Even though the Hellsinki Metal Festival had some damned good acts that were hard to pass up, some of us still still felt the draw to that sweet, sweet Kotka festival that we love so much: Dark River Festival. With acts like local INSOMNIUM and STAM1NA, as well as popular Gothenburg act DARK TRANQUILLITY and the rarely seen at festivals MACHINE SUPREMACY headlining, it was absolutely worth heading out east for a couple nights!
There’s no rest for the wicked, so we arrived bright and early for DEMONIC DEATH JUDGE and ONE MORNING LEFT to get things going on Saturday. The former, unsurprisingly, was a somewhat sludgy stoner metal band. They’re a little heavy on the extreme side of things for my taste, but the overall sound was pretty good and easy to groove to or bang your head along with, and they definitely require more testing, as a new act on our radar.
ONE MORNING LEFT have been lurking around for some years now and are starting to show up at festivals more and more, bringing in increasingly more enthusiastic crowds. Their new black metal sloth logo seems to be tickling everyone just right, as a lot of their shirts were seen throughout the day. Their overall sound is currently a bit like screamo with chiptunes, which I tend to find a bit chaotic, but for those who like it, they always put on a pretty wild show. Some folks in the crowd even had a row pit in a giraffe-shaped inflatable boat during their set. Also of note, there was a lot of chuckling going around when one of the band members said they were playing at “Dark Raiver Festival,” which gave off the impression to most people that whoever said it had no idea what the festival was called (or it was an impressive verbal slip).
When VERIKALPA started to play on the upper stage, for a moment I thought I had missed FINTROLL on the roster, until I realized that I didn’t recognize the riffs. I’m not sure I’ve seen them more than once or so before, but it seems like they’ve improved in sound and performance since my last hazy memories… perhaps there’s another band I need to update my familiarity with. Overall, they sounded great, if not the most unique in sound.
MORS SUBITA are pretty regular players at Dark River these days (as well as other festivals), so it was no surprise to hear them put on a solid set with a strong performance. Much like OG on the previous day, I’ve known of these guys since the late 2000s but haven’t followed them much outside the festival scene. On this day, they were sounding pretty crisp and heavy, with some teasers of new material from their upcoming release, “Origin of Fire,” which should be out in October.
VERMILIA was another band that we’d never heard of before, so I scheduled my dinner break during their set. The overall sound seemed to be pretty paganic/melodic black metal, centered around the voice and sounds of Vermilia herself. Like SAOR on Friday, she seemed to have a touring band for live shows, but the music is credited exclusively to her. There was some similarity to bands like SAMANE, who ride more of the psychedelic/stoner side than Vermilia‘s more metal and extreme vibes, with some further resemblance to MYRKUR‘s sound as well. She has a new album this year, “Ruska,” and we noted that the title track from the release was included in the set.
Clearly, one of the weekend’s most highly anticipated acts was Australian BE’LAKOR, who played their first-ever set this weekend. The name was only vaguely familiar to me, but it seemed as if half of the festival’s attendees were there just for this band, and the merch queues became out of control when their shirts showed up. These guys were happily chatting with the crowd, asking if we were ready for some… tuning! Because the guitars needed some adjustments before the next song. While I wasn’t familiar with any of their material, it seemed to contain a lot of interesting soundscapes, with some inclusions like ’90s alternative rock, utterly crushing growls, and some video-game-like riffs. Really, my list of bands to check out after this festival is getting to be too long.
SHADE EMPIRE seem to have been around since the late ’90s, with a bit of a resurgence and some new band members in the mid-late 2010s. They, too, have a new album coming out this fall, on September 15th, entitled “Sunholy,” with tracks like “Maroon” being highly anticipated from the new release. What was most surprising to me was that I often felt like there was something a bit sci-fi in the atmosphere of their music at times, though I can’t recall exactly what it was that was leaving that impression in its wake. Either way, I rather liked it, despite these guys being another band that is generally too-extreme for my taste.
THE HAUNTED are a classic act and, paired with DARK TRANQUILLITY, made for a nice selection of Gothenburg metal for the evening, though it was a bit surprising that these two acts weren’t spread over more days, for the sake of drawing in more of a crowd. Admittedly, this is exactly the type of Gothenburg metal that doesn’t really appeal to me on a personal note, but they did sound superb per the bit of their set that I caught. Despite being at a festival, they had a full 16-song set with an encore, so it really did seem like they were a headliner, even if they were the third-last band of the night.
Speaking of Swedish acts, after playing “Pendulum,” MACHINAE SUPREMACY‘s vocalist, Robert Stjärnström, mentioned that they were the “meat in a Swedish band sandwich” for the night. This SID-metal act was the biggest pull of the weekend for me personally, as I am a legendarily big fan who hasn’t missed one of their local tours in a decade. The band did not disappoint – this was their first show since the Black March Events gig in Lahti last year, and it was spectacular. The lights and sound were fantastic, the setlist was a top-notch selection of big hits and fan-favorites, as well as their newest releases, and the energy was on-point. Let’s just say it was well worth missing a wedding for this set!
Finally, it was time for the upper bun of the Swedish bandwich, when DARK TRANQUILLITY closed out the night on the main stage. These guys are well-known and well-loved in Finland, so it should come as no surprise that the entirety of the festival was packed around the stage when they started playing. Much the same as most events this summer, they started up with “Encircled,” with Mikael Stanne sounding like a glorious wolverine up there. While I confess that I’ve never really listened to DARK TRANQUILLITY, I nevertheless really appreciate their sound and their history, so I’ll gladly listen to them play anytime I can at a festival. This was a fantastic show and once again, I was left with that distinct feeling of “I should really listen to these guys more.” Perhaps that was the theme of the whole weekend?
All-in-all, Dark River Festival 2023 was yet again a warm, comfortable, and intimate festival. We’re already holding our breaths to see who shows up next year, since the event will be celebrating their 20th anniversary! See you in 2024!
Text by Bear Wiseman
