Words by Tal and Wouter (W)
Pictures by Ingrid
Autumn has arrived in The Netherlands, which means that it is finally time to get what remains of our souls crushed during Soulcrusher! And my, were we crushed by 25 completely different bands during this gem of a festival. This particular gem is held in Doornroosje, Nijmegen and took place during the second weekend of October.
Doornroosje has 2 stages available. The Red Stage, which serves as the mainstage, and the smaller Purple Stage. With bands from all over the world, Soulcrusher is a relatively small but global festival.
To our own surprise as well, we arrived just in time to see the first band. This made me happy, because Ponte del Diavolo (Italy) was one of the bands that I was really looking forward to see.
The Italians dived deep into their dark, large kitchens, and came back with Goth and Personality in bottles and sprinkled this over their blackish doom style. This combined with the haunting and captivating voice of frontwoman Erba del Diavolo results in a whole new flavor.
The stage performance suited the music, the focus was mainly on the frontwoman, which she used effortlessly. I just love me one angry woman on stage, and I probably don’t have to add that seeing Ponte del Diavolo was the best way possible for me to start the festival.
As is always the case with festivals, not everyone can be there from the first moment on. During Ponte del Diavolo, the Red Stage was not completely filled yet. Speaking of this, I realized that though the festival was sold out, it did not feel as crowded as the edition I attended during the C-years (2021). But this might have to do with how used we were back than to being surrounded by other people.
A day or so before the festival starts, I like to listen to as much bands that are playing as possible. I don’t know how Zetra managed to skip my attention, but seeing them was a surprising treat. It’s easy to listen to, dreamy but still very danceable. The clean vocals reminded me of Dool a lot, and the music was one level more cheerful than Darkspace.
Zetra describes their sound their selves as ‘’gothic heavy metal shoegaze’’ with influences of synth-pop, new-wave and synth-rock. This is a whole lot of words for: hey, I like this! And I was not alone, the purple stage was packed!
As someone who likes variety, I was happy with our next stop: Lamp of Murmuur. This is not a band that I would place on the record player at home, but it is definitely danceable occult metal.
The sound was ridiculously loud, even in the back of the Red Stage you could feel the bass vibrating through your body. The Red Stage was completely packed at this point with a crowd enjoying the music. Though another sentiment was also expressed: Lamp of Murmuur sounds a lot like Immortal. To be honest, the first half of the show was a bit dull to me, there were nice melodies here and there, but it was mostly a lot of angry and loud noise. The second part of the show was more interesting with more alternation and occultness.
Ever since I was blown away by Dödsrits self-titled release (2017) and follow up ‘’Spirit Crusher’’ (2018), I’ve developed a soft spot for the punkish, raw yet technical works of Christoffer Öster (Sweden). Seeing them live was not an easy given at first, but this changed after their Roadburn 2022 performance, and many shows since then. Since the first two solo releases, the entourage has grown in contribution by other members, live as well as on studio. With the 2024 release of ‘’Nocturnal Will’’, Dödsrit have firmly kept and continued the technical if slightly cleaner style of ‘’Mortal Coil’’ (2021). Currently touring with this latest release, they gave a good show at Soulcrusher. The guitar work is a real treat to witness, as are the harsh (dual) vocals. Perhaps the liveliness could have been a bit more, but the music itself made up for most of that during the show. (W)
After the shower of black metal from Dödsrit, it was time for some dancing again! Gost moves graciously in the darkness between black metal and electronic music. The Purple Stage was completely packed. Even though, again, the lightning made it impossible to see the stage, this type of music is enjoyed better with eyes closed and while dancing!
Now, another band that wasn’t on my radar. Picture your old highschool rockband performing. One guy was super happy with his headscarf, and the other had become one with his dungarees. Joking aside, please wear whatever you feel comfortable in, but the bands’ outfits didn’t emphasize cohesion to me. It must be said, Inter Arma was a party to look at: these Americans were having a lot of fun on stage and looked super energized and active.
Personally, Inter Arma was one of those bands which are enjoyable, but weren’t part of the reasons why I attended the festival. The music is somewhat inaccessible with its heavy guitar parts, suffocation production and heavy grunts. Some pieces were compelling, but most of it was quite aggressive and blunt.
Let’s end on a positive note: there was a Theremin!
Holy shit, Woe was quite something. There is nothing like one angry band testing the sound system of the venue without restraint. We were surprised the Purple Stage didn’t need their repairman afterwards, because it sure felt like this hurricane unscrewed everything.
Woe is a black metal band formed in Philadelphia in 2007, covering subjects as despair, isolation and existential anguish. No wonder these guys are angry. If you are feeling in the mood for losing your diaphragm during a concert, Woe shall be your butcher.
After this violence, it was time for a well-deserved break. One where you can potentially lose a lot of money: the merch hall. The upstairs area of Doornroosje was divided into a merch area, as well as a sitting area next to it. Even though it is always my goal to see as much as bands as possible, it’s really nice that Soulcrusher has so many places available to chill, eat and drink. Also, shoutout to all the options in vegetarian and vegan food!
After the break it was time for more violence. Now presented by Blackbraid – an indigenous black metal solo project from Jon Krieger.
There are some elements that I will always appreciate and love on stage. One of them is having a storing and implementing historical elements in your music.
This is also why it was quite disappointing that the Native American Flute was barely audible. It appeared to us that the sound technician was distracted twice (!) during the show.
Apart from this it was a good show; the music was danceable but angry and the stage performance was also quite active.
While listening to the first song of Hippotraktor, I remember that I said ‘’This reminds me of Psychonaut!’’. Which couldn’t be more of a true statement, because frontman Stefan de Graef is frontman of both bands. The energy on stage from the whole band was so contagious – the Purple Stage was way too small for so much energy!
