Sunday 8th October
Omnerod – didn’t he used to play for Blackpool? Oh no, that was Brett Ormerod. This is the band Omnerod from Belgium. Dry ice rose. Accompanied by an introduction which suggested that “before we go into the riffing” we were going to witness a single act continuous drama, four men in black appeared through the murk, with music to match. Dark ambient horror captured the mood. The riffs were deep and solid. The singer’s voice was very adaptable, featuring an impressive roar and a theatrical clean vocal as well as the standard range. It all added up to a spectacular performance here in the mists of the JC Sjiwa club. A fairground organ broke out of a long scream.
The drummer was playing a blinder, punching us forward along this remorseless path. Ebbing and flowing and threatening to border on insanity, Omnerod guided us along this sinister path, telling the story through their atmospheric music. Every dark corner was intriguing. After displaying many of their presentation tricks in the first part of the show, the band then proceeded to rock n steamroller the appreciative audience. Bizarre and innovative, this was like witnessing a black progressive version of Phantom of the Opera. But ultimately it was 60 minutes of entertainment from a highly creative and talented band. Oh, and by the way Brett Ormerod did play for Blackpool. And John Kettley is a weatherman.
Moving on from obscure football and song references, Obsidian Tide were the next musical treat. Hot on the heels of their 2023 release and second album “The Grand Crescendo”, the Israeli trio hit the stage here in Baarlo. What struck me above all was that these songs were carefully controlled, being based on clean, mellow and heavier prog passages. A song was played from the new album. We heard a lush lounge sound from the guitarist.
From this swanky cool ambience, the song stepped up into smoothness, decorated with dreamy trimmings. This was a step change in comparison with most of the bands we’d heard so far at ProgPower. “Nice” is the word that came to me, just as the bassist burst into growls. Even so, the mood was relaxed. Obsidian Tide burst into progressive passages which were very much in the style of Opeth and alternated between clean and heavy styles, both instrumentally and vocally. The songs were earnest and had a pleasant flow. Even the growls were pure. The sharp opening to “Beyond” suggested that the band might after all be nasty metal people. Well not really. Cue a guitar solo, a dual vocal and it all melted into another flowing river of a song.
“The Pillars of Creation” worked between clean and heavy, sounding folk-like at one point and leading to an energetic fluty melodic passage which had the audience clapping along. The band combined styles with great skill. Nice. In contrast to the terrible and tragic events going on at the moment in their home country, Obsidian Tide brought us joy, purity and comfort.
Next came Ihlo. Melodic prog metal with electronic and pop influences was what I read about the band beforehand as a description of their style. I confess I feared the worst as the band that Ihlo are most compared with is a band whose music I don’t like. “Consuming fear is part of the equation” was the first line I heard. Did Ihlo swallow the book of prog? But “Union”, the song in question was presented in dynamic fashion by the five piece. Djenty, energetic and heavy, Ihlo immediately won over the crowd who started clapping. Cleverly fooling the audience with a break, Ihlo were back for more. The crowd rolled along to the thunder. This was followed by a funky song with a solid bass line and even a bit of hip hop buried in there. Ihlo were taking the audience with them to new places.
A slower song followed but with dynamic metal power to keep it fresh while injecting emotion. Lead man Andy provided the emotion and led the line well. I could take or leave the slower songs, preferring to indulge myself in the pungent bass line which enveloped “Haar”, a steady number which fused power and epic emotion. Ihlo skilfully extracted energy and power from the songs and didn’t leave us stranded in a land of misery. In true Brit style, Andy complained about the heat. “Take your jumper off”, came forth a helpful suggestion from the audience – ever practical, the Dutch. From moaning about the air conditioning away we went to beautiful expanses. Andy’s echoing voice and backing vocals extended the magic. The energy was released as Ihlo’s world exploded and dominated ours in a brilliant and spine-chilling way.
All that remained was for Andy, whose presentation thus far involved higher than average swearing and was altogether a bit messy, to drape the reluctant guitarist with a Scottish flag, do a sales pitch for the merch, and launch into “Porhelion”, another prog dynamo of a song. Andy’s voice sounded like it was cracking so it was as well that it ended there. This is a type of music that is as far away in metal music terms as I like to listen to, so having feared the equivalent of a dreary day in Grimsby, I’m pleased to say that watching Ihlo was actually an enjoyable experience.
M is their logo. Maraton is their name. The holiday shirt was out in force again. This time it was the guitarist with a festival of ferns on his silky black shirt. The shirt distracted me from realising straightaway that he bore more than a passing resemblance to the Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp. His glory however was short lived as a tall blond gentleman dressed in white from top to toe took to the stage. It struck me that this wasn’t the outfit in which to have an unfortunate accident.
