4.pdf

Paaspop 2016 - A sunny weekend in Schijndel

info@metalrage.com (Buzzin Hornet) — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Paaspop 2016 – A sunny weekend in Schijndel

For many years Metalrage has been attending the annual Paaspop festival in Schijndel. We have had some cold editions, an occasional warm edition and editions like this one. Where the weather was just perfect. The sun was pretty damn good for the 65000 people attending this year. People were having fun. The only downside of the experience is that the program is featuring less and less alternative bands and loud(er) music. Where the festival used to have a dedicated stage for metal this is now scattered across various stages with fewer bands actually playing and also regularly at the same timeslot. This is causing a self fulfilling prophecy where it looks like the organization tries to show people do not want to see these bands and the metal loving crowd is not visiting the festival as they do not want to pay a 100 euro’s to see a handful of acts.

Over the years Paaspop has developed itself. The festival has gotten a little bit different and they have added more tents or small stages were people can do a variety of other activities, drink craft beer or dance till they get blisters on their feet. You could say that the festival has created an experience instead of a music festival. Maybe that´s also the reason why there are a lot of cover bands present.

Day 1

BZB

BZB had the honor of opening the festival. The folkrockers had even taken the opportunity to light up a torch and open the festival in an Olympic kind of way. After this the guys took off for a set of classic BZB songs with an occasional new song from their latest EP. Although these guys have been here before they still manage to create a great party. It really doesn´t matter if the tent is completely packed or not. It´s still a great party with these guys.

DeWolff

DeWolff has been around the Dutch festivals for several years now. Their blues rock sounds catchy and got enough hooks to make it interesting for people who are not known with their work. Speaking of which, their latest album Roux A Roux was released a couple of months ago and showed a band that has developed themselves even more when it comes to songwriting. Especially when you compare this to the old material that is played. It still blows my mind when you think of the fact that all the guys are still in their early twenties. Great show with great musicians.

Powerwolf

Powerwolf was the first real metal acts of this year’s edition. Their bombastic power metal should score pretty easily but the tent is not even half full. Still the band tries hard to gain some new fans in which they probably succeeded judging by the reaction of the audience at the end of the show. But since I had a busy schedule I decided to get a quick bite and catch John Coffey since these guys are getting bigger and bigger.

John Coffey

Their ‘vocalist catches a beer during a show’ on YouTube has gone viral last year and gained some major attention to the band. So I’m not surprised if some people came to see them just because of that. Fact is that the tent is packed. Once again they show that al the touring has paid off. The band sounds tight, have fun onstage and manage to pull off a great show while doing so. Considering the band has two albums out I do predict a nice future for these guys. Maybe you even could say that these guys are the best rock band we have in the Netherlands at this moment.

Baroness

When Baroness had a terrible accident several years nobody knew where this would lead to but after the release of their 4^th studio album Purple earlier this year, it was great seeing several of the old members perform on stage again. The band played the smaller Jack Daniels stage. The sludge metal these guys play is a mix between heavy riffs and melodic intimate parts. And somehow the combination of this is hypnotizing the present audience. Especially during the song ‘Chlorine and Wine’ the band is mesmerizing. Can’t wait to see them play again.

Joey Cape

Thunderalley has been around for several years but this year it got its own tent. The Vinyl Media and the barbershop Schorem are put together, add a little bar and a small stage and you have another great experience at Paaspop. It was at this nice place that I watched Joey Cape perform. The guy is of course known for being the vocalist of Lagwagon but like several more punk vocalist, the guy is also quite a good singer songwriter. Within the given time he manages to create a great atmosphere together with is friend Walt Hamburger that joins Joey onstage for several times.

Day 2

Spiritual Beggars

One of the acts that I was really looking forward to was Spiritual Beggars. Indeed, the side project of Micheal Amott of Arch Enemy. I’m not a big fan of his work with Arch Enemy but his work with Spiritual Beggars is awesome. Their latest album Sunrise To Sundown has certainly some nice tracks and already has found its way to my cd player. So with Sunrise To Sundown and Diamond Under Pressure on the set list I was quite satisfied. Although it was pretty crowded onstage the guys did seem to enjoy themselves which is always a big plus.

Drive Like Maria

Drive Like Maria is a Belgian/Dutch rock formation which released two albums back in 2009 and 2012. I was really pleased when I noticed a new song online a while ago called Nighthawk which really impressed me. Just in time for Paaspop the band announced that they will release a new EP in the middle of April and they've launched yet another song called Keeps me Going. Both songs were played at their show at Paaspop and boy did that made me happy. Next to these songs the band of course also played songs from their two full lengths and their sound sure matured. This is one of the better rock formations we have and I cannot wait for the new EP to be released. Definitely worth checking out!

Enter Shikari

Enter Shikari has been an outcast in the rock/ metal scene with their addition of dance elements within their music. This has clouded the band for quite a while. But with their latest album that was released last year they finally embraced themselves and basically told the critics to go fuck off. In a way that must be liberating since they don’t have to seek for approval with everything they do. This led to a show of intensity, really great visuals and a band that rises above themselves during the show.

Deafheaven

It was a great surprise to see Deafheaven on the bill since it’s not the kind of band that I would expect at Paaspop. Their shoegaze blackmetal is certainly not for the fainthearted, so with a half filled tent you could say that it was certainly a success. The only problem that I do have is that the intensity of the music of Deafheaven is a bit rundown by the band members. Their vocalist is going berserk while the rest of their musicians is looking at their fret boards. Still this doesn’t rule out the fact that is was certainly the tightest performance that I witnessed on this year’s edition of Paaspop.

The Prodigy

Even though The Prodigy does not really qualify as metal it is one of those electronic acts which do get appreciated by quite some people in the metal scene. Especially their work from the 90s is present in the collection of many metal heads I know. The thing everybody talked about at the Paaspop show of these guys basically is them popping the fuses at the climax during Smack My Bitch Up, one of the biggest hits of the act. The band instantly disappeared of stage, apparently it was not the first time this happened, and after approximately 10 minutes the band played the last couple of songs of their set. 90 minutes of pumping tunes which surely entertained the packed tent at the festival.

Day 3

Slash N Roses

During the last day of Paaspop I didn’t have a lot of things I really had to see. Besides Monster Magnet of course. So I decided to check out some cover bands during the day. Slash N Roses focusses themselves on the career of Slash. This of course means that most of the songs are from Guns N Roses, some of them are solo songs and even a song from Velvet Revolver passes by. Quite a nice idea of the band since you don’t limit yourself to one band. The problem is that they have huge shoes to fill and they fail miserably. If I listen to a cover band, I want the music to be as close as possible to the original music. This wasn’t the case. Several small errors did take the fun away.

Monster Magnet

Finally, after a whole day of waiting Monster Magnet was about to walk onstage. To be honest I did look forward to the show since they are on a ‘Celebrating the A&M years’ tour’ which includes a whole deal of old material. You might know that Dave Wyndorff has its moments. Today is one of them. You could say he was certainly in a bad mood. After every songs he’s nagging that we don’t do well enough. We don’t cheer hard enough. Well uncle Dave, 3 days of festival does take its toll. Don’t get me wrong besides the grumpy old man it’s great to hear some old tracks of Monster Magnet. Although I do have to say that I think Dave is getting more and more a caricature of himself.

Refused

Swedish based post hardcore formation Refused is one of the bands who is playing in a tent with just a couple of hundred people present. And this is something they do not deserve being the headliner in this tent. With their energetic and powerful set they do convince and get the people present moving. Political statements are the main topic for this band and in between songs front man Dennis Lyxzén is clearly making some statements towards the audience. Their 2015 album ‘Freedom’ does get some attention with opening track Elektra and Dawkins Christ. But besides that the setlist contains only tracks of the albums which the band released back in the 90s. These are the songs where the fans are here for and the small group in the front is going crazy during those songs.

Most of this review has been written by Niamen and Buzzin Hornet filled the gaps and made it into one piece. We would like to thank the Paaspop crew for inviting us once again!

Psykup - Le Temps de la Reflexion

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Psykup is a French Metal band that existed for 20 years in 2015. The band never took any borders and melted Metal, Mathcore, Funk, Jazz, Hiphop and Avant-Garde and Rock together. Their first album ‘Le Temps de la Reflexion’ from 2002 is a highlight in French Avant-Garde metal and the band has since then a cult following, especially in France.

The band split up after three records. Since then the French metal scene with bands like Gojira or Dagoba has risen enormously so the band decided to have a comeback. With their first album sold-out for years it is a good decision to give it a re-release. People will get the new version with the first EP included and three live songs from 1999. When you listen to the 75 minutes debut album you hear the talents and Psykup’s overkill of idea however vocally they shift sometimes a bit too much between clean and aggressive vocals. Both vocal styles are not the best to be heard in the genre and also the music didn’t meet the test of time because the natural flow is missing in the songs.

I also can imagine that not many followers outside France will know Psykup so I don’t understand why the new version is released outside France. With respect to the bonus material: the first EP are four songs later rerecorded on the full length so not really interesting stuff. The three live songs don’t have the best sound quality; the last song ‘Syk’ Your Mind’ never made it to the EP or first album so for the true fan it is great that it’s captured here. Bottom-line: fans who are on the lookout for years to buy this album grab your chance; others can avoid the release.

Pop Evil - Up

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Pop Evil is in Europe quite an unknown name, compared to the (reasonable) success they have in the United States. This is mainly due to the characteristic big American rock sound that they employ, a sound that has a hard time finding ground on the European mainland.

Pop Evil really established itself with their 2013 release Onyx. This album was a big hit in The States with three no. 1 rock releases under its belt. With Up Pop Evil releases already their fifth album. For me this is the first introduction to Pop Evil and a good test case if it indeed holds its own compared to other bands who employ this big rock sound.

One thing that immediately stands out on the album is the way they can write some addictive hooks. It doesn’t really matter if it are more uptempo songs (‘Footsteps’, ‘Vendetta’) or more slow and ballad like songs like ‘Till Kingdom Come’ or the bonustrack ‘My Confessions’. The guys possess the skills to write songs with big choruses and enough distinction between them that they don’t grow stale.

On first listen I wasn’t expecting that Up would leave any mark. First listens didn’t leave any impression and I already wrote it off as one of many US acts who all follow the same pattern. Subsequent listens made the album open up to me though. Of course they follow the recipe that is tried and tested, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem for fans of these kind of bands. What is the big difference maker between a good band in this genre and a mediocre band is the vocalist and the song writing skills and let Pop Evil possess both in spades. Just listen to ‘Ghost Of Muskegon’ and you can’t be unimpressed. The build-up of the song is immediately recognizable and sucks you into it and it is passed before you know it.

For people enjoying some good US modern rock this is a must have. No it’s not overly original and yes there are some songs on it, which just aren’t interesting and not meeting the high standard of some of the above mentioned songs (‘Core’, ‘Lux’), but overall it is a mighty fine rock album. I, for one, am going to check their back catalogue.

Complexity Fest 2016 - The Netherlands is one festival richer!

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Saturday the 5th of March marked the day that the first ever Complexity Fest kicked off. A bill filled with “complex(ish)” bands from different kind of genres and in most of the cases a mixture of all kind of genres. The organization really put a diverse line-up out there, a job well done!

Since the Dutch public transport system is quite unreliable and clearly the apps they employ nowadays follow suit, we were a bit late for the party. Missing Destiny Potato unfortunately and arrived when Hypno5e started playing.

Describing Hypno5e style is quite difficult, since their music is a mixture of various genres. Wikipedia describes them as experimental metal and this broad tag is indeed of excellent use describing them. They bring a mixture of post-metal, some death metal influences and some djent sprinkles on top of it. Since this was the first band of the evening that we witnessed, we weren’t properly warmed up and then getting introduced to such a difficult to grasp band is not an easy task for the brain. Hypno5e showed some genuine technical skills and the switches between different genres was done really well. Also the way that they created an atmosphere that suits the music deserves applause. Due to unfamiliarity with the bands work, the different songs didn’t ring a bell with me, but despite not really being my kind of band they pulled of an interesting performance. It was just too bad that the stroboscopes used were extremely annoying and therefore we went on to get something to eat.

After finishing a biological portion of fries (good) and a bio kroket (poor poor taste, was this even a kroket and were was the meat?), we went on to see the Italian dudes of Destrage. Are You Kidding Me, No? , their third album, left a good impression on me in 2014 so I was curious to see how the band would be live. Surprised, that is the word that is fitting to this performance. When entering the venue I was wondering how the madness on their albums would translate to their live performance and if the sound would translate to a live environment. I can only say, I left amazed. So much energy on stage, a crowd that went apeshit (even a circle pit was formed) and a frontman that knows how to get everything fired up (and a weird as hell guitarist, also helped). The different nuances from their last album were brought excellently and despite some minor sound issues (what’s up with the volume of the vocals in the small venue of The Patronaat, since this isn’t the first time that vocalists are sometimes not audible in this venue) the songs were “easy” to follow. Really impressed by the Italian blokes, when they perform in your surroundings go and watch, you won’t be disappointed. And now for that fourth album guys….

Back to the main stage to see the Dutch metal heroes of Textures for the second time in a few weeks. Seen the guys perform multiple times now, they have never let me down and again they left me wanting for more after an hour of playing. What is great to see is that the newer songs of the fenomenal new album Phenotype mix in really great with older material from Drawing Circles and Awake. Phenotype destroys its predecessor Dualism on record and also live, songs like ´New Horizons’ and ‘Shaping Of A Single Grain Of Sand’ are turning out to be crowd favorites. Daniel showed that he is hands down the best Dutch metal vocalist out there and I can also name internationally not many singers who are better in the genre than he is. The band as a whole showed that they are not only technical on a high level, but also the joy they play with is a sight to behold. Again a great performance! Only drawback is the solo piece that was played. If you only have an hour to play and a great discography to choose from, why would you reserve a solo spot? At least it was conveniently placed so we could get a beer at the bar, before it became interesting again.

After visiting for a few “songs” of The Algorithm (the name does them justice, I believe there is some niche market for these guys, but this music is defintely not up my alley, so I won’t judge their perfomance), it was time to go to the main stage to check Hacktivist.

Hacktivist will finally release their debut album, Outside The Box, this year after releasing an EP and a few singles. Witnessed Hacktivist before on a few festivals and knowing that these guys could throw a party, I was wondering how the Complexity Fest crowd would react to the Englishmen. Their music is much more straightforward than the majority of the bands on the bill and involves a lot of rap influences, something your average metalhead is not really a big fan of. Luckily the crowd went berserk after just a few notes. The music of Hacktivist is nothing really special, sometimes even entering mediocre territory, but the energy that the guys possess on stage is addictive. You just want to jump along with them and lose all your own energy in their music. Even the ‘Niggas in Paris’ cover met an enthusiastic audience and they pulled it off. All in all a good performance and I was impressed by the level of rapping they showed, especially by Jermaine Hurley.

Unfortunately it was time to leave the festival, due to otherwise not being able to come home by public transport, so had to miss Alkaloid and Rolo Tomassi. The debut of Complexity Fest on the Dutch festival calendar was a success. Hopefully it was also successful enough for the organization to follow it up with Complexity Fest 2017. It was well organized, although there could be a little bit more time between acts and also the catering could be improved. It doesn’t have to be very diverse but a bit more choice or just a better quality would suffice. Except for these minor points, we had a blast and we will return for a 2017 edition! Job well done!

Win 2x2 free tickets for Complexity Fest in Haarlem!

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0100

5th of March the first ever Complexity Fest will kick off in Het Patronaat Haarlem. Of course Metalrage will be there to provide our loyal readers with coverage of this new festival.

The festival will be headlined with the Dutch metal pride Textures! But next to that the bill is stuffed with bands addressing the more leftfield of heavy metal; nothing old fashioned, traditional to be seen here!

Patronaat has come up with a line up from bands from all over Europe, which ranges from complex alternative metal like Rolo Tomassi to progressive deathmetal stalwarts Alkaloid back to the bouncy djent/nu-metal hybrid (Nu-Djent anyone?) of Hacktivist and the psycho all over the place metal of the Italians of Destrage. It should be a taxing, but fun evening!

Our good pals at Het Patronaat has given us the opportunity to give you the opportunity to witness this new fest and tell your friends at home that “I was at the first ever Complexity Fest”. Answer the below question and perhaps you’ll be the lucky one to get tickets for you and a friend!

Dragged Into Sunlight / Gnaw their Tongues / Terzij de Horde - Your worst nightmare on Valentine's Day

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Sun, 14 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0100

On this bleak Valentine’s Sunday there is only rain coming out of the sky so to find some sunlight I drag my body to Patronaat, Haarlem to see Dragged into Sunlight who collaborated last year with Dutch master of fancy music Gnaw Their Tongues. Their album is a masterpiece in vile Black Metal, Crust and Noise for those who hate this world. Before the headliners Terzij de Horde is unleashing their intensity in Black Metal and Screamo into the air. Their latest album ‘Self’ and release show was one of Dutch Black Metal highlights.

Today in the Patronaat bar it’s a bit different. The room is crowded, singer Joost is moving around like a maniac but the sound of the raging music isn’t that clear to absorb in the Black Metal waves. During the show the sound improves and the Dutch ode to the poems of Gerard Marsman in ‘A Crooked Flower in Cosmos' Flailing Mouth’ is finally the turning point. The last song of the set is the best. The five guys connect Black Metal with raging nineties screamo into one big whirlwind. In the quiet passage bass player Johan is screaming in the air and dueling with vocalist Joost. Yes their background in hardcore gives Terzij de Horde a different view.

During Gnaw Their Tongues’ startup the effects from the noise generator are failing. The horror atmosphere is completely gone so it takes some songs to get fully attacked by the mix of horror electronics and raging Black Metal with drum computer sounds. Main maniac Mories is screaming his guts out in the microphone while plucking his bass guitar. The coldness drips from the material however in a live setting the stage presence and one-dimensional music are only for the true diehard. After twenty minutes I had enough.

After a long ambient interlude staring at candles and three animal skulls hell is unleashed by Dragged into Sunlight. In the doomy mixture of Crust and Black Metal the band is presenting songs from the debut album together with two new songs of the collaboration with Gnaw Their Tongues. Too bad the collaboration didn’t happen onstage; instead these UK bastards are sonically overthrowing the listener with the most hellish sounds you can imagine. They have the best sound of the day and in 40 minutes they have pissed all over your hope and dreams. No love will ever be there in the upcoming years on Valentine day…

Black Stone Cherry, Toseland - Southern rock and a thursday evening is an amazing combination

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sun, 14 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0100

The southern rock band Black Stone Cherry from Kentucky is about to release a brand new record in April called 'Kentucky'. They probably thought that the best marketing for a new record is, is to give a preview of it on a big tour. They could be right about this and a lot of people came to the venue today to see, not only the headliner of the evening, but also Toseland.

While Toseland came on stage, the venue wasn't that filled up yet, but really the band didn't seem to care about that. They gave it all they had and tried to fire up the crowd, like a good support-act does. It is quite strange to see James Toseland sing in this band if you're into motorsport. He competed in the MotoGP and Superbike and did that pretty well also. Nevertheless as a vocalist the crowd didn't get much to complain either. The song 'Renegade' will be stuck in quite some heads in the next couple of days. A decent warm-up for the headliner of the evening, but nothing extraordinary.

Beginning with a huge part of the song 'Pony' by Ginuwine isn't really the thing you should expect on such a rock evening. Nevertheless that is what Black Stone Cherry did. When they shut down this lapdance song, the band immediatley0 started with 'Me And Mary Jane'. This would be only one of the few newer songs since the band would mostly play songs from the first three records, which in my opinion are the best also. The sound wasn't perfectly mixed since the bass was too loud and you could bareley hear both guitars the first few songs. This was fixed quite fast on the other hand and the energy from the stage was amazing. It isn't very weird that the band knows how to play together since this line-up is still the same as when they formed in 2001. After the strong first song the set continued in the same style with 'Rain Wizard', 'Blind Man' and 'In My Blood'. Not only older songs were played on this nice evening, also two songs from the upcoming album were. 'In Our Dreams' was performed before the drum solo, where the drummer injured himself, and 'The Rambler' was played after. It was a great preview on the soon to-be-released record.

Furthermore songs as 'Soul Creek', Things My Father Said', 'Maybe Someday', 'White Thrash Millionaire' and 'Blame It On The Boom Boom' weren't skipped in the setlist either this time. The setlist came to an end way quicker than everybody expected and the band left the stage. But of course they came back to the stage for an encore. They started with 'Lonely Train' and that was followed up by the last song of the evening, a tribute to Lemmy with 'Ace Of Spades'. Although the evening came to an end quite early, the crowd didn't seem to be bored at any time during this set. The band gave it all and although lead vocalist Chris didn't reach all of his notes, it was still an almost flawless performance with lots of energy.

