By Jase Walker
So after a bit of a sleep in after such a late finish, I’ve unfortunately missed The Cryptex kicking the day off which I’m a bit annoyed at myself about but I’m in on time for Trylion!
They kick things off and I’m immediately sold, the familiar sound of djenty riffs and screamed vocals puts me right back in my comfort zone. Echoing the likes of Meshuggah, Uneven Structure and all that incredibly heavy shit, this is the sort of stuff I needed to give my hangover a good kicking. As I was walking up to get a closer look I was trying to figure out where the vocals were coming from and it’s actually the drummer with a head mounted mic! I’m not totally unfamiliar with drummers doing vocals but definitely not when it comes to raspy screams, that’s definitely a first for me!
Tight as fuck grooves, easily enough to make any Meshuggah fan pay attention and throw their heads around in an attempt to stay in time. This has really taken me by surprise, this three-piece are absolutely smashing it, drums might be a tad loud and I wish there was a bit more bass but that’s just preference on my part.
What a hell of a band to kick my day off with, a real versatility in sound and each member is incredible at their role but the drummer and vocalist especially stands out to me. His ability to do mixed vocals like that and keeping himself going rhythmically is massively impressive.
Next up today for me is Mayfire, who, as with basically every band on this weekend barring a couple, are totally new to me so I’m hopeful that this will be another great band to be introduced to. Strings play out and signal the intro, along with a video that shows earth from space with a monologue telling a story, feels very Starset. The music as well actually feels quite close to Starset too which absolutely is not a bad thing in any way. I do wonder if these are supposed to be fully instrumental but literally the moment I think that their singer struts onto the stage.
Each member is draped in hoods and masked up to hide their identities. Initially the guitars and bass were a little weak but not for long and the show is fully underway. I’m a real sucker for prog that tells a story with accompanying videos for the show, it’s super engrossing and adds to the enjoyment of a solid sounding show immensely.
On a bit of a tangent, I’m actually super pleased about ProgPower Europe giving every band at least an hour slot for each set because prog isn’t always the easiest to work with in just a 30 minute show. I’ve seen shorter sets really harm the vibe that many prog and adjacent bands seek to build so ProgPower Europe does each act an immense justice by allowing longer shows at a festival.
Back to Mayfire, and I’m blown away by how good their vocalist sounds, he’s got a fantastic clean range that feels almost effortless for the projection he’s got. Everything about this band screams epic, the melancholy in each song matches the videos behind them perfectly too. I really enjoyed these and another excellent band to add to my ever growing list.
After Mayfire finish, it’s time for a special event with the Mayor of Baarlo appearing on stage for a special announcement! He thanks for ProgPower Europe as an event in Baarlo and especially for it’s 25th anniversary! This sees the Mayor requesting Rene who is the head of the event, to join him on stage for an official bit of business. Rene is clearly emotional once it hits him that he’s not just being awarded a medal and diploma but a knighthood from the King of the Netherlands.
It’s quite incredible witnessing this sort of award and achievement being done in real time and the community of Baarlo clearly appreciates the amount of work and time that he puts into his endeavors. The crowd cheers on the occasion with deafening applause and shouting, a truly momentous occasion to witness. Congratulations Rene!
A bit later than planned, assumedly due to some technical hitches, Major Parkinson are up next for a bit of genre bending insanity. I’ve been looking forward to these after doing some brief investigation prior to the festival so let’s see what they’ve got in store. Very much an unexpected start with what seemingly comes off more like a lounge singer piano ballad rather than some typical proggy stuff.
There’s an extremely odd disconnect between what the band are doing on stage and what sound is actually coming out of the speakers, I can’t quite put my finger on it but it’s not like I didn’t expect this to be a bit weird. I mean I knew there was some genre weirdness in here but random segments of one sound literally sounding like Scooter was not on my bingo card for this.
Admittedly I think this might be a bit too oddball for me and I can’t really get into it. I’ve tried to give them a fair shake and I can clearly see a lot of others here are genuinely really enjoying it so I think this might just be a miss for me. They sounded great and they’re seasoned performers and I can’t fault anything about their show chops. It’s just not for me in this case!
Finally to play out day two, Vanden Plas, another new one for me but as the others who have attended for many years reassured me, a very regular appearance for good reason. They kick things off and I’m immediately struck by how familiar they sound, clearly coming from a very similar stock as Dio, erring very much on the side of more traditional prog metal, big epic choruses, huge solos that just keep going and plenty of solid keyboard hooks.
I don’t feel like this would have been ProgPower without at least one massive epic band to close off one of the days with a headline set. Also this wouldn’t be a prog show without an extended gratuitous drum solo either. Vanden Plas shows off that everyone in this band is top tier in their game and not shy about it either. I do wish that I’d listened to these a bit more before coming to see them, there’s a lot of finesse in their music that I think is probably a bit lost on me as I’m hearing this all in real time for the first time.
I’m definitely enjoying this a lot though, it’s very in line with a lot of older prog that I enjoy listening to like Rush. The set ebbs back and forth between riffy energetic numbers and more ballad based songs, showing off Vanden Plas’ versatility and ability to keep a show moving along at a solid pace even when turning the tempo down a bit. A real firm favourite here at ProgPower Europe, considering how often they’ve come back and still get a fantastic response from the crowd every time.
And so this wraps up day two of ProgPower Europe 2025. Time for the after-party and inevitable yapping session back at the hotel! Good night and time to get prepped for day three!