Given a second chance to see German psych jammers Electric Moon after arriving too late for the start of their set at Roadburn 2012, you can bet your ass I’m not missing them this year. Roadburn just put out notice that the trio have joined the lineup for this year’s Afterburner, and I can’t think of a better setting to enjoy their improv wah-soaked bliss.

This is gonna rule:

Psychonauts rejoice! Electric Moon will propel you through hyperspace to some distant psych galaxy at the traditional Roadburn Afterburner on Sunday, April 21st at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Invited for Voivod‘s curated Au-delà du Réel in 2012, Electric Moon ranked among the very highlights of Roadburn last year. As it’s no secret that we like to explore the vast cosmos through hallucinatory space-rock at Roadburn, it’s truly a pleasure to invite Electric Moon back this year for the Afterburner.

Led by Sula Bassana‘s fuzzed-out, heavy guitar explorations, Electric Moon weave pure-psychedelia, dub, doom, krautrock and drone into kosmische improvisations via a myriad of intergalactic riffs, stellar effects and deep-space transmissions.

The overall vibe of their epic but hypnotic freak-outs can be utterly mesmerizing or darker than the depths of the most monstrous of black holes, but all the while remaining deeply psychedelic.

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!

One of the best things about running back and forth between rooms and venues every year at Roadburn is getting the chance to check out bands you (or in my case, I) can’t really see anywhere else. The droney side-project of Amenra‘s Mathieu Vandekerckhove, Syndrome are the latest confirmation for the Roadburn 2013 lineup, and as I’ve been ignorant of their doings up till now (info about their second album is below), I’ll look forward to getting caught up in Tilburg. That’s pretty much the story of my year for the last four fests. Ha.

Dig it:

We’re excited to announce that Belgium’s Syndrome, the brainchild of Amenra‘s Mathieu Vandekerckhove, will bring his gentle ambient, drone and experimental musings to Roadburn Festival 2013 on Friday, April 19th at Cul de Sac, opposite of the 013 venue, in Tilburg, Holland.

For years this was a strictly personal endeavor, as the self-taught musician learned and studied his craft of songwriting and minimalistic soundscaping as a means to self exploration, meditation and as a way of channelling negative into positive energy.

Dedicated to his son Wolf, Syndrome‘s second album, Now and Forever, is a guiding light for his son to help find himself. This is accomplished via droning sounds that come in waves of engaging, dreamy (but also bleak), and introspective sounds created by the fluttering voices of layered guitar that create an environment conducive to finding strength, helping others, and knowing no matter how distant the expanse, be it physical or ethereal, his father is there in spirit.

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but with the addition of British progressive rockers Diagonal, the lineup for the 2013 Roadburn Afterburner is complete. I can say with some confidence this is the most diverse roster of acts I’ve seen for the Sunday after Roadburn proper, which I’ve always looked at as a way to transition from the festival back into the much more drab existence of the real world, with Spiritual Beggars playing alongside Nihill, Sigh alongside Golden Void, and Astra rocking down the hall from Die Kreuzen. Weirdness is afoot and I couldn’t be more stoked.

Tickets are still available via the link included below. Here’s the official announcement:

Diagonal To Complete The Lineup For The 2013 Roadburn Afterburner

We are very excited to announce that UK prog act Diagonal  will be making a highly anticipated return to Roadburn. This completes the lineup for the 2013 Afterburner, which includes Rise Above labelmates Astra, Ihsahn, Michael Rother Presents The Music of NEU! and Harmonia, Spiritual Beggars, Die Kreuzen, The Devil’s Blood, Golden Void, Sigh, Nihill, Switchblade and Leprous, and takes place Sunday, April 21at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Diagonal will follow up their extraordinary and challenging 2008 Roadburn performance with a new set to promote their sophomore release, The Second Mechanism.

Aficionados of Vertigo-label inspired prog-jazz-fusion and Canterbury-flavored krautrock or psychedelica will want to check out Diagonal, whose sound recalls vintage 60s and 70s bands like Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North and Tangerine Dream. Their adventurous prog explorations are infused with lush keyboard soundscapes, scattered jazz sax, guitar, and keyboard melodies. At the same time, there is no shortage of heavy riffing and some searing guitar solos. Diagonal is definitely a band to watch in 2013.

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!

Following the release of their third album, Verdonkermaan, earlier this year on the now-kaput Hydra Head Records, Dutch black metal three-piece Nihill have been announced as joining the lineup for the 2013 Roadburn Afterburner. Their presence marks a continuation of Roadburn‘s ongoing push into the dark and the extreme, though Neu!‘s Michael Rother was also recently announced as playing (backed by Berlin outfit Camera), so the Afterburner‘s just as all over the place as the fest itself. The one thing it isn’t is predictable.

