Sodomized Cadaver – Vorarephilia

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Steve Tovey

There can’t be many people who don’t agree with the assertion that a band name is important. Our collective musical history is littered with band names that are brilliantly evocative (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Emperor) as well as those where, if truth be known, they didn’t really try at all: Panic! At the Disco, Texas is the Reason, Cute is What We Aim For [and my personal favourite We Butter The Bread With Butter – Reviews Ed] all need to see me after school for a chat.

Of late, band names tend to give you an almost intuitive sense of what the music is going to sound like, and, let’s be fair, you know already that Sodomized Cadaver are going to be a death metal band, don’t you? Yes, you do and yes, they are. Sodomized Cadaver hail from Ebbw Vale in the South Wales valleys. Ebbw Vale is probably best known for two things – its steel and mining heritage and a tough and uncompromising rugby union team (famously known as The Steelmen after the town’s industrial history). Ebbw Vale is but one of many South Wales valleys towns where there often isn’t a lot to do, so forming a band can be a creative and positive outlet for many. What Messrs Gavin Davies and Raymond Packer have created with this five track EP is straight out of the death metal box, albeit one dripping in gore and generally unpleasant themes.

Calling your EP after a sexual predilection that fantasises you or your partner being eaten alive gives you a sense on where these valley boys are coming from and with song titles like ‘Cannibal Butcher’, ‘Torture’, and ‘Weapons of Mass Decomposition’ there might not be much room for creative manoeuvring, but at least you know where you stand and they know, rather all too well, what gets their audience salivating.

With influences that range across the often diverse palette of extreme music, there’s plenty of Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse dripping through the grooves as well as bits of Bolt Thrower and The Black Dahlia Murder. Someone is clearly in awe of Bill Steer’s guitar playing on Carcass records, too.

At one level you could be critical at the cartoon like imagery conjured up by Vorarephilia (SWEM) and wonder whether it is all a bit juvenile – we have been there and done this all before. However, another part of me wants to give these boys the benefit of the doubt as I sense a pretty black sense of humour running through all of this. For all the bludgeon and dismemberment, under all that flesh, gore and mutilated body parts I can’t shake the sense that there’s also a glint in their collective eye, a sense that they also know this is not for real and we should just go with the energetic and pulverizing flow that they have created. I bet they love their mums, too.

Visceral and intense, as these things need to be.

7.0/10

Sodomized Cadaver on Facebook

MAT DAVIES

Anaal Nathrakh – Desideratum

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Steve Tovey

Relentless anarchic nihilistic violence spews from the bowels of Anaal Nathrakh once more as eighth album, and first for Metal Blade, Desideratum continues the bands legacy in fine style. Very few bands are this consistent over so many albums, but the fire rages deep and wild in Irrumator (Mick Kenney) and V.I.T.R.I.O.L (Dave Hunt), as the Black Country pair return with another lesson in pure musical ferocity.

Starting out as a black metal band, but one that sought to leave the second-wave behind by inflicting a vat of putrid filth on a dying scene, as Anaal Nathrakh have mutated chronologically and musically, the infiltration of industrial hostility and the development of Hunt’s cleaner vocals alongside his possessed throat-ripping for effect and choruses has seen a refinement of their sound. But this refinement hasn’t led to any sacrificing of intensity at the altar of progression; Desideratum, with its khold (sic) black metal motifs, down-tuned riffing, scatter-gun percussion, pseudo-anthemic choruses and sonic gargantuanism, hurtles with the dedicated purpose of a killing machine.

An interesting development to their sound sees a proliferation of frost-bitten blackened metal lines decorate various tracks, particularly on early pair ‘Unleash’ (a very appropriately titled first track proper) and ‘Monstrum In Animo’, tributes to Dissection, and the achievement of the vision Mayhem had on A Grand Declaration Of War (Necropolis) meshed with the revelation of what Fear Factory could have become.

The trick that Anaal master more than most is that this isn’t mindless raging at the dying of the light, theirs is not the beserker, but more and more they are demonstrating an exquisite ability to balance unadulterated extremity with a melodic touch (just a touch, mind) as with calculated intent they cleverly build layers and subtle touches to their barbarism, all with an eye firmly on the current, the modern, the relevant, such as the tar-thick contemporary riffing of the title track. Arriving halfway through the album ‘A Firm Foundation Of Unyielding Despair’ sounds like the bastard mutant offspring of the most intense of Slipknot and Satyricon.

