FESTIVAL REVIEW: Roadburn 2025 Part 1 - Live at 013 and Various Venues

Ghost Cult has been in existence for 13 years in 2025, and we have covered Roadburn Festival every year, Founded in Tilburg, the home of Roadburn covering this festival is an honor and a tradition for us. This year, our intrepid team of Susanne A. Maathuis and Dante Torierri, both long-time Roadburn veterans, had some different and interesting takes on the fest, with some overlaps and some different artists covered. So we ran them together, rather than separately. Enjoy part one of this two-part review of the festival!

Susanne:

Oh the joy, we get to go back to planet Roadburn! A cherished musical and artistic universe that while very close to home for me, is also miles and miles away. One that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting for a few days a year since 2011. It’s been a good while since I’ve spent it with my camera by my side and a pen (well, note app) in my hand, the last time being 2019, and it is good to be back.

This won’t be a blow-for-blow, exhaustive review, but more a collection of my impressions of the five days I spend in the universe of Planet Roadburn as its periodic passing flies by my world again, like a passing comet. I approached my visit with an I’m allowed to do and cover anything, but don’t have to do anything vibe, and it may show.

Pre-party – Wednesday
So let’s start this puppy off with the spark. Previously,, a somewhat secret, unannounced pre-party off in one in The Cul de Sac, these days it’s a proper taster for those arriving early. It’s even in the booklets and announced on socials these days. The Wednesday night event, free to attend for anyone in the Next stage, is traditionally half spent outside the actual concert room because A) it has gotten very busy, and B) you’re meeting all your friends from previous times again. This year we are in for an absolute treat with Rattenburcht, Temple Fang, and Thou. Hilariously, I later learned Thou was not supposed to be announced, as Thou secret shows have become a running joke in the Roadburners online community, but the band themselves were so excited they spilled the beans and had to be announced.

It being so busy, I did not manage to snap any photos, as I don’t like fighting my way to the front through throngs of people happily enjoying a show, and I just gather my impressions from where I can squeeze in. Rattenburcht were a fine opener, with quite the energy, though I must confess the parade of acquaintances left me with little time to see and process the actual music. Temple Fang though, oh they have grown to epic proportions. Delightfully detached from reality, yet also very grounded psych. The band just always deliver with an esoteric depth and transcendence rarely seen, and even more rarely take seriously, while also never being pretentious. I’d say they have more of a vibe of a kindly, worldly wise friend in a comfortable cardigan.

After their set and a bit of a chit-chat, whilst also throwing a cursory glance at the archiving heaviness project that I will have more words on later, Thou take the stage. Predictably the room is stuffed full and I have to admit, I know Thou are an excellent band, it’s just never been for me. So while they give their all and a solid set, I decide this is best left to the many, many admirers, and I can catch them at one of their later shows on the fest proper. This is only the amuse bouche of the festival after all, a little taster to whet the appetite.

Day 1:
Thursday is the official day one of the festival, and I want to be there quite early. One of the bands I’m most excited to see are opening the main stage. Oranssi Pazuzu are no stranger to Roadburn, having played there as early as 2013, and possibly before, but I seem to struggle to find my programs from 2011, 2012 and 2013. The psychedelic nightmare trip infused Finnish Black Metal honour the Pazuzu (demon) part of their name, with a terrifying and awe-inspiring, almost eldritch kind of performance of their latest record Muuntautuja in full. The best way to describe the experience of an Oranssi Pazuzu show would be if you imagine the audio equivalent of mashing up the eighties horror film The Thing and Twin Peaks. It’s disturbingly distorted, hallucinogenic, frighteningly harsh, and terrifyingly hypnotic at the same time, and definitely not for everyone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad Oranssi Pazuzu show, and this is no exception. I can already say this is a highlight, and we have only just begun.

Now we run into my first clash of the festival; do I see LoveSickPuppy or Kylesa? I decided to go for Kylesa, because I genuinely do want to see what the return of the band after almost a decade to the live stage has in store. And I’m not disappointed. Kylesa still got it. They are of course, a classic Roadburn band, thus connecting the new vibe to the old, and are as such crushingly heavy. But Kylesa always had a bit more Rock N’ Roll in their style than most sludge bands, and a whole lot more progressive psychedelic vibes. The band still shake you to your core with their hazy, desserty sludge, and hit like a sledgehammer. They are touring Europe this spring, and I’m sure we will see them on the road after in the US, and hopefully Europe as well, as the juggernauts are back and steamrollering the stage as ever.

After that experience, I decided to wander a little. The weather is turning for the warmer, which is always nice and a gamble in April in Tilburg. “April come she will” and all that, you never know what you will get. Memorable Roadburn editions had a full-on summer weather, while another in 2018 I believe, we had a sudden snowstorm. And that’s not mentioning the volcano year in 2010, when the atmosphere just turned entirely hostile to air travel.