Info follows, culled from Roadburn‘s website:

In their debut live performance, Nihill bring their brutal and unforgiving black metal to 2013 Roadburn Afterburner on Sunday, April 21st at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

“Netherlands-based black metal trio Nihill returned in 2012 with the harrowingly dissonant invocation Verdonkermaan, the final vile screed in a traumatic trilogy (see equally disturbing predecessors Krach and Grond). Verdonkermaan was a nerve-shredding howl of raw black metal combined with vortexes of cataclysmic noise, made all the more effective by its discomforting, unorthodox nature”

“Like fellow avant-garde black metal brutes Gnaw Their Tongues, Nihill craft corruptive suites that eschew any hooks or, at their best, any sense of predictable structure. Verdonkermaan‘s five lengthy songs buried hints of melody under waves of remorseless abrasiveness, with static-ridden riffs, frost-bitten feedback, distortion and drone smothering all. The album’s finest moments came when its raging pyres of chaos and cruelty overwhelmed with their intensity—misanthropic murderousness was heaped upon atonal annihilations till all became a singular blur of black-hearted nefariousness. The band clearly reveled in the demoniacal glee of elongated churns of depraved and discombobulating noise” — Craig Hayes / Popmatters.

Tickets for the 2013 Afterburner are still available!

Richmond-based cult sludgers Cough will play Jus Oborn of Electric Wizard‘s curated event at Roadburn 2013. The Virginian outfit have been at the fore of the post-Electric Wizard pack, reveling in horrific atmospheres and massive, droning riffs, so they’re a good fit on what’s quickly becoming an eclectic bill. Their last release was an ultra-badass 2010 split vinyl on Forcefield Records with like-minded British purveyors The Wounded Kings (review here), and I don’t know if maybe they’ll have new material on hand by April, but it’s worth hoping for.

In addition to Cough, Witch Mountain will play Roadburn and Sabbath Assembly, Hexvessel, Crown and Tombstoned have joined the lineup as well.

This came courtesy of the fest’s website:

“Firstly, raise your withered stumps and welcome ye brothers of the bong, Richmond, Virginia bruisers and losers…(cue intro to Sweet Leaf)… Cough… rising through the fog like resin-zombies the appropriately named band are the epitome of evil stoned doom”, says Electric Wizard‘s Jus Oborn. “Violent, bleak and wasted… Ritual Abuse was genius… burnout and clogged with resin. We loved it!! Since then we have had many late night smokeouts with these kindred spirits and hopefully many, many more. The Acid Orgy will be heavily laced with Smoke…Hail Cough!!!”

“Once there was a legend of black cloaked cultists that haunted 1960s London, ominous and dark wearing strange occult symbols”, Jus continues, “They handed out bizarre literature linking Satan, Lucifer and Christ …Hells Angels were our saviours working for God and Lucifer to cleanse our world. They became linked to the Manson Killings and eventually disappeared in infamy to only be remembered by a chosen few …now Dave Nuss and Sabbath Assembly recreate the rituals and liturgies of this infamous group. We can now see and hear the true vision of this paradoxical acid consciousness cult. Hail Satan, Amen?!”

“Also we have young blood for the growing acid cult… a new power trio of Finnish maniacs that deal in real heavy doom: Tombstoned“, says Jus, “We witnessed them live only a few weeks ago and were blown away (yes…they defiantly had feel of our favourite Finnish band). Heavy and cool as the grave, absolutely no pretense or hipster styling, just solid and real doom music played by people who don’t care what you think. You will fuckin love em!!!! Hail Tombstoned!”

Even More Incredible bands to be announced SOON !!!

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!

Portland, OR’s Witch Mountain will bring their crushing doom to Roadburn Festival 2013 on Friday, April 19th at Het Patronaat in Tilburg, Holland.

Founded by guitarist Rob Wrong and drummer Nate Carson in 1997, this was not yet the Witch Mountain that would come to fruition. In 2009, the addition of vocalist Uta Plotkin transformed the band into something extraordinary with her bluesy, sensual and commanding voice as captured on both South of Salem (2011) and Cauldron of the Wild (2012).

Plotkin’s powerful and soulful pipes sound almost out of place, but this is exactly what makes Witch Mountain so special. She belts out the band’s massive, doomy, bluesy tunes like a metallized Janis Joplin or the lost sister of Heart‘s Ann and Nancy Wilson who chose the left-hand path.

Distilled from thick churning down-tuned guitars and dense drumming infused with Plotkin’s sad and sweet vocals, Witch Mountain lumbers without plodding and soars without drifting off. The epic sound and unique take on doom metal has earned them both a highly acclaimed reputation and a rightful place among the current crop of wickedly talented female-fronted bands. We are super stoked to welcome Witch Mountain to the Roadburn Festival during their first-ever European tour.

