Set times and more are up. No clashes, you can catch everything from Papangu to Car Bomb and from meth. to Imperial Triumphant, and be sure to witness the amazingly atmospheric youngsters of L’orne kicking off. Hope to welcome you August 23 in Haarlem!
Get your tickets for Complexity Fest 2025 still at Patronaat.nl
Hi there all, we definitely did not forget about you! We wanted to let you know we’ve completed the lineup of acts of Complexity Fest 2025 with the experimental hypnotic ‘Horse Lords’, the garage grooving ‘El Khat’, The mathcore injected ‘Callous Daoboys’ and the jazzy club monsters ECHT!
Together with Imperial Triumphant, Car Bomb, Papangu, meth. and L’orne we aimed for a musical smorgasbord to hopefully remember and provide inspiration. Mark your calendars and see you!
Artwork by https://segolia.net/design/
Today, Complexity Fest reveals the first names for the ninth edition of the adventurous heavy music festival, now taking place for the third time in summer. On Saturday August 23rd, the stages of Patronaat in Haarlem will host performances by Car Bomb, Imperial Triumphant, Papangu, meth., and L’orne. Tickets go on sale on Friday, December 20, at 10:00 AM CET via https://patronaat.nl/event/complexity-fest-2025-23-08-25/.
In the coming months, Complexity will announce the rest of the lineup for the festival, which is dedicated to fans of adventurous and groundbreaking music with a heavy edge. As in previous years, the festival will run throughout the afternoon and evening across all the venues of Patronaat in Haarlem.
Line-Up
Car Bomb (USA) – Returning to Patronaat for the second time but debuting at Complexity Fest, Car Bomb epitomizes the festival’s philosophy of pushing musical boundaries. With a highly anticipated new album slated for 2025, the New York band blends crushing syncopated riffs, unconventional sounds, electronic glitches, and rhythmic modulations with unexpected, fusion-like interludes. Amid all this intensity, they craft genuinely captivating songs, making them a must-see for fans of adventurous metal and mathcore.
Imperial Triumphant (USA) – Also releasing a new milestone in 2025, this New York band is known for their theatrical mix of dissonant black metal and cynical commentary on hedonistic society. On stage, their raw sound transforms into a grand, cinematic spectacle, enhanced by masked faces and a near-ceremonial ambiance. Virtuosic and immersive, every track feels like an artistic journey.
Papangu (BR) – Making their Dutch debut at Complexity Fest, Brazilian band Papangu gained global recognition with their first album Holoceno. Their latest work, Lampião Rei, refines their sound into an organic mix of jazz rock and zeuhl without losing intensity. Papangu seamlessly shifts between freakish and melancholic passages within narrative, progressive compositions, earning their spot atop many 2024 year-end lists.
meth. (USA) – Blending experimental metal, noise rock, and hardcore, meth. delivers a swirling, dark mass of music that tackles deeply personal themes like religious trauma, addiction, and mental health. Their album SHAME pulls no punches and hits like a sledgehammer. Expect thunderous, repetitive riffs and hypnotic, heavy mantras that are raw and confrontational. An intense show is guaranteed.
L’orne (NL) – Perhaps the best-kept musical secret in the Netherlands, L’orne crafts immersive, introspective, and minimalist music full of melancholy, defying categorization. Combining elements of slowcore with unexpected outbursts and groovy rhythms reminiscent of legendary acts like SWANS, this young, distinctive band captivates audiences with surprising and emotional compositions.
HAARLEM, April 17, 2024 – Today, Complexity Fest announces the final five names for the eighth edition of the adventurous heavy music festival. Sigh, Avalanche Kaito, NAH, Machukha, and Defacement complete the lineup. They will join previously announced acts Plini, Night Verses, Frail Body, and Squid Pisser on the various stages of Haarlem’s Patronaat. Tickets are available for purchase via www.patronaat.nl.
With this announcement, the lineup for the festival catering to fans of adventurous and boundary-pushing heavy music is now complete. Similar to previous years, the festival will take place from late afternoon until late evening across various rooms of the Haarlem venue. This marks the second time that Complexity Fest is held in the summer.
Debutants and Familiar Faces
The experimental metal band Sigh from Japan came into existence in April 1989, immediately drawing attention from figures like black metal legend Euronymous. Over the years and across numerous albums, the band has continued to evolve, incorporating more classical and avant-garde elements, as well as explicit influences from Japanese folklore and instrumentation, with the theatrical rollercoaster ride ‘Shikhi’ as its latest achievement.
Avalanche Kaito‘s vocalist, Kaito Winse from Burkina Faso, is a griot, a guardian and storyteller of orally transmitted traditions and history. As a multi-instrumentalist, he alternates between calabash, bow, Fulani flute, kora, and tama. Combined with the unconventional noise-punk sound of Belgian guitarist Nico Gitto and the polyrhythmic salvos of drummer/dataist Benjamin Chaval, the trio presents a truly unique musical world in 2024, as demonstrated by their recently released second album, Talitakum.
