Saturday’s proceedings started at 1.30pm. Earlier I had been impressed with the fact that my wife, who was with me this year, had embraced the culture and was practicing her Dutch. It turned out she was clearing her throat. Following the welcome tradition of having a home country band to start up ProgPower Europe on Saturday, today was the turn of Hackberry, whose name sounds to have been inspired on a golf course. From the style of the first section, I was expecting a TV drama to unfold. It rumbled on in a post rock way.

I waited for something to happen. The five piece looked the part and looked to be enjoying their instrumental journey, which was like a long walk through a field with a few twists and turns here and there. The guitarist announced that they were working through their new album. The objective was set. There were some interesting sound developments and the occasional ramping-up of tempo and heaviness, but this wasn’t sending my blood racing. “The same song for an hour”, was one description I heard afterwards of Hackberry’s show. Compared to what I’ve heard previously from the host country, I was disappointed, I must admit.

Chaosbay came on stage to much dramatic fanfare, only matched by the bass player’s holiday shirt. “Welcome to the world” declared the fresh-faced lead. The offering was commercial modern metalcore with a little electro infusion. “Lonely People” reminded me in style and structure of Bring Me The Horizon.

The spectator sitting on the bench near to where I was standing fell asleep – a bit harsh I thought as there was plenty going on to interest us. The music was fresh, growly, djenty at times and abundant in melody and catchiness. This was ideal for a live performance and the band responded with energy and enthusiasm, bouncing around to their own wall of sound. This extended to the audience who bounced too. So all was good. The only minor irritant was the singer constantly telling us to “give it up” for people as if it were X Factor. But then something happened. By way of introduction to the band’s album “2022” the singer started moralising about saving the world, being nice etc – all laudable but I didn’t come here to be preached at, and the songs got weaker, lacking the earlier punch.

“This is our most dangerous song”, announced the singer self-importantly. Meanwhile the guitarist made a stupid joke, promoting drugs as a means of humour. I know weed is legal for personal use in the Netherlands, but as a means of supporting the overall moralising message this was pretty crass. I guess this was German humour, these guys being from Berlin. The singer who had now appointed himself as our undisputed moral leader, lectured us on the subject of racism, which along with drugs featured in a song from “Asylum”. He invited us to go and see him afterwards, but this smacked of being summoned to the headmaster’s study for a further lecture.

The guitarist then clumsily ordered the audience unsuccessfully to divide into two halves for the last song. All this got in the way of the songs which had become ragged but I will say that the final song in question was a stellar metalcore cover of the Police song “Message in a Bottle” so I’ll leave it on that positive note.

Hei’an is not a city in Vietnam but a post prog metal band from Slovenia. A solo guitarist and a deep drone led to a frosty roar by a large man in a black hooded cloak. Mood and mystery prevailed. A post metal vibe was present but to borrow a phrase the singer was killing us softly with his song. This would be hard to categorise if that matters. The cloaked man roared at us ferociously and waved his arms about as if he was possessed.

The second song was more conventional in its metal direction, but now there were dual growls from the singer-guitarist and the cloaked man who screamed like a banshee. The instrumentals were impressively deep and heavy, drilling themselves into our brain. The singer moaned softly. Pitch black as it was, there was a hint of colour coming from the guitar rhythm. I have no idea what Hei’an’s songs were about. It’s all about the mood, I suppose. Providing a momentary distraction, the cloaked man proved he was no good at making a star jump but unless I’d missed something fundamental this wasn’t pertinent.

Beating us down with substantial passages was, or at least that’s how it seemed. Melancholic prog style vocals were there but the sound blend was so heavy that it wasn’t always easy to pick out the finer points. This set from Hei’an was a mixed bag but so doused in heaviness that I struggled to get anything out of it.

On recommendation, I bought the album “Har” by the next band Dordeduh. I didn’t really like it so I gave it to a friend who does. That friend happens to be an organiser of ProgPower Europe so hopefully their appearance here now doesn’t mean that I was hoist by my own pétard on this one. In spite of my scepticism I was pleased to give this a go. There was no shortage of enthusiasm around me for this dark folksy band from Romania.

During their performance, we had the further spectacle of the renowned artist Costin Chiorean creating a painting in real time made visible on the LCD screens. Tucked away at the back, his presence in the event mostly escaped my attention. The reason is simple: Dordeduh were so mesmerising as a band. I will say now that their live performance far exceeded my experience of the one album I had listened to.

A hypnotic, slightly distorted post metal tune preceded a punchy song with growls and echoing vocals. That’s the mundane description. The first song was dreamy, dark and meaty. “Descânt” demonstrated the band’s unusual, haunting and mysterious rhythmic output. It was cast in a veil of darkness but not so much so that the moods could not be distinguished.

I looked around me. Some banged heads. Others were behaving as if they had been transported to a mystical experience, which to some extent it was. It helped that the lead of the band had the look of an apostle. The guitarist and bassist remained placid. The next song had an air of Pink Floyd with its shadowy atmosphere and mysterious beginning.

Angry vocals became haunting lines. This now reminded me of Enslaved. “Vraci de Nord” started with a tribal beat. The lead singer’s eyes flashed angrily. His voice echoed. We moved into more languid and folksy territory. An intoxicating flute sound ran through it. But it was heavy and grisly too.