It belonged to the singer. His voice had the high-pitched tones of Michael Macdonald. His ethereal warblings ran alongside the dark electro beat and solid drum and guitar backbone. “Perdurant Lives” reminded me of “Broken Wings” as a song. Second up was “Non-Euclidean Heart”. The warm, melodic beat went on. The singer’s voice is unusual but full of feeling. He had the front section of the audience eating out of his hands, exchanging high fives with everyone he could find.
In defiance of convention on these occasions, people wiggled their bums. The singer introduced a new twist to audience participation, getting the crowd to repeat back “Yes Please”. How lovely. I imagine if it was Andy from Ihlo that it might have been different. The man in white also had a curious obsession with time, feeling the need to comment on its availability between every song lest we were in doubt. Anyway “Seismic” wasn’t much of a song, and I felt we were being dragged along screaming inwardly, or maybe it was just me, as the set was dictated by the enthusiastic energy of the band, and in particular our warbling man in white.
I was tiring of his voice and it was nice when a bass guitar section cut in. “Almost Human” was a welcome ball of energy. The background sound was crisp and the vocals were exuberant. It was a good song for clapping. The next song “In Syzygy” constituted lighters in the air time or whatever people use these days. This was turning into a prog disco. Baarlo goes Ibiza via Norway. Very strange it was. I had a horrifying vision that the man in white was the Norwegian Rick Astley.
“Let’s have fun” announced the singer as he introduced the last song “Spectral Friends”. Party time again. No mosh pit here – just a mass hug in the centre of the audience area. To my ears the song was bloody awful, but I guess others see it differently. To my horror there was a clamour for more. It was a nightmare moment. Fortunately it worked out. We didn’t get the encore. On another day, I don’t think I could listen to Maraton for more than 5 minutes, but I give them credit for the grooves and the energy which the band expanded for our entertainment.
“I will never fly with you”, I heard. They’ve either used Ryanair or perhaps they are not interested in canvassing for airline sponsorship. Either way, I was flying with them, they being Darkwater. This is a line from “A New Beginning” which opened the set. I once described this band’s 2019 album “Human” as “vibrant like a human being … template melodic prog metal without forgetting to include excitement” so it’s fair to say this was a set I had been greatly looking forward to.
I was not disappointed. Darkwater invaded my body with their fluid prog shapes. Round and round they go, technically, softly, crisply. I like the crispness of this band’s music. It’s so clear and very well defined. Five cool Swedish dudes took to the stage, each one of them playing their part and contributing to a greater whole in this immense show. Our genial compère was guitarist and vocalist Henrik Båth, whose presentation was professional and sympathetic. The musicianship was tight and every song packed a punch. Darkwater remind me in a certain way of Wolverine with their life-affirming personal lyrics, which are like conversations between you and me surrounding relationships and self-doubt, and finding a way forward. The issues are complex but terms are simply expressed: “I can see you”, “Take me with you”, “We fly again”, “If you can find a way”. They fit in with the clear intensity of the music.
Based on the heavy power of the two guitarists, bass player, keyboardist and drummer, the music fluidly moves between tight heavy passages, intertwined with Henrik’s messages, and keyboard virtuosity. Never forgetting the audience, the band were gently playful with us, stopping and starting “In Front of You” to their own precise tune. Their timing and control are so good, heightening the impact to stratospheric proportions. I was pleased that they played material from across their three albums. In particular they played my personal favourite “The Play Part 2” off the 2007 album Calling the Earth to Witness. It’s mystical, goes round and round in my head as the guitarist and keyboard player play the catchy melody, sucking us in all the while. Typically chunky, it twists and turns, rises and falls in a clean-cut way, broadens out towards the end and dazzles us with its substantial passages before the keyboardist signs in again and bewitches our listening minds.
Darkwater are masters at invading the space in our minds. Through sheer power and developing patterns they create clouds of intensity. “All Eyes On Me” was played from the same album, showcasing the band’s immaculate riffs and timing. The pounding and immense song “All I Bleed” was played from the 2010 album “Where Stories End”, highlighting the vastness of this band’s music. The rest came from the 2019 album “Human”. As I watched the band play “All Eyes on Me” the lady next to me seemed to be having a religious experience. It was heavy heaven from five consummate musicians, who were visibly having fun themselves. To complete the magical journey the band played “Alive”, which “is about making people feel good about themselves”. Well I for one felt better than good but I get the context.
