PELAGIC FEST

Once a record label showcase held now and again in Berlin, Pelagic Fest has flourished into a bona fide annual getaway for progressive music fans. For the second year in a row, it's taking up two days at Muziekgieterij, a club in the sleepy Dutch city of Maastricht renowned for its sound quality and state-of-the-art light shows. The bill is dominated, as ever, by artists signed to the Pelagic roster, but with This Will Destroy You and Ihsahn headlining, this is by far the biggest and most diverse lineup to date.

- MATT MILLS

On the larger of Muziekgieterij's two stages, Hemelbestormer get the Saturday off to a sluggish start. The members have history in progressive, hardcore and extreme metal bands, but they don't bring any of those genres' energy or ambition to their plod-along post-rock. Astrosaur fare better on the small stage, mixing their space rock and jazz fusion influences into something uniquely disorienting. If you ever find yourself being ripped through a wormhole towards another dimension, this is the stuff to stick on.

Instrumentalists Bruit are playing two sets across the weekend, and this afternoon sees them run through recent album The Age Of Ephemerality in full. Although it's the quartet's first show since 2022, there's no trace of rust in their contemporary classical suites, the hemmed-in crowd getting swept up by cello, rock and spoken-word textures. They're the joint-best band of the day, alongside following act Psychonaut. The space rock trio backed out of 2024's event due to the death of bassist/vocalist Thomas Michiels' father, and today marks the one-year anniversary of that loss. They debut songs partially inspired by Michiels' grief, including earnest new single Endless Currents, but this is a triumphant homecoming above all else. The proggy crescendos of The Fall Of Consciousness and All Your Gods Have Gone are catharsis incarnate, their impact punctuated by the dozens of spotlights flaring above.