Where most people spent their Easter eating eggs, and having a nice little time with their families, about a 100 doomedforlife folks found their way to the goudvishal, to witness 4 extreme, innovative, nihilistic, depressive, suicidal, miserable, sad, gloomy, melancholic, desolated, downhearted, distressed, tortured, agonized, tormented, unhappy, lamented, mournful, (© Mournful Congregation ? The dawning of mournful hymns) and above all; SLOOOW bands.  

The most extreme band of the day was obviously Until death overtakes me (UDOM). Their show consisted of only two songs, which make my job as reviewer quite an easy one.
I recently had the pleasure of obtaining their ?Prelude to monolith?, and I am glad to say that the entire set consisted of songs from that one. Yes, two  song indeed. But not just ?two songs?, but the very, very intense ?Missing? for instance. Repetitive, hypnotizing and unearthly heavy. The stage act was taken care of very doom as well. Candles, not much light, and some of the Pantheist-members helping out with the instruments, hardly moving and simply looking doom as hell. Since the entire opus contains probably no more then 10 drumbeats, and ?real? drummers would get totally mad, Pantheist multi-instrumentalist Kostas took care of both the keys and the drums. The other song was the older ?Absence of life?, and despite I prefer his newer stuff better, this one was a great trip too. The crowd reaction was good, yet totally different from regular metal shows. No-one shouting SLAYERRR, or yelling his or her personal favorites. Just applause. I didn?t know at the time, but this little Belgian man was responsible for the best band of the evening.


Same country, same people, same genre, same stage decoration..The people whom are less familiar with the situation going on, were something like; what the fuck..haven?t I just seen ?em? Just as with UDOM, Pantheist has recently been signed by firebox as well, and also just as UDOM, Pantheist have a new album out as well, titled ?O solitude?.
I do not know the tracklisting yet, but I can imagine that all the four songs played, are of that album. Just as on the Rotterdoom gig earlier this year, both ?Eny us? as ?Curse the morning? light were played. In addition to those two, we?d got to hear ?1000 years? & ?Envy (which is not the same song as Envy us!)?. Again the keyboard was sampled, and despite the stage was pretty filled with people,  I think Kostas had more then enough freedom of movement to wear his monks suit and ?move? a little more, instead of his statue-like, staring performance. His grunts however, were awesome, and fit the sometimes aggressive music perfect (at least better then the clean vocals). The sound was loud, near the border of ?too loud?, and it was therefore not really clear. Too bad, for this band deserves a good sound. (as can be heard on ?O solitude?!) I had a good time during the full show, and I?ve said it before and say it again; I foresee a great future for this band! 

Third band was the stoner-rock band called Officium Triste. At least, that?s the idea you get when seeing vocalist Pim onstage. I hardly know any people that seem so relaxed and that seem to have such a good time when onstage. Cigarette, beer, more cigarettes and much more beer, saying hello to some familiar faces in the audience, and somewhere in between doing some vocals for this band called O.T. Despite his pronouncement, O.T. does not exactly play speedmetal (although you may think so when compared to tonight?s other bands), and therefore had to cut back a little on the songs they intended to play. Old songs, new songs, obscure covers, famous covers; just ask for it baby! ?Lonesome? and ?Stardust? for instance of the 1997 ?Ne vivam? (which should be re-released on vinyl!), and ?Roses on my grave?, ?Pathway? & ?Camouflage? from ?The Pathway?.  The first cover was ?Headstone?, originally performed by Chorus of ruin. I?ve to admit that I?m unfamiliar with the original, but after having heard this cover, it seems like it is  about time I get to know this band. Second cover is a song which probably every visitor knew; the ?Angel of death? of doom-metal so to speak; Anathema?s ?Sleepless?, which was also the ending of this entertaining show.

If there?s one still active doom-metalband that can be labeled as ?cult?, then that would probably be Skepticism. Their music, their lyrics, their image, their artwork and their latest disc, who?s release seems to be postponed over and over and over again are the subject of endless conversations, discussions and unanswered questions.  Some of those were answered tonight, most of ?em weren?t. Yes, they are just people like you and me. No, they indeed do not have a bassplayer. Yes, their gig avoided all clichés metal has, and besides on funerals, I?ve never seen a band using a organ live.  About the show itself first. Compared to the show in Belgium the previous day, Skepticism had a totally different setlist. First track was ?The march and the stream?, and the second track was my personal favorite, for which I longed, but feared that, due to it?s length, it wouldn?t be played. However, the band didn?t seem to think of it as a problem, and played the entire nearly 28 minute lasting ?Aes?. Next track was my highlight of the evening. New track, ?Farmakon (process?)? appeals to me as the best Skepticism song I?ve ever heard, and makes the waiting for ?Farmakon? only harder. After that they left the stage for the first time, still without saying a word, making everybody wonder what would be next. Even faster then having left the stage, they returned for their real last track ?THE ORGANIUM?.  Correct; no ?Stormcrowfleet? songs. Not even crowd favorite ?The gallant crow?.  The sound was crap; too loud and deformed. Again the members hardly moved a muscle, but as most people had their eyes closed anyway, that didn?t matter very much. The organ was really beautiful, and had even a mirror on top, so that you could face your inner darkness (yes, a special mirror indeed, hehe.) Then about the side-effects. I?d say that there are some bands you are better of with not knowing too much about. It takes away the image, the legend you have of a band. I think in the case of Skepticism I preferred the anonymity. However, when having put that behind, I had an almost magical time. The songs played are four of the best doom-metal songs ever written, and with my eyes closed it was impossible not to got dragged along on their pouring, everdarkgreen journey.

Thanks to Heiko, for taking these pics.
Heiko@doom-metal.com

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