Two bands so quite a short evening, but I think this was enough for the crowd either. Good to see that Black Stone Cherry is back and give away a show this well! I can't wait to see them on a festival again.

The Black Dahlia Murder, Benighted, Resistance - A real fest during

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sun, 14 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Last year The Black Dahlia Murder released their latest record called Abysmal. A very good reason to do another European tour this year. They won't do this alone of course, they will bring Resistence and Benighted with them. While outside Dynamo a lot of people are dressing up and drinking a lot for Carnival, the real fest will begin inside here with these three bands.

Due to work I came in very late and sadly I missed Resistance completely and Benighted just started their set. It seemed that the crowd was warmed up already or really came here to see Benighted for once. While this really isn't my cup of tea, I really got excited during this set. The energy from the band is quite amazing and they were playing pretty tight also, but only drummer Kevin Foley seemed to make a few tiny mistakes. Nevertheless this was a great opener for me and also the number 'Slut' really showed that the band have a lot of power, but also seemed to enjoy this evening very well. Whle this deathgrind/death metal is quite something different compared to The Black Dahlia Murder's music, I don't think that the band could be any better support than this. Some people really didn't like it and walked out of the venue, but most of the crowd stayed inside, banged their head or joined the small moshpit. A really short set but highly enjoyable support!

Then it was time for The Black Dahlia Murder already and while lead vocalist Trevor looked like he is gonna sell something to you or read out loud from the bible, he will scream and grunt impressively once again. The band started off with a new song called 'Receipt' and the crowd went insane. But when the song 'What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse' followed, it seemed that the crowd didn't really care if newer or older songs were played. Which was a very good thing since the band played at least one song of every of their seven records. It is amazing to see that Trevor can happily have a grin for 90 minutes of death metal on his face and trying to fire up the crowd with his fists up in the air. While the crowd kept moshing and banging their head, the band is playing phenomenal. The setlist follows with the songs 'On Stirring Seas Of Salted Blood', 'Threat Level No. 3', 'Vlad, Son Of The Dragon', 'Moonlight Equilibrium', 'Elder Misanthropy', 'Abysmal' and 'Funeral Thirst' and these songs just flew by due to the perfection of the performance.

Then it was time for my highlight of the evening 'Everything Went Black' followed by 'A Vulgar Picture'. Two of their best songs ever made and the crowd shared that opinion. Next up were the songs 'I'm Charming, Raped In Hatred By Vines Of Thorn', 'Miasma' and 'Statutory Ape' and the end of the setlist really came to a close and Trevor finally took his shirt off, which was quite late for his regular style. Sadly after 'Deathmask Divine' there was only one song left, which of course was I Will Return'.

These 90 minutes really flew by and after a nice warm-up from Benighted, The Black Dahlia Murder really showed that they are a true headliner. Wonderful evening with a lot of wonderful people, only the people outside celebrating "Carnival" are really weird to see after such a lovely but hateful evening!

Millencolin, Templeton Pek, Note To Amy, - Punkrock thursday night

info@metalrage.com (Niamen) — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0100

The latest album of Millencolin that was released last year has put them back on the map of punkrock. True Brew has everything that a good punk album needs, so it’s only more than fair that they were mentioned in my yearlist of 2015. Pretty obvious that I had to see them since they were visiting my hometown.

Although the tour featured two bands, 013 added the dutch band Note To Amy just to pice up the evening a bit more creating a nice punkrock evening with 3 bands. According to vocalist Remco it’s a huge honor of opening up for Millencolin especially since their ‘Life On A Plate’ album was practically stuck in the walkmans of the guys back in the day. Musically the band has is certainly influenced by the whole 90’s skatepunk sound, but certainly has the balls to cross the borders with their songs. This eventually had some effect on the audience. Although the venue was certainly not completely filled during their set the people that were present certainly were nodding along during the songs. This even got a bit better during the Bad Religion cover ‘Generator’. During the entire set the interaction between Remco and bassplayer Marco is pretty hilarious which made it look like the band is not only used doing this very often, it also shows that they’re having a great time onstage. With ‘The Difficulty Of Dreaming’ and ‘About Murder’ the set has come to an end and we have to endure some really strange music before the next band has to start.

Templeton Pek had the honor of joining Millencolin on tour and according to de bassplayer/vocalist Neal Mitchell it’s not the first time of them joining Millencolin. They show themselves very grateful being on the road again with the Swedish punkrockers. During the first couple of songs I noticed the huge wall of sound that they produced although they were only three men strong. Probably the effect of the tape runs along during their set. Problem in my humble opinion is that the tape should be on the background. But it’s way to present in the complete sound of the band. It’s even overwhelming the guitar sound of the band. Besides that the band certainly gives 200% onstage and offstage since the bassplayer even runs to the bar and back. Which led to some strange faces of the people that didn’t notice him coming over. Overall a nice performance but due to the sound I wasn’t completely convinced.

After some more rap music we’re finally seeing the band that we are all here for, Starting with ‘Egocentric Man’ from their latest effort instantly followed by ‘Pinguins And Polarbears’ and ‘Twenty Two’ it’s perfectly clear that Millencolin has lost nothing of their power when it comes to punkrock. During the next hour and a half we are spoiled with a setlist that gives a nice overview of their career. From ‘Dance Craze’ till ‘Bring Me home’ the band is still on their toes. With that being said I’m quite surprised that there were only 450 people present. I suspected a lot more to be honest. On the other hand it was quite easy to move around during the show. So I decided to head upfront to check out the first couple of rows and the moshpit. Which was a rather nice one. No strange hardcore kids with flying kicks and windmills just an oldschool punkrock moshpit with a lot of respect for each other. Great show, great crowd, awesome evening.
Pics: William van der Voort www.cloakture.com

Life's Electric - Catalyst

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Catalyst is the second EP from Dutch rock band Life’s Electric. The EP was already released in the beginning of last year, but it caught my ear only recently.

Somehow it’s hard to find a decent modern rock band in The Netherlands. A lot of indie kind of bands or bluesrock bands, but rock bands with an international sound are not that popular here in Holland (tips of bands I overlook are more than welcome and can be send to damy@metalrage.com). Luckily it seems with this EP Life’s Electric is filling the void.

What we can expect on this four track record is a mixture of all kind of modern rock influences. These influences ranges (and or more often than not combined within a song) from Foo Fighter to 30 Seconds Of Mars and from some Muse like influences (in their more rock songs) to Breaking Benjamin style of music. The sound on the album is clear, modern and with guitars mixed well in the overall sound. On top of that some good vocal delivery by Ferry van der Woude and we have an album that ticks all of the boxes necessary for a decent slab of modern rock.

The biggest difference between a decent rock band, a mediocre rock band and an excellent rock band is being made in the songwriting department and the quality to write some infectious hooks on an album. Normally these rock bands follow some well treaded paths, which makes the competition in this genre stiff and songrwiting is the deciding and separating factor. And to cut a long story short Life’s Electric posses these skills. The songs find their way into the listeners brain with a lot of ease and makes sure you want to put the EP on repeat after first listening. The highlight of the album is ‘Everything I Have’, which has a well written sing along chorus and the combination of Foo Fighters on their more grittiest and the cleanliness of 30 Seconds of Mars in some other parts of the song makes it a more than interesting listen.

Life’s Electric is not the most adventurous of bands, but that’s also not what you have to look for in modern rock bands. The execution is really good and I am curious what the band will bring on a full length, especially since half of the band recently left.

Delain, The Charm The Fury - A special show in Haarlem with a very special guest

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0100

At the end of the The Human Contradiction tour, Delain wanted to do a special show once again. This time it would be in Patronaat, Haarlem and was called Suckerpunch. The evening would be full of special songs, special effects and special guests. The first one was announced on forehand; The Charm The Fury.

As expected, the crowd didn't really seem to like the opening act of today. During the first two songs the music wasn't mixed in perfectly and it seemed that The Charm The Fury also had to get used to this type of crowd. While a handful of people went totally insane during the breakdowns, some people banged their head but most of the crowd just stood still and didn't seem to care that much, which is a shame. While the first two songs seemed and sounded pretty uncomfortable, the rest of this short set was once again amazing. It was a shame that this was the last show of their guitarist Math, since he also deserves a huge amount of energy, something that the band did give anyhow. Vocalist Caroline tried to fire up the crowd, but this was without any succes. Nevertheless it seemed that the band enjoyed themselves and with 'Carte Blanche' their short 7-song performance came to an end quite quickly. I hope that they get some more energy/response from the crowd on the other shows that they will do with Delain in April.

Then it was time for the headliner of the evening, something a huge part of this sold out crowd was waiting for. They started with a brand new song called 'Suckerpunch'. It was the live debut of this song and the crowd was loving it. Delain played very tight from the very first note and throughout the set the band showed what they mean with special guests. Because this was the last of the Human Contradiction Tour, most of the songs were from that record. Nevertheless the band gave a good impression of all their records, including a few new songs of course. For the live debut of 'Scarlet' most of the band left the stage, while Martijn played on the piano. It was very nice to see that they brought Maaike Peters (Kingfisher Sky) on stage with her cello for this song, it was very intimate and the cello was also a good addition when the rest of the band came back on stage to play the last part of the song. This first guest appearance was followed up by 'April Rain' and 'Sleepwalkers Dream'. The next song, 'The Tragedy Of The Commons', sounded completely different because Caroline featured on stage for a special version of this song today.

With 'Turn The Lights Out' they played a second new song, although this song has been on their setlist for a while now. It seemingly fits in with all their material. This is a feat in itself, since the different albums differ distinctly from each other, but while in a live set they feel like they belong together. For 'Silhouette Of A Dancer', Maaike came back on stage and was joined by George Oosterhoek (Pestilence, Orphanage). Followed up by 'The Gathering' and 'Not Enough', the band left the stage after a superior set. Of course the band came back on stage for an encore. With 'Mother Machine', 'Stay Forever' and 'We Are The Others' they really showed how to end an supreme evening like this!

It was a shame that The Charm The Fury didn't get such a good support during their set, while Caroline got quite a big applause after their guest performance with Delain. Nevertheless it was amazing to see the enthousiasm of the crowd during the headliners set. Great evening with two great female fronted bands.

Metalrage Recommends: Black Stone Cherry - It's already been a year since their last performance in the Melkweg

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sun, 31 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Large presents Black Stone Cherry at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. The southern rockband from Kentucky will release a brand new record on April 1st. Their brand new record will be titled "Kentucky", quite a logical name of course. Although the band started back in 2001, they are quite succesful since their debut album in 2006 and a lot of people are waiting for their brand new and fifth record. If this isn't enough yet, they bring Theory Of A Deadman with them as support act. This Canadian hardrock band is ready to warm up the crowd and win a lot of brand new fans on this tour. Don't miss out!

11-02-2016
Doors: 19:30
Damage: €18,-
Melkweg, Amsterdam

Metalrage Recommends: EMP Persistence Tour 2016 - Another sunday edition of this amazing tour in Utrecht

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sun, 31 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0100

The EMP Persistence Tour. A well-known tour for hardcore/punk lovers. After a pilot last year on the monday, the tour returns on the late afternoon on sunday once again. The line-up this year is a good one yet again; Risk It!, Wisdom In Chains, Twitching Tongues, Iron Reagan, H2O, Terror and, last but not least, Ignite. The last three bands will use this evening to let all of you hear their new songs! You can't miss this.

24-01-2016
Doors: 16:00
16:30 Risk It!
17:15 Wisdom In Chains
18:00: Twitching Tongues
18:45: Iron Reagan
19:30 H2O
20:15: Terror
21:20: Ignite
Damage: €30,-
Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht

Ignite, Terror, H2O, Iron Reagan, Twitching Tongues, Wisdom In Chains, Risk It! - Probably the funniest EMP Persistence Tour I've ever seen

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Everybody who loves hardcore and punk is well-known with the EMP Persistence Tour. Last year it was for the first time it was on a Monday evening in The Netherlands, but this year it's back on the sunday afternoon. The line up this year didn't include much European acts, since Risk It! was the only one. Nevertheless Wisdom In Chains, Twitching Tongues, Iron Reagan, H2O, Terror and headliner Ignite showed that this was quite a good line-up.

To keep it a little local, Risk It! got the honour to open this late afternoon. While their weren't many people inside when the band started, the crowd kept dripping in throughout the set. The band was very grateful to be on this tour and also that there were quite some people in halfway their set. The band itself showed what an energetic tour this is and that you will get more energy as you give energy yourself. They were very energetic on stage and they warmed up the crowd. Although you could clearly hear that this was the last show of the tour, the band made a very good impression. Also an important note; good to see that the vocalist got off stage during the last song to feel the energy and pump up the crowd even more.

Next up was Wisom In Chains, you could see that they have way more experience. The band played very tight and there were more people in the crowd banging their head and moving along and also the sing-a-longs were pretty good. Vocalist Mad Joe Black gave a huge shoutout to Risk It! Which earned his respect because these hardworking guys travelled with their own car and had no personnel to help them. While the guitarsolo's kept going it was quite an "you see is what you get" vibe. Straight to your face is their music and it fits perfectley on a tour like this. During their last song "Chasing The Dragon" about nine band members of all other bands came on stage with either a guitar or bass to bang their heads and have some fun. It shows how much fun such a tour is and on stage it was pretty impressive.

While a lot of people went out to have some dinner it was time for Twitching Tongues. This band it something completely different and is inspired by hardcore and a lot of metal genres. Some people really liked this band and gave it all with their hardcore dancing and moshing. The clean vocals were a bit weird on an evening like this and while it didn't seem to fit, it was really cool to see this band. I had never heard of this band before and I was really glad to see something different on this tour. It's a shame that a lot of people didn't like it or didn't want to see it at the start, because the room was quite a lot emptier during this band.

Then it was time for something else in Municipal Waste 2.0 a.k.a. Iron Reagan, which play a crossover of thrash metal and hardcore punk. They managed to play 17 songs in this little amount of time and as Tony said; "We got 8 more songs and about 5 minutes left, so let's talk". One old thrash metal guy was found in the pit throughout the whole set and gained a lot of respect with this. The band itself played with a massive amount of fun and a high quality level. Their was a huge circle pit and furthermore a massive amount of movement throughout their set. Tourguitarist Colin from H2O joined on stage to sing a song along with the band. For the song "Your Kid's An Asshole" he used two microphones and yet again it showed the amount of fun these guys have on tour. During their last song the band was lifted on the shoulder by some other bands members this tour, Iron Reagan didn't expect this at all but kept going and it was amazing to see.

When H2O was about to start, Zoli walked on stage for a public service announcement. The band on the other hand immediately started "Bro Hymn" and Zoli walked off stage again. The crowd started singing already, but it faded away. Then he started about the amount of phones that got stolen last year and that everybody should be very carfully this year, nevertheless the band started with the intro once again. While Zoli screamed stuff as "STOP!" and "FUCK YOU!" he noticed that the crowd really wanted this, so he went along and did the first verse and the chorus of the song and the pit was amazing. After this short energetic experience the only thing Zoli had to say was: "Well... Stay safe!"

Then it was finally time for the veterans of H2O. Lead vocalist Toby came on stage in an inide-out pyjama pants and showed that they felt at home on stage. While the first stagedivers took a dive, the moshpit kept on going after this pretty good warm-up. Songs as "1995", "Black Sheep", "Family Tree" and "Skate!" were played and massivly sang along. The band itself showed why they are veterens and well-known in the hardcore/punk scene. They played very tight, had a lot of energy and massive fun.

Terror kept going in this vibe and also showed why they tour a lot and why they are also well-known for their live performances. 16 songs were played and songs as "One With The Underdogs". "Stick Tight", "Live By The Code" and "Return To Strength" kept the crowd going in a massive moshpit. of course the energy level of this band was extremely high. But also the amount of movement, stagedivers and people who screamed along was maybe even higher. They can be a perfect headliner and even if you don't like this band you got to give them some respect because of their energy and because they keep trying. The time flew by with other songs such as "You're Caught", "Spit My Rage" and "Keepers Of The Faith". Amazing performance once again and they left the crowd extremely pumped up for the headliner of this tour.

While Ignite began extremely energetic with "Bleeding", it seemed that the band was quite tired or something because their energy level went down quite quickly. Also the crowd seemed to be tired and while some people left, others kept enjoying but the amount of movement wasn't as high as it was before. Also both, the band and the crowd, seemed that they have to get used to the newer songs. While the band played extremely good last year as last support, they let down a little as headliner today. Quite some people left before the set ended and I was one of them since I was also one of the tired people.

Nevertheless it was an amazing tour with a lot of other band members playing/singing along with other bands. I really enjoyed today and hope that next year it will be the last day of the tour again, since this brought a lot of more fun with it as well. Great day, great bands and a great crowd. Cheers and see you all next year.

Tribulation, Grave Pleasures, Vampire - Tribulation is setting Nijmegen on fire!

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0100

A little bit longer as two weeks in the new year the first interesting metal tour is crossing through Europe and is bringing us Tribulation who ended high in the 2015 yearlists with the record ‘Children of the Night’. They turned their psychedelic Death Metal style into a Heavy Metal variant. It still has the dark touches and they even dare to cover The Cure and The Offspring lately. As support there is Grave Pleasures that is the continuation of the Post-Punk act Beastmilk. Opening band tonight is straight forward Swedish Death Metal from Vampire.

The five young guys take the stage by rage. Especially the vocalist is making the show with his attitude and his shrieking vocals. He truly has the perfect voice for this type of music. Unfortunately the guitar sound is a bit tame in respect of the drums. The guitarist on the right is bringing some nice melodic pieces to spice up the pounding Death Metal. Vampire is a promising band; still they have to work on catchy songs with an own face.

Next up is Grave Pleasures; gone is the hype surroundin Beastmilk, they changed it for in depth songs and a broader spectrum in between psychedelic, post-punk and up-tempo punk rhythms. In the new line-up the band has grown in self-esteem. Vocalist Kvohst is way more relaxed on stage than before and his vocal lines in the new songs show the same progression as the musicians. The new songs have a way more positive vibe and in the punky parts the ghost of melodic hardcore band Ignite roams. That’s not all; it’s all about the dynamics. In another new song they start slowly repeating a riff while ending it with a dark post-punk anthem.

Old songs like ‘Death Reflects Us’, ‘You Are Now under Our Control’ and ‘Genocidal Crush’ are adapted to the new style and fit well in the one hour set. I didn’t know any new song but the band easily grabs the attention for the full set. Last words for the two guitarists: (which Linnea Olsson from The Oath is new) they are one with their guitars, completely in trance with the music and are giving the audience the perfect guitar details to keep the songs interesting. It is always great to see a bunch musicians doing what they love while fully drenched in their self-created spheres.

Grave Pleasures set the standard high. Tribulation took over and even pushed the limits higher. Their dark, psychedelic and sultry variant of heavy metal and Death Metal (the old songs) is completely refreshing in a scene of copycats. Before talking about the music let’s talk about the stage presence which is excellent. The four Swedish show they don’t give a shit about what people think. On vocals and bass a crustpunk with the same roaring voice, attitude and stage persona as Lemmy, at the right side a guitarist who walked away from The Cure rehearsal and on the left side a skinny hairmetal guitarist who is flying over the stage like a dancer. The battery is provided by the younger brother of Bobby Liebling who is in much healthier condition than the Pentagram front man. The smell of incense is bringing the crowd in ecstasy.

And so does the songs of the new album “Children of the Night”. “Melancholia” is a banger and so is “Strange Gateways Beckon”. After roughly 45 minutes they leave the stage for a keyboard intermezzo, starting a pounding instrumental, playing “The Motherhood of God” while ending the set with the raging “When the Sky Is Black with Devils”. No encore is given away; it doesn’t matter because the crowd is left astonished. Tribulation is a band that doesn’t give a shit about trends and do absolutely their own thing. That’s creating dark heavy music where every musician has its own role to excel in musicianship.

Nothing More, Zoax - A very intimate headline show which will blast you away

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0100

After seeing Nothing More on the big stage in 013, the band showed that they can easily stand on such a huge stage and make a good impression as well. Today they would play on the small intimate stage in the same venue along with Zoax. An evening with just two bands is quite rare for me, but nevertheless I was excited.

