By Jase Walker
August was threatening to be the end of me with how busy I’d been but as the month drew to a close, it was time to catch some delicious proggy technical metalcore from Born Of Osiris. I wonder how long it will be before Patronaat considers charging me rent for how often I’ve been here this year but until then I’ll happily make the trip over to this lovely venue in Haarlem. For the headline dates on this tour they’ve got Dutch deathcore outfit Distant with them for the ride and for tonight’s local support, Gallamesh. Tonight is going to be heavy as fuck and Patronaat isn’t going to know what hit it.
The shows already got a pretty solid turnout before Gallamesh even takes the stage so it’s nice to see that the openers are going to get a lot of eyes on them for their set. With a bizarrely chill intro they get straight to it and Gallamesh are going straight for the jugular with a high energy start. Erring more on the side of hardcore of the ‘core spectrum, although with some really filthy vocals in the mix too. The crowd is already bouncing around so it looks like some fans are already in the audience and it hasn’t taken long for pits to kick off, the vibe is definitely right. At parts weaving a bit of rapid fire bar spitting with some pretty damn tasty riffs, Gallamesh shows they’ve got a nice bit of diversity to their material as well. It seems like picking these for opener was a good call as the now packed stage floor is all bouncing along to Gallamesh’s grooves and getting some solid pit action as an opener is a great achievement in itself. Great way to get things started this evening, Gallamesh should be proud of themselves.
It’s quite a surprise to see the changeover for Distant including rebuilding the entire setup including the drums but looks like they’ve made it work reasonably well. I love Distant but I do wish their bass had some grunt in the low end to shake the stage a bit. Doesn’t matter to everyone else though clearly as people are already starting to get aggressive in the middle in response to these Dutch deathcore madmen. I mean this is I think the fourth (?) time I’ve seen these in less than a year, no complaints though because Distant are well fucking dirty.
Push pits, circle pits, a fucking massive wall of death, even a rowing pit, Distant are pushing for every possible type of metal show shithousery and it’s brilliant. These guys have the crowd hanging off their every word, bass drop and breakdown. I mean it’s not hard to see why these guys have been bloody everywhere recently, they’re damn good at what they do and know how to whip up crowds into a bloodthirsty frenzy and that’s just what is going on tonight. Absolutely unreal set, all gas, no breaks. Also I caught that verse of “‘Wonderwall’, you’re not fooling anyone ha ha.
Born Of Osiris starts somewhat late so god knows what time I’ll be catching the return train at but anyway, it’s time for some heavy shit. I can spy the crowd already limbering up and getting ready to lose it as soon as possible so let’s see how it pops off eh? God I’ve missed this sort of groove laden metalcore for a long time. The lighting production is going super heavy on the strobes and the pit below me is intermittent flashes of arms and legs in all sorts of random positions while people slam into each other. Busy riffs, pinched harmonics, shredding the neck enough to make Tosin Abasi blush. I really wish these sorts of bands would up the grunt a bit on the bass again though, I can appreciate the clarity and the like but what I wouldn’t give for a bit more oomph.
I’m mildly amused by the Dutch dopper bottles confusing their singer a bit on how to open it, a small “how the fuck do I open this?” before giving up and launching into the next song. I’ve also got to give kudos to the guy down front who’s spent the entire show waving a giant pink flamingo plushie about, real commitment to the bit. The crowd has woken up a bit now after a bit of a slow start with people crowd surfing around and properly bouncing around, Distant may have worn them out a bit. The further we get through the set, the more intense the show gets, steadily climbing as the band runs through their biggest bangers and the crowd eats it up. People here tonight have no fear of crowds surfing up onto the stage only to dive right back on top of people (thankfully with a heads up) along with the assistance of Born Of Osiris’s singer giving them a hand up. This is the sort of intimate metal experience I really enjoy, people are going absolutely mental to some great riffs but are keeping an eye out for each other too.
Born Of Osiris seem to be operating very much on a “Please kill each other, respectfully” platform tonight, laying waste to Patronaat’s second stage and properly delivering the groovy goods. I had my concerns that Distant may have stolen the show for crowd response but Born Of Osiris are absolutely killing it and they don’t even need to try and direct people, they’re just going berserk of their own accord. Seeing this sort of blistering energy from the band and audience on a Tuesday night is fantastic, I’ve seen shows on Fridays not even come close to this sort of mania.
Incredible show from all three bands tonight. Patronaat’s crowd tonight has shown its teeth and each band has reveled in it. Absolutely nuts.
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