Sunday 2nd October
It may not be obvious but I do research these bands before coming here. I had trouble in this respect with Neverus, the band to win the post-party graveyard slot of 1.30pm on the Sunday. Every time I put their name in, it came back with Nervous. Maybe someone was trying to tell me something. There was a nice crowd and Neverus went at it with gusto, it being a symphonic death metal akin to Stormlord or Wintersun. There was evidently some sensitivity around the Wintersun comparison, which the lead band member recognised when introducing “One for Blood”.
The band had the look with their face paint and long hair which allowed a triumvirate of head banging on stage. The clean vocals were weak, but the screams were harsh, and the band couldn’t be faulted for their lack of energy. At one point the lead member drew attention with a long-winded explanation to the fact that one of the guitarists hadn’t had a chance to practice, and so as a substitute he would play air guitar, which he did. This all seemed contrived, and apart from the energy there wasn’t much else here as the band seemed to drop into musical no man’s land.
“What the merry thump?” ejaculated Bob Cherry. You will of course recognise that line from the 1934 Billy Bunter annual. I echo Cherry’s ejaculation in describing Nero di Marte. I remembered reviewing the band’s “Immoto” album and the fact that I liked it, but oddly couldn’t remember anything about it. I soon realised why. This is not music where you get the hook or the memorable lyric which stays with you at inappropriate moments. There is no repetition – “linear” was how a band member described it me afterwards. This is dark, complex and abstract. Walls came crashing down. Drums triggered. The atmosphere was dark and violent. The vocalist’s utterances matched it. These were the dark sounds of a desperate world where we were being swept along a lava flow. Men threw themselves about the stage. This apparently is what they do when they know that the end of the world is approaching.
This mountainous music reverberated in my head like a machine even though there was no loop of any sort. The atmosphere was outrageously weighty but the creativity of these experimental slabs was coming through. Momentarily we entered a void. Deep waves resonated. It became almost like pungent psychedelia. The tempo varied but the atmosphere was the same. There was no expression of excitement from the band at being here at ProgPower, unlike other bands. They had crumbling worlds to depict. Double drums accompanied the uncertain patterns to reinforce the apocalypse we were facing. “Pulsar” featured melancholy for the first time, and a drumming style not dissimilar to Cult of Luna. “Are we too heavy for ProgPower?” asked the quiet lead band member somewhat after the fact. “Sisyphus” closed the set. After a slow, intriguing build-up, there was an outburst of chaos before it descended into violence and uncontrolled flying debris. Calm returned eventually but everything had been laid to waste by now. The band did not pose for pictures as other bands tend to do. This highly creative and thoughtful musical content gave no cause for celebration.
Here’s the beauty of ProgPower. From the obscurity of Nero di Marte, we heard conventional songs again from Vulkan. It was quite a shock to the system. This was keyboard-aided heavy prog with a nice flow. It was like being cleansed. The band sang a song in Swedish which had a strong melody, It packed a punch and had emotive touches. The singer’s voice had power, range and vulnerability where needed. But this band was a puzzle. After a strong start and in spite of strong support from the drums and guitar department, the songs never reached a level of excitement and even fizzled out. The vocalist did the speaking and seemed a cynical sort of chap.
There was nothing wrong with what Vulkan did, but unless they see things differently in their native Sweden, I can’t see people turning out in their droves for them. The odd mysterious prog passage and heavy passage was countered by less than dazzling songs and a strange call to the wild which may or may not have supposed to have a haunting effect. Regarding the last song “you’ll have to find out for yourself”, pronounced the vocalist. Was this Swedish humour in action? Where the band did score was in the two songs delivered in Swedish. On “Requiem”, the second one, there was actually some passion which was a missing link elsewhere in Vulkan’s set. The final song “The Madness Sees No End” was like a 1970s fuzz rock song, but all in all this show lacked excitement. I was told afterwards by someone who knew the band’s work that Vulkan’s lyrics are clever but this was lost on me, and it’s ironic that for me the two best songs were in a language that I don’t know.
Two become eight. I understand that Meer started as a two piece and now they fill the large stage at the JC Sjiwa club. Fresh-faced, comforting and like a family, they reminded me of a Norwegian version of the 1970s series The Waltons. They won’t be sharing a stage with Gorgoroth for sure. Oh, and the lead duo are family members with a sister and her younger brother on vocals, not to mention the support cast of a keyboard player, a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, a violinist and a viola player. Everyone had their turn on the first song “Picking Up the Pieces”. The sound was muddy at first, which negated slightly the harmonies which are clearly a strong point of this group. Meer specialise in delicious harmonies and cleverly crafted songs, They had us drifting along oceans and dreaming. Arguably the songs are a bit sugary.
