The Devils Blood, Anaphylactic Shock, Hooghwater, Engine Of Doom, VanderBuys - The New Year Gathering!
An amazing small festival took place in 013/Tilburg on the first Sunday of 2009. This Sunday there were 5 Dutch bands playing, which belong to the top of the Dutch hard ‘n heavy scene! The hosts of this festival were the almighty The Devils Blood. It was no surprise then, that all the other bands somehow had a link to The Devils Blood. Be it in former members or just friends or old band-members from other bands like Powervice. Although the place was pretty crowded, it was by far not sold out yet. I don’t understand why people so often chose to go and see a crappy American band that is coming over, while we have such high quality bands ourselves!
(All pics.: Lindsy Bouten)VanderBuys
First band of this cold and windy Sunday afternoon was the power-trio hardrock unit VanderBuys. This band has some Powervice-members in their ranks, so it was no surprise that we got a dose of oldschool music of them. Where Powervice was oldschool metal, VanderBuys is definitely oldschool hardrock! With a deafening volume this power-trio produced a rather entertaining set of catchy 70’s/80’s powerchord hardrock, with huge influences from bands like ZZ Top, UFO and Van Halen. Their music is an ode to all the good music from back in the days. They ended their set with a long cover-version of ‘Rock Bottom’ of UFO, which contained a long jamming part. Good solid opening band, which can turn out in a really interesting band in the future.
Second band of the afternoon was the distorted sludgy death/mathmetal of Engine Of Doom. This band has raised out of the ashes from the bands Reveal and Transmission O. They have been around since 2005, but due to a lot of other band activities they didn’t play that often on stage. I have to say that this band was pretty much a surprise to me, because their music is an explosive, aggressive mixture of sludge, mathmetal and even some death/black-metal influences. Musically some bands that come in mind are Gehenna and Catharsis, but also a more black-metal version of Mastodon. Some of the strongest points of this band are their singer, with an amazing raw and fucked up scream voice and the diversity between their songs. One song is filled with awesome clevo-styled breakdown riffs in the best Ringworm/Integrity tradition, while another song is just a hectic, heavy The Dillinger Escape Plan/Mastodon influenced black-metal song. Their stage performance was a bit lame; they were standing around like salt-pillars. This band is good though, they certainly deserve more attention.
HooghwaterThen the raw garage/punkrockers of Hooghwater had the chance to amaze the crowd. I’d seen this band a couple of times before and their slightly psychedelic garagerock in the vein of MC5/The Stooges was always a pleasant surprise to see. It was no different this afternoon, but somehow the energy of the shows I’ve seen before wasn’t there. Still this band rocks like a motherfucker, with an awesome authentic 70’s vibe going on! For the first time this day, the sound was excellent as well. Can’t help it though, that I missed the energy on stage that really would make this gig outstanding!
After the psychedelic 60’s/70’s garagerock trip, it became time again to enter the misty and cold fields of Tilburg. Anaphylactic Shock entered the stage to burst out their Black ‘n Roll onto the audience. Once again Anaphylactic Shock proved to be excellent in their High On Fire, Darkthrone, Celtic Frost and Tragedy influenced music. Last couple of months I heard a lot of people complaining, that they thought Anaphylactic Shock was a boring live band. Well, not today! The sound was good, the guitar sound was finally sounding thick and dirty. I really like their ‘later’ Darkthrone vibe they have going on in their music. The second song of the set was the ultimate highlight, kicking in with a heavy Celtic Frost riff. Amazing!! Oh, and check out their drummer. He’s amazing, drumming with his whole body and face!
The Devils BloodFinally it became time to see the hosts of this New Year Gathering, namely The Devils Blood. This band is hard on its way to become one of the best kept secrets of the Dutch underground. Just in the end of 2008, they released their brilliant debut album Come, Reap. I was stoked to see how this band would play these songs on stage. This band with ex-members of Violation Of Trust, Malkovich and Powervice, made a unique sound of their own. It’s their nowadays interpreted version of the old 70’s occult rock of bands like Black Widow, Coven and Black Sabbath. They know exactly how to re-create the same occult, mystic and authentic sound of those bands. Everything about this band is just right; the mystic, occult atmosphere they call on themselves, the simple but effective facial blood, their amazing female singer, their songs, but above all; the guitar-players that really know what they are doing! Just listen to their song ‘Voodoo Dust’. An epic, mystic masterpiece that lasts over 15 minutes, with chanting twin guitar-duels and magical vocals. Tears in my eyes and shivers down my spine. I bow down deeply for this utter professional and genius band. It’s that good! My prediction is that The Devils Blood will be one of the bands of 2009 and if a label like Rise Above doesn’t sign this band…I really don’t understand it!
After this amazing afternoon (I hope there will be a gathering next year again) I’m even more pissed off, about the low amount of people that turned up. Why we as spoiled Dutch people, chose to see any crappy US band above an afternoon with amazing, quality Dutch bands, is unknown to me! These bands kicked US ass anytime, anywhere! Support your local scene, they deserve it!
The Devils Blood
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Written on Sunday Jan 11th, 2009
Writer @RoyBalowski
Tags: #The Devils Blood #Anaphylactic Shock #Hooghwater #Engine Of Doom #VanderBuys
Writer @RoyBalowski
Tags: #The Devils Blood #Anaphylactic Shock #Hooghwater #Engine Of Doom #VanderBuys
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