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HydroDrone
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 3:31 am
Posts: 138
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 6:09 am 
 

I'm going to see uncle acid tomorrow and i'm so bloody excited. Seeing Cut you down live will be such a treat. Can't wait.

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Goodly Hah
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2013 4:46 am
Posts: 68
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 12:09 pm 
 

Turisas + Starkill + Shrapnel @ The Waterfront, Norwich, 21/2/14

Shrapnel (UK)
A very solid local neo-thrash act that had a few of the hometown fans out. Nothing remotely new, but good fun, and they played a few epic-length songs that displayed a decent amount of technical chops. The vocalist also did a good job, with a very nice raspy thrash shout. The guitar solos definitely had that Kerry King random-notes vibe, but they sounded a bit more composed and technical while still sounding unhinged. There were a few problems with the sound, with the guitars and bass sounding a bit muddy (the drums sounded perfect, oddly enough) and the vocalist being a bit buried at times, but nothing major. They had a lot in the way of stage presence as well, even though they didn't talk to the audience too much, and looked very excited and happy to be there. Not a bad way to start off.

Starkill
These guys are one of my personal favourite new melodeath acts, and they put on what has to be the best set I've seen from an opening band in a while. There were a few problems with the mixing, so the symphonic keys that gave their album a lot of flavour were rendered barely audible except when the guitars stopped. Actually, I didn't mind that so much - it created kind of a different experience, the album sounding a bit more refined and technical and the live sound being a bit more brutal. Parker Jameson's growls sounded even better (and a whole lot more ferocious) live than they did on the album, and the solos and drumming were totally on point. A lot of the time, these guys put Children of Bodom to shame in the soloing stakes. They had awesome stage presence, moving around a lot and displaying tons of energy (smiling the whole time!), and their stage banter really got the crowd into the music. I went to the merch table and bought their CD afterwards, and chatted with the band a bit - nice guys. I thought this was going to be a case of the opening band upstaging the headliner, considering that I didn't really like Turisas2013...

Turisas
...only to be instantly proven wrong, as soon as they started out with "Ten More Miles". The material from Turisas2013 turns out to work a lot better live, which I did think would be the case when listening to the album, thanks to the simpler and more rocking vibe that made it sound flat on CD sounding a lot more energetic live. Anyway, Turisas have played at the Waterfront quite a few times, and the energy displayed by the people who'd obviously seen them there before was infectious. They were singing along to every word, and before long, so was I. Warlord's a true pro at stage banter and presence, and he definitely knows how to work a crowd - the mosh pit was amazing. His vocals were pretty much pitch-perfect, although his harsh vocals have been getting a bit weaker lately, and they fixed a few of the problems the opening bands had with the mix - everything was totally clear and distinguishable, and sounded loud and powerful as hell. The drum sound in particular was amazing, sounding huge and booming without ever overshadowing the rest of the instruments - I was doubtful about Jaakko Jakku after hearing their last album, but he can definitely handle the old material. The addition of "Rex Regi Rebellis" and "Miklagard Overture" to the setlist was also a great move, displaying some of Turisas' more epic side, which Warlord said they only really got the chance to display during headlining gigs. By the time they closed out with "Rasputin", I was grinning ear to ear. I would have liked to hear more from The Varangian Way (yeah, "Miklagard Overture" is great, but the only other thing they played from it was the obvious "Holmgard and Beyond"), but otherwise, no complaints from me. Absolutely fantastic night.
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Oxenkiller
Veteran

Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:42 am
Posts: 3613
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 4:13 am 
 

Bands: MINOT, GAYTHEIST, EAGLE TWIN, UZALA, SUB ROSA

Date/Venue: March 21, Neurolux, Boise Idaho

Sorry to openers Minot, Cerberus Rex and one other band, who played early on I missed you guys. There are literally hundreds of bands here in town this weekend. No exaggeration, there is this big music fest going on here and multiple shows are going on everywhere downtown at various venues all weekend long. You walk around downtown and it looks like the place has been invaded by dudes with thick rimmed glasses, beards and beenies0 in other words, the type of people who would have been scared away by this show which was probably too metal for them. Because I didn't wanna pay the $200 bucks or whatever for the total full access festival pass, I figured I'd just pay the $20 to see the one show I really wanted, i.e. this one.

Gaythiest (ha ha, what a name) played what could be described as heavy grunge rock. Some good riffs here and there, all pretty decent stuff, good, but not outstanding. Id never heard of this band before but unlike, say, Sub Rosa, I probably wouldn't care less either way if I didn't hear them again. They were decent, but not mind blowing.

Eagle Twin were next and they were louder and heavier than Gaythiest was. They're a two piece from (I think) Salt Lake City and though they were okay, my impression was that they could definatly have used another instrument to compliment their sound. As it was, the guitarist appeared to be playing through a bass amp cranked to 11, and it made it sound great, but at times, it seemed the riffs alone weren't enough to hold my interest- they needed more "counterpoint" to the riffs, so to speak. The music could be described as some kind of stoner/sludge metal with a few groove/Sabbath-ish riffs, and while some of the riffs were good, overall, much like Gaythiest, the set didn't exactly blow me away either. Definatly loud and heavy though. The drummer went through like 3 sticks just bashing out the caveman style sludge riffs.

Uzala was the one band I'd been waiting to see for months. Although they are a local band, their live shows are few and far between, sadly. It is hard to describe how good this band is. I seriously could have listened to them all night long. Beautiful, devastating, mind melting and heavy metal in the most epic, sweeping, glorious way. If you're not familiar with this band then, well first of all, go check em out on youtube... but I would describe them as classic epic metal without all the speed or cheeziness, and with a female vocalist who sings "clean" melodically as opposed to the modern day screeching a la Arch Enemy's stable of vocalists. Darcy's voice was exquisite, pitch perfect, and the band as a whole were tight and all credit to the sound guy for making it all work perfectly. And, they just, plain and simple, have great riffs and great songs. They played about 6 or 7 songs, 4 of which were their new album, along with two classics from their first one- and that made it better as I was not familiar with the new record, so it was new to me. But after hearing their set, I immediately went and bought it from them. What can I say, everything they played was brilliant. Darcy and Chad were both on guitar but Darcy's was tuned lower, to substitute for lack of a bassplayer.

I'd never heard of headliners Sub Rosa before. Apparently they were also from Salt Lake City- nothing against that place but it certainly isn't the type of city people associate with a strong music scene. But then again, people would probably say that about where I live. Obviously there are plenty of good bands from there. So...never heard of this band, listened to them play, now I'm glad I've heard of 'em- because they were good. Frickin' heavy as fuck, powerful, moving, epic down tempo metal with a wall of electrified string instruments to pulverize you into the ground. I love the way the band was able to blend their dynamics from quiet, melodic to crushing, and not lose the flow of the song or make the transitions sound too "Forced." They're a five piece, with two guitars, a violin, a bass player and drummer and like Uzala, are a "co-ed "band with only the bass and drummer being dudes. I dunno, they totally melted my mind, and my ears are still ringing, and it's a dang good feeling. I love being pleasantly surprised and discovering bands like this. The only minor thing, and this is not an uncommon problem I have seen with live bands by the way, is that I wish the vocals were a bit louder as the guitars drowned them out, whereas Uzala did not have this problem. Nonetheless, Sub Rosa just nailed it with their performance. I suspect a lot of bearded, beanie wearing treefort people were likewise converted by this band (if it wasn't too heavy for them, that is.)

On a final note, local dark ambient/doom band Wolvserpent were apparently supposed to play at one point but couldn't find a rehearsal space to prepare for the show, so instead their guitarist just spun some old metal records over the PA after the bands ended. Great night of heavy, epic Dooommmm...

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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
Posts: 12030
Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 9:29 pm 
 

Dopethrone, Zaum, Greys & Mountain Dust @Turbo Haus, March 22nd 2014

Spring supposedly arrived one day prior to this gig but the weather in Montréal didn't seemed to notice as it was snowing and it was still pretty cold. It was my first time at this Turbo Haus venue and it was quite enjoyable even if I was on my own for the evening. This nice place is located near the Bell Centre, home of the Montréal Canadiens, the best hockey team ever. The location is kind of secretive, I knew the address but turns out the building is huge and has many rooms, mostly rehearsal spaces. I've encountered a dude who told me the door number for this haus. The gig was supposed to start at 20:00 but the promoters were waiting for the second band to show up so it started a bit late.

The venue was very nice, the white walls are all richly decorated with esoterical and weird black drawings and it has a small bar with cheap beer. The crowd was good, maybe 80/100 people .
Turbo Haus on Facebook

At around 21:00, Mountain Dust started their set, all dressed in checkered shirts, these English dudes from Montréal are playing a pleasing sort of stoner rock with vintage and blues influences. Heavy on the organ and lap slide guitar, their bass was also quite loud. The guitar wasn't as present as much hence their affiliation to rock instead of metal even though it's still heavier live than on their sole studio recording I've found. They had some vocals isues but the venue is to blame for that, the singer had a nice southern, garage approach fitting their sound. Pretty cool band, I'll be waiting for their debut full length. I think the slide guitar and keyboard approach of the band is refreshing, I rarely think it's a good thing for the keys to be the focus of the music but for Mountain Dust, it works.

7,5 on 10

The second band were Greys from Toronto, never heard of them before and I didn't do any research before the gig since it's fun to have surprises sometimes. After a trek in the US including some gigs at the popular South by Southwest festival in Texas, they were back in their own country. The four guys all look like clean cut kids straight from a nice suburbia but their music isn't bad, it's simply not a band that fits on this bill. They play some sort of fast, heavy, noisy post hardcore with good hooks. Their vocals were underwhelming though, a mix of classic emo screams and punk rock, they were a bit weak. They were ok, I guess, it's not a genre I'm interested in besides At the Drive-In. They'll release their debut album this summer if you're interested in that kind of music. I think gigs with three bands are the best ones, they were the one that wasn't needed for this evening.

6/10

I know someone linked to the Swedish label I Hate records and he really wanted me to see Zaum, a band from Moncton, New Brunswick that the label recently signed and report how good was their show before the band trek the European continent with Ocean Chief. Simply by looking at the two dudes, you know it's gonna be heavy as fuck. The bassist/singer Kyle McDonald would automatically be a dwarf if we were doing some LARPing, he has a thick body and the enormous beard to go with it. The drummer, Chris Lewis looks like a bald viking ready to destroy two or three Christian abbeys.

Their stage setup was quite extraordinary and considering it was only their third gig ever, they already know how to truly move the crowd. They had a smoke machine, some lights (mostly red) and at least ten candles with their nice logo printed on them placed everywhere on the stage. They played three songs (their upcoming album has 4) and their set was around forty minutes. It was very atmospheric with a dreamy ambiance. I liked how the drummer was facing the bassist/vocalist, there's no need for guitars, suckers! Their sound is some sort of doom/stoner deeply inspired by Om, that's cool since it's a band whose music is rarely influencing newcomers. Zaum is heavier than Al Cisneros' band though, their bass licks are dirtier and there's a mix of harsh and clean vocals. Very good band and the crowd liked the performance.

8,5 on 10

Dopethrone closed the evening with their nasty sort of doom/stoner metal. They played many songs from this album like "Devil's Dandruff". Their mix of sludgey Eyehategod influences plus Electric Wizard heavy doom riffs is enjoyable albeit a bit samey after around forty minutes. Vincent Houde is a cool frontman with dreads flowing around and a mighty talent for riffing and soloing. The chemistry with his two friends is also apparent, they deliver intense material and they're used to do it. Their songs about drugs (from weed to heroin) and guns are pretty dope! I missed the last few songs, maybe 1 or 2, no idea as I was pretty sick and my cold mixed with beer made me a bit dizzy. I know I'm not a metal warrior, tell your moms. I got their last album "III" for five bucks before their set, good price for sure, I was able to spend the rest of my 20 bucks bill on beer

8 on 10

A great evening with cool bands for dirt cheap is what we got here, that's what metal and rock is all about. Finding cool, unknown places to see bands while people are too busy talking how bad the weather is.
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Misfit74
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:23 am
Posts: 1623
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:21 am 
 

Not so much a review but I have to say that having seen Tool twice in 2002 and again just a month or so ago: Tool remains one of the best concerts I've ever attended. If you ever get a chance...
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Alsandair
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:00 pm
Posts: 668
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:23 am 
 

Metal Alliance (1349, Goatwhore, Behemoth):

1349:

I watched about 4 songs before deciding this would be a good time to get some food. As I mentioned earlier, I had hoped their live show would bring out the best in their material which I previously found underwhelming, but alas. There was a stand in drummer for Frost who was competent enough, but looked bored as hell. Ravn was trying I guess, but it sounded like his voice was gone from the very beginning. Rather weak croaking for the most part. Not much to say about the guitarist/bassist. They played fine, the music is just really uninspiring. While a bit harsh, I am amused by brainsmasher's words from his review of 'Revelations':

"The song writing on here is flaccid and underwhelming, but the riffing is just downright boring. There are several riffs on here that make me think I'm standing in guitar center watching some dork fuck around on an Epiphone."

So I tried, but was getting too much secondhand embarrassment to stay for more than half. If nothing else watching these guys gave me hope for one day having my own nationally touring black metal band, because it's not that hard apparently.

Goatwhore:

Alrighty. This is what I'm talking about! Hadn't heard these guys before, but had been told a couple of times that they were good. It's true! Tight playing, fun riffage, great vocals, catchy tunes. All the members were enthusiastic onstage, and the vocalist kept us engaged and energized. Couldn't help but headbang. I get the impression that this band is best enjoyed live, but I suppose I should listen to the albums a bit before saying anything.

Behemoth:

Listened to Demigod when it came out and the surrounding releases a bit, but lost interest pretty quick. Regained interest with The Satanist. I had decently high expectations for this performance despite my mixed appreciation for the studio work. My expectations were definitely surpassed! They performed with great energy, and more importantly I think managed to convey that Behemoth aesthetic that for me is a bit hard to describe. Greek or Roman warriors who are all about thelemic mysticism?

The music is brutal, precise, and commanding but the experience is ritualistic nonetheless. Their image of course plays a large part in this. For the encore they even added the masks you can see in their current picture here on MA or in the 'Blow Your Trumpets' video (it was great). They key here is that like many great bands, Behemoth presented a complete vision. The music was great, their performance was inspired and full of energy, and they wrapped it up with a matching image.

Nergal's recent trials inevitably add a bit of gravitas to the experience. In between songs I recall him roaring, "SO HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE ALIVE!?!?" \m/

So despite the hideous fact the I missed almost all of Inquisition (who I have at least seen before and will see very soon), it was a memorable show. I will fix my typos later.

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Jimmy Calhoun
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 10:29 pm
Posts: 620
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 7:04 pm 
 

Godflesh last night at the DNA Lounge (S.F.) was an awesome experience. Unbelievably loud and heavy, and they played all the hits - "Like Rats," "Christbait Rising," "Mothra," "Pure," though to my disappointment they left out "Slavestate." A packed house, everybody way into it, and Broadrick and Green haven't lost any of their energy or aggression over the last 20 years. I was originally supposed to see these guys way back in November, but due to visa issues they couldn't get into the U.S. The wait was well worth it though - maybe the only chance I'll ever get to see this legendary band, and they fucking killed it.
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colin040
Metal freak

Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:00 pm
Posts: 7609
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:59 pm 
 

Came back from Toxik, Metal Church and this Dutch generic thrash metal that was kinda bored to listen to.

The generic thrash metal band (not on this site incase people wonder) was loud but not really fun. Some of their songs had okay-ish riffs. I guess their highlight was a Kreator cover ''Tormentor''....unfortunately this one was ruined by melodic death metal vocals. I left to get some water and once I got back I heard shrieks so piercing and explosive sounding that I knew Toxik had started. From what I had heard their studio material didn't really do much for me but I enjoyed listening to them this evening. The singer nailed his high notes (I swear, had I not known better than I thought this guy was in his 20's or so despite looking like a 40+ year old dude) and their guitarist blew me away with flashy, yet precise guitar solos.

Then Metal Church played. I wondered how their new singer would handle their classics but he was actually quite good. He reminded me a bit of David Wayne actually and while his screaming (mostly in between songs) came off a bit exaggerated he seemed to be fun of energy. I wish the band had played more Mike Howe material as only Fake Healer and Badlands got played but in the end I enjoyed hearing these tunes. The new tunes, which were just 2 if I remember correctly was decent but not great.

I'm glad I went to see these bands as were fun to hear. Especially Toxik were a cool surprise.

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Exigence
Age: 29 (Wait, what?!)

Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:42 pm
Posts: 982
Location: New Orleans
PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:59 am 
 

Made the trek to Houston to see Sabaton. Had to endure The Scourge and ReVamp. Which was fine, the venue (Scout Bar) was fairly open so we grabbed a table by the bar and bided our time. Sabaton killed it as I'd expect, the crowd was into it and the whole place probably got past 90 degrees. It was fairly pungent by the end.

I think some band called Iced Earth played after. No idea. We left immediately and went downtown.

Flying to Los Angeles to catch Sabaton again on Friday in Hollywood! Woo hoo!
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Jabawock
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 8:31 pm
Posts: 117
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Mon May 05, 2014 12:03 pm 
 

Just discovered the existence of this topic, so I'll post a small review of my latest gig:

Dragged into Sunlight + Hessian @Brussels

This lineup wasn't really my thing on paper, but I went since is was close to home and some friends were going as well....

Hessian: some kind of black metal influenced post hardcore? I'm not really too knowledgeable about these genre tags, but anyway, it's mostly rooted in hardcore (and they're not on M-A so that confirms it). While I generally don't like hardcore I did enjoy their set; it was in fact very aggressive, with frequent blast beats, and overall the music had lots of energy. The riffing and vocals were rather standard and uninteresting, but the drumming alone was worth seeing. That guy is a real master, one of the best drummers I have seen recently... In fact during the first song the guitar and bass were set too low, but I didn't even care, i could watch that guy playing alone it would still be worthwhile ^^ He was hitting hard and fast, but with great control and precision, you could see he has huge skills... Anyway, in my opinion that drummer really makes the band.

Dragged into Sunlight: Blackened Death/Doom according to the archives. I checked them out on cd before but didn't really like it, and the live set confirmed my opinion. It was definitely less generic this time, with more slower, heavier parts. It definitely sounded heavy, especially the guitar, which was a big plus. I really enjoyed some of the slower, almost drone-like parts, because the sound was just right. However for the most part it wasn't my thing, and I didn't catch in on the atmosphere they were trying to produce. Despite the promising genre tag I senses significant hardcore influences in their sound, but maybe it's by association with the previous band.
To their credit they did take stage appearance into consideration, with some candles on stage and all musicians with their backs facing the audience and hoods on. But still it didn't do much for me, really....
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Jimmy Calhoun
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 10:29 pm
Posts: 620
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon May 05, 2014 10:50 pm 
 

Opinions are a funny thing, because I love DIS and consider 'Hatred for Mankind' one of the best metal releases of the last several years. Huh.

Hessian, I should give a listen to. I do generally like blackened hardcore - Hierophant's 'Great Mother, Holy Monster' from 2013 was one of the 10-12 best albums I listened to in a year glutted with really good releases.
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Jabawock
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 8:31 pm
Posts: 117
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Tue May 06, 2014 5:11 am 
 

Jimmy Calhoun wrote:
Opinions are a funny thing, because I love DIS and consider 'Hatred for Mankind' one of the best metal releases of the last several years. Huh.


Yeah, I know they've been getting lots of good praise, and it's definitely quality music they're making, but yeah, personal preferences and stuff ^^
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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
Posts: 12030
Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:28 pm 
 

Live Review: Ulcerate/Phobocosm/Chthe'ilist @Katacombes in Montréal, May 12th 2014

Chthe'ilist

The up and coming death metal from the Montréal south shore were back at the Katacombes after their impressive first gig at the first edition of Wings of Metal last year. They still don't have a bassist even though they're looking for one, kind of a shame that there's nobody who can join them, I would if I was a musician! Nonetheless, it's no biggie when there's two talented lead guitarists!

Their thirty minute set killed everyone, the crowd was already numerous for the openers and that's always cool. Their crushing death metal sound is pretty damn good, it's technical without being showy, shallow and noodly (like their drummer's main death metal band Beyond Creation). After their great demo (try to pronounce the title), they're gonna release a full length (when? No idea, but soon) and I know they're shopping for a label and have many prestigious options (Profound Lore? Dark Descent? Roadrunner?).

Their stage presence was intense, mostly due to their energetic and talented session singer (Laurent Bellemare from Tribunal). The two guitarists had a good chemistery going on, they like the same stuff and it shows.

Alongside the second opener of this evening, they're the future of the Québec death metal scene, they're evolving with extrinsic influences (mostly from Finland, they covered a Demilich song) instead of praising at the altars of bands like Gorguts or Kataklysm.

A band to follow, for sure. Guided by Tougas, a shy and quiet talented promising young man, Chthe'ilist is destined to great deeds.

8,5/10



Phobocosm

With their debut full length scheduled to be released this Autumn by Dark Descent Records, Phobocosm are slowly making a name for themselves not only locally but internationally. The Montréal quartet played their, I believe, fifth gig tonight. I was lucky to see their first one back in 2012 when they opened for Adversarial.

Their brand of ultra dark death metal kills, it's midpaced, dirty but with a perfect and professional guitar tone. The drummer was also a beast behind his kit. I believe they only had one the first time I've seen them, the leader and composer Samuel Dufour formely of Towards Darkness and Vengeful but now, they have 2 guitarists and it's adding a layer of evil atmosphere that's most welcome. Their songs are long, heavy and their sound inspired by the likes of Incantation and fellow cavernous death metal bands is distinct in the Québec scene. Maybe they're not quite original in the grand scheme of things but they sure know how to write somber catchy hooks and that's all that matters

Just like most of the Dark Descent roster, Phobocosm is quality stuff. Simply waiting for their debut album Deprived to come out so they can receive their due praise.