The set finished with “Jind de Troncur”. Its echoing heaviness and heavenliness summed it all up, and brought the set to a dynamic end. There was a hymnal quality about all this. I looked at the painting on the screen. I saw a sea, rivers, mountains and a volcano. Dordeduh had provided the music for this strange and mystical land.

An Abstract Illusion – is this the ultimate name for a prog band? I had heard many good reports from fellow attendees about this band. “Beauty and Brutality”, they said. Well we had both in the first 60 seconds and then more in the next 30 minutes before the band stopped and the singer told us they were going back in time, suggesting to my detective’s brain that they’d previously been playing something up to date, so presumably something from the 2022 album “Woe”. Pet hate time: I don’t like it when bands assume we know everything they’ve done. The set started 10 minutes late at which point we were greeted with the sight of the guitarist wearing a black hood – clearly all the rage this year. The singer appeared …. also wearing a black hood. Metal mess followed. I could call it experimental, prog or just out of tune. Something was going on in all this morphing wall of noise but I couldn’t make head or tail of it.

We had a dramatic passage. The hooded guitarist, now with hood down, looked like he was having his own drama. We then went back to the original metal mish mash. The singer roared like a lion. Cue a dreamy guitar solo – it was long and impressive. But this was like going on an aimless ramble. As a spectator I was coming to the conclusion that to get anywhere with this band, you have to put in the hard listening yards first. We went through some thunderously heavy stuff. “Are you with me?” asked the singer. You’re having a laugh, mate. 30 minutes of bewildering listening obligation having been completed, we were told we were going back to 2014 without further detail. It started as a sombre thing involving a long post metal instrumental. As before it turned into a weighty passage without apparent rhyme or reason. The nearest I could get to it at this stage was The Ocean but at least with them you’ve got an idea what’s going on. There is another obvious comparison – read on if you have the will, which I was struggling to have with An Abstract Illusion. We worked through cascades of sound, rumbling heaviness and occasional melancholy with the odd intervention from the lead singer who couldn’t decide whether to keep his hood up or not.

My evening was brightened with a brilliant guitar solo at 8.57pm, so 47 minutes in taking account of the delay, but taken as a whole, this meant nothing to me. The singer announced the final song and most unhelpfully, growled its name. Fortunately I’ve been on the black metal training course so I was able to work out that this was “In the Heavens Above, You Will Become a Monster”. I liked this more than the others. It was more direct. I particularly enjoyed an explosive section early on and a section of what I’ll call death n roll. The song climaxed well. And I realised who An Abstract Illusion reminded me of: Persefone. And that’s the strange thing. Not only can I cope with Persefone but I like their work. With An Abstract Illusion, I felt at a distance. It’s a band for the prog tech metal connoisseur, I think. Their music might well be the stuff of obsession for some but as it stands, this was almost wholly lost on me, I’m afraid.

Wilderun – my fellow writers gave differing accounts when reviewing their previous two albums, one describing them as “niche”. I did my homework and … but none of it matters really. It’s the dynamism of the live performance that counts. There wasn’t much dynamism, I have to say, but it was certainly different. The Americans started with the slow burn “Woolgatherer” from the latest album. This was a bold step as a choice of ice breaker but the band managed to create drama, and showcase its ability to capture and transform moods. The vocalist tells the story, while elements of jazz, heavy metal and lush instrumental soundscapes surround it.

I came to realise that each piece is structured in its own way but there always seems to be an element of story-telling except when the band is going guns blazing into progressive metal passages. Even then it’s not as extreme as some. The second song, also from the “Epigone” album starts with death heaviness, switching to a dark orchestral sample. The vocalist, who does the death growls, tells the story again. It comes across as if he’s patiently singing an extract from a West End or Broadway musical. At other times it sounds as if he’s relating a mediaeval folk tale. It’s a strange combination. Each piece takes its own course. The third song, also from “Epigone” went through the range: Peter Skellern melancholy and gloom, and an orchestral sample before bursting out into an Opeth like death like passage, a short march and a fizzing progressive harsh metal romp.

It’s alive and interesting in an academic kind of way but not easy to grasp. A snowy scene was depicted on the screen. Another lush passage was played. The singer related a mournful tale. The band then went to the other extreme and pushed out a hard marching beat. Here the song got lost in the way of the heaviness, I felt. After a brief section in which a dreamy prog landscape is evoked, the ferocity intensifies and the song gets heavier with a melo-death passage before it expends again into a confusion of prog metal with the vocalist further adding to the confusion with an inaudible clean section and deep growls. Somehow they extricated themselves and the song with a crowd-pleasing passage of great excitement. Masters of antithesis, Wilderun announced the closure of their set with “The Unimaginable Zero Summer” which starts with a gloomy section of unimaginable proportions.

True to form, explosive heaviness replaces it and another Opethish progressive metal section brings things under control. There follows heightened drama. An orchestral sample precedes a vocalised summary before we descend into gloom again. Of course it ramps up for one final section of epic pomp. That was the main set. The band returned by way of an encore for one last story-telling, mixed heavy prog and traditional metal compendium. Summarising my overall experience, not everything works in my book and it can be difficult to follow but full marks to Wilderun for trying. I can’t say that this was really to my personal taste and it can be a bit slow and dense at times, hindered further by the band not really reaching out to engage us. On the other hand, I do appreciate that Wilderun go where their imagination takes them and have the self-belief to convert their ideas into such multi-faceted songs.

Review: Andrew Doherty

Photos: Conny Myrberg www.artrock.se & Alex Blokdijk & Mattias Norén 

Part 3