20,21-10-2012 Dutch Doom Days

Venue: Baroeg, Rotterdam (Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren

Dutch Doom Days is a festival that has been held quite some times already. A reputation is set, two days full of doom bands were planned.

Day 1:
Opening the festival was the band Tyrant’s Kall. The band is coming from Belgium and released their debut album “Dagon” this year. The band starts with an instrumental intro before their vocalist comes onstage as well. This lady has a strong voice but in the cleaner parts her voice seem to break the atmosphere a bit. Instrumentally the band impresses more and so the eyes have been opened. The track “Swamps” is played at the end of the set and sticks out most during their performance. The band sets a bit of a show which speaks for them, some years and we’ll hear a lot more about them.

Evil Spirit was the second band playing at this festival. The band plays purely instrumental but does not really know how to get people’s attention. Within a couple of tracks people leave them for what they are and get a drink. The band themselves do not really seem to be very enthusiastic about playing here either. Their set is short, after about half an hour they rush of stage already. The starts of it seemed quite promising but the band should make more of a show out of it next time.

Serpentarius has more of a Classic approach. With some stoner rock and heavy metal influences the band seems much more vibrant that what we saw before and that seems very welcome.They are coming from The Netherlands and recently released and EP called: “The End of Law”. The band is able to create tensions that grow on during the show so there is the constant feeling that more and more is to come out of these guys. The performance of the guys lives up to this as well, the intensity is brought out more and therefore the show of this band was one that convinced more.

Process of Guilt came all the way from Portugal to play at this festival. The band exists since 2002 and they make Sludge /Doom. This comes with a lot of bass quite present here, maybe a bit of overkill at first but when the balance comes more to its right the band profits from it instantly. When the vocals come in the band shows to have this raw side that comes forward even more. As a performance the guys have done quite well. They kept in touch with the audience by bringing their songs in a quite active way but never left out on going deeper. Nice!

The British Solstice drew quite a crowd and the band was surprising us with the variance they brought into it. After more than 30 years of existence people were obviously curious to see what is going on. The band has not released much new material recently but some new members were added to the group. Their vocalist adding a lot of depth with voice. He can create a different sound when needed and this seem to work out well. On the instrumental part the band has quite succeeded in finding some good musicians as well. A little bit of downside is that the performance is not exciting throughout. It is good to hear some of those classic songs by them, but then we might have expected something more from it.

Final band of the first day was Bunkur. This Dutch formation started around 2001 and makes Drone/Doom. It looks all very interesting, the set-up of the band, though it has its downsides as well. Maybe it is very convenient for communication between band members but from the audience view it is not very interesting to see an artist with their back to towards you. That makes it clear that it must be the music that makes the impact. A slow start, slow transformations, the art of letting people wait for it is clearly on their side but then when the band bursts out in a more energetic part you realize that this was what you have been waiting for. Pure evil, the guys setting up that musical desire and have the power to play with your mind, terrifying at first but you just have to surrender to it. A good set, a boring show to watch, but in this case it is purely the music that makes it a success. Obviously an interesting formation, but maybe not to be seen as final act.

Day 2

The second day of Dutch Doom Days started with some Dutch bands. First was Starve. The guys has their first release out in2010 and most recently a split came out. The guys show that the day can bring quite some tempo as well, sometimes taking it up faster than you might have expected. Good for shaking it up from the start, a bit of a surprise but the guys seem to entertain all the early birds quite well. Good set, maybe not the most expected at this festival but it shows the guys have a steady set.

Second was Faal, a band that has been around since 2005. Musically they make Funeral Doom but presented in a bit mild way. The keys may have to do with that as well. The show of the bands was not really very special, they simply played their show, but did not seem to be bothered too much about their audience. Most funny thing happens after the gig when some family members rush on stage to hand out some flowers, simply destroying their just built image! As it comes to the music the band have some good vocals are the main interesting factor in their sound.

Death/Doom formation Poema Arcanvs came from Chile and has been around since 1992.The guys brought a lot of power into the venue in a way that every element has a little extra to it to make it come out even more. Most strongest point are the guitars that create a solid sound, something that the rest can built on. Also the vocals have a great influence on the sound, here and there it could maybe a be a bit tighter, but everyone can have a bad day. On stage the guys actually brought their music with passion, which makes the music be felt more at the audience, a show worth seeing.

Gorilla Monsoon makes Sludge and you can’t get around them. A big Skull upfront the microphone stand makes their present noticeable. That already drew some curious minds towards the stage so the Germans start with one point ahead. The band does not easily give an open book on what they are about, the songs are varied which makes the set interesting and keeps the attention. Yet the band makes it all come together as the vocals are giving you an easy and familiar feeling which returns in each song. So the band got it all together, a good show with music that obviously works here at the festival.

Also from Germany is the band Worship. The guys Funeral Doom. Must be said this is not love at first sight. The band seems calm, poker face on and just play their material but during the show the band grows and the intensity of the music becomes more alive. The vocals are quite a part of the atmosphere as it sometimes seem to go straight against the feeling the guitars bring, which makes their show an epic battle between the beauty of darkness and doom. Perhaps their sound have suffered a bit from the dominant drums but furthermore the guys have set a nice show.

Headlining day 2 is the Dutch band Celestial Season. The band has been formed in 1991 and has been inactive for some years but the past year some shows have been done after reuniting in 20011. Some new members were along and a lot of people came to see the band. The band played a set with many songs from the past and surprised the audience with a cover of Ultravox’ “Vienna”. The stage is quite full, a whole bunch of players are on, which makes it cosy and gives the music some extra charm. Some keys when needed, strings create some drama in it. Too bad that this will be one of the last performances for a while, the band’s drummer is too busy to continue with them so this was also his last performance. A nice end of a two day festival full of Doom.