8/10


Ulcerate

Since Inter Arma dropped off the tour for some dates, Ulcerate were able to play a longer set to compensate! The New Zealand power dissonant trio offered almost eighty minute to the enthusiastic crowd. I've missed their first Montréal gig two years so it was a first time for me and I quite enjoyed the experience. I'm really not a fan of the technical death metal genre but Ulcerate is one of the exceptions since they don't rely on showy acrobatics and instead are subtle about the whole thing. I had no idea how well their atmospheric style would be transposed to a live setting since they're only three musicians but I was pleasantly surprised.

I think it works quite well since the guitars aren't quite the focus of their music, Jaime Saint Merat (drums, artwork...) is the obvious core of the entity. He's perhaps the best drummer in modern death metal, he destroys all competition. It seems that everything is build around his drumming to create a death metal harmonic monster. The three members are all bald weird looking dudes, it's like they meld together to form a six arms being completely overwhelming his opponents with his earnest formula.

The songs from their latest album Vermis were really good live, even tough The Destroyers of All is perhaps my favorite release of theirs, it's harder to replicate these songs live since they're so intricate. Vermis, on the other hand, feels a bit like a more concise, maybe simplified version of TdoA. They're live friendlier and it's apparent throughout the set. They finished the evening with Everything is Fire though and that's probably their best song so it was an ideal choice.

Even though I missed the sixth game of the Montréal/Boston series, the Habs won so all is well! The dissonant pulse emanating the Katacombes helped the team defeat the Bruins!

9/10

Pics and shit here: http://metantoinemagicalrealm.blogspot. ... ilist.html
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Subrick
Metal Strongman

Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 7:27 pm
Posts: 10167
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 4:02 am 
 

So yeah, Ghost ruled. Their live show is otherworldly in every way, from the performances to the mix to the stage show to Papa's interactions with the crowd, it's just incredible. The highlight of the night was when Papa saw a little girl on her dad's shoulders holding a sign saying it was her birthday and lead the crowd in singing Happy Birthday to her.

Also, King Dude was magnificent. Anybody who likes Murder by Death should check them out.
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Alsandair
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:00 pm
Posts: 668
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Sun May 18, 2014 1:27 pm 
 

Yeah I saw Ghost in Raleigh and it was great, an improvement from when I saw them at Deathfest I feel. The mix, visuals, performance, were all spot on. Made me revisit/appreciate the studio work a bit more.

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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
Posts: 12030
Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Tue May 27, 2014 5:23 pm 
 

Pictures here: http://metantoinemagicalrealm.blogspot. ... th_27.html

Hooded Menace, Beast Within & Oath
Another great gig at Montréal's best metal venue, the Katacombes on Saint-Laurent. On this rainy spring night, I wore my usual attire and arrived early even though the place is quite known for never starting their gigs on time. I was wrong this time and I was glad to be since I managed to watch much of the set of the headliner, I missed the last track sadly but making my way back safe and sound mattered to me, that's not very metal, I'm aware! The crowd was a bit sparse but considering the gig was on a Monday, it was a good, dedicated one. Thanks to Black Dot for this great gig, Hooded Menace are probably back in Finland but I hope they enjoyed their short stay in Québec and North America.

9:30 to 10:00
Oath (not the most original name around...) from Sherbrooke started the evening. As far as I know, it was their first gig in the Quebec metropolis and they ripped the city a new asshole. The quartet plays a sort of primal, aggressive death metal with some grindcore, brutal death and even some sleazy doomy parts! They only have one guitarist but it doesn't matter at all since their music is not technical, it's greasy and it has no leads. It's instead relying on a heavy, crushing bass presence to make things interesting. The singer has a good stage presence and his vocals are deep & cavernous, they seemed to lack a bit of power though but it was perhaps due to the mix. They only have a two songs rehearsal demo digitally released for seven bucks on Bandcamp but due to the terrible sound quality, it's not worth hearing! I'm expecting a strong debut release from these guys, they were a good surprise to start the evening.

7,5/10


10:15 to approximately 11:00
Beast Within were the second opener and I was glad to see them since I've missed their set at the latest Wings of Metal (I was too busy filling my stomach with tasty dumplings since the Katacombes are located near the Chinese area of Montréal!). The quintet is composed of seasoned metal musicians (Thesyre, Utlagr, Akitsa...) so you know it's gonna be tight and professional. Alongside the two songs from their solid first EP released by Sepulchral back in March, they played three new ones and it was a damn good set. Their main inspiration is certainly Celtic Frost, the band has this sort of proto black metal vibe going on mixed with a lot of crushing groovy death/doom/thrash. The new songs were especially a bit more doomy than Adversity/Servitude and their two guitar attack crushed the crowd. Eric Syre is a good frontman and delivers a mix of semi raspy/gritty vocals. Interesting band with the right influences and the right, massive sound. I can't wait to hear a full length from these guys. Most of 'em had cool beards too so that's definitely a plus!

8,5/10

11:20 to approximately 12:30+
Hooded Menace only played three gigs in North America during this “tour” including the Maryland Death Fest so I guess I must warmly thank them their choice to visit Montreal. Some people (Tanya Kim and Kevin Campbell) who wrote a lot of lyrics for them were attended the gig. Probably the reason my city was picked! Anyway, I was pretty damn happy to see them and I've been expecting this concert for months since Hooded Menace are perhaps my favourite doom/death band. The quartet (two lead guitars!) wasted no time and opened with the title track from their three albums (Fulfill the Curse, Never Cross the Dead and Effigies of Evil) in chronological order! We were served eleven songs with a good diversity, three songs from each full length, “The Haunted Ossuary” from their excellent split with Coffins and a nine minutes song from their latest EP called “Chasm of the Wraith". My highlight of their set was certainly “Crumbling Insanity”, this song is so melodic and crushing at the same time that you want to pummel the ground while crying.

Lasse Pyykkö who usually do everything (the new EP features a full band for the first time)except the drums in the studio “only” plays the lead guitar live and he fucking destroys, the vocals are performed by Markus Makkonen and he's pretty much perfect at the deep, old school type of death growls. Their crushing riffs intertwined with mournful, intricate leads truly works live. The crowd was getting pretty small towards the end but the die hard metalheads present were enjoying themselves quite a lot, there was a small but fun pit and the band really enjoyed itself. Their sound was one of the best I've ever encountered at the Katacombes perhaps due to the SUNN O))) amp and the Gibson flying Vs!

9,5/10

Setlist:
Fulfill the Curse
Never Cross the Dead
Effigies of Evil
The Love Song of Gotho, Hunchback of the Morgue
Chasm of the Wraith
Beauty and the Feast
The House of Hammer
Curses Scribed in Gore
Crumbling Insanity
Night of the Deathcult
The Haunted Ossuary
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Razakel
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Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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PostPosted: Tue May 27, 2014 6:46 pm 
 

That sounds awesome, Tony. A couple of friends of mine went to that gig and said it was great. I fuckin' love Hooded Menace and hope to see them at some point.

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cankeredroot
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PostPosted: Fri May 30, 2014 12:11 am 
 

Delirium – Church – Forced to Rot – The Dark and Bleak – Coathanger Abortion: an Overwhelmingly Positive Experience

Bernie’s, Columbus, Ohio
5/17/14

(from theyawningchasm.com)

“I’d like to see a small mosh pit.”

Bernie’s Bagels – perhaps the most odiferous of Columbus’s institutions. It is a subterranean bar/bagel shop/music venue that always smells like a state park pit toilet but whose importance as a venue cannot be overstated. It exists literally underground – just by being there, no matter what kind of music, you have shown where your affinities lay. You have to be in the know, you have to want to go there, you are happy to go there, and this is why I went by myself two weekends ago.

Bernie’s non-descript doorway opens to a graffiti-covered stairwell that in turn opens to a lunch counter and booths and tables. Fliers with the evening’s schedule were taped all over the venue and said the show wouldn’t start until 9. I was there at 7:30, as the Walgreens 5x7 photo fliers said the doors opened at 7. No matter – time flew by as I watched band members run in and out on desperate pre-show errands and confused college students huddle in a corner of the bar as a form of nervous self-preservation. The substantial wait was worth it, as it turned out to be one of the best shows I’ve been to in years.

Each member of the opening band appeared to be no more than fifteen years old. Delirium were all seventeen (though one kid ruefully owned up to being sixteen) but looked years younger. They played a sort of noodly metalcore, the kind that could be assumed from their high school-shag haircuts and pattern-print t-shirts. Yes, it’s probably be the case that I’m old and think everybody under twenty-five looks the same, but their youthfulness worked in their favor when it came to surprising the crowd with their incredible musical abilities. The first few seconds of their first song proved the larger point that high school bands today are so much better than high school bands when I was younger. I feel that the bar has been raised because metalcore is predominantly a teenage phenomenon and with it has come an overall enheavying of what’s palatable to mainstream ears – kids today learn arpeggios and syncopated double-bass patterns where kids back in the day learned some shitty Nirvana riff and were considered the epitome of greatness.

Delirium’s talent was evident as soon as they started playing: arpeggios, sweeps, scales, and weird tapping occurred with such gratuity that it made me chuckle. It wasn’t like the music of Viraemia or Monumental Torment (intended to baffle you with otherworldly musicianship/brutality) but the product of a band replacing traditional riffing with a lot of little guitar tricks, as if they have no experience with the former because they started out learning only the latter. It was interesting to see that you can transmit the same level of nuance with a series of untraditional guitar playing as you can with chords or riffs. Their abilities, from vocalist to drummer, were impressive enough to gain the approval of the old metalheads in attendance, a notoriously stodgy crowd. (Years ago a gray-haired metalhead wearing an empatched vest over his leather jacket told my friend to take off his flap-eared winter hat because it was an embarrassment to metal. “Did you even know that guy?” “No.”)

Delirium were clearly having fun and were really excited that people were enjoying them. They were playing like pros while still not quite being able to pose and headbang as confidently as their older brethren. The friends that came with them were excited as well, obviously having as good a time on the road trip as they were at the concert specifically. Delirium: a band of friends having fun and being friends and stunned at how fun being a band can be. Hold on to it my young friends! Soon you’ll have to put up with the flakiness and mercurial personalities of adult musicians.

Delirium stuck around for the duration of the show and moshed and cheered for every band that followed. Every compliment they received was repeated among themselves with wide smiles and disbelief. The older dudes in the other bands had to feel like they were the coolest people on Earth for being so revered by the next generation. Delirium’s bass player was overheard telling his mom that no, no he wasn’t ready to leave - the headbanging must continue!
The show was put on by Jonathyn Arthurs, a 17-year old theistic Satanist who performs under the moniker The Dark and Bleak. He also books shows and shoots promo photos as Crystal Moonlight Studios. TDAB will be discussed later, but suffice it to say that like Delirium’s set, the whole affair had the charming naiveté of an excited kid – the fliers with set times were posted everywhere (“set times are approximate”) as were signs noting that

“Neither Crystal Moonlight Studios or Bernies Distillery are responsible for any injuries or stolen/missing property. Any damages made to the venue or any of the bands equipment is YOUR responsibility and you will be required to pay for the damages within a short period of time. Please stick around for all the bands and just have a good time.”

The enthusiastic professionalism of the signs aside, this professionally-run ship did make for smooth sailing. The show was a little ahead of schedule and nothing appeared to have been broken at the end of the night.

Assorted parents and grandparents were in attendance – what did they think of the name Coathanger Abortion? The name Coathanger Abortion was even conspicuously absent from the illuminated dry-erase board that lists the evening’s bands. Coathanger have been a band since 2000 and have toured extensively since then, so you also had to wonder what they thought of everything, the parents and teenage bands and the promise of a one-man black metalish band playing right before them. It is brutal death metal so it’s always going to be a little weird, but still.

After Delirium was a band from Columbus, and they were unfortunately called Church. The vocalist noted that the band can be found online at facebook.com/notyourmomschurch, leading me wonder if the whole point of the name was to be able to make that joke. They were all metaled out - wallet chains, beards, sleeveless shirts, etc. - and played beer-drinking metalhead-metal, a fist-pumping force one or two steps heavier than Lamb of God. They actually sound a lot like the bands on underground metal comps from the late 90s/early 00s and reminded me of Deceased, if Deceased were actually good. (I recently re-listened to Blueprints for Madness and it is fucking terrible. [Aside from ‘the Triangle,’ which is a killer song with cool lyrics about the Bermuda Triangle.])

Church is good but the tepidity of their moniker carried over to their song titles: “False Redemption,” “The Lack of God,” “Sheep to the Slaughter,” etc. etc. I want to hear stuff like “The Vault of Ancient Bone & Poison Saliva” and “Genesis of Putrescence” - how is one supposed to lead the charge against moronic religious bullshit when your battle hymns aren’t particularly inspiring? But their bassist is a towering dude who looks like Peter Stormare from Fargo and we all know that guy didn’t need to be a wordsmith, so whatever. But the band was good enough. Delirium loved them and the power of their set made a dad shout something between songs. “What did you say?” his companion asked. “I don’t know – I just wanted to yell!”

Forced to Rot was like Church, but tighter and with better equipment, and they too played no-frills underground Metal. They were a little more brutal overall than the previous band, as they opted for guttural vocals instead of throaty old-school roars. Like Church is one step heavier than Lamb of God, Forced to Rot is one step heavier than Church.

Aside from having a really cool name, Forced to Rot were fantastic. Watching them play made me re-appreciate x100 why metal is cool: it’s unparalleled musicianship, you get enveloped by sound, and there are parts so universally good that you headbang involuntarily. Plus seeing a bunch of long hairs headbanging in unison is super sick regardless of what kind of music you normally listen to.

But it is always awkward when only one guy in a band is wearing corpsepaint. One and only one member of Forced to Rot had his face painted like a skull. I guess my feeling is that it is kind of goofy and a little bit distracting, but if it helps him get in the zone, who cares…? I’m personally taken out of the zone when I look up and see not a misanthropic ghoul but a guy who just really wanted to wear corpsepaint. But it’s not really his fault - how many times has a band’s corpsepaint looked genuinely creepy in high-contrast album art only to lost its entire forest-dwelling mystique when you see the band live and you realize it’s just a bunch of sweaty men dripping white paint down the front of their distended tank-tops? (This wasn’t the case here; no sloppy paint, it was just kind of out of place.)

But again, who fucking cares? It was a metal show – it’s not often you get to unabashedly celebrate this thing of ours with a bunch of people who totally get it. Forced to Rot’s vocalist got it and definitely appreciated it. All night he was positive and happy. Between songs he made a point to complement each one of the bands. “Delirium – if I played guitar like that I’d have no fucking fingers left! Church – give it up for the only kind of church I enjoy!” It wasn’t just the music that made this show great – it was cool to see that this thing, the metal scene, an international subculture, a thing that few people inside and outside of metal really understand the value of, continues to exist on its own terms with camaraderie and insouciance.

The singer was positive through the end of their killer set:

This is the last song. It’s time to go crazy. But more importantly, it’s time to have some fun. If that means committing mass murder, then so be it. If it means getting yourself hard and jacking off in the mosh pit, do it! If it means…oh, whatever, just play the fucking song!

The Dark and the Bleak is apparently somewhat of an institution in Columbus. It is the solo project of the aforementioned Jonathyn Arthurs, a young man who epitomizes the idea that working hard will bring success. According to the collection of flyers on his Facebook page, he has played everything from high school battles of the bands to a Used Kids Monday Matinee to the Obetz Zucchinifest, where he opened for Bret Michaels. I can’t imagine how crazy the last show must have been – the Dark and Bleak, in Obetz, at the Zucchinifest, wearing a black leather trench coat and face paint, on stage playing shredding metal by himself, to people who are there to see Bret Michaels. But I was admittedly skeptical - how many trenchcoat and nail polish-wearing teenagers really have decent solo projects? What is the likelihood that a band with a plain font logo will actually rule?

He explained his MO during his set at Bernie’s: “Some of you may be wondering, ‘why is he up here by himself?’ And the answer is because I promote independency. You all have the power within you to reach your dreams. You know that fear you feel? Take that and turn it into motivation!

Right on, man! I like this message not only for its general application but because it allows him to fearlessly do what he does. But I got nervous for him when I heard him sound-checking his mp3 drum tracks. It was a Casio-keyboardian 4/4 beat, and he was being really particular about it. He walked around the stage, then out in front of it, then smiled and shrugged at the sound guy. He introduced himself, thanked everyone for being there, and started playing. And it was fucking KILLER. I was stunned at how good it was. He was shredding as well as any of the known one-man death metal bands that routinely play festivals and put out records. There was conveniently a brick on stage, and this allowed him to stand with one knee bent, a position taken to maximize brutality. (He reportedly sometimes brings his own fan, for maximum hair enblowment.)

Goddammit, though. I hate to say it, but the second song he played confirmed my initial fears. The song starts with bells that sound like a sample from the ‘Home Alone’ soundtrack, and is followed by a metal-voiced recitation of poetry over mid-paced melodic metal. The stylistic change completely caught me off guard. It’s the kind of metal that people who like metal without getting too hooked by a specific subgenre listen to; the midpaced triplet-driven song is a staple on metal albums, and I guess he wanted to make a contribution of his own. It was well-played and the title “Masquerade” implies an important reiteration of seeing through society’s bullshit, but the gothic flavor nonetheless killed the momentum of the first excoriating attack.

Fortunately the next song he played was more like the first. He said that he wrote the song in 2008. This means he wrote it when he was around eleven: “This next song is about pollution. But first, I’m going to take this [leather trenchcoat] off – this thing is ridiculous!”

He laughed as he said this. He seemed at home on the stage but was humble and appreciative and very polite. His modesty throughout the night was endearing. “I have one more song before we get to the real talent.” Pointing at the kids in Delirium: “I’d like to see a small mosh pit.” More than half his set was ripping death metal, and I was continually impressed and was able to look past a long solo that was only incidentally in tune. This kid rules. Support him in doing what he’s doing: leading a metal life because it’s satisfying on the deepest possible level. (And according to a recent Facebook post, there are “64 things left to finish in terms of recording the new album. But with 3 things or more getting done each day it should be done in great time.”)

Coathanger Abortion was sitting quietly in a corner of Bernie’s. They were manifestly brutal death metal dudes – Gutrot shirts, camo shorts, hawking the requisite color-logo-with-gruesome-white-art shirts almost mandatory in BDM. Stylistically, I knew I would be really into them - they are on Comatose Records and will be touring with Devangelic and Lust of Decay this summer – but I couldn’t help but be annoyed by their name. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Disgorged Foetus and Nailshitter, and that Scatorgy record is great; it’s not baroque grossness that’s the issue but the kind of grossness their the name implies: the kind of really, genuinely eerily violent and misogynist brutal death metal that makes you realize that maybe some people involved with this musick really are terrible assholes and not just dudes trying to outdo each other with scenes of zombie and medical violence. Lividity, Incestuous, Female Nose Breaker - dudes who seem to take pride in being as fucked up as they can as a supremely juvenile form of revenge against women they probably routinely creep out. I was prepared for Coathanger to say something ultra-degrading between songs but they totally did not. They have a song called ‘Leaves,’ about smoking weed, and they have a song ‘Mall Monster,’ whose lyrics are the following:

Now as darkness falls over me, sitting at the hotel waiting to leave
Just waiting to get this night over
Down on your knees
Crawling toward a break
I can't escape from this place that I hate
I can't wait to leave this place in the morning
I can't wait any longer
Waiting for dawn
Mall monster. Muzak insanity, its driving me crazy
Mall monster. Glaring at security cops
Seeing constant pop culture
Yuppie fashions under surveillance
Surrounded by a mass of idiots
Money blowing fools
Dollar signs are everywhere
Pick me, buy me, I am what you want
Food court terrorizer strolls by you
Cover your children's eyes
The mall monster has consumed you
Shit on sale


I admittedly passed on their album “Dying Breed” because of the band’s name, but now realize I was totally remiss in doing so. As a review on Encyclopaedia Metallum goes, “Within the grotesque heap of muck known as modern brutal death metal there are some albums floating around out there that no one has and know one [sic] even knows about that are insanely sick.” (Seriously, get this album. It’s really, really good.)

I like brutal death metal way more than I like regular metal, so the pleasure I derived from watching Forced to Rot play was multiplied tenfold when Coathanger started playing. I was entranced watching everyone in the band go about their business. They are so tight and the riffs are so patently interesting that the brutality almost took second stage to the joy of watching the songs unfold. Almost but not quite, since the fact that it was brutal death metal made everything that much more enjoyable. The drummer was absolutely incredible (and sports killer sideburns), the guitar players were astounding, and the vocals were awesome grunts that sounded like someone was turning on and off a faucet running with the sound of inhuman roars echoing through a drain. (And it wasn’t even the regular vocalist – the bass player handled vocals since the vocalist couldn’t do the tour.)

And within watching Coathanger Abortion play is the essence of Bernie’s – it’s not your mom’s church but an even higher and much more genuine form of affirmation. You feel proud of what you are into; you can’t believe you are witnessing something so powerful – on a small stage in a dank basement in a random city on a random evening, something is going on unlike anything else on earth. You are moved to headbang, to smile hugely in appreciation of an insane riff or Neolithic mosh, to celebrate it all with thirty other people, the number not a poor turnout but a hush-hush klatch that makes the evident secrecy that much more profound. Thank you Jonathyn Arthurs/the Dark and Bleak/Crystal Moonlight Productions for setting up the show – it was totally fucking sick.

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Metantoine
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Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
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PostPosted: Fri May 30, 2014 12:21 am 
 

Razakel wrote:
That sounds awesome, Tony. A couple of friends of mine went to that gig and said it was great. I fuckin' love Hooded Menace and hope to see them at some point.

