Niels de Vries

One of my favourite things about Roadburn, one of the things I’ve miss the most while we’ve been hunkered down through the pandemic, is how the festival constantly explores and pushes its own boundaries. This sometimes makes the event’s appeal difficult to describe to outsiders – the amount of times I’ve been asked what kind of bands are playing only to fumble my way through a ‘well, every kind’ answer is starting to get silly – but the mantra of ‘Redefining Heaviness’ is one that’s stood it in good stead with dedicated attendees, myself included. Even my must-sees of this year, acts like Emma Ruth Rundle or Lingua Ignota, are riding high on recent releases which deviate, to varying degrees, from their past work and must appreciate the chance to explore the edges of their art in a setting like Roadburn.

This year, though, we’re going one step further with a dedicated venue for more experimental and avant-garde sounds. It may seem initially counter-intuitive to have ambient or even jazz-adjacent projects playing at an event like Roadburn, but you only need to listen to records by Roadburn alumni like Sunn O))) or Kevin Martin, aka The Bug, to see how integral drones, experimentation and, yes, ambience are to heavy music. So, here’s a run-though of what you can possibly expect in the Paradox, newly-added to the Roadburn family in 2022.

First up, on Thursday, is the duo of Kristoffer Lo & Dirk Serries, two thirds of YODOK III (who we’ll hear on Friday – b lending Serries’ wailing, whale-like guitar and the looped howl of Lo’s flugelbone (a curious hybrid of flugelhorn and trombone) this set should start us of in suitably cinematic style. Next up we have Autarkh III, the ambient alter-ego of Tilburg locals Autarkh, who some of you may have caught as part of 2021’s Roadburn Redux. The trio promise to take their day job – a collision of industrial metal midway between Meshuggah and the machine crunch of Author & Punisher – and strip it down into a whirl of sound. Thursday comes to a close in Paradox with a set from ZAÄAR, whose Magická Džungl’a album reminds me of Circle covering The Orb with its weird blend of echoing instrumentation and spin-the-radio-dial effects. Those of you into Ulver’s more prog moments will find a lot to like here. I’ll certainly be enjoying a bit of transcendental bliss before heading over to be crushed into the floor by The Bug Featuring Flowdan & Logan on the Next Stage.

Friday kicks off with PoiL Ueda who try and answer that age-old question; what would Yes sound like if they had a Japanese singer? This might sound like a parody of prog excess, but Junko Ueda’s mournful voice is complemented perfectly by the instrumentation of PoiL who, crucially for a band with such an idiosyncratic singer, know when not to play as much as what to play. Red Kite follow with a more traditional jazz-rock set, which will no doubt include their cover of Alice Coltrane’s classic P’Tah the El Daoud. The previously mentioned YODOK III, now with drummer Tomas Järmyr adding avalanches of percussion to the duo of Lo and Serries, are the day’s penultimate act with their strange, sinuous form of improvised soundscape. The stroke of midnight will see Rotterdam-based Albarte hitting the Paradox stage and it’s a fitting time for their angular, sinister groove. Folks who took part in 5ive’s Continuum Research Project need to get themselves to this one.

John Ghost, Saturday’s opening act, are described on their promo blurb as ‘Tangerine Dream meets Steve Reich’, which seems to be born out by their Airships Are Organisms album, and hot damn if that’s not enough to get me excited for the day’s experimental offerings. With TONUS, Dirk Serries returns as band-leader to a rotating ensemble of musicians that’s ever-changing but always defined by restrained and minimalism rather than jazz’s more obvious tendency for excess. After a gap, which I’ll fill by catching the Icelandic dark wave of Kaelen Mikla in The Engine Room, the Pulled By Magnets super-group take us into the night with their gothic, urban sprawl that sounds like nothing less than Bohren Und Der Club of Gore being dragged into a rain-slicked alleyway. One of the ‘smoothest’ bands on the Paradox line-up, Belgium’s Dans Dans manage to bridge the gap between Roadburn’s more traditional desert psychedelia and the experimentation of their stage-mates. This’ll be an excellent come-down session after Ulver’s play-through of Flowers Of Evil over on the Main Stage.

All things come to an end, though, and Sunday arrives all too fast. Thankfully, we’ve got Het Concreet to look forward to. Revelling in live performance and collaboration, it’s impossible to say what this act will offer up, or even who will do the offering. Dirk Serries appears again as part of the Martina Verhoeven Quartet, supporting the eponymous pianist in her explorations of what the instrument can do when taken to its absolute extremes. That just leaves Schnellertollermeier, a Swiss trio, to bring this extended experiment to a close with their strangely elastic, guitar-heavy take on motorik rhythms which would fit right into the Finnish madness of Pharaoh Overlord and their innumerable kin. If I can still stand by then, I’ll be there.