As mentioned the only support act was Zoax, and because I was unknown with the band, it was a surprise that only a lead vocalist and guitarist entered the stage. It was a very intimate moment and it was an amazing start of this evening, and a minute later the band was on stage with all five band members and I recognized Joe Coputt (ex-Rise To Remain and AxeWound), the expectations rose higher with every second. The clean vocals which were so intimate were roughly disturbed by the amazing screams from Adam Caroll. He is a good showman and was pretty excited to be on stage for the first time in Holland. While performing very good, he put on some silly faces, sang without a microphone some times and had a lot of chats and jokes with the crowd and fooled around a lot. Sentences such as: "I know none of thee, but we are gonna be best friends" and "let's have a dance, if you don't dance I will fucking kill you" with a huge grin on his face, are describing this act perfectly. The band played very tight, but they also wanted to meet new people and made sure that everybody had a good time. The band was grateful that they could finally play in Europe and the little acoustic song without a microphone and with just one acoustic guitar was amazing. The set flew by and after their set at least 20% of the crowd immidiatley went to the merch table to buy stuff or have a chat with these wonderful guys. The band will release a debut album in 2016 and will do a tour afterwards, so keep an eye out!

After such an amazing beginning, the expectations were pretty high for Nothing More. So while the bar was set pretty high and the crowd was pumped up pretty good, it seemed that Nothing More had even more energy. The band came almost running onto the stage and started immidiatley with 'Christ Copyright'. Followed up by 'Mr. MTV' and 'First Punch' it was clear that the band would play a lot from their selftitled record which was released in 2014. Although the high vocals weren't perfectly reached sometimes, it still was a very good performance and it seemed that the band has grown after their last show in this venue as a support of Halestorm. Today they showed that they are a perfect headliner, even with such a performance by the opening band, Nothing More wasn't inferior to them at all. The band meanwhile announced that they will be hitting the studio after christmas and that they will come back soon enough. Although the band only has one guitarist, you don't seem to miss any note that they play on the record. This is partly because he has a loopstation, but also because this band plays so well live and does a lot of the effects which are on the record as well.

The setlist went by with songs such as 'I'll be OK', 'Here's To The Hearthache', 'Sex & Lies' and 'Surface Flames' .After that song it was time for Jonny, Daniel and Mark to show what they can do with the three of them together on one bassguitar. After this nice solo and a few other songs including their bigger hits 'This Is Time(Bellast)' and 'Jenny' it was almost time for the band to end this set. Normally a band would do an encore, but Jonny said to the crowd that everybody knows that a band is coming back, so it feels a bit fake. Therefore the band wouldn't leave the stage and come back for a "fake song", but stay on stage and give a 150% on their last song, but only if the crowd would give 150% also. First the band would play percussion with all the bandmembers, of course including main drummer Ben which had to learn all the songs withing a week, and they would end with 'Salem (Burn The Witch)'. I was surprised by the amount of people singing along this whole evening, and certainly with that last song. But sadly after this song the set came to an end.

The venue was left down to dust after these two marvelous performances. As mentioned before, Zoax will release a debut album and Nothing More will begin writing/recording in the new year as well. Keep an eye out, because you don't want to miss any of these wonderful bands.

Speedfest 10 - 10 Years of partying with Peter Pan Speedrock

info@metalrage.com (Niamen) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0100

Ten years ago Peter Pan Speedrock started with a little indoor festival with some bands they would like to see. Today this festival has grown into one of the best festivals for misfits, lowlifes, outsiders, scumbags and punks across the world. Every year they got bigger and bigger and this years edition is on the verge of selling out. But on the other hand that isn't really a big suprise when you notice the bands that are present during this years Speedfest.

The Vintage Caravan has the honor of closing down the festival late at night. Their set wil start at 2:30, but before that the highlight of the evening lies somewhere between 8pm and 11.30pm. Names like Napalm Death, Carcass, Eagles Of Death Metal, Voivod, The Mondo Generator and Refused will pass the bill. But before that names like High On Fire, Obituary, Klingonz, Backyard Babies, Pro-Pain have already warmed up the crowd. Quite a bill if you'd ask me. Add to this Bob Wayne, The Legendary Shack Shackers, Crobot, The Dictators NYC, Avatarium, Scorpion Child and a few more names and the line up is complete.

I think we can say that the organisation of this years tenth edition did their best to make one for the books.

Speedfest 10 - A soldout edition!

info@metalrage.com (Niamen) — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0100

Speedfest is one of the festivals that I’m looking forward to for months. Over the years the guys from Peter Pan Speedrock manage to assemble a great amounts which makes every Speedfest stand out from all the other festivals. On this year’s edition bands like Obituary, High On Fire, Refused, Danko Jones, Carcass, Eagles Of Death Metal were added to the roster. As if it wasn’t enough they decided to stretch the festival even more by adding a after party til 3 AM.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances and a huge line outside of the building was Scorpion Child the first act I witnessed. After getting some tokens and a beer witnessed these Texans played their set with a huge amount of passion. Their seventies rock sound is very common nowadays and that’s probably one of the reasons why the vast amount of people that are present in the building are not giving their full attention. Chatting with friends seems to be more important then shut the hell up and listen to the band. Although after checking them out for a couple of minutes it came to me it all sounded a bit too safe. I missed some balls in the set.

Backyard Babies were up next and since my friends where still in the process of getting inside I decided to grab not an ordinary draft beer but a craft beer. This years Speedfest has the premier of Speedrock Premium Heavy Lager. Indeed the guys from Peter Pan Speedrock have their own beer. Pretty oke, nice hops but maybe a bit to sweet for me. Well back to the Babies. Their seventies rock is pretty okay I guess but to be honest it didn’t work out for me.

After a quick look at Radio Bikini and their crazy ass grindcore I figured out I had been wasting my time at the Backyard Babies. The band was already at the end of their set. Certainly one to remember. Since Radio Bikini ended before their time I decided to check out the foodcourt and ofcourse the Rooie Neger, which is the resident DJ of Speedfest. Compared to last year not much changes had been made, which concerned to be honest. Earlier this week Speedfest announced that it was almost sold out. So I was wandering if the foodcourt would turnout into a battlezone around feeding time. Luckily this didn’t happen around that time but the amount of foodstands could be increased in next years edition.

One of the bands that I was looking forward to was Pro-Pain. Their latest effort is a typical Pro-Pain album but to be honest is quietly drowned into a huge sea of releases last year. Starting with “Deathwish” from the last album I hoped they would quickly go for the old material but that didn’t really happen. Which made a lot of old school fans walk out before they finally got to their hitsongs. It would have been really cool if they stuck to the first couple of albums or do a special show. Bummer.

After this slight debacle I hoped for Obituary to flush away the slightly bad taste. Oh boy, they did. Tight set, great sound and a good setlist. The Tampa Bay deathmetal outfit did gave a flawless show combined with the huge amount of fans present made it a great party. On with Napalm Death to take it up a notch.

The last couple of days Barnie had been back to England to deal with some personal matter and it seems that he wants to make up for those lost shows. Although despite all his efforts the show of Napalm Death was pretty okay. The sound was too blurry to really made the difference between the songs. So if you have to guess the song titles by the amounts of seconds that they are playing it’s pretty much time to see the next band. Even the Nazi Punks cover couldn’t repair this damage.

Another band that I was looking forward to was High On Fire. Simply because the last time they made huge impression on me during the Roadburn Festival in my hometown and their latest effort Luminiferous is probably in my yearlist. If they have a crystal clear sound their stonermetal ends up like a sledgehammer in your face. But sadly enough this didn’t happen today. Standing almost 10 meters from the sound guy I hoped for some good quality but it didn’t happen.

Carcass was the last band to show their skills on the already beat down crowd. Considering the huge amount of death metal t-shirts it was a good move of the organisation for having those bands. This wide programming even had the result that the festival eventually sold out on the day itself. But like a lot of bands on the Wrecker Stage has Carcass also some sound issues. This sadly takes of the edges of the songs as wel. This means that the most recognizable tracks still got some nice respons but it all could’ve been a lot better.

Danko Jones has been on Speedfest before and really know what to expect. One thing that I like about Danko Jones is that their night isn’t okay if the fans aren’t pleased. The band gives themselves always a two hundred percent and if that means that they don’t drink after the show because of their killing tour schedule I think that’s even more rock ‘n roll than any band onstage having a hangover. Besides giving themselved 200 percent they do have the songs to speak in their advantage. Easy rhythm, catchy hooks, great frontman and a good sound. Even if you don’t like the music you can’t suppress a smile during their set.

Refused released their album ‘Freedom’ since sixteen years and it’s my first time seeing them after this release. Since the sound problems on the Wreckerstage earlier this day I was a bit scared that this also would effect this show. But from the very beginning the sound is just crystal clear. So that didn’t affect the show in any form. Still I missed a great deal of audience that maybe already had enough beer and was heading home or just the left wing message of Refused that didn’t look appealing to them. In the end the show was pretty cool. The new songs certainly don’t have the impact of their older material and probably never will simply because it’s not good enough. Still I enjoyed it like you enjoy a conversation with an old friend.

After this it was probably time for the most impressive moment of the entire evening. Around 0:10 Peter Pan Speedrock came up onstage on the slot that would have been for the Eagles Of Death Metal for a minute of silence. It gave me goose bumps all over. Around 5000 misfits, skinhead, punkers, metalheads etc that after a day of heavy drinking are complete silent just to remember the tragedy of Le Bataclan. The set afterwards of Peter Pan Speedrock was even more devastating. The message was pretty clear. The day all of us stop making music, is the day they win.

Northlane, Volumes, The Acacia Strain, Hellions - Changes don't always work out

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0100

In 2014 Northane had parted ways with lead vocalist Adrian due to his health and they started a new era with the new lead vocalist Marcus. Because they started a new era, they released a brand new record in 2015 with Marcus on it and of course there is a tour to promote the brand new record. Although this was Northlane's headline tour, they brought 3 good supports. Volumes, The Acacia Strain and Hellions would warm up the crowd before the band would enter the stage.

First up was the Australian post-hardcore/punk act Hellions. It was a quite weird combination with the other bands and there wasn't much show going on, on stage. Therefore there wasn't really any movement either, it really seemed like this band didn't fit in this line-up. Nevertheless the band played an okay show and it was quite enjoyable as well. It was a pity that this was a mismatch with the other bands and the short set didn't help either.

After quite a letdown it was time for definitely the heaviest band of the evening, The Acacia Strain. While this American band is still described as metalcore/deathcore it is quite clear that this band is way heavier than the other bands today.They started in 2001 and it was a real shame that this band had to play as a second support act only, they really do deserve the headline spot in such a venue and they proved it today also. There was a huge gap in the crowd for the hardcore moshers when the breakdown hit and furthermore it was just a handful of people that went apeshit during this set. The amount of people screaming along in the microphone didn't surprise me and Vincent even took a fan on stage to take over a small part of a song. It was an even bigger pity that the microphone of Vincent wasn't that loud throughout the set, therefore it wasn't very clear what the legendary lead vocalist said sometimes. It was a flawless set, and the vocals were really spot on, but the sound wasn't mixed perfectly sadly. After a really short set this amazing performance came to an end already. A note that can't be missed: Vincent is quite a psycho on stage, and although he said that you shouldn't care about others and do what you have to do, even if it is punching someone in the face to relieve some stress; he could laugh about some girls screaming like it's a siesta and instantely had it's partymode on.

Next up was Volumes, a metalcore band from America. They have toured before with Northlane and are quite similar in music in my opinion. Therefore it wasn't really surprising that the crowd went nuts on this set and there was a lot of movement throughout the set. What was quite remarkable was that the drummer was a replacement drummer which had to learn the songs in just two days. To be honest, he didn't fail at all. It was a very good set of the band and quite some crowdsurfers where there also. While the crowd sang along happily, both the crowd and the band seemed to have a really good time.

The headliner of this evening was the Australian metalcoreband Northlane. This wasn't my first time for any of these bands, but this was definitely the worst time of the headliner I've seen. The change of vocalist had a huge impact on their sound and although some people really enjoyed it, I didn't. There was about the same amount of movement compared to the previous band, but the people singing along were much more and was way louder than before. After about halfway their set I deceided to go home, because this new stye really isn't my cup of tea.

Aborted, Seita, Magnacult, Cultura Tres, Ethereal, Red Eyes, Hillsphere - First edition in the Melkweg of Amsterdam Metalfest was a good one

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0100

In the previous two years, Amsterdam Metalfest build a name and got two nice line-ups on the bill. This year they must have thought, we take the best bands out of those two bills, add some more great bands and we ask the Melkweg to be a host for this festival. And so it happened that Aborted, Seita, Magnacult, Cultura Tres, Ethereal, Red Eyes and Hillsphere would enter the stage on this saturday.

The first band of this festival was an instrumental Dutch band that is going to release their debut soon. Although Hillsphere played quite good, the drummer didn't have any sound out of his monitors and therefore it was an even better performance. This progressive post rock/metalband showed that they got what is needed on stage. By asking two guest vocalists for two different songs, it gave the band two whole new dimensions. While the first guestvocalist sounded good but didn't really know how to act on stage, the second one smashed it with superb grunts and a kind of psychedelic cleans. Although I am usually not into this kind of music, I really enjoyed the set and will definitely see this band once again.

New wave of Amsterdam heavy metal is the genre that Red Eyes labelled themselves. For the people that weren't into the dreamy music of Hillsphere, they are wildly awoken by this band. They got the heads banging quite early and a lot of people could really enjoy this, with a beer in at least one hand of course. Where there were a lot of sound difficulties with the previous band, now it was tuned out perfectly. The vocals were spot on and it seemed that it was a flawless performance by the rest of the band also. Great performance and certainly a band that you have to check out.

Sadly it was time for the very last show of Ethereal EVER! While I couldn't remember their performance on Krachtstroom last week, I was pleseantly surprised by the joy that they still had on stage. It probably was because they could leave with a bang and they knew that it was their last one of course, but still they showed how to perform on a stage. Of course they have 10 years of experience and won quite some prizes also. Today they had an amazing performace and their melodic death metal was accepted quite easily by almost the entire crowd. A high quality performance and it was quite logical that the band sold quite some merchandise after the show. Probably also because everything they sold was €5,-, but also because this performance was the best so far.

Up next was probably one of the most favoured Amsterdam metalband, MagnaCult. They have shared the stage with bands such as Kittie, Nile, King910, DevilDriver, Between The Burried And Me, Five Finger Death punch and many many more. Therefore the expectations of me, and quite some others were pretty high when they played once again in their hometown. But as they always do, they didn't let us down at all! The screams and grunts were agressive, the band played tight, the movement kept on going, what can I say more? If you don't know this band, look them up because they are amazing in my opinion.

After seeing one song of the sludge of Cultura Tres, it was clear that this wasn't my cup of tea, so it was time for a quick bite at the big yellow M

When I came back it was time for the death/thrash metal band Seita. Although the crowd wasn't pumped up anymore, Seita knew how to change this. While none of the bandmembers aren't Dutch, this still is an Amsterdam based band. So how do you start your show on Amsterdam Metalfest? You play a well-known Amsterdam tune called "Aan de Amsterdamse Grachten", quite a big sing-a-long was found in the venue while the band walked on to the stage. this cosy sing-a-long was roughly broken by the first chords of the band, and nobody seemed to care about this. Seita is a band that plays hard and fast, like you have to in thrash/death, and they do this quite well. Also today they got heads banging, people in the moshpit, the first wall of death that I saw and some circle pits also. Their set went by way too quick but they certainly left the crowd pumped up for the headliner of this evening.

The death metal/grindcore legends, as I may say, of Aborted got the honour to close the evening. Some people asked before the show if this was a true headliner, because there wasn't any other grindcore band and how well would they be accepted by the crowd? The anwser is quite simple.. There wasn't a bigger moshpit today, there weren't people stagediving during other bands and most of all, during this band one guy was able to crowdsurf, climb up the balcony and later on jump down from the balcony back to surf once again. It is amazing that this band plays so tight live and that both the vocals and the band are keeping up with the speed of the music. Founding member and lead vocalist Sven is one of the reasons that this band survived for 20 years already. It was definitely a true headliner and it was nice to see that they got quite a long set also, since they really deserve it.

It was a good edition of Amsterdam Metalfest with a very good headliner and despite Cultura Tres, it was a bill that fit perfectly with each other.

Anti-Flag, Red City Radio, Throphy Eyes, The Homeless Gospel Choir - An intimate show full of energy

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0100

While the Anti-Flag was founded in 1989, it was from 1992 that the band really made name. in 1996 they released their very first fulltime record called "Die For The Government". Over way more than 20 years later the band stands in the smaller room of the Melkweg and they brought Red City Radio, Throphy Eyes and The Homeless Gospel Choir.

Due to other appointments I couldn't make it to The Homeless Gospel Choir, so when I walked in Throphy Eyes had just started their set. For the first three songs it wasn't very clear to me why the lead vocalist sang the most, because the vocals of the back ground vocalist matched way better with the music. After three songs it was quite clear why they had this leadvocalist. The poppunk didn't really fit in but reminded of bands such as Sum41 and Blink 182. A lot of the people today couldn't care less about this performance but there was one guy who was happy as fuck to see this band. Throphy Eyes noticed this and let him sing a few sentences on stage. While the stage was part of the crowd in the eyes of the band, only a handful of people stagedived and while there was quite some movement by mostly the fans, I think the band won some hearts over. I hope that they come back as support of Sum41 in March because I think that they would fit way better.

The last band before the headliner was Red City Radio. Although this band matches way more with the headliner of today, it still didn't seem to be a really good fit. Also that the band came up with The Final Countdown as an intro and the leadvocalist wore a Kiss shirt, didn't seem to work that well either. There was not a lot of movement because and, although it was a little more after halfway the set, it wasn't what you could expect of such a band full of energy. A few die hard fans seemed to know a lot of the lyrics and those sing-a-longs worked out quite fine. In my opinion this was a good punkrock band which sometimes got out of tune vocals, but who cares? It's punk isn't it?

As mentioned before Anti-Flag are punkrockveterans and since their last line-up change was in 1999, the band know how to play together. Today we would get a mixture of 7 different albums spread out in 18 songs. Starting with 'Turncoat' the Melkweg seemed to explode into one huge moshpit and massive sing-a-long throughout the whole set of Anti-Flag. The band seemed to enjoy this evening and a few quick chats with the crowd along with the longer political statements made this a true punk show. Songs as 'Fuck Police Brutality', 'Underground Network', 'Broken Bones', '1 Trillion Dollar$', 'This Is The End (For You My Friend)', 'Fabled World' and 'Set Yourself On Fire' were mixed up, so songs from 1996 to 2015 were played and everybody seemed to enjoy both the older and also the newer songs.

There were a lot of highlights this evening. A constant big moshpit, a lot of crowd surfers and stagedivers, but my facourite one is that a somewhat larger and bigger drunk guy came once again on stage, the roadie trying to get him off stage safely, but he still stagedived. Of course he fell on the ground, but he was definitely allright and Chris#2 was concerned about him. This shows that they have massive love for their fans and want everybody to be fine. After the first 15 songs it was time for an encore of the band which consists of 'Brandenburger Gate'(together with The Homeless Gospel Choir), 'Die For Your Government', and of course drummer Pat Thethic and Chris#2 left the stage to play the last verse and chorus in the middle of the crowd. After this song it was amazing to see that the band did 'Drink, Drank, Punk' also live tonight, in the middle of the crowd also!

A question I had before this show was that a few years ago I went to an Anti-Flag headline show for the last time and the crowd was filled by young, older and old people all together. Would it be the same this evening? I have to say that the younger people stayed about the same age and the older people seemed to get older. Why? Because Anti-Flag is music for all ages, of course you can ask if some controversial songs should be able for teenagers and other youngsters to hear. But it's punkrock so get used to it!

An amazing headliner left the venue almost destroyed to dust, a lot of fans happily smiling and people still wanting more. Please come back soon, because everybody needs to see what a fun night a night of Anti-Flag is.

Metalrage Recommends: Northlane, Volumes, The Acacia Strain, Hellions - A very brutal package comes to Utrecht for an intimate show

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0100

Northlane is an Australian band that quite often tours in throughout Europe. Therefore this will be the second show with their new vocalist Marcus Bridge in Holland. They convinced some people on the last show, but still there were quite a few people quite sceptical. This is the first chance for Marcus to show what he can do as a headlining band in an intimate show. The crowd will be pumped up because Volumes, The Acacia Strain and Hellions will warm up the crowd for them.

29-06-2015
Doors: 19:00
First band: 19:30
Damage: €17.50
Tivoli De Helling, Utrecht

Metalrage Recommends: Anti-Flag - Anti-Flag comes for yet another party to Amsterdam

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0100

The punk veterans from Anti-Flag already excists for more than 20 years, nevertheless the band released a brand new record this year. Of course a perfect reason to come to Amsterdam and promote the new record and party along with fans. They already played in both, the smaller room and the big room, but are coming for a headlineshow to the smaller room in the Melkweg (Oude Zaal). They won't be alone this evening, because they're sharing the stage with Red City Radio, Throphy Eyes and The Homeless Gospel Choir.