Variety and quality are prevalent throughout; ‘Sub Specie Aeterni (Of Maggots and Humanity)’ is punk as fuck and venomous, before ‘The Joystream’ descends in a cascade of black metal, breakdowns, Goth/Industrial samples and splutters and a strong chorus, with a melancholic Katatoni(a)c lead, a softening kiss in a maelstrom. Yet even then, the intensity shows no sign of letting up, make no mistake, as, on Desideratum, Anaal Nathrakh have realized the beautifully disgusting union of extremity and massive back-splitting, carcass-gutting hooks.

The lion has long since devoured both dragon and child, but has now outgrown the underground and is ready to overwhelm the universe.

8.5/10

Anaal Nathrakh on Facebook

STEVE TOVEY

Torch Runner – Endless Nothing

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Steve Tovey

Just when you thought that grindcore couldn’t get any more punishing, with recent releases by Nails, Columns and Misery Index plumbing new depths of aggression and hate-filled violence, along comes Torch Runner, a three-piece from Greensboro, NC, who with new record Endless Nothing (Southern Lord) look set to cause even more cerebral haemorrhages and broken bones than your average night at an unlicensed boxing match.

Clocking in at a mere 22 minutes, Torch Runner waste little time in creating an atmosphere of unease and tension with the squalid feedback and unhinged brutality of the likes of ‘Attrition’ and ‘Bound by Misery’ causing merry havoc. Aided by a brutally thick guitar tone and a vocalist who sounds like he’s on the verge of escaping from his straightjacket, the songs on offer here are short, sharp and about as pleasant as being on the receiving end of a cup full of battery acid. However the band aren’t just another set of one-dimensional speedfreaks as the tortured crawl of ‘Godlust’ and the skin-crawling sludge of ‘Circle of Shit’ emphatically proves. The latter in particular features a bass guitar tone that could bring down trees, while the intrusive feedback is reminiscent of Eyehategod at their most unpalatable.

While the members obviously have an appreciation for the crustier side of things as so many on the grind spectrum do, here the influence has been carefully imbued into the songwriting process, rather than smeared haphazardly on the surface like a layer of, well, crust. This gives Endless Nothing a feeling of authenticity that many of the bandwagon-hoppers just can’t manage.

A truly horrible and violent album that will have fans of Nails and Brutal Truth foaming at the mouth even more than they usually do on a daily basis.

8.0/10

Torch Runner on Facebook

JAMES CONWAY

Pig Destroyer – Mass And Volume (EP)

Posted on October 9, 2014 by News Team

Virginia’s grind masters in Pig Destroyer are a talented group, to say the very least. Being a band that has pushed the boundaries of Grindcore, sonically and creatively for the past 15 years, one starts to wonder what other tricks they could have up their short sleeves. It’d be one thing if they only released punishing 200+ BPM torture sessions (which, honestly, I’d be fine with), but like any artist deserving their reputation, they occasionally do, if you’ll excuse the lame pun, grind to a halt. Such you can experience in the eerie-beyond-measure 38 minute doom/ambient track ‘Natasha’, following the canon of their masterpiece Terrifyer. In addition, they’ve introduced electronic experimentation, coming as no surprise to fans, as Scott Hull is the evil wizard behind cybergrind-on-PCP degenerates Agoraphobic Nosebleed and harsh noise project Japanese Torture Comedy Hour. In case you were wondering —and you probably weren’t—, JTCH and PD have occasionally conflated, as evidenced by Explosions In Ward 6 being a song on Voltage Monster, and the track ‘Hyperviolet’ off of Prowler In The Yard samples ‘Black Mathematics’.

But enough of that history lesson, this is the here and now. Sort of. Mass & Volume was reportedly birthed while the band had some spare time following the recording of Phantom Limb, (though it had never seen the light until 2013, released as a tribute to the late Pat Egan of Relapse Records. Like ‘Natasha’, this is a decidedly low-tempo release; the band eschews speeds above that of a funereal march in favour of washing feedback, ceremonial ambiance, and of course, riffs as big as a mountain.

The 19 minute title track, bookended by Blake Harrison’s atmospheric vibes that make you feel like you’re on shrooms in the woods, plods along at glacial pace. Much of the track consists of moments of doom, with interstitial feedback providing the bulk of the noise, alongside the synthesizers. Musically, this is a highly appropriate backdrop for the album cover, which features hooded monks worshiping a hideous deity. This beast has vocals, though admittedly I feel the track could have simply dispensed with them altogether. J.R. Hayes screaming for a few minutes in what is otherwise a quite mellow track —as mellow as Electric Wizard maybe— takes away more than it adds, unfortunately. Perhaps Sunn O))) had the right idea.

