Posted in Whathaveyou on August 5th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Touring to support their third album, Stellar, German black metallers Der Weg einer Freiheit will come to American shores for the first time next month. The tour focuses on the East Coast and hits into the Midwest, but the roundout gig at the Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn has to be a focal point. They’ll be joined for the run by labelmates Barishi, and there’s still one date yet to be announced, so I guess if you’re somewhere between Chicago and Rochester, NY — here’s looking at you, Pittsburgh — it might be a good time to reach out.
The PR wire brings details:
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT announce first-ever US tour
German underground black metal visionaries DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT have announced their first-ever US tour. The tour, which begins on September 24 in Allentown, PA will see the band travel throughout the American east coast before concluding on October 7 in Brooklyn, NY. The tour sees the band joined by newly-signed label mates BARISHI. A full list of confirmed tour dates can be found below.
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT are touring in support of their ambitious new album, ‘Stellar’.
Established in 2009, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT have since made waves across the underground black metal scene in Germany with the release of two full length albums and well-received Eps in between. In their short time as a band, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT has already toured alongside SHINING, ENSIFERUM, THE OCEAN, and more, and already performed at several festivals in Europe including Graspop, Summer Breeze Open Air, Hellfest, Blastfest, With Full Force Open Air, Barther Metal Open Air and Wolfszeit Festival.
“[DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT is] the future of German Extreme-Metal” – Mille Petrozza, Kreator
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT tour dates: 9/24 Allentown, PA @ Good Weekend 9/25 Chesapeake, VA @ Riffhouse Pub 9/26 Raleigh, NC @ The Maywood 9/27 Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall 9/28 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl 9/29 Nashville, TN @ The End 9/30 St. Louis, MO @ Fubar 10/01 Madison, WI @ Willy Street Bar and Grill 10/02 Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s Rock Club 10/03 TBA 10/04 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar 10/05 Burlington, VT @ Nectar’s 10/06 Allston, MA @ O’Brien’s Pub 10/07 Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar
Posted in audiObelisk on June 30th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
I was especially eager to see Bongripper at the Afterburner at this year’s Roadburn. They had played a couple nights before as well (that set is streaming here), performing their 2014 album, Miserable (review here), in its entirety, but I’d had to miss that set and knew going into the fest that I wanted to see them one way or another follow-up on the performance they gave in 2012, which had been chest-shakingly heavy.
No regrets, of course. They proved to be devastating and I’m anxious to revisit the set today via the newly released live stream. Also included in this latest of the four-so-far batches is a bunch of stuff I missed, including two of the most-talked-about bands of the entirety of Roadburn 2015: SubRosa and Thou. The former outfit played the first day and I continued to hear about them through to Sunday, while Thou‘s atmosludge devastated the crowd at Het Patronaat and were bandied about as one of the highlights of the whole fest.
Along with performances by Acid Witch, Death Hawks, Mugstar (another one whose name I kept hearing), Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, and KEN mode, this makes for a pretty diverse round of streams. If you get to dig into any or all of them, I hope you enjoy:
Acid Witch – Live at Roadburn 2015
Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – Live at Roadburn 2015
Bongripper – Live at Roadburn 2015 (Afterburner)
Death Hawks – Live at Roadburn 2015
Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Live at Roadburn 2015
Kenmode – Live at Roadburn 2015
Mugstar- Live at Roadburn 2015
Subrosa – Live at Roadburn 2015
Thou – Live at Roadburn 2015
Special thanks to Walter as always for letting me host the streams. To read all of this year’s Roadburn coverage, click here. For the first, second and third batches of streams, click here and then click here and then click here.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 4th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
A huge slew of adds today to Roadburn 2015. I’m sure it’s happened at some point over the last however many years, but I can’t remember a time when so many acts joined a Roadburn bill at once. And as one would have to expect, they’re completely all over the place, from Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin doing two live soundtracks to Oozing Wound thrashing out and Salem’s Pot weed-worshiping their consciousness into oblivion. That’s really just the start of it, too.
And there’s more to come, of course. The PR wire has info:
CLAUDIO SIMONETTI’S GOBLIN TO PERFORM LIVE SCORE OF CULT HORROR CLASSICS DAWN OF THE DEAD AND SUSPIRIA AT ROADBURN 2015
ZOMBI, STEVE MOORE & MAJEURE TO PLAY ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2015
PROFETUS, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT, SALEM’S POT, SAMMAL & OOZING WOUND ALSO CONFIRMED FOR THE 20th EDITION OF ROADBURN FESTIVAL
We’re extremely excited to announce that Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin will return to the 20th edition of Roadburn Festival, set for April 9 – 12 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands, to perform their much acclaimed movie soundtracks for the well-known cult-classic horror movies Dawn Of The Dead and Suspiria.
Led by Brazilian-born composer Claudio Simonetti, the band will perform the live scores in real time while screening both movies from start to finish, offering our beloved attendees the chance to experience these classic soundtracks and films in an entire new dimension.
