Written by:	X-Ray Rod, InnerSelf
Published:	May 18, 2018
Event:	Roadburn Festival 2018 (Website)
Location:	013, Tilburg, The Netherlands
Organizer:	Roadburn
Galleries:	Roadburn 2018, Day 3 & 4 by X-Ray Rod (48) Roadburn 2018, Day 2 by X-Ray Rod (25) Roadburn 2018, Day 1 by X-Ray Rod (30)

I remember waking up without an alarm around 10 am because of the heat. I spent my nights in Utrecht all my previous times at Roadburn, so I was curious to find out how much better the morning would be. Turns out the morning routine was delightful to me. It might have been a combination between low expectations (in order to be positively surprised) and my younger years of being a Boy Scout that made me think the lines for the showers were not particularly long and the water was perfect for me. And what about those breakfasts?! I swear I fell in love with my sandwich every morning.




I headed to two shortly after in order to satisfy two very necessary traditions: First, my exquisite palate needed some fries from De Frietboetiek at Heuvelstraat, right after passing our beloved weirdo canyon neighborhood. I've been there every year since my first Roadburn in 2011. It has gotten to the point that since the third year the owner recognizes me right away. Roadburn food is good and all that, but their fries are second-tier compared to this. After a quick yet expensive visit to Sounds Records (10-15-min walk from the venues, recommended for all Roadburners), I was ready for my second day, which turned out to be one of the most consistent ones!

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The Ruins Of Beverast

Besher: Day two started with one hell of a clash: The Ruins Of Beverast were playing at the same time as Mutoid Man and Ulsect, both of which were bands I enjoy and was actually looking forward to seeing, but TRoB playing Exuvia was something that I would never miss for anything!

As soon as the first sample from Exuvia started playing, I got the chills; I could hear every instrument crystal-clear and the songs translated perfectly in this live setting. Everything sounded perfect and von Meilenwald's vocals were huge and on point; the whole experience was also enhanced by the addition of a guest musician playing extra percussion (and he seemed to be really getting into it). The highlight of the set was "Towards Malakia" for sure. The song itself is probably my favorite from the album and I was eagerly waiting to lose my voice screaming "MALAKIA!!!". It was worth missing out the other bands for this set, as it is highly unlikely the band will ever play the full album live again.

Rodrigo: I had the pleasure of seeing The Ruins Of Beverast back in the 2013 edition of Roadburn at the Het Patronaat. There is a sense of gratification in seeing a black metal act performing live in a church? However, visual aspects have a strong influence on me and seeing this great act perform during the early hours of the festival with light shining through the windows kind of killed my mood 5 years ago. This year it was a completely different story, though. The Ruins Of Beverast wanted to fully promote their latest work, Exuvia, in its entirety in the dark Green Room. I must admit that I'm not an expert when it comes to this project, but their last album, with its oppressive, doomy and slightly psychedelic take on black metal, certainly sparked an interest in seeing them once again and rediscovering their discography? if only to add more black metal shows to my Roadburn list, which is always welcome! One could argue that there wasn't a lot going on in terms of visuals. You could just see the band playing and the odd visuals of woods here and there behind them? But oh boy, do they know how to make a sound of their own and let their music do the talking. The smaller and dark stage accentuated the foreboding, ritualistic atmosphere and the waves upon waves of smoke engulfed us all as if it were a portal to a frightening cosmic ritual. The tribal drums put me in a trance almost immediately, which was something you could clearly see in many members of the audience, as they were shaking and nearly dancing with an empty, hypnotized look on their faces. In terms of opening acts, I must say The Ruins Of Beverast were my favorite this year!

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Panopticon

Besher: People had mixed opinions on the new record, especially the acoustic, banjo-driven second half of it, and I wouldn't say that I was crazy about it, but I enjoyed it a fair bit. After a short break I walked into the beautiful Hat Patronaat with a cool Romanian dude I met at the Roadburn newbies' meetup from day one and watched the incredible set of selected songs that Panopticon had prepared for their first performance this year.

I found myself enjoying the acoustic songs far more than the black metal ones, which, even though I really liked upon repeated listens of the new album, felt rather forgettable on stage. It was really obvious that it meant a lot to Austin being able to perform them live, as he seemed to take the time to explain how and why he wrote each one of the songs they performed. I ran into the bassist of the band after the show and he told me with a big smile on his face that this was their favorite set that they've ever done.

Rodrigo: I discovered this wonderful and unique one-man black metal project back in 2011 with Social Disservices, a haunting album for sure but just like many others; it was with the following year's Kentucky that the name Panopticon truly got burned into my memory. Sure, many black metal bands introduce acoustic passages here and there? But it's a completely different story when Austin Lunn properly mixed his raw, aggressive and melancholic black metal sound with the honest and playful nature of bluegrass music. I bet most people did not expect the mix of influences to work that well, yet here we stand: 6 years and 3 brilliant full lengths after Kentucky? And Friday's concert at Het Patronaat was about celebrating that particular legacy.

