This annual festival held in Drachten’s Iduna I have attended for several years in a row now. The line-up is always just interesting enough to warrant the long drive.This year also had a couple of cool bands to watch live. The day started early at 14.30 sharp with the Dutch band From the Crypt. It […]

After a visit to Brussels during the day, I went to a gig on the return trip in Antwerp. I had already planned my trip and only remembered that Napalm Death were playing in Antwerp that day, so it coincided nicely. They brought three support acts on the tour. The first band was the Polish […]

Sacred Reich did a short tour through Europe this autumn. Starting at the festival Helldorado in Eindhoven, they ended it with a headlining gig in Leiden. As there were no supports on the tour, the venue added one. So the Dutch Martyr played first. They are founded in 1982 and they play fairly traditional heavy […]

Pestilence is one of the big Dutch death metal bands from the early days. Consuming Impulse and Testimony of the Ancients are classics and helped shape the genre. One album later they split up, only to resurface a decade and a half later. Newer albums never were all that successful and line-ups have changed a […]

Ceremony is a more or less local band who released a cult death metal album in 1990s. Shortly after its release the band called it quits, only to resurface several decades later, followed by the release of their second album in 2019. Now they had just released a new album and played a show to […]

Asphyx is one of the longest running death metal bands from the Netherlands – even though they have no original members left. They don’t play all that often in the Netherlands unfortunately, so if they do, it is time to check them out. This time they were invited by Graceless to headline their release show. […]

This years Drachten Deathfest took place on a Sunday, which had to do with touring schedules of the headliner, where previous editions were on a Saturday. Nevertheless they managed to get an interesting line-up this year. So off to Drachten I went for this sold out festival. I skipped the first 2 bands as I […]

Pungent Stench – or at least Schirenc plays Pungent Stench – is on a short tour again, with a few dates in the Netherlands. The first in in The Hague. And even though they would play at Drachten Deathfest in a few days, I went anyway, as it is close by and I could go […]

Thulcandra started as tribute band to the Swedish blackened death metal band Dissection. They even covered The Somberlain on their debut album. And although they remained close in style they found a niche of their own. Even though never as good as Dissection, still an interesting band. And as they are a side project of […]

I never have seen Cradle of Filth live before. I like their first couple of albums, up until Cruelty and the Beast, but never got to see them live. And after that I kind of lost track of them. So when I saw this gig announced I thought to check them out, seeing that they […]