“2012 has been the biggest and best of Witch Mountain’s 15 year history”, says Nate Carson, “Two successful headlining American tours, two albums on Profound Lore, a new single, Scion Rock Fest (with Sleep and Saint Vitus), and now this.”

“It is truly an honor to end this year with the official announcement that we will finally tour Europe. Many thanks go out from us to Roadburn for this fantastic invitation. My only concern is that Cauldron of the Wild LP pre-orders are coming in so quickly that we may run out of vinyl before we get over there! Cheers!”

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!

Time marches on and the Roadburn 2013 lineup becomes increasingly unfuckwithable. In this latest update we learn that High on Fire will play The Art of Self-Defense in its entirety (as well as do a regular set), and that among others, The Midnight Ghost Train have joined the lineup! Those dudes kill live and have just toured Europe again, so it’s awesome to see their hard work paying off with a gig at a fest like this. Congrats to the band. Also included is info about Jus Oborn of Electric Wizard‘s curated event, and announcements of Penance, Dream Death (their first Euro show!), Maserati, Ash Borer, Intronaut, The Atlas Moth, and more.

Massive as ever:

HIGH ON FIRE TO PLAY TWO EXCLUSIVE SHOWS AT ROADBURN 2013, DREAM DEATH & PSYCHIC TV/PTV3 CONFIRMED FOR JUS OBORN’S CURATED ROADBURN EVENT, DOOM PIONEERS PENANCE AND MORE CONFIRMED

Here are the latest updates from Roadburn headquarters:

We’re elated to announce that Oakland, CA heavy metal juggernaut High on Fire will bring their enormous sonic assault to Roadburn Festival 2013 for two exclusive shows.

On Thursday, April 18th, High on Fire will play their landmark debut, The Art of Self Defense, in its entirety. Initially released in 2000 by Man’s Ruin Records (and now reissued by Southern Lord), The Art of Self Defense displayed a new, intensely primal attitude for stoner rock / metal that broke away from the laid back desert bands.

On Saturday, April 20th, Matt Pike, Des Kensel and Jeff Matz will bring their brute force musicianship and thundering roar, anchored in an endlessly captivating, punkishly frantic sound to Roadburn 2013. This set will showcasing High on Fire’s obsession with Motörheadish thrash, stunningly renderd on instant classics like De Vermis Mysteriis, and Snakes for the Divine. More info on High on Fire here: http://wp.me/p1m0FP-6zY

Electric Wizard is proud to present two more mindblowing freakouts for The Electric Acid Orgy: “Cult (and we mean really fuckin kkvvuullttttt!!???) Pittsburgh Doom pioneers Dream Death are back from the dead!!, says Jus Oborn. “1987’s Journey into Mystery LP was a blueprint for a ‘chosen few ‘doom freaks… evil churning riffs, proto 70s influences, HP lovecraft / weird tales inspired lyrics and tortured ‘real’ vocals.”

“Everyone else was ‘thrashing’ but this was it… ominous, foreboding, twisted and evil and it definitley pointed us in the right direction. We are unbelievably excited to witness them live at last and hope you will join us in screaming every word from Back From The Dead: “I hope you enjoyed the living me cos the dead one never ends.” More info on Dream Death’s first ever European performance here: http://wp.me/p1m0FP-6yU

“And from even further into the abyss we present legendary aural terrorists and brain agitators Psychic TV / PTV3!!! Formed in the early 80’s after the disbanding of Throbbing Gristle, this legendary outfit was always a dark subliminal influence. Their live performances would still haunt various festivals when we were teenagers and they were always scary… their fans , their image. Back then it meant something to shock people, to wake them up from their government imposed comas.

“I also remember their fake (?) cult Temple Ov Psychic Youth”, says Jus, “which had a huge influence on us and the early black metal scene, they even got satanic ritual footage on the BBC. Its all been done before kids and it started here.” More info on Psychic TV / PTV3 here: http://wp.me/p1m0FP-6zS

More info on Jus Oborn’s The Electric Acid Orgy here: http://wp.me/p1m0FP-6An

Their name has perennially appeared on Roadburn Festival wish lists. Like many of you, we have been dreaming of finally getting a chance to see them live. And now, for the first time since touring with Cathedral and Sleep in 1993, doom pioneers Penance (the Parallel Corners lineup) will return to Europe for an exclusive appearance at Roadburn 2013! More info on Penance here: http://wp.me/p1m0FP-6yO

Ash Borer, Fell Voices, The Atlas Moth, Intronaut, Maserati, The Midnight Ghost Train and Raketkanon are also confirmed for Roadburn Festival 2013.