‘Red Tar’ is the more aggressive side, clocking it at 6 and a half minutes, channeling less YOB or The Melvins and more of Buzzov*en or Thou’s unmitigated hatred. Here, the vocals fit better, though J.R.’s use of effects here is questionable, since his natural throat is already frightening enough. Just take a look at any live video where his microphone breaks, and you’ll see what he’s capable of. The reverb/echo chamber quality is interesting, I can’t help but feel that something’s off about that processed snarl. The lack of dynamics in rhythm makes me wish they had shaved off a few minutes from an otherwise decent romp through the swamp, but still a good headbang track.

All things considered, this EP holds some weight, though it’s easy to see why it almost didn’t get to see the rays of our warming sun. It’s ‘Natasha’-different, which is good, as we see they’ve retained their ability to branch out —they even recently got a bassist, to say nothing of the sample guy/backup vocalist— but it’s obvious that this work was meant to be more of an optional soup or salad than a main course of, let’s say, roasted cop garnished with $100 bills stolen from the Federal Reserve. People’s reactions will certainly vary, but almost everyone agrees that their strength lies mainly in the gladiatorial aspect of their artistry.

6.5/10

Pig Destroyer on Facebook

SEAN PIERRE-ANTOINE

Black Tongue – Born Hanged/The Falsifier (Redux)

Posted on October 1, 2014 by News Team

Slithering from the cesspits of Hull, U.K. the members of Black Tongue plied their trade in grindcore acts before attempting to meld the dense atmospherics of Meshuggah and a touch of post metal atmospherics to their brutal death-core template.

It’s a formula which makes for some moments of impressive technicality but finds itself held back by a lack of invention. The songs are overly reliant on the inevitable beat down sections which in spite of their immense heaviness feel lumpen and lack inspiration.
A combination of both of Black Tongue’s first two releases (although with little to determine one song from the next you could be forgiven for being ignorant of that fact). The vocals are another bone of contention, switching between hardcore barks and deep pig growls they can be irritating as hell. Coupled with predictable songwriting this is a big obstacle to overcome just to enjoy the handful of Chaosphere riffs which have been liberally sprinkled throughout his release.

It is an incredibly heavy release in terms of tonality and certainly drummer Aaron is certainly no slouch, pounding his kit like his life depended on it. Yet the beat down sections are dragged out to the point of exhaustion when the old philosophy of “less is more” would have greatly enhanced their impact. The rigid adherence to lurching mid tempos over which promising melodies are quickly stifled only makes for a more frustrating experience.
Guest vocalist Martyr Defiled’s Matt Jones fails to add anything new with his contribution to the droning ‘Coma’ other than more macho chest beating with nothing to truly disturb, engage or provoke the listener. All of this is a great shame when you consider the menacing atmospherics that permeates ‘Voices’ a track that hints at what could be achieved if the band can escape the narrow confines of their suffocating sub-genre.

Brutal and claustrophobic will be adjectives thrown at this release, yet it is the restrictive nature of their muse which holds Black Tongue back from becoming just another black sheep in the death-core herd.

3/10

Black Tongue on Facebook

ROSS BAKER

Columns – Please Explode

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Steve Tovey

Bursting onto the scene with their sophomore album Please Explode (Relapse) Carolina four-piece Columns have produced an album that manages to do exactly what it says on the tin. Right from the first note the album hurtles the listener through 16 tracks and 34 minutes of ceaseless brutality in an explosion of frantic beats and riffs.

With the prevalence of computer editing, the band seems keen to project to their DIY ethic stating that there are ‘no triggers or sound replacement on the drums, no pitch shifting on the vocals.’ Although this should create a more organic sound splattered with inviting inaccuracies, there is a tendency for the tracks to meld into indistinctive noise.

There are a few moments that stand out from the mass on the album, particularly ‘Punching Nancy Grace’ and its frenzied middle section, and in the dissonant guitar work in ‘No One’s Fucking Waiting’. It’s the chaos of ‘Drifter Aftermath’, however, that really captures the spirit of the album though, encapsulating the dark undertones that run throughout the lyrics.

While the chaos may be hard to follow at first with the majority of tracks coming in at just 2 minutes long, each listen reveals new sonic territories. Throwing in a hefty mix of grindcore, d-beat, thrash and death, Please Explode careers its way between the different genres, ripping through an all out frenzy of instrumentation one second before suddenly pulling back into some solid chugging the next. Although it may not be the most cohesive album, it is everything it promises to be right from the start: short, sharp and unyieldingly brutal.

