|
THE ARCHIVES
|
Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
|
|
|
|
|
PROGPOWER 2006
|
Sjiwa - Baarlo (NL)
September 29th - October 1st 2006
http://www.progpower.com
For the 7th time in a row we went to Baarlo for the annual ProgPower fest. As always we (Silkie, Nico and myself this time) checked into our regular bed & breakfast and a bit later we walked to the terrific Chinese restaurant in town, where we met with several people from the forum who stayed at Kasteel de Berckt (a hostel in a castle). After a wonderful meal we headed to the Sjiwa for the pre-party in the basement. And there would be quite some partying over the days :) (Marlies)
FRIDAY
ZERO GRAVITY from Belgium opened up and immediately surprised me with their mix of prog with heavy Pain Of Salvation (passionate vocals/vocal lines) influences and some heavier ones, so at some moments you'd be dreaming away on the mellow parts, at others you'd be carried away by passion or headbanging at the heavier sections. Singer Sven Dupon was maybe not completely flawless, but I was fascinated by his voice and (passionate) way of singing. They played several songs from their demo CD "Passages", like the heavy "Subside" and they ended with the 10 minute title song "Passages". At least one new song was played as well. Kudos for a great job to temporary keyboard player Tony Lemmens, who replaces Marc Beckers for some months, and the extraordinary drummer Pieter Belmans. Thumbs up for these sympathetic Belgians! (Marlies)
Second band on the pre-party was DREAMSCAPE from Germany. Seen the band
before and so far they could not convince me with their music and I always
found it quite annoying that the singer Roland Stoll was talking so much
between the songs. Nothing wrong with a little chat in between, but tooo
much can spoil a show! Unfortunately the sound wasn't the best, the volume
had been turned up for some reason and the sound was way too loud and
distorted. BUT, down in the basement bar of the JC Sjiwa, in this cosy
atmosphere, I must say I enjoyed their show very much, despite the bad
sound. There were some new songs in the setlist that gave us a promising preview of
the upcoming album. The release date will probably
be in April 2007. During the show the band distributed some old
promotion CDs of the album "End Of Silence" to the audience. At the end of
the song "Silent Maze" guitarist Wolfgang Kerinnis put his guitar out of
tune and had to solve the problem for the next song. Meanwhile singer Roland
Stoll used the break and gave away a Dreamscape girlie. During
the show the audience seemed to move into a different sphere and
enthusiastically celebrated and screamed for Dreamscape. After two
additional songs the show came to its end and left the crowd shouting for
more... They are already confirmed for the next year on the main stage! (Silkie)
setlist Dreamscape:
intro
Clockwork
Different
Thorn In My Mind
Silent Maze
Shorttime News
Somebody
Fed Up With
--
The End Of Light
When Shadows Are Gone
SATURDAY
To be honest, I'm not familiar with ANOTHER MESSIAH and was quite surprised
with the band. The obeo that singer Robbie J. de Klerk played caught my
attention right away. Very fascinated of the combination which has given the
doom based band a kind of oriental/medieval touch. This sounded very
promising. Often very powerful with agressive vocals drifted over to slow
passages, clear solos and vocals. Unfortunately due to the sound I didn't
catch the clear vocals well... and some of the slow parts I found rather
boring. The only title I remember of the setlist was "Left To Die"... (Silkie)
One of DVS' latest releases was CHAOSWAVE's "The White Noise Within". The comparisons to Nevermore rose my expectations and I was happy to hear the music does have those influences. But vocally they have two singers, one female (Giorgia Fadda) and one male (Fabio 
Carta); both with clean vocals and they harmonize perfectly. My only complaint was that the same formula was used in each song, and I also had that feeling when they played live. But their stage presence was so enthusiastic and they interacted with the crowd all the time, so I really enjoyed their gig. Of course they played a lot of songs from their debut album, like "The Wasteland Of Days" and "Paint The Poet Dead", but also the new song "The Evident". Both voices could've been a bit more powerful (or was it the mix?), but their vocal lines and harmonies were just great and the main man, guitarist Henrik "Guf" Rangstrup absolutely stole the show with his fantastic performance - his playing as well as his stage presence, summoning the crowd to respond with his gestures, grin and piercing blue eyes. I didn't know that such a small, thin dude could have so much charisma! (Marlies)
Due to my predilection for extreme music, EPHEL DUATH was a personal
highlight at the ProgPower Festival. Their technical knowledge with the
mix of jazz, black metal and core was breathtaking. It was kind of
fascinating to see a combination of the three jazz musicians Davide Tiso, Fabio
Fecchio and Andrea Rabuini and then the singer Luciano Lorusso George, so
different... presenting more the evil and weird look. Well the whole
preformance he was a kind of chaotic mad man. Unfortunalely, due to sound
problems, I barely could hear the wispering vocals of Luciano. Anyway, I was so enthusiastic of Ephel Duath, that I totally forgot to write down
the setlist... (Silkie)
Sweden's SCAR SYMMETRY had an enthusiastic audience right from the beginning.