I end up at the Terminal, the layout having changed a lot this year, to catch a little of Faetooth. The all-female Doom group from LA are intriguing, but I soon realise that the main attraction, the ethereal clean vocals, are not quite dialled in in the bass-heavy mix and hard to catch. I’m sad to say that they can’t hold my attention, and while I like me some doom, I just wander out again, aimlessly trying to get my bearings again. After a quick nose around the merch area, which is in a most delightful pavilion this year, I decide to be lazy as a photographer and head back to the 013 main stage, as I know my way around it the best. Plus, a friend who sadly could not attend really wanted a clip of The Body, and they are playing with Dis Fig.

If you like heavier than heavy, The Body and Dis Fig are for you. It’s all suffocating layers of bass, guitar, fuzz, screams, and just like being aurally crushed by a rock. I’d say they are like an audio weighted blanket for the soul, but that blanket is definitely weighted by a few barrels of gravel. Im not sure what else to say except they crush the soul back into your body.

Now I wanted to try and catch Curses, but as is core Roadburn tradition the interest for bands not on the main stage is many times greater than the capacity of the rooms. Lines are such a thing for Roadburn, that it just can’t be helped. Seeing the line already well before the band even start, I decide to just chill and hang out in it while some friends do try to get inside. It’s not worth it for me though to just shuffle forward every few minutes and I soon find some people to just socialise with for a bit and once again go a wandering, and get some food.

Being a crafty gal, I decided this year to bring a sewing kit for small repairs and offered this in the community. Right around this time, a good friend asked me if I could maybe sew down a sentimental patch that was loosening on his jacket. Grateful for the little break, I happily end up following them to the main stage and sewing it down while we wait for The Bug. Even before the show starts I see an ungodly amount of fog on the stage, and realise probably not gonna be great for photos. The ominous vision of fog, table, and the massive speaker sets on either side would make it near impossible to get a decent image from the press pit. So instead, I opt to just enjoy and dance. From afar the visual with the red light pulsing to the beat and smoke works incredibly well though. Boy this is heavy in a wholly different way. Musically, The Bug makes dystopian nightmares, playing his latest album The Machine in full. Industrial, electronic, distorted, and mechanical, its slow but relentless pace takes no prisoners. The raver trash in me is very happy to just zone out to the concentric beats and go wherever they take me. I end up dancing the entire set, the result of which is a split in the inch-thick soles of my boots, right at the point where you bend the toes. Clearly repetitive motion and hypnotised dancing was not great for my shoes, but extra good for my spirit, and honestly, I can’t imagine a better ending to the day.

Day 2:

Day two should have started with Ontaard and Throwing Bricks playing a special set. But I have my limits and being at a festival at 2 in the afternoon after I’ve already been there a day is one. Retrospectively, I’m quite sad I missed it, as I heard it was incredible, but sometimes one must admit their own limitations. This meant that the day started with Messa for me at the main stage, playing their recent critically acclaimed album The Spin, in full. It was genuinely a beautiful and haunting show, and while the BPM is a lot higher than with most doom outfits, they make the shift from rock-infused female vocals Doom to more new wave goth-influenced doom seem effortless nd natural. The album and performance showcases Sara’s voice to its fullest. It was an excellent way to get into day two proper of Roadburn.

Not entirely sure where to go next, socialising around the 013 and the hangout areas created nearby leaves me to cover Envy. Having missed them the previous day I’m kind of surprised and delighted by the Japanese post-Hardcore/post-Rock band. They are playing a set of their modern era/Eunonia the booklet informs me. The energy on stage is one of intense feelings being thrown into the crowd, while the interaction or even acknowledgement of the crowd is at a minimal. It’s kind of nice to experience such free expression without almost any recognition we as a crowd exist. The music is beautiful, haunting, and incredibly uplifting. Many times it really reminds me of some of the finer Alcest albums, and while the harsher edge here comes from hardcore and not black metal, the same weirdly joyful, melancholic, and at times euphoric vibe is present, despite the clear pain expressed. It swells in your chest and takes you on a journey to fantastical realms that, while not safe or perfect and a beautiful experience. Additionall,y not understanding Japanese kind of helps with the otherworldly wonderment experience I find, because it lets me focus on the universal vibe more than lyrics. I will definitely be playing this at home sometimes.