This will be the first time that these soundtracks will be performed in The Netherlands and at Roadburn, following the band’s critically acclaimed performance at last year’s festival, when Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin were invited by curator Mikael Åkerfeldt.
Goblin’s scores for George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) rank among the best and most famous soundtracks composed and produced by these Italian progressive rock legends.
The much-anticipated performances will take place on the main stage at the 013 venue on Saturday, April 11 (Dawn of the Dead) and Sunday, April 12 (Suspiria).
We’re equally excited to announce that legendary kosmische Giallo synth duo Zombi will be playing an exclusive set at Roadburn 2015, appearing for the first time in Europe since a handful of festival appearances back in 2011.
Since first hitting the general consciousness with their Relapse 2004 debut album Cosmos, following a pair of EPs, and wowing fans and critics alike with 2011’s Escape Velocity, it could be argued that Zombi were the spearhead for the whole resurgence of interest in obscure film soundtracks and the music of artists such as Goblin, John Carpenter and Fabio Frizzi.
Zombi, AKA Messrs. Moore and Paterra will be opening up the stargate and heralding the zombie dawn on the main stage of the 013 venue on Saturday April 11 as a part of the 2015 20th edition of Roadburn and we couldn’t be more psyched to have them.
That, however, is not all we have in store for you, as we also have exclusive solo performances from Zombi braintrust Steve Moore and A E Paterra – performing under his Majeure identity – both of whom will be playing on the day before, Friday April 10 at Het Patronaat.
In related news: At long last, Profetus will be conjuring their classic Finnish funeral doom, worthy of comparision to Thergothon, Skepticism and Tyranny (with whom Profetus share members), when they play on Friday, April 10 at Het Patronaat, too!
In collaboration with Finland’s Blow Up That Gramophone, we can’t wait for Profetus, who rarely perform live, to slowly break down Het Patronaat by the full crashing weight and momentum of monolithic riffs, slow building drums, guttural vocals and sadly beautiful, but also penetrating church-organ-like synths.
Germany’s Der Weg Einer Freiheit offers a master class in dark, furious and epic black metal as they effortlessly mix blackened grandeur with post-rock sensibilities and classically influenced melodies to create their signature sound. Impatiently waiting for the follow up to 2012’s Unstille, we’ll be anticipating Der Weg Einer Freiheit’s Roadburn performance on Friday, April 10 at Het Patronaat just as much.
Firmly rooted in the red-eyed rituals of the heady ‘60s and dead ‘70s, and shabby, feverish catacomb 8mm smut by the likes of Jess Franco, Sweedens’ Salem’s Pot are clearly on the rise, channeling ultra-fuzzed acid-blues into psychotropic lo-fi doom.
These guys aren’t just some bogus, bong-worshipping, basement dwellers. Salem’s Pot accentuate these creepy vibes by smashing B-movie debauchery and vintage hedonism into a lysergic stomp through spooky reverberations and underground grime. You know what to do when Salem’s Pot will hit Roadburn 2015 on Thursday, April 9 at the 013 venue.
Founded in 2004 by guitarist Jura Salmi and vocalist Jan-Erik Kiviniemi, Sammal manages to capture a sense of golden moments in Finnish music. Touching on their culture and heart, and with lyrics sung entirely in Finnish, Sammal shows a masterful, natural command of classic rock with nods to Caravan, Thin Lizzy, Camel, Birth Control, Budgie and the epic guitar journeys of the Allman Brothers.
Though Sammal have existed for 10 years, they seldom play live gigs (let alone abroad) and in collaboration with Finland’s Blow Up That Gramophone, we are immensely excited to have them at the 20th edition of Roadburn Festival on Saturday, April 11 at the 013 venue.
Buckle up! Are you ready for some of the filthiest, snottiest, relentless and downright loud crossover thrash this side of early 80s Metallica, Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies? Then look no further, as Chi-town’s Oozing Wound are here to supercharge the 20th edition of Roadburn Festival on Saturday, April 11 at the 013 venue.
In related news: British gothic rock innovators Fields Of The Nephilim will be gracing the stage twice at the 20th edition of the Roadburn Festival. In addition to serving as the Saturday headliner on April 11, the band will perform a different set as special guests at Houses Of The Holistic on Friday, the special Roadburn event curated by Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) and Wardruna‘s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik, which will be held on Friday, April 10.
Once again, we captured the sounds of Roadburn Festival. While you were worming your way through a Green Room doorway jam, we were recording the jams inside. Now it’s time to kick back and relax and just listen. The VPRO’s 3voor12, which is the best cultural media network in the Netherlands, is making it possible to share these 2014 Roadburn streams with you here.
Curated by Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) and Wardruna‘s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik, Roadburn Festival 2015 (including The Heads as Artist In Residence, Enslaved, Wardruna, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin, Zombi and Fields of the Nephilim among others) will run for four days from Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