After the intro the opening song was "Calculating The Apocalypse". followed
by "Slaves To The Subliminal" from the "Pitch Black Progress" album and then
change over to "Chaosweaver" from the "Symmetric In Design" album. Scar
Symmetry did a good mix of both albums. Great melodic death metal, one
could say in the vein of Soilwork, still not 
a copy of them. What makes
me wonder about all the Swedish musicians, how do they keep up with all those
bands they are involved in without really sounding the same... The show was at
most times very neckbreaking. ;) (Silkie)
setlist Scar Symmetry:
Calculating The Apocalypse
Slaves To The Subliminal
Chaosweaver
Abstracted
Reborn
Underneath
The Surface
Retaliator
Veil Of Illusions
Obscure Alliance
The Illusionist
Only once I had seen the progressive death metal guys from TEXTURES before and since then I couldn't wait to see them again. Finally this happened here in Baarlo and I can only say I was again immediately blown away! This was just perfect for me! Mindblowing death metal, challenging prog parts, driven mosh parts, a charismatic grunter with just the right voice for me (there were also some clean parts with great harmonies) and all executed with mathematical precision! The type of band that crushes all in their path and that's pretty much what they did here as well. I couldn't stop headbanging, there 
was a (mild) moshpit and even one crowdsurfer ;) They mixed songs from their debut "Polars" as well as their new release "Drawing Circles" and during one song singer Eric Kalsbeek even moshed through the audience with his wireless mic. Fucking impressive!!! (Marlies)
setlist Textures:
Drive
Circular
Swandive
Young Man
Touching The Absolute
Transgression
Ostensilbly Impregnable
Stream Of Consciousness
Polars
Denying Gravity
Regenesis
It was hard to top Textures, but you can't really compare the two. MERCENARY may not have been the perfect headliner in the sense of drawing crowds, but their show was certainly worthy! Their previous touring has made them into a solid, enthusiastic band that can win over many audiences with the thrashy but also melodic metal and many fans sang along with their songs. Singer Mikkel needed a few songs to warm up, but then it was all well - VERY well. His high pitches are awesome! I didn't catch a lot of titles, but they at least played "Loneliness" and the title track from "11 Dreams" (the latter being the last song of the set) and "Simplicity Demand" from the new CD "The Hours That Remain". The backing vocals by keyboardist Morten Sandager and bassist Rene Pedersen were also great - extra kudos for Rene for filling Krall's shoes very well with his very outgoing performance and contact with the audience. A great ending of this first festival day! (Marlies)
SUNDAY
SPHERE OF SOULS is ex-Sun Caged singer André Vuurboom's new band. They play melodic progmetal in the vein of e.g. Fates Warning. Next to André with his beautiful voice, guitarist Anand Mahangoe stole the show the most! He played his solos with so much emotion! He also did a good job on the backing vocals, together with drummer Ruud van Diepen. Bassist Kees Harrison was headbanging the most on the heaviest parts, he looked like he loves to play prog, but usually listens to death metal ;) Also compliments for the other guitarist Rob Cerrone and drummer Ruud - all great musicians - but a keyboard player was lacking and the keys came from a tape or something. The sound was not too loud and very clear, I only didn't hear a lot of Rob's guitar from where I was standing in the front (could've been different elsewhere). The songs that Sphere Of Souls played had a lot of beautiful, ballad-like passages, but also heavy moments. What I noticed the most besides the great musicianship was that I thought the songs were really well written. And to top it off, they ended the set with the Fates Warning cover "One"! (Marlies)
setlist Sphere Of Souls:
From The Ashes
Sweet Sorrow
Loss
Beneath The Surface
Empty
Until Death Do Us Part
Extinct
Room 9
No Salvation
Untruth
One
Russia 's NOVA ART turned out remarkable. What a surprise! Esp. the singer Andrew Nova's preformance and look was kind of weird, but very impressive,
esp. with the song "Memories", where he was all by himself on the stage, while
Kostia Ganulich played the bass on the hidden side, before re-joining Andrew
on stage. Mr. Nova is full of engery and I enjoyed the way he used his
vocals. Nova Art is indeed very arty and quite unique. They did a cover song
and if I remember right it was the System Of A Down Song "Toxicity". They
received a well deserved great reaction from the audience. Well done Nova Art,