Sadly, there was overlap with Pygmy Lush whom I also wanted to check out, and after the remarkably emotional experience (even crying a little) I just went through, I’m more tempted to go hide a little in the low sensory room now present in 013. The basement has always been my refuge from the crowds, and this addition is very welcome to someone like me for whom crowds can be a lot, much as I enjoy concerts. The basement is also where the incredible and emotionally charged Archiving Heaviness project is located. With walls of printed photos sent in by the community, stories, old art flags and posters, booklets and other bits on display, and notebooks and art blocks for us visitors to draw and add stories to the experience as we are there, the vibe of this beautiful living cultural heritage project matches that of euphoric wonderment of the envy set. The project is led by Jonathan Even-Zohar whom himself is a long-term Roadburn visitor. This may be why it captures the vibes of the community and festival over the years so well.

After this intermezzo of calm, I decide to follow some friends to the Zombie Zombie set in The Terminal. Not quite sure what to expect I’ve been told I’d enjoy it so lets go see. Apparently French, the Electropop outfit also played Roadburn in 2022, and I completely whiffed on them then. Playing analogue synths, theremin, drums and other bits and bobs, they build a very danceable, hypnotic vibe. And while the crowd gets the best of me after my photopit time, I opt to enjoy the rest of their set from just outside the doors, still very much hooked. Honestly, it’s nice to see an act that’s not necessarily heavy, but is very hypnotic with their repeating rythms and phaser-doused synth base. It feels like a jam session where the trio just improv over that bass that keeps pulling you deeper. It bypasses the brain and goes straight to the spine to make one boogie. It maybe one of my favourite sets of the day.

And then off we go again, more socialising, more just hanging out. Somewhere along the way some food is had, and then off to Cave In. Another band that have played the festival a number of times before, I’m quite curious to get to experience them. They will be performing Jupiter, a classic album of theirs in its entirety. The spaced-out and heavy riffs and bass are beautifully cut through by delicate guitar solo’s and the crystal clear emotive tenor of Stephen Brodsky. It’s at times crushingly heavy and again an otherworldly experience, but this time not of the wonderment of fantastical realms, but travel into deep space. Maybe it’s just the album’s title that puts me in the mindset of such wonders, again this strange world is not friendly, but also not necessarily hostile. It’s just beautiful in another way. I’m not entirely sure what else to say about this performance except go listen to Cave in Jupiter please.

We’re now nearing the end of the festival day and there wasn’t much today that I knew I wanted to see. I opt to catch a bit of the Thou headlining set, where they perform Umbilical, their latest release. Thou make experimental, very left leaning sludge and while I can get into it in the right mindset, the punky aggressive and punchy music, with the somewhat preachy intermezzos of societal commentary pre-recorded with video is just not the vibe I’m in today after a day of such delicate beauties as Envy, Messa and Cave in. I get why the band adore the festival and the fest adores the band, I really do. But they are just not for me. Maybe I need to find the right setting for them to connect, it has happened before with other bands (famously Opeth whom I didn’t click with until I saw their 30 year anniversary show going though their entire discography.) but for now I feel I maybe should have ended my day on Cave in, or grabbed Gnod as a finisher. Instead I go to a small meetup of the Doom Hags social group, to see several friends I may otherwise miss in the fog of the fest at the lovingly nicknamed Midgetbar (buitenbeentje). The group is meant as a place for women and femmes in doom metal to socialise, but the meet-ups aren’t segregated and we end up just hanging out in pretty mixed company until close.

Dante:

It’s another year and Roadburn has come and gone again. I personally made the effort to make this one special. I have a little voice in my head telling me that depending on how things go in the US moving forward US citizens might not be welcome because of the actions of our current administration and its push towards fascism. I’ll leave my fears going forward there and focus on the music, and this year was a banger. I did things a little differently and tried to catch more full sets, meaning I saw fewer bands but was selfish and enjoyed what I wanted and needed, to sooth my own musical desires.

Day 1:

I’m not one to focus on just the main acts, but day one on the main stage was solid and no one should fault you if you just camped out there for Oranssi Pazuzu, Kyleasa, The Body & Dis Fig, Envy, and The Bug. Yeah, I know it’s hard to find room for anything else when that’s just the main stage for the first day, and all of them were highlights of the weekend with The Body & Dis Fig set maybe being one of the best of the entire fest. I made my way to the other venues cause there was no way I was missing LustSickPuppy or Faetooth, and I had to take some time to discover some new jams like Dame Area and Buñuel (ex-Oxbow). Ending the first day with The Bug’s electronic/industrial sonic decadence was just the icing on the cake for a solid first day.

Day 2:

Day two had a different pacing for me, I had some contracted work for the Chicago Reader and the wonderful Jamie Ludwig, to photograph and interview Chicago’s Stress Positions, which prevented me from catching all the acts I had hoped. Even with the lightened load, it was a fantastic day, Philly’s HIRS Collective threw down a stellar two-piece grindcore set full of great sample fills and lots of crusty positivity that I was all about. Thou, Cave In, Gnod with White Hills, and Steve Von Till. All highlights from the second day that went past in a whirling, rapid blur.