Sounds Fair Festival 2025, Gävle, Sweden, 9 & 10 May 2025

While last year's Friday was a tribute to the then defunct Gefle Metal Festival with three heavy bands, this year the two nights did not have a theme and the music was a mix, although the Saturday turned out to have bands with an overlap.

The venue was the same: the atmospheric Gasklockarna, or The Gas Bells. An old gas factory with two round buildings as venues (one for the record fair, one for the live music). Inside, it has an industrial feel, with the lighting only adding to that. The sound engineers know the building and always manage to get a very good sound, regardless of the shape of the building.

With only one out of six acts that I knew before the festival, this was going to be a weekend of surprises. Good or bad? Let's see.

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Poster for Friday 9 May

The first band on the bill, A Swarm Of The Sun (ASOTS), was unknown to me, and I got warned things were going to get loud. I like a lot of loud music, but loud comes in many forms, so I still had no idea. ASOTS's music can be categorised under the post-rock banner. The compositions take their time in building the flow, with intense soundscapes that, indeed, often get loud. Sometimes sparse and minimalistic, sometimes overwhelming doom.

The singer played something that looked like an analog synthesizer, turning knobs and changing cables a lot of the time. Most of the time, I could not hear whether the keyboard sounds and effects were his or coming from the keyboard player, who was next to the drum kit, almost out of sight from where I was.

The singer's stage act shows he is really losing himself in the music, which had its effect on (at least part of) the audience, droning in and zoning out.

The keyboard player stood out when he played piano or some clear melody lines. Lovely melancholic piano that I wouldn't mind hearing more. With no clear guitar melodies, let alone solos, I could not tell the two guitarists apart and was wondering whether the band would sound very different with just one, but then again, they provided most of the crunching drone sound that was omnipresent so halving that would have made a difference.

I was most impressed by the drummer. Keeping a steady beat for a long time while the songs were building up to a climax slowly, he managed to add in some creative fills. His breaks between musical sections were often quite intricate. Or the long intro with just one drum beat per measure that went suddenly from 7/8 to 6/8. With the overall sound being a bit drone-y, the drumming really stood out.

For fans of Katatonia, Anathema and My Dying Bride.

Jonathan Hultén is a solo artist (although I heard he sometimes performs with a band as well). A big part of his history is Swedish gothic metal band Tribulation. This is something different. Curious stage props and intriguing clothing and make-up — the moment he stepped on stage, everybody knew this was going to be something out of the ordinary. Well, it was clear a large part of the audience knew him and what to expect, but I noticed several people having the same reaction, trying to process what they were watching.

It's hard to describe. Musically, think of the dark melancholy in Nick Drake's music, then perfect-pitch singing and vocalisations with several effects to make it sound fuller and mysterious. Add a stage presence like Peter Gabriel's and the moving of Kate Bush. The latter's fairy-like atmosphere could also be felt, albeit in a Tim Burton adaptation. It's hard to describe something so unexpected, it sometimes did feel like a bit of fairy magic in a mesmerising spell.

The stage props, the movements, the lighting — everything seemed so well-thought of. There must be a lot of thought behind the show. And yet the music itself is heartfelt, played with emotion and received purely. Hultén's voice has quite the range, but the best effect is at the deep end, where it's either a bluesy warmth or a cinematic resonance gives echoes of Steve Winwood. This was an unexpected piece of art...

The biggest name drew people from far away. I had never heard of them and was told the band has two links to Ghost, which I am not a particular big fan of, so I was not bothered by that. I was waiting to be overwhelmed, though, by the main act of the evening.

It turned out slightly different than I was expecting. Not in a negative way, just different. From the songs played, MCC are a combination of alternate rock with a dose of post-rock like Gazpacho and atmospheric like Anathema. Sometimes a little U2-like, sometimes more adventurous like Vola or Döda Havet.

The music itself was very melodic and good and will appeal to many prog fans who venture to the alternative and atmospheric plains. To me, it took a bit too long to go anywhere, like the opening track. This had to do with my expectations of course.

The songs were good, the playing was good, and the singer has a great voice with quite a unique timbre making it very pleasant to listen to. Pity there are not more lyrics in the songs. The focus was very much on the atmosphere. I felt a sense of excitement when the first (of a total of just two, if I remember correctly) guitar solos were played, my ears had been waiting for that.

My current mindset is just set to heavier music. For me the experience did not reach the level that the audience clearly managed to reach, which is, of course, a much better thing to go with than one reviewer's story.

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The only band I knew before the festival. I reviewed their debut album almost four years ago, and I have been looking forward to seeing them live one day, which finally happened.

Opening instrumental Capercaillie's Hymn, with some intricate melodies and playing, set the scene. It went straight into In Her Hands , where the band's two vocalists joined from behind the backdrop. It was the start of a very energetic set full of melodic bluesy rock on the psychedelic side, and the energy did not fade.

The band made the most of their 50-minute set and left little room, but the singers did take the opportunity to interact with the audience.

