Live Review: Freak Valley Festival 2025 Night Two
Posted in Features, Reviews on June 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Before show
I heard the noon bell ring in Netphen, and made it to the AWO grounds in time for the start of the pre-show yoga session. I did it last year as well, at least one of the days, and it was a good flow. I’ve been doing yoga at home with the intent of building a habit, but you know how that goes. It’s so much easier to not do the things that are good for you.
Hot in the sun though.
There was a big snail nearby that I showed to Pete from Elephant Tree, who’s a regular and a volunteer hanging out here each year. I felt like I was five years old for how excited I was. Pete took the picture.
What I didn’t realize was how much time had passed, so when Volker Fröhmer came out to introduce the first band of the day, it was a jolt back to reality. And since I’d heard the screams in their line check, I knew reality was about to hit hard.
Insert clever segue here:
Häxer
From Norway, and the drummer had the Høstsabbat tshirt to prove it. I had my favorite one on yesterday; missing that festival as I have had to these last couple years it’s pretty worn in, so it’s only in light rotation; special occasions. Häxer brought punker punishment. Flourishes of extreme metal, brutal high-register screams — dude sounded like he could go all day doing that shit, which is fortunate because they’re playing again later on the small stage — and uptempo charge to the opening of the day. It’s a hot one but there’s shade available for when it’s needed and abundant water. Having been rushed at the start of their set — which turned out to be wholly appropriate to the music — I found a spot to catch up and watched as the singer crowdsurfed mid-verse and the band blasted through the kind of boozy punkmetal that’s become a staple of the Norwegian underground. Thrash and punk and black metal were always threaded. Häxer highlighted just how potent a blend that can be. Even the bass was anthemic. Probably not what I’m reaching for on a mellow afternoon at home, but undeniably on their shit onstage.
Wedge
Another of the many firsts for me this weekend. I’ve loosely followed Wedge since the Berlin trio’s inception, circa 2014, and they remain a vital presence in the German scene, so it wasn’t quite the ‘finally!’ sigh of relief that was catching My Sleeping Karma the night before had been, but I knew enough to look forward to their set and felt justified in that as they played, working in and out of boogie traditionalism with a sound that’s grown and expanded over time. Again, I found a spot in the shade and watched the crowd fill in over the course of the band’s time, veering into soulful psych with a foundation that’s still classic and an overarching mellow spirit that felt just right for the day. It wasn’t a comedown from Häxer, though the songs were lower and slower, more melodic, etc., as the crowd became a sea of nodding heads in the sunshine, which is always fun to see. They’re more than four years removed from their latest album, Like No Tomorrow (review here) and I’ve no PA what they have planned going forward, but the way they jammed out sure made it seem like they were having a good time, so maybe one of these days an announcement will come through. They killed it in the meantime. The kind of band you want to see again.
Zig Zags
L.A.’s Zig Zags released their fifth LP, Deadbeat at Dawn, just at the end of last month, and although I haven’t heard the album, the title-track was recognizable. This is the power of punk, and it’s not a minor consideration in Zig Zags’ sound, but very purposefully not the limit of it. They weren’t the first band of the day to celebrate the hybridization of punk and thrash metal, but they made it live, for sure. They’ve been around for a bit at this point — five records, if you want to measure time that way — and I have to think they alienate as many people as they might ensnare with their sound. If you’re a headbanger or a punker exclusively, Zig Zags are blasphemy, but if you’re the rare kind of cat who can get down with both, they’re type band, and sure enough, I know people in Los Angeles who swear by them. I get it. They’re an act who make complex ideas feel simple, obviously approach what they do without a milligram (or an ounce in the States) of pretense, and every now and then, they locked into a Slayer riff or a rolling nod — speedy, but there — and that was right on as well. Maybe they’re not alienating so much as something for everybody. Also notable, the mist cannon, which I’ve absolutely been shot by point blank in the photo pit in years past, made an appearance by the show of the stage. It was greeted as a liberator and I was happy to spend Zig Zags’ declarative “Punk Fucking Metal” adjacent to the spritz.
Battlesnake
The inevitable answer to the question of who the dudes walking around the backstage in vestments were, Sydney, Australia’s Battlesnake — entirely new to me — reveled in blasphemy, pairing upbeat push with a heaping dose of shenanigans amid double-guitar harmonies and the weekend’s first — perhaps only — keytar. The songs, which were at least half the point of the show, were varied around a foundation in classic metal, and if ‘fun’ was a subgenre, that might be the closest description. A couple slowdowns, a couple speed-ups, and the energy onstage to sell all of it, they weren’t shy in letting a little chaos in alongside the tight songwriting and a pastiche that went from doom to thrash, and with that in consideration, they slayed, in terms of presentation and craft, as well as that one breakdown from whichever song it was. They would seem to be in Europe for the summer, with UK and continental shows sandwiched by being here and Hoflärm on August, but the riffs packed the lawn, the theatrics made it a good time, and they continued the day’s subtle theme in communing with metal of yore from a fresh point of view. If you’re the type who really likes heavy metal that takes itself too seriously, avoid. Didn’t seem to be an issue with the Freak Valley crowd. Go figure. They’ll definitely make an impression on tour.