27-06-2015
Doors: 18:30
Damage: €16,-
Melkweg, Amsterdam

Slayer, Anthrax, Kvelertak - Testing out the 013

info@metalrage.com (Niamen) — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0100

The 013 in Tilburg has been a venue were a lot of my favorite shows took place. But since the venue is already 15 years old it needed some refurbishment. But why do some refurbishment when you can rebuild the entire place and add another 1000 visitors to the great hall of the venue. To cut a long story short. The place has been closed for 6 months now. It reduced the amount of halls from 3 to 2 but upgraded both halls with capacity. Since the real opening of the venue is still weeks away there are several testcases to see if the venue is indeed improved. The first serious one was this evening. Three thousand Slayer fans, who are probably the most uncompromising metalheads present, are ready to give their judgment and see if the new improved 013 is capable of handling them.

Kvelertak
Opening act of the night Kvelertak hails from Stavanger, Norway, and have been buzzing around in the scene for the past couple of years. Their 2010 self titled debut was in many year lists and the band showed big potential to be the next big band. Unfortunately, it did not work out for them and this did also not happen with their second full length Meir. Tonight’s show follows that same path as technical issues and poor sound quality cause the show to not work on the audience.. During the first couple of songs the band is struggling with sound issues which forces the band to restart a song and the Slayer fans are not giving the response the band does deserve. Songs like ‘Blodtørst’, ‘Ulvetid’ and ‘Mjød’ are true masterpieces and it makes most metal heads bounce along. And the occasional ugh shouted by front man Erlend Hjelvik and the amazing guitar parts still puts this band on my list of best post 2000 bands. Can’t wait to see them again in a smaller venue.

Anthrax
After the bit disappointing performance of Kvelertak it was Anthrax that got the party really started. Being one of the big four supporting the other one from the big four is was an easy task for Anthrax to do so. You could almost say it was a rather up hill task for Kvelertak being from a complete different era. Since it was the first day of the European leg of the Repentless tour everyone was still fresh and excited. Joey Belladonna and his fellow band members were clearly having fun onstage. Constantly seeking contact with the audience while running around onstage en still giving a tight performance. This only contributes to the vibe that’s present during the show. Minor detail is the least amount of own songs during the set. In total 10 songs but with 3 covers songs. ‘Got The Time’ (Joe Jackson), ‘March Of The S.O.D’ (S.O.D) and ‘Antisocial’ (Trust). Sad since they do have so much own material that would be nice to hear.

Slayer
The US leg of the tour counted 20 songs in total. So this means we’re up for a treat. Over an hour and a half of Slayer. I could easily think of a list of things that are far worse than this. Starting with an intro tape of their latest album followed by the title track of the album the venue exploded. After several liters of beer, two support acts and several toilet lines later it was finally time for the band we are all here to see. With a setlist that was a nice cross-section of their entire career we embarked on a journey to time. As the audience clearly enjoyed singing along to every classic the time flew by and with the last tones of ‘Angel Of Death’, Tom thanked us for our time. You could almost call it Slayer 2.0 with Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt being in the band. But after this club show I can say that I’m convinced that this was probably the best option for this band. You can talk shit about Kerry what you want but the fact is he kept Slayer running after all these years. Maybe not in the best way, but he did.

After a night of hordes of Slayer fans the 013 could make up the scores. The toilets at the right entrance of the venue are certainly a big plus although they were a bit small. The new entrance is very practical with a lot of lockers and token machines. The smoking room in the hall was probably to small or you could say that the amount of smokers amongst Slayer fans are above average. Although there are some minor details that are probably fixed in the next couple of weeks I can only say that the staff of 013 is to be thanked for the good effort they made. Being present on strategic places and instructing the visitors.

Photo by William van der Voort

Metalrage Recommends: Amsterdam Metalfest - The first edition of Amsterdam Metalfest in the Melkweg

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0200

For the first time ever the Amsterdam Metalfestival will take place in the Melkweg. After three earlier editions with headliners as The New Dominion, Cilice and Seita, this years headline spot is reserved forAborted. But of course there has to be some more bands to fill up this bill. The rest of the line up is formed by: Seita, MagnaCult, Cultura Tres, Ethereal, Red Eyes and Hillsphere. The festival is organised to give a stage to local talent and other up-and-coming bands from The Netherlands. This festival is presented by Pitkins and Large Popmerchendising. From 00:00 there will be an afterparty in rockclub The Cave with Dystopia and The Scalding.

24-10-2015
Doors: 17:00
Damage: €15,-
Melkweg, Amsterdam

Burn The Iris - Ionosphere

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Burn the Iris is a band from Eindhoven, The Netherlands almost alive for 10 years. Always hanging out in the region of Progressive Metal/Math Metal they just released their third EP ‘Ionosphere’. Moving away from hectic music and shifting towards groovy Progressive Metal not unlike The Ocean and Gojira. With a new vocalist on board there is more room for clean vocals and this is giving the new direction an extra face.

When “Demobilization” enters the ring there is no progressive music to be discovered; this is just hard hitting groovy Thrash Metal. Starting a metal album in an aggressive way is always good to hear. Slowly the song transforms into a well thought progressive song and besides screams new vocalist Jack Elbers shows he can add melodic lines to the music too. It balances the music and these dynamics are also shining through “Prestigious Icarus”.

The musicians really have taken the path of Gojira and The Ocean how to create forward thinking music without becoming too technical and forgetting to add the groove. After heaviness “Inherit the Earth” is an acoustic intermezzo with female vocals to calm down. Not long because “Flashflood” kicks in like a high-tech rollercoaster in a futuristic amusement park. Also in this song the bands calms down a bit until the double bass parts are kicking in before the final mosh parts brings the KO. The last song “Collapse” isn’t actually a complete collapse as the band slows down and shows their melodic side in the end to find peace after the heavy outbursts.

I am curious if Burn the Iris can keep the same attention span on a full length album! The 23 minutes are over before you noticed it.

Paradise Lost - Doom/Death in Utrecht!

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0200

7th of October Paradise Lost set foot on Dutch soil again, this time TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht was the location of choice. For me the first time to witness the Britons, whose career evolved from early doom/death, through almost eighties inspired synth music to again some hardhitting doom/death albums. This tour celebrated the birth of their latest release The Plague Within, which got a lot of attention in their setlist (7 of the played 16 songs were from this album).

Unfortunately due to terrible traffic in the Utrecht center (2,5 hours from Schiphol to Utrecht by car!) we arrived too late to witness the opener. We saw 1,5 song before they had to leave the stage, what little of impression I got from Lucifer is reasonable positive, but it was too short to really pass fair judgement on the band.

After a short wait Paradise Lost kicked off with ´No Hope In Sight´ from their latest release. A song that is a good opener with the heavy driven riffs and the easily to chant lyrics. What only was too bad is that the vocals of Nick Holmes were not really good audible, because of the drums and guitars which were way more loud than the vocals. Luckily this mix became better during the performance, although at the end of the part before their encore the vocals again became more unclear, but this was not only because of the sound mix.

As follow up to this new song, the guys treat the public on two golden oldies in ´Widow´ and ´Gothic´, especially the second one was greeted with a warm welcome by the public. The newer songs were also shown enough love and respect by the respect, but it were the more older songs that got the best reception. For me ´Enchantment´ was therefore also one of the high notes of the concert. Next to being just one heck of a song, also the crowd was really involved which made it even more enjoyable.

´Requiem´ closed the “regular”part of the concert, what followed was an encore of four songs, where ‘Faith Divide Us – Death Unite Us’ was one of my personal favorites of the evening. With ‘Say Just Words’ Paradise Lost closed the concert and what was left was an entertained crowd who saw a more than decent performance.

The gig was highly enjoyable, but won’t be memorized as one of the best performance I saw in 2015. Therefore it missed some power. Aaron Eady was the only one showing some emotion during their performance, where the rest was very professional but not really striving to get the public to their edge. Next to that, while I understand the choice, I missed more older songs. With 7 songs The Plague Within was really good represented, but as much as I enjoyed that album a more balanced overview of their discography would be better. I missed songs like ‘Embers Fire’ or ‘True Belief’ or many more of those songs that I grew up with. Despite these points of criticism it was a nice concert to witness and when they come again I would like to see them again,with hopefully a little bit more interesting setlist.

Setlist:

1. No Hope In Sight

2. Widow

3. Gothic

4. Terminal

5. Erased

6. Praised Lamented Shade

7. Victim Of The Past

8. Enchantment

9. Flesh From Bone

10. Beneath Broken Earth

11. As I Die

12. Requiem

Encore:

1. Return To The Sun

2. Faith Divide Us – Death Unite Use

3. An Eternity Of Lies

4. Say Just Words

Echo & the Bunnymen - Solid and decent show without sharp edges

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0200

With twelve albums to their name, Echo & the Bunnymen know how it is done. Formed in Liverpool in 1978 during the heydays of post-punk and new wave, few bands have been as influential as this one. Among the bands that cite Echo & the Bunnymen as an influence are Interpol and The Killers. In a packed Patronaat the band came right out of the blocks with 'Crocodiles' and 'Rescue', after which 'Villiers Terrace' segued into a low down 'Roadhouse Blues'. After old favourite 'Seven Seas' and a cover of The Doors’s 'People Are Strange', the main set drew to a close with 'The Killing Moon' and 'The Cutter'.

An encore saw McCulloch and co sign off with 'Nothing Lasts Forever', through 'Walk on the Wild Side' and 'Don’t Let me Down' to an extended version of 'Lips Like Sugar'.

The band played like a well-oiled machine, which is good, but at the same time excruciatingly boring. Echo & the Bunnymen run the risk of a giving away a one-size-fits-all-performance: The setlist is always more or less the same and not adapted for the occassion. The sound is flawless but one dimensional, the performance tight but soulless. Ian McCullochs talking in between the songs is nicely tried but meaningless and most of the time completely incomprehensible (“I like this building…”, “Yeah, I like this building…”, “mrsblemthrblemre bleosythetoth tuttutsikstysquamrbl…”).

If you want to see a band that is guaranteed to put out a decent and solid show, Echo & the Bunnymen is your thing. If you want to be surprised and are looking for a raw and energetic edge, look further…

(reviewed by Astrid Zijl)

Atreyu - Atreyu destroys Melkweg

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Atreyu found its way back to Holland after a five year absence and made their presence felt in the small room of the Melkweg (a bit surprising, since I had always the impression that Atreyu was a bigger band than that and would easily be able to fill bigger venues). But before we got our heads blown off by a very motivated Atreyu, it was the band Ashes Of Many which had the pleasure to warm up the crowd a bit.

This Dutch band was for me a complete unknown and after checking some songs on Yoube, I wasn’t really impressed. Luckily the band shows to be quite a bit better in a live environment. The shirt and ties of the other musicians were offset by the typical modern metalcore look of the singer. I am not a big fan of these kind of antics or do it well and go all overboard (Slipknot and Kiss for example) or just don’t do it. Musically the guys brought us a blend of modern metalcore with some mathcore influences. The mathcore influences were a bit of a hit and miss, some elements fit really well in the songs others were feeling a bit forced. The more straight forward metalcore songs were a bit better suited for this band, although truth needs to be told that it’s clear that the musicians know how to play. Just a bit more experience and more focus on their songwriting skills and I am curious how this band could develop. For now it was an okay opener, nothing more and nothing less.

From the first tones of their music, the crowd was lit on fire! From the start there was so much energy from the band to the public and back. It was really a sight to behold! Starting off with their new single ‘Long Live’, it showed that Atreyu is really back from the dead. A song that easily blends in with their older material and showed a bit more grit than some of their more modern songs. What follows then is a triump march from begin to end. With songs like ‘Becoming The Bull’, ´The Crimson’, ‘When Two Are One’ easily putting the crowd more and more to the brink, the band showed an excellent combination of fun, musicianship and just straightforward passion.

The fun was shown in their cover choices of ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’ (which was made fun of by drummer Brandon of being a really weak song) and ‘Fresh Prince Of Bel Air’, but also when they picked up a song sung by the crowd and made it into a jam. Alex and Marc even found their way into the crowd and into the pit to interact with the crowd even more. Which fueled the energy level even more!

After closer ‘Ex’s and O’s’, I can only conclude that this was one hell of a performance. One of the better I have seen this year! Really not much to criticize this almost flawless effort, only perhaps that I wasn’t done at all and would have loved to have a longer encore.

Win 2x2 tickets for Atreyu in The Melkweg Amsterdam 24-08-2015

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Atreyu is back after a four year hiatus with a brand new album which will be released on September 15th of this year. Long Live will then see it’s first light of day. This is an album that is highly anticipated among metalcore afficionados all around the world. To get a glimpse of their new album, click the hyperlink beneath to their new Youtube video of the single ‘Long Live’ .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xw1vt1IS2c

But that’s not all the guys can be witnessed in The Netherlands Monday the 24th of August in The Melkweg Amsterdam. Openers aren’t yet known, but Atreyu will start playing at 9 PM, something you shouldn’t miss! And to finish everything off Metalrage is even able to give away 2x2 tickets, so react quickly so you can witness Atreyu with your friend/girlfriend/pet donkey this Monday!

Dynamo Metalfest - Metalrage recommends: Dynamo Metalfest

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0200

18th of July the first Dynamo Metalfest will kick off and of course Metalrage will be there to report about this new metalfestival in Holland!

The festival is being held on a speed skating track which is in the summer period completely devoid of any ice, so the visitors can enjoy sitting outside in the grass or, if the weather is less favorable, can take shelter. Ideal combination!

But the most important thing of course is the line-up! What can we expect of the first edition? Well the people at Dynamo has put quite a stellar line-up especially if we take the price of the tickets into account (only 15 euro!!). Arch Enemy will close out the festival, but not before we can witness bands like Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Biohazard, Alestorm, Orange Goblin, Bodyfarm and Facelifter. A bill which mixes various metal genres, from brain smashing death metal to old school hardcore. Everything is there for a metalhead to enjoy!

You can get your tickets at: www.dynamometalfest.nl, so you won’t miss all this goodness!

Paradise Lost - Metalrage recommends: Paradise Lost to play Tivoli, Utrecht

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Paradise Lost will again visit our flat and rainy country on the 7th of October. This time they will grace Tivoli in Utrecht with their presence and Metalrage highly recommends to watch these British lads!

Paradise Lost never made it really easy for their fans to stick with them through the years. Some applaud them for their constant changing muscial style, while others were left behind during their Host and Believe In Nothing period (the latter was also not a favorite of the band themselves to put it lightly). The last albums showed the old Paradise Lost again (referring to the Draconian Times/Icon period), which basically started really taken off with In Requiem.

This year they surprised a lot of people with their Plague Within album. Deathgrunts by Holmes??? Influence from being the new frontman of Bloodbath or the influence of Mackintosh his (criminally underrated!!) Vallenfyre. Or just a reflection of their musical taste at the moment, which culminated in this heavy album? Who will know? That the old school fans are happy goes without saying. Nevertheless yours truly wouldn’t mind to also hear some songs from especially One Second. An eighties kid, go figure…

Dynamo Metalfest - First and very successful edition!

info@metalrage.com (Neurotic) — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Dynamo is a cult name in the Dutch (and even across the boarders) metalscene. Dynamo Open Air was a festival with widespread name and fame. Saturday 18th of July, under the monniker Dynamo Metalfest, it was again time to do a festival under the Dynamo flag. The line-up provided the listener with a good combination of young bands (Alestorm, Bodyfarm) and experienced bands (Biohazard, Death Angel, Nuclear Assault). All kinds of metal were brought to the table, so for every metalhead there was something to enjoy.

Unluckily we weren’t there to witness the first three bands and arrived when Alestorm played their set. The Scottish lads are bringing the fun element to metal, an element that in my opinion is hugely underestimated and utilized. Sometimes metal takes itself a tad to seriously. With a backdrop that showed a duck/banana hybrid (yes it sounds as strange as it looked like), it is clear that Alestorm is there to have a good time and there music is excellently suited for it. A lot of response from the crowd let to an entertaining performance, which was capped of by a one-wheeled wheel chair crowd surf by one of the people in the public. Even the guys at Alestorm were surprised by this!

Next up Biohazard, one of my favorites from my early days discovering metal. The latter albums were a bit of a disappointment, compared with the first couple of albums, so I was as happy as a child in a toystore when they almost only played songs from Urban Discipline and State Of The World Address. The started off with “Wrong Side Of The Tracks”, which unfortunately wasn’t really well audible since the sound was quite off, luckily this changed during their performance, although the sound on the vocals of Scott Roberts was not 100% during the whole performance (especially compared to Billy). For me it felt like a meeting with an old friend. High notes: “Resist”, “Love Is Denied”, “Victory”and “Punishment”. Very enjoyable show, happy to have seen them for the very first time!

Nuclear Assault is a band I am not very familiar with (which is strange with my love of thrash music), but they didn’t persuade me to check them more often. I don’t know if it’s their style of music or the sound was really terrible, but it sounded as if I was listening to one gigantic song. The material lacked a lot of variety and didn’t appeal to me. Perhaps the fans of Nuclear Assault have seen a great show, but his was not my cup of tea. Next!

Also for me a first, the mighty Death Angel landed on Eindhoven, a home away from home as they said numerous times during their live set. And they really played like it! Lead by a very very energetic Marc Osegueda, Death Angel delivered an impeccable set. They got the crowd into it very quickly (although truth be told, I think that during the whole festival the people were quite laidback and not as energetic as you want during a metal festival, perhaps because of the weather, but the energy as a whole wasn’t really there), with some nice uptempo bashers. It made so much impression, that they made a new fan in the friend I was with (and note she isn’t a real fan of the heavier side of metal, so that’s a real accomplishment!). She was amazed that a band who is as long in the game as Death Angel is, can still bring it with that much energy and enjoying it still so much. Older songs blended easily with newer songs like “Dream Calls For Blood”. They can again be witnessed at Schollenpop, so for everybody who missed them this time around, please go and watch them you will not be disappointed! Also I would like to mention the performance of drummer Will Carroll, the way he hit the drums was like hitting a wall with a sledge hammer!

Then it was time for Arch Enemy to take the stage and closing out the festival. From the get go they performed very professional with Alissa White-Gluz as energetic eye catcher. She run around the stage continually, waved flags and was very expressive in her stage presence, a joy to watch and a very good replacement of Angela Gossow. Not only by stage presence by the way, but also the way she handled the vocals live! All songs were spot on, with excellent guitar work and razorsharp drumming. I only would love to see a bit more enthusiasm from star guitarists Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott. They played marvelously, but I am missing a bit more soul like towering big guy Sharlee D’Angelo has. The majority of the songs came from the War Eternal album, but also older albums as Wages Of Sin (3 songs) and even Black Earth (1 song) were not forgotten. Personal high notes were the renditions of “Death Eyes See No Future”and “We Will Rise”, the latter remains one of the crowd favorites and got the most response. All-in-all Arch Enemy left a really good impression, perhaps not as enthusiast as Death Angel, but still more than worthy for a headliner!

The first edition of Dynamo Metalfest can be called a success. Some minor things need to be tweaked like the lines for the toilets (which were really way too long!) and perhaps the sound could be a tad better, but those are minor points of criticism for an excellent overture! The festival was sold out and the location is well chosen with the combination of an outside and an inside part. A second edition is hopefully in the making, because this tastes like more!

Obscene Extreme - Obscene Extreme Fest 2015

info@metalrage.com (BJ138) — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Is it that time of the year already? Well, almost! July 8-12 the Czech village of Trutnov will see its yearly goregrindcoremoshfest OBSCENE EXTREME again. Make sure to pay a visit to the best festival around when it comes to blasts 'n beers! Tickets are available at: http://www.obsceneextreme.cz/en/tickets

Here are some of the bands you can expect at this year's edition:
OBITUARY + S.O.B. + PIG DESTROYER + TERRORIZER LA + BULLDOZER + SCHIRENC PLAYS PUNGENT STENCH + UNHOLY GRAVE + BROKEN HOPE + PROTECTOR + INTERNAL BLEEDING + NAUSEA + THANATOS + MARTYRDÖD + ROMPEPROP + BLOOD (Impulse To Destroy set) + LIVIDITY + HIRAX + 7 MINUTES OF NAUSEA + CENTINEX + INHUMATE + HEMDALE + UNTAMED + RABID DOGS + SATANIC MALFUNCTIONS + HIDEOUS DIVINITY + TEETHING + FAILURE TRACE + BODYFARM + DILUTION + HEAD CLEANER + LIFELESS + SICK OF STUPIDITY + GORE AND CARNAGE + ENTRÖPIAH + CLOUD RAT + DESTRUCTIVE EXPLOSION OF ANAL GARLAND + INCARCERATION + FOETAL JUICE + UxDxS + FREDAG DEN 13:E + NERVOSA + COTE D'AVER + URTIKARIA ANAL + MARUTA + EVISORAX + FISSURE + PRIMARY RESISTANCE + GETS WORSE + POSTHUMOUS BLASPHEMER + TEST + PUTRID OFFAL + ENEMA SHOWER + TEETHGRINDER + ANALKHOLIC + KORSFÄST + LAUTSTÜRMER + MY MINDS MINE + DECHE-CHARGE + SEDEM MINUT STRACHU + FEASTEM + LAHAR + SQUIRTOPHOBIC + JASAD + more!!!

