Read PART 1 of this review here:
A COLOSSAL WEEKEND in Copenhagen • PART 2/2: Saturday, May 13th 2023 • feat. ASTROSAUR, BORIS, EYES, POLY-MATH, SUM OF R, TEARS OF FIRE, WHERE MERMAIDS DROWN and WYATT E.
Roadburn still felt far from being fully digested when I was driving four and a half hours northeastward to a much smaller but likely spirited event in Denmark.
A Colossal Weekend was going to take place on four days from Thursday to Sunday, with the latter just being kind of an "Afterburner" with only the two artists Lingua Ignota and Midwife. As this was the last chance to see Kristin Hayter perform material up to this point before she retires it, my plan was to go on Saturday and Sunday. When she sadly had to cancel the tour just days before the festival I was on the verge of cancelling my trip as well, but then I could change my reservations to Friday and Saturday and said fuck it let's go - and I'm happy that I did.
Of course if you're an Instagram follower of Veil of Sound you already know that, because I took over that thing for the weekend and posted a picture of every band I saw in Copenhagen.
And in case you didn't know until now - well, here's your chance for major spoilers of my review:
The festival took place on three stages in or next to the Vega, so the ways from show to show were very short. With very few headliner exceptions there was no need to turn up early if you wanted to watch a band from the front row. Most of the time the rooms were almost empty until five minutes before each show. So compared to Roadburn this was very easy goin', which also applied to much smaller chance of clashes. The program started in the late afternoon with between three and five shows on each stage and it was easily doable to watch two thirds of it without cloning yourself.
And considering that there were also those couple of shows I wasn't even interested in the amount of actual hard clashes was laughable.
So to find any heavily destructive negative criticism I have to look somewhere else I guess... Hmmm... The Basement doesn't serve sugar-free soft drinks. But then the Little Vega serves not only Cola but also Sprite Zero, which is a very rare variety to encounter in a music venue.
And some of the light shows were very hard (or even impossible) to shoot with either my little Digital Harinezumi toy camera or my probably outdated smartphone. Especially in - again! - the Basement the visual side often relied more on projections than on spotlights. Which actually looked pretty great when you were there. But now you have an explanation / excuse for the variations in quality of my pictures.
Speaking of being there: Given the reception hell in my giant ugly next-to-main-traffic-road hotel it seemed like a little miracle that I even made it it time for the first band, only missing their first song.
And considering that there were also those couple of shows I wasn't even interested in the amount of actual hard clashes was laughable.
So to find any heavily destructive negative criticism I have to look somewhere else I guess... Hmmm... The Basement doesn't serve sugar-free soft drinks. But then the Little Vega serves not only Cola but also Sprite Zero, which is a very rare variety to encounter in a music venue.
And some of the light shows were very hard (or even impossible) to shoot with either my little Digital Harinezumi toy camera or my probably outdated smartphone. Especially in - again! - the Basement the visual side often relied more on projections than on spotlights. Which actually looked pretty great when you were there. But now you have an explanation / excuse for the variations in quality of my pictures.
Speaking of being there: Given the reception hell in my giant ugly next-to-main-traffic-road hotel it seemed like a little miracle that I even made it it time for the first band, only missing their first song.
So one minute I was rushing through the busy city glowing in the summer sun, and one moment later I found myself in cool dark cellar, listening to the nocturnal music of Shaam Larein. That was quite an interesting contrast. The Swedish band moved between 80's Dark Wave / Gothic vibes, Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock and various other influences and impressed me especially with their female vocal harmonies by the lead singer and keyboardist.
I wasn't completely blown away yet, but I surely enjoyed the show. As a start of a festival afternoon this was indeed very respectable. And the venue, a spacious former boiler room with an elevated steel walk serving as a balcony in the middle, helped to create a special atmosphere.
I wasn't completely blown away yet, but I surely enjoyed the show. As a start of a festival afternoon this was indeed very respectable. And the venue, a spacious former boiler room with an elevated steel walk serving as a balcony in the middle, helped to create a special atmosphere.
