Just in time arrived for the last song of the progressive Wilderun, what a pity I didn’t arrived earlier, from what I heard I missed some very good music that reminded me the things that Opeth does. Their 2022 release Epigone has a lot of good reviews in the prog oriented media, why the hell did I miss that, so time to check this out. Based on what I heard from their last song I am sure their gig was very enjoyable.

The swedish melodic death metal of Soilwork is something you love or hate, their melodies and songwriting isn’t for the faint-hearted. While I am a fan from the beginning, on the last albums there were some good songs but I missed a bit the groove of the old days. You could see from the audience that old songs like Bastard Chain, Stabbing The Drama and Nerve took them more headbanging-bootyshaking than the newer tunes. Not that they have any bad songs, they just compose at such a high level, that as a fan we are spoiled. A nice surprise came in the form of Death Diviner which is for me one of the best Soilwork songs ever written. Björn‘s voice was excellent, he’s an incredible vocalist, what a range. He also tried to keep the audience going, who were a bit lame in their reaction. And sorry Björn, Vorselaar is not the same as Vosselaar which hosts the all famous Biebob. Nevertheless, an magnificent show of these Swedish melodic death metal legends.

The Canadians of Kataklysm is a name that passed by from time to time, but I never took the time to properly listen to it. From note one I could bang my head against the wall why I didn’t do that. This foursome that has been already busy from 1991 surprised me with their groovy death metal. Sometimes going from extreme black metal to the more heavy pounding riffs where you just couldn’t stop moving your booty was quite something else than the more difficult digestable metal of the two other acts. From time to time they also touched the hardcore side with their songs. As I am not familiar with the songs at all it’s difficult to tell which song did the most to me, but I could grasp the songs Where The Enemy Sleeps, Crippled & Broken and Outsider.  For those who couldn’t attend I can just mention that there will be an album in the summer of 2023 and if you will visit the Alcatraz festival be sure to check them out!