They had these really pissed-off geese that hissed at you every time you walked by.

We went to the Safari Park there in Beekse Bergen the first day.  This has to have been the most human setting for live captivity I have see for animals.  Wide open spaces.  Minimal man made structures.   The animals appeared at peace.   We got to the African Wild Dog area and they were fighting over a carcass of some sort.  It was awesome!

Day One

So the first day of the festival was too fucking awesome.  We started off with Ancestors which was a highlight for me.  I could not get a great place to stand to film but it was epic!  I was in awe.  It appeared that Ancestors were just a stoked to be there too. The set was vibrant and atmospheric. After that we went over to the Midi Theater to catch Shining (NO) [Jazz shining not razor blade Shining.]  They were EPIC!  So played together so well and so precise it was incredible.  I was able to get a video for the song “In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster.

Next was Eagle Twins.  One of the loudest shows I have ever been to.  They played in the Bat Cave which was aptly named.  The sound was awesome but the room was way too damn small.  I was bummed at that.  Gentry Densley plays through two regular guitar stacks and a bass amp.  He uses the volume pedals to adjust the sound he wants to come out in various combination.   It sounds incredible. I got a great video of “The Crow Hymn”.

We went over to the main stage and caught the tail end of Eye Hate God.  Boring.  I do not get what people see in them.  They were mediocre at best.  I was bored off my ass.  Next was Enslaved.  Great show.  I have seen them over 10 times so I am kinda biased when it comes to them.  They played a song they don’t play that often live, “Return to Yggdrasil” and that was the highlight of the night for me.

Day Two

Day two started off with Church of Misery on the main stage due too “The volcano”. Fucking Incredible! Awesome live band.  They blew me away.  One of the best live performance of a band.  Great sound, great video show on the screen.

This was probably the day that everyone was really starting to get a little freaked out about the getting home.  There was a underlying current of “Hmmm, it is awesome to be here but I wonder if I’m going to get home any time soon…”.  But the show goes on.  Thorr’s Hammer was alright, but kinda boring.  I like my shows to be…showy…so to speak.  I think the setting should have been more somber. The lighting was too bright.  My opinion.

Comus was beautiful.   I love the Midi Theater!  It is an awesome venue for bands like this.  Comus had such a rich vibrant sound.  Incredible.

Trinacria have to be the best show I have ever seen.  It was mindblowing. I think they have taken what a lot of the post rock bands (Neurosis, A Storm of Light, etc) and taken it that next step.  I could have just gone home after that.  Awesome!

Day Three

I was starting to get worn the fuck out by day three.  We were at the Jungalos so walking all that way was starting to get to be a pain in the ass.   But the final day was awesome.  Astra was like taking a trip back in time!  It was prog lover’s dream.

Brant Bjork was pretty sweet.  I dig all his stuff.  But by the time we were getting towards the end of the day I was pretty worn out.  I just chilled out until the Armageddon Concerto with in Enslaved and Shining.  It was a nice end to a nice weekend. I got a little Video of Cato playing drums.  He is awesome.

Afterburner

So we went to afterburner but we were really burned out and i think I caught like a little bit of one band but by that time we just chilled out and talked with the people around us.

The week after Roadburn was spent touring Tilburg.  We were able to get a hotel in the Tilburg so basically we spent out time walking around.  It is a beautiful city.  All in all it was fun times all around.  Thank to all the cats who helped put Roadburn.  Cheers!

Enslaved is another band that came out of the second wave of black metal that has gone beyond the standard black metal riffs and add something more to their music.  If you listen to a their older albums, there has been an evolution to a more progressive song structure and sound and lyrical content.  Where the songs on their earlier albums were straight forward telling of the Norse mythology, the later albums are a more inner search and understanding of it’s meaning of the mythology.

2001′s Monumension in my opinion is one of Enslaved’s finest albums to date.  I feel that this one was the first of there albums that is straight ahead prog metal.  The mellotron is one of the highpoints to this album.  The sound on this album could have easily come from a Led Zeppelin/King Crimson era band.  The first song, Convoys to Nothingness starts with a rockin’ and ends with a 4 minute meditation in time and space.  I have had to pleasure of hearing track 2, The Voices, live and I would have to say it is one of my favorite songs of all time.  Three major highlights of this album are Hollow Inside and the bonus track Sigmundskvadet.  Hollow inside is just a spaced out truely unique song that takes you on a trip across the cosmos.  Hollow Inside along with Sigmundskvadet feature vocals by Norwegian punk rock pioneer Trygve Mathisesen.  Sigmundskvadet is an actually old Norse chant that Trygve learned word for word from a Norse tribe that live on an island off the cost of Norway.   What a way to start of a decade of metal for Enslaved.

Vertebrae is a perfect way to close out a decade worth of music.  The production alone is incredible!  Cato Bekkevold’s drumming is superb.  It adds so much dimension to each track.  Vertebrae has a great balance between Herbrand Larsen’s clean vocals and Grutle Kjellson’s growl.  Herbrand has a Eric Woolfson (Alan Parsons Project) feel to it.  Vertebrae also takes the listener on a journey.  But this journey is more of an adventure.  From the start the listener travels on fast pasted romp through the elements. My favorite song on the album is New Dawn.  Cato’s ride on that is spastic and unique.

What a way to begin a decade and end it.  Thank you Enslaved!

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