hope to hear from you in the future! (Silkie)
setlist Nova Art:
Follow Yourself
Freedom Of A Closed Space
Searching For The Light
My Essence
My Beloved Hate
Memories
Knowledge Garden
Toxicity
The Intinite
Searching For The Light (2x)
Another surprise at ProgPower was certainly the band VOYAGER from
Australia. Actually most members have their roots in Europe, Melissa Fiocco
and Mark DeVattimo from Italy, Simone Dow from Scotland and Mark Boeijen
from the Netherlands... wonder about Danny Estrin... Anyway, they did an
excellent show. I would describe Voyager as a progressive, melodic power
metal band. During the gig Danny threw a signed copy of the latest special
release which features new tracks and the Voyager debut video "Sober". Voyager did
a good job with the medley of classics they played. Songs of artists like
James Brown, Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine,
Meshuggah, AC/DC, etc... Voyager left a very enthusiastic audience. (Silkie)
setlist Voyager:
Intro
Higher Existence
To The Morning Light
Pulse 04
Sober
The Ancient Labyrinth
Time For Change
White Shadow
Medley
This Bitter Land
Cosmic Armageddon Part II
The 11th Meridian
After the break of an hour DARK SUNS entered the stage and drifted into a
dark atmosphere. Progressive metal with a huge touch of goth... Dark Suns'
mellow songs are quite in an Opeth-ish vein. Because Chris Bormann left the
band on September 5th, bassist Kristoffer Gildenlow (ex-Pain Of
Salvation, etc.) joined the band for this show. During the gig Kristoffer
was changing basses to use a fretless one, Niko Knappe, on drums and vocals,
used the time and announced that they had no rehearsal before the show and
that this show would be a kind of experiment. I think it worked out well!
The compact songs in its details are very emotional, melancholy dark, but
somehow still relaxing. (Silkie)
setlist Dark Suns:
Loreena Intro
You, A Phantom Still
Her And The Element
Daydream
Anemone
The Euphoric Sense
Abiding Space
Patterns Of Oblivion
COMMUNIC were simply fantastic, the other co-winner of the festival for me!!! Incredible what a sound these guys can create with the three of them! Their thrash (often compared to Nevermore, but musically it has a lot more different metal influences) is complex yet melodic, and very headbangable, so guess what I did most of the time :P Being closer to them than at the Bang Your Head festival, I was impressed by all three musicians, Oddleif Stensland on guitar and vocals, Tor Atle Andersen on drums and Erik Mortensen on bass. I don't have a full setlist for you, but they played a.o. "Communication Sublime" and the title track (the last song in this set) from their debut "Conspiracy In Mind" and the title track and "Under A Luminous Sky" from their recently released second album "Waves In Visual Decay". Just awesome!! (Marlies)
And then the sort of cooling down with the mellow, dreamy tunes of RIVERSIDE. It appealed to me more than last time, I stayed inside for a few songs and it was really good. They started with an intro that had a Pink Floyd song ("Shine On Your Crazy Diamonds") incorporated in it (I don't think it was just a cover?) and that might give you an idea what kind of atmospheres these Poles build up during a gig. But I wasn't in the mood anymore for this 
music, that would be best enjoyed sitting in a comfortable lounge chair. Esp. after giving it all at Communic's gig, my personal headliner, I had to relax and spent most of the time outside, chatting with friends and also the nice Communic guys, but still enjoying the music coming from the venue in the background. (Marlies)
And then there was the after party... oh YEAH! It wasn't very full in the basement anymore, but mostly due to a few local guys (hi Paul hehe) and some (Chaoswave) Italians, it was the craziest after party ever! Disco dancing, limbo dancing, schlager music and snow was involved.. need I say more?!
And the rest... the organisation is always top notch, the boss is the most lovable guy you could meet (kudos to René Janssen and the Sjiwa crew!) and the "beergarden" tables/benches were a big hit!! It was great to combine the nice weather and fresh air outside with the music inside, because it is always pretty hot inside and of course the social part is very important too, it's a big family meeting each year! Next year already 6 bands are confirmed as I write this, Circus Maximus, Mechanical Poet, Meyvn, Heaven's Cry will return (wooh!), Dreamscape too, and Sunday's headliner will be Jon Oliva's Pain!!! Tickets are already available, so we'll see you all there!! :) (Marlies)
submitted by Marlies 22.11.2006
|
|
|
|
|