SEE YOU THERE!

Upon A Burning Body, Confessions Of A Traitor, When Walls Collapse - The first headline show is a quite intimate one

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

While Jera On Air just ended and other festivals such as Graspop are still going strong, some people gathered together in Arnhem to see Upon A Burning Body live. The band would come to the Willemeen to play their very first headline show in The Netherlands. Nevertheless the band gained quite some fans by being support on the Trivium/As I Lay Dying tour and later on the Five Finger Death Punch tour. This evening they would bring the British band Confessions Of A Traitor and the Dutch band When Walls Collapse.

When When Walls Collapse started the room was still very empty. This probably was one of the reasons that the lead vocalist performed more off stage then on stage. He tried to gain some movement from the crowd, but this was quite unsuccesful. The band played pretty good and was a good starter off the evening, but I still don't get why bands have 3 guitarists. The guitarists always seemed to partnet up with each other and therefore didn't were very unique in the band. Nevertheless it was awesome to have a pre-release show as the opener off the evening and it sounded quite nice as well.

The second band was Confessions Of A Traitor, a band that picked up where When Walls Collapse ended. This lead vocalist also wanted more energy from the crowd and ran/jumped around off stage quite some times but he was way more succesfull than the previous band. They left an even better impression by most of the people here. The reason was quite simple, their energy level was very high and they played very tight. The band got more applause after every song and the crowd seemed to get pumped up more and more. Almost at the end of the set the lead vocalist asked for everybody to take one step closer, which was followed up by the Linkin Park cover of "One Step Closer". Their time flew by and the band had to leave the stage quite soon already.

After these two supports it was time for Upon A Burning Body from Texas. They released a new record last year and of course the band would play quite some new material. They started with the new songs "Red Razor Wrists", "Scars", "Pledge Your Allegiance" and "Middle Fingers To The World". It was very clear that the band would deliver a very intimate and tight set, but also that the band enjoys what they are doing. The crowd loved it as well since the new songs were screamed along and the people kept banging their heads and moshing around. The band went back to their record from 2012 with "Mimic" but continued their with their latest record with "Bring The Rain" and "The New Breed".After someone fell down and hit his head on the stage halfway "Once Upon A Time In Mexico", lead vocalist Danny asked if everything was allright, he noticed it wasn't and the band stopped playing, they took the kid on stage and when he said it was good the band continued with one of their most well-known song "Sin City". The crowd proved to know this band quite well when Danny talked about Texas and how they love it, the crowd was getting pumped up to sing-a-long on "Texas Blood Money".

After this massive sing-a-long the band went back to their first record with the two songs "Carlito's Way" and "Intermission" and the oldest fans went insane during these tracks. Sadly the band had to leave the stage already after these 12 songs. But they quickly came back to finish their set with the cover of "Turn Down For What", originally by DJ Snake. This is probably the best Pop Goes Punk song that has been recorded to date. And even though Ice-T wasn't here for the feature, they managed to pull this off very good.

Sadly the set came to end, but what a good show it was once again. This band plays so good and so full of energy, but always are looking classy!

Every Time I Die / The Royal / Meet the Storm - Agressive rock n' roll monsters give a hell of a show

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Every Time I Die is mixing Southern Rock with Metal and Hardcore and the created vibe is perfect for the summer. Summer you think on this bleak day? Well in a packed room Every Time I Die brings the heat and the crowd warms up like the earth did the past couple of years. Due to work Metalrage missed the first bands Meet the Storm and The Royal. The last one was a last minute addition for Counterparts who could not make it after the singer was diagnosed in a hospital in Berlin, Germany.

Just like on the last album ‘From Parts Unknown’ Every Time I Die starts furious tonight. As a machine they take over the stage and lots of people go nuts. Nothing can go wrong? The only minor in the beginning is the dull sound. The fury and energy somewhere stops in the middle and the five guys from Buffalo, New York are not heard in their ultimate form.

Half way during the set this is changing and with songs like ‘Wanderlust’ or ‘We’rewolf’ they not only take over the Patronaat visually but also sound wise. Every Time I Die is still the band that combines show and party with musical skills and a deadly groove. In a high tempo they let the good songs coming and the fifty minutes are over before you are aware of it.

They end the show with the piano laden new song ‘Moor’. The creepy tones combined with the always sarcastic lyrics and color of voice from Keith Buckley concludes the set in a surprising way. No encore is played because the band already said and done everything. After more than 15 years the quintet has carved a niche in heavy music and their sound is still as relevant as their breakthrough with the album ‘Hot Damn’ in 2003. We can’t wait to have ‘em back again on European soil.

High On Fire, Wiegedood - High On Fire kills again

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

With Matt Pike being clean and the new album Luminiferous under the belt things are going great with High On Fire. The new album is welcomed by the press and fans as a gift so, Metalrage is eager to visit the band once again and hopes to hear lots of new songs. Before High On Fire hits the stage the Church of Ra band Wiegedood will show us how a mixture of Black Metal and nineties screamo.

Sunday night after a few seconds buzzing intro all hell breaks loose with an aggressive blast beat and a snarling guitar sound not unlike Wolves in the Throne Room or the heavier parts from Deafheaven. The trio of Wiegedood understands how to get the attention immediately. After a small moment of quiet guitar tones once again they burst out in razor-sharp, tight and fast Black Metal. The end of the set has a song with groove and pounding drum parts. Especially the drums are convincing in all the songs that are from the debut album ‘De Doden Hebben het Goed’.

When High on Fire starts his set with a mixture of Stoner Rock, Doom Metal and kick ass Rock ‘n Roll the contrast is big, however both bands serve an intense and inspiring set. Directly starting with a new song the temperature is rising in the small room of the Patronaat. The crowd reacts furious on a Sunday night but you cannot blame it when crowd favorites as ‘Speedwolf’ and ‘Cometh Down Hessian’ are played.

The band plays a lot of songs from their new album ‘Luminiferous’. Like ‘De Vermis Mysteriis’, this album is recorded by Kurt Ballou of Converge, but the new songs takes a slightly different direction with the use of more vocal harmonies and elaborate structures without sacrificing venom. Matt Pike has an unbridled penchant for the badass, bare-chested with his pants slung low and guitar slung lower. He once again proves he is an expert tone constructionist that excels in playing brutal riffs combined with guitar solos. Never the band is slowing down and as a full grown son of Motorhead they cannot. The fast and punky rager ‘Slave the Hive’ is a new song that sure will be the next crowd favorite while ‘The Dark Side of the Compass’ is mid-tempo banger. As encore ‘Snakes of the Divine’ ends the five quarters of raging Heavy Metal. With loads of energy every one returns home!

Mastodon, Bandito - Mastodon's songs are still brilliant although the show was painful to watch

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

In between the festivals Mastodon is visiting Doornroosje for their 25th show in the Netherlands. After their brilliant last album ‘Once More ‘Round the Sun’ a packed venue is eager to welcome the band. As support Primate (containing members of Mastodon and Brutal Truth) was used to play . They canceled the gig so the Stoner Rock band Bandito opens the evening in their hometown.

When Metalrage arrives the band is already at the end of their show for a packed venue. The first song we hear is a portion of decent stoner with easy to recognize riffs. In the next song the vocalist picks up a tambourine and screams loudly ‘Mexico City' and a typical bluesy part is played. Surprise, surprise (not!); after a break a stoner cruisin’ riff is played by the enthusiastic band and ends the song. One song is left and that's also a cheesy one; nope Bandito is not the next Red Fang from the lowlands.

Half an hour later Mastodon steps into the ring and starts off with the new album. With a good sound in the pocket (Doornroosje’s trademark nowadays) it’s easy to conclude the vocals are not the best thing we are going to hear tonight. On the new album the vocals are the biggest improvement however on stage the band struggles with the cleaner ones. Especially Brent Hinds has a hard time to sing his vocal lines in range and not out of key. When they start ‘The Motherload’ with drummer Brann Dailor singing everything seems to fell on its place.

The rougher vocals from Troy Sanders are also at the quality level you'll expect. However during the show there is something missing. There is almost no energy between the four guys on stage and there is no a team spirit like they still had a couple of years ago. It’s remarkable there is barely any eye contact between the members. Brent Hinds seems a bit drunk and in his own world he's jamming on his guitar with the occasional guitar solos present. Still I miss the eagerness of the boys; if they are busy finishing their late shift.

Only the quality of the songs keeps the show enjoyable. As a fan from the early work and the last album it’s almost painful to watch. Where are the backwards bendings from Troy Sanders when he almost reaches the ground with his hair during the most intense moments of a song? Because they don’t reach that level of intensity anymore? Only during the funny song ‘Circle of Sasquatch’ the fun and fire is back. Not for long because the newbie ‘Ember City’ has the same cheesiness as before.

The only member that passes the exam tonight is drummer Brann Dailor. ‘The Last Baron’ from Crack the Skye ends the night and is a small highlight due to the always impressive guitar work. After the set the guitarists leave the stage immediately. Notable is the fact that Dailor is the only guy who thanks the crowd and makes a funny talk afterwards. He still seems to enjoy playing live. I don’t hope this will continue for Mastodon otherwise I foresee a doomy future for my heroes.

Win 2 x 2 tickets and shake your ass at Every Time I Die in Patronaat, Haarlem

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Yes, finally a headline show for Every Time I Die and not being part of a tourpackage so that means a maximum rock n' roll session of these gods who combine Metalcore with kickass Southern Rock. Patronaat always has a good sound so expect a big show from these crazy giants who love to play their music loud, hectic and with a groove you have to shake your ass. Don't miss it so mark June 23th in your agenda.

Support is coming from Counterparts and Meet the Storm.

Unearth, The Charm The Fury, 18 Miles, Divine Sins - A hot but awesome late afternoon in Alkmaar

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

On a quite sunday afternoon, a bunch of metalheads gathered in Alkmaar. The reason was that Unearth would play a concert today and they wouldn't be the only band either. Supported by The Charm The Fury, 18 Miles and Divine Sins, this would be a very nice warm-up.

First band of the evening was the Hilversum band Divine Sins. For those who do not know, this is a band who had a lot of potential and were praised a lot after their first release. Nevertheless the band had a lot of line-up changes through the years and it seems that the band doesn't grow a lot anymore. The band is still playing solid, but has changed their music quite a bit also and therefore they have a variety of musical styles. This is probably the reason why there were only about ten people in the room during the show. It was a decent performance, but sadly nothing more than that.

They were followed up by 18 Miles, a hardcore/metalcore band that fits quite a bit better in this line-up. The room filled up quite some more and the energy level went up way more. Although there still wasn't any movement in the crowd, they seemed way more into it. Also the band's facial expressions were set on happy, enthousiastic and they just gave it all during this set. The half hour that the band played flew by and although the band is quite young, they got quite some experience already and they showed that on stage.

When The Charm The Fury started their set, the room was finally quite packed. The band showed that their level of professionality was quite a bit higher than the previous two bands. While some of the shows in the past had some ups and downs throughout their set, today was quite a good evening for them. They played very tight and because Caroline kept asking for movement, they finally got the first movement of the evening. The band has some well-known songs as "Carte Blance" and "Virtue Of Leadership", and therefore got some people singing along with them. Another half hour flew by and sadly the set came to an end already, the crowd was pumped up and the band got a lot of response.

Three hours after opening the venue it was time for the headliner of the evening. The room filled up just a little bit more and the level of enthousiasm was way higher than before. This American metalcore band released their sixt record about half a year ago and felt like it was time to promote this in Europe. While about half of the set was about the new record, also the older songs weren't forgotten. The crowd loved both, the old and newer songs, and kept singing along throughout the whole set. Unearth itself played very tight and the vocals were spot on, something they are doing for quite a while now and have proven live quite some times. While this was quite a small venue for this band, they didn't seem to care that much and gave it as much as they were playing on a big festival. The intimate atmosphere was great and although there was bareley any movement, the responses of the crowd were pretty good. It is quite remarable that 60% of this band is still from the original line-up from 1998. Therefore they are well-known with each other and you can definitely see this connection on stage. After a little more than an hour the band left the stage after thanking the crowd, shaking some hands and giving some high fives.

Although there weren't that many people here, it will be a quite remarable show for the people who were here. It was a well-booked package, and the bands kept getting better throughout the day.

Fortarock 2015 - Not as big, but just as successful as previous editions

info@metalrage.com (Gilles) — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Past Saturday it was time again for the 7^th edition of the Fortarock festival. It all started back in 2009 in a cozy little park called Brakkenstein in the city of Nijmegen for the biggest metal festival of the Netherlands. This edition of the festival was held at the famous Goffertpark (their homebase since their lustrum). With 15.000 metal fans, 18 bands covering the whole range of heavy genres and while being warm and sunny this was a perfect day for a great party. This year maybe not the biggest headliner of them all, Iron Maiden en Rammstein on the last 2 editions versus Slipknot on the current one, but it made the atmosphere almost even better.

Arriving halfway in the set of Leprous was a bit of a let down for me. Their latest effort called Coal made a huge impression on me and I was really curious if they could pull it of on stage. Well to be honest I’m not able to answer that question. The fact is that due to the wind the sound was mostly all over the place which is killing for a band like Leprous that has so much details in their music. This of course had also some affect on the audience since most of the people just arrived and were more interested in catching up with each other in stead of the band on stage. What I did see was a band that did everything they could and played their asses off. I certainly do love to see them in a venue. (Niamen)

Enforcer had the honor of opening the mainstage of Fortarock this year. Their latest album called From Beyond was released several months ago and of course during this tour the focus lies upon that album. To be honest I was quite sceptic if this band would fit on the huge stage, but during the first couple of tunes ‘Destroyer’ they proved me wrong. Although they sometimes looked a bit strange during the first couple of songs they did get some crowd moving which motivated the band even more to play their thrashy 80s hardrock with more fury than they already did. Great show of a great band that is worth checking out. (Niamen)

Converge is one of the reasons why I wanted to attend Fortarock in the first place. The band manages to create an intense massive sound based upon their hardcore roots. Their latest album, All We Love We Leave Behind, is already a couple years old but is still present in my cd-player from time to time. I do have to admit that Converge is a band that doesn’t create easy and simple music, which is probably the reason why most of the audience attended the show of Sylosis on the other stage. Those who where present witnessed a band that gave it all during their set. The intensity of their music and stage performance certainly had its effect on the people present and even some good moshing took place. (Niamen)

On the main stage it was time for a band probably everyone present knew. In the early 00s songs like ‘Awake’ and ‘I Stand Alone’ were everywhere around you. On TV, on the radio, you couldn’t escape these songs by Godsmack and therefore I was looking forward to hearing these tunes live for personally the first time. The setlist contained of a mixture with tracks from their 2014 album 1000hp and older ones like the previously mentioned. Unfortunately their typical American stadium rock didn’t do the trick for the metal fans in The Netherlands. The show was dull and the music a tame. All in all just a boring show to be honest. (Gilles)

If there’s one band that generated a lot of media attention in the last week before Fortarock it’s certainly Dying Fetus. One of the gynaecologists of the nearby hospital found the name offensive for young parents who have just lost their infant. But enough on this subject, let’s talk about the show. After the disappointing sound at the Leprous show I was pleased to see the wind decreasing. I was a bit surprised by the huge amount of people that showed op to see these guys. Especially since this years edition of Fortarock wasn’t very crowded. I don’t know if it has something to do with the fact that Flotsam And Jetsam were taking the other stage at the same time or the fact that you never can go wrong with Dying Fetus. Indeed this show was tight as hell and with a nice overview of their albums they certainly topped my list as one of the better performances today. (Niamen)

I hope the guys from Godsmack stayed at the festival to watch the bands playing next, cause Papa Roach for example was showing how to put on an entertaining and energetic show while mixing new music from their recently released record F.E.A.R. with classic oldies. Through the years they’ve incorporated electronics more and more in their sound and this raised some eyebrows right from the start of the intro. People who haven’t follow the band’s career and just wanted to hear tracks like ‘Between Angels And Insects’ and ‘Last Resort’ were a bit surprised, but this band still managed to get everyone along. Their music is so damn catchy and the variation between old and new worked out well. Officially due to logistic problems the organisation switched the slots of Parkway Drive and Papa Roach, but I think it was best for both. Papa Roach can perfectly handle a big main stage during the day and I already can say that Parkway Drive can close a smaller stage even better. (Gilles)

This year there was one major clash for me. I had to choose between Exodus and Red Fang. Although a lot of people watched Exodus taking the stage I witnessed yet another great show of Red Fang. It could have been the beer or the music or the clear blue sky or a combination of all this together that I really enjoyed their performance. Let’s face it, some good stoner music and a nice cold beer in the sun. A match made in heaven if you’d ask me. Especially when you add the nice show of Red Fang. (Niamen)

Contrary to my colleague I did go and see Exodus tear up the smallest stage of the festival. The ferocious Bay Area thrash metal legends did a great job entertaining the mainly older part of the festival audience. Their main focus lied on their classic release Bonded By Blood and their newest record Blood In, Blood Out and the audience loved it. Don’t expect something really new. They just play the thrash you are used of them and nothing more, but still they stand the test of time. The Jeff Hanneman tribute and shout out to their bandmate Gary Holt who couldn’t be here due to his commitments with Slayer and the following Slayer riffing completed the show. (Gilles)

On the main stage the loudest band of the day was up next; Lamb Of God. Loud, heavy and groovy. That’s practically all I have to say about Lamb Of God’s performance. With their charismatic frontman Randy Blythe they fired up the crowd and went on a true killing spree. Playing a set that covers their entire career they did a great job entertaining the crowd. After giving a sneak peek of the new records with the song ‘Still Echoes’ they really tore down the stage with favourites ‘Redneck’ and ‘Black Label’. Even the wind couldn’t blow this show. (Gilles)

If you want a band that knows how the entertain you’ll just have to ask Jamey Jasta to show up with his companions from Hatebreed. This frontman and this band perfectly know how it works to entertain, to keep the energy level high and the audience going. Jumping, clapping, waving with shirts, towels or any other fabric, it was all incorporated in a show of a band that walks the thin line between metal and hardcore. With just hits and classic songs that everyone could sing along it was once again a very pleasant encounter with this touring beast called Hatebreed. A club show gives even more energy, but these guys really know how to get most out of such a performance on an open stage in front of a varied audience. (Gilles)

Closing the 2^nd and 3^rd stages were Venom and Parkway Drive. A difficult clash for me, but in the end I went to see Parkway Drive and I didn’t regret it for a second. Right from the start it was all fireworks with this Australian band, literally and figuratively. This metalcore band mostly appeals to the younger fans and although a big portion of the audience already waited in front of the main stage for headliner Slipknot the biggest moshpit was created in front of these Aussies. A tight show, an energetic performance, a good interaction with the crowd; it all came together very harmoniously. They’re not just “hip”, they just fucking kick ass. (Gilles)

15 years ago I attended the Dynamo festival at the same park where this years edition of Fortarock is being held. Back then it was Slipknot who made an indelible impression on me. Nowadays they’re headlining the entire festival. Although a lot of people didn’t think of Slipknot as a headliner I have to say that they did pull it off very nicely. The nine headed monster took Fortarock by it’s balls and didn’t let go until the end of the set. With a handful of new songs and of course their biggest hits they scored pretty easily if you’d ask me. The funniest thing about the entire show is probably the adults around me turning into 15 year old kids at the intro of songs like ‘Wait And Bleed’ and ‘(SIC)’. (Niamen)

More pictures can be found here.

Coal Chamber, Soil, Diablo Blvd. - A lot of old songs in a very intimate setting

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sat, 06 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

After releasing a brand new record this year, Coal Chamber came to the Melkweg in Amsterdam to show that this band still got it. Although it would be a very intimate setting, the band still brought three support acts: sOil, Diablo Blvd. and Blood Runs Deep.

