DOOL and France (at least Paris) is a story that we follow and enjoy with pleasure: with their mini fall tour in France and Belgium, the Dutch band crossed our borders for the third time in twelve months, a year after their superb tour with Hangman's Chair and a few months after their appearance at the Motocultor festival. However, this was their first headline show since a magnificent concert at Petit Bain in 2022, an evening of rare power that still sends shivers down the spines of those few who were there. Tonight, we can see that DOOL's perseverance is finally paying off: thanks to their remarkable performances at major festivals, their constant presence, and the success of their latest album, The Shape of Fluidity, the Backstage by the Mill is packed from the start of this evening organized by Garmonbozia. It's going to be good, that's for sure, we never doubted it. The sound system welcomes us with Black Sabbath, a wise choice while we wait for the opening act, Witchorious.
WITCHORIOUS
The trio is making waves. Having appeared on the scene only recently (their eponymous debut album was released a year and a half ago), this mystical doom band has come a long way and is building a solid reputation, concert after concert. People wearing their T-shirts are in the front rows, discussing: “Yes, they've changed their intro,” there are experts here! Judging by their hair colors (well, THE hair color, anyway), we suspect that some of them are family members who have come to support the young prodigies. How cute! But don't imagine that Witchorious is still in its “early” stages: when the trio composed of Antoine Auclair (vocals/guitar) and siblings Paul (drums) and Lucie Gaget (bass/vocals) takes the stage, there's a crowd there to cheer them on. They recently played at Desert Fest in Belgium, at L'Empreinte in Savigny-le-Temple, and at the Les Lunatiques festival. They're everywhere.
Their concert begins with the menacing groove of Watch Me Die, a mixture of incantation and ritual with horror and psychedelic influences. Antoine grimaces and roars, immediately very expressive. The heaviness of the sound evokes gothic monsters, while the lyrics pay homage to marginalized and ambiguous figures (The Witch, Monster). These three play at making us shiver, but we all know which side we're on, right? And it's certainly not the side of the Muggles who brandish pitchforks and spikes at the slightest opportunity!
Lucie's vocals complement Antoine's, in a less demonstrative register than her exuberant colleague, providing contrast and nuance. Witchorious has a sense of rhythm and theater that is undeniable (and catchy), but it doesn't forget a kind of spontaneous rage, a desire to stir us up. We also appreciate the variety brought by the new tracks, whose atmospheric touches allow us to breathe and avoid routine while fleshing out the universe. It was very nice, with just the right amount of weird and monstrous stuff limping around in the dark (no, we're not talking about the people heading to the bar between the two concerts) and big riffs. We're now waiting to see what new territory Witchorious will explore, and we can't wait to see them inject some new blood into their sound... and we'll probably have some answers soon, as the trio seems set to continue haunting French stages, notably with a small tour alongside the occultists of Ponte Del Diavolo next March!
DOOL
This is the fourth time we've seen DOOL on this tour. Isn't there a risk of getting tired of them? Frankly, we all know that the question is rhetorical, but just in case: no, of course not. All it takes is for time to stand still when Raven's voice kicks in at the start of The Shape of Fluidity, then for the sound to explode, enveloping and carrying us away, drowning us in an ocean of poetic and intimate storms, as the powerful and resilient chorus overwhelms us. Not only will we never tire of it, but concert after concert, we feel that DOOL continues to grow in strength. It started six minutes ago and it's already so intense that it feels like we've climbed mountains. Oceans, mountains: with DOOL, we travel and willingly follow them absolutely anywhere.
After Hellfest in broad daylight and a Trabendo that was a little too bright and spacious, you realize how much DOOL is appreciated in the dark, whether under a tent after midnight at Motocultor or in the intimate space of Backstage by the Mill tonight. The darkness and proximity facilitate the connection with more progressive, more complex tracks, which we end up taming and appropriating like the old ones. The three guitars respond to each other, the sound fills the space. We try to enjoy the moment, but it all goes by too quickly: no sooner has it begun than we already dread the end of this fleeting moment. DOOL comes from a word meaning wandering and their entire career seems to be marked by change. To paraphrase the title of their first album, now they are here, then they will be there, DOOL is elusive... Melancholic, angry, mysterious but also full of hope, subtly manipulating light and shadow, DOOL reflects life in all its nuances, its whirlwind of emotions. On stage, the most recent tracks resonate with a power that is amplified tenfold by the band's involvement. A physical and psychological self-dissection, DOOL gives itself body and soul to its audience, and the term “visceral” is particularly appropriate here, as you can feel that the music comes from the inside.
When Wolf Moon bursts, we still felt a twinge of sadness for Summerland, a magnificent album released at the start of a pandemic that deprived it of a very meaningful live presence. It's hard not to think of the cruel irony, but also the poetry in the fate of this album, whose theme is death, an album that was almost stillborn and that we had to mourn almost immediately, even though it was about letting things go. Then The Alpha takes us back to the early days of DOOL, mystical and hypnotic. House of a Thousand Dreams offers an introspective and dreamlike interlude, with guitarist Omar Iskandr, who wrote the song, taking over the vocals from Kim Larsen of Of the Wand & the Moon in the studio version.
Then it's already time for the final crescendo. Hermagorgon, a combative and personal anthem, bursts forth from Raven like a vital cry, something necessary for existence, both angry and soothing. They breath into it their suffering, their doubts, their questions, their struggles to exist fully, and transforms all this pain into something beautiful that will remain long after our brief passages through this world, something that will speak to others going through the same suffering, the same questions. Finally, DOOL ends their set with the song that started this whole adventure ten years ago, Oweynagat, an apotheosis in which every riff seems to be bled out on stage by the band, their wet hair swaying together under the Backstage spotlights.
While guitarists Nick Polak and Omar Iskandr seem to be competing with drummer Vincent Kreyder to see who has the most exquisite shirt, bassist JB Van der Val spends the entire concert drenched as usual, and just watching him is an exorcism in itself : his shirt is not here to be admired but only to SUFFER. Finally, there is Raven's charisma, their way of embodying the songs, inviting their audience into their world by alternating between intense, haunted looks and huge, benevolent smiles, their wild energy taking hold of the music and giving it a new dimension live. Would we have liked to be more surprised by the setlist? Yes and no: the songs are played with such determination, such vigor, such generosity, that we still feel like we're rediscovering them. In fact, we would have liked this unreal moment to last forever and for DOOL to play their entire repertoire, ten times in a row. Maybe one day we'll hear Vantablack, Golden Serpents, In Her Darkest Hour or Dust & Shadow again... or maybe not. And that'll be fine too, because there'll be new songs, and they all kick ass! That's also the beauty of mourning: knowing how to say goodbye to what's disappearing in order to better welcome what's here now... and will be then there.
DOOL is ten years old and is getting ready to celebrate on stage in their home country with a mini-festival featuring an amazing lineup. Over the past ten years, there have been times when we thought our hearts would break, like when that damn pandemic cut short Summerland, and then when DOOL finally returned to the stage in Paris to play to a far from full house. But that's also the beauty of life with all its uncertainties. This time, it's for real: the venue was packed, and DOOL is finally starting to get the reception they deserve in our country. So it's only been ten years since we've been playing their songs on repeat, reminding us of that time when we were teenagers, discovering something new and amazing, feeling like we could listen to nothing else for the rest of our lives. With their sincerity, efficiency, strength, and dark, romantic poetry, DOOL brings us back to that feeling: we could listen to nothing else until the end of time. Don't do that, keep being curious, keep discovering, keep listening to lots of different things. But above all, listen to DOOL and go see DOOL! The next ten years of their career are going to be exciting.
