Contrasting flavors at Roadburn and the palate cleanser that is Midnight

Midnight at Roadburn – Paul Verhagen

The secret of a good dish is contrast. Any chef can tell you that. The same applies to Roadburn, where a lot of the bands play music that is complex, layered and made for deep listening. That starts early in the day with the swelling sounds of Sherpa, who begin with a trickle that builds up to a sonic surge, allowing you to float on a sea of sound.

Editor: Guido Segers / Photo’s: Paul Verhagen

It continues with the dreamy sounds of Crippled Black Phoenix, their Pink Floyd’esque sounds are experienced with dreamy faces and wandering thoughts. Similarly, the tribal ponderings of Treha Sektori with mesmerizing imagery take us to a dark place.

….and then there’s Midnight.

Midnight at Roadburn – Paul Verhagen

Midnight is primitive, the visceral and direct act that needs no second thoughts. Bare-chested (save an open-hanging black leather jacket) thrashing, pummeling black metal with furious energy and masculine fist-pumping grooves. From start to finish we rush through songs like ‘No Mercy For Mayhem’ with an intoxicating ferocity and feral energy.

And there’s your contrast, the slithering, dirty sounding fury of black metal that always runs like a oily dark track through the Roadburn line-up. It’s a preparation for things to come in the next few days, as we enter the Maalstroom on Saturday after the epic blackness that is Craft and Triptykon. As guitars are being stomped like percussion elements and the guitar players charge the crowd like berserk madmen, we have punched the air, screamed out our lungs and cried havok for a small hour. It’s cleansing our palate for the next course:

Can’t wait…