When walking in at 8:30, the band Fifth Column should have started already but I noticed why they didn’t play yet. There were only a handful of people, including crew and band members. 15 minutes and a few beers later the band started playing. I had no expectations of this band at all because I had never heard about them or seen them play before at all. In front of a very small crowd the band gave away a good and short set but a great opener for the evening. Think (newer) Isis and Baroness with clean singing and a lick of some melodic post-rock. Because of a problem with the permanent drummer of the band (I couldn’t understand the exact reason) they had a replacement drummer who had to practice three (long) tunes within a week time. He did an awesome job on this though, making this a band I will definitely look out for in the future.

 

Because the band only had a set list of three songs, they invited Daily Fire from Leiden to fill the rest of the set, just for this one time. It only took a few minutes for the band to set up and soon they started to blow some heavy hitting sludge off the stage. Neurosis on some chemicals with a hardcore singer would probably turn into Daily Fire. Because Heavy Lord had to take over soon, the band played a short set as well but in just enough time to give a nice impression of what they have to offer. Heavy sludge and a dirty rock ‘n stoner track to end the set with; good stuff!

 

Next up was Hellevoetsluis’ Heavy Lord for some real fucking doom! I was standing outside talking to people so I sadly missed the first part of the set, but the majority of the set that I saw absolutely blew me away! What a mind blowing guitar and bass sound these guys have! Along with an absolute beast on the drums, this band reached painful decibels but knew how to rock. It was still not busy at all in the venue but this band resulted in some serious headbanging from time to time. I guess I’ll have to check out some more of this band, because I feel stupid enough not to in the past!

 

Good old Baroeg style, they didn’t stick to the running order as always, so I could only see 30 minutes of Amenra. But it was one of those better half an hours I’ve witnessed! This is just one of those bands that can’t seem to disappoint or get boring. This was the fourth time I witnessed an Amenra show and even though the show is always the same, I just can’t get enough of it. A completely dark room, 3 shoe staring guitarists and bass guitarist and of course the vocalist with his back to the audience. They played mostly songs of the last album Mass IIII including tracks such as ‘De Dodenakker’, ‘Silver Needle Golden Pain’ and the beautiful ‘Am Kreuz’ from Mass III. The sound was extremely loud but really crystal clear, making the show even more intense. Even though I couldn’t watch the whole show, I went to the train station satisfied by what I’d seen and looking forward already to their performance at Dour Festival!