Short story short: if you like Psychonaut, you will like Hippotraktor just as much!
Because we are on a schedule, there is no time to lose: we end one party (Hippotraktor) with the start of a new one! As someone who missed Health at Roadburn, I was looking forward to this show so much.
Frontman Jake Duzsik describes their band as a ‘’primitive soundscape’’, influenced by sci-fi movies and the imagery of a dystopic future.
The name Health was chosen after the members agreed it should be an ‘’everyday word’’, when reviewing a long list of terms, ‘’health’’ was the only one not taken.
The show was just as intriguing as I imagined up front. The voice of the frontman is really soft, it even reminded me of Sinéad O’Connor at times. Lyrically, the band describes its tracks as ‘’purposely kept vague for the listener’’, but the atmosphere during the show still gives you direction as public.
One last interesting fact: Health is also known for selling butt plugs as part of their merchandise. And indeed, for those interested: 4 sizes and two material types were on sale.
After 10 minutes of Thantifaxath, it was midnight. Since this was also the birthday of a dear friend, we were spending more time on blowing up balloons than paying attention to the band. We decided to leave and celebrate instead! Life is weird, so whenever you get the chance to bring balloons to a festival and fire up candles, you just go for it!
Saturday
The second day of the festival started a bit slow for us, which is why we missed Deathless Void and Norna. We made our jackets disappear and went through the heavy decision process of choosing the first drink of the day. Another nice part of Soulcrusher is that when you lose your tribe, it’s always very easy to find each other back again in no time, because the venue is small and uncomplicated.
First band of the day: Lana del Rabies. This was definitely not my cup of tea. The music felt so random to me – there was no beginning nor end and the whole performance seemed uncompromising yet directionless to me. It’s a bit too random and experimental for me.
But this is actually a good thing: I am always wining to friends about how they should broaden their musical horizon. And Soulcrusher is known for their diverse line up, so when one band is not your cup of tea, it can be someone else’s favorite new tea. And you can find your favorite tea just as easy during the next band.
This was the case for me, I absolutely loved Morne. It was so dreamy but also somewhat haunting. I closed my eyes for the biggest part of the show and let the music bring me to Wonderland.
Morne presents heavy, atmospheric metal from Boston, Massachusetts.
I heard some people mention they found Morne boring, which I can imagine if you’re not really into doom, but I found it a nice break from all the other violence.
Risen from the dead or burnt from a recent vulcanic visit – it doesn’t really matter. Nyrst delivered uncompromising, Icelandic black metal. At first glance, not too much new (musically speaking) spewed forth from the rag & burnt performers. Looks deceive; however, Nyrst combines the raw, esoteric vocal style of the likes of Atilla (Mayhem) with the trademark Icelandic melodic and hard-to-follow melodic intertwining. Heavily recommended if you already like Svartidaudi, Sinmara or Andavald. (W)
מזמור or Mizmor is Hebrew for the word ‘’psalm’’. Mizmor is the soloproject of Liam Neighbors from Portland, Oregon. The American mixes black, drone and doom metal.
Though I wanted to see Mizmor, I noticed that I wasn’t in the mood for the music. It was a bit too depressing and monotonous to me at that moment. There was a lot of smoke, which made it hard to see the stage. When the stage was visible, there was not much to be seen regarding stage performance. Which fits the doom style. There were some nice, rhythmic pieces though, but again, I wasn’t really in the mood.
As much as I always try to see as much bands as possible, sometimes you need a break to process all that input. Dvne and Pharmakon were both used as a chance to catch up with friends and to explore the bar.
Unknown to me, the New Zealand entourage of Ulcerate gripped me all the way down to the marrow (of my spirit). Death metal: yes. A bit odd: yes. Technical and brutal AF? Hell fuckin’ yes! Normally, I am slightly at odds with the more progressive (death) metal side of our collective addictionary spectrum, but these guys proved me wrong. Just one guitar, a bass and of course drums producing the sound of a thousand thundering hordes. The vocals a real pleasure, but more so the complex yet brutal music. Immersive death metal, a gem from start to finish! (W)
Last but not least, it was finally time for Zeal & Ardor! I have seen them rock Midgartsblot 2 years ago, as well as during Samhain in 2022. These shows were proof enough that this show would be unforgettable as well.
Earlier on I spoke about implementing historical elements in music. Zeal & Ardor is the biggest example to do so. Several of their songs even contain rattling chains or percussion to commemorate the foot-stomping and hand-clapping that used to provide rudimentary beats and rhythm for singing (and resisting) slaves.
From the start of the first song on everything was spot-on. Frontman Manuel Gagneux spoke about how precious this festival is. When thinking about it, it is indeed rather special to attend a festival with this atmosphere. An atmosphere friendly enough to have almost no security staff, where you can hold your craftbeer in an actual glass while standing in the fully packed crowd.
When a crowdsurfer was going for it, Manuel Gagneux mentioned that there was no security at the front at all to catch him. He said that it would be fun for the band to watch, but not so much for the crowdsufers to find nobody to catch him.
When a good number of songs were performed, Manuel Gagneux expressed that they were done with playing angry songs, so they would continue with playing ‘only sad songs’.
What can I say, Zeal & Ardor was the best imaginable band to finish another lovely round of Soulcrusher.
Now for the long story short: in atmosphere and friendliness, Soulcrusher can definitely be compared to Roadburn. The line-up was yet again diverse and outstanding. If you put a gun at me for points of criticism, I would suggest improvements on the lights during shows. Sometimes it felt like I was watching a blurred background of a Teams meeting, which is a shame when a band brought their backdrop.
To me, Soulcrusher is a precious festival, where you will absolutely find me again next year!