Haha next time tell them I'm a cool guy, a friend of a friend is a friend!

cankeredroot, I've moved your live review here.
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Goatfangs
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Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:02 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 4:15 am 
 

Mournful Congregation with Prosanctus Inferi, Begrime Exemious and Extermination Angel

May contain traces of spelling errors because I am up at 4 in the mourning right now.

The two hour drive to Baltimore was absolutely worth it, solely for the headlining act Mournful Congregation, a band I've been wanting to see for seven years now and finally had the chance to do so. Two hours is nothing, compared to how far they have traveled just to perform about five times in the Northeast United States

First up was Extermination Angel, a decent death metal band that played death metal and was good at it so I give them an 84/100.

Next was Prosanctus Inferi who was very intriguing because they had an album and LP out with some really freaky album art. So freaky that when I stare at the CD right this minute my mind in its infinite state of completely fucking tired hallucinates all of those fucking jaws snapping and everything moving and OH FUCK I'M HAVING A METAL INDUCED BAD TRIP okay I put the CD down now but PI was really good, reminded me of Incantation and had very unique riffs. Simple, dark, effective. 85/100

Begrime Exemious was a band that never mentioned the Exemious part so they just called themselves Begrime the whole night probably because it was easier. Being from Canada, they were Canadian. They also played death metal, making it three bands in a row that played not-funeral-doom. But that's okay, since it was still entertaining and fast paced which kept everyone from falling asleep prematurely. That was the one problem with the Esoteric show, all of the previous bands were also doom, so it seemed to drag on until Esoteric started then it was fucking awesome. But tonight was really awesome through until Mournful Congregation. Oh, and I'd give Begrime an 82/100.

Mournful Congregation was next and I stood up front like a giddy doom metal fan seeing his favorite band for the first time. They absolutely delivered on the promise I imagined them to make in my head before the show that they would sound massive by incorporating three guitarists that made them sound really fucking massive. So massive that there was a really fat guy behind me and he seemed very light in mass compared to Mournful Congregation's guitar sound. They started off their set with Mother - Water, The Great Sea Wept. Fantastic song and damn near perfectly flawless without any missed notes. And because I listen to Mournful Congregation religiously at times, I know every fucking note in every fucking song they ever did. So when they played The Waterless Streams next I noticed about two missed notes but they were completely forgivable because it was a fucking awesome rendition of that monster of a song. Next up was Slow March to the Burial which was crushing to hear live, I think my ears are ringing just because of it. Next they did a new song, Silence of the Passed, but not entirely perfectly. I still enjoyed it a whole fucking lot and didn't care. Finally, they finished up their set (which was over an hour long) with the epic The Monad of Creation. They had some difficulty with this one, there were moments when they were off time, and the first solo was totally messed up, but otherwise it was a great performance. Overall I'd say they did a 94/100.

Then I drove home because there was no more bands. I'm realy tired. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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analog_winter
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 6:53 pm 
 

Pygmy Lush, Thou/The Body collab, Vilkacis, and Jail Solidarity @ The Pinch in Washington, DC. July 3rd.

First up were Jail Solidarity, and I only caught part of their set from the back of the room as I wasn't particularly interested in them. Described as noise rock on the flyer they put on a pretty decent set,t here were some cool bass grooves, but all in all I wasn't hugely into it. Maybe a 5 or 6/10.

Next, were the mighty Vilkacis (featuring Mike of Fell Voices, Ruin Lust, Vorde, etc) from New York. Now for a while I've maintained the opinion that these guys are the best black metal act in America, and this set absolutely confirmed it. What a vicious & intense performance. They only played 3 songs for a total of about 20 minutes but it was one of the best sets I've ever seen, of any genre. They opened with "Freezing Hell", the opener on their debut EP, played a new song in the middle, and closed with the incredible "Blood Dream in the Fever of War." Total annihilation. The riffs were on point and they played at such a frenzied pace it bordered on chaos at times but in just the right way. The drummer was unrelenting, using only a single bass drum, snare, hi-hat, and 2 cymbals (looked like 2 rides but he was using on like a crash), furiously playing blast beats and simple 4/4 beats at breakneck speeds to propel the band forward. This is primal, violent, and melodic black metal at its best. 11/10.

Next up were Thou and The Body doing their collaborative set (though on the flyer they were slated to go after Pygmy Lush). Together, these two bands sounded utterly massive. I don't know what they were tuned to, but their guitars were incredibly low, heavy, and noisy, to the point where there was a constant bass rumble that you could feel in your whole body. It was too much for the venue to handle though as they tripped the circuit breaker twice, cutting short two of their songs. It was quite the experience. They played some songs off of the collaborative EP they released earlier this year, as well as 2 covers. The entire set was crushing, it was something that really has to be heard/felt, as words or video don't really do it justice. 10/10.

Finally Pygmy Lush played, and their brand of punk rock/hardcore made for a decent end of the night, however, they weren't nearly as good as Vilkacis or Thou + The Body. Some songs were pretty fun, others I didn't really care for as much, and I was still trying to process the devastation of the last two sets. Probably a 6.5/10.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 3:59 pm 
 

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Last edited by sushiman on Mon Oct 26, 2015 7:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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analog_winter
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 3:15 pm 
 

Ash Borer, Hell, Coffin Dust, Battlemaster, and Unsacred @ Strange Matter in Richmond, VA. July 9th.

Unsacred were the first band to go on, and I had seen them before when they opened for Bastard Sapling. I definitely liked them better the first time around. Pretty good blackened hardcore, but most of the songs just felt the same to me, and although they played with a ton of energy I just wasn't feeling it last night. Solid set, but I could have enjoyed it more. 6/10.

Battlemaster were up next, and they were pretty awesome. Their singer described themselves as "quirky black/thrash," which was pretty on point. These guys have some serious chops. The riffs were on point and the drumming was awesome. This was a fast, fun, and totally energetic set. I would definitely like to see these guys again, although it wasn't the kind of stuff I could see myself listening to a lot on my own. Their music is definitely best suited to a live environment. 8/10.

Coffin Dust were the first of the out of town bands to play, and they played a decent set of old school death metal with a fair amount of d-beats. This should have been something I liked but, I found myself not being that into it. The riffs just didn't grab me that much. But they did play with a lot of energy and their vocalist was pretty funny in between songs. 6/10.

Now to the bands that I really wanted to see. Of the headliners, Hell was up first, a band I never thought I'd have the chance to see live given how limited their performances were earlier in the life of the band. Their set was utterly crushing. Around 40 minutes of some of the best sludge/drone/doom being made now. The highlight was seeing them play "Mourn" from III. That song utterly floored me, as the studio version is great, but seeing it live was unbelievable. Vocal duties were split among the guitarist, MSW who is the main creative force behind the project, and the drummer, ALN, who does vocals for the earlier material, and his screams are practically inhuman. Total extreme doom devastation. 10/10.

To close out the night were Ash Borer, whose return to the east coast I have been eagerly waiting on for 3 years since I missed them on their last excursion to this side of the country. They proceeded to play one of the best black metal sets I've ever seen, totally living up to my expectations, especially since they played some material from the self-titled full length (since I don't really love anything they've put out since then). Everything about their performance was on point. It was a full-on black metal assault played with intensity and ferocity. The ambient interludes provided a calm between the unrelenting storms of black metal that make up the majority of their music. 9.5/10 just because they didn't play either of my 2 favorite songs of theirs, but an absolutely great performance nonetheless.

Total support to Ash Borer & Hell on their full US tour. Go see them if you have the chance, as they both put on a stunning performance.
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RepulsiveVenom
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 3:56 am
Posts: 110
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 3:16 am 
 

Anyone seen Cannibal Corpse recently? They're coming here in AUS and I last saw them in '06. Contemplating going to go see them. Any feedback would be appreciated.
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cameronwoods
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:41 am
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:45 am 
 

Yea, any latest updates about Cannibal Corpse and has anyone read Bible Of Butchery?


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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
Posts: 12030
Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:33 pm 
 

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Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats + Danava / September 27th 2014 @Bar Le Ritz in Montréal

It was already my third show at the brand new Bar Le Ritz PDB, the new name and identity of the Il Motore and the venue was completely full like it was last week for the trendy post black metal of Deafheaven. This time, the crowd wasn't as hip, I was in my element with the psych rock and doom metal on the menu but let's not forget the excellent beer the bar is now selling (Trou du Diable is the shit, I've picked La Morsure and its 6,5% attack.) I like the new disposition of the stage (now located at the back of the venue) and the colorful walls reminding me of Lego blocks are giving the venue a joyful feel not thoroughly disconnected from the offerings of the two bands of this abnormally warm late September week end.

21:00 to 10:00
Danava (from Portland, Oregon... maybe they're friends with Witch Mountain, a band I've catched at this same venue 2 weeks ago) opened the gig with their super heavy blend of psychedelic hard rock. The two guitars attack led by mainman Dusty Sparkles (is that his real name? I hope so) was contagious and got a good reception from the crowd (who, in my opinion, was widely unfamiliar with the Americans except a few connoisseurs.) Their Thin Lizzy inspired approach sounded fresh even though they're (fortunately) far from being a modern band. Borderline metal, Danava fits (even though they were formed earlier) with the recent vintage rock revival led by the likes of Graveyard or Kadavar and like these Europeans, they rock hard and loud. Great band and a nice discovery for many.

Highlight: “Longdance” from their self titled debut album.

10:20 to 11:40
The Brits of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats were next and man, I really like gigs with only two bands (we all know that three is the optimal maximum.) There's a tendency to just add too many groups to a lineup and sometimes it's unbearable because they don't all fit with each others. It's not the case here, both bands possess deep psychedelic roots and even though Uncle Acid mix that stuff with a huge dose of doom metal, they can crossover many musical dimensions. Blending the classicism of Cathedral inclined doom with a fondness for 1960s psychedelic rock, their sound is as interesting as their B series movie inspired persona. Bikes, hot girls in leather and short jeans, haunted house, the whole shtick indeed. Too bad I need to pay for my university semester since their merch was pretty impressive!

Their almost 80 minutes set encompassed their 3 albums with the clear highlights being the cuts from Blood Lust (“Death's Door”, “I'll Cut You Down” or “13 Candles”) but also the excellent opener of 2013's Mind Control “Mt. Abraxas” which also served as the opener for their set followed by “Mind Crawler” . I cheated a bit before their gig by checking their setlists online but nothing could have prepared me for the surprising cover of Neil Young and Crazy Horse's “Down by the River”! A dude in the crowd was wearing a Neil Young shirt, it was probably a sign sent by the rock gods, who knows?

The stage was strangely decorated by three TVs all playing the same show (white noise), well this was different and cool! The band was energetic and played a perfect mix of catchy numbers and slower doomy songs. Their sound was uber loud and the high pitched Beatleseque vocals of band leader Uncle Acid were rightfully placed in the mix and the harmonies of the other guitarist and bassist were complimenting them wonderfully. Nothing was sloppy, their playing was super tight and their slick, classy hippie appearance made me regret cutting my long mane of hair last year! The end of the encore ("Devil's Work") was a bit tedious but that's probably because I was sweating like an ogre who needed some fresh air.

Perhaps my best show of 2014 and I've seen more than 50 bands this summer! I'm pretty sure the acid coven liked their first time in Canada since it was a sold out gig with a very enthusiastic crowd, you could say that their first foray into North America after their gig at the Maryland Death Fest was eagerly awaited and they unsurprisingly delivered the goods.

p.s: hopefully they'll play a bigger venue next time, the show was sold out in less than a week and despite the overactive air conditioning, it was hellishly hot in there! Thanks to Evenko and Ondes Chocs for the review opportunity.

Anyway, time to spin Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere on vinyl, see y'all later!

Pictures here: http://metantoinemagicalrealm.blogspot. ... anava.html
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sushiman
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:41 pm
Posts: 921
PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 2:52 pm 
 

Venereal Dawn Tour: Berlin, October 23rd, 2014 Review
23rd October 2014, Magnet Club, Berlin, 'schland.

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Dark Fortress + Secrets of the Moon, Schammasch.

On stage Schammasch are as immaculately presented as their stunning Metastazis-graced new album packages and merchandise. Chris S.R. had his face painted in black with gold lines and looked more convincing than any costumed villain Ben Kingsley has played. The band was heavy, pulling off their lengthy and intricate songs with aplomb, and played with vast self-assurance. The sound was great for all the bands, with the exception of any guitar leads which seemed to get a bit lost in the rumble of the rhythm section, so some of the bewitching lead work from Contradiction's best songs was diminished. 'Split My Tongue' in particular made for a striking performance. Drummer Boris A.W. was particularly impressive, the array of different tempos and styles demanded by Contradiction executed very capably and powerfully on stage. Not your usual amateurish or generic opening act; Schammasch had proven themselves once with their sophomore this year and again in my eyes with their live form.

Secrets of the Moon were the band of the night without a shadow of a doubt. They were as rock and roll as they were sinister and imposing. Frontman sG cut a striking figure whether ejecting his extremely characteristic and recognizable snarls, or appearing to snatch flies out of the air in front of the mic like a man possessed. This guy's guitar skills seem to have improved even since the release of the excellent Seven Bells; the way he plays 'Shepherd' and 'Nyx' is absolutely stunning, like a Tony Iommi of black metal. Recently joined drummer Erebor, formerly involved in Nargaroth, was crushing whether executing slow and doomed beats or the splintering blasts of the old classic 'Carved in Stigmata Wounds'. Given many a drummer will tell you that very slow work can be just as challenging as fast drumming, if not more if you are used to the latter, Erebor is evidently a good find for a band like this that needs both. The other new addition Naamah Ash has actually played with the band since LSK's departure in 2011, which is clear in how integral a member she has obviously become, contributing savage death growls in addition to her bass lines. Secrets of the Moon have weaved a vast world over their most recent few full-lengths, all lengthy, ambitious and dark, and a glimpse into that realm was given that night with the band's well-chosen set-list (even if I can't fathom the choice not to include the brilliant title song from Seven Bells in their regular set). The best song (of the whole evening that is) was probably the amazing epic of blackened doom that is 'Lucifer Speaks', although the sublime atmosphere conjured by the melancholy 'Shepherd' was an incredibly close second. The atmosphere bristled with energies these Thelema-obsessed Germans would likely have attributed to the occult, and that night I would have believed it. A recommended catch live.

Long-running Bavarians Dark Fortress, who have a good reason to be out on the road what with their new record Venereal Dawn out there splitting opinions and skulls already, had a lot to live up to. They managed it well, between their proggy and expansive new tracks like the new title song with its irresistible melodies, and older favourites like the raw and thrashig 'Poltergeist', famously marked on its studio version by a lusty belch right before its intense break (apparently Morean didn't have on ready in his belly on this occasion). V. Santura, also known to be conspiring in Triptykon and therefore having sealed a place for himself in the canon of one of heavy metal's most famous patrons and architects, was a joy to hear as he unwound spools of diamond guitar leads, which the new songs give him plenty of space to do. It was also good to hear Seraph's ferocious drums blasting behind the older songs, given this had been a night of mostly mid-paced to slow black metal. Some carnage was just what was needed to top it all off. To the band's credit their gnarly mid-era works and epic new songs were worked together very well.

In addition the venue and organisation was stellar. Berlin's Magnet Club has plenty of space (although tickets were still on sale as we entered so it is doubtful we were at capacity that night) and two bar areas. While one is by the stage allowing regular beer trips without missing anything, the other is in a smoking area which is a good place to head between bands. Don't linger however; this was probably the most tightly organised live event I have ever been at. There was no more than ten or twelve minutes between bands, everyone kept to time, and the whole thing started shortly after 19.30 when the doors opened. I don't know if this is representative of Berlin, although my experience at Nuclear War Now! in 2012 was also positive. After years of gigs and festivals suffering from lateness, disorganisation, amateurish young bands screwing up everyone else's timing and sound techs not knowing their arse from their elbow it was amazingly refreshing how smoothly everything went, and no-one was pissing about for hours waiting for things to get sorted out. I think this could be partly to do with the fact that all the bands there were clearly established, comprised of people with a lot of experience, and had a professional attitude; there weren't any "baby" bands that needed looking after, and the whole experience was better for it. Massive respect to the venue owners and to Avocado Booking (who also manage European dates for Botanist, which promises an excellent experience seeing them should they visit any time soon).

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Exigence
Age: 29 (Wait, what?!)

Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:42 pm
Posts: 982
Location: New Orleans
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:07 am 
 

Tonight is Sabaton / Amon Amarth!

3rd time seeing Sabaton this year and my first seeing AA. Sad it's still only a support set for Sabaton again but alas, can't expect much for American audiences. I've listened to AA since The Crusher in 2001 so I'll be happy to cross them off my list.

UPDATE:

Show was excellent. The Civic Theater is a giant vertical space in New Orleans, that I first experienced with comedy shows. Seeing heavy metal there is very odd. The sound travels all over so nothing seems very loud. Also the floor has serious 'give' to it, making it feel like you're bouncing when everybody starts jumping around to a song.

-Skeletonwitch was minus their singer but nobody seemed to care. My problem with bands of this style is great riffs are buried between blasty, boring parts. However, this definitely more the speed of the typical NOLA metal fan and there were many Skeletonwitch shirts in attendance. Good for them.

-Sabaton did their typical American support set, oddly sandwiched between two extreme acts. The only new track they added since the spring was "Resist and Bite" replacing "Gott Mitt Uns". That's my only complaint, they need to play way longer and drop some of the planned out shenanigans.

-Amon Amarth crushed. Only watched like 7 songs before splitting but god damn, they sound impressive live. Beautiful light show too to match every song. Way better touring partner for Sabaton than Iced Earth. I also must reiterate, the sound at the theater was crazy - we were a few feet from the stage (dead center) and having full conversations during songs. It wasn't loud at all. Maybe my hearing is going but I remember metal shows being way louder.

SABATON
Spoiler: show
Image Image Image


AMON AMARTH
Spoiler: show
Image Image Image
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herrieman72
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:06 pm
Posts: 275
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:55 pm 
 

Question: I have written over 200 reviews of gigs and festivals on a small metal forum, but they're highly personal (meeting guy A, seeing band B, beering with band member C on festival D, taking along mate E, linked back to review F and so on). I'm new here, but not new to metal. How do you want them? All reviews are written in English, but filled with names of friends and other acquiantances.

I've been all around Europe, seen most of Holland, a lot of Germany, many Graspops, Maryland Deathfest, Hole In The Sky, Brutal Assault, Metal Camp, Wacken, Way of Darkness, RockHard, Bloodstock, 70,000 Tons of Metal and more.

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NorthernDarkness6
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:35 pm
Posts: 131
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:52 pm 
 

herrieman72 wrote:
Question: I have written over 200 reviews of gigs and festivals on a small metal forum, but they're highly personal (meeting guy A, seeing band B, beering with band member C on festival D, taking along mate E, linked back to review F and so on). I'm new here, but not new to metal. How do you want them?.


Either copy and paste them to this forum or post links to your reviews.

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herrieman72
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:06 pm
Posts: 275
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 5:26 am 
 

Overkill, White Devil Armory European tour, feat. Prong, Enforcer, De Pul Uden

Ever since the album Ironbound Overkill has grown on me greatly. In the late Eighties my Hauwert buddies were much easier on the Fire and the Influence than I ever was. The band I once discarded is now one of my favorite bands, seeing them for the sixth time would be cool. I imagined taking Ching Hue with me, as he enjoyed old school thrash such as Whiplash so much lately, but he couldn’t make it. Birthday. OK. I already had two tickets, as I simply refuse to go alone to shows. Willem said yes, I knew by then Tom would take the Bovenkarspel Boys to Airbourne, the same night in Utrecht. On Daniel’s birthday I heard Stip was eager to join us, albeit without ticket. We go for it, hope we’re in time to get Stip a ticket at the door. I had never been to De Pul in Uden before, therefore had no idea how big this venue would be. If any consumption coins got left over, no problem, we also have tickets to see Cannibal Corpse there too, in two weeks. That show got rebooked to Dordrecht, oh well. I thought that Boet would love to finally see Overkill, I kept one spot free in the car but I never heard anything anymore and as I have a different phone now, still same brand, but new, I lost his cell phone number. I simply can’t reach him now. Pity.

The Saturday was a bit funny, so to speak. Tom and me had returned from Daniel’s birthday quite late, quite drunk too, but I had offered to show Alicia my VW Golf Mk II diesel, before driving to Bamberg together. I got up around 10.30 AM, fuzzy, had a pizza for breakfast as I thought I couldn’t handle the cold milk yet, returned to bed for an hour, dressed, drove to Enkhuizen, took Alicia for a spin, she did well! I still hadn’t eaten much, I could use some coffee too. De Lucht it became, now Subway instead of a King or Macca. Stip drove up to Zaltbommel before I took over, Stip had been hungover too :) I needed a separated cycle lane to do my hobby again :) (it had been a while :shock: ) and I parked the car.. in the Pitstraat. Translated: Pit street. How convenient :lol: First band was soon to start, they are called Darkology. I think of a Judas Priest tribute, Defenders of the Faith era, maybe some Killing Machine timing, but the song Mob Rules also works fine for this band. After the very short show (20 minutes, something??) Willem asks solemnly: ‘Wasn’t this playbacked?’ He thought the vocals were tooooo perfect to be sung this way, especially for a starter band. Interested anyhow? Try https://myspace.com/darkologymetal

When Enforcer entered stage, I thought I would be gone in seconds, as I don’t really had anything positive to comment on this band the previous time (see http://www.mruforums.com/f22/rockhard-2 ... hen-14459/ ,by coincidence I had seen Overkill that same weekend ;)) but I fooled myself. I think. This time, with Rhea, Sander, Pim (supergoomba) Ami (see 70000 Tons review, also with… Overkill :lol: ) around I had a great time and I wasn’t the only one. The Maiden-esque song is followed by a Diamond Head tune-ish, third song resembles Accept a lot (I had let the entire Restless and Wild album pass by in the car ;)) and then… Countess Bathory!! One guitar player even wore a Napalm Death – Scum t-shirt :lol: ). The singer –guitarist isn’t such an arrogant asshole anymore (had he read my review :oops: ?). At the end of the short set I bought two patches, one with a naked angel on it and one with some kind of wolf and let Stip decide which one would be his.. yeah right the angel :lol: My Neckwreckers denim will proudly wear this patch, as I thought I wouldn’t get the need to attach one of today’s support acts to the vest. Surely not, as Prong was up next. My Hoorn buddies once were heavily intoxicated about Tommy Victor and Co. but I never found out why. As a kid I heard Beg To Differ a lot, but it never stuck. The hardcore-ish groove is totally not my thing, never was, and even 27 years later, probably never will. Are they on this tour because they’re from New York too? Anyway, I heard Bef to Diffuse as second song, still don’t hear the appeal my former friends have. The snare drum is absolutely a pain in the ass, the song Unconditional shows the vocals bore me to death, we move out after Lost And Found. Stip buys me a license plate holder and a voetbal scarf of Overkill and we happily put those in the car. Never mind Prong tonight, we’d better be back for Overkill. And not to forget, the Skullcrushers (Torty!) and Neckwreckers (Neil) and other cruise survivors Jarmin, Bob, Tillita and the others. Returning we hear Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Dick and Prong is history to this tour. Clearly it’s the final night of the tour as some (Enforcer? Darkology?) roadies start friggin’up Prong drummer Art Cruz. Glad that’s over with.

