CVLT Nation Captures: AMPLIFEST Day Two

If Amplifest’s day one felt like a dark daydream, then day two wasn’t that far off. It’s true that every single act on this line-up deserved to headline a show on their own. People approached James Kelly, Colin H. van Eeckhout and Oathbreaker’s Caro Tanghe all day on Hard Club’s main floor, featureing a Münster Studio exhibition with beautiful work pieces in the likes of Buzzcocks, Russian Circles, Caspian, Baroness and Mono.

Nate Hall from US Christmas played some of his solo works on this second and final day of Amplifest, right before Miguel Béco de Almeida as ATILA crushed the audience with his dark electronics alongside Guida Ribeiro’s amazing visual geometric projections. These dark impressions would thrive with Grave Pleasures, ex-Beastmilk, as the reserved surprise act of this year’s edition. A death rock and post-punk procession would lead an hour and a half of two Church of Ra’s projects – the soundscapes of Syndrome and the new black metal strength Wiegedood.

Some different manners of violence would take care on Amplifest’s final run of the year. Chris Slochar’s amazing bass tone helped the METZ concert feel like a punch in the stomach, while both Alex Edkins and Hayden Menzies delivered everything they got – a typical yet still surprising force shown by the Canadian trio. While my stomach was still hurting, Stephen O’Malley destroyed my hearing with his massive wall of amplification, and Amenra bled every heart in Hard Club’s bigger room. Then the demons of Mories on Gnaw Their Tongues enclosed all these wounds and made everyone yearn for next year’s Amplifest. The motto rings true – Amplifest is not a festival, it’s an experience, both a mental and physical one.

NATE HALL