When I walked in the venue Blood Runs Deep already played but seeing this little amount of people and almost nobody looking enthusiastic, I think I didn’t miss a lot. So I started with our Belgian friends Diablo Blvd. These guys are well-known in Belgium but still need to work very hard in other countries. Seeing them on a stage this small, instead of the Main Stage on Graspop was quite weird. Nevertheless they gave the same amount of energy as the bigger shows and played really tight. They had to convince the crowd the first few songs to step up a little, but everybody got more into it after the set passed by. It was good to see that these guys got more and more applause after every song, because they really deserved it.

After this really good warm-up it was time for the first headliner in my eyes, sOil. This hard rock/nu-metal band have already proven in the past that they are a very solid band and with the return of vocalist Ryan McCombs they got a very good frontman. Ryan is a guy that just let your heart melt away, the big smile on his face, enjoying every moment, every word that the crowd screams, it just gives you goosebumps all over to see somebody living his dream and enjoy this set so much. The band furthermore also really seemed to enjoy this intimate setting and played very tight as well. All the songs were perfectly followed up by the next one until the band reached one of their most known song, “Halo”. For this song Ryan stood on the floor instead of the stage where the other band members were. After this massive sing-a-long it was time for the grand dessert, a magnificient cover of Ram Jam’s “Black Betty”. It was an amazing show and got everybody pumped up for the headliner.

While the room filled up even more, it was finally time for Coal Chamber. Beginning with their biggest hits “Loco” and “Big Truck” is quite dangerous because there is a chance that the rest of the set will disappoint the people that only know these songs. But nothing of all that was true, the band grew up a lot and you could see on every detail that the band got a lot more experience. The rest of the evening was filled up with a very tight set full of nu metal music and every band member showed that they would gave it all. Although drummer Mike Cox needed water every song and gave more than he could, he kept going. Also with the spit battle he had with guitarist Miguel Rascón. Songs as “I.O.U. Nothing”, “Fiend”, “Clock” and “No Home” were played and a good mix of old and newer songs were played, although it was mostly from the first two records. Lead vocalist Dez Farfara proved once again that he knows how to act on stage and Nadja Peulen also knows how to share your own energy with the crowd. All the band members proven that they are at least a little bit crazy, but this is only better for the whole act of the evening. His growls still reminds me of his time with DevilDriver of course, but it was amazing to see and hear these growls with Coal Chamber finally. After 15 songs the set already came to an end and the time just flew by.

Very awesome evening with, as far as I’ve seen, good bands only. Now let’s all pray that the ego’s go well in the future and that we can enjoy this band for many more years!

Metalrage Recommends: Upon A Burning Body - First headline show for this amazing live-band

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sun, 31 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

This deathcore band from Texas, America has made a huge name in the last few years. Touring together with bands such as As I Lay Dying, Trivium, Caliban and Five Finger Death Punch has brought Upon A Burning Body to many places. Songs as "Texas Blood Money" and "Sin City" has got a lot of views on sites such as YouTube. They earned even more internetfame with their cover of "Turn Down For What" featuring Ice-T from Body Count. which was released last year. On this evening they will destroy Arnhem with their good live performance. They are also bringing Confessions Of A Traitor and When Walls Collapse along. A very nice package for a little amount of cash!

21-06-2014
Doors: 20:00
Damage: pre-sale: 12,50, at the door: €15,-
Willemeen, Arnhem

Metalrage Recommends: HellYeah - The first headline show of this supergroup in The Netherlands

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Sun, 31 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

What happens if you take Chad Gray (Mudvayne), Tom Maxwell (Nothingface), Vinnie Paul (Pantera/Damageplan) and Kyle Sanders(ex-Bloodsimple) and put them together in one group? You get a supergroep called HellYeah. The band already played as support of Korn and Stone Sour in The Netherlands and played festivals such as Download, Rock Am Ring, Alcatraz and Hellfest, but they will play their first ever headline show in The Netherlands this time. As support they are bringing Gus G along, a well-known guitarist which currently plays in Firewind and Ozzy Osbourne. This is a very good mix to see for this little amount of money!

11-06-2015
Doors: 19:30
Gus G: 20:15
Damage: €15,-
Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht

Circa Survive/From Indian Lakes/Atlas - Circa Survive delivers at first show on Dutch soil in five years

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Sat, 30 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Circa Survive’s first Dutch show in five years is happening in Eindhoven tonight. With the last albums Violent Waves and Descensus the band has progressed into a highly innovate Indie/Alternative Rock band with the high region voice of Anthony Green in the spot of attention. As support they have taken From Indian Lakes with them. The experimental Indie/Rock band has their first tour in Europe. Opening band tonight is the Belgium outfit Atlas.

Atlas has released an EP last year and plays a mix of post-hardcore and emo. Atlas knows how to make a first impression. The aggressive passionate vocals accompanied by technical riffs and piercing drums make this an energetic band that really gives everything on stage. Very promising shows and Metalrage is eager to hear more.

Disappointing from the start is From Indian Lakes, a band centered on guitarist/vocalist Joey Vannucchi. The color of his voice is promising, however his vocal lines lack all sorts of dynamics and his bandmates follow these lines carefully so there is never an intense moment to discover. Sometimes it looks like the talented musicians are moving forward to a climax but the time of release never comes. It’s like going out for dinner and a band is playing in the back, nice as background, never picking up your attention. You can call them the Dream Theater of the indie/alternative rock; technical capable while never venting full energy. While the startup atmosphere of every song is promising the band is staying in the safe mode; too bad because the musical talent is present.

In the packed main room with a smaller stage in front of the real stage there is a lot of intimacy with the diehard fans and singer Anthony Green. His emotional voice and lyrics are spread directly over the enthusiastic crowd and Green is eager to keep his hand on the heads of fanatics to create a bond between him and the fans. In my opinion it’s exaggerated a bit because it creates a gap between him and his talented band mates.

If you don’t focus on Green you see four people who play progressive emo/alternative rock intense, energetic and full of craft. It great to see how new songs (“Scheme”, “Child of the Desert” and “Sharp Practice”) and older ones (“In Fear and Faith”, “Strange Terrain” and “Glass Arrows”) are so easily played while the songs are dynamical and difficult to follow. Due to the high pitches voice of Green and the technical way of playing alternative rock Circa Survive never will be a band for the masses. Not in Europe because touring is scarce in these regions.

The bad thing is the sound. In the soft regions there is no issue at all, when the band is going loose in heaviness the sound is muddy; too bad because different melodies are intertwined in Circa Survive’s musical palette. The fact the band is standing so close to the audience is compensating it. More than an hour the band is giving everything until they finish with the favorite “Get Out”. Ending the set with a banger so no encore is necessary!

Rosetta - Quintessential Ephemera

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Thu, 28 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

A new album from Rosetta in de mailbox when you don’t expect it is always a surprise. On their fifth album they have added their longtime buddy Eric Jernigan from City of Ships. This means a mellower sound and sparkling clean vocals added to the massive Rosetta sound. Has the band matured and progressed over the year? Is it sounding less intense and deeper as earlier albums ‘Wake/Lift’ or ‘The Galilean Satellites’?

On both statements I can say yes when listening to the new album at first. They gave away a bit of heavy intensity and received tiny bridges of mellow intersections with normal vocals. Has one of the guys become a father maybe or is the band trying to do something different? That were my first thoughts when listening to ‘Quintessential Ephemera’. On the other hand it took me a while to get into their last previous album ‘The Anaesthete’ and the band has built up lots of credits so I don’t give up after two sessions.

After the calm introduction ‘After the Funeral (does this refer to the burying of the old Rosetta sound?) seven untitled songs are coming up. In ‘(Untitled 1)’ Rosetta sounds more like City of Ships’ old work than City of Ships does now due to the melancholic guitar work in combination with the vocals of Jernigan. Later he is battling constantly with the intense (and typical Rosetta) screams of Mike Armine. When you step back a little from the record you finally get the point what the quintet tries to make.

The boys are focusing more on dynamics and the addition of a new member is new inspiration and ideas. After ‘(Untitled IV’) the pieces fit the puzzle and Rosetta grows sky high in intensity (as we are used from them). The catchy phrase “Made out of Nothing” is part of the climax building up until Armine’s vocals take over with dissonant guitar parts and the sonic outburst finish off ‘(Untitled V’). Well done guys and I have to admit the answer to the question if the band has gone less intense and deeper is a definitely a no at the second opinion!

I can only say with the addition of clean vocals the band has progressed into a new direction without forgetting the heavy sounds at the right moment. Where the previous album showed the darker moments; the new album has a much brighter and positive perception. No wonder it comes out in the middle of the summer. Closing anthem ‘Nothing in the Guise of Something’ has a melancholic atmosphere due to the keyboards woven into the sound. It’s again a new addition in the balanced new noise the band has put out.

In the end I only can congratulate Rosetta with their new achievement however you have to be patient. In times of short attention spans and people jumping quickly to the next candy of the week it will not be easy to find the spotlight. People, listen ‘Quintessential Ephemera’ intensively and I promise you will get rewarded!

Ni - Les Insurges de Romilly

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Looking to the cover of Ni’s first full album is like watching a Hieronymus Bosch painting. The longer you watch the more you discover. With this melting pot of Math Rock, Noise and Progressive Metal it’s exactly the same. You can call it Polyrhythmic madness in control. I hear Meshuggah, Animals as Leaders, The Dillinger Escape Plan in the sound of French’ Ni. The complexity of the material is structured in catchiness of 4/4 time signatures, verse and chorus structures.

The four musicians (who handle their instruments extremely well, love to experiment and push their abilities to the limit) scarcely use vocals. Sometimes a scream or sounds coming out of the mouth are used; they can be seen as an extra layer in the multi diverse sound. ‘Les Insurges de Romilly’ is the masterpiece after two EPs and I am impressed how the French are mixing all technical Metal and Rock styles into songs that still can be followed by people who are not a musician.

The sound is clean and that is a must because this type of music will not succeed when not all details are heard. The listener is constantly surprised by off-beats, weird drum fills, bass slapping or just a strange guitar riff. Of course everyone is playing tight so I expect on stage the same brilliance as in the 8 songs. None of the songs take too long, Ni has used the expression "less is more" correct.

What else can I say? Just listen the record here (link) and you also can’t wait to hear the band live. They deserve to do the support of above mentioned bands on a European tour.

Testament, Toxic Shock - A very old school evening full of thrash

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Fri, 22 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

The headliner of the evening didn't release any new record or something, in fact the latest big news was that Steve DiGorgio joined Testament agian in 2014. Therefore, when the band announced a new tour, a lot of fans were hoping to see some old school music from the band. But first it was time for Toxic Schock to warm up this crowd.

When I walked in Toxic Shock had just begun, and after a song of four I realised that this is a Belgian band, something I didn't expect from the spot on English vocals. Sadly this is only one of the few positives of this band. The level of energy of the lead vocalist was amazing and it was quite funny to see him standing in underwear and shoes only. Nevertheless the tightness of this band wasn't that good at all times and they messed up some intro's and outro's. They still got to play about 40 minutes, but there wasn't any movement at all. Could be worse, but definitely could be better also!

After half an hour it was already time for the headliner of the evening and although it wasn't sold out, it was really packed inside. The intensity of the entrance with all the lights and a good intro music was amazing. But you didn't get a lot time to embrace the moment since Testament immidiatley started with "Over The Wall", which was followed up by other golden oldies such as "The Haunting", "Burnt Offerings", "Raging Waters" and "The Preacher". It was clear that these old songs are favourably recieved by the audience because there was a lot of movement and the crowd couldn't scream harder during the songs i guess. Lead vocalist Chuck Billy mentioned that Eindhoven is a very special place for this band and therefore the reason that they started the tour here. The reason is that their very first show in Europe was back in 1987 on Dynamo Metalfest and in an ode to that festival they would only play old school songs today. As mentioned before Steve had re-joined the band and together with Mr. Gene Hoglan it is probably the tightest rythem section there is at the moment. But if you think that the guitarists will fade away in the succes of the rythem section you are definitely wrong, both, Alex and Eric, played extremely tight and the guitar solo's were also amazing.

As mentioned before the band would only play old school songs and the set continued with the songs "Do Or Die", "First Strike Is Deadly", "A Day Of Reckoning", "Apocalyptic City", "Eerie Inhabitants" and "The New Order". During this whole set it was very clear that both, the crowd and the band, enjoyed this evening a lot. Chuck kept on smiling and playing the air guitar with his microphone stand, but also kept thanking everybody for coming out and the energy they gave the band this evening. Following their set with "Into The Pit", "Alone In The Dark" and "C.O.T.L.O.D." the band almost reached the end of the set already. When it was time for the last two songs, it was also time for the youngest song of the evening, the title track of Practice What You Preach. Followed up by the "Diciples Of The Watch", the set sadly came to an end. It was an amazing evening and the band showed that they are still one of the best live.

Torche / Snowburner / Brutus - Torche's sonic waves bounced back and forth in Patronaat Cafe.

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Wed, 20 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

First of the evening are Brutus. This Belgian trio cites bands and artists like The Smiths, Kanye West, Cult of Luna and Slayer among their influences. These wide ranging influences are audible in their wall of sound, with heavy guitars and the harmonic singing of the female singer/drummer on top. Her voice is loud and reverberating and sometimes reminds of Bjork. The elements of post-hardcore, black-metal, shoegaze and pop, make this band original and interesting. While one can ask whether this band fitted this evening, it definitely is a promising band that with a lot of playing will develop into a well-oiled machine.

After Brutus played their set Metalrage visits a local brewery and pub. On tap the Maximus Brutus is available, coincident? We missed the short set of Snowburner and 20 minutes earlier as planned Torche started their uplifting sonic terror in the smallest venue of the Patronaat. They are the type of band the football club Feyenoord would be proud off. No talking, just playing. In a murderous pace they are running tight as fuck through their songs.

With a positive voice and pretty melodies Torche is sheering up everyone. Not always because in seconds they turn to low running frequencies to shock everyone in the crowd. Due to the small room you feel the bass and guitar tunes all over your body. The first part of the set is mostly filled with fantastic songs of the new album Restarter but there is also room for oldies like ‘Mentor’.

During the first songs of the set, there is a lot of stage light making the singer Steve Brooke joking he will be sunburned after the set. The lights are dimmed and this fits the mix of stonerpop, rock and sludge way better. After a guitar change (Torche is changing the guitar more often tonight) even lower guitar frequencies are set in and the famous bomb string is forcing the café to collapse. Killer! Due to the short songs following quickly in the set you aren’t aware the band already has played for an hour.

In the last two songs the four guys are returning to the heavier stuff. Especially the last song is slow, down tuned and vibrating through the audience. Bomb strings all over the place! The band acts as chameleon and these songs are typically Torche but no way sound like the earlier punky songs in the set. Great night!

Roadburn 2015 - The Afterburner reviewed (sunday)

info@metalrage.com (Gilles) — Sat, 16 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

The Sunday of the Roadburn festival, traditional called the Afterburner, always is a special day. Some can’t get enough and want something extra after 3 intensive days of a festival, others use the Afterburner to catch a glimpse of the much celebrated Roadburn vibe and some people see this as a single event just to catch that one band they’re dying to see. This year there were a lot of people especially present for headliner Anathema, but it was also a day with a new chance to see Bongripper, to watch the horror movie Suspiria with a soundtrack played by Goblin or discover another band on one of the three stages that were being used.

Written by Maurice van der Heijden (MvdH) and Gerard Gilles (GG). Pictures by Paul Verhagen (Achrome Moments) - http://www.achromemoments.nl and Pieter Heijboer

SUNDAY

For those who still don’t have enough there is the afterburner. Kicking off in the Cul the Sac with the album release party of Tilburg’s Izah is a good decision. Finally their debut album sees the light of day; the songs on the album are already a longtime in the set list. As a follower from the early days the songs are no surprise; however with songs longer than 10 minutes it’s better to know what is coming. The band best can be described as an atmospheric Doom Metal band with hints to Post-Metal, Ambient and in the last song ‘Sistere’ a spun out Black Metal part. With not much room on the stage the six-piece is bursting out of energy although I hope the guys are not claustrophobic because they really need to be aware they don’t hit each other with their instruments. That’s the only minor; at a bigger stage the band would’ve released more anger and emotions. (MvdH)

I am not going to explain the Bongripper sound again. The band is still fresh after three days and treats us with a mixture of their hits from the past. Instrumental Doom in full effect, one fast Black Metal part but they really excel in the end part. After a break, the riff they keep on playing gave me goose bumps. I am bowing deep for this band that still is capable to achieve this fine moment after the countless bands I saw this weekend and the years before. Bongripper flown over for the second time and once again reaped the complete crowd. With no big label behind them they crushed the main stage two times and at the end of the festival completely sold out all their shirts. (MvdH)

For the better part of the last 5 years Lo-Pan has been touring the world with their stoner rock. First thing you notice when seeing them play is the strange podium set-up (singer behind the drummer), but immediately after you’ll notice the chemistry in this band. With some good songs, nice riffing, powerful vocals and a serious groove Lo-Pan did a good job entertaining the crowd. Definitely made some new fans today. (GG)

And finally it was time for the headliner, time for a special show by an innovative band that has gone through different periods with different band members in their 25-year long existence. Many people had bought tickets especially for this special show by alternative rockers Anathema. To celebrate their beautiful career they’d come up with the concept of playing songs from all their studio albums in reverse chronological order. To spice things up a bit they even invited former members Duncan Patterson (bass, former song writer) and Darren White (original singer) to join them on stage during this short tour they called the “Resonance Tour”.

Around 20:30 the lights dimmed and Anathema kicked off with the self-titled song from their latest album Distant Satellites. By seeing bands like Bongripper and Lo-Pan it was a tough choice to start with this song, cause it was a bit too dull maybe. The current line-up of Anathema really started to impress from the fifth song onwards. Before it was a bit awkward to see some die-hard fans clapping along, while others didn’t get it at all. But from ‘Closer’ onwards you could feel the crowd was digging it and the appreciation and interaction kept on growing. After the fitting ‘On Last Goodbye’ it was time for a small break and to welcome the line-up from the 1995-1998 era. With Duncan Patterson on bass we got treated on 9 songs in total from the Alternative 4, Eternity and The Silent Enigma albums. Quality wise probably the best part of their whole show. The songs were loved by the audience, the execution was flawless and it all came to a majestic closure with the mighty ‘A Dying Wish’. Closure of the second part of the show of course, because fortunately it was far from over!

After once again a short break the band returned for a third and final set and this time they added original singer Darren White to the line-up to bring back the 1993-1995 line-up. With a couple of tracks from Pentacost III and Serenades this was by far the most impressive part. It was great to see White enjoying this chance to play with his old band mates once again and it was beautiful to see the people react on this line-up and this ode to doom music in general. After approximately 2,5 hours the encore ‘Sleepless’ faded out and people were left in awe. Truly a special performance that became better as the songs got older. (GG)

The afterburner is coming to an end. Not much people are around and the merch is almost gone. Should I stay or should I go? With a day off after Roadburn I gave The Osiris Club the benefit of the doubt. I won, because at the latest moment of the festival the band from the UK is a surprise. The band comes on stage in capes with beak masks and an old fashioned horror movie is played on the screen. Musically the band is combining creepy organ sounds with the progrock from King Crimson and early Genesis. To top it off the poppy side of Ghost also enters the room. The weird cocktail doesn’t have the best sound of the festival; still the band receives the response it deserves from the few standing. (MvdH)

With Bongripper as absolute overall winner with two crushing sets Roadburn 2015 is a winner again. When you discover every year new bands like The Osiris Club, Domo or the restyled version of Kay Dot the participation of Roadburn 2016 is an absolute no-brainer. (MvdH)

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 1!

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 2!

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 3!

Sylosis, Wovenwar - An intimate headline show of a good heavy metal band

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Fri, 15 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

After seeing Sylosis as a support act of Killswitch Engage back in 2013, i didn't have to hesitate to attend this headline show of the band. The band would play an intimate show on the smaller stage in Patronaat. They would bring Wovenwar as main support act.

As mentioned before Wovenwar was the main support act of the evening. The last time I saw this band I wasn't really impressed by the whole act and tonight I got the same feeling. The band played pretty tight on itself, but when you are a support act for such a "heavy" band, you shouldn't have these build ups in songs without a superb ending. Therefore it was quite hard for the crowd to go insane during this set, although the band got quite some applause after each song. While the set moved on, it was clear that the band could make some mistakes also and that the crowd definitely couldn't wait for Sylosis instead of this band. After about 45 minutes the band left the stage and it was time for a little changeover.