7.0/10.0

Columns on Facebook

CAITLIN SMITH

Origin – Omnipresent

Posted on July 8, 2014 by News Team

Around since 1997, the north-American band Origin began their career with a demo back in 1998, but since 2000, when they released the debut Origin, they have granted us only with full-lengths every three years. With an acclaimed discography, Omnipresent is Origin’s sixth album that’s being released through the almighty Nuclear Blast Records (Agonia Records in Europe). The album also marks the recording debut of vocalist Jason Keyser (ex-Skinless).

During the first moments of this new record with the song ‘All Things Dead’, the listener may have the feeling that’s listening to a thunderous blending between death and black metal so characteristic in Behemoth’s sound, but as the album grows up all doubts are vanished and it’s clear we are before a technical death metal record.

With the ‘Manifest Desolate’ track it’s delivered a catchy syncopation passage and because of Paul Ryan’s steady and balanced wrist playing the guitar the song evolves into a war marching soundscape – something that’s not predicted and which gives the song a progressive shape.

Besides the full-bodied songs, Omnipresent also features some instrumental tracks that last a little more than sixty seconds giving us pure technical and melodic moments using the guitar’s acute notes so usual in this kind of metal genre. However, this album doesn’t live only by technique spasms, because the ‘Source Of Icon O’ song changes the palette of sounds and a grindcore universe is injected into the record.

Talking about the musician’s performance, John Longstreth deserves some credit here because he’s a team player – he knows when some crazy drumming skills are needed and when he have to play simpler in the background so the other instruments have their own spotlight. Probably helped by the production department, the drumming pedals are prominently heard when the music asks for it complementing what I mentioned earlier. Mike Flores’ bass guitar is also a piece that has its own deserved appearance in the ‘Unattainable Zero’ track where it accompanies the guitar in cool shredding.

And when we think that’s nothing left to show, the last track ‘The Indiscriminate’ closes the album in a mad way with heavy explosions alternating between speeding and breaking like a racing car all the way forward and down to the end of Omnipresent.

7.5/10

Origin on Facebook

DIOGO FERREIRA

Trap Them – Blissfucker

Posted on June 8, 2014 by News Team

Over the years of writing album reviews, I try every once in awhile to make room for a new album by a band that I really haven’t heard too much from. This mindset has landed me on a gold mine that is Blissfucker (Prosthetic Records) by grindcore/hardcore outfit, Trap Them. This newest release from the four grinders marks the first release with new bassist, Galen Baudhuin, as well as new drummer, Brad Fickeisen (formerly of The Red Chord). Being quite a big fan of The Red Chord, I knew I was in for a treat to hear Brad record again, this time for Trap Them. Blissfucker truly helps after a long, stressful day of work and all you want is to knock your manager’s teeth into the back of his throat. A big selling point for this album, every song has a different vibe/feel, making each track a whole different adventure then the last.

The opening track, ‘Salted Crypts’, starts of the album with a backbreaking riff that sends a warning of what to expect. This is just one of those tunes that you can’t help but headbang to, no matter the environment. A little farther down the track list is quite the epic ‘Sanitations.’ Through most of the song you have that old rock n’ roll feel to the drum beat which is always a fan favorite for those who throw up the devil horns. Then the outro hits you, ready or not. I can only explain the last minute of the song as epic in the sense that it has that “end-of-album” feel to it. The good news, this track only places us halfway through the album. For those who love the thrash side of Trap Them, I recommend ‘Former Lining Wide the Walls.’ Fans of thrash will be able to agree this song is a burner as any air guitarist will start feeling the burn. For those in the pit, this will be a circle pit song without a doubt in my mind as the song progresses from thrash beat, to blast beats, back to thrash beat. Just as fast as that track was, the next one up, “Savage Climbers” slows things down with one of the heaviest riffs on the album that is sure to get stuck in your head. This also marks the longest track on Blissfucker, coming in at 7:28. Some people complain that grindcore needs to stay short. I say Trap Them proves them wrong on this track! This collection of chaos known as Blissfucker comes to an end with ‘Let Fall Each and Every Sedition Symptom.’ This closer has a similar feel to ‘Savage Climbers’ as it keeps that nice heavy groove going over other tracks that are based off of speed. Ok I lied. The last minute is Trap Them throwing everything they have at you with blastbeats that get faster and faster until you swear your speakers are about to break. Then, a pick scrape followed by silence to end the album. Genius!

