The proceedings start with Minami Deutsch. Now, this isn’t death metal at all. In fact, it’s not even metal. It is more akin through a head trip through the cosmos. Heavily influenced by psychedelic and the German Krautrock scène from the seventies, it constitutes a bold and highly original, yet somehow very apt opener for a band that has had Tangerine Dream as guest musicians. As a testament to just how open-minded the main act’s fanbase is, it is rather endearing to see how crowded the main hall already is at this point. Lapping up the enthusiasm, the Japanese troupe on stage is clearly fully into it, or into the Outer Rim at least. When they announce their final song and still continue to stay in hyperspace for some good twenty minutes of spaced out prog, I can’t help but have a smile on my face twelve parsecs wide. 

The main hall is not the only place at the Trix where you can catch some awesome music. In between the two bands playing on the main stage, we get to see Concrete Winds giving their all on the small stage next to the Café bar. To top it all off, you don’t even need a concert ticket to see them, it’s completely free. Not too shabby for a sold out show, eh? In case the previous band was not your kind of extreme, Concrete Winds tried to make that up to you with a truly unhinged set of uncompromising death metal as short bursts of nerve wrecking intensity follow each other at an uncanny rate. 

Hope you have some energy left, because now it’s time for the main event. Full of trepidation a packed out main hall anxiously awaits the cosmic madness that these astronauts from Colorado have in store for us. 

The core of their performance is as expected the diptych that makes of ‘Absolute Elsewhere’ being ‘The Stargate’ and ‘The Message’, two songs that by themselves already span several universes. As awesome this record is on itself, witnessing it played lived in its entirety back to back is simply jawdropping.  

Whoever would state that progressive death metal is just needlessly complex guitar wankery deserves to by encased in carbonite, or just introduced to this band maybe. They could have stopped after these two songs and it still have been one of the finest shows I’ve seen these past months, but thankfully they pulled out some older songs like ‘Inner Paths (to Outer Space)’ from ‘Hidden history of the Human Race’. When the rest of the band took a well-deserved break, the keyboard player even remained on stage to play one of their ambient pieces. I’ll say it again. Phenomenal! 

Wait a moment. Don’t go home just yet. The night has one more surprise in store for us. Right after we pass through the stargate to find our way back on earth, the gates of hell have opened up at the Café stage. 

Now you may or may not know this, but the talented set of musicians that make up Blood Incantation are all involved in various other very intriguing bands like Wayfarer, Spectral Voice, Stormkeep and until recently Black Curse who get to close tonight. As one could foresee from their recent stint at Roadburn, the place was filled to the brim, overflowing actually with people standing outside even. If you didn’t sneak out of the main hall before the end, good luck with catching more than a glimpse of these fellas. With two albums under their bullet belt, Black Curse are a relentless force of blackened death, delivered in the filthiest fashion possible, think Celtic Frost played by ‘Deathcrush’ era Mayhem. It’s so grimy, the venue should offer free tetanus shots on your way out. If you walked out early on this night, you will have missed out on one of the most vitriolic sets you’re likely to witness this year.