PROGPOWER EUROPE 2008

DATE:

VENUE:

Friday 3rd October - Sunday 5th October 2008

Sjiwa in Baarlo, Netherlands

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

CYNIC; ZERO HOUR; ALARUM; WOLVERINE; SUN CAGED; CILICE

SUNDAY

THRESHOLD; WOLVERINE; SUSPYRE; THE AURORA PROJECT; PATHOSRAY; 21 EYES OF RUBY

PAGAN'S MIND; ATROX; DIVISION BY ZERO

CLICK HERE FOR SATURDAY PART 1

Reviews & Photography by Mark Holmes

CLICK HERE FOR SATURDAY PART 1

Reviews & Photography by Mark Holmes

CILICE

In the ProgPower tradition of booking up-and-coming Dutch bands to open the Saturday and Sunday, today is CiLiCe's turn. Formed from members of N3uk!, Orphanage and Smogus after said bands split, CiLiCe already have well over 100 gigs under their belts, and this experience shows today through a polished and professional performance. Fusing the down-tuned polyrhythmic riffing of Meshuggah with Dillinger Escape Plan's hardcore cacophony, the band are a refreshingly heavy addition to ProgPower's bill and a perfect wake-up call for those still feeling groggy from partying until the early hours in the Sjiwa's basement the previous night. Not to everyone's taste, the sparse crowd is indicative that many opt for fresh air rather than stay and listen to the music, although I remain throughout their entire set, and am mightily impressed by what I witness. With only 2 guitarists and no bassist, I struggle to hear whether there is bass on backing tracks as this is difficult to pick out with the guitars down-tuned. Suffering from minor glitches early in their set, including low-volume muffled noise from the right-hand PA speakers for half of the first song, all sonic defects are fortunately ironed out early on, affording CiLiCe a great sound for the majority of their time on stage. Scheduled to play for 55 minutes, they ignore attempts by the Sjiwa crew to beckon them off after 50 due to a slightly delayed start, as the frontman states "we were booked to play for 55 minutes, so we're gonna play for 55 minutes!", and then play their final song. It's a slightly arrogant attitude, and unfair on the bands that follow due to the strict time schedule although, arrogance aside, CiLiCe are an impressive live act, and I shall be keeping an eye out for them on the UK circuit in the future.

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SATURDAY 4th OCTOBER - PART 1

SUN CAGED

Brought in to replace Ghost Brigade who disappointingly cancelled a month and a half before today, Sun Caged are a welcome addition to the ProgPower bill. Hugely impressed with their set at Holland's Headway festival in April last year, I was pleased with this second opportunity to see the Dutch progsters in action. With only 2 full-length releases to date, 2003's self-titled debut and last year's stunning 'Artemisia', founding member, guitarist Marcel Coenen, assembled an entirely new lineup for Sun Caged's 2007 'comeback' album, although he's managed to gather musicians of the highest calibre. A short way into their set, and American frontman Paul Adrian Villarreal amusingly asks the audience "how many not from Holland?" to which over half of those gathered in the Sjiwa hold up their hands, as he responds with "good, I won't have to speak Dutch badly!". This also indicates the international appeal ProgPower has, as some travel from as far as Australia each year for the event. The level of musicianship on stage is of the expected high standard, most noticeably Coenen who is a true virtuoso of the guitar, and accompanies wild displays of shredding (which he makes look so easy) with a dynamic performance to match as he is by far the most animated member of Sun Caged. Villarreal also impresses me, as he did in Amstelveen at Headway, with a powerful vocal performance. He announces mid-way through proceedings that they have a surprise for today as the next song is one they've only performed once before - a track by Lemur Voice, Coenen's old band who also played the first ever ProgPower in 1999. For the special occasion, he introduces Lemur Voice's original vocalist on stage to perform the number with the band. Completely unfamiliar with any Lemur Voice material, I find it an interesting contraposition with Sun Caged's music as it signifies just how far Coenen has progressed as a songwriter. Sun Caged are technically brilliant, although I occasionally feel a little detached from their performance when I find myself admiring their technical abilities rather than being absorbed by the music, otherwise I cannot fault them. A very impressive set.

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WOLVERINE

And so onto one of the anticipated highlights of the weekend - Swedish band Wolverine who were announced to be playing 2 sets at ProgPower 2008, one today and another tomorrow. Their first set was promised to be exactly the same as when they opened the inaugural ProgPower in 1999 at the event's original location in Tilburg's much bigger 013 venue. This transpires to be not quite the case as charismatic frontman Stefan Zell announces a short way in that one song they played in 1999, 'Miles Away', was an unrecorded track, and although they filmed the 013 performance, all audio was missing from the recording so it is now apparently a "lost song"! Also, due to earlier delays, the band are unfortunately instructed to cut one song from their set ('Post Life'). Still (excuse the pun!), it is a very special occasion, and a rare opportunity to hear tracks from 1999's 'Fervent Dream' EP performed live for the first time in many years. Looking ever so slightly uncomfortable for the first few minutes, it transpires they were hurried on stage by the Sjiwa crew to compensate for time lost in the day's schedule, and can hear very little through the monitor speakers as they play. Given these far from ideal conditions, it is therefore admirable that the Swedes succeed in delivering a musically accomplished, flawless performance that is witnessed by the largest crowd of the day thus far. It is also interesting to hear older Wolverine material played today in that considering some of the songs were written at least 9 years ago, the music sounds as invigoratingly fresh and relevant in 2008 as when it was first unleashed upon the world back in 1999. This is testament to the highly accomplished compositional skills of the band in their early days - tracks such as 'Whispers on the Wind' achieves a perfect balance between its disparate stylistics without ever sounding stilted or contrived, with Mikael Zell's Gilmour-esque leads; drummer Marcus Losbjer's effective death growls (delivered today with convincing quasi-anger); sonically grandiose keyboards that engender an epic ambience, skilfully interweaved with heaver passages; and Stefan's powerful, affectively moving vocals. Each song receives ubiquitous cheers and applause from an enthusiastic crowd and, as the band conclude their set, there is an evident buzz of excitement around the venue. Wolverine are, in short, awesome, and judging by audience reactions, this is a sentiment shared with the majority of those standing in the Sjiwa this afternoon. Stunning!

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EDIT: Since publishing the above review, CiLiCe frontman Daniel has responded with the following explanation, which puts his onstage remarks towards the end of the set into context and fully justified: "To reply on the arrogance part: Cynic was soundchecking before us for over 2 hours taking up our space to get a decent sound check so we were in a big hurry. Nevertheless we started on time (we even got to play 5 minutes later so the venue would be full) and it wasn't about the 55 minutes, but there was a big clock at the side of the stage and we had to stop at 2:50h, while the stagehands wanted to cut us off at 2:45h. That's why I said that. Just to reply on that little part ;D."