By Jase Walker
Finally, after many years of saying I’d make the trip to Cologne, I’ve got myself along to the premier yearly progressive music festival of mainland Europe! Euroblast 2025 is already going strong as I arrive and I’ve spotted many familiar faces including the lovely lot in Voyager.
My trip over from Amsterdam has been somewhat haphazard thanks mainly to Deutsche Bahn and its incredible ability to completely avoid keeping to timetables. Anyway, I’m here, I’m settled and beers in hand, it’s time to get stuck into a weekend of incredible music.
First band for me today is Burden To Atlas on the side stage underneath the venue and as I walk in I realize I honestly can’t see fucking anything except the band, it’s so dark! Mixed vocals and chest shaking bass immediately blow my face off in the darkness, admittedly I think the bass might be a bit too strong for the first time in a while because I want to hear the guitars a bit better.
I get pretty strong Jinjer vibes from these with their use of grooves and swapping between softer and ambient moments that then jumps into sudden heavier segments. I can hear echoes of the likes of Caligula’s Horse and Monuments mainly through the guitarists choices of rhythmic chugs that constantly dance around the fretboard too, it’s a pretty good combo of influences though, these are definitely a solid choice to open up the first Euroblast day!
Post-metal outfit DVNE have definitely stepped up their production game since I saw them last! Or at least the Euroblast main stage is rocking it and they’re making solid use of the massive screens behind them that move through various shapes and colours that weirdly remind me of the old Windows Media Player visualizations.
Tasteful use of ambient sound and subtle layering against epic heavy moments, a defining trait of post-metal that always draws me in and leaves me in awe every time. I suppose with The Ocean on hiatus for the foreseeable future, I can get myself stuck into DVNE and have them rightfully take the spot for my go-to post-metal act.
Admittedly I’m actually going over the last times I saw these and I can’t believe I didn’t give them a fair shake before, this set is really blowing my head off and has all the hallmarks of a band that realistically should be a lot higher on the bill. The quality of the performance is incredible, they sound massive along with the top tier visual elements all goes into the mix of creating an experience that has properly caught me off guard.
Every single droney arpeggio set against thunderous drums gives me chills in a way I did not expect to feel and I think I need to reassess how I felt about DVNE prior to seeing them kill it today.
Sadly I ended up having to cut my day short as I became randomly very ill so I had to do myself a favour and actually get some sleep so I could continue the weekend. Sorry folks!
- Photos courtesy of Euroblast/@pixel.pleaser/Janik Fregin.