Having only seen Trap Them live in passing once at a New England Heavy Metal and Hardcore Festival a few years back, I couldn’t really say I was a fan of the band. Not saying they didn’t sound good, but I just wasn’t paying attention. Now that I have listened to it a countless amount of times, I have to say, I really hope I get a chance to see them live and actually pay attention this time! My real only grievance with the album was that some of the transitions were a little strange for me. I would be enjoying one song, it would enter the part of the song that a listener would expect a last note or fade out to a second or two of silence. Instead, the next track would just hit instantly and didn’t allow time to have that last track sink in. There were other transitions that worked perfectly in the albums so it wasn’t like it kills the overall value of the record but I had to say something I didn’t like about Blissfucker… and that was it. My advice if you have never listened to Trap Them, get on this bandwagon before these guys run you over with it.

8/10

Trap Them on Facebook

TIM LEDIN

Neurotic Deathfest: Day 1 & 2 – Live At 013, Tilburg NL

Posted on May 22, 2014 by News Team

Neurotic Deathfest is held in the south of the Netherlands in the city of Tilburg, for the people who don’t know; it brings you the loudest, goriest and most brutal shit in a whole weekend drowned in beer, piss and puke. A few days before on Wednesday you already saw some long haired blokes with the most gory t-shirts walking around in the city, scattered around the many bars, benches, hotels and coffee shops found here. The amount of metalheads in Tilburg rose significantly every day towards the Festival. Everyone knows they will be shitfaced and totally smashed during this festival, people were preparing by eating the local (Kebaps) food and a wide variety of special beers found in different kinds of bars. It does set the atmosphere for the rest of the weekend, where this festival is known for. Everyone is relaxed and willing to socialize with people all around the world. We were looking very much forward to this festival, and finally it was there! Travel with us to Tilburg, close your eyes, imagine a light stench of old beer and man sweat as we go trough some of the highlights of this festival.

After a delightful dinner to set the mood the first band we saw was Deceased, normally an opener should be giving you a shot of major energy, but this band failed to deliver a good start. We were stoked for the festival to start, the first beers were already drank and was a bit of a downer to see this happen. It was a little bit too straight ahead and moreover, they didn’t really have the balls to get you in the flow. It was one of the bands I would really wanted to see, and musically this is a no nonsense band that usually would deliver you some harsh neck cramps after. Some props for the lyrics I found majorly interesting (I did my research before), reliving tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe the fact that the audience wasn’t that overly energetic while this band was playing might have affected the overall mood of this band what directly affected me and a bunch of other people. Maybe this band should have opened the smaller stage, it might have worked there.

More than an hour later Aborted, one of the bands I really had to see, started on the main stage having seen them live before and owning some of their albums. I was totally stoked to see this band play again. It was the second band starting on the main stage and the third band playing on this festival. The venue was packed with people, what surprised me because it was still pretty early, but then I got it, this band played way too early! The whole venue was in for a neck-breaking party with Aborted and was pumped for the first pit to start. The energy was radiating all over the place. Even some barmaids (that definitely weren’t into metal) seemed to like this vibe and were nodding their head on a uncomfortable but soothing way. Aborted definitely was one of the best live bands on this festival, and though I had seen them better than this (they were a bit flaky and not as tight as I was used to seeing them), it slapped in my face with killing death metal madness. Awesome riffery and blasting drums were flying all over the place. I felt like I was standing on a ship that was attacked by cannonballs, that was slightly off beat. But hey Aborted was in their natural habitat, and they were ready for blood.

I only have to laugh when I look back at the performance of Spasm. Yep, the band with that singer with the man-kini and a dildo on his head. I think I have said enough.

I was asking myself why this next band was called Shirenc Plays Pungent Stench, it confused me. But then it became totally clear: band-drama. Yeah, lets call it that. Martin Shirenc, the singer/guitarist of this band did choose a pretty good rhythm section around him, and I didn’t notice that there were some different members than before. It sounded exactly the same and the classics of this band were pushed through like they would normally had. They are with only three band members, but still, they bring forth a wall of sound that blasts you out of your socks. The interesting part of this band, leaning on the edge of thrash and death metal and bringing it in such a specific way that it isn’t like the other modern death metal. The nice groove and a bit of a garish sound they got me by my throat, and lets make clear that is in a good way.

