First we have to say thank you SOL and Mona for the invitation. It was SOL´s Champions League Festival and of course it was sold out with, I guess, 2500 spectators. The two venues were big enough for a lot of Stoner- and Krautheads from all over Europe. The parking situation for vans or motorhomes was a bit crucial, because there were only private parkings or forbidden parking around the Club Volta and the Victoriawerk. The large number of security personnel was surprising, as we have only a third of the staff at a comparable festival at the Backstage in Munich. If these are the requirements due to the current security situation in Germany, I find it worrying, especially since the audience is the most peaceful and chilled-out people anywhere. Both venues had a good, powerful sound, and the lighting was, as always, very playful or monochrome blue, red, or green. They could have done more.

What's also become commonplace these days, and what bothers me immensely, is the nudging: "Do this, do that," "Don't do that, watch what someone else is doing," whether in the restroom, on the festival grounds, on the bands' stickers, or on the building. I wouldn't have thought that people who were belting out 30 years ago "Fuck you, I want to do what you tell me" to Rage Against the Machine would now be the woke guardians of virtue and morality. So much for freedom of expression, action, and thought.

I found a shame was that only Ben Bardous from Slomosa personally thanked Matte and Sound of Liberation for their efforts. The other bands just played their set, and somehow they seemed unaware of the large and international scene that Matte Vandeven and his Sound of Liberation-team have created in 20 years. He is the guy who offeres a possibility to full-fill the dream of a band and to tour with it.

My Texan buddies from "High Desert Queen" did their thing, of which I actually only really like the short, snappy 3-4 minute songs. The very static, long 8- or 9-minute doom songs start to bore you after 3 minutes, and Ryan doesn't know what to do with all his energy. When the band is rolling and grooving, they're an unstoppable machine. They should keep that in mind for future releases.

We found the band from Aschaffenburg to be a positive surprise and enriching experience at the 17th anniversary of the SOL Festival in Munich in 2022. Accordingly, the anticipation for this concert was great, and unfortunately, the disappointment afterwards was just as great. I don't know what happened to this band in the past two years, because nothing was right. The outfit was actually secondary; what was worse was that the timing and interaction on stage were completely off, as was the setlist, which lacked Baba Yaga and Sedated. That would be like Motörhead not playing "Ace of Spades" or "Overkill."

Greenleaf have and will have a champagne problem; they have such a lot of good songs and not that much time to play them all. Okay, A Million Fireflies, Sweet Is the Sound, Breathe, Breathe Out, Ocean Deep, Avalanche, Good Ol' Goat, Let It Out!, Different Horses, Trails and Passes weren´t a bad choice for a good concert.

Gussie Larkin is not only definitely the best-dressed frontwoman, she also definitely plays the fattest and fuzziest riffs in the stoner scene. Together with Ezra on drums, they create a fierce concoction of punk, stoner, and grunge, mixed with psychedelic elements, just like at Stoned from the Underground 2024, that's sure to get your legs and your neck muscles pumping.

The last time I saw Color Haze was with my son in 2017 at the Backstage in Munich. While my son was completely beside himself, I remained rather reserved. This time, I was more interested in trying to understand the reasons for my reserve. The songs are jams, and these days they've become very democratic jams, because not only Stefan plays guitar, but his three comrades practically engaged in a concert-long battle for the right balance of instrumental contributions. Hopefully, with this band constellation, it's all about the musical and not just the personal balance within the band. A very intense concert that went by very quickly despite numerous long songs.

In February 2012, my father died. During the funeral and while listening to the priest's words, my gaze wandered around the cemetery in Walddorfhäslach. People were sweeping the street across the street, and a few strollers passed by. That's when I knew that life outside of your personal bubble goes on as normal. My Sleeping Karma seems to be going through a similar experience after the loss of their drummer and arguably mastermind, Steffen Weigand. The band's former drum tech and art director, André Stein, plays the songs in a different, more song-oriented and less personality-driven style than his predecessor. André isn't a 1:1 copy of Steffen, but his playing nevertheless brings out completely different facets of My Sleeping Karma. Namely, that this band is a pretty hard rocking band that manages to pack a lot of emotion and dynamism into their powerful music. Apparently, all the band members are in such a tunnel during the concert, as the band's happiness and joy at the end is palpable. My Sleeping Karma is a musical balancing act between insignificant twanging and run-of-the-mill rock; the art of this band lies in demonstrating that the border between the two musical extremes is their extremely interesting and dynamic music.

I think I was the only one at the Victoriawerk who didn´t sing along to "War Pigs" as the intro to 1000mods' concert. I only like the two Dio albums with Black Sabbath, because they feature a couple of fast songs. And I feel the same way about 1000Mods; when they put the pedal to the metal, I go completely crazy. When they lift the pedal and start performing slow doom, I suddenly get bored, or I leave. So, for almost 10 years, I've had a completely mixed opinion of this band. Dani's voice still sounds like a 15-year-old teenager screaming his anger out, Labros is a fantastic drummer, the two guitarists Giorgos and the new man on board Marios forged one fat riff after the other and there is constant action on stage, no question about it, but I only liked the fast songs.

War Pigs, Overthrown, Electric Carve, Road to Burn, Götzen Hammer, Low, The One Who Keeps Me Down, Into the Spell, El Rollito, Vidage

Slomosa seem to be working their way up to becoming an increasingly bigger and more well-known act. And the audience feels that something very special is emerging with this Norwegian band. I can remember a village disco in Vierlanden near Hamburg in 1992, when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" completely blew the village youth's minds. Slomosa exudes a similar intensity, but with a more positive output. At Slomosa concerts, I tend to watch the audience to see which generation this music and Ben's teen voice appeals to. It's incredible that there are only smiling faces from 25 to 65 years old. That's the case here, too, and when even a grumpy guy like me gets caught up in the good mood, it says a lot about the energy and quality of this band.

Now that all Greek adolescents are rocking out in a band, the Greeks seem to be running out of audiences, and so Greek bands are traveling the world, tearing up stages all over the world. After my son sent me a short video of Frenzee's performance in Lisbon, I knew this band was not to be missed, even though it was already quite late. The "angry girl on speed" attitude worked for four or five songs, or about ten minutes. Then the pissed-off mix of punk, hardcore, and grrrllll-riot seemed to have run its course. Especially since the minimal lineup didn't really provide much musical variety. I wasn't entirely sure what a Palestinian flag was doing above the backline, since there wasn't a single song that explicitly addressed the Palestinian issue. Maybe the flag was allowed to stay because "No anti-semitism" no longer had room next to the slogans like "No sexism, no racism, etc." above the bar. I don't know. Regardless, the audience was listening to music they could move and pogo to. So this time Frenzee was "Heckspoiler" or "Zerre"; to send the people home with an adrenalin overdose.