After that, in short order, it’s Matt Howden, a.k.a. Sieben. One man with a mic, a violin and a loop pedal doesn’t take so long to set up.

Since those grungy days of yore, Earth’s journey has taken some strange and twisted paths, from the pioneering drone doom of the first two albums through the sleazy stoner grooves of 1995’s Pentastar...

Walking down the gangway to the boat, I'm glad I brought some extra layers along.

Next up where Hungarian band Larrnakh, which is another project of Sörös Gergö; driving force behind Cawatana and member of Sturmast.

Anyway, this is why I only get to hear the final song played by opening band Bleeding Heart Narrative – which is a bit of a bleeding heart narrative in its own right...

As it's a festival, the emphasis lies on music. Omnia traditionally kicked off the festival, while playing as very last on the saterday and sunday. Indeed, this is not a festival where you have 40 bands passing by in three days on two stages. This is a festival where most bands play at least twice, and there's only one stage. Well, there's actually a second stage as well, but there are magicians, traditional dance (balfolk) workshops and dancers. The main stage is where the bands are at.

Medieval & Fantasy Festival

After these foreshadowings of what was to come, the audience was taken back into a state of relaxation as they continued to watch the narrative unfold.

The next day we took the time to see the wonderful city of Trutnov, to have something to eat and to take out some Czech cash at the ATM. We found out that paying with crowns (the Czech currency) is much cheaper than paying with Euro’s.

So far, so sludgy, and Spanish doomhounds ORTHODOX continue to stir the tar pits. The Seville-base trio produce Moss-like extreme doom metal, with occasional nods back to the 70s metal of Black Sabbath et al.

After the first song ended, the crowd went wild. A massive amount of applaus arose, fueled by Matt's spectacular performance. I really believe he gained a few fans that very evening. Ultimately, the performance was to my taste too short. I can enjoy this music for a really long time, but as timeschedules go, they have to be followed somewhat. Sieben's show was very entertaining, with some nice interaction with the audience, and the continuous alternation of playing techniques. This truly was a performance that deserves the title " Sieben, or 'what you didn't knew you could do with a violin' ".