Since the release of his first demos in 2011, percussionist, sound manipulator, and visual artist NAH has developed his own dynamic synthesis of textured noise and genre-defying percussive rhythms, rooted in DIY punk, noise, avant-jazz, electronic music, and the restlessness of hip-hop. Performing live with little more than a drum kit and various samplers, he channels a hectic energy that teeters on the edge of sonic hostility and playful chaos.
Machukha (Ukrainian: “stepmother”) incorporates elements of post-black metal, dark hardcore, and punk. Their debut album, “Мочарi” [Mochari], will be released on June 7 by the Ghent-based label Consouling Sounds (known for acts like Amenra), focusing on resilience. Sung in Ukrainian, the band explores humanity’s ability to withstand cruelties and continue surviving day after day.
Originally formed in Libya as Deathcrush, the band relocated to the Netherlands before changing their name to Defacement. Their latest album is set to be released this summer through [add name], with the vinyl distribution handled by the enthusiast label Total Dissonance Worship. The earlier teaser in Patronaat last March promises ethereal cosmic death metal packaged in lengthy, dreamlike, narrative compositions at extreme speeds.
Next to Plini, Night Verses, Frail Body and Squid Pisser we guarantee this day not be missed and we hope to see all of you digging souls this summer.
COMPLEXITY FEST returns to the summer for the second time on August 17, 2024 in the halls of our beloved Patronaat location for its eighth edition.
The first names announced are PLINI, NIGHT VERSES, FRAIL BODY and SQUID PISSER. More names will follow in 2024 and tickets go on sale on Thursday the 21st on 01:00 pm.
Keep you’re eyes peeled and hope to see you all this summer!
For everybody who cannot get enough, as announced we will have an afterparty in CLUB3 with Polygorgon, Behringer Escape Plan and Curling until 05.00! Come dance, act weird and fistpump with us until the small hours.
POLYGORGON (23:00-00:30)
Polygorgon is a Haarlem based producer and DJ who started under the alias Murq in the Bass, House and Techno scenes in Amsterdam. After gravitating towards a wider range of genres a name change was in order. Polygorgon likes to blend elements from dark wave, industrial, italo disco and techno in his sets and productions.
BEHRINGER ESCAPE PLAN (00:30-01:15)
Behringer Escape Plan is a two-piece electronic band that has carved out a unique niche in the world of electronic music as proven during their set at the recent Summer edition. For fans of heavy and experimental electronic music, Behringer Escape Plan is a band that is not to be missed. With a sound that is both fluid and heavy, you can expect wonky grooves, bold bass sounds, and fast melodies.
CURLING (01:15-05:00)
While Utrecht-based artist Curling often takes to the stage as a singer in various metal, punk, and noise rock bands (Throwing Bricks, Radar Men From The Moon), he takes a completely different approach in his DJ-sets. The experimental mix of bass, electro, industrial and a dash of EBM recalls the well-known club scene in the first Matrix-film: dark, with an apocalyptic tinge, but mostly highly danceable.
In this 20th year of Kayo Dot’s existence, the group has reconvened its original lineup of maudlin of the Well expats–Toby Driver, Greg Massi, Sam Gutterman, and Terran Olson–to perform their celebrated and timeless 2003 debut milestone of an album, ‘Choirs of the Eye’, in full at Complexity Fest 2023 next weekend.
“It’s been a flood of memories and emotions during the process of revisiting this music after 20 years with the group of guys that helped create it. After the Choirs of the Eye album cycle was finished, the lineup changed and we rarely revisited that music not only because the new instrumentations didn’t suit it, but also because Kayo Dot has made a point over the band’s career to keep exploring and discovering, deliberately not looking back.
Despite that ethic, the few times in my career when I did look back always ended up being deeply fulfilling. As time goes on, I’m occasionally hit with recollections that make me realize I may be forgetting moments of my life, both trivial and important, and that scares me. Sometimes overwhelmed with the feeling that my memory is just full and can’t hold anything else, those echoes make me wonder who I was, if that person still exists, and if the Me that exists now will soon vanish as well. A musical composition is a diary page, a trail marker that opens a window into a moment of time through the context that it provides, and relearning how to play this music and all its interlocking parts reminded me not only of the priceless moments with my friends in rehearsal, in the studio, on our first tour, but also of the years leading up to and the years leading away from this powerful turning point in my life.
