Pelagic Fest 2024
August 24+25. Line up is looking sick and I can't wait! I expect lots of special guest performances (Karin Park joining The Ocean on Unconformities or Loic joining Lost in Kiev for Prison of Mind for example). Bands are getting nice slots of time to play and no overlaps which I absolutely love. I have no idea where the fuck I'm supposed to get something to eat though. I intend to add the live reviews to this list this weekend. |
| 1 |  | Thot
Delta
Saturday: 14:15 - 15:00
Actually a very decent opener and a pleasant surprise. 7/10 |
| 2 |  | WuW
L'orchaostre
15:00 - 15:45
Had to miss this sadly to check in to our b&b |
| 3 |  | Lost in Kiev
Rupture
15:45 - 16:30
The sound was very very good and it worked. Loïc came up for Prison of Mind which was awesome. A little harsh maybe, but the band needs a better drummer. Felt he was struggling and his timing was often a little off. Still a good show though. 7/10 |
| 4 |  | Playgrounded
The Death of Death
16:60 - 17:15
This was very mid for me. Nothing offensive and the music they make was played admirably, but it didn't do anything for me. 5/10 |
| 5 |  | Oh Hiroshima
All Things Shining
17:15 - 18:15
A little bit of a letdown. The sound wasn't great and by times it felt like a slightly worse Lost in Kiev. The vocals were often drowned in the mix and when they could be heard it wasn't convincing. The music did make up for it with by times great atmospheres. 6/10 |
| 6 |  | Hippotraktor
Stasis
18:15 - 19:00
Major highlight of the first day. When these guys kicked in all four us were looking at each other full stankface. Didn't really leave my face for the entire duration either. The absolutely packed crowd loved it and it rubbed off on the band as well, who were visibly having a great time. 9,5/10 |
| 7 |  | A Swarm of the Sun
Zenith
19:00 - 20:00
Had to cool down after Hippotraktor and hadn't eaten anything yet so sad to say I had to miss this. |
| 8 |  | Glassing
From the Other Side of the Mirror
20:00 - 20:45
The only misser of the first day I watched. On record the black/hardcore combi works, live it didn't. They weren't helped by a truly abysmal sound, with extremely loud vocals and snare but hardly any guitartone in sight. The drums were often just slightly off the beat too, especcially during the blasts. 4/10 |
| 9 |  | And So I Watch You From Afar
Megafauna
20:45 - 21:45
The same thing happened live as what happened when listening to the record. At first I was unconvinced. The squeeky clean guitars, often deliberately off-key, and very busy compositions made for a bit of a mess. And then slowly but surely it won me over and it started to click. By the end I was having a great time and the band was too. 7,5/10 |
| 10 |  | LLNN
Unmaker
21:45 - 22:30
Hell opened up and it's name is LLNN. Holy cow these guys bring the energy. The small stage was a boiling pot of sweat and adrenaline which made the entire show truly pop. The vocalist is a crazy mf with charisma for 10. The most unexpected highlight of the first day. 8/10 |
| 11 |  | NYOS
Waterfall Cave Fantasy, Forever
22:30 - 23:00
We wanted to have good spots for The Ocean so decided to skip this. |
| 12 |  | The Ocean
Pelagial
23:00 - 00:15, Pelagial record in full special set
Yeah these guys never underdeliver. They brought the visual show so we slowly sank deeper and deeper beneath the surface. Drummer was easily the best musician of the day, band was tight af, what more do you want. Easy highlight at the climax of day one. 9,5/10 |
| 13 |  | Arms and Sleepers
What Tomorrow Brings
00:15 - 00:45
Sweet cooling down in the foyer with some electro. People danced, I had a good time. 7/10 |
| 14 |  | Spurv
Myra
Sunday: 14:00 - 14:45
Another really nice opener, very atmospheric and dreamy. The music wasn't played to perfection and at times wasn't really tight, which made the harder moments not really pop, but when they were trying to bring the slow feels it worked. 6,5/10 |
| 15 |  | Bipolar Architecture
Metaphysicize
14:45 - 15:30
A very talented young band that needs to fire their sound engineer. I could hear that they were playing technically very proficient and interesting music. Yet most of this went unheard for the first half of the set where we could only hear drums (which were a highlight), lead/ambient guitar and vocals, the last of which was crazy loud for the entire set. A sorry 4/10 but would watch again with better sound because the band showed promise. |
| 16 |  | EF
We Salute You, You and You
15:30 - 16:30
Owh what a highlight of day two. I was mesmerized for the full duration of the set. Alcest, MONO, Caspian and now EF. The list of post-rock bands that had me rendered speechless afterward. Needed to be alone with my thoughts for a little bit afterward to be able to reset myself. 9/10 |
| 17 |  | Love Sex Machine
TRVE
16:30 - 17:15
Only saw this for one or two songs so didn't really get a good grip on it. What I heard sounded pretty cool with good sound and some nice groovy metal. |
| 18 |  | Briqueville
IIII
17:15 - 18:15
Was quite interested in this and happy to say they delivered. The atmosphere was thick and the music rich and brooding. A full hour was a little on the long side for me and I lost interest at some point but I can't really fault the band for that. 7/10 |
| 19 |  | Karin Park
Church of Imagination
18:15 - 19:00
The odd duckling of the festival, which was actually quite a nice change of pace. Fully electronic, on her own on stage giving away a pretty nice set. She has a great live voice and she was the first (and only) to use the entire lighting venue provided, which included lights on the balustrades and above the floor. 6,5/10 |
| 20 |  | Year of No Light
Ausserwelt
19:00 - 20:00
For me this was the big dissapointment of day two I'm sad to say. They suffered from the same problem I had when I saw Cult of Luna last year. The music is meant to slowly overwhelm you with their wall of sound, yet live it's as undynamic as it gets. The music live only has two volumes: kinda soft and very very loud. Where this should've hypnotized me, it was just there as a very loud, very slow band most of the time where very little happened. If they'd have build their volumes and layers more slowly I think it might have worked better for me. They weren't helped by the fact that today was a very low bpm day. If this came after say Hippotraktor it might've also worked better. 5/10 |
| 21 |  | Arabrot
Of Darkness and Light
20:00 - 20:45
We decided it was time for dinner so I didn't see anything of this. Its nice that they livestreamed everything so I can still check what I missed. |
| 22 |  | The Ocean
Holocene
21:15 - 22:15 second set replacing Psychonaut
This set might've even been better than the first. Holy cow the sound was incredible, the band was extremely on point and the songs themselves all worked. It was a set of only songs from Holocene and Phanerozoic II, and although I would've liked a Permian: The Great Dying in the mix I didn't miss it. The only slight blemish was that I was convinced they would play Unconformities with Karin Park, because duh, she's right there, but they didn't. That didn't stop me from enjoying the absolute living hell out of it though! 9/10 |
| 23 |  | The Devil's Trade
The Call of the Iron Peak
20:45 - 21:15
Accoustic show in the foyer that I didn't get to see unfortunately |
| 24 |  | Ihsahn
Ihsahn
Sad to say Ihsahn had to cancel on the day because of airport strikes in Norway. Out of everyone's control and I feel for the organisation having to deal with a headliner cancelling so last minute with no proper way to get a replacement. They managed to get Cobra the Impaler which I didn't see, got an hour more sleep instead. |
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