Last year’s Ieperfest still is one of the best festivals I’ve attended to this date. A small setting, with an amazing lineup and the best food I’ve ever had at any festival, for relatively cheap prices. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? It definitely set the bar high for this year’s edition. This year the lay out of the festival got a huge change, the decision was made to move the main stage to last year’s Marquee. The replacement for the mainstage was a smaller tent dubbed “The Thunderdome”. Everything was “indoors”, something that really goes well the genre of hardcore and in fact many live performances in general. It definitely made me curious for the festival and the effect it would have on the performances. Friday the 11th of august came sooner than expected and before I knew it I was headed for the far west of Belgium, to the 25th edition of Ieperfest.

Saturday

One last time it rained on the Ieperfest festival grounds, the sun was lurking around the corner and the rest of the weekend looked bright. Despite what felt like a slow start the festival finally kicked off. Definitely after friday night’s afterparty. Ieperfest might have an obvious link with hardcore and related genres, their afterparties are of at least the same caliber!

This year almost seemed filled with anniversaries. Ieperfest itself got to blow out 25 candles and many bands had reason to celebrate. One of those bands was Link, 20 years of existence, of their dark crust. From the very same soil as we were standing on: Belgium. The skies had cleared too soon cause their music quickly created a dark and melancholic atmosphere that left no place for sun and happiness. Their forty minute set dragged you into their own dark world and was over before you knew it. Definitely one of the better bands I’ve seen on Ieperfest.

Although Ieperfest mainly is a hardcore festival, they have a wide selection of bands that go beyond the genre’s border. Black metal being one of them. Although notably less black metal than last year they still got some interesting names on the bill. One of those being Terzij De Horde. Straight in your face, raw black metal. Straight up my alley, so I definitely looked forward to this one. At four in the afternoon the Dutch black metal squad got The Trench all for themselves. And while I really love their music and often listen to it, their performance didn’t really stick to me that much. Don’t get me wrong it definitely wasn’t bad, they played a tight and good set and I definitely enjoyed it. But it wasn’t really a memorable show either. To be fair the whole festival felt a bit off this year. The change in layout and smaller terrain definitely played a part in that. So all in all I can’t really pass a fair judgement upon these guys. The show as a whole was mediocre at best. I do really want to see them again, in a more fitting setting and with a lineup that’s more in line with these guys. I’m certain these guys can perform.

One of the bands I looked forward to the most on Saturday was Turnstile. That groovy, old school feel in their music yet it sounds really refreshing in the hardcore scene. As soon as the first note left the speakers, five people were already up on the stage ready to dive back into the crowd. What. A. Show. It probably was my favourite show of this year. The atmosphere was amazing, people were dancing and happy, the music was fantastic. Turnstile did it again and turned the entire tent upside down.

Luckily I didn’t have to make too many decision as in what bands I would want to go see if they happen to play at the same times. The one time I did have to make that decision was a rather tough one. Lugubrum and Defeater… I decided to try and catch a bit of both. Lugubrum played their set in The Trench. Not too many people were present, I’d say it was the smallest crowd I had seen that weekend. It did create a very intimate setting and along with their fantastic ‘Boersk Blek Metle’ it created one of the most surprising acts of the festival. The Belgian trio have been at it for a very long time now and throughout the years they’ve dabbled with a whole different array of genres and influences. The result is their very own thing, a very diverse set in terms of sound which keeps it interesting from start to finish.

Halfway Lugubrum’s set I ran to the Thunderdome to see what Defeater was up to. A band that has become almost synonymous with the post-hardcore genre. In contrast with The Trench the Thunderdome was very crowded. I’ve listened to post-hardcore quite a lot a couple of years ago but I grew out of it and the genre hasn’t interested me that much ever since. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the music and definitely doesn’t mean I would miss on the opportunity to see Defeater live. Yet they couldn’t convince me completely with their sound. Of course this is very subjective. I could see plenty of people screaming along with every single song with as much emotion as the band. I’m certain I would’ve been there as well a couple of years ago but I realised that it simply wasn’t my thing anymore. Back to the Trench it was, leaving a fantastic band and some “musical childhood” behind.