4/24/12

Introducing Wolverine Blues......




The band was formed from members of Ethereal Riffian, Bluesbreaker and Woundead, fall 2011. In march 2012 was recorded live set @ Zvukoceh studio in Kiev – promo of 2 songs from debut album which will be released this summer.

4/22/12

Roadburn 2012: day 3 and Afterburner

Day 3.

The main band of the day for me was, of course, Jesu. So I came to Patronaat in very good time, while Celestial Season still were finishing their set. I'm not a fan of sympho-doom metal, so I didn't regret I only listened to some final songs.


By the time Jesu hit the stage I managed to find a sitting place in the first row on the balcony. The place was very cosy indeed, in the very corner, I was really glad I found it. However, when Jesu finally started, I quickly understood while this place was free for so long time. The only thing I could clearly see was a back of a lamp just in front of me. And there was nowhere to go, as long-awaited Jesu attracted so many people that Patronaat was absolutely full. The only thing left for me was to twist myself, turn the head and try to enjoy the brief moments I could see Justin's head in a small opening.


Luckily Jesu is not the band you really must see on stage, their music is enjoyable itself. The set-list was arranged chronologically: first two songs from Jesu, then a melody from Silver, then a sound from Conqueror, and then... And then I could finally stretch myself again, stand up and leave, because I don't like Jesu's latest stuff as much as I do like their earlier pieces. Besides, Pelican was starting on the main stage.

The most remarkable thing about Pelican performing live for me is the behaviour of their guitar players. It always looks like they have some program that controls their movements -- so regular and routine are their motions. You could check and tune your stopwatch by their jumps and head bobbings. Looks kind of funny to me. Luckily, their sound is never funny, but groovy, driving and energetic, this time multiplied by the perfect sound quality and loudness of Roadburn. Even the late material that does not impress me much on records sounded powerful in the big hall of 013. Before the festival I actually thought it was a mistake to put them on the main stage. Now I see it was my mistake to think that, Pelican fully deserves the largest possible attendance.

Before I had only heard two songs by The Wounded Kings, whom I went to see after Pelican. And I liked these songs. But when I entered Green Room I was really surprised to see that the male vocalist, who did vocals on the songs I heard, is not a member any more. Instead, a girl was by the microphone. I like girls, but not in doom metal. Can't remember any doom band with female members that I like. And this band was no exception. So I only listened to two songs and left.



The compatriots of The Wounded Kings -- another electronic band Necro Deathmort I liked much more. Cool beats and good light show:


And of course intense screaming from the stage:


Even double screaming.



Very good show.

And then was time to come back to Patronaat again. Not on the balcony, right to the front lines before the stage. Luckily, since Sleep began headlining Roadburn on the main stage, Patronaat was not full, so I could look at awaited Tombs at arms length.



This fast and mighty mixture of sludge and hardcore left a very good impression. It was also very pleasant to be in the crowd, since the crowd was very active and supportive. No surprise, most of the people went to Sleep :)), so only the public that really waited for Tombs came to see them.



Tombs did not spend a lot of time selecting songs for a setlist: they simply began with the first song from the last album -- and continued to play the album in straight order. Stopped after 7 or 8 songs, becoming one more band that did not play for the whole time dedicated to them. Nevertheless, I really liked their performance and stayed at their show from the first to the last minute.




I also heard to 15 first minutes of Bongripper's set, but since they were to play at Afterburner too, I decided to call it a day and go home.

Day 4: Afterburner

Unlike previous Roadburns, at this one the number of bands I saw decreased each day: I saw 11 bands on the first day, 8 on the second, 7 on the third. On Afterburner I only saw 3 bands. And one of the bands was Yob, that I already saw two days ago. Hell, I saw Yob at Roadburn more times that I've been to Roadburn! But Yob is always good to see.

However, among these 3 bands that I saw was the one I waited for most (maybe except Ancient VVisdom) -- Bongripper, that should play "Satan Worshipping Doom" album in its entirety. "SWD" is the best album I've heard recently. Do I need to say how much I expected this particular show?