With the help of live musicians, Austin Lunn delivered by performing a selection of songs from his latest opus: The Scars Of Man On The Once Nameless Wilderness. Panopticon's double album marks an important point in the project's path, especially with the second album focusing mostly on the bluegrass/folk side of Austin's music, and it was with these very songs that he started the concert. Alone, with a banjo and a beautiful voice at his disposal, singing songs centering on themes like the harsh bleakness of the working class. It really stroked a chord of mine when Austin was explaining the themes behind some of the songs. Being an immigrant myself, I can sympathize with the struggle of leaving your dear ones behind in the hopes of a better future. So even though the folk part of the set was a bit ordinary to some extent, the themes and atmosphere around them surely lifted the songs. Considering Roadburn's highly international audience, I believe I was not the only one with this in mind while enjoying his beautiful acoustic songs.

As time passed by, more members went up to the stage and joined Austin with songs that became progressively heavier with beautiful shoegaze-like crescendos and melodies. Eventually Panopticon lit up the Het Patronaat with pure black metal fury. The wall of riffs and thundering drums were a sight to behold, but the harshness of their sound made it somewhat difficult to truly experience all the layers behind each tracks, especially the guitar leads and vocals. For the last couple of songs I decided to enjoy it further back, which made the listening much better. All in all, a beautiful experience. This is especially true as I didn't catch their second set on Saturday, which I heard from some acquaintances was not nearly as good because of the loud and harsh tone of the riffs and cymbals on the Main Stage. A shame!

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Converge

Besher: I learned from yesterday's mistake and took a break after Panopticon instead of running to the Cul De Sac to catch Departe (a great Australian band that I highly recommend if you're a post-metal enthusiast) then walked to the Main Stage to catch Converge's second set, which consisted of the band performing the incredible You Fail Me. This time around everyone was fucking ready and the usual suspects gathered in the first couple of rows; 30 seconds it took them to start going apeshit, and this time the pit was bigger and featured a couple of courageous crowd surfers who put some of the guys to shame. 38 minutes of pure unadulterated passion this set was; Jacob had his crazy eyes for most of it as well and everyone seemed to be having a hell of a time. It is really hard to pick one of their two sets as a favorite, which speaks volumes to how incredible both sets were.

Rodrigo: As Tallahassee from Zombieland would say: "Time to nut up or shut up!" This was about to be the fourth time I had seen Converge live (and third at Roadburn). All the previous times I enjoyed the shows from afar, watching the mosh pits and headbanging at a safe distance. It really did not feel right to do the same thing a fourth time in a row, especially for this occasion. Once again the band decided to perform a full album and it was none other than the savage You Fail Me.

Tracks like the self-titled and especially "Last Light" have always hit close to home so I knew I had to experience these tracks at close-range, and the flood of riffs blew me away. This was without a doubt the most violent show I'd seen until then during this Roadburn edition, with ever-present mosh pits and a constant number of crowd surfers (not a big fan of those, but hey? It seemed like the right thing to do for this set). Once again, Jacob was nearly unmatched in terms of energy and interaction with the audience, chatting and firing up the crowd before every song. Out of nowhere comes At The Gates's very own Tomas Lindgren to chime in one of Converge's tracks. This gave us a clue for what to expect next as the last notes of "Hanging Moon" were played. Kevin Barker from All Pigs Must Die comes along and all three singers, along with the rest of the band, annihilated the stage with one rendition of the classic "Wolverine Blues" by Entombed. So glad I decided to get closer to the action for this set!

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Godflesh

Rodrigo: I don't mean to brag or anything but I saw the previous times Godflesh played at Roadburn back in 2011 and 2013, when they played Streetcleaner and Pure respectively? And Selfless is a great album and all that but it just doesn't come near the first two albums. Like? C'mon! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. That being said, I'm still a massive Godflesh fan and enjoy all their albums so there was no doubt in my mind that the industrial duo were going to deliver big time. I sure as hell hope Roadburn releases this set on LP like they did with the 2011 Streetcleaner set, because, holy shit, what a sound Mr. Broadrick and Mr. Green can make. It's incredible to see two guys alone at the Main Stage creating a wall of riffs and beats large enough you'd think you got 10 musicians working on that. It was loud yet perfectly clear. If there is something I can give Selfless extra credit for, it's that it is by far catchier than the previous two albums in terms of beats and this was even more notorious in a live setting. From a distance I could see that I wasn't the only one dancing as if we were all in a huge extreme dancing club. The visual aspects were kept to a minimum, with only certain pictures of the album's artwork as a backdrop, but the light show and how it all was perfectly timed with the beats enhanced the experience even further. After roughly 45 minutes I was forced to leave because I sure as hell couldn't miss the next concert?

