Some crossover here between Uleåborg Festival of Psychedelia 2022 and what would’ve been the fest in 2020, most notably Sweden’s Agusa making the trip from Malmö to Oulu, Finland (about 20 hours by car), to serve as headliners. Radiopuhelimet and Estonia’s Zahir are back as well, and it seems to me that the fest has packed more into a single day here than it was planning on doing for 2020. Perhaps that has something to do with the free-shows-around-Oulu idea, so that it’s less about standing in a room for 12 hours and watching band after another set up and break down their gear to play an abbreviated set, and more about immersion in a culture of psychedelia that extends beyond those bounds.

Thinking of it that way, you might not see everything if you go, but there’s a lot to be said for the experience. And you can hit up Tukikohta later on, anyhow. Presumably that’s where Agusa will be.

Details came straight from the event page on Facebook, and here they are:

ULEÅBORG FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA – July 16, 2022

Uleåborg Festival of Psychedelia returns after two years break!

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/664943631384972/

UFOP 2022 festival is arranged during one day on Saturday 16th July and the new gig orienteering concept includes free gigs around the city of Oulu. So take a map and head for a multidisciplinary and multidimensional art experience!

The festival will include a wide variety of artists and gigs from midday till late night in different locations. The day’s psychedelic path will lead to Tukikohta, Välivainio, where the payable main event will be held.

By buying the ticket to the main event you will also support the arranging of the free gigs! Yet again the festival will include a wide variety of local visual artists, psychedelic visualizations and surprises.

Tickets: https://www.tiketti.fi/tapahtuma/81489

Line-up:
Agusa (SWE)
Haamusoittajat
Hebosagil
Horte
Illyana
Kas Kan
Mesak
Otilia
Radiopuhelimet
Seli Seli
Skyjoggers
Tuomas Henrikin Jeesuksen Kristuksen Bändi
Zahir (EST)

Turn on, tune in and UFOP 2022!

https://www.facebook.com/events/664943631384972/
https://www.facebook.com/UFOpsychedelia/
https://www.instagram.com/ufopsychedelia/
www.uleaborgfestivalofpsychedelia.com

Agusa, En annan värld (2021)

Admittedly, for the first half-minute of opener “Big Sun,” I thought Hebosagil might be clones of fellow Finns, Swallow the Sun, but once? the song got going with Tatu Junno‘s abrasive vocals and Colossal (Kaos Kontrol) began to unfold, the music showed itself to be more in line with the likes of Church of Misery, Greenmachine or a more fully-toned Eyehategod. Comprised of seven tracks with speeds ranging from the grindcore-fast centerpiece “River” to the sludge-fueled crawl of closer “Death,” the album’s only real detriment is that the songs come across too thickly to really distinguish themselves. It sounds nasty, that’s for damn sure.

That nasty sound, and because it’s so up front and in your face, can easily lead one to think Hebosagil is simplistic, but a closer listen reveals that even though the tones don’t change much there is some variety in the music. The vocals, on the other hand, stick to throaty screams. Guitarists Antti Karjalainen and Remi Rousselle don’t just bang out riff after riff without thought of transition or structure, but again, a lot of that effort is lost in the morass of noise coming from the speakers. Colossal is not an easy or a friendly listen. The music is harsh in a way that brings to mind modern grind acts like Complete Failure or a more bombastic/mythology-free Lair of the Minotaur.

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