I almost started to feel pretty young with the old-timers that stood on the stage, and Terrorizer didn’t make this any better. This band is coarse and pretty tight and made me enjoy them. I almost forgot about this band until I saw them on the bill a few weeks before Neurotic Deathfest. And I got what I expected, a full show that sounds exactly like a wood-chopping device. Which is kind of fun for half an hour, not really for a full hour if you ask me. These guys really have a heroic status amongst the death metal fans and that my friends, is a thing I totally understand. It feels real and steady, the grooving riffing fits completely with the overall rhythm (that is exactly the same, all the time). If I would have lived my teen years in the 80s I think I would have endured the whole show and probably would have stand in front of the stage.

Saturday started with the band formed by Incantation’s frontman John McEntee named Funerus. That I knew, but the fact that the grunts and bass guitar came from his wife came as a total surprise for me. I was enjoying this concert behind some 2 meter tall blokes and didn’t see the stage at all, some good old death metal riffery flew forwards. The next song got announced, and I heard a woman’s voice. I couldn’t believe it that these guterral sounds came from this woman and raced towards the stage to see this with my own eyes. I am so happy that Jill is one of those female singers that isn’t a gimmick, the sound was mature and straight to the point and swept you away while the well placed doom parts fell in. After the show, I was totally in for some more Funerus, they left me wanting more.

The intro of the following band already was pretty omnious, and when the band started I knew that Cytotoxin is one of the most promising young death metal bands out there. Their singer Grimo was ready to kill, and with his monstrous expressions he knows how to get the whole audience to their knees (most of them because of falling in the moshpit). What an excellent stage performance, and guterral sounds perfectly exchanged with pigsqueals at the right moments. The only thing that bothered me is that the band around him wasn’t that overly tight and had troubles to keep up with the energy that radiated from Grimo.

Then it was time for some other veterans named Brutal Truth. Unfortunately this is their very last show in the Netherlands and I was happy that I could experience this band before it was too late. But I have to say this too is one of the bands that would be better painted in a smaller venue, they even looked a bit uncomfortable on the main stage. This entwined in the following reactions of the audience, one part was overly fond to see this band and were already drenched in sweat after the first song, and the other part were looking like how the fuck they ended up here. But still everyone seemed to sort of like it. The band their obvious death sound mixed with some punk vibes create a chaotic sphere of noise and unwieldy violence.

Hour of Penace is one of the bands I have always liked but haven’t had the chance to see them live, this was my que to finally see them. As a big fan of Fleshgod Apocalypse I found this band a version of them, but without the orchestra. They pull the throttle as far as it can get without losing grip, you can find their bombastic sound in a melodramatic sound. I liked this, but halftime I got a bit bored because it didn’t gave me as much variety as I had expected to see in a live show.

Skinless started throwing onions(?) into the audience with the ultimate hillbilly intro. Which made me want to get beer immediately and as soon as I turned away from the bar they throw in some no nonsense bashing ass kicking noise that gets you, but doesn’t shock you. This band is about smashing your skull in with heavy riffery and drums that make your eardrums pop, and they mean this shit! Their singer Sherwood Webber bounces hyperactively over the stage what makes this band fun to watch and listen to. I was left with a good feeling in my stomach after this show or was it the beer?

And of course, between the New York bands represented on the stages this day only, one can be the winner and that is Suffocation. Their front man Frank Mullen was found on the stage with his one and only priority, the death metal jazz hand while the blastbeats were knocking your head off. I would love to spend hours to the one-way conversations of Mullen, but I was here for some good old Suffocation, and that is something I definitely got. Their playing live and on album are astonishingly good and always seem to get me. They really showed the other bands some real whoopass as they combine really technical riffery with being absolutely brutal, and for that we thank them.

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Neurotic Deathfest on Facebook

WORDS: KAAT VAN DORMALEN

PHOTOS: SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS

Roadburn Festival Part I: Live at 013 & Het Patronaat, Tilburg NL

Posted on May 5, 2014 by News Team

Roadburn festival is special, as many who have gone know. It’s one of those festivals where it’s impossible to see everything you wanted to and you end up missing things that were awesome, but you didn’t even know about or seeing things you’d never heard of before but are now suddenly completely addicted to. It debuted bands into the world at large like Goat and Ghost, and manages to pull reform bands that quit ages ago, or pull bands that never perform out of the woodworks. Doing a “proper” festival review of Roadburn is utterly and completely useless. Instead I’m writing an impression. An impression of a magical special place where everyone, except a few bad eggs, is so nice and friendly no-one wants to leave and you’re instantly addicted. A hidden place where the bands stick around to see others play and get just as excited about seeing things as the visitors. A place where all is awesome, so really nothing can be said.