Choirs of the Eye is still held up by many as my magnum opus, despite all my best efforts to supersede it. I respect that; there is undoubtedly some special unknown magic in this music. Performing it is a sacred act. Twenty years on, Complexity Fest will provide Choirs of the Eye’s largest venue of its lifetime thus far, another milestone that will contextualize all of its past and all of its future. I’m excited to see what will happen.”
– Toby Driver
Briljant Brouwhuis is not your regular brewer, not aiming to make the next IPA but experimenting on the edge of styles, much like Complexity Fest.
We were stoked when asked to make a beer for them! This beer too balances on the edge of a English brown ale, and has added ‘notes of complexity’ in ginger spiciness, and a hint of pepper and whisky smokiness.
This slowstepper is to be amazed by, but also your steady companion through the entire event.
Available from the 25th of February on at Patronaat Haarlem and Lokaal – Dutch Beer Bar.
KLAKMATRAK and ZETRA join the Complexity Fest line-up full of great acts to discover, including TRIBULATION, KAYO DOT, AUTHOR & PUNISHER, STAKE, BIRDS IN ROW and more. Moreover, we made sure you can party with us till the small hours at the afterparty in CLUB3. More about that will follow soon!
We are now only 24 days away from finally turning the key to Complexity Fest 2023. The first full-scale edition in three years! Words fail to express the excitement and happiness currently driving everyone working hard on creating what will truly be the best Complexity experience so far.
KLAKMATRAK is a project by the Belgian techno producer and STAKE-frontman Brent Vanneste. Together with his best friend Dreeten Van Maris on vocals, they combine gabber, french-core, speed-core, industrial noise, hardcore, punk, disco and more into their own abstract sound; once called as yoga for brains. Combined with their very-energetic almost destructive live show, we qualified them as the perfect closing act for this years festival, following previous acts such as Otoboke Beaver, The Armed and Otto von Schirach.
We are happy to have the enigmatic synth-metal pair ZETRA on this years line-up. The duo looks like black metal meets Blade Runner, clad in cloaks, corpse paint and chains. Between them, a guitar, a keyboard and an old Atari sequencer, they sound like Type O Negative gone synth-pop, a goth Pet Shop Boys with deliciously heavy, dark riffs.
Join us at Complexity Fest 2023 on February 25 and get your tickets now!
We’re more than happy to add Tribulation, STAKE, YOUFF and OATS to the line-up. Four new parts of the auditive spectrum we like to cover at our beloved Fest upcoming February. Last two acts and afterparty will be announced soon. Get your tickets and meet us in the front!
The Swedish vampire lords in Tribulation are known for their dramatic and epic mix of death metal, black metal and gothic sensibilities ever since their magnificent third record ‘The Children of the Night’. Music that makes you headbang, dancing in the moonlight and looking for milk white necks to sink your teeth in. On their latest full-length ‘Where The Gloom Becomes Sound’ they do exactly what is implied, resulting in a psychedelic and their most gothic record to date. An album that sounds like Celtic Frost one minute and Joy Division the next from a unique band that has been around for almost ten years. A collective that doesn’t seem to play to impress anyone, doesn’t chase trends and instead are playing exactly what they want. Take for example their latest single ‘Hamartia’: an angry gothic tragedy including some sick ’80s-vintage epic solos. We cannot wait till their next album. Let’s hope we can have a little sneak peek during the show at Complexity Fest!
Releasing their second studio album ‘Love, Death, And Decay’ last year, we’re more than happy to welcome another band back at Patronaat after a more than memorable headline show: the Belgian atmospheric sludgy, grungy powerhouse that is STAKE. The group is the reincarnation of the well-known Steak Number Eight; the young band that caused a furore with passionate live shows, both at festivals and their own headline shows, as well as supporting Mastodon, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Deftones and more. In 2019 they took a new direction with album ‘Critical Method’, on which they show that they are no longer a fresh cut, but have grown into premium dry-aged beef.
One of our Southern neighbors’ best kept secrets peeking from out of the underground is the experimental noise group YOUFF. This is that band that people whisper about, after witnessing them putting clubs upside down with a whirlwind of dissonant, absurd hardcore infused droning mantras that remind you of a young Swans in the distance. Add instead of dead seriousness a dose of absurdism and vocal play on top, and we say just undergo this one. A new release is planned for this 2023 and we’re bloody excited!
In a somewhat tradition, our first spot is usually reserved for an upcoming, talented act from our local backyard. Here comes the young band OATS from Amsterdam: jazzy punk packed with an urgent message, a will to experiment and no fear of delving deeper into colourfull mathcore territories while you hear influences from a contemporary group like Black Midi in the distance. This February will bring to birth the next single ‘Magnolia’ as a warming up for their upcoming EP. Come early to get your muscles loose and mind sharp, plus give ‘em a warm welcome!
For more info about your visit at Complexity Fest in Patronaat, visit patronaat.nl