Some of the acts on offer here might be a bit too much for Roadburners looking for a heads-down, heavy metal fix but I urge you to at least try a sample of the weird wares being presented in the Parodox. After all, the word experiment literally means ‘to try’ and, who knows, maybe this Roadburn you’ll redefine your own personal definition of heaviness.

Not only am I able to finally attend, but I am fortunate to be a part of Roadburn’s programming. Sunday afternoon – prior to the final day’s performances – I have the honor of sitting down with Emma Ruth Rundle, Ethan McCarthy (Primitive Man, Spiritual Poison), A.L.N. (Mizmor), and Dylan Walker (Full of Hell) to discuss community and collaboration in heavy music. These talented panelists and I will dive into the impact that collaborating with each other has on their own creative output. We will also be talking about what the Roadburn community – and heavy music as a whole – has done for these musicians over the years. In addition to this, the panelists will be taking questions from the audience on these and similar topics. This panel is about community after all.

Our Sunday panel won’t be the only place you can find us all though. Emma, Ethan, A.L.N., and Dylan will all be performing throughout the festival. I, on the other hand, will be taking it all in as a fan of many of these bands and performances for the very first time. The benevolent minds behind Roadburn tasked me with compiling a list of the performances I am most looking forward to. I’m excited to see some of my favorite bands in a way I’ve never seen them before, as well as discovering some bands and seeing some legendary and underground acts for the very first time.

On the topic of our panel, I’ve been a huge fan of Emma Ruth Rundle, Primitive Man, Mizmor, and Full of Hell for years and I’ve seen them all perform multiple times already. I’m certain their Roadburn performances are going to show them all at their very best. Emma’s poignant and evocative compositions redefines what it means to be heavy. Primitive Man’s sludgy, noisy doom reinforces the preconceived notions of what it means to be heavy. I’ll continue to attest they are the heaviest band on the planet. Mizmor’s wholly doomed black metal hit its latest peak on his last LP, Cairn, and Full of Hell has been on an absolute tear over the last five years with Trumpeting Ecstasy, Weeping Choir, and Garden of Burning Apparitions. I will most certainly be planted front and center for all these sets.

Of course, it isn’t all blast beats and tremolo picking. There is such a unique array of musical stylings on display this year – much of which I’m prioritizing. HEALTH’s dark industrial music has been another favorite since I discovered Death Magic in 2016. They recently released a new album full of collaborations, DISCO 4: PART II, and their album, VOL. 4:: SLAVES OF FEAR has been one of my favorite albums since it arrived in 2019.

Elsewhere, I cannot wait to check out the slew of black metal bands performing at Roadburn. I am hooked on the Dutch collective Haeresis Noviomagi’s music. Seeing Solar Temple perform – in a special collaboration with Dead Neanderthals no less – is very high on my list of things to see. Their countrymen, Terzij de Horde and blackened doom group, Ggu:ll are collaborating as well. Wiegedood and Sordide are two other performances I will be seeing. They will be performing their newest albums in their entirety; both records are stellar. The list doesn’t end there however. Lamp of Murmuur, Alkerdeel, Dödsrit, Silver Knife, and Faceless Entity are all locked in on my schedule.

Kristin Hayter’s magnificent work as Lingua Ignota is so powerful to experience in a live setting. She continues to set herself apart from her peers with her continued work. Sinner Get Ready was a momentous leap forward for Hayter and continues to show the immense talent she possesses. Her ability to combine classical music, various singing styles, power electronics, and a visceral subject matter is unparalleled.

GGGOLDDD just released an incredible new album, This Shame Should Not Be Mine. They’re one of the first bands I ever wrote about many years ago when I was operating my own little music blog (RIP to The Amalgam) and it’s been incredibly exciting to watch the band evolve over the years. Milena Eva and Thomas Sciarone are curators for this year’s line-up, and I can only imagine their performance is going be as special as their artist selections.

Roadburn has also been known to bring out some incredibly unique collaborations. Aside from the black metal collaborations mentioned earlier, there are a few other experiences I will be checking out. Firstly, the Vile Creature and Bismuth performance of A Hymn of Loss and Hope is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity. Both bands have been working on this piece for a couple of years now. Multi-disciplinary electronic genius, Kevin Martin aka The Bug, is coming to Roadburn alongside MCs Flowdan & Logan who all worked together on The Bug’s Fire album – one that was very infectious and critically acclaimed. Martin is a Roadburn alumnus of the highest order who has been known for his captivating performances.

