After 5 days of festival in Tilburg – 4 full days and the warm-up of Roadburn – what better way to keep the rhythm going than another gig? So we ended up in Utrecht on April 21st, 2025, to catch the Dutch date of the Blood. Mire. Death. European tour, the third in which SPECTRAL WOUND was accompanied by LAMP OF MURMUUR after the Dark Easter Metal Meeting in Munich and another club gig in Duisburg. A short walk from the center or one train stop from the central station, De Helling seems like your typical Dutch venue: easy to reach, functional, with a good sound and a nice size for these kinds of events.
By the time LAMP OF MURMUUR came on stage the venue was already quite full (and we also spotted a few other fellow “roadburners”) and the crowd was ready for the performance of the American band, project lead by the mysterious M. Given the length of the songs the set was quite short but balanced between the three records they released, starting and ending the show with the latest “Saturnian Bloodstorm.”
Much like what we saw a couple of years back at Roadburn, LAMP OF MURMUUR provided a raw display with a strong nod to ’90s Norwegian black metal, but with their US twist. The result was a very enjoyable show when you don’t take it too seriously from a “purist” angle and focus more on the atmosphere and riffs.
Already midway through the gig, it was quite hard to move around, and when SPECTRAL WOUND began their show, the venue was so packed that some people were standing at the door to the hall. There is a lot of Scandinavian influence in the Canadians’ music, and it only seems fitting that the band started their European tour in Finland. Much of their sound resonates with familiar bands, but at the same time has that more modern “groove” to it that detaches it from the original, raw, uncompromising black metal of old, while still being aggressive and savage. Like it or not, it’s a formula that seems to work, judging from the audience’s response, and it certainly is a good fit with the previous band. The vocalist definitely had a strong presence and grabbed most of the attention throughout the show, clearly centered on their last effort, “Songs of Blood and Mire.”
At least on this occasion, the band can certainly be satisfied with the performance tonight as well as the turnout and the crowd’s excitement, who followed this eye-catching show intensely from start to finish. Not a bad way to end the Easter holidays, and for sure a positive sight to see a venue this full on a Monday night. It helps that in a country like the Netherlands is relatively easy to travel to and from a show even half the country away, given the short distances and good connections. We are definitely glad we got to catch this show and experience De Helling firsthand. Check our photo gallery here…
LAMP OF MURMUUR
SPECTRAL WOUND