I noted to myself nerdishly that the more recent songs are more anthemic but with more emphasis on chorus lines, but frankly the whole thing was a beautiful dream. So away we went on one final melodic metal journey. Hypnotic, intoxicating, just brilliant. This was 75 minutes of sublime magnificence from these top craftsmen. It’s quite amazing how Darkwater’s music could be so orderly, and simultaneously sophisticated and inspirationally uplifting. As you may gather, I like this very much. I really couldn’t have asked for more.
As a post script, I had a short conversation with the members of Darkwater afterwards, during which I thanked them of course and happened to establish that one of them teaches music. Reflecting on this point, one thing that really can’t be taught is intelligent ideas, and both the communication and bringing to life of those ideas. When it comes to this subject, Darkwater are in a masterclass.
And so we came to the headlining act. Teramaze – terrible or amazing? It all depends on your point of view but contrary to most of the ProgPeople present and indeed my fellow writers who have reviewed their albums and largely appreciated them, they bored me to a state of inertia last time I saw them. The nice thing is that we start at 0 – 0 and I may be in a different frame of mind to receive them, or they do something that I connect with. That was my hope. After a full house for most of the weekend, I was surprised to see the room half empty. The singer in a black hood – number four by my reckoning for the weekend – asked rhetorically how we all were. The band played a steady prog melody. The singer spluttered inaudibly at first but this was sorted out, and both the movement and emotion of the song came across well. It ended with a rousing instrumental section. Poor sound plagued the start of the next song, which had a rock feel. I liked the fact that Teramaze hadn’t thrown the kitchen sink at it to begin but couldn’t get a feel for it yet even though the rhythm was solid and melodic. “Jackie Seth” started with a solid beat. The song pumped along nicely and the singer sang well. This was pleasant to listen to. The bassist moved about the stage but mercifully there were no silly gimmicks, allowing the band to concentrate on playing, which they were doing very well.
Next up was, I believe, the fast and furious “The Heist”. I sensed that the ante was being upped. “You all know this next one” is not the most helpful introduction especially if you don’t know the next one but that’s what we got. This next one was a nice song, accentuated by powerful drumming. A lovely technical rhythm invaded us. Oddly, we’d earlier in the weekend heard a cover of “Message in a Bottle” and this riff had a similarity, I felt. Here Teramaze branched out nicely, always retaining commendable fluidity. All the while the guitar work was chunky and infectious. In presentation terms the band persona was good but the lead singer was sultry and seemed to be speaking to himself. After a drab slower number which produced no lighters or their equivalent owing to a lack of interest, and ended to muted applause, another solid chunky piece featured. Declarations of what we were listening to were patchy, although to be fair this is true of bands in general. But at least there were no self-inflicted distractions compared to the last time I watched Teramaze. This time the performance was competent but strangely subdued as the band seemed to be going through the motions. I did prefer this approach as the texture of the songs was at least coming across, and as melodic prog metal goes, they’re good. I still couldn’t see much animation in the crowd however although I can sympathise with that as it’s a long weekend.
“Her Halo” did the trick and provided something epic and uplifting for the crowd respond to. “Sorella Minore” was performed with oceans of melodic power and punch as Teramaze seemed to have finally woken up. “To Love, A Tyrant” did not resonate with me much but the vibe turned heavy and even tribal, generating good effect and excitement. The band was now rocking and managed to extract some energy from a flagging crowd with the high-powered “And The Beauty They Perceive”. They came back for more and nailed it with their energy, sending the crowd home and back to their countries uplifted and in jubilant party mode. In answer to my question at the top – neither, but I was impressed with this performance. What I saw in Teramaze was a more mature band than the last time. The set was packed with strong songs and the band did them justice, playing them with clarity and power. It was a good way to end this festival. As I left, I reflected that maybe I am ok with this prog stuff after all.
I had many interesting conversations during this weekend, but one observation by a Dutch attendee struck me more than others. Commenting on the fact that progressive music is by definition geared to expanding boundaries, he stated that in contrast we all come to ProgPower Europe and we always want it to be the same. This is so true. The first reason we want it to be the same is that the organisation is so impeccable. In fact the organisers quietly improve things every year. The environment and the people are great, the atmosphere is relaxed, and our senses are stimulated by the talent and creativity of the bands who perform for us. ProgPower Europe has been and remains a highlight of the year.
Review: Andrew Doherty
Photos: Photos: Conny Myrberg www.artrock.se & Alex Blokdijk & Mattias Norén
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