The kids at The Basement did it again this weekend and put on a festival for fans with a particular taste in music that don’t often get the opportunity to see said music played live in Canberra. For a Friday night at the Basement the size of the crowd too was impressive. Seven bands from across Australia gathered down in the Basement for a prog rockers playground.

Although a couple of the bands were not quite what you would call prog rock, there was an awesome display of variety amongst the performers. A major stand out for the evening were sleepmakeswaves from Wollongong. They produced a tortured sound that was complimented perfectly by their guest violinist. The drummer, incredibly talented, gave us solo’s the nearly stripped the rest of the paint off the walls and was definitely a major driving force behind the band.

Ne Obliviscarous, while not out of place at a prog rock festival weren’t as energetic or enigmatic as the boys up before them and quite honestly went on for a little too long. They had the premise of prog right and rock wrong, and played for half an hour what seemed to be one very monotonous song.

Local boys Aeon of Horus got a spot on the bill for reasons unknown, a bit strange that a metal band gets put on the line-up of a prog festival, they are two different genres people. However that must not detract from the fact that they were fantastic in a brutal, melt-your-face kind of way. Producing a headbanger’s ball where even the hair from the punters was in time with the music.

Finally Eleventh He Reaches London got a chance to take to the stage. Now as much as festivals at the Basement are awesome, it gets a bit rough when your main draw card is taking the stage after midnight. All the way from Perth, the sound these guys produced had so many layers, while not striving to be so ridiculously technical that it made your ears bleed. A beautiful mix of melody and screaming they had the balance just right, so much so that it was hard to believe that they had only actually played three songs during their set.

A final mention must go out to HEIRS from Melbourne who went on stage so late most of the punters had well and truly taken themselves home to bed. They put on a brave face playing to the final hangers on, they certainly deserved better. They did well to make the empty room feel full by filling it with their heavy distortion and blazing effects, their nonchalance added to their deep, dark and pensive sound.

All up it was a good festival, even if it was a stop-over on the way through to Sydney for the two day Progfest over the weekend. Hopefully next year Canberra can get more of a look-in and bag itself a full day festival so that bands and fans get the attention they deserve.