I have the difficult task of squeezing four intense days of not only music, but people and party into a readable format that won’t be too long. I can go on about this festival forever, but I’ll restrict myself.

Day One as always starts a little uneasy. Excited as I was for the past weeks to go back to Roadburn (year four and counting…) I’m mostly reconnecting with friends and bands I’ve not had around for a year. This year I didn’t have the time to properly prepare and listen to all the billing before going, but I had a fair idea of what I wanted and needed to see. I wander into the 013 venue, which has three rooms available for this festival. There’s the main stage (capacity 2100), the greenroom (around 400-500 capacity I believe) and the stage 01 (about 150-200 capacity) across the street, in an old parish building there’s Het Patronaat (capacity around 800) and on the edge of the perfect “beer street”of Tilburg, around the corner of the 013 venue, there is the Cul de Sac (capacity 100-150). All in all the Roadburn crowd take over a major part of the city with their happy blackened hippie vibe. So in we get and hang around the foyer of the completely stuffed Greenroom (the small rooms always get full up) to listen to a bit of Brutus’s set. It’s incredible they’re even here, as just before their tour their studio burned down and they lost all their equipment. The band is hard to YouTube, because of their (rather generic) name, but definitely worth the effort. What I pick up from their set sounds incredible, nice retro stoner blues rock. Their vocalist really reminds of Ozzy in his better days and a few more of the older vocalists. After about 15 minutes I go to catch some of Sourvein in the Mainstage. The sludgey doom these Americans give us just doesn’t quite catch me the way other doom and sludge greats do. Maybe it’s not slow enough for me or maybe it’s the vocals that feel a little forced. So off we merrily wander again to check out the merch street and then catch some 40 Watt Sun. Damn these guys can play. Heavy, slow and oppressive, even though it’s an acoustic set with out the normal bass volumes. Het Patronaat, which has heavy carpeting on the balcony and always gets notoriously hot, adding to the atmosphere. The sound was impeccable. Sadly it’s impossible to finish watching their set if I still wanna see Beastmilk. They’re one of my “need to see” bands this year. While I’ve heard plenty of people be incredibly impressed by them live or even like them better than on record, I was a little disappointed. The music was good and solid, but the second vocals were gone, as was the echo that you get on the record, drowning the vocals. On record they’ve got the more new-wave feel while live they’re more punky. I also expected more show of these guys. The stage looked incredibly empty and while Kvhost played the crowd like the professional he is, it lacked something. The backdrop was just a still of their album cover and the strength from the album just wasn’t there even with songs such as ‘Death Reflects Us’. Good, but not as mind-blowing as I had expected. Then again expectations were very high

Next I try to catch some of Samothrace, but walk in just when their last lengthy notes and ringing through Het Patronaat shaking the rafters. I hear it was good but I really cannot judge on half a minute and two notes. After a brief chat with some friendly people I go on to see some Napalm Death, one of the few Deathmetal bands I almost always enjoy seeing live. Their insane hysterical party energy is just wonderful, and though this time they chose to t a special, slower, doomier Roadburn set, the hysterics were still their in their vocalist who just cannot stay in one spot for more than five seconds. I did miss the exuberant party energy though, but still an incredible set. I caught a little of Goatess, from the back of the room (well outside the doors towards the stage 01 so…) and I remember thinking they rocked, but the wall of people made it hard to really enjoy, so I went to see some of Corrections House. Many people didn’t like them since they’re more in the industrial corner of things, but their dark bleak pounding sound did catch my attention for sometime, and while they were the definite odd duck of the day they were good at what they do. By now I’m in a serious dilemma. I wanted to see Anciients and True Widow, and The great old ones, all playing the same time slot. I also wanted to catch a bit of Crowbar. I ended up mostly shooting and watching a bit of Crowbar, realizing they weren’t getting to me and popping off to True Widow, watching them from the side of the stage. True Widow are amazing live, and I’m kicking myself I forgot to pick some of their stuff up. The interplay between the vocals of both bassist and guitarist, the difference in their voices and the sheer thunder of their music is wonderful. They’re tight and minimal but not simple. The room was packed and everyone loved it. Sadly Anciients was packed so the wait began for Bong to start. How shall I describe the transcendent experience Bong is when you’re already tired yet excited of a day of running from band to band and making room to chat with people and make new friends? After the photo-pit time I snuck upstairs to the relatively calm balcony and just sat there eyes closed letting their atmospheric heavy jam carry me away. Afterwards I did attempt a look at the Heavy Metal Disco in the main foyer, intending not to stay to long. It was 3:30 by the time the lights came on and music turned off and I snapped out of my conversation with a new friend, and sheepishly started the trek home with my bunkee.

