The “Doomwards Let Us Row tour” only stopped in the Netherlands once and that was at the Baroeg. And they brought to support acts.

Opening were the German doom/death band Ophis – soccer is not doom – whom I had just seen a while back with Ataraxie. They got a bit more time now. Opening once again with “Godforsaken” of their debut album is an excellent choice. They played a part of Officium Triste’s “My Charcoal Heart” as apparently OT’s singer was celebrating his birthday the day before and he kinda lives in this club. Anyway, they continued with the song Funeral off their first EP. Then there was a new song (The Mirthless) and finally Halls Of Sorrow. Ophis nevertheless is always a great live band and as such is was this time. Can’t wait for the split with OT to be released.

Then there was Ahab, also all the way from Germany. They don’t play live often in the low lands. They have a new album under their belt – The Giant – which sounded pretty good. However live it seems the music doesn’t come across all that well and unlike the songs of their debut album (Old Thunder and The Hunt), which are more traditional doom / death. They changed to more atmospheric metal afterwards and that is less power chords driven. Most of the clean vocals were quite bad unlike the grunts. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable gig.

And then there was the mighty Esoteric. Gordon Bricknell seems to be back in the band, which is a good thing and they have a new keyboard player. As always the stage was filled with all kinds of effect boards leaving little room for the musicians. The set list was quite a surprise really. Opening with “A Worthless Dream” off the “The Pernicious Enigma” album which was a little troubled by some sound problems but half way through the song that got corrected and the sound has been quite excellent. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them play so many old songs as after Beneath This Face they played the even older “Eradification (Of Thorns)” of the debut album. It wasn’t until the last two songs they touched their latest album with the excellent tracks “Disconsolate” and “Non Being”. This time there was even room for an encore (say what? Next thing you know Greg will even talk in between songs :D) and that turned out to be “Causus of Mind” a rather short song at least for Esoteric, off the Maniacal Vale album. As ever Esoteric put down a great performance, the only thing missing were a song like “Dissident” or “The Blood of my Eyes” but that is just a minor issue. Esoteric can’t go wrong really with any set list.