So this was my 3rd year at Roadburn festival. Last year we had the disaster of the Icelandic volcano erupting and a quite a few bands were not able to make it over... Some of those bands were Shrinebuilder and The Gates of Slumber, who were here this year.
For those of you that haven't been before, the festival is based in Tilburg, Holland. The ideal place for a stoner/ doom festival!
Thursday
Alcest kicked off Roadburn 2011 on the main stage, their melodic black metal pulling a robust crowd and they had them eating out of their hands. The sounds was great, Alcest combined the fury of black metal and turned it into a melodic beautiful affair. They brought gentle harmonies mixed with brutal drums and ambience by the bucketful.
Year of no light were up next bringing the slow sludge in an avalanche of noise with an impressive light show, the green room was packed.
We only managed to catch the beginning of Zoroaster and the sound was terrible, the guitars were weak and the vocals were too high. Hopefully it was sorted out before the end of the set...
Ghost won act of the day. It might of been the cheesy costumes (dark cloaks and big hoods on all of the band except the singer, who looks like the priest on their CD cover) it may have be the over the top theatrical acting, the face paint and incense but it was damn good! Ghost fulfilled playing pretty much their full album work of material including my favourites 'Satan Prayer' and 'Ritual' which had everyone signing along to the chorus.
Winterfylleth had a disappointing turnout, they are full of energy and play some classic black metal. I am looking forward to seeing them again at seven churches in London in June.
Blood Ceremony from Canada played the Midi theatre and were a bit Black Sabbath mixed with Jethro tull with female vocals, which equalled a great combination.
The crowd for Cough was packed in the bat cave, they played down-tuned sludge and gave it everything! One of my favourite bands of the day.
Today Is The Day was a popular band to see at Roadburn this year with the green room packed out. They suffered from bad sound to start with but it was quickly sorted out. They played tracks including 'The Eyes Of God' as the opener, 'Temple of the morning star' and 'Black magic'.
The crowd from Today Is The Day streamed into the main stage room for Godflesh next and it was packed. They played 'Streetcleaner' in its entirety, a set everyone had been looking forward to.
Godflesh Setlist –
Like rats, Christbait rising, pulp, dream long dead, head dirt, devastator, mighty trust krusher, life is easy, streetcleaner, locust furnace, tiny tears, wound dead head, suction.
The Atomic Bitchwax, an awesome psychedelic stoner rock band from New Jersey, America, opened up with 'Shitkicker' from their first album 'Atomic Bitchwax I' and played some much loved tracks including 'Hope you die', 'Passenger', 'Hey Alright', 'Forty-five' and a few tracks off of their new album "The Local Fuzz". They were amazing live as usual!
Wadruna played the midi theatre all dressed in black playing drone, druid style with chanting and wooded block beating..... Some people loved it but I didn't see the fascination....
We wandered by the bat cave and Carlton Melton were playing Jim Hendrix mixed with Earthless style cosmic stoner rock and it sounded awesome.
Soilent Green were the last band up on the main stage on Thursday and it was surprisingly not very busy.... had everyone burnt out already? They played an excellent set including lots of tracks from "Sewn Mouth Secrets" including 'It was just an accident', 'Sewn mouth secrets' and 'Gagged whore'. I also witnessed the first ever mosh pit at Roadburn during their set! Great end to the first day!
Friday
Year of night light played the "Vampyr" soundtrack in the midi theatre as the first band of the day however they started earlier than scheduled and the theatre was packed so we couldn't get in to see them. Damn.
Keiji Haino resembles a crazy wizard, with a long white beard, waving his hands about and making lots of strange noises of feedback to start the day on the main stage....
Aluk Todolo played progressive rock, black metal style.
Trap them played to a rammed green room, this year it seems every room is so much busier.... the band were given an hour time slot and for a hardcore/ punk band that is double the amount of time they would usually have but they manage to make it to about 45 minutes by playing slower songs and with a bit of fill in-between songs. There was so much energy (and a second pit of Roadburn 2011!) and the music was fast and up tempo, quite different to a lot of bands playing at Roadburn. It was a refreshing change, just showing the diversity of the festival. They played tracks off their new album "Darker Handcraft" and some older ones off of "Filth rations" and "Seizures in barren praise".
Incredible Hog are a three piece band from the early 70's from London, England, they mix melodic pop with heavy rock and psychedelic blues in the Midi theatre.
Sunn O started their set with feedback and the curtain down for 30 minutes. It was so loud that it was audible outside the building, and one friend watching said his hat was vibrating off of his head from the sound! There was nothing to see throughout their set but fog and an odd fist in the air and at the end of their set a guitar rose above one of the member's heads.....
While Sunn O were playing I headed over to the green room to check out Hooded menace from Finland who played all in black hoodies playing brutal low-end death/ doom metal.
The Secret were the last band of the night for me, playing in the smallest room, it was once again, packed! I managed to squeeze myself to the front to get some photos. The secret have a similar sound to Trap them and Converge and played dark post hardcore/ metal.
Saturday
Candlemass played the entire of "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus". However I couldn't stick around for the whole thing as I really wanted to see Rwake in the midi theatre!
Rwake and Ufommamut were both joint in best performances of the day for me. Rwake (pronounced Wake, with a silent R) are a sludge metal band from Southern America, They came on stage to the sample "You've got to god damn these people; you've got to god damn them! God damn them with your last breath!" That starts off their song 'The Cat and the snake' and it was VERY loud, just how it should be! There were two vocalist mixing vocal styles from high end screams to low shouting and singing. The main vocalist was quite wasted, leaning on the drum kit and kneeling down singing toward the end of the set, but they played an amazing set! They play tracks off of "Voices Of Omens", 'if you walk before you crawl...' and 'Hell Is a Door To The Sun'.
Weedeater stomped out some great tunes on the main stage, they even did a cover Lynyrd skynyrd 'Gimmie Back My Bullets' which was awesome! They have a very appropriate name as it looked like the singer was extremely stoned/drunk/ all of the above. They played a few new songs off their excellent latest album "Jason... the dragon".
Shrinebuilder played the main stage next. I have nearly seen Shrinebuilder twice before, once in London where I was unable to go because of snow and then last year at Roadburn 2010, which they were unable to make because of the volcano! So this year I finally got to see them and they were worth the wait. The super group played most of the songs from their self titled album and Wino and Scott Kelly take over the stage!
Ufomammut had a huge queue of people going around the building waiting to see them before they had even started; they were definitely worth the wait! Ufomammut's album "Eve" was voted by Roadburn fans top album of last year so they were a perfect Roadburn band. Gates of slumber are a heavy doom metal band; I recognised a few songs off of "Hymns of Blood and Thunder" album. They were the perfect end to the festival.