19 March 2024

11-08-2019 Into The Grave

Location: Leeuwarden (Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren

The last day of Into The Grave was a free day. A gift to the locals and a little bit extra for the ticketholders.

We started the day with Klone and after two wild days at the festival it is so nice to wake up with a very calm, groovy progressive act. The band is not too extreme and therefore helps with an easy start under enjoyment of a cup of coffee/tea. The audience was taking it just like that, as an calm start of the day. It was great to see some curious minds from the city came to see these acts today as well.

Klone, a French formation, has a new album out: “The Grand Voyage” and they play some of that here today. A few fans with humor taking the piss with the calm kind of music by starting a mosh. Musically, the band has some good material to offer but it does not really come out that well in the broad daylight. Let us see this in an intimate club environment and it simply works out much better.

Prognosis is up next and promotes themselves to be playing Groove metal. Taking it up one notch from the previous act the band is ready to get the party started. Here and there the guys are dealing with some sound issues, but not something that is bothering too much as it seems.

The playfulness of these guys is interesting to watch. One moment it is one that takes the spotlight and just as easily someone else takes over. A variation that comes with such an ease that you hardly notice. With their music not being overly wild either it is great for local visitors who could enter from 15.00 on.

The Vintage Caravan from Iceland is a bit remarkable to watch. Like stuck in the 70’s but mixing it with a bit from anno 2019 and a whole lot of energy to hype it all up. The best thing about this band is the instrumental skills. How they play those riffs, the solo’s is amazing to watch.

The guys can keep it long and entertaining. One does not get bored too easily with them. A few youngsters seek the opportunity to crowdsurf, some really young minors were passing by having a good time. The band is showing us some strong material, maybe not everyone’s cup of tea but certainly worth seeing.

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That Death Angel would be our favorite today was in line of expectations, but that it would turn out to be a memorable show like this we could not foresee. It is obvious that the band has drawn many of the audience specifically. Right in the beginning of the set their drummer already destroys his snare so some time was lost replacing it, but it did not calm down the audience.

It does not really matter whether the band plays a classic like “Seemingly Endless Time” or some more recent material, the audience greets it with the same enthusiasm. Towards the end of the set we even see the hired security guards crowdsurfing by. Simply says that the atmosphere was all right today. But that being set aside, the band seem to give their best as well. The say multiple times how much they adore playing in this country and with their playing a tight set it simply makes that this show is one of our favorites of all Death Angel shows we saw through the years.

The actual headliner of the day was Opeth though. And knowing that they were playing on the free day we were expecting a full house here today and it surely was quite full. Must be said that on this new layout you still have quite a good view on the mainstage even while standing in the back, certainly a win for the organisation!

The band has a new album coming and is ready to heat up the audience for their new release. Two hours long people are able to enjoy this act which starts with tracks like “Ghost of Perdition” and “Demon of the Fall” which are greeting with a warm welcome by the fans. We can’t recall hearing any new material but we must admit that we were not able to watch the entire set today.

Mikael seem to enjoy his time today and speaks a bit in between the songs, letting the audience know they did not really knew about having to play two hours. But so far the band has managed well and if this is a warm up towards their new release and the upcoming tour the band has certainly raised curiosity. A great close of this years Into The Grave. What we can expect for next year is yet unknown. Only time will tell,

Links:

Into The Grave website