I heard someone say something like ‘double headlining bill’ but he clearly must have been sleepwalking. The support acts all played on one small set of drums and cabinets, everything is removed before Overkill starts to trash the entire audience up!! The start is an overkill of smoke and stroboscopes, but the sound is sweet as candy, heavy as gold and loud as my former neighbor’s domestic fights!!! The band goes to the limit, sharp as a guillotine, blunt as butter, great response too!! Here’s what I wrote (we had been on the balcony during all bands, great to see the audience react to all bands, pit or not.. my ankle is sore again :( ) :
- Armorist
- Overkill
- Electric Rattlesnake (Bobby: ‘Brabantse Nachten Zijn Lang’ :lol: I think Annette her parents are on the balcony as well :lol: stuffing their ears with their fingers :lol: )
- Wrecking Crew
- Black Gaze
- Rotten to The Core (Willem goes so much nuts I just have to buy him a shirt)
- Bring Me The Night
- End of the Line (with a Phantom Of The Opera interlude :))
- Long Time Dyin’ (Torty in the Pit!)
- Under One (Ron’s solo, somewhat Van Halen-esque *grin* )
- Pig (Bobby:’Ik kan je ruiken maar ik hoor je niet’ :lol: translated: ‘I can smell you but I can’t hear you :lol: the fans also gets congratulated for entering the German and American charts)
- Hello From the Gutter (including one and a half riff of Run To The Hills :))
- Ironbound (including the first crowdsurfers)
- Bitter Pill (first encore)
- Elimination
- Fuck You (Bobby: ‘ik heb een goed idee: FLIKKER OP!!’ :lol: :lol: translated ‘I have a good idea: Fuck You’ :lol: )
OVERKILL IS KING TONIGHT!!! Whoah, what a great show!! So cool to see such a cool band in such a small venue, packed to the ceiling with eager metalheads! Pit monster Michel is there too, Pim eager to tell how much he LOVED this show, Torty needing a picture, Neil’s mail address added, Canadian Neckwrecker present… sooo cool!! It’s quite crowded at the merch stand, as Tommy Victor and the entire band Enforcer are signing, picturing, whatever, but we move out. One final smoke for the boys and another 180 km follows.. cut in three, Macca, gas station and full throttle over the dyke Lelystad-Enkhuizen… I deliver the boys home, open my door at 3:24 AM, first beer at 3:25, pictures, beer, review, beer, beer, paste picture, beer, toothbrush, out. Bobby Elsworth is absolutely King, Emperor and Field Marshall in one. Overkill KILLED!!

review posted 5:32 AM. I. Am. Out.
But utterly satisfied. METAL!

reactions on http://www.mruforums.com/f22/overkill-w ... 5th-16913/


Last edited by herrieman72 on Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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herrieman72
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:06 pm
Posts: 275
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:17 am 
 

Stonehenge festival, feat. Obituary, Possessed, Immolation

Stonehenge Festival is growing on me. Every year it seems the programming gets more exciting and this year was an anniversary as well. It’s the 20th edition, and from an early age Obituary and Immolation were scheduled. I knew I just had to be there, Tom loves Immolation too.. no problem getting the Bovenkarspel Boys to join. I even pressed Thirza (Terrorthirzje) to come too, as I thought to show her the roots of the biggest part of my collection… death metal. Loads of death metal. Soon Entrails, Bodyfarm and Possessed were scheduled, drool started dripping… call my cousin Toon and his wife Mirjam for the B&B, we’d be with the six of us there. I thought Tom would be on De Zwarte Cross all the way from Thursday on, but he later mentioned ‘of all 8 people working in the company, I am the only one working… this entire week. The rest is on holiday leave. Damned.’ and through Jelle (rib-basher) I was asked if the reservation could be expanded to 8 persons… I’d love to know that a little earlier, dudes! We were lucky, as it turned out ‘pretty easy’ to put in another bed in each room. Pfoei. No need for a late night troll to a car or an unknown hotel, just the coziness of my family’s hospitality. But what happens: my niece Martine forbids me to pay for the B&B? She smiles, saying ‘my father wants you to have a beer for it’ Thanks a lot, Toon!! Beers taste even better this way! Tom and Jelle would come after the Saturday’s work, join us at the festival.

I worked at home Friday, but I still was a bit half-eyed when I picked up Thirza. I got some half coffee half chocolate milk drink that didn’t wake me up, but as I needed diesel I knew I’d find some coffee along the way. Picked up Kees Bloemkool and Alicia in Hoogkarspel, Axel and Tijmen drove in front of me. First gas station – coffee machine in repairs. Second gas station – coffee machine in full maintenance. Third gas station – weak, black-something fluid only bearing the name of that fluid I needed… tha cukf??? I knew Mirjam makes excellent coffee, so I could look forward to that. The taxi came earlier than expected, albeit a super pissed off driver we got. Alicia couldn’t even finish her tea! My cousin Xander noticed too, he said ‘third rerun of a bankrupt company, go figure’ :lol: But now, something unique happening: we’d see the first band of Stonehenge :) Not that Illusionless was that big of a new ground to be explored, as the tech-deathcore couldn’t really bind us. No use for the old green Buze consumption coins as well, but I knew that. It was mentioned on the festival website ages ago, but I don’t know If the (three, not a big deal) green ones can be used to a ‘normal’ visit to De Buze. No Antropomorphia as well, as the band had to cancel. What came in their place was Anarchon, Swedish sounding death metal, but with a drummer that clearly didn’t have his coffee too. Out of tune halfway each song, bored looks on the man’s face. Cattle Decapitation had to cancel as well, but I haven’t heard because of what. No need to worry anyway, because Bodyfarm was READY FOR BATTLE!! With Alicia next to me, first row, just like last year’s Eindhoven Metal Meeting, unleash the war machine!! Friggin’great set, sound was very good, band playing another top performance. I got Harry’s set list and later on Thomas’ guitar pick. Here’s the onslaught:
- Intro
- Unbroken http://youtu.be/CIvVZRUxlEU (and yes, I do know I posted this before, but it is simply such an awesome song!!)
- Frontline Massacre http://youtu.be/Bk2t70Fwo6s
- Demons of the Cross (hard hitting my back, yeah baby!!)
- The Coming Scourge (the onslaught even gets fiercer)
- Tombstone Crusher (yep, another crusher version!!)
- The Well of Decay
- Slaves of War http://youtu.be/rfUXD0mMmgk
- I Am The War
This band... how often must I call this great, awesome, brutal, whatever? During the rest of the day I kept running into the men, thanking them, complimenting them, telling about the Hoorn show to come… Yes I am fan. Big fan. Photo-moment-with-Alicia-during-Bodyfarm, Thirza thrilled, so I bought her the two available albums (Malevolence and The Coming Scourge) and finally, finally got myself a Bodyfarm shirt... this band can blow up EVERY metal crowd, if you ask me :) I met Maarten (msd) and Bram, both nearly dehydrated and sour, the pit was magic!

Together with the Bodyfarm men and Alwin Zuur we watched another steamroller take the field by storm: Entrails! Again, I ended up with a set list (found it near the grass stage, but they played on the big parking lot stage) :
- The Tomb Awaits
- Unleashed Wrath http://youtu.be/YhtWPdFoLCI
- Blood Red
- Bloodhammer http://youtu.be/05l6sleN2zk (OK, another double post :lol: )
- Headless Dawn
- Eaten By The Dead http://youtu.be/60SivwrNjnw (somehow no pit shown on this vid?)
- Voices
- In Pieces
- Berzerk
- Carved to The Bone
- To Live Is To Rot
- Crawling Death http://youtu.be/t8yJxMdo_KM (never mind the sloppy sound this vid has, it’s three years old..)
- The Morgue (encore)
During the second song I got a familiar look: a huge grin on my long time friend Jeroen’s face, stating ‘Tight as a piledriver‘ :lol: This was BLUUUUUNNNNNNTTTTTT!! Holy Macaroni, what a death metal feast it is today. Even Ross Dolan gives the band both thumbs up, picture added. And the crowd can’t be satisfied enough, Entrails gets a full throttle bashing pit. Totally merciless!! There is also some grindcore today, but after three songs of Katalepsy I’d rather talk to Earik (The Lucifer Principle is working on new material! ‘Bout time too!! They’ve had a sabbatical for about a year and a half) and Bodyfarm’s Harry and Thomas. The Russians don’t do a bad set or a bad thing, I’m just too full with adrenaline to become ADHD myself haha. Sinister on the big stage plays, but I hardly notice it. I was surprised by the Testament-, Overkill- and Entrails patches I got from the ladies (thanks!!!), Sadistic Intent is played early in the set, three songs off This Carnage Ending (I’d rather check it out some time soon ;)). Och, Sinister is Sinister, Aad is a bit grumpy again, band is tight but I don’t really get into the band anymore. Few pictures, isn’t it time for our regular visit to De Sphynx again? Nah, showarma can wait. I do want to see Bliksem, but hardly recall it. Made a few pictures (not just the bosom :lol: ) and off to De Sphynx. We meet Alwin and Christa and have a great meal. I try three times to pay, but the man keeps his back straight, as he’s convinced I already paid? Am I getting old, forgetful, is the beer too heavy for a normal festival day? Anyway, Behead me if I did pay, leave that to Beheaded. The Maltese hard hitting band goes apeshit. I do own two albums, but don’t ask me for song titles. My buddy Darius, working as volunteer as he couldn’t get in normally (festival announced ‘SOLD OUT’ two days ago, Darius can be a bit lazy sometimes :lol: ) later offers me three pieces of paper, later I found out it were the set lists of Beheaded, Impaled Nazarene and the stage agenda for Immolation. So I do have the Beheaded songs :) and with a little help from YT, Winamp and Metal Archives:
- Extortion of Benevolence
- Scourging Repudiation
- Elapsed in the Vortex of Extinction
- Recounts of Disembodiment
- Resurgence of Oblivion
- Where Hours Etch Their Name
- Lament of a Sordid God
- Never To Dawn
- Transcendental Iniquity
Impaled Nazarene is the one I missed strolling through old Aardschok editions, trying to stay friendly to Metal Mike (asking me why I hate Affuck Bridge so much, why I don’t like Creed… come on man! Grow up! Admit you’re older than I am, in many ways!) Possessed is next, they were originally scheduled at 4.15 PM (??) and in the leaflet they were positively thanked for inventing Death Metal and the whole shebang, but why positioned soooo early? OK, the band has been delayed in traffic, but no less than brutal death metal alike they massacre this Stonehenge edition. Jeff is in exceptionally good mood, his voice thunders over Steenwijk (and so close to both the protestant and catholic churches nearby, where’s the mosque when you need it :lol: some mentioning the eager Christians near the festival entrance, praying for our black souls) and the band is TOP!! My ‘old’ buddy Gerard FULLY agrees *smirk* and the ‘usually obnoxious stagediver ‘ is also present *sigh* With Maarten, Tom, Axel and Jelle present, the pit is violent. But fun. I hand out my camera to Tijmen and you can easily see I have a great time too. I got hit hard on the teeth, my neck has a funny angle and my shin bones appear at the back of my calf. Never mind. On one picture you can actually see why I fell hard once, my lace was loose :oops:

On the run for another great Immolation show, I decided I needed some sugar or something. I order one Cola and one beer, but drinking those mixed is a bad idea. I’m no German! Germans have a funny knack for combining drinks, such as orange soda – cola, beer – cola, chocolate brew – coffee , where have I heard that before? ;) Immolation… whoooaahhhhhoooaaaahhhh what a great show! The band does what they always do, cut the entire audience up to the size of salad bars. The sound is awesome, Ross has his exceptionally blunt voice to the max, the band is as tight as I’ve ever seen them. What a great band!! The band is working on new material and does at least one new track (missed the title of it :S ) before leaving the small stage. That’s one thing I nearly forgot: Stonehenge Festival still has the little grass stage (where the ‘bigger’ bands usually performed) and a big stage on the parking lot in front of the venue. The metal market is on the parking lot across the festival area and cars should be parked near communal hall. Get it? The interior of De Buze was scheduled to be refitted this year, but the municipal board of Steenwijkerland halted the plans. Now the venue inside (regular Buze) is used as backstage, the tour busses can hardly be parked nearby. Bit late to describe the festival, right ;) but no worries: Obituary is top priority now. The band does a similar set to the 70K show, three or four new songs (wasn’t the album title mentioned as well? I don’t remember, I kept bashing as much as I could) and the rest: yeah, of course, the golden oldies of Obituary’s glorious past. Amazing how fresh Cause of Death still sounds, it’s been 24 years!! And 22 years since I first saw them, both bands snotty and out cold, both bands on penicillin, both bands still rocking on in 2014, again spotted by yours truly. No sign of wear and tear on this band!! The band does all they can and get greeted warmly by a raging crowd. I could no longer stand as Slowly We Rot is finally thundering the city walls… A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!! The band gets an hour, but the fans, as far as they have any voice left after one hour of Immolation and one hour of Obituary, keep shouting for more. None we get, municipal rules are forbidding it. Axel gets his photo moment too, baffled to see me be greeted like an old friend by John Tardy. On the way to the taxi (not really much use for an afterparty in Café De Zwetser once more, Metallica tribute or not) he keeps rewinding his moment with his hero. Tijmen, Kees and Alicia are already long gone then. We meet again at a great breakfast, being spoiled doesn’t really get used to :lol: We need battery cables to fire up Axel’s MX5 cabrio, I bring Jelle and Tom to their car at the municipal hall (the boys head out to De Zwarte Cross for Airbourne and ’77) and I deliver everybody home. Nice cold grenadine red for my return home, wash, shave, MRU. I get a PM from Thirza stating the Obituary backdrop had been stolen, as if I ever needed another go at a big banner after Tongeren Metal Fest; I’d get caught again :lol: Besides, I would never do anything to harm Obituary nor such a great festival, now being the longest running metal festival in Holland, outlasting Dynamo Open Air AND Wãldrock. It was a blast, next year a sure return. To a refurbished Buze, hopefully keeping the grass stage present as well. Just as it started in 1995, four friends inviting metal bands on the grass porch of De Buze. I hope so. This has been the coolest Stonehenge so far, I think. Friends, beer, exceptional programming, great weather, violent pits and plenty of headbangers. Plenty of photo moments as well, I will pull up another Photobucket entry. For metal!!!

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:20 am 
 

Dokk'Em Open Air 2014 feat. Death DTA, Metal Church, Annihilator

This is the ninth edition of the small, cozy and often wet ;) Dokk’Em Open Air. The best part of this festival is… it’s size, it’s programming, it’s prizes, what else? This is one of the festivals where you can actually see all kinds of bands on a small stage, some 3,000 visitors. I wanted to go, see if I could find my bosom friend Herman (haven't seen in him in two years :( ) once more, see Death DTA again, meet up with my northern friends and so on. Like an old Dynamo Open Air shirt the motto ‘no stars, just talent’. I liked the idea from their earliest days on. First time, 2002, some metalhead friends who shared their passion for Iron Maiden got their heads together and got Paul Di’Anno to headline their little private feast. Over the years the festival grew only a little bit, by adding sponsors and support from Amstel Beer, Large Popmerchandising, Aardschok and Rock Tribune. It always has been a diverse festival, death metal, thrash, power, black, international, regional, whatever you like. I bought myself a weekend ticket, kinda knew Ron and Marit would join me and got Tom a Saturday ticket. For M.O.D. haha, he’s still angry I didn’t notice S.O.D. to him… 1999 (…)

I worked at home, cleaned my kitchen, shaved and took a shower before Ron and Marit entered. I cooked them a meal of which I was positively thanked! Always nice to take care for someone. For the first time ever the weather would be great! Marit just got her driving license (Congrats!!) and she offered to drive. Good for her experience and a thank you for all the driving I did for them. Some rain on the way to Dokkum didn’t interfere much, as we could camp dry. Fine. Beer opened, tents raised, just a cozy joint of friends. Paul, Arend and Marcel soon joined and the beer was gone in minutes, so it seemed :) But raising a tent during Carach Angren did not push me to bigger speeds, come close I missed every single band playing there! Only band I got to see was Annihilator, as I didn’t have a weekend ticket only for the beers, right? Annihilator played the tent to pulp. It was amazing to see thrash veteran Jeff Waters go to the limit, huge grin on his face, spreading thrash goodiegoodie!! We loved it!! Sound was clear and loud, audience going off their rocker. I met Lange Robert, telling me I had missed a great show by Vicious Rumors. Met the other cruise survivors Jurre, Bart and the Friesians (again, I am a sucker with names) and Henk, telling me he’s joining Jurre and Bart next year to Miami. Cool!!

A nice and quiet rest was what I needed, but even with the ear plugs in I heard Reign in Blood about four times… A nice breakfast provided by Marit was welcome, I took care of the coffee (ouch! Hot!). Again, meeting up with Henk we drank our HJs before noticing the first bands had already played. How’s that possible, it’s such a small festival? Anyway first band that I sure was interested in was Nocturnus (AD), the death metal pioneers of the early nineties. I had seen the band touring with Bolt Thrower (in Hoorn, of all places) in 1991 and remember their weirdness. Weirdness can be a quality, I think I enjoyed this as much as I remembered those early death metal days. One band had to cancel last minute, so I texted Tom to speed up, as M.O.D. was to start at 15:00 instead of 15:30. To be sure of my good place in the pit, I already bashed in as Aren’t You Hungry ripped the tent to pieces. Tom, Jelle and Axel soon joined me in a vicious pit, offered to us by a hungry looking Billy Milano and a band on fire. They also played:
- Get a Real Job
- Imported Society
- one off Gross Misconduct
- True Colors
- Thrash or Be Thrashed
- Let Me Out
- Living in the City (Fear cover S.O.D. used to play too)
- Fuck The Middle East
- Kill Yourself
- Milano Mosh
- Fist Banging Mania
- Speak English or Die (for once without the Raining Blood piece)

Never seen Tom sweat so early in a set haha. This. Was. Cool. Period. Actually, this was soooo cool I needed some time out, and lay down for about an hour. I missed Freedom Call and Troll this way, I couldn’t care less. Freedom Call is one of the few bands ever played Dokk’Em before, didn’t like it then. This gives another insight: the festival is so small not many bands get the chance to play themselves to death on festivals like Graspop… over and over again…

I spotted some 10 minutes of MaYaN, I really wanted to see more as I really like the first album, but the new material hasn’t landed yet. Sort of disappointed I went outside again, met more friends and waited for Napalm Death to roll up the fanatic crowd. What a victory for the Birmingham grinders! My shin bones are both blue, arms heavy, neck twisted, I think I squashed my ribs too… and loved it. I gasped for breath during following Gamma Ray, after M.O.D. and Napalm Death I simply wasn’t in for power metal, nor high vocals, happy metal or whatever I can think of. I do have some GR material, like it to a certain degree but simply wasn’t ready for it; plus: more death metal to follow! Death DTA veni, vidi, vici. I didn’t write all titles, but Flattening of Emotions, Leprosy, Left to Die, Suicide Machine, Spiritual Healing and Spirit Crusher were enough to excite us all. This show was a tremendous tribute to Chuck’s legacy once more. Marit bought a shirt (I haven’t even been near the merch stands at all, but met Kimberly working in one) and Ron was very happy to have seen this show. He’s more of a punk/goth long gone past, but highly appreciated Death. Seeing the Dokk’Em leaflet I noticed I missed Arkona too, but you can’t have it all, right? Metal Church was the final band of the festival (even though the leaflet has logos from Death and Annihilator, the others ‘just mentioned’; who’s the real headliner now :shocked: ?) and the audience braced for impact once more. Me too, but I was tired to the blue bone and left after Ton of Bricks, Start The Fire and Generation Nothing. Stone drunk as I hadn’t eaten since my excellent breakfast… I slept until Ron awoke me near midday, the couple had already picked up the car and was busy packing. I rushed to get my tent in the car and opted for coffee… needed so hard I forgot to check if the festival terrain was open (just like the year before) and told Marit the first Macca would be in Harlingen. She desperately needed a (clean) toilet, definitely no dirty Dixie ;) . Macac workers can be such douches, I certainly didn’t order fries but a side salad (got both) and she didn’t want my € 50 note? Money = money, right? No, if I could use my pin, please?? Sigh.

Marit brought me home, laundry, shower and an offer to help me with my garden… good to have caring, nozy neighbors Next year’s Dokk’Em Open Air is already on the calendar, as the new date is set for June 19th and 20th. We will be there! Rain or shine!! Metal!!