¡Pendejo!
Mostly Dutch, ¡Pendejo! are connected to Spanish music and culture via frontman El Pastuso, who doubles as part of what to my knowledge will be the weekend’s only horn section. The combination, horns with heavy riffing and Spanish-language vocals, is the essential component in what they do, along with the encouraging shove that typifies their doing it. Completely on another wavelength sound-wise from Battlesnake, they nonetheless maintained the electricity and the good times fostered by the preceding act and were catchy whether you spoke the language or not. I wandered a bit after doing photos and came to land in the same spot as during Battlesnake, so I guess you can mark that a win, since shade. The shenanigans carried over as the band stood blasted out pulse-raisers like they were going out of style — they’re not — and though I missed 2023’s Volcán, they lived up to my expectations from their prior material, and it was a perfect moment for the diversion in the centerpiece position of the day, with four bands before and four after. They earned that spot though. Working up there, they were.
Early Moods
The intensity of the afternoon starting to wain, Early Moods line checked their guitars with “Heaven and Hell,” which, man, that’d be a cover to hear. The L.A. doom metallers have been out with Zig Zags on a European tour, and though I’ve seen them before, in the interim, they put out 2024’s sophomore record, A Sinner’s Past (review here) and done a buttload of touring — like Pendejo, they brought their own banner — and so were less the upstart kids taking on not only doom, but epic doom of the Candlemassian strain than a seasoned touring act who know what they’re about and ready to steamroll whatever should happen to be in their path. This particular evening, that was Freak Valley. They were in control from the outset and suitably severe in their delivery, digging into the angles of their transitions as well as the nod of the verses. They were a band who started with a strong idea of what they wanted to do, and they’re still relatively young, but they growth they’ve undertaken was as palpable from the stage as it was on the album last year, and they felt like they were setting themselves up for the longer haul. Easy to appreciate an outfit who can bring doom to life in such a way. The crowd also went off, so they’ve got that going for them as well.
Sacri Monti
It had been a minute or two, Sacri Monti. The San Diego heavy psych rockers were starting about three weeks of Euro touring, which will take them to Stoned From the Underground and Poland’s Red Smoke Festival, among others, before they’re done. They were out with Elder in the US this Spring as well, supporting their 2024 full-length, Retrieval (review here). The last time I saw them was at Roadburn 2018, where they were part of a collective of featured acts from San Diego, where the scene at the time was vibrant. Nowadays I tend to think of them as survivors, having not only made it through that weekend intact, but pursued their own ends on tour and in the studio instead of posing out for Instagram or working on their ‘brand.’ They’re still rooted in a 1970s style, but have taken on progressive flourish and intention behind that, and it was a pleasure to see them again after seven years, not the least with Mad Alchemy’s lightshow on the giant stageside screens. I’d been looking forward to it and wasn’t the only one. They’re veterans at this point, but they still sound like a growing band. That’s how it goes sometimes, in the best of scenarios.
Motorpsycho
With 90 minutes at their disposal, Norwegian prog legends Motorpsycho have the longest set of Freak Valley 2025, and considering the back catalog of well over 100 releases, that’s probably reasonable. They started psych and jammy, which it turned out what was I needed, before turning more toward structure and complexity, and neither am I going to complain about that. I was dragging — no reason to lie — but they were more immersive than I’d been expecting. Another one I’ve seen before, once or twice, at least, but it’s been a while. The thing with Motorpsycho is they’re always moving forward. Yeah, that’s resulted in a lot of albums and whatnot, but more, it’s resulted in a band who’ve been at it since 1990 and never stopped evolving. The rarity of that is not to be discounted just because you don’t know where to start in their discography. The people up front got there early and clearly knew very well why they were right to do so, and Motorpsycho played the sun down to bring some relief from the heat, which was due. I’m not an expert or anything, but I do my best, and beat as I was, even I understood the profundity of what I was seeing and hearing. Lush, gorgeous, theirs.
The Ocean
I don’t recall ever seeing The Ocean before, but I remember when they came were on Metal Blade, and I’m certainly aware of the excellent work frontman Robin Staps does with Pelagic Records, so they’re kind of in the orbit, loosely. They took the prog of Motorpsycho and metallized it, intersplicing post-metal crush with melodic reach and nuance. I didn’t stay, but they were tearing it up when I left and it was still packed, so it was me, not them. Reasonable. The Ocean have been a professional band for over trio decades at this point, and they had the lighting to prove it as well as the extended changeover after Motorpsycho, during which Häxer took their turn on the small stage for their second set of the day (had a mosh going and everything). I hung in for a couple The Ocean songs until the strobe put me over the top and I went to catch a cab back to the room, finish writing, sort the day’s photos, and most importantly, sleep for every second possible. Oh, but heads up, they had room mics over the drums and crowd mics at the front of the stage, so if a live album surfaces, don’t say you weren’t warned.
—
I’m going to leave it there because that’s what my eyes closing while I type means. Back at it tomorrow for the last day of the fest. Grateful to be here. Super-grateful there’s another yoga session before the day starts.
More pics after the jump.