And the guys completely fulfilled my expectations. Bongripper is a unique band. All the musicians are dressed in shirts, have no visible tattoos, their beards are of normal length or absent. Still, when they start to play -- most of tattoed, haired, long-bearded players with flesh tunnels shall just step aside and listen in awe. And when their tractor-like sound is amplified by Roadburn -- this is the sludge excellence in its ultimate form!



I simply can't find right words to express all the admiration of hearing to the favourite album being performed on the main stage of Roadburn. But believe me, it is unforgettable.

Bongripper were definitely my personal headliners of Afterburner (and of the whole fest too), but the official Afterburner headliners were Coroner. They did not impress me much, and not because noone could compare with Bongripper. Maybe I also was sceptical, because I'm always sceptical to reunited bands, but in any case the Swiss thrashers did not invoke any emotions inside me. The only thing that caught my interest on the stage were effects to the band's logo in the background.



After Coroner there were more band to play, but no particular interest in any of them and the overall Roadburn tiredness made me complete the festival right then.

To summarize: for me personally this Roadburn was not so crushing as the previous two I visited, but you can never expect that the lineup will be always filled according to your preferences. Not 3 years in a row at least. Still, I saw enough good and some really great bands at this festival, so I never regretted a second that was spent there. And I'm already looking forward to the next Roadburn. After all, it is curated by Jus Oborn from Electric Wizard, and Godflesh is already in the lineup. So let there be doom!

Roadburn 2012: day 2

Day 2.

When I first looked at the running order before coming to Roadburn the second day looked to me the least promising. I only wanted to see 4 bands, and all the four were to play in the evening. Time to search for surprises at other stages again. And I found my surprises, since both bands I checked before the obligatory shows I liked so much, that I stayed until the end of their sets.

The first were Farflung, who got a lot of time -- 1.5 hours -- to play, though they played not on the main stage. Good-quality space rock. Before Roadburn I had only heard one song, so I was familiriasing myself with their material right there. And I liked what I heard and saw. The vocalist with his keyboards looked like a lecturer in some kind of stoner university, teaching smoked students.




Cool show.

The second were Solstafir. The descendants of Icelandic vikings looked appropriately; long hair and beards, and the bass player even had plaits. I wish the guitar player also had a horned helmet instead of a fedora hat on him. I hadn't ever heard to them before, but when I came to their concert -- I stayed until the end. Despite the fact that the concert was quite long, they got almost two hours to play, they held me there for the whole show. One of the discoveries of this Roadburn.




After the great Icelanders I glimpsed on Witch. Not my kind of music neither on the record, nor on the stage. Just hanged there for a couple of songs.


And so the time of the expected bands came. And the first was Yob. I already saw them two years ago at Roadburn 2010, so everything looked familiar and of course I didn't feel the same excitement as for the first time.




But nevertheless their familiar wall of sound and their cool presentation on stage are always worth to behold and hear. And you must visit their concerts for a very long time to become tired of them.

After Yob I had some time to check the band in Green Room -- Black Breath. Very forceful! Enormously cool! Stagediving and mosh at Roadburn! Think I can call them one of the discoveries of the fest.


But I couldn't enjoy their whole set -- wanted to come in time to the smallest stage again to see AUN.


I like to see electronic bands live. The members can press a couple of keys and then start talking to each other, while the sound goes on :) But it was better not to look at the still standing musicians, but to close the eyes and let the vibes carry you somewhere far away. And when you decided to open your eyes after some time -- you could enjoy a cool video projected to the stage background.

I wanted to hear to the whole set of AUN, but something was pulling me to Patronaat, where GNOD started already. I thank myself that I let my intuition carry me there: GNOD became my best discovery at the fest!


