By Jase Walker
Finally rounding off my festival season for 2024, it’s the Pelagic Records’ own weekend festival in Maastricht. It’s a really beautiful city and the Muziekgieterij venue is already surprising me with how much of a gorgeous venue it is! I’m with two good buds of mine for the weekend too so this is going to be a bloody lovely trip down to the very southern tip of the Netherlands.
We’re starting off the day on the main stage with Thot who one of my friends insisted on not missing, it sadly seems they’re having some technical troubles and have started a bit late. These remind me a ton of Dead Letter Circus with the riffy and synth drenched sound they’ve got. Honestly I’m super happy that I got in immediately because this is instantly on my to-listen list. It’s not heavy especially in comparison with the other acts this weekend but the synth prog rock style they’re rolling with is super interesting to me. I’ve spied their lighting guy having a bloody great time doing the lights as he dances around every bit as much as he taps away at their light show. I’ve just noticed that in addition to their drummer, there’s a separate percussionist with a sample kit as well. So many layers to Thot and they create music that is drenched in atmosphere, probably the most ideal way to get this weekend kicked off. Great set and I’ll not be missing these again.
A short break and it’s time to catch Lost In Kiev, one of the post rock bands on the lineup for this weekend. A slight delay and I’ve missed the start but thankfully the main stage acts have decently long sets to get through so no huge loss. I’ve really indulged myself in post rock this year and Lost In Kiev are adding to that in heaps. Instrumental bands like these need to put in just that bit more effort to keep their live shows interesting and their sound and light show is absolutely stunning. The bass is strong, the reverb laden guitars soar through the venue and the lights dance around to the flow of the music. There’s no gimmicks here outside of just playing some damn good riffy post rock with beautiful melodic hooks. Periodically a couple of them switch to playing synths to loop over the top of what the others are playing and it’s a great way to add dynamics to each song. They’ve even got a guest spot with the singer of The Ocean jumping up for a song, it’s already shaping up to be a pretty interesting weekend!
Next up is Playgrounded in what is supposed to be the “small” hall which is a bit odd considering it’s still a pretty damn big room in its own right. The stage is flooded with red light, speckled with brief flashes of white while the band are shrouded in a mist, can barely make them out in the darkened room but this seems oddly perfect for a band like this. Dark and atmospheric prog, odd time signatures and rhythms but when they really hit it, the room shakes from the force of their thunderous rhythm section. With a sound hovering somewhere between the likes of Soen and Leprous, the “small” hall is absolutely heaving with people that are uniformly fixated on Playgrounded. It’s this sort of situation that drives home you’re at a festival where people are properly serious about seeing basically every band on the lineup. Sadly a shorter set doesn’t really do a band like Playgrounded justice as the frequently longer songs and pacing doesn’t give them time to properly show off how well they can put a show on, headliner tour again soon yeah?
Next up is some more post rock from Oh Hiroshima! It’s nice to hear vocals paired with this sort of music sometimes though, and Oh Hiroshima errs towards the more dreamy sort of stuff that you expect from the likes of Mogwai. I really have to remark on how good the sound has been for every act so far today, powerful but not overpowering and still exceptional clarity. I love the fact the bass player is using chord playing to give the songs that little extra grunt too. Similar to Lost In Kiev, the light show is much more subtle and soothing and matches the music incredibly well. It’s a relaxing journey through Oh Hiroshima’s set, whether it’s climbing crescendos or more darkly melancholic, these guys are smashing out some top tier post rock. Overall they land on the more exploratory side of the post rock world, seeking to paint a canvas with massive wailing melodies and crushing droney bass. Another band to drop a ton of their stuff into my ever growing post rock playlist.
Back to the smaller room for a band that blew my head off at ArcTanGent a couple of years ago, Hippotraktor. This style of thick, drenched with energy, post metal is incredible and I wasn’t going to miss em here! The moment they kick off they do not disappoint, outrageously meaty sound! When they drive home their heavier bits I can help but contort my face at how utterly fucking filthy their riffs are, mixed with harmonized vocals and jumping between cleans and uncleans delivers a live sound that rivals The Ocean. Given the amount of people in this room, it might have been worth putting them on the main stage as the crowd is crushing even at the back of the room. The tell tale start of ‘Manifest The Mountain’ hits and Hippotraktor lay waste to the stage with its visceral assault of noise. Hippotraktor do not disappoint, a band that truly delivers a performance that is fat as fuck and I’m quite happy to have my face blown off by these incredible Belgians once again.
An extended break and it’s finally time for arguably the heaviest band of the weekend, LLNN. I do wish the bass was a bit meatier especially after how Hippotraktor sounded but it’s not too much of an issue, LLNN are still delivering on their outrageous onslaught of pure aggression. The vocals? Horrific. The riffs? Disgusting. The sheer balls out heaviness? Outrageous. We’re finally starting to see the crowd waking up and going a bit mad now after a fairly quiet response for most of the day. Of course it’d be LLNN that’d get this sort of thing going, I’d have been disappointed otherwise! At one point the singer abandons his guitar, opting to stomp around the stage and get into people’s faces and sadly the mic decides now of all times to start cutting out. Doesn’t matter much as he dives right in for a quick bit of crowd surfing too.
As this is the second stage headline act, they technically get an encore that’s indicated by a walk off for just the singer to return and do a solo song (with backing track) while he stomps around the stage. It’s time for the home stretch before a break and The Ocean wraps up the main stage. LLNN are fucking great.
And finally, it’s time for The Ocean to smash out ‘Pelagial’ in its entirety. The room darkens and an image of water is projected on the wall and the crowd begins to scream in anticipation of the show to come. We’re barely into the set and The Ocean are already demonstrating why they’re one of the best metal live acts around right now. The overall sound is fucking incredible, properly thick and projects all the way to the upper balcony where I’ve found a great perch for myself. Admittedly I’ve got a bit of a weird spot because those strobe lights they have on stage are aimed directly upwards so they’re basically right in my eyes, whoops. I’m completely enraptured by this show. I’ve seen The Ocean many times but something about seeing them smash through’ Pelagial’ at a festival like this is super special and unique.
Seeing The Ocean absolutely smash it out of the park with a full album set like this really feels like the culmination of what Pelagic Records set out to do with this weekend. You have an act like The Ocean who cultivated a unique sound and decided to set up their own label to give a home to other bands that end up on the fringes of modern metal with different approaches. The end result is a show like today that is finished off with an immense show from The Ocean having had many of the bands that found a home at Pelagic showing off their unique and unusual styles.
What a privilege it has been to experience the entirety of ‘Pelagial’ played live, a truly special experience that is never going to happen again. After the album we get some select cuts including a big favourite for me, ‘Silurian: Age Of Sea Scorpions’, what an absolute banger! A splendid way to close things off for Pelagic Fest’s Saturday.
Thank you, Pelagic. See you again tomorrow.
- PHOTO CREDIT: Photos courtesy of JacQue Photography/Lost In Kiev/Oh Hiroshima/Pelagic Records/Playgrounded/The Ocean. All copyright remains with the original photographers.
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