The Roadburn afterburner is a chill and laid back affair, with only 3 stages instead of the usual hectic 5. it’s a day to come down from all the impressions of the fest, see a few more bands, catch a few you missed who play double shows, or just relax in general. This year we’re on a more cinematic and a little post metal infused vibe, with some heavier doom elements.
Jakob was my opener on the last day of this magnificent festival, and their deep, dark soundscapes are a gentle way to wake up on a Sunday afternoon. The use of echo and reverb by the band led to an almost transcendental feeling of calm which was further aided by their excellent visuals. You feel almost like the world is slipping past you, and a certain lonely apathy flows gently over you. Even when the band goes into more post rock like crescendos they never shake this haunting lonely cinematic feeling.
Blind Idiot God on the other hand weren’t so gentle, and their mixed, messy layered music becomes almost nightmarish especially when suddenly the rhythm shifted or guitars are left to feed back and go almost off key. Sometimes the whooping, thumping mess of a monster came to a screeching halt, only to continue tumbling down whatever hill this band sounds like it was kicked down. Yet strangely it was compelling and at times seemed to shift between black metal, doom and punk. It was definitely a fascinating band.
Amenra are known for being relentlessly aggressive and heavy, with their newer work they’ve started exploring more melodic post metal vibes. While this gave some amazing intro moments, it cuts the areas of full on aggression up in such a way that the full impact they used to have got a little lost. Instead of getting drowned in a brutal assault of heavy, desolate noise and aggression, we got so many breaks that the oppression they used to bring is lost. While this oasis in the storm led to some beautiful melodic interplay, they broke things up too much for me, especially remembering the skull crushing storm they were a few years back.
Klone offered us even more postrock, this time from Germany. Their particular flavor of postrock has a much more aggressive rock and roll feeling to it though, and in a way seems a little more accessible. They also sport an excellent vocalist, who not only hits his notes perfectly, but also is an excellent showman and has a pretty interesting growl on him. They are a little more song structured than I usually like my post rock, and pretty focused on the vocal melody. They do give an excellent show though.
Finally I got to see out last band at Roadburn 2016, Buried At Sea. Starting out in the dark with a load of reverb and a backing track of spooky noises including; creaking, dripping, and moaning of what seems like wood, the tone is set. Slowly the band started adding long, low notes to this. They continued to slowly, laboriously build, all the way through these noises and the blue drenched stage seemed to swallow the band. The layers and multiple screaming vocals by all band members, only add to the wallowing and enveloping feeling their music conveyed. They sounded like a shipwreck happening in the middle of the lonesome ocean.
The afterburner was relaxing and at the same time fascinating, going to the more cinematic and atmosphere building side of the festival this year. As the final day of a festival where there is such a breadth of all things musically dark, today she held true to her love of heavy, and experimentation. And I will dearly miss it until it return next year in early April, and we get to visit planet Roadburn again.