These guys are ones to watch.Ĭave In’s vibrant performance on the Bürostage is bursting with upbeat and feverish rock ‘n’ roll vigor that careens between abrasive and anthemic with progressive pitch and pace changes. The dual vocal attack from Nate Newton and Stephen Brodsky hits like bullets with the soaring, clean singing pierced by Newtons ferocious barks and yells. There are a lot of beautiful intricacies going on here with space for the instruments to breathe, the piercing violin solo that comes from out of nowhere seals the deal. From the start it takes a while for the crowd to warm up but when they do the scene is an engaging sea of bobbing heads. Dual soaring and oscillating guitars layered over wailing distortion and groovy bass lines with methodical drumming mutates into ominous blackened tremolo and culminates in crashing crescendos. The dynamic range of the pace, tone and volume is mesmerising that gives heavy nods to festival cohorts Bossk and Caspian. Kicking off the Bürostage on the first day which this time around falls on a Thursday is instrumental post metal Virginian quartet Shy Low. It is going to be a rollercoaster journey of emotional dishevelment and purging, and we are already strapped in and holding on to the bar.

This weekend is focused more on solo experimental artists and frequent collaborators leaning towards the post rock and metal side of things with a helping of black metal to spice things up. This is not the first double weekender on this year’s festival circuit but unlike others, Amplifest in Porto, Portugal concentrates on the upmost quality over quantity especially given the no clashing mind set.

Nate newton obituary