Opeth @ Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, BE November 26th 2008

a little introduction for those who haven't had the pleasure: "Opeth is a progressive death metal band from Sweden that is influenced by many diverse musical styles ranging from jazz, 70s progressive rock, death metal, and blues. Their recent releases have deviated from their traditional death metal influenced style, with more emphasis on progressive elements. Vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt is also noted for utilizing both clean singing and death growls, often in the same track. Due to their unique blend of melodic and progressive elements, Opeth are often classified separately from more typical death metal acts. The name Opeth was taken from Wilbur Smith’s novel Sunbird and derived from Opet, a city of the moon named in the novel." -Last.fm



For me this band has been a stepping stone into genres and music scenes I've never even dreamed of existing. 'Canterbury' & 'progg' were things I didn't know off and not even taking in consideration that this also resulted in rediscovering my love for vinyl records. Anyways, during their European Tour 2008 Opeth played in my favourite venue, Amon Tobin recently called it "arguably the best sound system in Europe", the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, BE. Below, the video's of their set (almost complete).


Line-up:

DJ Mental (FM Brussel)
The Ocean
Cynic
Opeth


only footage of Opeth, italic titles are captured:

Heir Apparent
The Grand Conjuration
Godhead's Lament
The Lotus Eater
Hope Leaves
Deliverance
Demon Of The Fall (partial)

Encore: The Drapery Falls





youtube playlist



Down here is a clip I found, a little prog-rock-quiz, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Bass Communion, etc) vs Mikael Åkerfeldt... it's a massacre...





Opeth website
Opeth MySpace
Roadrunner Records

Cynic website
Cynic MySpace


The Ocean MySpace
The Ocean website

Transit

Transit are four Belgian post-rocking ornithologists, Jeroen (guitar), Toon (bass), Koen (drums) and Nick (guitar), with a passion for nature, emotions and all kinds of music. This is more or less the essence of Transit; more words about them would just be tiresome; so they just hope you enjoy their music as much as they enjoy playing it!

I've seen this band play now three times and each time their music will fill up the room and suck you into their cinematic, slow coresque post-rock as if you've known them for years. I've rounded up some goodies of the band... enjoy.


Footage:

+30 min live set at the Ancienne Belgique, November 1st, 2007 during the 2nd Now_Series with 65DaysOfStatic, Apse, Creature With The Atom Brain, Liars, & Youthmovies


Downloads:

Transit - Harmattan
[LostChildren013] (August 1, 2006)
















Transit - Broadleaves vs Conifers
[LostChildren017] (December 1, 2006)





















Transit MySpace
Transit website
Lost Children Net Label

Bohren und der Club of Gore @ ABclub

On October 15th 2008, the majestic Ipecac funeral doom jazz act Bohren und der Club of Gore played their second show on their European tour at the Ancienne Belgique Club. Opener for the night was Alexander Tucker, until a few weeks ago a complete stranger for me. He displayed some novice use of stringed instruments and even more fx & loop pedals but scheduling him before Bohren wasn't the best move in the history of opening act planning.

Anyways, gloomy Wednesday night in Brussels, a small club and some doomy deep resonating funeral jazz... an ideal gig to be sitting on the frontline bass speakers with a fresh Duvel beer while the camera struggles to keep focus with all that bass.





go to the youtube playlist
Bohren und der Club of Gore website
Bohren und der Club of Gore myspace
Alexander Tucker myspace