I came during a pause and was surprised to see a vocalist of (supposedly) psychedelic/drone band wearing big disco sunglasses. But when they started playing the next song -- I realised I were, for the first time in my live, at the real stoner-disco! The rhythms of the songs greatly resembled the pumps in the night clubs, had the pumps been played with bass and guitars and had an evident touch of doom in them. No surprise I have never seen so many girls at any other Roadburn's act. The girls, and not only the girls, were jumping and dancing to the throbbing rhythm, excited also by passionate and ecstatic behaviour of the musicians on the stage.

Even after GNOD had long finished I still continued to sing quietly the incredible grooving rhythms.

After GNOD there was one more band for me to see -- the French misanthropes Celeste. But I couldn't see them. No, I was at the concert, and I had a good overlook of the stage from the Green Room's balcony. But they don't have this promo picture for nothing. When the band came on the stage -- they had red headlamps on their heads, but all the other light in the room was turned off. So the stage looked like this:


Sometimes, however, like this:


But even in the last case I don't dare to say "I saw Celeste". I heard them live, but not saw. It's a pity.

Roadburn 2012: day 1

Robustfellow's own live report from the biggest stoner/sludge/psychedelic happening!

Day 1

Despite the global warming it was quite chilly in Tilburg when I arrived there on the first day of Roadburn 2012, and the weather was to stay like that during all days of the festival. For the first time I spotted Roadburn's advertisements, not only in Tilburg, but even on the railway station of Hertogenbosch I saw a Roadburn poster just on the platform. I thought it was quite dangerous: some stoned bearded bodies could suggest the trains to Tilburg go from that platform, which was not always the case, and would begin a journey to God knows where in the beautiful Netherlands.

The Tilburg's citizens were warned about the approaching event before they could enter the city centrum. Beware, dear citizens!



On the way to 013 I saw The Grass Company was open as usual, despite all the intentions of the authorities to stop selling of weed in the southern Netherlands from the beginning of this year. Roadburners went into the shop and came out apparently very satisfied. Later I was told the restriction was to be imposed on 1 of May, but I hope the dutch weed lobby will win again and Roadburn 2013 won't become weed-free. For the time being I cheered up, because it was clear that regardless of somehow non-crushing (for me personally) lineup, the lost of Midi Theatre with its cozy balcony and great stage, and chilly weather -- the festival will happen nevertheless.

It did not take me much time to change my ticket, get a wrist ribbon, meet my friends and get inside 013.

As usual, I came just in time to see the last song of the opening act. This time it was The Icarus Line, who also were the last addition to the lineup, something like one week before the festival. They got only half an hour to play and I got to see their last five minutes, so I can't say much about their music: I simply didn't have time to make an opinion, only to take a couple of pictures from the balcony of Green Room.


Since I didn't have lineup preferences in the nearest time I made a tour around all the stages to see what's going on there.

The main stage was occupied by d.USK. Which is the reincarnation of Disembowelment. Was funny to see how cautious they were to remind everybody that they were the reincarnation of Disembowelment. They put "d.USK / Disembowelment" everywhere: in the program, on stage background, on a merch place designation. For me it was the only remarkable thing about them, because their old-school death-doom, though with very profound and powerful growls, were definitely not my cup of tea. So I went on.


Went on just to discover that as well old-school Sweds Horisont, who began to play in Green Room, were not my cup of tea either.






If you can't succeed in 013 -- move to another building. As I mentioned, Midi Theatre was shut down from 1 of January by local authorities for God knows what reason. I suspect the authorities simply wanted to shut something down instead of coffee shops, that escaped their heavy hand. Not once during the festival I'd curse the local authorities and remember the cozy Midi's balcony. But that would be in the future, and now -- let's simply cross the street and go inside the Midi's replacement -- Het Patronaat.

There is definitely some irony in the fact, that the former church annex became a venue where the bands with the names like Hexvessel and Oranssi Pazuzu, Tombs and White Static Demon performed. Could you tell this if you looked at such windows



and such paintings?



Roadburn definitely surprises not only by the lineup.

Het Patronaat possessed balcony, but it was just a poor parody on Midi's balcony. Well, you could sit there, but you could see the stage only if you were sitting/standing in the first or, at least, second row. Or if you were a very tall man indeed. However, I didn't have much choice, neither had Roadburn.