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Igorrr

Besher: The second clash of the second day was Godflesh and Igorrr and there was no way in hell I was missing out on Igorrr, so I sat at the back of the Main Stage near the doors and rocked out to the few songs I was able to catch before running to Koepelhal to get a good spot for what turned out to be one of my absolute highlights of the whole festival... I love Igorrr, I'm a fanboy, and I love every second of music Gautier Serre has put out under this moniker (also everything he touches), so it is an understatement to say that I was psyched for this set.

I situated myself strategically in the fifth row or so and prepared my body for what was about to come, and what I witnessed was something else? I danced, I headbanged, and I spent half the set with a manic smile on my face. I've seen YouTube videos of Laure singing, but live she was just perfect. I'm not just fanboying here; her vocal prowess and range were mind-blowing, and she straight up stole the show. Gautier ended the set with some sort of improvisation (or an unreleased track; I don't know, to be honest) that brought the roof down, almost felt like a rave at some point. It was pretty cool seeing some long-haired metal dudes jamming to some breakcore.

Rodrigo:Yes. It was this one. Now that the festival is over I can look back and say that this was THE set of Roadburn 2018 for me. I can't explain it properly. Call me fanatic if you want; I do not care as this was a dream of mine since the day I discovered this project. I first got a glimpse of Igorrr's insane sound back when Nostril had just been released in 2010. It was almost uncomfortable to sit through. I did not get it nor like it but a part of me needed more and more until it just clicked with me somehow. I guess it was what I would call "Brutal elegance" that resonated with me so much?

I just couldn't keep it together while waiting for the show to begin. I was visibly shaking with a smile wider than an autobahn and out of nowhere we heard the beautiful voice of Laure. Just testing the mic and I was already floored by what was about to come. This is one of two sets this year I can't really describe well to anyone (more on the second one much later)... When everyone got on the stage, the crowd was ecstatic and everyone's eyes looked so intensively to the stage as if they were wolves seeing their prey. Seeing Laure and Laurent perform together was so unbelievably surreal? I was watching a goddess and a demon complement each other perfectly. This was a mesmerizing and hypnotic experience that got me shaking, dancing, headbanging, or simply standing perfectly still with my jaw all the way down to the center of the Earth. The addition of a live drummer was also extremely effective and added that extra oomph this project needed in a live setting. Of course, watching our main man, Gautier, orchestrating the whole show and basically doing a DJ soloing at some points with improvised beats was truly something else. It certainly opened my eyes to what a performance can look like (and let's face it? Many of us metalheads had/have problems and prejudices for DJs and their art). I truly hope this show opened the eyes of more people like it did for me. I really, really can't emphasize how much I wanted an Igorrr concert to be a reality and to experience it myself. When it all ended I was hungry for so much more and still eager to dance my ass off. Even though Igorrr was not going to perform near me any time soon, I did find a more than fine compensation in?

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Grave Pleasures

Rodrigo: I knew what I was getting into since I still remember fondly a concert back in 2012 in which Beastmilk opened for In Solitude and blew me away. Both bands would disband not too long after that, yet, unlike the latter, Beastmilk arose from the ashes like the radiant phoenix that is Grave Pleasures. Never has the cult of Death sounded so catchy, groovy, and infectious. Despite this edition being my 8th in a row, I'm certainly one of the younger Roadburners out there, so I can only imagine how it must felt for the older guys and gals dancing and partying as they did a couple of decades ago when goth rock and post-punk were in full swing. The sound was loud and clear and the vocals could not have been any catchier; same goes for the leads and beats that left no person sitting still. This was the only time I ever got a hoarse voice out of this year's edition as I happily sang out loud. Now THAT'S a way to close my day. Holy shit, I can't believe how much fun I had with this concert!

Besher: I had two options after Igorrr's set: either go watch Hexis in the Cul de Sac and most probably die or chill to some cheesy gothic goodness in the form of Grave Pleasures, so knowing I still had 2 days to go I ended up sitting for what remained from the Grave Pleasures's set. I summoned some strength and danced a bit for the last song. Can't say I really remember anything special from this set as I was exhausted and sleepy but I remember having fun. All in all, I ended the second day with a great mood and tried to hang on to that as much as I could, as I had a small inkling that Saturday could drain all the happiness from my soul?

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Rodrigo. After a few moments of fresh air and cheap food, I began another long walk back home with my pals. Like I wrote in the beginning of this article, Friday was by far the most consistent day for me. Not a single weak act that day and performances that I still remember with a big smile on my face. Destiny would make this day the happiest one by far as well, which is ironic as Saturday was anything but happy... Until next time, folks!