I thought this during “Songs of Us” and “Child” but equally we had heavy drums on the otherwise smooth “Across the Ocean”, and electro, strings and guitar work at other times. The mainstay though was the harmonies behind these clever songs. The lady had a feisty and a bit of an Amy Winehouse quality to her voice while her brother specialised in the softer end vocals. Shapes were made, there was drama and there was a lot of bouncing and happiness which projected to the spellbound audience. In a nod to the vagaries of live performance, the fresh-faced brother managed to forget the words at the start of a song. Sis helped bro and it was all resolved with smiles, and on we went. The set, which seemed to last 5 minutes but actually went on for an hour, ended with “Beehive” – more jumping, viola and happy wholesome energy. This set showcased a very talented group of musicians and vocalists. I was so impressed that I bought their latest album and very much look forward to listening to it. I’m told the lyrics may not be as wholesome as the band’s outer persona. I’ll find that out in due course. Meanwhile I won’t be buying a box set of Waltons videos.
Avandra were on the billing to come over from their native Puerto Rico in 2020 when this event didn’t happen. I’m delighted that they could make it this year. My fellow writer Andy Barker was impressed with their album “Skylighting” from 2020, a view that I echo, and I was particularly looking forward to seeing them play live. They started like they meant business, as if they were releasing pent-up energy. With heavy riffs and heavy songs, they settled into a pattern but this was without doubt their technical heavy set tonight. The tiniest guitar player in the world, who couldn’t reach the mic, account undoubtedly not having been taken that not everyone is tall like Dutch people, proved his skill time and time again. The lady supervising the sampler who assisted on vocals looked uber-excited. The tall vocalist-guitarist alternated between roars and clean voice. Both were impressive. Avandra played like they’d been going for years. It was tight, the timing was great as were the song structures, and unlike many an inexperienced band they allowed us the time within their songs to take in the enormity of what they were playing. Now and then softer passages flowed out of the many heavy sections.
“In Memoriam” gave license for the little man to display his technical guitar ability. Adopting the poses of a rock star, he played like a man possessed. To reinforce this image, the two guitarists and the bassist lined up in formation. The more I heard, the more I related this in my mind to Persefone. This was managed turbulence. There was a strong degree of technical exhibitionism. Sure, this was dramatic, gripping, lush even, and during this feast of melodic technical metal we had a multitude of exciting and epic scenes alongside the ambient prog passages. Avandra played a rock n rolling song from their 2017 album, material from the latest one “Prodigal” and probably some stuff from the intervening albums, but strangely I found as an hour of technical flamboyance approached that it all became a bit of a blur. I thought I knew the “Skylighting” album but didn’t recognise anything of it or the atmosphere it had. But maybe I was progged out and of course this was a live performance although it is nice to either be reminded of the experience of the album, or at least get a taste of it if the band’s work is unfamiliar. Maybe it’s because I’m not avid follower of the band. What I can say is that we were put through the mill of technical and melodic progressive metal, and this was a highly skilled and professional performance from Avandra.
It’s not the greatest sign when you’ve seen a band previously and can’t remember anything noteworthy about their performance. Seventh Wonder played here in 2011. I was here too. Now they’re here again 11 years on and they’re headlining. Well I quickly got the answer to this one. The core of it is that this was 90 minutes, or maybe 100 years on the Seven Seas which the singer liked quoting, of progressive power metal and all that goes with it: bombast, big sounds, flailing guitars and power vocals. Now there was nothing wrong with any of this technically, and the vocalist had a good voice but he made the irritating assumption on more than one occasion that we all knew the songs, viz: “I know that you guys know this song”. Wrong. The clichés are too many to mention. Inevitably there were lashings of cheese, of a Dutch variety I’d hope, and the bassist was particularly adept at posing but I did appreciate the musical efforts of him and the other instrumentalists. The lead guitarist looked bored but that may be his normal expression. I wouldn’t blame him if he was.
The band all knew what they were doing, and it all drove along at a fair and heavy pace, but it just sounded the same to me apart from the pitiful ballads. To redress the balance, whilst I don’t think I was in a minority of one here, there were many in the audience for whom this was the highlight. In addition this is ProgPower Europe so it’s not unreasonable to expect all this power posturing. Seventh Wonder were always unlikely to appeal to me. They didn’t but it certainly didn’t detract from a wonderful weekend.
I congratulate the organisers of ProgPower Europe every year, but they deserve it. It’s more than just getting a great bunch of bands, which involves a lot of work. Once again the organisation was exemplary. I can’t imagine the sheer number of logistical issues that have to be overcome in order to put on this event for our enjoyment. With every year come extra little touches such as providing lockers for festival goes to use and store their newly purchased cds, and an early check-in to avoid queues. And everyone was very happy, and like me, already looking forward to the next edition.
Review: Andrew Doherty
Photos: With thanks Alex Blokdijk & Mattias Norén (Meer B&W)
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