It was really clear that the crowd mainly came to see Sylosis this evening because the crowd almost immediately went insane. I still got the same impression as when I saw them in 2013 with Killswitch Engage, they look and sound a lot like Trivium, but way heavier! It seems that their last record, which was released in January this year, became even heavier. The band played very very tight and it was amazing to see such an intimate show of this band since they can easily fit on a main stage on a great festival in my opinion. The band played a lot of the newer songs, which was good for 60% of their total set. The crowd already knew the songs or didn't seem to care that it was mainly new songs because the mosh pits kept going throughout the whole set. Sylosis played songs such as "Leech", "Teras", "Empyreal" and "Dormant Heart". After nine songs it was time for an encore of one more song and at 10 o'clock everybody left the venue already. It was quite a short set but still it impressed the most people.

It was a fast but good evening and the best thing is that Sylosis is coming back on the 6th of June and wil play on the festival Fortarock in Nijmegen.

Roadburn 2015 - Looking forward, but treasuring the memorable moments (Saturday)

info@metalrage.com (Gilles) — Fri, 15 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

During the Saturday, the third day, of the Roadburn Festival I heard the festival sold out during the event. In previous years this happened a lot earlier, but it doesn’t really matter when this happens. A sold out Roadburn means faith in the organization and the appreciation they deserve for their incredible effort they put into this fest every single year. And as the organization says themselves: “It gives us the drive to raise the bar even higher for the 2016 edition”. We’re already really looking forward to next year, but first we will treasure the great moments we had on this year’s edition.

Written by Maurice van der Heijden (MvdH), Lennart Verhoeff (LV) and Gerard Gilles (GG). Pictures by Paul Verhagen (Achrome Moments) - http://www.achromemoments.nl and Pieter Heijboer.

SATURDAY

My third (and personal last) day for this year started in the Green Room with Briqueville. Donning robes and masks they looked like something straight out of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and the music at times had a similar weird aura around it. Playing a mostly instrumental spacey kind of doom at first, the following 25 minutes (the shortest show I've seen this year) were a build-up to a kind of Amen Ra-ish blunt monotonous outburst which left the crowd wanting more. A band to watch. (LV)

Authentic Black Metal needs to be played by rough guys in old jeans with leather jackets; at Roadburn expect the unexpected and with Sun Worship we see three young German guys that look if they walked away from the university to play pieces of Black Metal. And how they do! With songs from their last album Elder Giants they bring the crowd in a transcendental state as Wolves in the Throne Room did a couple of years ago. The difference is that Sun Worship is much more rudimental and focuses on the razor-sharp riffs, screams and the everlasting Blast Beat that is played tight as fuck. Still with a human feeling though. After 40 minutes their set is over and the Black Metal whirlwind left everyone in ruins. (MvdH)

Something totally different is Domo. Take a couple of spacerock enthusiasts from Spain who stepped in the van and are smiling from ear to ear when they are playing at the completely packed Stage01. They are not the tightest band and especially the drums sound is pretty garage. This is not a problem at all, because it only adds up to the no-nonsense atmosphere on stage. With ongoing guitar melodies, fun and a great positive energy they take the crowd with them on their endless voyage. It’s great to see there are still bands standing up that keep the old Roadburn atmosphere rollin’. (MvdH)

Tombs were on a mission to level Het Patronaat or so it seemed. As their last appearance at the festival could mostly be summed up with very loud, today Mike Hill and his fellow band members sounded more focused and very, very tight. Musically I'm afraid I have to admit that I think Tombs peaked with their first album Winter Hours, but in a live setting that doesn't really matter. You get pummeled into submission anyway regardless which record they're pulling from. Convincing stuff. (LV)

The grand finale then. If there's any band which embodies the spirit of Roadburn it should be Kayo Dot. Mostly because it has played every musical genre present on the festival in some shape or form. From the post/prog/death/black/modern classical/jazz amalgamate of their classic debut Choirs Of The Eye to the 80s psyched oud road trip songs of their recent opus Coffins On Io, musical mastermind Toby Driver has done all of it so it seems. Today the set focused on their last two albums, the earlier mentioned Coffins On Io and 2013's fan-funded record Hubardo. Mostly forgoing the completely spazzed out freejazz metal tracks the show was a master class in atmospherics, technical skill and just brilliant original music. It's hard to pigeonhole them, cause Kayo Dot manages to sound completely unique and discordant, but melodic and accessible at the same time. But of course at the end everything is allowed to spiral out of control into a maelstrom of blast-beats, synths, squealing horns and lastly a wall of noise. When it's all over I know I've seen this year's absolute highlight, and my only wish would be they'd play around 3 hours more. Epic. (LV)

From old to new and from underground to influential to many other bands in the bill, Roadburn holds all sorts of bands and with Fields Of The Nephilim they managed to book an influential one. With Carl McCoy as their charismatic frontman these guys have played a big role in shaping the gothic subculture, but also other bands ranging from black metal to rock have been influenced by these pioneers. Today they played their second show of the festival and it was breathtaking from start to finish. They intrigued me for the full 110 minutes. One of the bands I was looking forward to in advance and they just delivered. (GG)

From outer space is the headliner at the main stage. The drum/synth duo Zombi perfectly fit in the new path Roadburn has taken the last five years. Under the banner of avant-garde and proggy music the duo is lifting off towards other territories. The band from Relapse Records has made a slew of records that all were welcomed by those who loved the sound of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Genesis. In 2006 Zombi did the support for Isis on their European tour. This is their first show after that tour on the European mainland and in the meantime the cult grows and grows.

The base of the band is the repetitive drum work of A.E. Paterra, sometimes combined with the bass sound of Steve Moore. The drum patterns are the ideal starting point for Steve Moore to create spacy synthesizers loops and pulsating electronic waves. Soon a danceable mood is evolving. The band pays respect to the origins of electronic music where a genre like techno has been born out.

The songs bring memories of science fiction series and movies from the eighties at the table. The longer the set is lasting the longer the songs are. Combined with an outer space background the crowd alienates from planet Roadburn and travels with Zombi towards stars and planets in the universe. (MvdH)

Blasphemy, speed, heaviness and eardrum destroying volume; that’s what comes in mind when thinking back about the last performance in the Patronaat venue this year. If other bands before wouldn’t have done it already, Ohio sludge legends Fistula definitely desecrated this old church permanently. With a filthy performance, in a good way, they closed the stage with dignity. (GG)

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 1!

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 2!

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, the Afterburner!

Roadburn 2015 - Houses Of The Holistic reviewed (friday)

info@metalrage.com (Gilles) — Thu, 14 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

After an impressing first day of the 20^th edition of this festival today it was finally time for “Houses Of The Holistic”, the name of the curated event by Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson and Einar Kvitrafn Selvik of Wardruna. They have been asked to curate this second day of the festival and they accepted to personally select the bands that would play this Saturday. They continue the tradition that began in 2008 by Current 93’s David Tibet, followed over the years by Neurosis, Tom G. Warrior, Sunn 0))), Voivod, Jus Osborn (Electric Wizard) and Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth). Metalrage was present with Maurice van der Heijden (MvdH), Lennart Verhoeff (LV) and Gerard Gilles (GG) to review this unique 4-day event. Even if we had another writer present it would be a pain in the ass to cover all the bands that play on Roadburn. Our selection of bands can therefore totally differ from other Roadburners, but the fact remains that the vibe, the music, the people, the venues, everything is top class and it remains year after year an extraordinary experience.

Pictures by Paul Verhagen (Achrome Moments) - http://www.achromemoments.nl/ and Pieter Heijboer

FRIDAY

Today starting up is easy with the synthesizer and knob turner Steve Moore who shows us how to do a spacy trip in the best Klaus Schulze tradition. With subtle changes the audience grows into galaxy Steve Moore is presenting. He proves at Roadburn no guitars are necessary to create the same trip as an awesome spacerock act. Also funny to mention how he looks as engineer who just walked away from his cubicle creating great music instead of engineering parts for a space shuttle. (MvdH)

First band on Friday during “Houses of the Holistic” event on the main stage was Virus. I remember seeing them at Het Patronaat last time around and while impressive back then, today was even better mostly because of Carl-Michael Eide's vocals which seemed to fit better in the mix. Anyway, if you're not familiar with Virus or his previous somewhat similar band Ved Buens Ende; it's a completely unique blend of weird jazzy atonal black metal chords, Carl's commanding crooning vocals and a rhythm section which is almost fusion like. You either love or hate it, but for people who love it there was much to enjoy today. Plenty of songs of personal fav Carheart and we were even treated to some new material which hopefully means a new album in the foreseeable future. (LV)

Next up was Junius in the green room. This musical love baby of Katatonia, Khoma and (yes, really) Deftones might seem like a strange fit for a festival like Roadburn but then again, what isn't these days. While the band looked a bit shy and weren't really up for communicating , judging from the mumbled “thank you” after each song, the music sounded suitably atmospheric, heavy and vivacious. Counting the amount of bobbing heads around me, that seemed to be enough to please everyone. (LV)

Brimstone then. I went to Stage 01 because I wanted to see something else than Der Weg Einer Freiheit, but I wasn't at all familiar with the band. And the best thing about Roadburn is always those moments. Walking into a room where an unfamiliar band is playing and seeing one of your favourite shows. Brimstone can be described as a soulful classic psychedelic 70s prog rock band, which might sound pretentious but it's actually quite lighthearted like Motorpsycho in their Phanerothyme & Let Them Eat Cake days. After some research I found out Brimstone used to play as The Brimstone Solar Radiation Band and they sounded even more like Motorpsycho back then, so no surprises there. The band seemed to have lots of fun and it was a refreshing change from all the oppressive doom and gloom. Variety as they say, is indeed the spice of life. (LV)

A Roadburn festival, and a curated day in particular, mostly brings something extraordinary. Something you won’t see that often. Or at all. Many bands are also doing multiple gigs to give the audience something special, something to talk about. Personally I almost only saw bands today that would do multiple shows at this year’s edition. From Solstafir to Eyehategod and from The Heads via Enslaved to Mortals. Different bands, different backgrounds and many differences in the execution. Where Solstafir impressed with a stunning instrumental performance the day before, they now did an equally great show with their regular repertory. Two completely different sets, but both outstanding and interesting. With a band like Solstafir and this kind of realization of two sets it doesn’t ease the pressure in the running order, it only frustrated it more. First world problems I guess.

The show of Eyehategod on the other hand was less remarkable though. Don’t get me wrong, I loved their performance, but it was just another EHG gig. The venue was different this second show (Het Patronaat versus the main stage of 013), but the show far from. When being a fan of these New Orleans sludge metallers both gigs were highly enjoyable, but if you’re just curious and didn’t know the band it wouldn’t have mattered which show you would choose.

Just as Solstafir, also Enslaved knew how to act when playing two shows on the same festival. The show on Saturday would focus on their new album, while the gig during today’s “Houses Of The Holistic” event was entitled House Of Northern Gods. The concept consists of a walk-through of an imaginary, magical house, Valhalla with its inhabitants if you like. Enslaved put this set together specially for Roadburn and spans the entire catalogue of the band that embody the Norse gods. A nice concept and a good execution as well. Together with Wardruna before and afterwards Skuggsja, a unique project of Bjørnson and Selvik with the sound of Norway’s Norse history, they created a mythical atmosphere that won’t be matched soon.

And the last band I saw today that had a second slot this weekend was Mortals. I missed out this all-female band the day before, but heard some positive things about them, so I went to check it out at the Cul de Sac venue. This band released their debut last year via Relapse Records and were presenting themselves with a mixture of all sorts of dark and heavy genres. It wasn’t really something new, but this three-piece put everything they had in it and delivered a solid set of stoner/sludge/black metal. Raised fists and banging head as a result.

Looking back at the bands that got multiple shows going in I can’t say a saw a single bad gig, but one definitely made more of it than another. (GG)

After all the heavy, doomy, spacy and weird stuff you need a band that sticks to the standard alternative rock/hardcore tradition. City of Ships does and had to play their set in the bar Cul the Sac. They didn’t have the best sound and the dj music was still playing during their first three songs, but for a few maniacs they managed to create a sound somewhere between Helmet and Quicksand. The new record Ultraliminal is all about positivity and the band also looks re-energized on stage. Guitarist/singer Eric Jernigan comes up with the greatest melancholic riffs and guitar loops while his voice has that typical grunge singer vibe. For sure this underrated band stole some hearts at Roadburn and they only deserved more. (MvdH)

At day one Bongripper served the knockout, today it’s done by Finnish Funeral Doom specialists Profetus who are playing a funeral mass in the Patronaat church. This means 4 long and slow tracks with one of the saddest and melancholic tunes of the whole festival. The procession doesn’t include a bass player; instead three low tuned guitars are celebrating the last day of the dead and bring homage to the 1000 lakes in Finland. With a keyboard sound drenched in the (s)low songs it’s sure you are finished after this set. And I was; no other band afterwards could impress as much as Profetus did. (MvdH)

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 1!

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 3!

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, the Afterburner!

Metalrage recommends: heavy shows in Haarlem

info@metalrage.com (Gilles) — Wed, 13 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

The Patronaat venue in Haarlem is one of the Dutch venues we of Metalrage.com visit regularly for some nice metal, hardcore, stoner or whatever kind of heavy show they’ve programmed. Besides the regular visits they also give us the opportunity to put several contest online throughout the whole year in order for you to win tickets for several of these shows. In the coming months they once again offer some nice packages. What to think of Iron Reagan, Gojira, Code Orange and Every Time I Die for example?

We already uploaded a contest for the Every Time I Die gig (click here) and maybe there will be more in the nearby future, so stay tuned.

For more information about the different gigs you can visit www.patronaat.nl

Roadburn 2015 - The review (thursday)

info@metalrage.com (Gilles) — Wed, 13 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Started as a spin-off from the Roadburn.com website, the Roadburn festival has become (at least) Europe’s leading festival for underground music that pushes the boundaries of music further and further. This festival gives bands from psychedelic, avant-garde, stoner, doom and any other related genre a stage to excel. The festival has become bigger and bigger through the years thanks to a devoted team with Walter Hoeijmakers as Mr. Roadburn himself. This year they celebrated their 20^th anniversary and just as at previous editions, Metalrage was present with Maurice van der Heijden (MvdH), Lennart Verhoeff (LV) and Gerard Gilles (GG) to review this unique 4-day event. Even if we had another writer present it would be a pain in the ass to cover all the bands that play on Roadburn. Our selection of bands can therefore totally differ from other Roadburners, but the fact remains that the vibe, the music, the people, the venues, everything is top class and it remains year after year an extraordinary experience.

All pictures by Paul Verhagen (Achrome Moments) - http://www.achromemoments.nl/ / https://www.facebook.com/AchromeMoments

THURSDAY

Starting off in a subtle way before all the heaviness will torture your ears can be established easily with the Viking Post-rockers Solstafir from Iceland. They do an instrumental soundtrack for the Viking movie Hrafninn Flýgur (When the Raven Flies). The movie is taking place at the shores of Ireland and starts off pretty brutal with knife fights of Vikings against the local population so the movie is not the easiest start of the festival. Bad thing is you cannot read the under titles well so I led the movie go for what it is and let myself drench in the fuzzy and dreamy tones of Solstafir.

The band is using parts of their last album Otta and combines it with new written tunes. No vocals are used and this is the most interesting part if you are familiar with the Solstafir work. In your head you still hear the Icelandic vocal lines but the songs bring a different voyage. The movie last for almost two hours so people need to be patience. After half an hour the music swells towards a climax if a geyser boils and an outburst of hot water is waking you up. This is happening more often later in the set and I also have to mention the banjo sound in the middle of the soundtrack that could’ve been Solstafir covering Woven Hand. (MvdH)

My Roadburn Thursday ended with the realization that I've seen a lot of three-pieces that day (and would see during the rest of the festival) but more importantly: the festival is almost becoming a poster boy for gender equality. The amount of bands with female members was kind of astounding. It should not matter but it was something that stood out to me and I consider it a good thing. The first thing I saw in Het Patronaat that day was SubRosa. After waiting in line for a bit I entered a packed venue which was treated to the massive wall sound of ‘Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes’ (one of my favorites) where a violin cut through every now and then. From what I've heard, the set was a mix of both their last records and as much as location goes, the church was a perfect setting for the music creating an ample space for the riffs to properly bellow. (LV)

After that it was time to find a space at the Cul de Sac to catch a glimpse of Marriages. The Emma Ruth Rundle fronted shoegaze post-rock trio just released a new record which I haven't heard yet unfortunately, but their Kitsune EP was enough to warrant a look and I wasn't disappointed. First thing that stands out are Emma's powerful vocals. They have a slight “country” vibe to them and coupled with the Red Sparowes-esque music (which they share members with) it makes for an interesting and engrossing mix which works very well. The new material they're playing seems to have a bit more hooks (and some more 80s vibes) than Kitsune, so I'll be checking out the album soon for sure. (LV)

First band of the day that really caught me was Chicago’s instrumental trio Russian Circles. They already impressed me with their studio albums, but live they’re able to create a really intense atmosphere in which they’re tons heavier than when listening to their records. They have these great build ups in their songs prior to a magnificent eruption of noise. Their set consisted of songs from all their recordings, before ending with the impressive ‘Mlàdek’ of my personal favorite record, Empros. Before I had high expectations and was really looking forward to this one, but they were even better than I could have wished for. (GG)

The Russian Circles overlap with Thou is a though one. Starting in the main hall with the Circles brothers and then decide when to leave for Thou is not easy. I did and when finally entering the Patronaat 45 minutes are left of sickening doom and vocals in a full venue where the sound is shaking your stomach and ears. Standing on the balcony hell is coming home with the four small maniacs from Louisiana. Even so far away from the stage you are sucked into the miserable and heavy songs from the classic albums like last year’s Heathen for instance. (MvdH)

Last time I saw Eyehategod (EHG) play was also in Tilburg, in 2013 in a sweaty small metal bar and they were amazing. Their crushing sludge made a big impact. Today they’re back in Tilburg, but are programmed on the biggest stage Roadburn has. With a new drummer, a new album (still featuring tragically deceased drummer Joe LaCaze) and with the NOLA documentary fresh in my mind I rushed to the main stage and was stunned once again. Whether they play in front of 200 or 2.000 people, they give it all and people love them for it. Almost all band members were having fun and singer Mike Williams was a bit agitated by someone, but this all fueled the passion they put into their songs. On Friday they’re playing a second set and I’ll definitely have to be there as well. (GG)

After seeing a string of other acts my personal highlight came at the very end with Helms Alee at Stage01. All I can say is that Walter needs to invite them back next year to play a bigger stage. The music just needs a bit more room to breathe. As for the show, it was what I hoped it to be. The signature razor-bass sound coupled with atmospheric guitars, Ben Verellen's wail on top of it all and a nice song selection made it a very nice complementary soundtrack to the buzz I had going on at the end of day 1. After catching a bit of spazz rockers Lazer/Wulf who showed that it's ok to have fun as well on stage it was time to call it a day. (LV)

After seeing the one New Orleans band (EHG) crush the a stage in the 013 venue I decided to go back to back to the other New Orleans based band to hopefully experience something similar. In a packed Green Room Goatwhore gave away an excellent performance with the heave blackened death metal songs. A legion of devil horns were up in the sky through the entire concert and especially after dedicating a song to Selim Lemouchi (The Devil’s Blood) the band couldn’t do anything wrong anymore. Great addition for the diversity of the festival as well. (GG)

Bongripper is back on the European mainland. Without a major record label deal these instrumental and sober (they don’t do weed) Doom monsters easily bond the complete main hall together and keep the entire crowd in an entire stranglehold during the complete session of the album Miserable. They are at best to start off a song (three songs are played in an hour) with a monstrous riff, drench it in the perfect doom guitar sound and keep on playing and playing until everyone is mangled and suffocated in the heaviest doom you can imagine. With or without feedback breaks the band continues their repeating process to those who finally feel the catharsis that’s coming. One fast explosion at the end in the lava dripping process is all you get but that is enough for those who can wait for it.

Great is also the slow moving backdrop of the last album. The album cover is one big disgusting mouth and slowly the teeth are opened until we see the gaping wound of the mouth. There is no band on this entire planet that plays this monotonous Doom in such an accurate way they can get away with no vocals for an hour. The hour is over before you noticed and the same enlightened feeling coming out of pain and suffering was just done by Bongripper. The best band at the best spot of festival day one for sure. (MvdH)

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 2!

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, day 3!

Click here for the review of Roadburn 2015, the Afterburner!

Big Business - Battlefields Forever

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Tue, 05 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

The members of Big Business are most known as the boys who joined the Melvins for a period of time. At that time they already released the album Head for Swallow. Later the great album Here Comes the Waterworks came out and this proved they don’t need The Melvins to play awesome and groovy Stoner/Sludge. Later with the album Mind the Drift and an EP my attention towards Big Business drifted it a bit away.