It's safe to say that most of the performances of this weekend would have been roadburn-worthy. In some cases that's of course very obvious, because several artist have already played at Roadburn in the past. And Norna I had just witnessed doing so a couple of weeks ago.
This time I perceived their sludgy Post Metal a little different though. Still heavy as fuck riff worship of course, but now - for a big part thanks to the vocals - I got this idea of a crossbreed between the Caveman Battle Doom of Conan and the Eric Forrest era of Voivod stuck in my head. Which of course is a pretty rad combination. This trio punishes good!
This time I perceived their sludgy Post Metal a little different though. Still heavy as fuck riff worship of course, but now - for a big part thanks to the vocals - I got this idea of a crossbreed between the Caveman Battle Doom of Conan and the Eric Forrest era of Voivod stuck in my head. Which of course is a pretty rad combination. This trio punishes good!
First show on the festival's biggest stage in the saloonish Little Vega, which also hosted the bands' merch stalls.
Is it still Doom, even though it transcends Metal? Between Folk, Orientalisms, Jazz and Heavy Rock Messa doubled down on what they've already proven to me last year in Tilburg: Lead by singer Sara's angelic voice this is the kind of Doom which makes you forget what you were here for and blows away all your thoughts - to poorly cite the Italian quartet's hit "Pilgrim", which naturally served as the golden finale of their show.
Or at least it was supposed to be the final track. The bass player however asked someone in the audience about the time of day and they spontanously decided that they still could give an encore. Nice!
Yes, this really is one of those bands everyone of "us" (being people who love Metal, Doom, Rock, good music in general) should be able to agree on.
Is it still Doom, even though it transcends Metal? Between Folk, Orientalisms, Jazz and Heavy Rock Messa doubled down on what they've already proven to me last year in Tilburg: Lead by singer Sara's angelic voice this is the kind of Doom which makes you forget what you were here for and blows away all your thoughts - to poorly cite the Italian quartet's hit "Pilgrim", which naturally served as the golden finale of their show.
Or at least it was supposed to be the final track. The bass player however asked someone in the audience about the time of day and they spontanously decided that they still could give an encore. Nice!
Yes, this really is one of those bands everyone of "us" (being people who love Metal, Doom, Rock, good music in general) should be able to agree on.
After two shows with artists I had already seen live before, the first performance in the Ideal Bar - the most intimate location with a small stage just barely above the floor - was also the one to wow me so hard that I knew: Ok, this is why I drove all the way here!
Let's start with the fact that the Norwegian's live drummer was none other than the always exceptionable Tomas Järmyr! With that information alone you probably could have sold me this show. But similar to the last time I've seen him, which was his (yeah, guess it..) Roadburn gig with Årabrot, he may have been a luxurious bonus, but didn't steal the focus from the main attractions of the music.
Which in the case of MoE are the intense presence of vocalist / bassist Guro S. Moe, whose spoken, sung and screamed performance felt akin to Julie Christmas with sprinkles of both Michael Gira and Jarboe on top - and the extremely heavy yet dynamic Avantgarde Sludge arrangements, which not only because of those typical aluminum guitar necks reminded my of Aaron Turner stuff like Sumac or Old Man Gloom.
The ultimate sound of MoE however, no matter if they aggressively pummeled the room or gave you goosebumps through creepily artistic weirdness, was a unique brand of its own. Go see them if you can! Show of the day.
Which in the case of MoE are the intense presence of vocalist / bassist Guro S. Moe, whose spoken, sung and screamed performance felt akin to Julie Christmas with sprinkles of both Michael Gira and Jarboe on top - and the extremely heavy yet dynamic Avantgarde Sludge arrangements, which not only because of those typical aluminum guitar necks reminded my of Aaron Turner stuff like Sumac or Old Man Gloom.