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:21 am 
 

Neurotic Deathfest 2014, feat. Massacre, Terrorizer, Dark Angel, Suffocation

Neurotic Deathfest, my pinpoint death metal feast/fest of the year, is here again. Typing this I grin, for all the fun I had, the people I met and the innumerable beers I shared. On board I already spoke to Alex and his mom if we’d be in the same hotel as always. No, no Auberge this year. Daniel had arranged we could crash at our mutual friend Jordi’s house. All of us? Yeah, no problem. I got early bird tickets for me and Tom, Axel had his own early enough and if I’m correct Maarten (Vet) got his ticket for his birthday. Daniel would come by train, Maarten and Axel joined us. If Jordi would be able to attend as much as we did, no idea as he’s recovering from Pfeiffer’s Disease; let him decide for himself when to go. No alcohol for him anyway, as his liver is infected now. I had taken the Friday and Monday off, so I had all the time I would need for packing, checking, laundry and this review. But as I always want a spare key to my car at all time and not bring all keys, [little leather bag with just the car key] I had locked myself out on Friday. I needed my buuf’s help to get in my own house; Axel had more luck with the wooden stick than me :lol: We’d drive early, inpilzen at Jordi’s and then off… I had thought the HJ would be a surprise to Jordi, but I remembered too late
a. One crate of HJ isn’t that much
b. Four Westfriesians in my car
c. Drive for nearly two hours
d. Jordi couldn’t drink anyway
e. Yeah, you get it… the HJ was nearly decimated when I parked my car near Jordi’s house.
At least I had two beers before we’d get the wrist band and off to the first band: Aborted. We had had no traffic jams at all, but managed to miss the first bands anyway. No harm done, as Aborted went in HARD!! A huge and fierce pit emerged, but I just watched. I wanted to save my energy a bit, as it would be a long weekend whatsoever. Already met my friends Nol, Johan, Alex, Pim (supergoomba), Marcel, Bart, Chris and some other 70K survivors so the beers went in smoothly. We even made a compilation picture of all 70K survivors we could find :) Not too long though, as Massacre was about to begin. Massacre was a macabre mass murder massacre.. they KILLED TOTALLY!!! I got Rick Rozz’s setlist (THANKSSSS!!!)
- As We Wait
- Defeat Remains
- Succubus
- False Revelation
- Dawn of Eternity (is Philthy present?)
- Biohazard
- Succumb to Rapture
- Back From Beyond
- Corpse Grinder (not on the set list, I think they played several songs three times faster than the original ones :lol: )
I left the big hall totally satisfied and a bit sweaty, heading out to the second stage for Kraanium. I remembered the name from two years ago (3?? Could be as well) when my long time friend René was totally surprised by this band. To be honest, I couldn’t do so much with the deathcore-ish music and left after three, four songs. Got an SMS from Daniel, due to train hell he had missed Massacre. Damned. Back to the big hall (third stage would be only on Saturday and Sunday) as Shirenc Plays Pungent Stench. I still have not much feelings with this man, his band, his past or his future, but he got a second (third? Fourth?) chance: it sounded like Autopsy (and that’s good) but totally lacking the fire or gore Reifert and Co. bring (and that’s bad!!). A few fans drop to their knees in awe, but those fans sure don’t interest us. We talk about the coming summer and the years to come, see where we end up… I even went back to Kraanium for a second, see if René did show up. Haven’t seen him all weekend :/ A few minutes later I found out God Macabre was already checking their sound, and wow, this was a lot better than I knew beforehand. The smaller venue is absolutely packed and band and audience make it remarkable: full blown blackened death metal like old Dimmu, some hint to Carcass as well. I loved it. Around that time I got surprised by Tom as he showed me a NDF 2014 shirt, but as I already had bought one he got me a Massacre shirt instead. Thanks a lot my friend, I wear it proudly.

I have not seen the entire God Macabre set as I wanted a good place for Terrorizer. Not to mention I had promised Lee Harrison a beer so I went up there with a few beers… and got the guitar pick ;). Some dude showed me the setlist he’d got:
- After World Obliteration
- Storm of Stress
- Fear of Napalm
- Human Prey
- Corporation Pull-in
- Strategic Warheads
- Condemned System
- Resurrection
- Enslaved By Propaganda
- Need to Live
- Ripped to Shreds
- Injustice
- Whirlwind Struggle
- Infestation
- Dead Shall Rise
- Infernal Death
- World Downfall
- Hordes of Zombies
- Crematorium
- State of Mind
AWESOME!!! Friggin’cool!!! Wow, what a madness in front of the stage. My elbow is now the size of a football, same colour but not as flexible ;) Picture of the setlist taken, I got the pick with a little help from other Terrorizer fans and bar personnel (gratitude!!). The big hall was sweeped clean as the sweat was still hanging in the air, but it wasn’t over yet. Prostitute Disfigurement headlined the small hall and it seems every Terrorizer fan that still could stand, was there. The small hall exploded with joy and a fierce gig was the result. Time for a showarma and afpilzen at Jordi’s… Jordi had brought some beers his brother had brewed and I can assure you, that made EVERY light go out :lol:

Breakfast went down hard, but it stayed in. I don’t know if Tom had as much problems with his eggs and bread as I had, but that can happen :roll: We decided to get some groceries for Jordi and ourselves a fresh crate of HJ and inpilzen begun. Axel soon found a GTA game that annoyed me after a while and sat outside in the sun for a while. Maarten, Daniel and me decided to go walking to 013, the weather was so beautiful we could use some vitamin D… On the way to the venue I spotted Shane Embury and gave him a copy of the God To Be EP, see what happens… We might see the opening band as well, and we were glad we did. Funerus is a three piece (two men, one female) doom death band that reminded me a lot of Acrostichon (including vocals by Jill, see comments on this http://youtu.be/S4I-aEF5YWI ;) ), Autopsy and Asphyx. You can imagine I liked this band a lot :) very blunt, überheavy and pretty cool to watch. The small hall had Cytotoxin, the smallest hall had Abnormality. If I would watch two, three songs by Cytotoxin I would move on to Abnormality, as Daniel really wanted to see this we split up. But somehow I never got pass the first hall, the blunt as an apple grind/death with pig squeals rocked, but the lights shooed me off. I chose to have a few beers with Pim, later Marcel and Bart before entering the big hall for the final goodbye tour of Brutal Truth. The band begun with Denial of Existence, always a good start so to speak. During the pleurisherrie that followed we talked about finetuning the sound after a missed break, but hey! It’s Brutal Truth we’re talking about. Again, Kevin didn’t shed blood, but the sight of the band is great. Time for ribs and the usual remark ‘Axel = KUT’ hahaha

We had no idea what band would begin after this, left the leaflet in the locker… but seeing capoeira kids during Cerebral Bore made us leave the small hall. Despised Icon made us leave the big hall within three songs, this is simply too full for my liking. The medium hall would host Hour of Penance, so I’d get a rematch (missed them on NDF once, missed them with Cannibal Corpse because of that alternator). The band had been pushed to my memory by Red Erik, but I haven’t seen him all weekend. OK, Erik, thanks for the tip, I liked this superfast and pretty heavy mix of Gorod, Behemoth and Krisiun. The medium hall was packed, but this way I missed Beneath. Daniel did see them, if I remember correctly. I was eagerly waiting for Skinless anyway. Even Deathcore Tim showed up for them, but strangely enough I was totally underimpressed. Not tight, no interaction with the crowd, sound could have been harder as well. Looking at older setlists at setlist.fm made me feel a bit uncomfortable as well, as my favorite Skinless album hardly gets onto the setlist and I’m not the biggest fan of Foreshadowing Our Demise….

Not that I care too much about one show that’s below par, but I managed to miss the entry of one of my reasons to go to NDF anyway… the grin of Frank Mullen and the bluntness © of S.U.F.F.O.C.A.T.I.O.N…. From A to Z I went totally off my rocker, heard songs I wanted to hear but didn’t write them down, I was flying once more… heard As Grace Descends, Pierced From Within and Entrails of You, not aware of any place in the set, not aware of my black and blue elbows, not aware of my once-white-now-mostly-filth-coloured Municipal Waste shirt.. I had to drench my head before I would join Axel to the other end of the toilet spectrum.. Gutalax!! Beukt lekker door, or else ‘Boert lekker door’ haha Burp burp blurchhh burp burp blurchhh. It was fun. Axel bought a shirt Jacqueline is not going to like :lol: Time for afpilzen at the afterparty in rock café Little Devil and to my surprise the entire band Terrorizer showed up. Had a conversation with Sam Molina, had a beer with Lee once more and we’re off.

A breakfast that went down much easier than yesterday was the beginning of the Sunday. Today the main hall would host the return of Dark Angel to Holland finally and the smaller halls had a lot of bands I had never seen before. So.. take the car and let’s get surprised or blown away. First band did surprise me, but not in the right manner. Fleshless was senselessly boring me with goregrind (had expected something more Swedish or something? I don’t know). Surprise number two: Warpath!! The band plays a tight death / thrash mix, bringing back great memories of Destruction, old Cannibal Corpse and Dismember to the brain, and some sure damage to my neck. How blunt can a four man pit be? I’ve seen some very strange angles of arms and necks, incredible! But I have a small problem, I don’t know which of the nine Warpaths mentioned on Metal Archives it is!! See what this link does http://www.neuroticdeathfest.com/bands-lineup/warpath/ (or how long it will last :/). At least now I have a setlist of a band I probably haven’t seen, but Metal Archives has the right info as well.. it was Dehumanized. Daniel had seen them, they played between Skinless and Suffocation.

Back to the big hall for Grave. I stayed halfway the stairs this time, I had found some friends and band members once more and had a great view of the band. I thought they could have used a louder volume, but it seems the volume has been brought down anyway, anywhere. A nice cross of the entire Grave discography followed but the audience did close to nothing. Few headbangers, one person wanting to start the pit (Jelle? Tijmen also showed up today). Last three songs finally some action spread. I really liked the sound I heard for You’ll Never See, Into The Grave and Morbid Ascent. I suggested the boys to get another go at the spare rib and burger restaurant and a great, greasy thick burger followed by a nice chat with Tom, Axel and Pim. As I had paid yesterday, it’s Tom’s turn now and back to the smallest hall for Lucifericon (that band that played on the CD release party of The Rommel Chronicles but we missed). This band, my readers, is a sordid mix of Sodom and Deströyer 666 but on amphetamines!! Their slower parts are nearly as heavy as Asphyx – The Rack!!! Maybe that’s why I was joined by Wannes (Pentacle), Twan (Legion of the Damned) and Henri (Soulburn, ex-God Dethroned). GREATTTTT!!! See what I mean: http://youtu.be/zVTC7aOqLp4 or try www.facebook.com/lucifericon . But what a deception follows: Pestilence in the big hall. I’d say ‘totally bloodless’ but it gets worse: Mameli is totally not interacting with the crowd, arrogance is not unknown here, but this needs a little humble approach! You play, not for the first time, on the biggest indoor extreme metal fest of the world, get a nice place on the bill, see what bands will follow there, don’t just expect a full blown madness! I even walked away during a song off Consuming Impvlse!!! [Process of Suffocation…] This was 27 strings of dullness! Apathy! Desinterest! I was really, really pissed off!!

Good thing was: the organization of the festival had announced the 2 minute silence for Commemoration Day, it nearly got entirely silence. Only a few French boofs risked getting kicked out :roll: We decide to hit Pentagram Chile first, might see Bloodtruth as well. On Pentagram Chile I can say ‘was it grind or was it death’ and ‘OK’ and on Bloodtruth I think ‘if they let go the overdose of slam it’s quite fun to hear’. I got to see some Cancer songs as well, but wasn’t really impressed enough to write it down *I’m sorry Daniel*. Thanks to my pictures I knew I had seen them briefly, standing just outside the medium hall, but with such smoke machines present they’re not really good pictures. I had not much interest in Gorguts, so I chilled outside with Maarten for a while. Good times remembered. But don’t, don’t enter too late, right? The LA Caffeine Machine was bound to headline the festival (even though they’re on the second row of the shirt), one short conversation with the Dutch metal musicians before Dark Angel finally returned to a Dutch stage… I was so thrilled… I wrote ‘Darkness Descends, We Have Arrived, The Burning of Sodom, Time Does Not Heal (with Alex into the pit), Never To Rise Again, DEATH IS CERTAIN LIFE IS NOT, one off Time… and Perish in Flames [Have I missed Merciless Death? Really? FUCKKKKK!! Friggin’toilets!]
http://youtu.be/eAayW9VJKUY I just had to, had to enter the pit during Death is Certain… so cool… so hard hitting, so tight… Only minutes after the tones of Perish in Flames could no longer bombard my ear drums we were shooed out of the hall, but not before missing a sixth guitar pick (Jim Durkin only had five, I was number six) missing the umpteenth drum stick (Gene kept throwing haha) but I did get some pictures with some unknown blokes harassing Ron Rinehart. Neurotic Deathfest was over for me, had no energy left to see Goretrade, and to be honest, also had no energy to go to the Liberation Day Freedom Fest in Wageningen (Gama Bomb, Izegrim). Pim knew he’d be able to get on Maarten’s place in my car, but as I don’t have his number (anymore?) and I’m not sure if he has mine, I couldn’t take him, or us, for the little extra metal this weekend. But… four days of drinking, bashing, talking, moshing, spare ribs, Jupiler, HJ and metal… we had fun. Neurotic Deathfest is a pleasure for anyone into extreme metal and the occasional really special appearance (Dark Angel, last tour of Brutal Truth, Massacre, Terrorizer, fill in the rest; I had ‘missed’ Deceased, Antropomorphia, Spasm, Abnormality, Beneath, Epicardiectomy, Lock Up, Malignancy, Antropofagus, Dehumanized, Cephalic Carnage, Meathook, Skullhog, Misery Index, Severe Torture and Goretrade) but I will certainly return to NDF. Invite every metalhead to Tilburg, if necessary. This was cool. Period. Metalll!!

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:23 am 
 

Tongeren Metal Fest 2014, feat. Asphyx, Angel Witch in De Velinx, Tongeren, Belgium

What started as quite a funny joke about travelling the world for Martin van Drunen’s voice, has become a Westfriesland-wide quest. So far it brought me from Grootebroek (1989), to Groningen (1992), Arnhem (2007), Norway (2008, with Tom), Baltimore (2010) to Lichtenfels (2011, with Daniel), Berlin (2012, Mikert), Ruhr area (2013, The Bovenkarspel Boys) and now Tongeren, Belgium. At first alone, later on bringing several cars full to Eindhoven, Steenwijk, Tilburg or ‘The Great Grunter In The Sky’ knows who else and where else. I love his sound, his attitude, his musicianship, his love for history and not to forget his friendship. Now we would head out to Belgium with Ching Hue and me, later on Willem and Mateusz were added. Ching Hue and Willem got the ticket from me for their birthdays, Mateusz simply wanted to be where Ching Hue celebrated his birthday. In the week before the festival I got a bit of a nervewrecking (better not be neckwrecking…) e-mail, stating we might end up with the 6 of us.. in a Volkswagen Golf Mk II?? No way! But as the Dutch law changed per January first 2014 stating ‘it is forbidden for youngsters under the age of 18 to consume alcohol or serve them alcohol’ I figured this might be the way in Belgium as well. Usually Belgium ‘walks behind Dutch or European law’ by about 10-15 years, now I checked the site… I just typed ‘Alcohol Legislation Belgium’ a bit too soon… Google can be so nasty sometimes, first entry was Dutch Trimbos Institute site.. and I called Ching Hue. Foolish herrieman72!! I first hadn’t seen the actual Belgian law still states 16 years as limit. The second part of the law held forbidding ‘dronkenmakende stoffen verstrekken aan dronken mensen’ aka serving “drinks that can make drunk” HA HA HA. Flemish is so much more a pure language than Dutch HA HA HA. Later I found out this festival was a graduation project from some Belgian art students.

We agreed I’d pick up the boys around 9 AM, drive to Tongeren, leave them there as I would fetch Darius and Marloes (not the Izegrim one ;)). Happily the time was rescheduled to 11 AM, as the Izegrim beers were quite abundant, so to speak. Coming to Enkhuizen gave me a different foul mouth, as Mateusz suddenly decided he didn’t have money. Damned. I started calling, Jelle was working, Kees didn’t answer, Tijmen happily joined us, Kees returned the call when we were driving already. It’s about a two and a half hour drive to Tongeren (20 km south of Maastricht) but the first B&B/hostel wasn’t ours? A detour without reason haha, but the second one held a surprise too, Ching Hue should have waited for a confirmation e-mail? Why? Because we’re a big group? I already could smell the Kasteel beer being served… had to wait… but in the end it worked. Only problems left: our two guests turned out three and they were still in Antwerp? Out for food then, we had waited so long we’d might miss the first band anyhow. Weird pizza was accompanied by Crystal Alken beer, that’s one of the more tasty Belgian pilsners there are… tasting very good! We came into the venue, it had a foyer bigger than the (theatre) hall? Library included? Soon we met Alwin Zuur and entered. First band we saw was Belgian thrash band Prematory; a perfect blend of Municipal Waste and Warbringer! Hey, this is cool! I decided to wander (as usual) and found out the theatre was a sort of straight amphitheater, with the stands being pushed up. I thought there would fit around 600 – 700 people there, and the stage was WIDE, wow. Plenty of room to bang our heads, make pictures and so forth. One look at the crowd and I already spotted two blokes in death metal shirts, already overly drunk, harassing people that didn’t want to pit. I turned around and I bought the Prematory CD Corrupting Influence and decided to support the band we’d missed… Predatoria. Ching Hue had checked them out on the net, I didn’t. Got a free guitar pick as well. For the FB users: https://www.facebook.com/prematoryofficial and the YT thingie: http://youtu.be/Pncea7czCbw

Second band we saw was the Belgian answer to Marduk, Saille. It was fierce black metal, but the vocals weren’t so maniacal. Singer Jonathan Vanderwal has an impressive stamina and has a lot of aggression in his singing. I liked it. Fun fact: Jonathan had a plague mask dangling from his mic stand, we were waiting for the black sombrero like hat and white costume (.. didn’t come of course ;)) This official vid has a Fleshgod Apocalypse feel to me: http://youtu.be/YuwMjt6A6QI

Of the third band I can really say I had no idea what to think. Dutch band Herder made stoner sludge with deathcore vocals? I decided to leave the boys and wander around. Outside I met the two most friendly gf’s of the band members (had met Debby before, there was Christel as well) and the two Belgian males I had least expected, one with a severe form of ADD, the other on his first leave in a 25 year sentence... Interesting. Err.. are you sure we’d hang out with them? Both were eager for a free pintje, but I’d rather talk to Paul Baayens. Where’s Axel when you need him ;) Good thing: Thanatos is in the studio nowadays, as is Asphyx! After the Asphyx show Tijmen got Paul’s pick from Willem, as Willem stated ‘I have my own guitar picks’ :lol: But Asphyx wasn’t on yet, it was Angel Witch! The band played Burn The Witch as second song, got some hands in the air, but less than I expected. I made some pictures and waited for their anthem… with the ladies once more. I think it was Christel who said ‘you’d rather practice before trying to hit the high Angel Witch notes’ *big grin*

Asphyx would headline tonight. Ahh, like msd once mentioned, it’s a pleasure seeing Martin do his sound check. It was a bit special to me as well, as this would be the second Asphyx show ever I would see without Mr. Asphyx... Bob (1994 Sander Van Hoof was playing the drums in Hoorn). Nowadays Desaster drummer Stephan Hüskens warms the stool and he does a great job. He’s taller than Bob is, so it’s much more visible what the Asphyx drummer does during a show :). And I can say: a lot. The band has doomy stuff, fast death, quite the variance in riffs and songs… yeah you know.. I love Asphyx. As before, I got a set list from Alwin (thanks!!) :
- The Quest for Absurdity
- Vermin
- Scorbutics (after this song it seems I’m part of the crew as I’m being thanked in the same sentence as the lights man, the sound man, the organizer and the rest :lol: )
- Deathhammer http://youtu.be/hcG0w-DyzO0
- MS Bismarck (Martin stops the show because of the fight that nearly starts thanks to those drunk deathheads I mentioned before ’This is no fighting music, I won’t tolerate that!’)
Martin is really angry, but for a short time only. The drunks get it the brutal way… and are thrown out. The band continues:
- Death, The Brutal Way
- We Doom You to Death
- Food For the Ignorant
- Wasteland of Terror
- Eisenbahnmörser
- Forgotten War [my goodness, this goes right through ear, brain, blood to the goose bumps!]
- The Rack (encore)
- Last One on Earth
Another KILLER show! GREAT sound! Audience eager, band on full throttle, not a bad light show also. Of course, Hüskens isn’t what you’d call a rookie (see http://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Tormentor/6193 ) and he’s totally on his place there! He throws the stick, three man grab it, I have it!! One douche complains I already got the set list, but the girls intervene :oops: ‘he caught it, it’s his and now FUCK OFF!’ Thanks ladies!! :)
Gasping for air we order our final beers and head out to rock café Sodom (Ching Hue had looked it up and Tijmen especially wore his Sodom shirt) but we meet Martin, Paul and Alwin just outside the venue. Had a nice talk about our Summer plans (Hail of Bullets plays Brutal Assault, Asphyx is working on new material) and we get somewhat introduced to Stephan as well. Cool dude. Timon and Marloes chose to get to De BeGeinhof (takes too long to explain the joke) instead of joining us to Sodom. What a cool bar is this, I had to place it on the MRU map ;) Huge paintings of AC/DC, Pulp Fiction, Black Sabbath, Reservoir Dogs and the likes fill the hall, which is surprisingly big. Huge sofas, pool table, plenty of brands of beer to choose from (we stick to Crystal Alken) and a game of darts that takes too long to finish (especially with four drunken Westfriesians and only two arrows haha) and the music could have been great if they hadn’t played Manowar every third song in. The boys have a different goal as well: the festival banners. They soon find and capture the biggest of them all, 8*2,5 meter wide… bit of hustle to get it in the Golf unseen :lol:

A short night on reasonable beds is followed by one of the worst breakfasts I ever had... tasteless bread, too young cheese, ‘only OK’ orange juice, sour milk, out of date salami and horrible coffee (so weak the cup falls).. ughh. Now I understand why we paid only € 20 per person per night… I had expected a lot of mileage today, so I asked Tijmen whether he’d be willing to drive.. at least to the first gas station for decent coffee, but he managed to get to Best (near Den Bosch) before we had great coffee and the biggest meatballs I had ever seen… was quite a gulp to down it haha. But it tasted delicious. I brought the boys home and continued my road trip to the Van Galen’s meeting (my mother’s side of the family). I think this could well be the last time all of us are together this way, both my uncles have had severe heart surgery and the youngest of the aunts is 79… great fun. Except my cousin Erik (works in Denmark now) literally EVERYBODY was there, including the boyfriends of my nieces. Funnn!! I came in about an hour later than the actual start, took an English shower (sweaty shirt off, deodorant, new shirt on, ruffled my remaining hair) :lol: and into the family I went. It was a birthday party. It was fun. It was mileage (Google Tongeren, then Enkhuizen, then Naarden and then Westwoud). It was metal. I had Asphyx, some new music and old friends. Avoiding and sharing. Very cool.

reactions on http://www.mruforums.com/f22/asphyx-ang ... est-16308/

The story goes on: I got an e-mail forwarded from Ching Hue stating 'I know you stole the banners, if you don't return them as good citizens we'll inform the police'. I think Ching Hue was 'found' through FB, I'm not sure, but I found it strange whatsoever. I bought the tickets, I wrote the review, Ching Hue hasn't even reacted on MRU yet. Me with my big mouth, trying to tell the ENTIRE tale. So.. Ching Hue admits we were antisocially drunk and will cooperate to return the [we have one, probably more were stolen] banner to Belgium. Last reaction Ching Hue got was 'I know what booze can do to ya, but you're still welcome at the next editions of Tongeren Metal Fest'. yeah right, if there ever is another Tongeren Metal Fest, I wonder what'll happen if I order tickets again. :roll:

Aftermovie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctz6lNYaxY8


Last edited by herrieman72 on Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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herrieman72
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:25 am 
 

70,000 Tons of Metal 2014, feat. Overkill, Terrorizer, Obituary, The Haunted, Carcass

70,0000 Tons of Metal 2014, from Dijkpop to Schiphol and half of the east coast of the United States in between, spanning over three quarters of a year and one midweek on a boat. A friggin’cruiseship.