At the end of 2013 they released Battlefields Forever and also the shows proved they are full of energy and fun again. The album was released on their own label Gold Metal and impossible to find in Europe. Only available at their last European tour Solar Flare steps in now to make it a European release on vinyl and cd at the end of May. I can review the album as a new album but that doesn’t make sense as everyone interested already has heard these songs on their iPhone or at bandcamp. What matters is that this amazing loud and heavy record is available for reasonable prices in Europe.

What you get is loud rocking dynamical heavy music with catchy grooves and understandable vocals. Big Business started as a bass/drum duo, on this album guitarist Scott Martin is added but the band is back in business as a duo now. The record lasts for 38 minutes with the nine minute end song ‘Lonely Lyle’ as highlight. Big Business once again has proved to grab your balls with heavy distorted string attacks, thundering drums and catchy vocal lines transferred into dynamical songs.

Klone - Here Comes the Sun

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Here Comes the Sun is a Beatles song but also the new album of the French band Klone. It goes too far to tell they are cloning the sound of bands like Katatonia, Anathema and Tool because this album is simply too good and professional to be overlooked; however the band has similarities with these three bands.

The last ten years the French alternative metal/rock scene is gaining more and more popularity due to quality bands like Gojira, The Old Dead Tree and Year of No Light that are pushing the boundaries of progressive music constantly. The sixth album of Klone deserves the same attention. Directly from the start thick riffs are bridging with heavy ambient walls and progressive rock build ups (such as in the beginning of ‘The Drifter’). To top it off, they have the great vocalist Yann Ligner who has a beautiful serene voice in the calm parts and adepts his voice over the waves in the music.

The ten songs form one big piece of coherence where all musicians are equal. The end result is much broader than the product of the individual musicians. I can talk about the subtle bass sound that is travelling through the song and has its own path while the drummer hits his kit at the right time with a genius fill or drum pattern; these ingredients are not the only ones. It would be great for the two guitarists to have these two musicians has the base to compose high dynamical songs, come up with heavy riffs and melancholy in the melodies while they never have to limit them self in a progressive way.

I forgot to talk how much ‘Here Comes the Sun’ positions itself as a monument of rust. In these fast times it’s good a band gives the listener an album you finally have the time to overthink your position in modern life and how to continue and not only do what society and your environment defines. The atmosphere is in no way gloomy; there is hope; there is positivity. Here comes the sun!

With songs like ‘Immersion, ‘Fog’ and my favorite ‘The Last Experience’ (with the fantastic post-rockish ending!) I oversee a bright future for Klone. A lot of shows are lined up and fans of the above mentioned bands including Porcupine Tree (who is still on a hiatus) should definitely check out this sixth album soon!

Red Vultures - Enjoying creating and playing music

info@metalrage.com (Buzzin Hornet) — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0200

During our stay at Paaspop we had the pleasure of talking to the Dutch rock formation Red Vultures. Two members of the band, Tony (Guitars/Vocals) and Patrick (Bass), also came to the festival to see the Rival Sons and The Black Marbe Selection (re: featuring Patricks son). Enjoying the warmth of ‘t Kiske and a cold beer we talked about being in a band, recording their debut full length Damn Pretty and music in general.

Backgrounds

Both Tony and Patrick go way back, they actually played together in another rock band called Vals Licht. When that band stopped they stayed close but went to walk different paths. ‘After Vals Licht broke up 6 years ago I started playing Bass in My Favorite Scar and when that adventure ended for me we started working with our current project Red Vultures’ Patricks tells us. When Vals Licht stopped Tony just kept writing new material in his home studio. This is also how they started Red Vultures; ‘All of us have less and less time. Composing songs has become a quick process. When I write a song I just send it to the guys for feedback. Luckily Patrick lives two blocks from me and he comes to my place to check out new material. And then we just wanted to do something with these songs. We then reached out to Mike (re: drummer, Within Tempation) to record these songs in his studio and he joined us on our first official recordings.’

The first public response

After the band released their first EP the response was unexpected. ‘We instantly received quite a lot of requests to play shows in clubs or at festivals. This was a bit overwhelming and we needed a live formation and more songs. So in the beginning Frank Kleuskens joined the band on stage to play guitar. He just stopped with the Heideroosjes and was enjoying the time with his family and was not available non stop. We then chose to continue with Daan Janzing (re: My Favorite Scar). Besides that Mike is always extremely busy with Within Temptation all over the world so he was not able to play live so we have Jarno van Osch during our shows. He plays in a Metallica cover band called The Unforgiven’. That first EP brings back some good memories. ‘We recorded the songs for that EP almost in one take each. Live, together in the room. Our good friends CJ and Frans Vermast helped us recording in this concrete storage facility. We completed this within two days. The second EP was recorded at the Audioworks studio in Hoogeloon. We just wanted to take it to the next level. However we maintained the same process of recording as much as possible at the same time. We wanted to keep that live vibe in our sound.’

Completing the album

After recording the two EPs and never really releasing them the band was ready to create that long anticipated full length album. ‘To complete the record we wanted to record 5 extra songs. But our funds were insufficient to go to a professional studio again. So we decided to do it ourselves this time without a producer or studio. Daan was on board by this time and he works in the studio with Oscar Holleman. By then we knew what kind of sound we wanted and had all the tools and equipment to do it ourselves. And as long as we could do a good job on Mike his drum parts we could really make it work. The hardest part is to have the three individual recording sessions to sound as one. So we remastered those others songs and in the end we had an album which actually sounded like an album. And after asking various people we knew nobody could really tell us the difference in sound between the songs. Which is strage if you know the difference in budget between the second and third session.’

Selling music

Releasing the first two EPs digital only the band now is releasing their full length album on CD, which nowadays is almost seen as a legacy format. The band was told to do this by the people working for them. ‘We released our album because it is selling really well haha. No, really we do understand this question. Most of the people enjoying our music would love to have our record on vinyl, just like us. But when you look at the financial aspect of releasing a physical format the CD is really interesting. It is cheap and quick. And when we decided to take the next step we started asking people to promote us, book us and fill in the gaps. They told us it would be necessary to get the album on CD just to get it out there. And during our release show only we sold around a 100 albums, together what happened in the following week we achieved a Dutch chart entry on spot 45. And to be honest it is stuff like that which creates that next step for a band like us.’

Music videos

Having a video is extremely important for bands which target a younger audience. Teenagers are listening to music on Youtube and having a presence there is important. Red Vultures is not really targeting these kids but they do have various videos. Their latest one is for the track New York for which they first created the video, and then the song; ‘Patrick went on a holiday to New York last year and he almost shot all footage himself. About 80% of the footage is shot by Patrick. By the time he came back I had a track ready which ended up being the song New York.’

Today and the future

And even though the band is present as a guest today, they sure would have love to play Paaspop; ‘Our album got release a little bit too late, they tried getting us here but it just wasn’t the right moment. And to be honest we enjoy every day we get to play and write new songs and music. We are already working on new material for our next album which we plan to record in 2016. Especially those processes are what we are doing this for.’

Fiddler's Green, Bud Spencer Rock Explosion - A great replay from last year

info@metalrage.com (Tukker) — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0200

364 days after Fiddler's Green played in Tivoli De Helling, they returned to the same venue with the same support act to re-do the night once again. The Dutch band that got the honour to support this band on this tour, is Bud Spencer Rock Explosion.

As stated before, the first band was the Dutch trio Bud Spencer Rock Explosion and when I walked in, the band just started and looked the same as in my memory. It's a little bit awkward still to hear this kind of music with the view of the band members on stage, Nevertheless, the band still used the same amount of humor as last time and although the crowd wasn't as enthousiastic as the last time, the band still put quite some smiles on faces. After asking who had seem them last year, they used the same joke again by asking if we still had our kazoo's, still nodbody had one. Therefore they asked a member of Fiddler's Green to join in, so that they had at least one extra kazoo on stage. They played songs as "Home Sweet Mobile Home" and besides the amount of fun that the band and the crowd had, the band played pretty good aswell. It is always fun to see these kind of bands as an opening act because they are great for warming up the crowd.

To celebrate their 25-year anniversary, Fiddler's Green entered the stage one by one to give the crowd a perfect evening. While the crowd still didn't seem very enthousiatic, the applause got louder every song and their was movement almost throughout the whole evening. The band played pretty tight and had the ingredients that the band is well-known for. For example the band came off the stage to play in between the crowd, had a nice solo on stage with the 2 percussionists and a violin player, had massive sing-a-longs, the band organized a wall of folk during "Rocky Road To Dublin" for a whole song and most importantly of all both the crowd and the band had a lot of fun. Songs as "Victor And His Demons", "The Night Pat Murphy Died", "Bugger Off" , "Never Hide" and "Yindy" were played and it was a very nice mix of their whole career, which was stuffed in almost two hours.

While the atmosphere was completely different compared to last year, it was still an awesome evening. Seeing Fiddler's Green live has to bring a smile to everyones face and you know you can expect some good music.

Paaspop 2015 - Not enough metal but still loads of fun

info@metalrage.com (Niamen) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Back in 2003 when Metalrage first wrote about Paaspop in Schijndel the festival had two days, about 4 stages of which one was dedicated to loud music. This was bigger compared to the many editions before that year. In fact the festival has been around since 1974. In 2015 there are 11 stages and here and there a spot for a louder band. Besides that the event has gotten way more diverse with more theater, dance, pop, hip hop and other gimmicks which bring a smile on ones face. And just like Paaspop we have matured and a smaller group still enjoys going to this exploded version of that small festival we once started visiting. Even though it has grown from around 10.000 visitors back then to 61.000 in 2015. Like usual Buzzin Hornet and Niamen are present at the festival and they brought their friend Guus to also write some pieces.

Friday, April 3^rd

Jex Thoth

One of the areas where I mostly stay during my yearly visit is the Thunderbolt Bar. Picture an small old hanger filled with a stage, a bar and of course heavy loud music. Oh and not to forget, beer in glass bottles. It was also the venue of my first Paaspop act this year. During some pre festival fun I had already the time to check Jex Thoth out. A nice Psychedelic band with some awesome Roadburn vibes. Vibes that where clearly present during the show. One problem, the venue was nearly empty and the visitors that were present had some difficulty to understand the music or the vibe of Jex Thoth. You could say that the atmosphere they would create onstage backfired at them. The visitors cleary couldn’t understand what was going on. So when the female vocalist lighted some incense in the middle of the dancefloor she is suspiciously greeted by the audience. Musically a great performance but sadly enough in the wrong place. (Niamen)

Truckfighters

Truckfighters are one of the only, if not the only, louder act on the first day of Paaspop. From the first note that blasts through the speakers there is a party in the sweaty Jack Daniels tent which is packed with a decent amount of people. Guitarist Dango (Niklas Källgren), who seems to never wear a shirt on stage, is jumping across the stage almost impersonatin Angus Young from ACDC. The stoner act from Sweden is feeling the vibe today and is wrecking the place. Most likely this is caused by drummer Enzo (the 6^th drummer of the band), who is hitting his kit hard from start to finish. During the track ‘Mind Control’ we have to leave the tent to pick up my mom and go see Kensington together. Great start of the festival. (Guus)

Best of Foo (Fighters Tribute)

While wondering around on the first night we decided to drop by a tribute band at the Thunderbolt stage. Most of the day this stage is just a bar and over the weekend just 11 acts play here. The Best of Foo is a Dutch Foo Fighters tribute band and they play Foo Fighters in a way everybody would love to see them one day. In a 400 capacity place packed with people shouting along the big list of hits the Foo Fighters have produced. And then not those slower ballads, but the best songs on full speed. Just the voice is not dead on Dave Growl but that is something we take for granted. (Buzzin Hornet)

Saturday, April 4^th

The Saturday was the day where most alternative music was playing at Paaspop. We arrived way to early at the entrance and even had to wait for it to open. There is always a first at this festival.

Shaking Godspeed

The big plus of arriving early on the campsite was the use of a clean toilet as well as the opportunity to warm yourself up in Thunderbolt bar. The fact that Shaking Godspeed was also playing at that time was a nice addition. Long hair, blues, psychedelic, stoner and even a hint of Americana is probably the best way to describe Shaking Godspeed. Nice set, but since I still wasn’t really awake. I didn’t do the trick for me. Luckily for the band most of the audience did enjoy their show, at least if I can measure this to the amount of nodding heads. (Niamen)

Therapy?

Paaspop is a festival that attracts a huge variety of people from all different kind of layers and ages. With Therapy it’s pretty obvious which part of that population is aimed at. With a setlist that exists of mostly old songs and the occasional new track it’s match made in heaven. This obviously has its effect on the band itself which pushes them even further and further. Certainly one of the better acts for me on this year’s edition and I’m not surprised if they even gained some new fans with this show. (Niamen)

John Coffey

There is nothing which havn’t been said about the Dutch rock formation John Coffey. Those guys know how to rock. They once again prove this on Paaspop. After the, more or less, predictable intro

they go full throttle. The energy they produce is addictive and everybody standing in the first 10 rows is forced to move. Beer, mud, no t-shirts and fists high in the air. Everything a good rock band needs. The band plays a lot from their latest albumn ‘The Great News’which was released in the beginning of this year. ‘Broke Neck’ and ‘Son’ warm up the crowd that explodes with the first circle pit when the band starts with the track ‘Dirt & Stones’. Frontman David Achter joins the audience for a little bit to do the setup for the wall of death to complete the show. The final blow is done with the biggest hit of the band ‘Romans’to which the audience literary screams the songs to this song: ‘Miiiiiiiiiles till the end of the road we walk’. (Guus)

Within Temptation

I only saw the first couple of songs of Within Temptation and I instantly saw what I saw many times before. An extremely well executed show that is almost flawless due to the many technical innovations this band uses. Extra vocal lines, incredible lip sync video footage and probably the best technical roadies a band in the Netherlands can afford. And is this a bad thing? Yes and no. It is kinda annoying when you see a band not play every single piece live. But still it is an amazing show you are looking at. The moves are perfect, the sound is perfect, they play their audience and the most important thing is that those people in the front were having the time of their live. For me personally I just saw enough after 5 songs and left after one of their monster hits ‘Stand My Ground’. Also, missed the fire effect they had before when they played Paaspop. (Buzzin Hornet)

Vanderbuyst

One of the bands that we are going to say goodbye to later this year is the Dutch hard rock formation Vanderbuyst. These guys are known for their straight up hard rock packed in a powerful and energetic set. Always a good party and something I am definitely going to miss at the festivals. And in the relatively short history the band has produced an impressive list of material that works very well live on stage. Today is their last show at Paaspop and one of the last ones before they stop. They will be missed! (Buzzin Hornet)

Saxon

Saxon, anyone? This was exactly the question that I asked myself as well as my friends. I decided to check them out anyway and oh boy was I surprised. Although the tent was half full the band gave it one hundred percent. Beers where raised, fists where pumped and of course their greatest hits where played. Of course the huge amount of alcohol in my body did add some extra’s to the show but if I counted them out I still had a blast. (Niamen)

Sick of it All

A night in which they prove their still one of the hardest working hardcore band out there. When you share your stage with Saxon and Lacuna Coil you’ll know it’s not an easy game since there won’t be much known faces out there. This transferred into 400 people watching the mighty Sick Of It All in a tent that has room for 2000. But the band took the crowd by storm nonetheless. Of course a hearse statement was made by Lou Koller about where the hell they are. But still the band gave 120% running onstage riffing like hell an firing up the moshpit in front of the stage. (Niamen)

Sunday, April 5^th

Monomyth

Standing in the middle of knodding old basters I am trying to process my hangover, which feels like I have been hit by a truck. Outside the sun is finally shining but I am not ready to face it. Thankfully inside it is dark and the smoke machine is working over hours. I am wearing my sunglasses inside, since it can’t be dark enough for me right now.The five-piece stoner/drone band is playing a no bullshit set. No nonsense. The slow, heavy and cumbersome riffs and thundering drums create an intense instrumental mantra. No easy listening for this Sunday afternoon but who surrenders is finding himself in a mantra which can be best referred to as ‘van der Waals force’. Close your eyes and enjoy this 12 minute long song which isn’t dull one single second. It almost felt the show was over before it even started and the guys are already thanking the audience. 45 minutes flew by like it was nothing. When walking outside the sun reminds me of that truck that hit me. But that this was worth it is more than obvious. (Guus)

Against Me!

Since their performance last year on the Jera On Air festival was really bad. The band lacked total energy back then. I decided to give the guys an gal of Against Me! a second change and boy what did I enjoyed the show. During this set the energy was a hundred times better than the last times I saw them. With a setlist that focused on their latest effort and included all the ‘hits’ from the band this was certainly quite a surprise for me. (Niamen)

The Guns ‘N Roses Experience

If there’s one band that has been on the bill for ages at Paaspop it’s Peter Pan Speedrock but sinds I’ve witnessed the guys for dozens of times I decided to grab a beer at my favorite bar on the festival and watch The Guns ‘N Roses Experience. Indeed a GNR coverband. Like being said before in this review a good coverband could be pretty awesome. Which was exactly what The Experience was. The moves, the lookalikes, the hits for all I care the Thunderbolt bar could be Las Vegas club at the infamous strip in the early 90’s. Getting drunk and shouting along with all those great songs from the ‘Appetite’ and ‘Illusion’ era. Trust me when I say that it certainly continued way passed our normal bedtime.

More pictures can be found here!

Hatebreed, Seita - Destroying Amsterdam

info@metalrage.com (Gilles) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Hatebreed is a real regular when it comes to touring in Europe. Every year they’re doing multiple European tours and in Holland we have the chance to see them 2 to 5 times a years, minimum. Even when they’re playing some Russian shows and are on their way to South Africa they choose not to have a night off in Amsterdam, but to do a show instead. Together with the Amsterdam based death/thrash metal band Seita this Connecticut hardcore outfit has come to the Melkweg venue to destroy everything.

Hatebreed is able to play with every band, it doesn’t really matter if it’s metal or hardcore, they just blend in. The other way around it does matter which other band plays with Hatebreed, looking at the reaction of the crowd and the interest of the present hardcore kids while Seita was playing. Seita played a heavy death/thrash metal set that lasted for over half an hour, but the crowd reacted in a very tame way. The vibe of their music reminded me a bit of former Venezuelan/Amsterdam based band Agresión, but it didn’t really catch on unfortunately.

After Seita I was a bit scared the Hatebreed show would be a bit of a letdown as well, but fortunately the venue filled up quite nicely and the energy was overwhelming. Right from the intro tape with the Rocky theme song blasting through the speakers the crowd was ready to go and some goes for the band. With ‘Everyone Bleeds Now’ they immediately set the bar high. Singer Jamey Jasta had a bit of a sore throat, but he compensated well with a high energy level.

In 75 minutes Hatebreed played 23 songs with the main focus on the older songs from the albums Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire, Perseverance and The Rise Of Brutality. The crowd went totally berserk on some timeless anthems like ‘This Is Now’ and ‘I Will Be Heard’, but also on the more rare ones like ‘Conceived Through An Act Of Violence’ and ‘Under The Knife’. At the end of the set they did a much appreciated tribute to the deceased Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman with a cover of ‘Ghost Of War’ and closing with the crushing ‘Destroy Everything’ tops it off perfectly. Missed this show? They’ll be back for the Fortarock festival in june.

Takaakira “Taka” Goto - Classical Punk and Echoes under the beauty

info@metalrage.com (Maurosis) — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0200

16 years after his main band Mono started, Taka felt it was time to release his first solo release. Classical Punk and Echoes Under the Beauty was already written and recorded in 2003 but not completely finished. Finally it sees the light and of course the sound is closely to his main band Mono. It has less grandeur and bombast; stripped down to fragile pieces of Classical Music and Postrock played with Japanese perfectness.

With composer Taka you expect the best and of course you get the best. In ‘Delicate Madness’ he directly sets the standard high with the piano and violin introduction while the drums take you on a melancholic path where beauty never is far away. The album evolves as a soundtrack of Taka’s life full of ups and downs. Some parts are calm; however furious and intense climaxes are never far away such as he does in ‘Till the Night Comes’.

The organic production of the album makes you feel if a guitar player, violinist and a drummer are playing a piece in your living room. The melodies are surrounding as if you are in the middle of a fictional band. Later two short classical music intermezzos in the vein of Olafur Arnalds bring rest in the waves of Postrock while the last song ‘Trenchi No Ibuki’ is a mixture of dark classical music with a looped sample played backwards.

This Japanese artist can be proud of the piece of art. While moving between intense walls of guitar to violin parts or piano in the same song Taka never takes the same trail as thousand other artists did. Classical Punk and Echoes Under The Beauty never sounds polished and artificial. The recording of 2003 is just remastered and that’s it. The man made a wise decision to not change anything. Less is more!