Roadburn Festival 2013, including Electric Wizard, Godflesh playing Pure in its entirety for the first time ever, Neige (Alcest) as Artist-in-Residence , Spiritual Beggars, Ihsahn and Die Kreuzen reunion among others, will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Tickets for the Roadburn 2013 Afterburner are still available: http://www.roadburn.com/roadburn-2013/tickets

Please visit www.roadburn.com for more info.

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Spiritual Beggars, a band who helped lay the foundations for Sweden as one of the best heavy rock scenes in the world at a time when few others around the world could be bothered to give a crap. A lot has changed in the group since then — founding guitarist Michael Amott (also of Carcass/Arch Enemy) remains the key figure — but even their 2010 outing, Return to Zero (review here) was brimming with the love of classic rock that has served over the years as the band’s defining principle.

Today, Roadburn sent over word that Spiritual Beggars will play as part of the 2013 Afterburner lineup on Sunday, April 21. Dig it:

Sweden’s Classic Rock Heavyweights Spiritual Beggars Confirmed For Roadburn 2013 Afterburner

Roadburn extremely excited to welcome Michael Amott‘s classic rock heavyweights, Spiritual Beggars to the 2013 Roadburn Festival Afterburner on Sunday, April 21 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

“Back in the early 90’s, Roadburn founder Walter Hoeijmakers was one of the very first supporters Spiritual Beggars had in Europe”, says Michael Amott, “His unbridled enthusiasm for our music back then when most people didn’t ’get it’ meant so much to us. It’s a great feeling to now play his fantastic festival and celebrate the staying power of Spiritual Beggars and the Roadburn concept together!  We’re releasing a new studio album and celebrating our 20th anniversary as a band in 2013, and I really can’t think of a better way to start the party than at the esteemed Roadburn Festival?!?”

Since their formation in the early 90s, Spiritual Beggars have been at the forefront of the burgeoning stonerrock scene, raising the benchmark for stoner metal bands around the globe through a succession of much acclaimed albums that redefined the genre. Whether it’s Another Way To Shine, Mantra III, Ad Astra, On Fire or 2010?s Return To Zero, which features new singer Apollo Papathanasio, all of these albums deliver a masterful homage to the rock sensibilities of Deep Purple, Rainbow, Uriah Heep or even Trouble, but also to the blistering guitar heroics of Frank Marino and Mountain‘s Leslie West.

The trademark Spiritual Beggars approach of vintage hard rock songwriting, augmented by super-heavy, modern production values give way to Michael Amott‘s (ex Carcass / Arch Enemy) uncanny, impressive riffage, thoughtful, fluid solo’s and strong melodies,  and when paired with Per Wiberg‘s stellar Hammond excursions and Apollo Papathanasio‘s great expressive vocal range,  you’ll get the quintessential 70s rock band!

Spiritual Beggars‘ Roadburn Afterburner appearance will mark a great return to the stage, as the band has only played a handful of rare performances over the last few years. A new album is scheduled for a 2013 release.

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!

My reasons for posting the news that fuzzly Texas trio Wo Fat have been added to the lineup for Roadburn 2013 are triple-fold: First, Wo Fat kick ass, as their new album, The Black Code (review here), so clearly demonstrates. Second, it’s Roadburn news, and posting it is something I very much enjoy. Third — and this one’s the kicker — the poster is probably the best use of a comic-style dialogue bubble I’ve seen since my days slobbering over the latest issue of Batman. Well played, Roadburn.

And congratulations to the band on being added. When last I interviewed Wo Fat guitarist/vocalist Kent Stump, he said European touring was something they very much wanted to do, so way to go on making that happen and all the best to him and the band.

Here’s the news (and that poster):

Wo Fat Confirmed For Roadburn 2013

We are very pleased to welcome Texas riffmasters Wo Fat on Saturday, April 20th, 2013 with their blues-infused version of psychedelic doom. Tearing through the speakers like a swamp monster summoned from some dark cosmic morass, they rose from the deep and began their psyche-doom-adelic quest in 2003, with the goal to make music that remained within the paradigm forged by Black Sabbath, Hendrix, ZZ Top and the other greats of the 70?s, but that was also crushingly heavy and at the same time stayed true to the haunting blues that moan and wail deep within their souls.

Through their sonic journeys, they have managed to find a compelling balance between monolithic, cyclopean riffing and spaced out, psychedelic jamming. Structure and improvisational freedom being equally important elements to their music.

Three albums and nine years later, Wo Fat has joined the Small Stone Records roster and is offering up a new epic album, The Black Code, which contains five hefty slabs of classic Wo Fat analog fuzz, but this time with a more sci-fi related motif, full of cyber-visions of evil code and premonitions of digital horror and is maybe their heaviest work to date. It’s heaviness in groove, sound and feel as well as riff. This is organic, earthy metal. This is a pure, expertly cultivated, homegrown strain of Texas riffage.

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.