HEAVY DAYS IN DOOMTOWN 3 – Copenhagen 01st – 04th May 2014
After
Aguirre in 2012 and Huata in 2013, there was no french band
programmed at this 3rd
edition of the HEAVY DAYS IN DOOMTOWN, still I came this year with
one of the most eminent ambassador of our Doom scene in the person of
Rodoplhe Beuchet –vocalist in Barabbas ! Although we didn’t fix
any precise appointment, we arrive at our hostel, exactly at the same
time as Ulla Roschat (the wicked lady) and her friendly husband
Peter… Being given rooms 122 & 124 will make each night things
easier to have a few more beers, wine and slices of cheese when
getting back from the fest and share a few comments – thanx to
Peter !!!
A
couple of hours later, we enter the Christiania area where Loopen is
located – for those who don’t know it, Christiania is the last
urban hippie village of Europe and … logically the finest place to
find good weed at fair prices for the week-end ! it’s good to take
a sit, have a drink and roll a fat one to celebrate the imminent
beginning of the hostilities We quickly meet Clint and Sally, the
Aussie doom ambassadors who make here their last step in Europe (for
2014…) after visiting Holland (Roadburn), Belgium, France (Doomed
Gatherings) and Germany (DesertFest). Nice to meet the “hand of
doom” himself !
A
tall metalhead comes to us and says that we should hang out in a
short time at Woodstock café where his band Koloss is going to play
a little improvised set… HDDT’s warm-up show starts in about 1
hour, so let’s enjoy it ! Woodstock café is full of local people
who are certainly used to less-heavy sounds but among us (about 10
metalheads standing up) the ambiance is I’d say “as usual” :
stoned and drunk, and it’s amazing to see a single forties woman
flying very high on crushing beats or a sixties couple dancing like
they were at a marriage… the bass & drums duo slays some
hard-hitting sludgy thrash’n roll and in this pretty surrealistic
ambiance, make it a pretty memorable moment.
Loppen’s
a nice venue for this warm-up show, pretty packed, there’s around
300 people and sees YURI GARGARIN opening with their up-tempo mixture
of stoner and space rock. I’m not a big fan of this kind of music,
especially when it’s only instrumental and above all that
repetitive; a fair number of people seemed to enjoy though…
Things
start to takeoff more seriously with another Swedish band called
SWITCHBLADE, much more Doom related with droning wall of sounds, slow
progressions towards blasting grooves… the addition of an organ to
the initial guitar/Drums duo is not forceful, which is not the case
of vocals presence on two songs (by a guy who just come on stage at
those too brief moments) who really bring power and crushingness to
the overall !
EAGLE
TWIN were the headliners of the evening and they didn’t need more
than a couple of minutes to justify it. Salt Lake’s City duo slayed
everything with their incredible doomy sludge filled with tingy blues
and a technical level that owes to multiple experiences in Jazz, Prog
and Psychedelic departments ! Damn those vocals by Gentry Desley are
terrific and definitely an essential instrument of the band’s
unique bone shattering heaviness. Twisted, loud, epic, intimate,
rebel, E.T. is a multifaceted machine with soul and guts, “snake
hymn” is definitely a monster of a track, one of the heaviest of
the week-end, this gig was a real highlight !
Friday
at Ungdomshuset starts for us with the young Swedish band VIDUNDER
and their bluesy 70’s style hard rock which takes pretty much
influences in Witchcraft, as hundreds others of their fellow
countrymen I guess but there’s no hazardous presence here, no bands
is suddenly parachuted at HDDT just because their sound is sexy or
their singer heavy, hahaha! There’s talent, time will probably help
to make things a bit less standardized…
The
infernal Irish trio DREAD SOVEREIGN formed by Primordial’s
Nemtheanga (bass/voc) is maybe the most metallic band of the fest and
amongst the bands I was really looking forward to. “All Hell’s
Martyr” is in my Top 3 of the year so far and I doubt it’ll fall
soon forgotten. I dig this band with attitude, this gloomy sound
with authentic metal vibes from the 80’s, in some way they take
here the place of Procession last year and will give a set as
memorable ! Holy Mary, to start the set with “thirteen clergy (to
the flames)”, “Cthulhu Opiate Haze” and “Pray to the Devil in
Man” was undoubtedly the best thing fans could ever imagine !
“Scourging Iron” will be another striking moment, just as the
amazing cover of VENOM’s “Live like an Angel, Die like a Devil”
! my only regret : not to have taken a single proper picture of this
awesome band, was too busy headbanging for once, hahaha !
