It would seem that opening bands this weekend are four-letter words. Sunday’s starter for four was Ursa from Belgium. It remained to be seen whether their impact would be Major or Minor. My first impressions were of an action band as they progressed through levels of atmospheric darkness vis some ropey clean vocals and super rich growls. There was plenty of anger and plenty of movement. Cold winds blew. Ursa proceeded to expose the hostile world they looked to be portray, adorned with instrumental finesse which lent an epic feel. Great melodies enhanced these rich songs.
Once the guitarist took over clean vocals, things improved. I was pleased that they were used sparingly as Ursa’s world was dark. The growls were more akin to the Ursa’s world where song interpretations led to dense structures. The denseness was matched with energy and finely managed instrumental passages. There was no getting away from the core harshness. Having announced a dance track, I can only conclude that the lead singer and presenter’s idea of this concept was different from mine. To follow, a dark and jangling dreamy instrumental fitted in to the ambient mood very nicely before the vocalist returned and the imperiously heavy post metal tones of “Primordial Crown” rang forth. I’m not sure that Ursa completed the journey to the stars but they convinced me and others present through their energy and music that there’s a dark and hostile world out there.
I’ve made a terrible mistake. No, I didn’t go to the wrong concert but that’s the title of a song by Ions from the Czech Republic, Czechia or whichever is correct these days. The only Czech bands I knew before this play brutal death metal so I had braced myself for a step change. I did notice that Ions featured at Brutal Assault this year however so maybe there was hope …. “A Terrible Mistake” gave me more than hope. It was powerful and emotive, swinging between those emotions and instrumental depth. This band churns out hypnotic heavy rhythms and structure intelligent songs. They were capturing my soul in playing them.
It did seem a bit strange when the singer, bedecked in white from top to toe, aimed the mic stand towards the audience like a sword. His t-shirt had an inscription which a fellow concert goer translated for me as “I’m not always right but I’m never wrong”- mysterious and unintentionally, I guess, the source of an international incident as my friends from Norway and Sweden each denied ownership of the linguistic provenance, while agreeing on the translation from its unidentified Scandinavian language. The singer’s voice fell somewhere between Neil Tennent and Holly Johnson and with that came the breadth of emotion. His voice and the deep songs worked well with the rich and heavy soundscape that his four band mates were creating. The songs had a cerebral feel yet at times were almost commercial in nature. A programming machine was brought in for one song for a bit of electronic modernity, and that worked fine, but the band stuck mainly with the core diet of the two guitarists, bassist, drummer and vocalist who operated as a tight unit. As the set went on, the sound seemed to become more expansive so that the room was filled with Ions. Even the slower “Birds of Reminiscence” was massive in its impact.
One piece of powerful prog metal followed another. Ions weren’t frightened to switch to a wall of sound heaviness. The singer was up to it with his vocals which now bordered skittishly on punk-metalcore in style and conveyed urgency in their tone. I detected a slight djentiness in the guitar work, which is always good for a bit of crunch. But this wasn’t typical and never could be, because with this band each song was carefully composed and took its own course. After humbly expressing gratitude and comparing the experience of being at ProgPower Europe to playing in front of five people in Poland, Ions launched into the last song. It was a difficult one to digest, which is always a hazard with prog music, but nevertheless it had all the now familiar great instrumental and vocal qualities and in any event we had the memory of a dazzling performance from Ions.
And so to Ou. Impressively injecting minimalism in the name department, the phrase “prog band from China” isn’t something you hear very often. Let’s expand that to “unusual prog band”. While the instrumentalists filled our veins with chunky prog metal, a wispy, dervish-like woman crept onto the centre of the stage, waved her arms about and behaved in a most peculiar fashion. I knew this was going to be challenging. I hadn’t realised that Kate Bush was Chinese. Now let me put that another way. As she enunciated her words and messages, aided I learned later by a backing track, the lady moved gracefully, expressively outstretching her arms as if in a breeze and creating visual patterns and shapes of trees and flowers and things. According to my wife, whose native language is Mandarin Chinese and to whom I played some extracts before coming here, the words are imbued with profound messages. She couldn’t explain it further so I am none the wiser but what I could see was that the lady’s voice as we heard it was pure and her body movements were aligned to the pace of the music. Calm went to heavy, and the lady banged her head, gracefully of course, expressively and symmetrically. Tensions rose and as the instrumentals became more powerful, the lady’s high-pitched quasi operatic voice pierced the air. Agnete of Madder Mortem has a rival in the vocal range department.