When I first entered the premises, the stage was occupied by Norwegians Virus. Quite energetic death-rock was being played with quite impassionate outlook.




The vocalist assumed the position on stage before all the others, a small act of selfishness and arrogance :). Though I managed to listen only to a couple of last songs, I liked their performance, it definitely did not lack energy.

After Virus it was time to come back to the main stage of 013, because Agalloch, one of the (regretfully) few whom I truly looked forward to, was about to begin their concert there. I listened to the first songs from the balcony above, was surprised by poor quality of sound -- I almost couldn't hear the vocals. So I went down in front of the stage -- but still the sound quality was poor. It was even more suprising because Billy Anderson was ruling the sound during Agalloch's act. Unfortunately, this of course worsened my impression from the performance. But anyway, Agalloch performed exactly as I expected -- and nothing more. The only unexpectable thing was the behaviour of the second guitar player, who was acting like a post-hardcore musician, jumping, landing on his knees, putting a foot on a monitor and shouting the words of the songs aloud.



Since he did not possess a microphone -- nobody could hear what he shouted. Well, my personal conclusion: I can check Agalloch in my "Seen live" list, but I'm not likely to attend their concerts again. They will remain for me a band which is best to listen to alone, at home, during long winter evenings.









The next band I managed to see was Ancestors. Two years ago I saw them at Roadburn, one song. This time I saw two songs. Looks like in 10 years I'll see their whole set at Roadburn. Maybe. Currently I haven't yet developed an opinion about them.








It was time to run to 013 and elbow my way to the smallest stage there -- Stage01 (former Bat Cave) -- because there one of the two most expected bands was about to begin, namely Ancient VVisdom.



The Americans were the first band I experienced who added smelling flavours to their performance. Unexpectably, the band that plays demonic rock and praises satan in the lyrics used frankincense, and used so much of it that I suddenly felt myself bad and seriously considered running to the toilet. Luckily, soon enough I recovered and was ready to support the musicians in the first lines.


 



So the half-accoustic demonic rock was simply delightful! The vocalist's behaviour was as passionate as in their videoclips. And the percussionist at the back was drumming furiously, jumping as he did that and clearly having a lot of fun. And many of the people, who gathered at the stage, shouted the lyrics of almost all songs aloud (something you don't experience often at Roadburn). It was pure Godlike Inferno for half an hour.

Regretfully only for half an hour. The band simply does not possess enough material to fill the whole one-hour set that they received. A new song they played in the middle of performance didn't improve the situation. Their concert finished as incredibly fast as it was incredibly great. Unfortunately, at this Roadburn Ancient VVisdom was not the only band who finished significally earlier than the provisioned time. That did not add good emotions from this years happening.

I really hope that by the next time I am to see this band they will have many more songs and the perfect concert will last longer.

Since they finished so early, I had time to check other stages again. Had a glimpse on Orchid.



They can without any problems replace Black Sabbath. Also listened to a couple of songs from Ulver.





There was not so much audience at them, though they were the day's headliners, having received 5 minutes more than Killing Joke. I couldn't contribute to the crowd at the stage for long, because I went to see Black Tusk. Black Tusk happened to be extremely powerful live, I didn't expect such a furious flow of energy coming from the stage, charging the audience. They became one of pleasant Roadburn's surprises when you receive more than you hoped for. I only regret I came when they had begun playing already, so I spent almost half an hour trying to get at least to the middle lines where I could see at least a bit of what's going on the stage. I wish the organizers didn't put them on the smallest stage. When the band left stage, the crowd invoked them again for one more song, and the guys fully deserved it.

After this band I stayed as I were, to get a place with better view when Sigiriya should start.



And that was a good decision, since they played very energizing stoner-metal. I liked them. Unfortunately, I couldn't bear the whole performance as I was so tired after the day, so I left having listened to 5 songs. Hope I'll have an opportunity to see them live again.