Dynamo Metalfest, the spiritual successor of the legendary Dynamo Open-Air, is in Eindhoven once again the weekend of the 17th and 18th of august. This year what was usually just the warm-up party turned into a proper half-day festival, marketed under the name Black Friday, and sporting an impressive (mostly) black metal bill with Uada, Watain, and Decapitated on the menu.Continue reading
Hellripper have steadily been growing in esteem over the past several years, and today they are playing the small stage in 013, just like they did Roadburn 2019. The tour has been on for about a week, but is full steam ahead. Contending with the massive fun fair in Tilburg, makes this week’s shows a little tough. The time schedule had all bands set to play 45-minute sets, with Sarcator entering the stage just 15 minutes after doors open, with 15-minute changeovers. This seems like a Formula 1-level time window, so let’s see if they fully pull it off. It’s speed metal, but this is very tight planning. All of this so the show can end at the timely hour of 10 at night so a party can be held for the fun fair after. Talk about flipping venues!Continue reading
After years of no gigs, many festivals moved, or revamped. Into the Void has been around a while, but this year is the first time it is held in Eindhoven, Just one day we have 11 bands to get through in the Effenaar, with a nice mix of genres that the Club Void shows also share. Given the rather solid line-up for those who love Stoner, Doom Metal, Psych, and even some post-Metal, Ghost Cult went to have a look.
This tour package is one of the many that were postponed from the pandemic, originally expected in early 2020, but now two years later, Heilung finally returns. Sadly, not with the original support of Gaahls Wyrd, but bringing the equally if differently impressive Eivør, and Lili Refrain. Tonight is a night with a theme of mythic vocals and the gods of old.
Happy new year! Time for the first show of this very fresh and unsullied year, and what better show than the opening night of the new album tour for Misthyrming. Having almost silently dropped one of the best black metal albums of 2022, Með hamri, in December, Misthyrming are doing a small tour through Europe. They are joined by Kringa, whose 2022 album All Stillborn Fires, Lick My Heart! should also feature high on the black metal 2022 lists, Ritual Death and Nubivagant. As the candles are lit and the skulls put out on their little tables, we’re in for a good evening’s entertainment.
Back in the saddle after a prolonged hiatus I got to cover some Black Metal for Ghost Cult Magazine in 013 Tilburg on the 29th of September 2022. It’s good to walk the halls of the familiar venue again after a few years of mostly quiet, and several months since Roadburn. Tonight we come for Watain’s new album tour, The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain. They are joined tonight by Bölzer, Tribulation and Abbath, an excellent package.
Rejoicing still in the simple fact we can have a physical Roadburn again, the final two days definitely wore on our pandemic shocked psyche and physique. Stumbling more and wearing down in a way I’m not used to, I mentioned to some friends during the weekend the Pandemic has made us all old, and 5 days on our feet now feel a lot longer. Saturday started with the feeling it felt like a Sunday, traditionally called the afterburner, because by that time you are fairly burnt out.
After three years of waiting and longing, finally there will be an in person Roadburn Festival again. While the 2021 online edition Roadburn Redux, was in itself, innovative and the best digital festival I’ve seen set up during the dark days of the pandemic, nothing beats being physically shaken by bass heavy music and hugging friends from all over the world you only see once a year.
Ghost Cult’s Tilburg, NL correspondent Susanne A. Maathuis attended a listening part for Gaahl’s Wyrd’s debut album Gastir, due out on Season of Mist on May 31st. Check out her report and the new video for ‘From The Spear’!
Having a thriving metal scene and more gigs on an area the size of a pinprick on a globe, it’s surprising that the Netherlands doesn’t really have any big outdoor summer metal festivals, like Wacken, Hellfest and Graspop, ever since Dynamo Metalfest called it quits and recently revived in super small-scale all we’ve had is Fortarock. With its three stages and two-day lineup, it’s still charmingly small for the big boys, but it manages to pull impressive headliners and after having taken a break for one year, it sure is back in 2018.Continue reading