After a night of far too little sleep and a heady breakfast, the track back to the festival arrived. For me this isn’t too massive an affair: about 10 minutes in the buss or 20-30 walking, but there are people staying all over the south of the Netherlands and the camping itself is a good 30 minutes cycling away.

When I get to the venue the restaurants and bars are filled with the flock off bearded black-shirted Roadburners settled on the city. Today Opeth’s Mikaël Åkerfeldt got to plan in the main stage. Roadburn always has a fair amount of proggy bands on her billing, but with Åkerfeldt curating and his band playing, the spread of them is even more. Today starts with the phenomenal Magma, French prog ancients with a jazzy 60’s psychedelic style that confuses the masses. Some people flee after about half a song, the rest stays, entranced but confused, trying to figure out what is going on while really liking what they hear. While it’s sort of like listening to five songs at the same time, the music itself is impeccable and the unique operetta vocal style (no not the high waily kind but the proper male low sound) wielded by the male baritone of the group is refreshing and highly impressive.

While others run to see the heavy duo The Body, I decided to have a peek at the vintage Caravan, new kids on the block playing the stage 01, but definitely buzzing. Sadly it’s impossible to get into the room, it even took the ban 5 minutes to get to the stage through the throng. People are latterly packed against the wall opposing the stage 01 doors. And all of this is justified. These kids can play. They play a delightful retro 70s style rock, very listenable and done so well you ‘d swear they lived through the period. They play again on Saturday but after this thunderous set they’ll be more impossible to see. Up on the mainstage Comus is getting set up. This is proper 60’s feeling, acoustic, gentle more formal prog, impeccable harmonies and very quiet. The show is a little static as everyone is either sitting or has a steady place on stage surrounded by monitors but all in all the music is impeccable. The static feeling of the show doesn’t mater, it’s not a band you watch it’s a band you dream away to.

In the greenroom Änglagärd are setting up to play their set. You cannot avoid the massive, huge sound starting up in the main room as Goblin starts to play. While not where near as abrasive and “loud’ as some Roadburn bands their sound is so massive and so well layered that it envelopes you and take you with them on a journey through the musical movie themes they composed. The level of balance is incredibly, while the bass notes are heavy and deep, earth shatteringly so, you can literally hear any sounds in the lighter higher registers, and their bassist sound is at times more funky than doom. Incredible set and so engaging it will drag you back for more time and time again. For a while I try to go see the jam sessions Åkerfeldt set up in the stage 01, which were almost deserted while very good musically, the Goblin set kept dragging me back again and again.

Candlemass know how to get a party going. I think this may be the best and biggest response and interplay between band and crowd I’ve ever seen at the usually quite mellow and movement reserved Roadburn crowd. And they were good, exceptional, with vocalist Máts Leven shaking his wild curls around with fever. As Candlemas have been playing switcharoo with their vocalists so often I had a bit of a pickle finding out who the wild-haired curlyman playing the crowd so well was. His voice was impeccable too, and combined with the excellence of the music surrounding him, he took it upon himself to entertain besides singing.

Opeth, what can be said about them that hasn’t been showered on them already/ praise for their immaculate sound? Criticism for not being rough enough? Reverence for their musicality? I’d like to talk about Åkerfeldt’s sense of humor. The set begins with a heartfelt tale about how impressed he is with Roadburn and it’s welcome not only of his band, but also of the strange bands he programmed instead of the more traditional Roadburny taste. Their set was surprisingly heavy, much to the joy of the crowd, as they switched lighter, proggy songs off with heavy grunting old stuff. Eventually of course people start yelling requests, to which Åkerfeldt had a great solution, he asked if the one guy yelling ‘Freebird’ would yell so now, and after a chorus of replies, they did play ‘Freebird’, ignoring all other requests. At the end, instead of leaving and making the audience shout for them to come back and play one more song, they stayed on stage and made the crowd ask for their encore as if hey wren;t there, and then launched into the massive song everyone had been waiting for since forever: ‘Black Water Park’. I’ve never seen so many people pleased, even mentioning it was their best show in ages for playing the heavier stuff. The intense and amazing day of proggy rollercoaster tired me out to such a point I didn’t even go to the afterparty and went straight home to sleep, longing for something heavier and more traditional Roadburn fare.

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Words and Photos by Susanne A. Maathuis

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