The ultimate sound of MoE however, no matter if they aggressively pummeled the room or gave you goosebumps through creepily artistic weirdness, was a unique brand of its own. Go see them if you can! Show of the day.
In the Little Vega the festival's Artist in Residence Liturgy gave me my first opportunity to get into them in the flesh, after all previous attempts through streams and videos had failed miserably so far. But no, it's just not for me. This music tries hard to let a lot of original stuff happen, but somehow didn't get the memo that this stuff should also sound engaging or interesting in some way. A lot of energy input wasted only to bore me here, sorry.
Co-show of the day? Shy, Low definitely exceeded my expectations, that's for sure.
Even though I knew their 2021 album "Snake Behind The Sun" the live experience of this very Prog Metal take on instrumental Post Rock made it much more clear and obvious how rhythmically insane and unpredictable these guys from Virginia operate without losing the genre-typical sense for majestic beauty through epic harmonious walls of guitars.
And not to diminish their music itself, but the presentation helped a lot to make this a memorable performance. Putting a massive band like this (including three guitar players) on the tiny Ideal Bar stage and then illuminating that stage with a light show, which made it feel as if it was at least ten times its actual size, was a lightning stroke of genius. Yet still the band remained touchable inside this stroboscopic spectable, especially when the rowdy bass player extended his sphere of action to the audience during the wild finale of the show. Not shy at all! Smash, Low.
Even though I knew their 2021 album "Snake Behind The Sun" the live experience of this very Prog Metal take on instrumental Post Rock made it much more clear and obvious how rhythmically insane and unpredictable these guys from Virginia operate without losing the genre-typical sense for majestic beauty through epic harmonious walls of guitars.
And not to diminish their music itself, but the presentation helped a lot to make this a memorable performance. Putting a massive band like this (including three guitar players) on the tiny Ideal Bar stage and then illuminating that stage with a light show, which made it feel as if it was at least ten times its actual size, was a lightning stroke of genius. Yet still the band remained touchable inside this stroboscopic spectable, especially when the rowdy bass player extended his sphere of action to the audience during the wild finale of the show. Not shy at all! Smash, Low.
Is it only me or are Year Of No Light are one of those bands where you have to had been there back in the day when they started it? I had the impression of watching originators who had been overtaken by many of their peers and successors. Two drum kits in a riff-heavy Neurosis and Shoegaze inspired Post Metal context? Have seen that with much more impact. Cult of Luna or Lvmen anyone? And I had also seen the overall much more energetic, exciting and immersive Shy, Low only minutes before.
Not saying this was actually bad, but compared to the majority of the other artists I had heard this day it left me rather indifferent. That I just hit my most tired phase of a long day didn't help either.
Not saying this was actually bad, but compared to the majority of the other artists I had heard this day it left me rather indifferent. That I just hit my most tired phase of a long day didn't help either.
I must admit that even with a fresh oral intake of liquid energy I still dreaded the prospect of the last band down in the Basement being yet another Post Something thing. But then Soldat Hans from Switzerland sounded so enormously cinematic that I was immediately awake again.
Starting out from Ambient and slow Doomjazz vibes, which reminded me of Radare, they took their good time to build up to full volume and heaviness.
Personally I don't think that it was even necessary to go all the way to Noise Rock / Metal with harsh vocals, but on the other hand I don't mind that they did. When Soldier Hans finally rode into the dusk of the curfew, everyone would have loved them to just go on and on. Undoubtly the I should have gotten a tape while they were still on the merch table band of the day.
Starting out from Ambient and slow Doomjazz vibes, which reminded me of Radare, they took their good time to build up to full volume and heaviness.
Personally I don't think that it was even necessary to go all the way to Noise Rock / Metal with harsh vocals, but on the other hand I don't mind that they did. When Soldier Hans finally rode into the dusk of the curfew, everyone would have loved them to just go on and on. Undoubtly the I should have gotten a tape while they were still on the merch table band of the day.
That was a good Friday! Twenty minutes to walk to my hotel and another Colossal day to come!
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