Around five the ambient doom formation Until death overtakes me entered the stage of the Mundo as a replacement for Fall of the grey-winged one. Stijn was assisted by Pantheïst’s Frédéric (bass) and Kostas (keyboard) on stage to give his one-man project the opportunity to play his leaden doom live on a stage. A perfect match if you ask me, they bored the public with their ultra slow tones full of melancholy and darkness all with an immense power produced by the well talented musicians. The boredom they produced was one of a genius mind which resulted in a masterly sound. I got attracted by their soundscapes and got in a sort of trance. When I got out I realised this was ultimate dragging slow motion doom in the purest and knew Skepticism would get a hard job to get slower than these suicidal sounding maniacs. Couldn’t wish myself a better start of the day.

Next on was UK’s Cambian Dawn. They treated us on some pure stoner doom in vein of bands as Black Sabbath, St. Vitus, and even some Queens of the Stone Age. So great old school heavy doom sounds tickled my ears produced by grooving low bass parts, melodic sludging guitars, energetic pounding drums and a strong solid clear voice. Although the voice was mixed a little too soft and the drums a little too loud they still rocked as hell and got many heads go up and down. Damn it felt great to feel the early seventies vibes in my veins. Sex, drug and the goove of Cambian Dawn…hell yeah.

French Despond entered the stage as third. They produced slow doom/death in vein of the old My Dying Bride. Great slow burning guitars, a deep grunt, whispering voices and dark atmospheric keys were the main ingredients of this reformed band. Although this was only their third gig after a silence since 1998 they played as they had never been away from the stage with impressive strong gripping gloominess and dragging melodies. Still after about thirty minutes my attention flew away, mainly because of the poor sound that took a lot of power from the band’s music. But unfortunately that’s something the band couldn’t control.

Pantheïst was on next. Assisted by Stijn from Until death overtakes me as session rhythm guitarist they transformed the club into a funeral home with their splendour slow sound spectrum. Touching guitars, an enormously delicate deep bass, disconsolate keys, appalling drums down to the minutest details and emotional complaining vocals created an impressive down tuned atmosphere. Pantheist is ready to conquer the world and I guess they have won a lot of new doomed souls for them as supporting act for Skepticism through out Europe. Belgium can be proud of them, the rest of the world can only be jealous.

And so it became time for Belgian doom cult pride Insanity Reigns Supreme. They really pull out all the stops. The stage was filled with burning candles full of atmosphere and an unparalleled band shining in gloom. As always the band excelled in beauty and power. Deep intimate romanticised slow parts were perfectly were in perfect balance with the more brutal stirring fast parts. Their ensemble was very good even as their dark keen expression. Also the band was accompanied by ex-Keltgar keyboard player Jenny. She gave the band that little extra by some samples, intro's and some keys. All plain, still effective. This and a great sound made it a harrowing gig and proved they are still THE number one doom band of Belgium and environs.

None other than Finnish Skepticism were the headliners on the bill tonight. This funeral doom bearer voiced its obituaries as slow as molasses. This slowness was imbued with immense energy and grandeur. The gravediggers behind the instruments were sparing theirs words, which gave it all a very deathly atmosphere with awfully silences between the songs. But it was very ill matched with their dispirited passion music. The keys were wretched, the guitars lament, and the drums rowdy and distressed and the deep vocals were plunged into mourning. The atmosphere was chilly and cold. The audience stood and sat in silent enjoyment. The requiem mass ended after 75 minutes and suitable they didn't come back for an encore! This was the ultimate closing ceremony of the Belgian Doomsday.

Hopefully to be continued next year.