Slowly she lowered herself to the floor. Whether she was telling a story, expressing feelings or placing a pizza order I have no idea, but the tension of the music and her movements were as one. I recognised “Frailty” from my research into this band. It was intense, challenging, exhilarating, electrifying. The chorus, if I can call it that, is very different and airy. The lady had the audience rapt with its magnetic tick-tock nature. I sensed people around me being sorely tempted to join in spite of the total absence of knowledge of the lyrics or subject matter. A jazzy rhythm followed – this was very much a case of less is more where the outstanding guitarist was concerned.
The lady once again swung along in the breeze. It was just like being in a smoky jazz club without the smoke. Her voice was perfect for this but then it seemed compatible with everything. Heaviness returned. The structure was irregular – this was on account of the prog style, not the cultural origin. Even though I have probably got more experience of listening to Chinese women belting out songs in Chinese with no clue what it’s about than most people in the audience, I still found Ou surreal. It was almost like an out-of-body experience. In the next twist rumbling, djenty metal came from the instrumentalists.
The lady sat on stage before chanting a type of mantra. The atmosphere became more fraught. The air was filled with noise, the riff provided security while the lady’s harsh and piercing cries demanded attention. From sour it then turned to sweet. The menacing rhythm remained but the lady sang softly in direct contrast to those piercing cries of a few moments earlier. The spectacle went on …. and stopped abruptly. The band left the stage and in the blink of an eye took the quickest photo ever as if it never happened. Now this was an aspect of culture I was used to. As people were left wondering if it had finished, I recognised that no matter how deep the conversation, Chinese speaking people don’t waste time with formalities like saying goodbye.
When it’s over, it’s over. As for what I’d seen, it would far too mundane to call Ou’s music ambient. I’ll guarantee that no-one in the audience will have seen anything like this. It’s hard without the context of knowing what any of it is about, and I don’t feel any more illuminated for having seen this, but the prog metal was of the highest order, and the visual presentation was thoroughly absorbing even though I didn’t understand its nuances. Credit must go to the ProgPower organisers who had the sense of adventure to invite Ou and enable us to have the experience of seeing them.
Having had the dinner break to get back down to earth after Ou, it was time for The Anchoret from Canada. “Let’s do this thing”, exhorted the bassist in the Heaven’s Cry t-shirt. The sextet included a saxophonist who doubled on flute, and a keyboard player who looked to be having his own private party. The saxophonist, a tall mature studenty-looking type, smiled and represented the warmth of the whole band. The supplementary instruments were used to good effect to add excitement to the already compact and well-balanced songs.
The Anchoret built up momentum, not deviating from this path of pure and absorbing songs. I just loved that sax. It always engenders feeling, but unlike some bands where it plays a bit part, here it was integral as a means of reinforcement. It all gives a jazziness to the songs. Ultimately this was good old rock and roll plus, and good clean fun.
The set finished with “Stay”, a more emotive song with a great personal touch which matched the relationship the band had created with the audience. The presentations were clear and friendly, the songs were hard and heavy, the vocals were brilliant, the musicianship was tight, and there was plenty to smile about. So there you are.
Next came Crimson Glory. Could this be the obligatory flamboyant, showy band from the USA? In the eyes of my friend Erik, having bands like this at ProgPower is a necessary mark of reverence to the history of progressive metal. Others, for which read younger folk, were not so convinced. Well these Crimson Glory people are almost as old as me and my conclusion was that this was a load of old hat.
Their most recent album was in 1999, which I know is not a crime, but for those looking for something fresh and vibrant …. well, this wasn’t it. They started late, I believe due to fiddling around with the drum kit, with the expectant crowd in position for some time. Well, what’s 20 minutes when history is at stake? The significance of the silver masks that the band members wore was lost on me. The singer power-squawked competently in front of the ageing rockers. The crowd seemed happy enough. Yes, the instrumentalists could play and pumped out a solid rhythm but you’d hope so after all this time of doing it.
“Where Dragons Rule”, “Masque of the Red Death”, “In Dark Places” …. it’s that big sound in slightly different ways but so formulaic. The presentation was plastic, predictably impersonal as the band went through the required motions of this kind of band and annoying of the “I didn’t hear you” type. “Facing the Hydra” is a new song. Yeah it’s a new song but more of the same. There was the obligatory boring ballad, which did at least did develop into heavy power of the familiar kind.
The only song I warmed to was “Red Shark” which surpassed the normal level of energy and actually emitted some excitement. That closed the set so at least they went out on a high. Yes, they can play so we should celebrate that I guess, it’s forward driving and they look broadly like old rock gods but one song would have been enough to bring me up to date with the history, thank you. At least the oldies in the audience were happy and yes, I realise the irony in what I’ve just written.