Funny how time works. If you have a hard time, it takes way too long. If you have a good time (in my case, filled with metal) time runs. Periods of these speeds can vary. Typing this, being February, I know it was end of March, beginning of April 2013 I started warming Tom up if he’d join me. I had been scanning through Stach’s pictures and stories as I knew he’d already had booked a cabin for him and his wife Sue. Just after the Vanderbuyst gig at Dijkpop, I hit jack pot. Tom said he’d join me. Intoxicated I asked him ‘are you sure? ‘Cause then I will book a cabin tomorrow!’ Cheapest cabins were long sold out, we’d pay in four terms and book flights even later. With a bakkie bier ;) Summer came, PartySan discussions, soon we’d go by the four, no five of us! Maybe even seven, as the Biancas might join us from their own booking. We’d meet up at my place to book in October, some rough times for my Visa card :lol: and in November we arranged the hotel in Miami. I had already seen Amon Amarth would do a North American tour in January, decided to pick that one too. This had some advantages, as:
- We’d never miss the boat, as we were there 36 hours before boarding
- We’d meet Resevil
- Get the chance to buy a shirt (or two) which will be rare, at least in Europe. Finally a show abroad without Dutchies, we thought
- We’d see Enslaved and Skeletonwitch
- We’d see more of the state Florida than ‘just Miami’.

So.. we go! Have a beer with Stach, see Overkill with Stach, eat steaks whenever Bill Steer was around, color the Majesty of the Seas with rainbow vomit during it’s final mission, see Raven for the first time.. I was so thrilled I never bothered about nagging colleagues ‘you’re nuts, it’s expensive, you’ll drown’ etc. Go get yourself kicked, I just thought. I go to a cruise ship vacation, with friends, bands and bakkies bier! Pity I didn’t hear anything from the Biancas anymore.
Over the last couple of weeks the last bands were announced, the line up didn’t really improve much until I would get aboard. That’s of later worry, as the trip (finally) took flight. Tom and me agreed we’d never make it to drive at 4 AM, 5 AM it would be. At first we’d pack my VW Golf Mk II to the limit, but Hugo asked his father if he’d be able to drive the boys to Schiphol, I’d just take Tom and leave my car at Schiphol. Coming to Schiphol I texted Kees ‘we drive, are you already there?’ *insider joke* But Kees, Jelle (rib-basher) and Hugo thought they’d board at 7:50, instead of flying 7:50! Tom and me already were at the gate, but no sign of other Westfriesians, we boarded. Inside the plane worried stewardesses walked around ‘is there a Vandenberg?’ and I reacted. If I hadn’t, the luggage would have been taken off the plane! The flight itself was quite smooth. I soon found there’s AC/DC, Black Sabbath and a whole bunch of cool movies aboard (both long flight held at least Frankenweenie, Cars 2, Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters, Ratatouille and hundreds of different action movies, horror, Disney, name it. At first I thought we had about an hour and a half at Detroit, but it turned out we’d have to repack our luggage to the Miami flight. I’d rent a car big enough for all five and all luggage, but had not expected to drive a full blown Chevrolet Tahoe (…). Eat in Miami first, so thanks to our first cab driver Paul we had excellent Five Guy Burgers, even leaving a thank you message ‘5 Dutch guys, 5 great burgers, we needed that!’. From first coffee at my place to checkin’in at the Mariott Biscayne (not the Mariott Stach was in ;)) it was 19 hours straight… We also decided to get us some beers, but had to drink those from plastic foam cups and returned to the hotel. Mistake. There was a party going on, OK they played some rock music, but these people had been to the Shiprocked cruise. Loudest band 5FDP, so to speak, and the bar personnel completely ignored us (thrashers, death heads, Westfriesian pit crew, whatever). I freaked out and together we drank one six pack of HJ I had brought for Resevil and Stach (I still had one left). We tucked in. First day in America was over (Kees hadn’t flown before, Jelle’s first trip over the Atlantic, the rest of us had been there before).

Breakfast is excellent at the Mariotts, but we didn’t know it was charged to our room.. so we’d eat somewhere else the next day. We took a cab to Miami Beach, swim in the ocean, walked on Ocean drive, between parading cars of cash. I don’t think I even saw one single AMC Pacer ;) but the Lambo’s and Ferrs were abundant. The boys could have a drink, I ‘d drive to Fort Lauderdale as Hugo has a twisted shoulder. We rented a satnav as well, but it (or me) turned into a StomStom; we’d took three detours to get to the Revolution. We ate there, took my first plunge into a box office and lined up for tonight’s show. Only minutes after entering Skeletonwitch already begun and already found the first Dutchmen! Shared a beer with Lange Robert and Chris, I like the band too, but Tom said ‘Kindergarten Thrash’. Once in while I went outside to see if Res would be there yet, he showed up just before the end of the Skeletonwitch show. Meeting Jason was cool, we saw Enslaved together. The band has turned much more to an Opeth / Alcest route, hardly any black metal anymore. I liked the music a lot, but the lights made me sour. Funny, the lights weren’t that much different during the Amon Amarth show, but this time I hardly had problems with the spinning or flashing lights. This is what I wrote
- recent song
- Deceiver of the Gods
- Death in Fire (the venue was oversold, couldn’t reach the pit AGAIN, glad Res did ;))
- Free Will Sacrifice
- As Loke Falls
- new one
- Runes to my Memory (I thought, leave it to setlist.fm; first song was Father of the Wolf, second newbie We Shall Destroy)
- Varyags of Miklagard
- Last Stand of Frej (texting Daniel :) )
- Guardians of Asgard (shouting my eusophagus lame)
- Shape Shifter (Jelle bashing himself to sweat / blood and Hugo is near collapse)
- Warriors of the North
- Destroyer of the Universe (my voice: peep squeak peep)
- Cry of the Black Birds
- War of the Gods
- Twilight of the Thunder God (first encore, but I need water .Paid $10?? This way tipping is a crime to me!)
- Pursuit of Viking (entire venue shaking)
This was GOOODDDDD!!! The Revolution can hold some 2,000 visitors, but I later heard they sold at least 200 tickets more than that. It was PACKED, it sometimes took ages to get to the bar. Anyway, this was cool. The sound was pretty good too. After the show Res and me met another time, handing him the Enslaved patch we spoke for nearly an hour. But we were getting tired, Floridans and Westfriesians alike. I decided to get some beers from a 24-hour-market and off to bed. We need to board freshly!

At the airport it was said we could leave the car at the pier, but we never found out where. So.. deliver the car at the airport, eat at Subway’s (every day a burger? I think not) and take a cab to the ship. I already spotted Stach in the first line and exchanged some gifts (Vanderbuyst LP vs. Wisconsin cow :) ). There’s Heineken to be shed! During the fire drill we already met some USOSDM heads (e-mail addresses of Todd, John and Nigel spread later). With Stach we wanted to see the first band of the festival and in the Spectrum Lounge played Swashbuckle! Fierce thrash, nice show going on, loads of groove and Stach already got his first painting signed. The ship already left the harbor and the Westfriesians ate. Second band was Soilwork in The Chorus Line Theatre; the band clearly had the fire and the wits, sound is excellent but I wasn’t in for it. I’m in for OVERKILL!!! I had brought Stach’ collection of Neckwreckers patches (another thank you!!) and this would be the first time anyone near a stage saw it! Overkill went full throttle. All I wrote down was This is It, Wrecking Crew, Electric Rattlesnake. Let’s just say ‘I quit writing’ after that, as the pit was fierce, the band in top shape, sound was amazing, band going nuts, audience freaking out. Of course Fuck You was played last. What. A. Killer. Show!!! I thought I needed to lie down for about half an hour as Raven was up next, but Tom awoke me way after midnight.. he had seen Raven, he liked the audience but couldn’t do much with the vocals. Obituary rocked the boat, he said. No Atrocity, Cynic, Finntroll, Xandria or Twilight of the Gods for me, but even before breakfast I’d get baffled: TERRORIZER was added to the bill. Because of my long night’s sleep I was totally awake around 5:30 AM and started wandering a bit. Saw the karaoke, was kinda fun, but the male was too drunk and the female wanted a proposal sober… I even made a picture of a deserted Chorus Line Theatre.

Anyway, breakfast was amazing. Fresh fruit, all kinds of bread and bagels, eggs in all forms, meat, cheeses, anything. Not to forget: good coffee! Strange idea, isn’t it, hearing Bathory on a cruise ship and Derek Taylor is only 10 m away... with his wife. I waited until their plates were empty and thanked him for a great show, he said ‘yeah, you kinda look familiar’ *hug* :blush: (of only two fierce pit in two years or the fact he’d seen me with Stach near stage? In the middle, something, I was happy). I was quite overwhelmed even before 8 AM and decided to pick up my MP3 player and the fresh Pratchett in the Schooner Bar. Hail of Bullets also went with me ;). Merchandising would be sold for the first time, but that was Chaos with capital CCCC-DAMNED!! I waited 2,5 hours until Ultimate Music Cruises Inc decided the 70K shirts would be sold from the shop deck! Even endangering themselves more as they had no XL Mayan shirts, no longsleeves, bye bye Shipwrecked With Obituary shirt and no XXXL shirt for Jelle! I refused to get back in line, manager nearby, trying hard to calm me, ughhh!!! Time for a beer and a band. Swallow The Sun played doom with both keys and acceleration and even some technical stuff! This was pretty OK, but not the entire set, as Terrorizer was about to blow my eardrums away. Pete Sandoval seems to be reborn Christian AND out of Morbid Angel now, but the animal inside surely isn’t tamed. Lee Harrison of Monstrosity is in too, there’s another animal on stage! Together with my Amsterdam Noord gappie Amy we watched The. Entire. World Downfall. Album. Being. Played, ending with Dead Shall Rise, Infernal Death and World Downfall. Not a single stroke from the Hordes of Zombies album heard. Even Dino Cazares gave the thumbs up. What a big difference lies ahead: Leave’s Eyes on Pool Deck. It’s both dreamy and … sobering. Strange, to add the word sobering to a stroll with Lange Robert, he’s the one with the beer glasses shrinking to finger caps in his big hands, but as there’s ABSOLUTELY nobody in the Chorus Line when Septicflesh is playing we head to the Spectrum Lounge together. And sweat everything bad out. Why? Dirty Fucking Slaying Pitting Rotten Imbeciles!!!! This is the KILLER list:
- Application
- How To Act
- Commuter Man
- Thrashard
- Who Am I
- Slumlord
- Dead in a Ditch
- Suit’n’Tie Guy
- Probation
- Wages of Sin
- Snap/Sleepin;
- Syringes in the Sandbox
- Madman
- Couch Slouch
- Acid Rain
- Soup Kitchen
- A Coffin
- I Don’t Need Society
- All for Nuthin’
- Manifestinity
- Beneath the Wheel
- Abduction
- Violent Pasteurization
Actually, I got both setlists from bass player Harald Oimien, but that was on the last day. Jelle has one, copied, I have two, originals. Even stating: ‘This set © 2014 DRI Inc. Do not steal this before end of show’ :lol: also: ‘70 million Tons of Crossover’ :lol:
Here’s Jelle: http://youtu.be/6B0DEEe76N4
all of us involved: http://youtu.be/mX044c887hA (3:47 who’s going against the circle pit once more? :lol: ). Even Todd showed up, entirely at the last seconds of this YT.
We might even have encountered the first Mexican MRU members Alejandro and Ruben… D.R.I. was amazing. Madness. Massacre. Crossover or death. Haha, another big sweep in feel coming up: The Church of Pungent Stench. It sounded like metalcore to me, within two songs I had enough, soon found Roman Hödl and Pete Sandoval. Nice chats, dudes!

I wandered once more. I knew The Haunted was scheduled on Pool Deck in minutes, but decided to say on the balcony. From behind the drum kit I saw Chris, Kees, Hugo and Tom freak out on the set I will describe (it was wrapped in a bottle and thrown to me on request :mrgreen: by singer Marco Aro :mrgreen: ) now:
- Hate Song
- 99
- The Flood
- The Medication (on the list these two last songs appeared the other way round)
- D.O.A.
- Trespass
- All Against All
- My Enemy
- Hollow Ground
- Infiltrator
- No Compromise
- Shadow World
- Eye of the Storm
- Dark Intentions
- Bury Your Dead
- The Guilt Trip
Very cool. Kees told me to put in the review: ‘Marco Aro HAS The GRIN’ Indeed. Meeting half of D.R.I. later on the cruise, I must say he wasn’t the only one. D.R.I. HAS The GRIN. Kees HAS The GRIN. I HAVE The GRIN. To be seen on so many pictures :lol:

I was getting hungry and ended up in the Starlight Dinner club. I had excellent dining guests (Germans that have moved to the States) but the Aberdeen Angus beef was way too small to be sure it actually was Aberdeen. Tasted great though ;). I couldn’t linger as Cripper was up next and meeting Monika before that show was one of the warmest encounters I had all week. Simone soon showed up and with Kees we enjoyed a fierce thrash/death set, Angela Gossow long forgotten. Not only does singer Britta Görtz look better, she has more power, more variation, more stage attitude. Even some new material showed up. http://youtu.be/ZkWhPNoDRpM Pity the Spectrum lounge was only filled for about a third, this was very good! [I missed their second show, but the lounge was a lot fuller then, I heard]

Boozily and nourishingly refreshed, we headed outside for Fear Factory. The band would do an integral show of the Demanufacture album, but before that Dino already recognized me :o and started talking about the 1993 tour with Brutal Truth, surprising me even more :). The band goes full speed ahead, but I must admit Burton C. Bell has lost some of his vocal reach, it’s not that big-a-deal. During the Carcass show that followed I ran into Burton. Burton also remembered touring Europe (’20 something shows in Holland alone’ haha, there were only 4 in The Netherlands, the rest was Belgium and Germany) quite a nice conversation going ;). Carcass in Chorus Line Theatre was musically perfect as usual, but soundwise there was room for improvement. The sound was a bit shrill sometimes, later on even a bit muffled and the images of executed people didn’t improve my mood. That’s why I went away during This Mortal Coil. I was over the top drunk, needed to sit alone for a while, pick up my Grand Supreme Blood Court MP3s and lay down. No Orphaned Land, no Izegrim, no Death DTA, certainly no Haggard and shamefully, no Massacre for me today. Bands would be playing until 4:30, but I slept at midnight. Tom soon followed.

I awoke before 6 AM, my brain twisted. I felt as if I had hung there in that Carcass vid. After a stroll from Pool Deck (deck 12), walking up to Guest Interaction (deck 4) I decided to hit the sack for a second. I slept about another hour before I had an excellent breakfast. Mexico it would be today, but the ship would enter Mexican grounds at noon? This late? How long do we have for exploring the Mayan temple? Or should we just hang around? Tom and me found Lange Robert and decided not to enter the line for departing. We sat at Pool Deck, with a beer in hand, sun tan lotion nearby, and had a great chat with Job Bos, the Dutch replacement keyboarder for Satyricon. Hadn’t seen any Satyricon all week lol. On Kees’advice we entered beyond Windjammer deck for a really, really great burger and fries at Johnny Rocket’s, even though it wasn’t included (?). About Mexico I can be short: with the three boozers from Holland we didn’t get beyond the first bar. I got asked three times about the Passiondale shirt I wore ‘We died in hell, they called it Passiondale’, bar personnel and animation girls alike so I bought a Señor Frog shirt ‘I’m not drunk, I’m experimenting with C2H5OH (a.k.a beer)’ for me and Tom. I had some venomous-green-and-black wrist bands made, which even surprised Bobby Blitz and his wife Annet. Now I know how he ‘ik spreek een beetje Nederlands’. We weren’t even late re-entering the ship, as Obituary was opening on Pool Deck. Lange Robert is a long time friend of the Tardy Brothers and Trevor Perez, here’s what happened:
- Redneck Stomp
- Intoxicated
- Immortal Visions (just described as ‘one off Slow’) haha
- Bodybag
- John shouts: ‘Do you want to hear the new number four’? BIGGG Cheers
- Donald screams: ‘Another new song?’ People looking happily at each other as the band plays uptempo for their own likings, it’s sharp as a razor as well
- Chopped in Half/Turned Inside Out as medley
- Trevor asks: ‘how’bout a newie?’ Very blunt, very Cause of Death like song!
- Back to One
- The End Complete
- Slowly We Rot (just missed the plectrum by less than a millimeter, so I do decide to get a Florida Death Metal shirt; the Shipwrecked ones are long gone. There were only 200 to begin with, some already sold at Obituary’s last show before the cruise :/ )
Walking to the Moonlight lounge for the Classic-Three-Obituary-albums shirt I get a 3 minute glimpse of Cynic. I ran the last part to Moonlight Lounge :S as I hated this so much. So strange, two death metal bands (at least, in the beginning) , two so absolute different views of bands and me… weird. Returning from the cabin I got to see Hatesphere for about two songs. I liked it a lot, but wanted to brush my teeth and started walking again. I ran into Stach and Donald Tardy and had a great time beering with them. But it wasn’t only about beering. Soon I gathered up the Westfriesians, and anyone else I could find to join me to the Massacre show. More than half the death metal musicians showed up, Terry Butler going wilder than during his Obituary show, beering with Dino and Donald, songs like Succubus early in the set, new material passed by, sound was over the top, Dawn of Eternity (where’s Xeon when you need him :)), Biohazard, new tune, From Beyond, Back from Beyond (title track to the new album). I waited after the show, let them breath for a sec, got a set list, all men signed it, and two plectrums from Terry Butler! :lol: FANBOY :lol: …so… here is the setlist:
- As We Wait
- Defeat Remains
- Succubus
- False
- Dawn of Eternity
- Biohazard
- From Beyond
- Back From Beyond
- Corpsegrinder
- Mutilation
Once again, I had to recuperate a bit and went to pick up another shirt. Wearing one of my Neurotic Deathfest I ran into Lee Harrison, totally freaking us both out, me because of the cool picture, he because he could mention Terrorizer is announced for Neurotic!! We meet again, Lee! After such good news I strolled up to the Carcass- and Dark Tranquility shows, but I should have known better. Totally drunk, filled with emotion and off to bed. I had not heard Tom return, when I got up around eight to meet the Skullcrushers (Germans Torsten and Sandra) and Neckwreckers (Stach, me and some dude in an Overkill hockey shirt) aboard. It’s definitely a cool set of pictures, but it rained. Actually, it was a tropical storm. All Pool Deck shows had been moved to the Chorus Line, totally screwing up the schedule of that venue. I needed a quiet breakfast, but nearly the entire band Izegrim sat next to me, Robert and Kick (Aardschok photographer). Funny to talk about a band I know, but not really remember how the (non-Jeroen or non-Marloes)-band members look like, stating ‘I’m Dutch and I’m sure as hell not gonna miss the one Dutch band aboard again!’. I shouldn’t have worried, as Izegrim was scheduled first band in Spectrum Lounge. Funny to see the band go nuts next to a Bingo-board hahaha.. so.. more fanboy-ness, a setlist:
- Relic of the Past
- My Secret Society
- Deathstrip http://youtu.be/MuseOFsFlAg (this vid is actually from their first set)
- Victim of Honor (Marloes joking ‘the sea rocks the ship, we rock the ship harder’ I yell ’Dancing Queeeeen!’ she replies ‘Let’s play some disco then!’ :lol:
- Deliverance
- Endless Strife
- Celebratory Gunfire
- World Power or Downfall http://youtu.be/TpaimL_e5rI (first set also)
My goodness. What a great band. Rhythm guitarist Jeroen Wechgelaar could count my fillings time after time, shouting my crowns out… During the Izegrim I finally meet up with Tom again, he stated ‘Raven, nice pit but can’t ever get used to the singing, November’s Doom is even blunter and deathier than in Belgium as Paul Kuerten has lost over 50 kg and Terrorizer destroyed.’ Noted. Stories go around about the week so far at another visit to Johnny’s. Not too long though, as Poltergeist is up next in the Spectrum Lounge. I had a tape once, long lost but not forgotten and my wishes were granted: Writing on the Wall and Behind The Mask as first two songs. During Doing My Job I went out to arrange some financial stuff for Jelle (he couldn’t use his PIN) but that went downhill for me instantly. In a mix of coincidence, emotion, frustration and one single date (last logged in 24 januari 2014, 12:26 ) I totally lost it. I felt like dying, as this date is the exact date, up to the minute, my brother died 35 years ago. To the minute!! My emotions plunged even more as I got the chance to express my deepest love and friendship for someone, entire band around, meeting Kees, Hugo and Jelle along with John Tardy.. met the Hannover ladies once more… I needed water, I needed rest, I needed my parents. Only during the Raven show that followed I calmed down, just to find out Raven seriously kicked ass, I saw half of D.R.I. AND Carcass going nuts on Raven, discussing my and Jelle’s denim with Harald Oimien and Kurt Brecht in a Dennis Bergkamp shirt. Awesome!! I felt so relieved to know this form of friendship and comradeship, I wasn’t even thinking back to the previous Death – DTA show I had seen. I greatly enjoyed the set, the performance and especially the interview with Chuck on big screen.. it was so comforting to hear Chuck’s voice again I knew this tour is not just a moneymachine, but a true tribute to a great artist and his legacy. As the smoke machine didn’t stop at all I just heard these:
- Flattening of Emotions (…)
- Leprosy
- Suicide Machine
- Spiritual Healing
- Chuck alive, on stage and during interviews
- Infernal Death (!!) in medley with Zombie Ritual and Baptized in Blood
I could have stayed, but chose to go to the bass clinic with Kees. Kees has been playing bass for quite some time, I just wanted to see John Gallagher explaining. Kees stayed, had some great tips and I went to see the Viking Lounge with Jelle. I had not been there before, met some Finntroll members again but still didn’t drink them below the table :). You’re not going to miss Raven again, willya? I could have seen them on tour with Kreator, but couldn’t go in 1989, I didn’t go to that particular Arrow Classic Rock fest, missed them on Graspop 2010…