The first track from the debut played, Clavata, is the shortest one on the album, and stormed in wonderful progressive blues style with tasteful organ. Then another new song, The Hidden Folk — groovy with a touch of folk in the vocal lines. I love the break into the instrumental middle section, speeding everything up, and topping it with a great heavy melodic guitar solo.

The longest track from the album, Alla Galaxers Centrum, is shorter than the studio version. Was the slowest part cut out to get room for more songs, or for the live performance to keep the energy going? Living Grave and White Bones just continue the flow of energy. The guitar solo shows the diversity of the two guitarists. Jacob Hellenrud takes most of them but regularly switches lead with Anton Athley. Both very good players but more importantly they know how to play tastefully, serving the music and the performance.

Before this, a brief introduction tells us a bit of the last set of songs. They are part of a story the band have been working on for their new album. The story is a take on some Swedish folklore, skogsrå (keeper / mistress of the forest) Huldra. This first is Solar Eclipse and it brings the first slower parts. Melodic, bluesy, mysterious. The breaks bring in a lot of progressive elements, slowly growing to epic proportions. This continues into Huldra with soaring melodies over fast-paced riffs. Ash Their Bones starts rocking in a deceivingly straightforward way, but is full of breaks and changes. F.I.N.N. follows in the same way while showing more diversity to their songwriting.

Having two female vocalists (Josephine Asker and Linn Edlund) sharing the lead is quite uncommon. It gives opportunities you only have with two voices. Sometimes they alternate lines within a verse or chorus, sometimes whole verses. The slight differences between the two powerful voices make great variation. Overlapping phrases are possible. Harmony is extra powerful, and it literally adds an extra layer to the already full sound. It becomes very interesting in sections where part of a line is following a melody, but the end is open and both can go any way they want. You know dual guitars, but now with voices.

Knowing only the studio album, the contrast with their live sound impressed me, and it is hitting all the right buttons of my taste. An excellent and storming live show, with the energy on stage being palpable. I got more than I was hoping for!

Before the show I only knew Spiral Skies recently released a cover of Born Again by Black Sabbath. An unusual choice for a Black Sabbath cover, so I was at least curious. The opening song was hitting the same buttons the Nephila set did, so I moved more to the front and was dragged into another bath of heavy, fast-paced, melodic rock. Two bands in a row — a very good night.

For those uninitiated, like me, Nattmaran was a perfect introduction to what was going to happen. The thundering entrance leaves nothing to be questioned.

The music has more ground in blues and hard rock / metal (Born Again fits their sound perfectly) but has many sudden breaks and melodies that keep the ear and mind of a prog fan happy. Some songs show a touch of an Iron Maiden approach to melodic riffing.

Singer Frida Eurenius has a powerful voice with a wide range. She sings very melodic lines, adding a welcome layer for the prog-leaning part of the audience. The songs contain ample breaks and changes, even. Dark Side Of The Cross which shows the groovy side of the band and the most catchy riffs in their set.

The band play a good cover of Born Again. Slow and heavy like the original, but slightly more melodic. And Frida's vocals make the song their own. The bluesy parts reminded me a bit of Janis Joplin even. In contrast, Fiskar (a new song, not released yet) and Awakening are where some Iron Maiden comes into the mix.

During the first part of the last track, Labyrinth Of The Mind, it is the first time where things ease down a bit. It's then you realise the band have been on full steam their whole set. Sometimes a bit slower but always powerful. Of course the set ends in full power, leaving yours truly with another big smile on his face.

As with Nephila, the band make good use of their 50 minutes and while not a lot of space is left between songs, there is interaction between band and audience.

A few times I was thinking of a heavy Blues Pills. With a powerful voice at the helm, the link is easily made, but the power and range and use of her voice, I think she is closer to Gaupa.

While Nephila have 70s rock and hard-rock at the foundation, Spiral Skies seem to be building on early metal. Both do get adventurous and add modern songwriting and playing into the sound. To me, it was like two different lanes going into roughly the same direction, which is a direction I like to travel as well. Two bands in a row giving me goosebumps, what a night!

Heavy rock from the city of Borlänge in the shape of Greenleaf. Like MCC, a bigger name and one that has been around for many years now, to close the night. Powerful and heavy stoner rock at the foundation, with a bit more melody than your common stoner, and with some interesting breaks that made a good listen. This works very well, live.

While looking rough, having lyrics, for the little part I could understand, about goats and horses, and making jokes about farms, the songs had more to it than you would think. Clever breaks, good guitar solos, frantic bass playing. The playing was tight. The energy was endless, and they knew how to work their audience.

The sound is rooted in a heavy form of hard-rock and metal and turns towards desert / stoner rock. A bit of doom here and there, bluesy in several places.

Pure progheads will not be too interested, but Greenleaf are a great live band, the guys have lots of fun and show it. The audience had the biggest variation in types of people but also age, and everybody loved them.