There is a lot I am looking forward to during Roadburn’s live return this year. The line-up is jam packed with extraordinary diversity and skill and I am excited to take it all in for the very first time with so many friends. Even with all these anticipated performances, I am certain I will run into so many other bands and performances that were not on my radar initially. Ultimately, the rare combination of quality and quantity in music speaks to the power of Roadburn and its prestige its garnered over the years. It’s an honor to be a part of it in some small way.

This year’s festival kicks off with what for me is one of those classic impossible choices – Bruit≤ opening The Engine Room (and the Pelagic Presents showcase) with the addition of a brass section to bolster their blissful post-rock will be a fantastic way to start a long weekend. However, opening the main stage at the 013 is the long-awaited collaboration between Vile Creature and Bismuth performing their commissioned piece A Hymn of Loss and Hope. I was lucky enough to see these bands lay waste to a tiny room on their tour together back in 2018, and the thought of a proper artistic collaboration between them, scaled-up to the glory of the Main Stage gives me goosebumps of doom. I don’t know what they have composed but prepare for intelligent and emotive overwhelming heaviness.

While many will no doubt still be deeply immersed in this morass, another Pelagic band – Year Of No Light – will be filling The Terminal with their cryptic post-metal, which borrows from both the blackened and sludge ends of the spectrum. Thursday also brings the first of three sets from artists in residence SLIFT, this one focusing on their excellent 2020 album Ummon. Expect hooky and well-crafted songs, electrifying energy, and a galaxy-full of SPACE! They return to the stage on Friday and Saturday for a set of previously unheard material, and another with synth/saxophone player Etienne Jaumet. Having seen these guys play live not so long ago I can definitely recommend dropping in on at least one of these, if not all three!

And from Ummon to Drommon – Smote bring the album of that name to the Next Stage towards the end of Thursday. In reviewing this for The Sleeping Shaman, I was drawn into the strange soundworld it inhabits, and I would expect this to be a highly immersive experience.

Friday isn’t messing about – alongside the perhaps more cerebral and exploratory performances planned at the Paradox is a selection of bands that will simply crush. This year’s theme of ‘redefining heaviness’ clearly does not mean overlooking music that would more readily be identified as heavy, although there is great range and variation within this broad descriptor. Case in point – those brave and organised enough to get themselves to The Engine Room for 1pm (broodje kaas recommended in advance) will be treated to LLNN performing their most recent album Unmaker. This record stood out to me last year for its merciless assault, bringing abrasive synth to augment the oppressive sound.

If you are not yet fully flattened there is Primitive Man to follow. I was lucky enough to interview Ethan from the band for Weirdo Canyon Dispatch last year and he wrote then of the uncompromising heaviness and harshness that are at the centre of their approach. I’ve yet to see Primitive Man live, but a friend recently described the experience as ‘like all the air was sucked out of the room’. More clearly politically engaged lyrically are Svalbard – if you like your intelligent heaviness building more from a hardcore/metalcore grounding then stop by The Engine Room to catch my fellow-Bristolians.

It takes an event like Roadburn for the day not to be about one thing only – Warhorse. If you like doom, then you probably don’t need telling to set your autopilot to get you to their set. If you somehow don’t already know them, then expect rolling tar-thick grooves, ominous rumblings and the joy of lysergic communion. It’s a long time since I saw them play live, and it seemed very much as though the chance to do so again was a vain hope. I can only assume they are still four-metre-tall wizard warlords.

It also takes an event like Roadburn to make room both for the return of veterans of Warhorse’s ilk, and also original commissioned compositions such as The Cartographer which Jo Quail was due to bring to the festival in 2020. Jo is a composer and cellist who works in a somewhat unique space between various traditions, using instruments and accompanying technology in novel ways to produce emotive and cinematic music. This will be a highlight of Saturday no doubt, and indeed of the festival as a whole.

Elsewhere on Saturday things will be decidedly psychedelic, of course in a variety of ways! Whether in the form of Kanaan fuzzing-out in the Hall of Fame, Radar Men From The Moon playing an all-electronic set in The Engine Room or Kungens Män jamming late into the night, there will be something to tickle the synapses of the most burned-out of psychonauts. Among all this is furthermore a chance to spend some time with The Holy Family in what is bound to be a mind-expanding experience. Indeed, in trying to review their self-titled album for The Sleeping Shaman, the only way I could get my head round it was to turn it all the way inside-out.

Sunday for me looks to bring a bit more space to venture out into unknown territory and perhaps discover some treasures, perhaps with City Composer of Tilburg, Mathijs Leeuwis in the Paradox – Het Concreet are set to bring percussion, voice and tape loops to their commissioned piece. Or indeed the ‘ominous ritualism’ of Ural Umbo later in the day. And of course, anyone still standing should find their way to the Main Stage for Radar Men From The Moon x Twin Sister closing the weekend in a burst of righteous power.