Just as the Eurovision contest has embraced Australia, so has ProgPower Europe with numerous luminaries from down under over the years. Today’s headliners were Caligula’s Horse from the land down under. I can’t say I was massively inspired by their 2020 album “Rise Radiant” but I did like “In Contact” (2015) and very much enjoyed the band’s set at ProgPower Europe in 2018. With a new album out, I expected to hear that showcased in the scheduled 90 minutes, which without putting a stop watch on it seemed to be less. That was ok. Lush tones turned into prog action as the band took their places. Straightaway Caligula’s Horse delighted us with their commercial-sounding heavy prog metal. There was no shortage of bombast here. Good if you like bombast of course, as I commented to a drunken Dutch woman who was keen to tell me what she thought. The guitarist and bassist, who looked the spitting image of the famous 19th century Aussie fast bowler Fred Spofforth, stood aloft on the flanks and provided the emotive firepower.
The singer’s plaintive tones were clear. The world breathed with him, at least that’s what the song title said. He acted the template Aussie, swearing when it wasn’t necessary, but did get the crowd bouncing quickly. Fair play, mate. The set continued with material from the “Charcoal Grace” album. The heavy rhythm was irresistible. The singer announced in his inimitable way that the set’s theme was time travel, and explained that they would work through the albums chronologically starting with “Bloom”. Singer Jim Grey’s mouth may be foul but his voice is sweet and sensitive when he wants to be. Ah, that song about kitchen gloves – “Marigold” is an explosion of emotion, maybe a bit soppy for some but between the silky vocal control of Grey and the powerful melodic backing, the room was filled with magic. Now to “In Contact”, and to possibly my favourite Caligula’s Horse song of all: “Dream the Dead”. Unashamedly commercial, it oozes emotion. Foulmouth Grey did a great job of it, leading to its catchy chorus. Lovers of harsh, non-commercial metal should look away. The song ends with a memorable choral section. The sweary spokesman continued to dish out his crap before in an unexpected twist, the bassist shaved his moustache off. Was this entertainment? At any rate, Spofforth was no more.
Being serious for a moment, Grey introduced “The Tempest” from the album “Rise Radiant”. Strong and powerful, the song hit us like a brick. Now the band got really hard and heavy. The chunky “Slow Violence” followed. Grey’s vocal range added power and dimension to the rhythm, which was almost djenty. The chorus is as ever commercial in its sound. Sweary Jim continued his banter, and reprieved himself in my book by mocking the “I can’t hear you” routine. Caligula’s Horse now went hard and heavy again with “Oceanrise”. Grey’s imploring vocals echoed across the room as heads banged. After a nice little ad for the band’s merchandise, we found ourselves in the era of “Charcoal Grace”. “Mute” was a quiet, sad number, which played to Grey’s vocal strengths. The song was communicated sensitively, and built up in intensity as a fine prog metal song should. Did they hit the heights with it? I’d say no but that’s not to criticise the quality of the vocals or accompanying musicianship. I was pleased that the band didn’t mess about pretending to leave and not come back for the encore, so we got “Graves” as our final melodic metal offering. It covered the band’s spectrum. The crowd was still buoyant except for the guy near me who slept through most of the set. Hey, they weren’t that bad.
Although I felt full of beans beforehand, I confess that Caligula’s Horse had worn me down a bit after another late start and with so many similarly structured solid but unexceptional songs, so I struggled to kickstart myself again at this late stage. Some of Jim Foulmouth Grey’s introductions were borderline. We could always take them or leave them, but when it came to the music Caligula’s Horse delivered a tight package of sensitive songs. Some of it was hard, some of it was soft and commercial, it was always melodic and not everything will always be to everyone’s taste but Caligula’s Horse did what they’re good at and unquestionably performed to specification.
And so another successful edition of ProgPower Europe came to an end. The formula is the same. Every year the organisers make little improvements to make it better. This year an initiative was introduced to encourage attendees to re-use plastic cups. This reduced not only the number of cups but also the litter, and resulted in the comic effect of people finding safe spaces for their cups or gripping them between their teeth as they had a pee – beer lockers or nominated cup holders next year, maybe? But above all it’s about the people and the bands, many of whom stay on site. It’s such a friendly environment. And the music isn’t bad either – catering for all tastes, it’s like a journey through the artists’ creative minds. It’s such a pleasure to be here. This year was the 24th edition so next year will be the silver anniversary. For me, ProgPower Europe wins the gold medal every time.
Review: Andrew Doherty
With photographic contributions from Conny Myrberg (www.artrock.se), Francesca Frosali and Jonathan Huizenga.
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