Not much of an intro, just tuning guitar and adjusting vocals, here they are: RAVEN!!! I have enough goosebumps to blow up a circus tent, my neck and voice are in total harmony (NOTTT!) . This is what I wrote:
- Take Control
- Inferno
- All For One (including guitar – bass joust)
- Rock Until You Drop (including bass solo and riffs out of Sunshine of Your Love ;))
- In The Reflex (Bill Steer going insane)
- Mind over Metal
- On and On
- Break the Chain (the backline broke :lol: all we heard was monitors)
- Rock Bottom (explaining to Jelle this is the original ;) FOOL Herrieman72, it's from UFO ;))
- Dog Eat Dog
I knew it! From an early age on I sorta suggested Raven was influenced by AC/DC and here you are! This was one of the highest highlights of the festival to me. Cooling down happened during Vicious Rumors, I have nothing with this band but was too lazy to stand up, beer was being brought by nearly all my friends (Bart and Jurwin showed up, then Alex and Ron, Kees and Tom were there) but I must say this: this singer is not such an arrogant prick as one of their previous singers (note: it wasn’t Carl Albert I disliked, it was mainly the wrong music at the wrong time and I have not much with power metal. Metal Mike might disagree, I don’t care) and he simply does it! Presentation OK, reaches every note, enough volume, even he is Dutch. Just not my band. Same with Soilwork, this time it would have been the wrong band at the wrong time, as I really wanted to see Twilight of the Gods. This was their second set, sadly missed the first one, but made sure I’d see this set entirely. Some people argued it wasn’t the real Twilight of the Gods as Nick Barker wasn’t around and it seems too fast music for Alan Nemtheanga, but band and audience are enthusiast. I wrote down to remember the song The End of History (this vid is from 2013 http://youtu.be/9QbwE_BoezE ) and this vid is one piece of recollection of 70K 2014, the set I witnessed: http://youtu.be/lBwD13IGMe0 ; I liked this performance a lot. Only at the end they played two Bathory songs but apart from Blood Fire Death I didn’t write it. Oh well. I had a great time, not having to drink Finntroll under the table, just saw the backdrop :) but I sadly missed Nekrogoblikon. Tom later stated ‘it was a drunken mess, but a nice drunken mess on stage and off’ so I keep it that way.

On Pool Deck you still couldn’t see the Pool Bar from the beginning of the stage, so no one except a mad jogger ever came to 11th or 12th deck anymore. Inside the venues it was crammed full. But during The Haunted the venue was only two thirds full? Why? The band kicked some serious ass, even Marco Alo joined the raging pit. I did also, but with a bucket of ice, beer [here’s another bakkie bier :lol: ] and water to hand out to the ravenout pit presidents Jelle and Tom. Hugo nearby, Kees next to me, the band starting with my favorite track of theirs: Bury Your Dead. Here’s the new single: http://youtu.be/rpQN86z5lNg The Haunted played ancient material, brand new stuff and something in between. I don’t know if the band brought her, but there was a three-ton-Snow White as well. Probably at the wrong cruise, we laughed, especially when Hate Song begun and people started pointing at trucky Snow White. Bit harsh, but with enough beer around we all laugh. Alo in the pit: http://youtu.be/XyLBQMBo9Qk (look at comment).

Seeing so much of The Haunted nearly made us miss D.R.I., but I managed to capture the madness in a few pics. Photobarf later. Talking to Harald once more, meeting Lee Harrison again, Todd was there, no extra plectrum from Perez ;)
I could have stayed longer, but feared the morning: sheets at the floor of the cabin stating there only would be breakfast from 6 to 8 AM, off board at 9… It wasn’t that sharp as stated in the form, but we got out quickly. We returned to the Mariott Biscayne, no need for another car but just taxis. One of them even played us his metal: Frank Zappa, Roy Buchanan and Peter Green; he was the one that had the least room in the car but got the biggest tip. Hugo needed a special pair of shoes for his birthday sister and we roamed Miami once more. Or twice, as we returned to the hotel to swim and get beer for the night and went out again. Went to Miami Seaquarium, beer for the road back to the hotel, was quite an interesting trip. The bar at Mariott Biscayne could have used a second try, but none of us was into it, so we got out for beer and installed Jelle’s iPod. So.. loads of D.R.I., Cannibal Corpse, Airbourne and Hausmacher. Jelle and Hugo had agreed to stay for another week, but didn’t need a 4 person with 5 beds room anymore and checked out right after we went to the Miami International Airport. Waited for three hours… nearly missed the flight at JFK as we didn’t know there was a different time zone (thrash zone? ;)) between Miami and New York. Sadly we couldn’t hang out with Scott, but as we ate at the airport (badddd burger and even worseeee beer) plus the hour difference wouldn’t have made it probably. Seeing two movies in the plane sure killed time, but I hesitated. Should I sleep or should I stay awake? I knew we’d land in Amsterdam around 6 AM, what to do?

Delivered Tom and Kees home, one final shot of Jäger (in my new Enslaved shot glass) made me realize how tired I was. I have spent a shitload of money (billed the hotel and car to my card, put to my card around $ 1,500 for the both of us, had to switch between euros and dollars for Jelle, bla bla). Blah blah as in I don’t care (too much) as I had, once again, a trip of a lifetime. Warming up, booking, more booking, flight, bands, missing flights, swimming in an ocean, driving a car bigger than my house room, eating 14 kinds of hamburgers, drinking four brands of beer through each other and not barf, meeting so many cool people [even at the airport, in Fort Lauderdale, taxi drivers, asshole drivers, animation girls with or without annoying flutes but always good tittie, waitresses wondering if we could pay the bill… 25 Corona’s and 5 beef burgers LOL] and making friends. Res/Jason, Robert, Eugene, Kick, Todd, John, Alex, Bart, Jurre, Lee, John, Donald, Frank, Dino, Burton, I can go on. It wasn’t just 70,000 Tons of Metal. It was also 70,000 Tons of Friendship. And 70,000 bakkies bier. Metal.

the whole bunch of reactions: http://www.mruforums.com/f22/70-000-ton ... 4-a-15839/
pictures http://s362.photobucket.com/user/herrie ... t=2&page=1


Last edited by herrieman72 on Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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herrieman72
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:06 pm
Posts: 275
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 3:46 pm 
 

Hole in the Sky 2008, one of the biggest adventures of my life... enjoy. Carcass, Asphyx, Exodus, Municipal Waste, Behemoth, loads more.

mine: http://www.mruforums.com/f22/hole-sky-b ... rway-8938/
my friend Jo's http://www.mruforums.com/f22/hole-sky-2 ... d-jo-8958/

actually it's a nice story about a great trip, but the pictures won't embed so I leave it at the links.


Last edited by herrieman72 on Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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herrieman72
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Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:06 pm
Posts: 275
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 6:22 am 
 

Hell Inside Torture Edition, feat. Benediction, Cancer, Witchburner

Hell Inside is a small two-day festival that was usually held in Wurzburg, Bavaria, Germany; some pretty cool bands played there over the years. I remember having to choose between Hell Inside and Brutz Und Brakel 2012 and I thought that’s not the first edition of this festival. I missed why, but the festival was brought back to one day and moved to Bamberg. It was Daniel that first posted about this festival, wanting a good dose of Cancer I instantly ordered a ticket for his birthday, Bday being roughly a week before this gig. I was only a bit worried about driving, but some month ago Kees told me he was interested, bring Alicia along. Pfoei, she has a driving license and could use the experience :) First bunch of tickets purchased in July, no problem, second batch was a problem indeed. On my credit card I got three rejections, all with different reason, the site not mentioning what the actual problem was. Now I have five confirmations for 2 tickets! I e-mailed the organizer, got a nice apology as reply, and the 10 tickets were reduced to 4 once more :) We agreed to drive early, might see something of Bamberg itself, Daniel later explained the city is amongst the oldest of German cities, with an university and a Dom. Usually Doms are only built in arch bishop cities (like Utrecht); the city must be over a 1,000 years old. At 5:30 breakfast, 6:00 at Daniel’s, 6:40 at Alicia’s, but no one seemed to have opened their e-mail to print the bar code and confirmation.. hush hush to get my hotmail running and the printer zipping :/

Bamberg is beautiful indeed, but as I drove the last bit, I hardly saw it. Finding the hotel (two building next to Live Club :) ) wasn’t hard, but it’s in pedestrian area. So… searching for a parking spot Daniel already booked was hell. Small streets, winding up and down, near a river, hardly time to be a tourist, the city is packed. Stress!! But the room looked OK to me and we went off to Live Club. I only had the soft paper tickets for myself and Daniel, and the reservation number of Kees’ and Alicia’s ticket. The friendly woman at the counter was the one that replied me, she even remembered about the card problem. Ticket company ditched also :) The venue itself is some 60 per cent bigger than Manifesto and has sitting blocks in front of the stage?? That’s of later worry, there’s even a Blues Bar, featuring pictures of old blues guitarists and loads, loads of (empty?) whiskey surprise boxes and the first band is to start: Artless from Reichenbach, Germany (see Artless - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives ). The band combines ultrablunt doom with high octane death metal, like Orphanage without Rosan van der Aa, mixing ancient My Dying Bride and DarkDayRising in one song. The volume is nearly preposterously high but the music is extremely headbangable! We liked it a lot, but we are on some kind of BeerQuest now. I ordered the first round, beer was yellow. Daniel ordered, the beer was brown, Kees ordered, the beer neared orange… what the heck? They also have Guinness and Kilkenny’s, so Daniel is all over the Guinness. Are you still counting?

The next bands Islay is a surprise too. The sound check involved jazzy bass and freak keys, but the band itself plays thundering techdeath (Origin to the square). Daniel liked it so much he bought a CD. I wasn’t really happy and being hungry, I went to the other side of the street for a ‘real Börger’, nearly an inch thick juicy burger, loads of veggies and a decent bun. Took me 25 minutes of waiting time but then you HAVE something I sat some time alone and some time with a philosopher at the table. You know, book of Nietsche nearby, observing people (including one gorgeous chick in Hypocrisy shirt AND in tears?? , some American Kardashian-talkalikes and regional folk, it seems Bamberg is such a cozy city it attracts loads of people from far away and the obvious metalheads) and asking unbiased questions. Lovely. The Börger is gone in seconds as I want to return for Witchburner. That was a wise decision, as this band sounds like Desaster but plays fiercer!! Think of Deströyer 666 meets Toxic Holocaust on the reunion show of God Dethroned… pure thrashened blackened death metal!! With guitarist Michael Frank I seem to have some serious bro-time, as he hands me a guitar pick, the setlist and even a drum stick, which I pass on to another screamer/headbanger/fistbanger next to me. The songs:
- Sermon of Profanity
- Kill
- Steel Triumphator
- Possession https://youtu.be/3Q9XEN9qHCk (get a clue of them live, imagine louder )
- Blasphemic Assault https://youtu.be/VX_wyTBka-o
- Grave Desecrator (guitarist Simon Seegel resembles KK Warslut so much, I think he’s back in Europe again, guitar technique is nearly the same too. Only difference: KK usually shows his stomach tat :) )
- Never Surrender
- Break the Skulls
- Hexenhammer (awesome chorus!)
- Blood of Witches https://youtu.be/psW9vER5DuI
- Hammer of Destruction
- Bloodthirsty Eyes
- Ultra Violence (Death Angel tribute? Nope :))
- Possessed by Hellfire (self titled song on list, not played)
- Path of the Sinner (Execute The All encore not played)
The crowd went over the top!! I liked so much I later dropped a Witchburner patch in the hands of everybody I spoke to all evening, including James and Christian, who I met at the bar for another kind of beer, the homebrew pils was already gone. This meant another brand, something with a mushroom on the print, very fuzzy beer. Talking to the men, exchanging e-mail (no FB!! Good!!) for another meet up, we ‘missed’ Final Breath. Of the few seconds I pick up some thrash, some death, but totally uncoordinated. The pictures I took of Witchburner are so smoky I could have misused them to describe Final Breath Kees finally found the beer he liked best: some Bamberg brew, tasting like smoked meat. Another beer brand ;) When I looked again, the Witchburner vinyls are gone! Damned!

But now, the band we had driven 688 km for: C.A.N.C.E.R.!!! Dèèèèèèhhhh TERINGGGG!! What was that band good!! I turned up on the right side of the stage, I see Daniel go nuts on the left side, albeit harassed by some drunk doof. I banged my head to songs I hardly know, but oh my is that going to change!! I think, that if there were a shouting contest, I might end up on the highest step! I felt my throat sting between every song, but I kept shouting and the set list was my prize:
- CANCER FUCKING CANCER
- Witch Hunt
- Death Shall Rise
- Into the Acid https://youtu.be/NzDghsCPXFE (OK, this is of that show I nearly missed completely, but so what if I use this?)
- Die Die https://youtu.be/ihK0imIgYJE (see Into the Acid Daniel is vaguely visible around 2:00)
- Tasteless Incest
- To The Gory End
- Blood Bath
- Bodycount
- Burning Casket
- Hung, Drawn and Quartered
- Dethroned Emperor
HOLY FUCKING CANCER!!! Awesome! But seeing the NDF YT, the band is now a three-piece? I don’t really know, but enjoyed is greatly. Sound is awesomely harsh, loud and the band seems ready to dissect the audience. Great, great show!

We return to the smoke booth with James and Christian and evaluate … the beer. Again, another type of beer, but I lost track already. The toilets aren’t much help too, as at least two piss booths are puked under, a third has some flyers stuck to the drain and some German babbles something about a wart on his dick, aiding it by pissing over his finger and sucking that finger lovingly… is your brand of beer THAT bad No time to feel revolted as Benediction is on stage, checking sound. I have seen the band many times, mostly increasing the quality of the performances, but this set is easy to miss. The band appears different every song, as in ‘too smoky’ in the first song, ‘bad sound’ in the second song, ‘hmm a lot better’ on the third and something different the fourth song. Easy decision: we leave. Kees and Alicia haven’t even seen Benediction, they’re off.

Morning comes too soon. Daniel has a headache and needs at least an hour of light, toilet and maybe solitude, but I’m awake as soon as he opens the curtains. I should have drank some water before bedtime but didn’t, my hangover is imminent. I should not have drunk the orange juice at the breakfast, it already took over a quarter of an hour to finish one petite baguette Brie… Vomit looks funny if you combine bread with orange juice. One zip of delicious farm yoghurt is what stays down. Alicia notices and offers to drive the first part, but I man-up and take the keys myself. The window is ice-covered and happily I have defrosting fluid… no ice breaker to be found. Ice cold hands, but I drive out of Bamberg quite normally. I manage to keep everything in and just as Alicia’s had enough of driving there’s a Macca. Coincedence? ;) One thing I do know is that Alicia still can’t find the fifth gear hahaha but at least she can add some 400 driving kilometers to her experience. The ribs are pretty good and they even have BBQ sauce! Is German Macca’s turning a bit more to King? Another hobby examined, as I get my hands on Hasseröder, Bitburger and König beer cans and Franciskaner Weissbier (tip from Daniel). How many brands have I counted this weekend? Of course add HJ of th Friday... One phone call to ‘my Chinese’ and let the voetbal begin. I’ve had a great weekend, drank a ditch of beer, seen awesome bands, met a few familiar faces and made some friends. Metal!

http://www.mruforums.com/f22/hell-insid ... ion-16932/


Last edited by herrieman72 on Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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RepulsiveVenom
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Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 3:56 am
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Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 6:42 pm 
 

Suffocation and Decapitated are touring AUS next year. I don't care at all for Decapitated but can anyone shed light on Suffocation's live shows as of recent? I last saw them in '06 and they put on a decent show.
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herrieman72
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Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:06 pm
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Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 6:15 am 
 

Suffocation can kill an entire crowd barehanded. Check out my Brutal Assault 2014 review for a hint, the Neurotic Deathfest show posted above was even better!!

Brutal Assault 2014, fortress Josefov, Jaroměř Czech Republic, August 5-10

This year’s Summer-metal-festival-trip-with-roadtrip idea was a hard one. I had known for a long time there would be at least 5 European metal festivals in the weekend of August 8 and 9 and I wasn’t in for Summer Breeze nor Wacken. I could choose between PartySan, Bloodstock, Into The Grave, Brutal Assault and one in Sweden… I did know the Brutal Assault 2012 club wouldn’t be the same as this year, no Eva (gave birth), no Ramona (haven’t seen her since), no Daniel (Summer Breeze next week) and Mikert would travel before us (made a nice, pretty Czech friend last time). I still was tempted several times to go to England, by MotorAmarth, with Stip and who else? Stip later confessed he wanted to return to Bloodstock with all fire in his heart, but wouldn’t travel alone as we did choose Brutal Assault. He agreed to join us, we’d be with the seven of us now. VIP camping too, as this was quite special the first time. I bought tickets in several stages: two for me and Tom, one for Axel (TenderMeatExel) for my shock absorbers, two for Jelle (rib-basher) and Tijmen (shredding different ticket boxes, we’d be faster in than last year, I thought), one last minute e-ticket for Stip; Kees would join us at random, we had thought it wouldn’t be sold out. Close, but that part was true. Pfoei.

In the week before the festival I also noticed two things: my colleague Menno had been given up by doctors and my car was overheated again! Damned, no VW Golf Diesel Mk II to Czech Republic, instead I was offered to borrow a Peugeot 206 station that turned out not really much bigger than my Golf. I sort of expected Menno not to last, but I didn’t want to overheat my brain on the trip I tried so hard to plan. I looked at the European map and suggested we’d drive to Frankfurt am Main the first day, drive early and trying to find Gerre and Tankard :lol: We ended up in Hannover, in an all-purpose hotel (exclusive for groups, non-profit for students, conference rooms etc.) with a Biergarten. We needed cash, so we walked on, but not returning to the hotel Biergarten we ended up on a Salsa festival! I was the grumpy one as I can’t stand the music, but filled up Westfriesians trying hard to Salsa, being tried by a girl that needed the dance and the other fix ;) sure makes up for the music. We had so much fun!! With an excellent (and included) breakfast we’d head out for Jaroměř, Mikert hinting me about nine times which camping he was in and hinting which ones were flooded… At first I thought we’d have to drive for about 5 hours but it turned out 7 with the occasional smoke breaks. Westwoud – Hannover is by far not such a great distance as Hannover – Jaroměř; my Alexalex and Tom’s StomStom both present, but useless 20 miles beyond Dresden… Stip bought a map and we got there, detours and all :). At the village the anarchy prevails. Guarded campings, reserved car spots, random parking, random bars and mostly random metalheads. Add chaos at the VIP-part, yeah it was fun. Not. Mikert had told there was a lot of space in 2C, but when we arrived the remaining space had been filled up… three minutes before we came. We were led from site 1, to 3, then 5, no it’s 4 but you have to camp in 5. Fine. Erase tents, beer! The ticketing was smooth, within a minute I had all 4 required wrist bands. Car, VIP, festival, keychain. Later on a fifth wrist band was added. Sigh. With all this camping fuss I already thought ‘those people are not used to make their own decisions, thanks to 40 years of communism, people are told what to do and obey. No hint of thinking for themselves to smooth things up.’

