Growing out of great avant-garde scene bands like Tombstones and Hymn, Norwegian proggy post-Metal power trip Sâver will release their debut album this spring. They Came With The Sunlight will release from Pelagic Records on March 8th and pre-orders have jost gone live at the links below. Sâver’s brutal, thoughtful riffs and harsh vocals are the perfect palate cleanser for frigid winter nights and doldrum days. Watch the video for their new single ‘I, Vanish’ right now!
Sometimes rare gigs come along you just need to attend f you can. Legendary American Doom metal band Saint Vitus playing the tiny, 150 person capacity Little Devil bar, a venue with its own cult status and following, was just something I knew would be special. And having the Norwegian heavy fuzz-groovers Tombstones join them, is just a pure bonus. On a nice, warm sunny Saturday may 6th, I go find some refuge from the sun and cheer in the cold desolate tones of Doom!Continue reading
Part II
Saturday at Psycho Las Vegas was no less impressive and perhaps the best single day of the fest band for band, especially if you were still able to stand after the first few days. Starting off with the public première of the Melvins documentary, The Colossus Of Destiny, followed by a Q & A by the director, Bob Hannam; this set the tone for the day.Continue reading
Nothing like a sunny day to visit the bowels of the basement of Sound Control for some grimy sludge and hardcore from a bunch of miscreants. First up today at the ungodly early hour of 4:30 PM are Bury’s own Pist who impress early on with their mixture of Eyehategod swagger and Mancunian grit. Guitarist John Nicholson churns out slabs of metallic blues while David Lee Rowlands shrieks manage to shake up the early goers.
Unfortunately Siege Mentality completely fail to capitalise on Pist’s momentum. The ex-Iron Witch mob trade in generic hardcore punk with plenty of spit but no polish. The quintet’s interchangeable throwaway compositions all follow the well-worn post Discharge hardcore punk template and are forgotten straight after they are aired.
Thankfully Tombstones get us back on track. Sticking to the tune low and play slow ethos the Norwegians win the audience back with their primordial slabs of noise ‘King Of Daze’ and a storming cover of Melvins classic ‘The Bit’ which have the audience eating out of their hands.
King Parrot are aptly named because they have plenty of squawk but so little of substance. Their performance ignites a decent size pit but the irritating screeching of vocalist Youngy is greatly off putting, as is his moronic stage banter and insistence on soaking the first couple of rows with water. Their warp speed racket sounds allows some to get their mosh on but the band come across as sexually repressed Neanderthals’ with no memorable songs to speak of.
Weedeater do not fuck around. These deranged Louisiana rednecks slam into their set with a frightening vigour. Dave “Dixie” Collins is a cross-eyed lunatic screeching out his lyrics while drummer Travis Owen slams his kit tossing his sticks around and kicks his high hat all while continuing to play without missing a beat. Numbers like ‘Weed Monkeys’ are impossible to resist such is their reckless delivery and visceral delivery. These trailer park titans came to throw down and impress with a watertight set of potent sonic hits which leaves the audience deliriously happy and hungry for another fix.
WORDS BY ROSS BAKER
Roadburn Festival have announced Wovenhand, Russian Circles, Wardruna and a second Enslaved performance amongst the latest additions to the 2015 edition.
Wovenhand will be headlining the 013 stage, and Russian Circles in the main hall on Thursday, April 9th, 2015. Guitarist Ivar Bjornson of Enslaved and Einar Selvil of Wardruna has been previously announced to curate the event on Friday, April 10th at the 013 venue.
Enslaved will be doing a second show at Roadburn 2015 on Saturday, April 11th. Already announcing the Enslaved/Wardruna collaborative effort Skuggsja, the sound of Norway’s Norse History, Enslaved will also perform a show dubbed House of Northern Gods, consisting of a set list specially put together for Houses of the Holistic, featuring songs from the band’s entire catalogue, accompanying visuals created by Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu.
Wardruna will be doing a special performance dubbed House of the Spinning Seer on Friday, April 10th as part of Houses of the Holistic.
Argus, Bell Witch, Darkher, Eagle Twin, Helms Alee, Sun Worship, Terminal Cheesecake, Tombstones, Brimstone and Uzala have also been confirmed for the 20th edition of Roadburn Festival.
Curated by Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) and Wardruna‘s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik, Roadburn Festival 2015 (including Fields of the Nephilim, Anathema, Skuggsjá, Enslaved, Wardruna, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin performing Dawn of The Dead and Susperia in its entirety, Zombi, Sólstafir, White Hills, Bongipper, Floor, Eyehategod and The Heads as Artist In Residence among others) will run from Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Bjornson commented:
“The Friday show during Roadburn 2015 will indeed be a special one. We have named the concert ‘House of Northern Gods’ and it will consist of a walk-through of an imaginary, magical house. It is a mental construction that could represent the mythological Valhalla with its inhabitants – or in Jung’s school of psychology: the archetypical roles of the human psyche. This will be the foundation for the set-list and the framework around the concert; there’s a stem of thematic songs from ‘Allfadr Odinn’ (the Paternal archetype) on ‘Hordanes Land’ in 1993 up to ‘Materal’ (the Maternal archetype) from 2012’s ‘RIITIIR’ where various characters/ roles in the ‘House of Northern Gods’ are represented and materialized into music. These are the songs that will make up the Friday show at Roadburn 2015!
“As if it wasn’t a big enough honour to play one show at Roadburn 2015, we get to play a second show Saturday! We are already hard at work with planning to turn these into the most spectacular two Enslaved shows possible, as we know that this double-Roadburn-whammy is not likely to happen again (we’ve heard of lightening striking twice, but thrice?). This second show will be one of the first European shows where we present our new album, that will be released something like a month prior to Roadburn 2015. We don’t like to brag; but be prepared for something monumental! We will also make use of the fact that Tilburg will be loaded to the brim with friends and colleagues at this point, so don’t be surprised if the show culminates in Enslaved having good friends on stage to make sure we go out with a blast! He who lives will see…
Selvik added:
“We are very excited as well as honored to be back to perform at Roadburn 2015 and so we plan to use this occasion to give the audience a concert out of the ordinary. It will be a Wardruna concert in an all-new form. With almost twice the amount of musicians that we normally have on stage our sonic threads of old and new shall be majestically spun and our soundscape carefully woven on the loom of the spinning seer.
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