First support of the evening came from Old Season all the way from Ireland. The band has been around since 2003 already but released their first full length album Archaic Creation last year. Baroeg was slowly filling with people and the band played a very decent mix of epic doom metal and heavy metal. It kind of reminded me of Candlemass, especially vocal wise and due to the fact that Baroeg finally got their sound right first try, Old Season managed to play a very convincing set. I’m not that fond of epic doom, the style of singing and the use of keyboards but it felt like all the elements were in its right place here. The moment I was getting a bit bored of it, the band finished their last song and even a few people were screaming for an encore. Good performance!

 

To avoid the clashes at this years Roadburn festival, I never mind seeing a few Roadburn bands before the festival. And this concerned The Lamp of Thoth tonight. The sound switched to the doom that suits my taste a bit more; low basslines and Black Sabbath guitar riffs. Kicking of with ‘The Lamp of Thoth’, they soon witnessed a heavy crowd reaction with people singing along all the set and raising fists. The Lamp of Thoth played a very decent set of about 40 minutes with a lot of instrumental parts that reminded me a hell of a lot of Black Sabbath. I even noticed the line ‘Cause Smoking and Tripping Is All That You Do’ and the guitar riff from Black Sabbath’s ‘Fairies Wear Boots’ somewhere in between. Their guitarist, who goes by the name of Randolf Tiberius Reaper, really kept my attention throughout the set as the (sort of) Scottish pirate voice their vocalist puts on doesn’t really get me excited and Lady Pentagram just doesn’t hit hard enough on her drumkit for a band like this. Either way, The Lamp of Thoth played a good set and if you were on time getting your Roadburn tickets, check them out at the festival for some serious Black Sabbath worshipping!

 

The only full-on tour support from Saint Vitus tonight came from UK's Centurions Ghost. The band seemed a bit misplaced on this bill as they play heavy Sludge mixed with Hardcore elements and even a bit of crust punk every now and then; somewhere between Rise and Fall and Eyehategod. Yet another band with a female member (just like The Lamp), but this time on guitar and playing less gentle. Federica Gialanzä definitely mashed the shit out of her guitar amps and the combination with bass player Richard Wittaker sounded pretty overwhelming. Especially due to Mark Scurr’s hardcore-like vocals, the band really left a good impression on me even though most of the crowd slowly started working their way to the bar. Too heavy? Not enough doom? Anyhow, the band just released a brand new album called Blessed & Cursed in Equal Measure which they played a few new songs from as well. Definitely time to check these guys out if you like the more heavy kind of sludge.

 

Judging by the Saint Vitus and Black Sabbath shirts I counted over the evening, Saint Vitus was definitely the band everyone was waiting for. Apparently their Roadburn appearance last year was a disaster due to drummer Armando Acosta making a complete mess of the show. So, Saint Vitus hired former Sourvein drummer Henry Vasquez for this tour to show the audience how it should be done. Kicking in with ‘Living Backwards’, the opening track of their classic V album, the crowd reaction was pretty overwhelming. The crowd (about 20 years older than me) was singing along all the way on all the Vitus classics and besides that the sound was pretty stunning as well. Maybe too stunning as bass player Mark Adams witnessed some serious bass amp problems somewhere halfway through the show. While Wino was trying to help to fix this and got mad at the sound engineer, guitarist Dave Chandler and Henry Vasquez treated us with some serious soloing. And I haven’t seen the Roadburn show myself but I’m sure Henry is a way better drummer. This guy hit definitely beat the living shit out of his drum kit including some broken sticks as result. Besides some technical problems, Saint Vitus seemed to be pretty enjoyed by the crowd reaction and played a good hour of classics including tracks such as ‘I Bleed Black’, ‘Mystic Lady’, ‘Clear Windowpane’ and ‘Look Behind You’. The only track that was really missing from the setlist was their brilliant Black Flag cover ‘Thirsty and Miserable’, but the other Born Too Late tracks made up for that. After a good 50 minutes or so the band, kind of cliché of course, left the stage to come back to play two more classic Vitus songs; ‘Dying Inside’ followed by the unavoidable ‘Born Too Late’. The band is apparently working on new material so this will probably not be the last time we’ll hear from them. Saint Vitus might be a bit of a hype lately, but after witnessing this show I can only say: believe the hype!

 

01. Living Backwards

02. I Bleed Black

03. Clear Windowpane

04. The War Starter

05. Look Behind You

06. --- Drumsolo ---

07. The Troll

08. White Stallions

09. Mystic Lady

10. Saint Vitus

Encore:
11. Dying Inside

12. Born Too Late