Shit
it was impossible to miss any second of DS set, so I wasn’t that
surprised not to be able to enter the smallest venue for LEECHFEAST s
set which then was just listened from outside, just as a couple of
others during the week-end like NOCTUM, DOPELORD, NIGHTSLUG…
Experience has learnt me to prefer attend full sets from my fave
bands in good conditions than trying to see each bands of the line-up
partly, if I can then see a few other bands that are on my priorities
- then it’s ok but no overdose of sounds, the audio-terror is still
to come with that Saturday-SLUDGE (Graves at Sea, The Body,
Sourvein..) and Sunday-fireworks (Goatess, Uzala, Windhand,
Whitehorse…) !!!
Another
name on the top of my short list was ABYSMAL GRIEF, the Italian
masters of horror Doom - at their peak ! led by driving force Labes
C. Necrothytus (on voc/keyb), the band delivered a magical show
enhanced by red lights, candles, smokes and shadows. A great part of
the songs are taken from “Feretri” even if this didn’t include
my fave “sinister gleams”, with this one I think this would have
been my absolute fave performance but it was brilliant, really. With
bassist and drumming wearing cassocks, Labes with costume and hat,
guitarist is the only one normally clothed but absolutely not in rest
to pay homage to the influential masters of the early 80’s that
were Death SS, Paul Chain and Black Hole. Ominous and dantesque are
both words which come to mind for this unique moments of purple
atmospheres…
We
found hardly our way back to the fest on Saturday and missed the
first bands, plus shit as I said, when we arrived, Dopelord was
unreachable visually, then THE BODY gave a very strange show, it
started pretty good during 2 long suffocating songs with harsh
guitars and blasting drums, but things seemed to start get fucked-up
with a short song (uncomplete ?) and another one with a scamped end
which made it a bit disappointing for fans, finally getting a set
almost half-reduced in time !
The
predominance of scandinavian and american bands can explain it but
WITCHSORROW was the only band representing UK this year, one can not
say that it’s a default of quantity and quality and personally I’d
have thought about many other bands before this one to raise high the
flag… but their set was a pretty good surprise and my friend Rod
who saw them in Paris a couple of years ago was quite impressed by
the improvement they showed. Trad’ doom had definitely a fair
purveyor with this bleak trio !
Time
for the beginning of the infernal Sludge 3-hours program with GRAVES
AT SEA starting on the main stage… Just as last years the guys are
gonna leave ashes behind them… Incredibly intense with their
hammering Grief-like Sludge, alternating between slow and burning as
hell groovy parts with harsh blackened vocals and blasting chords,
the set is still a pure moment of dread but for our greatest
enjoyment is quite different from 2013, presenting new songs from
“this planet is poison” EP and “betting on black” from
upcoming split with Sourvein on Seventh Rule rds.
I’m
not able again to see NIGHTSLUG in good conditions, so I decide to
have a sit in the yard and just listen (doors are open and the sound
is good – as always) some ripping tunes of “dismal fucker” by
Germany’s finest Sludge band ! The sound is very raw and brutal,
filthy and even punkish at times too… I imagine a very tensed and
sweating atmosphere inside with those thick riffs and tortured vocals
enriched by terrifying and/or destructive noises; hope I’ll have
other occasions to see them in the future !
SOURVEIN
tour Europe this month to celebrate their 20th
anniversary… The band is among the most experimented in the Sludge
scene and it’s great to see them in the actuality again three years
after their last tour for “black fangs”.; T. Roy Medlin on vocals
is a real frontman and the band’s music became more focused with
time which make this performance fairly different from their
colleagues still very intense, drenched in distortion and damage but
with a special southern touch and damaging metallic soloing !
We’ll
end this 3rd
day with the Danish local band DOUBLESTONE who released “wingmakers”
- a very good debut last year, probably my fave album of Retro 70’s
Heavy Rock along with “Abrakadavar”… the small hall is densely
packed and there’s a great number of dedicated fans at our sides
who sing, shout, headbang and jump all over the set… Nothing
outstanding in the compositions within a style that is so much
overused these days but it’s undeniable that the young trio
displays songs with a refreshing energy and an extremely tight
technical level… chunky riffs and chugging bass-lines are
contagious, making you forget it’s already pretty late in the
evening but a perfect way to end this intense day a bit more softly.
It
looked like there was a few dozen of doomsters that went back home on
Sunday or maybe was it also most of the bands playing the 3 days
before that left and took on the road again ?! too bad for them cause
it was, in my opinion, the best day of the fest !
Starting
with WHITEHORSE, the Australian funeral Sludge/Doom band who crossed
oceans for extensive tours in Europe and now the USA until the end of
the month.
Very
special, very impressive to say the least are those guys and their
sound approach. Not just the music is monolithic and punishing but
the guys themselves, with weird postures (bassist is tentacular and
disarticulated) and looks (singer’s really scary) also transmit
awesomely some relentless vibes of hopelessness and agony.
