Review Amplifest
What if emerging from a violent discharge noisecore, a stranger invited you to listen to poetry and prose in a garden? It could only happen in Amplifest, indeed! A few days after Oporto's Hard Club celebrates its 5th anniversary, the festival started the 5th edition. The coincidence is only apparent, as the event results from the venue's invitation to Amplificasom, mentors of the festival.
Like the previous years, the festival started very early on Saturday’s afternoon, with a film projection in room 2, a shorty movie about Bannon, lead singer of Converge, entitled "Rungs In The Ladder." But it was on the main room that music actually began, with Juseph vs Memoirs of a Secret Empire. The portuguese bands, joined in an unusual concert format, sharing the stage at same time, or sort of, as the groups were parading alternately, sometimes the trio for a theme, then the quintet for another, only really playing together during the last song, appropriately called "Amplimalha ", specially composed for the fest. If both groups were interesting in their post-rock, the changing of musicians and pluggin’in the instruments broke the concert feeling a little.
While the room 2 was still screening another documentary, in the central area between both rooms, people could do some shopping at merchandise spots or watch a conference moderated by José Carlos Santos, the Loud! and Terrorizer editor, that included some local journalists during the first panel and musicians from bands on the second one.
In room 2 began Filho da Mãe, in what was a festival within the festival: the presentation of solo guitarists. This was followed, in room 1, by the first major discharge of the day: Full Of Hell, in a short set, delivered a noisy show that simply rocked the room, in a concert full of energy but too often cut by pauses in which the singer Dylan Walker adjusted the electronic used. The set of the American band was shorter than advertised, not exceeding half an hour, as they put so much energy in blasting their songs. When exiting, the audience was surprised by a character that invited them to follow him. The destination was a garden in front of the old market, where he was going to recite some poetry and prose.
At the same time, on the stage between the two rooms began a gongs performance with the artists John Philip and Steve Huback, which was repeated several times during both days. In room 2, Noveller, solo project of New York artist, Sarah Lipstate, was the second adventure in the world of guitar, a performance somewhat baroque, which decreased, perhaps the interest of those who expected something more introspective, like Filho da Mãe had been. Nevertheless, Sarah had, here and there, her charm, often rehearsing a ballet with her shadow, like a character from JM Barrie.
Closing the Saturday afternoon were Altar Of Plagues, in what was billed as the farewell tour, after the sudden end in 2013. Initially almost in the dark, the stage was being illuminated as the concert progressed and the Irish dripped with their post-black metal. Perhaps because this tour has come out of time,a feeling that something was missing remained, particularly after other performances of the weekend. In the end, it was time to head up again to room 2, where a figure with long gray hair moved around laptops and mixers: It was the American William Basinski, that immediately was inviting newcomers to sit on the floor and embrace his new age electronics, that cleansed the souls previously darkened by Altar Of Plagues. Basinski was the calm that preceded the storm ... Converge!
At the entrance on stage, one calm and smiling Jacob Bannon asked the public "Are you ready?", turned to the photographers and with a grin, said the same. Immediately the quartet burst with "Dark Horse" and by the end, with "Last Light", Converge gig has become a turmoil of moving bodies in the room and on stage, with several stage-diving (even with bars separating the stage from the public) crowdsurfing and even a couple of somersault, to an audience that repeatedly shared the microphone with Bannon, in what was a truly memorable passage of Converge by Portugal. As for the band, that performance may have turned the end of a tour on a high note. The night ended up in room 2, with Wife, a project by James Kelly from Altar Of Plagues, with another demonstration of electronic sounds, but the bodies were asking for some rest, after facing the turbulence which had been Converge.
Sunday started slowly, with bodies recovering from first night turmoil. Maybe that's why stage 1 started very quietly with an excellent performance from Nate Hall. The lead singer of the US Christmas, appeared on his solo version, with a guitar and a voice that was crafted along the action, where he recovered the roots of Appalachian culture. Nate Hall may not be a Scott Kelly, but was many points above the other solo musicians on this festival. The opening of the room 2 with Atilla was a little tasteless, being perhaps the least interesting of all the electronic music proposals.
The question mark in the schedule was hiding a surprise band that was suddenly announced to the bemusement of many: Grave Pleasures, the Finnish group which resulted from the ashes of Beastmilk that did not last more than one disc, despite its impact. The Goth Punk rhythmed quintet, delivered an alignment based on records from both bands, that ended up sounding very cohesive, as if it were only from a single band. By the end, the question remained if the festival sales could have been bigger if Grave Pleasures' apppearance was announced earlier.
In room 2, within the electronics and music, performed Syndrome and then the lights went up for the darkness of Wiegedood. The Belgian trio brought a raw black metal, in a stage where the light was reduced to the minimum necessary to guide musicians to their instruments. The group features Levy Seynaeve from Amenra and their debut album came out this year. The evening began in the main stage with a powerful and thunderous Metz, that made the audience shake and dance. The Canadian trio from Subpop label seemed a more energized Therapy? (the band), and got one of the best performances at the festival. One day this group will be large and Amplificasom will be proud to have brought them.
The positive energy of Metz was exorcised by a Stephen O'Malley, who choses to present us the noise/fuzz guitar driven sounds, hidden in the darkness of stage 2. If the hype around Sunn0))) made people queue as the door remain closed, at the end of the guitarist show, only less than a third of the audience remained. It was a unique gig that changed the mood of everyone and made us dive into the darkness, like an exorcism of good vibes.
The bodies crushed by O'Malley headed to room 1, where Amenra managed to have a hypnotic and memorable performance. Lead singer Colin Eeckhout, most of time singing with his back turned to the audience, reminded several times Maynard from Tool, but its gigantic tattoo showed his true face and let's not forget that these Belgian practice a superb post black metal, that, in this festival ambience, found the necessary conditions to surprise everyone and everything.
The festival's closing performance took place in room 2, with the addition of machinery and strings. Along the festival we had seen artists who sometimes used the guitar to express themselves, sometimes used laptops and mixers, and with Gnaw Their Tongues both parties coalesced in the vocals of both members of the Dutch duo. This was the closure of an excellent festival, with memorable gigs. See you in 2016!
Text and photos: Emanuel Ferreira