There’s
more and more bands using additional electronics/noise elements to
their music, often accompanying more than enriching, WHITEHORSE use
them to layer punishing proportions and enhance the delightful
discomfort they awesomely deliver. Yankees, this band is highly
recommended, so don’t miss them if they happen to play close by you
within the next 3 weeks !!!
There’s
been quite a lot of young trios playing this week-end, PURPLE HILL
WITCH is another one, this time from Norway and has so far released
an EP “Alchemy”, via the almighty Church Within rds. Their set
was a very good moment of doomy Heavy Metal inspired by the darkest
hours of the forefathers of doom –Pentagram and Saint Vitus- and
Witchfinder General with an additional raw energy taken from other
early 80’s NWOBHM acts… Touring last year with Lord Vicar gave
them strength and confidence and their 1st
full length - out by the end of june- should be an essential release
of 2014.
Time
for some GOATESS now, a much anticipated set for us little froggies !
The Swedish quatuor starts with “full moon at noon” and 1st
thing that strikes is the incredibly DENSE sound, making them sound
LOUDER and HEAVIER than any other Stoner band on earth, fucking
awesome ! just add the magic voice of Doom from Lord Chritus and you
get a “fuoriclasse “ as say Italians…
the
band’s sound is thick with regular moments of impending doom while
there’s always place for some low-end groove, sonic, ethereal
excursions… was a new song (apparently different from the one
played at Roadburn) necessary to have high expectations towards the
successor of the 1st
s/t album ? well, probably not but we smoked it up willingly and
bowed down to the GOATESS !
The
main venue was still pretty packed for SABBATH ASSEMBLY touring with
the lady from Hammers of Misfortune for the vocal duties. Rather than
the fact they were all dressed in white, the thing that disturbed me
the most was the relative weakness of the vocals and the absence of
real highlights in the set; but some riffs were great and I dug the
tubular bells by the drummer.
THE
GRAVIATORS were playing here the last date of a 2 weeks Euro-tour but
didn’t seem tired at all, rather more galvanized by the event and
the presence of their brothers in Goatess ! Punchy heavy-rock with
bluesy riffs, burning up-tempos, wah-wah soloing and raspy screaming
vocals… a very communicative energy for the sake of authentic rock
n’ roll, great moments – It
was a good surprise to see BABY WOODROSE in this year’s line-up,
the most 60’s influenced from all bands. It shows that Lorenzo is
the boss here, he has half of the big scene for just himself and the
3 other guys have the other part, hahaha ! too bad, I think the sound
is fucking too loud for the style; but songs like “get what you
give” or “what a burn” keep the show interesting…
That’s
the magic of such a good festival , offer you a band like UZALA in
the last evening, like ice on the cake I know them for about 3
years now and have heard a lot of great reactions about their live
performances, especially the excellent live transcription of Darcy
Nutt’s vocals (something not that current…) and SHIT this will go
beyond my expectations !
The
lady is literally bewitching the whole venue and by far deserves the
palm of BEST vocalist of the week-end !!! And the temperature doesn’t
fall any second when Chad sings on an old song, drowning us in a
rawer and nastier atmosphere. The couple from Boïse must gloat
inwardly and us too, really -
Muscular
riffs, heady melodies, mesmerizing vocals, UZALA finds the perfect
balance between heaviness, immersive psychedelia and rising tides of
feedback. “Seven Veils” and “Dark Days” are the absolute
winners of theis memorable set. For their 1st
European date ever, the couple from Boïse must gloat inwardly and us
too, really. BRAVO !!!
No
injure to WINDHAND the final headliner of this HDDT, I really like
this band but after Boïse’s heroes, it’s been hard to fully
enjoy their set as it deserved. I saw their whole set with Pilgrim
last November in Paris and judging by the 4 songs I’ve seen here, I
can just approve that their ascent is totally justified and will
hopefully help Electric Wizzard (with the comeback of Mark Greening)
to come back to more serious things with next album !!!
I
can not forget to mention the nice exposition of arts that one was
able to enjoy all week-end long, the positive atmosphere between
everyone, the awesome quality of the sound in general… Well, all
things considered and just as last year, I can’t definitely find
any negative points about this edition of Copenhagen’s finest HEAVY
DAYS IN DOOMTOWN (fuck the mermaid !). Thanx so much to Daniel and
all this hard-working team for having brought us all those great
bands, in good conditions and at much more affordable prices than
many others… you guys deserve the lights but we’ll stay willingly
with you in the real underground; hope I’ll make it again next year.
That’s
it Sludgelord maniacs, sorry if it was too long and kinda boring in
the end, if I didn’t speak about bands you wanted or whatever but
that’s just reflections on MY festival … cheers (Steph)
Written by Steph LeSaux