Seeing the keychain I knew we had missed at least five bands, including The Agonist and Flotsam & Jetsam. Pretty weird to see F&J so early on the bill, strange Venom is on the pre-party, Hail of Bullets at the deepest part of night, Slayer headlining the first festival day, bands playing after Slayer?? For now, go with the flow, grab the first big Budvar beers and watch Chthonic. I hardly remember the show I visited in Amsterdam (see http://www.mruforums.com/f22/warbringer ... dam-12762/ ) and was eager. But not really satisfied because the sound was too keyboardish for me. Another point: Terrorizer was already checking sound. I don’t know what they did checking sound, because the one moment you heard no bass, then Lee Harrison’s guitar sounded picky, then hardly drums? I chose to listen from the back and that was a clever idea for several reasons: sound was pretty good there and the food was nearby. I chose pizza, paid for a quarter part, waited, waited, other people being served, waited, but got an entire pizza instead. For 4 consumption leafs instead of 12. OK, this way I like waiting! Pizza was pretty good too. In the meantime Terrorizer had stopped and within three minutes there was ‘FROM THE VERY DEPTHS OF HELL: Venom!!!’ with really a truck load of pyrotechnics and fire I kinda thought the band was in for it. The set list, as far as I’ve seen it:
- Black Metal
- Hammerhead
- Bloodlust
- Schizo
- Live Like An Angel, Die Like a Devil
- Buried Alive
I was full. It had been quite warm all day, water and beers crossed each other, loads of sun tan oil and a great crowd. I even met a Canadian, out for the big festival tour (Wacken, Brutal Assault, Summer Breeze) but already forgot his name. We heard some djent/groove stuff band perform, but I didn’t take notice. At all. One final beer with the neighbors (funny to speak German when I’m pretty off my rocker :)) and I’m down. No need for ear plugs this time. I am full.

Thursday the actual festival would begin. Jelle, Kees and me went into town with Stip, searching for Javaanse Jongens ¾ and Van Nelle Zwaar. Found the ¾, but no Van Nelle. We had an abysmal coffee; half way in you couldn’t see the bottom of the cup because of the black goo in the bottom, do we have to eat the coffee powder? :/ Back to the village for water, we might need it sooner than expected. Yeah we needed water sooner. Coming to the festival site Havok was checking sound and they got the FULL Westfriesian Pit Crew treatment. Jelle in denim, Axel in my WFPC, me in Asphyx denim and Tom in his own WFPC. What an awesome sight, so many friends looking alike for a change [nearly the entire metal market was scavenged for another Thrash Zone back patch after that]. Havok thrilled, killed and swilled. I decided to finally buy Unnatural Selection but left it at a food stand!! Damned! Havok’s sound was awesome too. Mikert and me later met singer David Sanchez, he was so happy with the sweaty faces :lol: I think they played a nice selection of their discography, best part being Give Me Liberty…Or Give me Death. Next up was US hardcore band (nice, to see the genre mentioned in such a full program, it can ease up some choices, especially early on the day) Ringworm. ‘Add black metal to that hardcore description’ I thought within 4 songs. For 4 songs they capture my attention, but the trick wears off as they’re not really the most brilliant song writers. Samantha is eager to get another tattoo and we wonder the terrain. We have to duck the firetruck as well, it already was blazing hot. We met Jelle, who was totally excited about Siberian Meat Grinder, showing his new shirt. I have no interest in metalcore now, but I don’t have to worry long. Onslaught is next on Jägermeister Stage. The band clearly has the fire and the wits today, as a great pit occurs and the sound is fantastic! I didn’t write all titles, but they at least played Sound of Violence, Faces of Death, Let There Be Death and Power From Hell and then some. I saw Axel walking with a S.O.D. patch and confiscated that one. He had had 3 or 4 patches last EMM to compensate for not having the Hertog Jan patch and gladly he remembered. Mikert got me a Six Feet Under patch (Goddess of Desire had a stand too), I got myself a Municipal Waste patch and a Terrorizer one. On MetalShop stage (as big as the Jägermeister one, next to each other just like two years ago) we saw Ignite but that didn’t last long. Ignite seems to be big in hardcore world, but in my world it’s simply too blij, too melodic to be called hardcore.. I got to see Gutted at the MetalGate tent stage, raging death metal with an Aborted-/grind touch; with a small but intense crowd. More death metal as Tardy, Tardy, Butler, Perez and Andrews were next: OBITUARY! We were too late for a nice stage spot (for that darn pick? :lol: ) but greatly enjoyed the new songs and the classics. In the car to Hannover, in the car to Jaroměř, at fuel stops, erasing tents, Axel, Jelle, Tijmen and me all cheered ‘This is the title track for the very first album, this is Slowly We Rot’-Tardy style :lol: being answered by Stip: ‘next song is Chopped in Half’ haha. Some of us should have used a camera hahaha. Obituary did play at least one song they also did on 70,000 Tons of Metal, but I still don’t know how ‘Song number 4 of the coming record’ is called ;). One thing I did notice is that they had a backdrop, should the one that was stolen on Stonehenge have been returned or was this the spare one?

Anyway, Obituary rocked. Easy. I met Nathan again (see http://www.mruforums.com/f22/brutal-ass ... 2-a-13417/ ) and together with Pepijn we see Feastem. Feastem was on Nathan’s bucket list and the Finnish grind appeals. I liked it a lot, great sound, having a beer with the Deventer buddies, in blazing sun. Yeah, this was fun. I said ‘goodbye for now’ to Pepijn and Nathan as I knew Suffocation was up next on Jägermeister stage. I stuck around Mikert for a couple of songs, but during the intro of As Grace Descends I simply HAD TO HELP OUT the Westfriesian Pit Crew!! First thing I see on the screen is… me :lol: :mrgreen: ;) Suffocation pushes out every milliliter of oxygen out of my body, Frank Mullen just being Frank again, no Dave Culross now, twin leads and twin shredding… I LOVE SUFFOCATION TO BITS! Cooling down started at Jurgen’s (and not Luc :)) merch stand, where I first met Marusha (not present now), where I bought the big Exodus patch (even though Jurgen says he never sold it) and share a beer with description: ‘first half part of this beer is awesome, second part to be thrown away’ so Mikert and me share the pint. And with The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin on speakers I am not hasty to leave to see Misery Index and Manegarm. I am sorry not to have seen my second encounter with Pentagram Chile, but the intestines need time too. During the day I had already missed Texas in July (metalcore), Iwrestledabearonce and Church of Misery (stoner). I got out of Jurgen’s stand for Epicardiectomy, the fullblown goregrind splatter explosion. I had a great chat with a woman (no idea from where) about underground music, she was surprised I ‘left her’ for the last bit of the Slayer show. I told her I had seen Slayer for about 12 times and still wanted to check out the thrill, even it meant leaving an opportunity behind just for Gary Holt’s evil grin. I came to the stage just when Dead Skin Mask was started and my opportunity was long forgotten. Holt even played on the Heineken guitar! I got to hear Raining Blood and Black Magic too, first encore South of Heaven, but left for the second encore took place (of course, I should have known) Angel of Death. Gary Holt is a hero!!! All I wrote afterwards is that I should check out Dead Man’s Walk, probably this one: http://youtu.be/3ksDePF_Pr4 I don’t remember if I actually spoke to a band member, saw the band or not, the movie? At main stage the bands go on, but I don’t need to give Kindergarten Boredom or (pencil of?) Architects any attention. Again, no Katatonia, but they play at half an hour beyond midnight and my lights go out. Tom was still jumping to the Slayer songs when he got to the tent. Again, no need for ear plugs, the Budvar took care of that.

After a reasonable night we had reasonable coffee for a change. The breakfast was a questionable biscuitlike pizzathing and the first band was already playing: Isacaarum. Sun shone, but why do these guys have an executioner’s hood? Because of the blackened grind they played? Maybe, it wasn’t that bad after all. Or maybe it is, as this vid made me think of homophobia and/or sarcasm.. http://youtu.be/POUZ7x2ERFc . This piece gives another insight: http://youtu.be/P_RPhb03VMU they are perfectly fit for Czech underground and Obscene Extreme. So, for your info, they’re Czech. :lol: On the walk again we spotted Cripper, nice and energetic stage presence, but the audience needs at least 4, maybe 5 songs to wake up and get the limbs on each other. A new thing on this Brutal Assault is a Party Village and I do know one thing for sure: this way it will never happen in The Netherlands; entrance is free, but you have to buy cigarettes to do something there… wanna play tablevoetbal, buy cigarettes. Want to make a cap/patch for yourself, buy cigarettes. Wanna jump from 8 or 12 m onto a huge airbubble, buy cigarettes. They didn’t have beer, but energydrinks like Monster and CocaCola. Nice to see your sponsors, but at least they play decent music… old M’A, Napalm Death – Breed to Breathe, Carcass – Heartwork. Jelle does jump, pictures are fuzzy with this kind of diafragma, see if Mikert has better pictures. I wouldn’t mind the adrenaline, but not with beer behind the uvula. So.. we return to main stage and turn around within two songs: Heiden is postmetal, squishy squashy kutherrie, half emo. Glad Mors Principium Est is next. I had never seen this band before, it takes some listeners some more time to get into it than it did me, the band gets more reaction every single song they play. Pity they only played six songs (thanks to setlist.fm ). We end up with the 5 of us on VIP terrain, share sun tan oil, pictures and beers. The sun is so prickly I am glad I have a spare bottle of sun tan oil in the tent. I returned from VIP toilet, to find out there’s a shift in my group, have quality time with Stip and some Colombians. We share Skeletonwitch, but are not really impressed as the sound is more like a cement mixer than it is thrash. So.. more wandering on the metal market, more talks to old and new friends.

I return for Unleashed, but I must have missed a few tracks. I get a wide smile on my face as the first thing I see, even before Johnny’s fanatic face, are Tom and Axel on the big screen. The Longships are Coming, I Don’t Want to Be Born, This is Our World Now, To Asgaard We Fly (mentioning 25 years of Unleashed).. what a great band, excellent performance, followed by Hammer Battalion Unleashed (chilling with Jelle) and ending with Death Metal Victory (chilling with Stip). What a difference with H2O, next on main stage. The band appears hardcore, straight edge, whatever, but the music is way too sweet toned for hardcore and in my opinion too sweet for a metal festival. Tom doesn’t agree, he came back panting, lacking air, busted ankles again, but still raging on :lol: Big respect my friend!! Tom is hardly back on breath as Six Feet Under conquers stage.. off he goes. Six Feet Under is more blunt than the cement mixer Skeletonwitch had conjured and go like hell:
- Six Feet Under
- Revenge of the Zombies
- No Warning Shot (the dreads reach 6 feet now!! :))
- Feasting on the Blood of the Insane
- Victims of the Paranoid
- Human Target
I chose not to wait for Hammer Smashed Face, but get into the coolness of the fortress for a signing session with Amon Amarth. The session itself was a bit too much duty for the guys, hope the show will be more enthusiast. With 5 autographs on a simple Brutal Assault leaflet I change my sun glasses for normal ones, take a dump and back to main stage, where Devin Townsend does literally EVERYTHING to piss me off and confuse me. Is the same man that unleashed http://youtu.be/3f20L0msLsM upon the world?? I don’t think he’s witty, I don’t think he’s the nerd, but I move out after two songs, wtf are you using this new singing technique for so often? Where’s the speed, the aggression? Or is it another twisted mind thing? Only thing I can do is simply wait for Amon Amarth. Mikert last said he thought the previous Amon Amarth show was One. Simple. Repeat. Of. Moves. And quotes. I have to disagree, bud. Two years ago the band went 199 per cent, shouting contest, thunderous loud music and me and Kees shouting ourselves hoarse. Now I lost the boys, I still drank like hell, shouted myself a busted uvula, fistbanged my arm pit out of it bars, tried to simultane-bang with the band (and got my neck in a knot :lol: :lol: ). Two great Viking dragon ships on stage, fire, smoke, lights out of it, band on full thrill (pfoei! ;)) and this set:
- Father of the Wolf (full of magnesium pyro)
- Deceiver of the Gods
- Varyags of Miklagaard (jumping contest, the audience won :lol: )
- Asator (not often played anymore!! 78 RPM instead of 33!)
- As Loke Falls
- Guardians of Asgaard (where’s Kees when you need him most)
- Cry of the Black Birds
- We Shall Destroy
- one I missed headbanging simultaneously with the band :)
- Victorious March
- Twilight of the Thunder God
- probably Pursuit of Vikings, I was E.M.P.T.Y.

[no I don’t know the difference in Norwegian or Swedish Shining whenever I see the name. With the back drop logo I knew it wasn’t the black metal one, but the avant-garde metal one, as described in the leaflet. Hated it anyway.]
[yes I wanted to wait for Mgla or Broken Hope, but I was so tired, sore throat, not wanting to spend more on coins than I could decide to do sober]
[yes. Tent. Toothbrush. Pillow. Out. Another night I didn’t need ear plugs]
Saturday would be the day with the most bands unknown to me, or missed before and probably the longest one. See remark on Hail of Bullets above. I made sure to have had coffee before Spasm entered stage. I knew what to expect by the Aardschok review of Neurotic Deathfest this April, but I didn’t think I would like it much. But I did. All this band needs is an audience, so it seems, and the freaks pull out from below every rock you can hide. See NDF footage: http://youtu.be/DfZkzKOEoAw The main thing is it is so friggin’blunt, they only have a singer, a drummer and a bass guitar with double distortion on it. Nothing more, but the blow up dolls, beach balls, toilet seats, toilet paper, masks of shit/cum come in all around the place. And the band: Borat mankini with dildo mask, naked drummer and the bass player :lol: Interesting to see this man can do all sorts of extreme voices: grunt, squeal, pigsqueal, rolling burp, scream and everything seems understandable. For fans. Not for porngrind noobs like me ;) But the discussion that follows was fun too: it is instantly decided West-Friesland needs a porngrind band of their own, at first called Koeienvlaai, later altered to Stierenstront. Keep these names in mind, as the first song title is there too: Lama Schaamhaar Laatmaa. Requests for translation can be filed by shitting three times on a Czech crown coin and sent to me.

Does anybody know if I’m to be banned on MRU or Photobarf when I post pictures of Spasm?

AXEL = LUL of course, nice try once more Axel ;)

Severe Torture is next. As the band is Dutch, the Westfriesians do everything to cheer the band into more extremity. Spelen homo’s!! Sneller lul!! Skutterslull! :) but the band is up for it, and makes even a 15-man pit into a brutal one. It’s fast, furious, sharp and loud. We decide to chill in the fortress for a while, seeing the Axel Hermann exhibition (loads of Asphyx, Soulburn and Morgoth!) as Mikert gets tattooed. We head out for Dew-Scented and again some Dutch screaming welcomes the band. Marvin Vriesde seems recuperated enough from the Severe Torture bashing of his strings, because he hasn’t left stage. A great show happens, the band is thankful and the audience has Jelle! As far as I know he’s the biggest Dew-Scented fan of Noord-Holland, so the following pit has the total WFPC at it’s disposal. Lekkahhh thrashen! Note this song: http://youtu.be/Fm743B1qDlg (wasn’t that Tijmen jumping at 0:10? Jelle visible, Westfriesian Pit Crew workers present :) )

I don’t know who told us to chill out for Hammercult, but I am surely happy I followed that advice. Hammercult plays a fierce form of gutsplitting thrash metal, to be followed by an entirely Dutch pit. WFPC, Jelle, Nathan, Pepijn, herrieman and it’s a tough one. We also chose to stick around for another band BUT Impaled Nazarene, but Nathan doesn’t agree and heads outside again. The tent audience is only filled with the Dutch now, as Okkultokrati from Norway is up. It’s rawer and harder than Venom and Desaster combined! This is quite recent: http://youtu.be/ECgIBVemgAo The band gets only 35 minutes (shows tend to be short on Brutal Assault anyway) and we decide to leave Cruachan for what they’re worth, it’s way, way too loud to keep sounding OK. We eat. Again, Brutal Assault is a culinary masterpiece. I loved it, but I eat in a little rush: Sodom is up next, taking revenge for the delay in BA2012. I heard and saw and moved to:
- Agent Orange
- In War and Pieces
- Outbreak of Evil
- Jabba the Hut
- The Saw is the Law
- Sodomy and Lust
- Stigmatized
- City of God
- Blasphemer
- Remember the Fallen
I thought I could guess the following songs so I went out for the Hail of Bullets signing session, just to say ‘hi’ to the guys, I already have a simple Metal Hammer blank sheets with the autographs. The Hail of Bullets signing session was cancelled due to technical problems. Wtf? What more do you need than a Edding Marker 3000? That’s of later worry and later explain. I move out to the tent to change my glasses, leave my sun tan lotion at the tent and so on. I return when Sick of it All is bashing up Brutally. I only hear two songs and leave with a smile (Step Down and Scratch The Surface). My grin disappears when I found out these were the last SoiA songs so I’ve missed Repulsion. Back to main stage for the reunion show of Czech underground death metal legend Krabathor. The band hasn’t been around since 2006 but they’re certainly not turned rusty: the Vader- and (mostly old) Morbid Angel-tunes wind up every Czech and the occasional Dutchman to ecstacy! I’ve known this band since my fraternity days and now they’ve finally returned! The band goes absolutely ice cream!

I enjoyed Krabathor a lot, but I knew Hail of Bullets would start way past midnight so I decided to hit the sack for an hour, maybe two. I had no interest in Down and Satyricon whatsoever, might have enjoyed My Dying Bride, but as it was hot and moldy, I thought MDB couldn’t live up to their usual atmosphere. But I was wrong, I did manage to get on the stronghold wall during the intro of my all time favourite MDB song.. The Angel And The Dark River. I was so happy they also played Turn Loose The Swans, but for a first row during HoB I was already too late. OK, I thought, then I will just shout so hard the lovely lady in front of me gets deaf and tired of me and leave. She didn’t leave. Short sound check, Martin already explaining about Stephan Gebédi’s condition of a hernia. The band seriously thought of cancelling the show, as Hail of Bullets is a real five piece band, in writing, in practicing, in playing and in fun. I think Martin apologized about 6 times, but not only for Stephan’s absence. The band had some difficulties with the Czech Home Office, no guitars, no cymbals, no intro tape, no back drop but they could borrow a guitar from Krabathor, bass from the organization and cymbals from some other band. What they hadn’t forgotten was the volume. My goodness, it was L.L.L.O.O.O.UU.U.D.D.D!!! The band also apologized for not being able to do a normal set, with the more harmonic leads of The Rommels Chronicles album but they managed to play one off it:
- General Winter
- Red Wolves of Stalin
- On Coral Shores (for Darren Brooks of Benediction’s birthday)
- Warsaw Rising (actually with Darren Brooks on stage, embarrassing security ;))
- A Farewell to Africa
- Advancing Once More (with Paul Speckmann of Master present)
- Ordered Eastward
I think Paul was a bit distracted when Brooks entered stage and sat on the monitor, obviously quite drunk, but it was more of a sign of respect between Baayens and Speckmann nothing funny happened. Great to see so much fun combined with respect. As I didn’t stand first row, I thought it would be useless to try to catch Paul’s guitar pick, but he spotted me. He said ‘I’ll see you after the show alright?’ and threw me a beer. But as Hail of Bullets was the last band on one of the main stages, security did make hurry to shoo everybody off, to bars I thought, but the festival bars were already closed!! How can I find Paul then? I decided to empty my pockets for remaining beer (haven’t seen any Dutchie present during HoB) and after a while Paul indeed found me. A nice chat followed and the guitar pick has a collector’s place in my house now, just like the beer *fanboy*

Last thing of the festival was meeting 70K survivor Daniel, he handed me his phone number but my battery was long dead when I awoke. We’d meet in Prague, we agreed, but that phone… at the one time I really need it, it’s dead. Again, no need for ear plugs as a nice girl provided a bed for Tom.

In the morning there was no need for hurry though, as our next destination is Prague, only a two hour drive. I wanted to see the city as we had to rush two years ago. We parked at Praha Bechovice, as Tom knew it would be hell to enter Prague central with two cars. The trains varied every time one passed, but none seemed eager to stop at Bechovice. We ended up further from city central and had to try hard to get back to Bechovice. We even had to cross the rails on a certain point, as the third set of rails simply was cut off. The train would stop at the second lane, but there was no platform there. About an hour later we managed to get into a train and visit the city. By then I had a blister the size of a Czech crown coin between my big toe and my foot, Tom limping, Axel with ingrowing nails, Stip moving slowly… Prague is a great city, but the conditions weren’t optimal. It had started raining, we had no idea if the city map ever showed ‘You are here’ as we couldn’t find the arrow :/ I wanted to roam the city but Axel mentioned he had to work on Tuesday! That meant travelling on Monday instead of Tuesday, more haste, less time to explore Czech metal underground. I must say I got fed up as well, but that happened after a short trip to the river and a shitload of beer. I am sorry for what happened, but I had a point. Our group consists of 7 adults, albeit only three more experienced adults. I got fed up with the growing noise, the constant sex jokes and the following indignation. I turned so angry I threw the money I had on table and left, swearing and shouting. Within five minutes of me alone on the hotel room, Stip appeared. In tears. Oh damned, wtf? I knew I wasn’t angry at anyone in particular, but Jelle made the bucket leak and Stip totally lost it when I stood up angry. Jelle later returned to the hotel and nearly got into a fight with Stip… over me… We ended up emptying the entire hotel fridge and it would be a long drive home. Stip didn’t allow Jelle to drive anymore, so Jelle took place in my car. We arrived at night in Westwoud, still with unresolved matters. Took one beer from the deep freezer and the boys went home.
I simply had to check my company’s phone for news about Menno and got what I thought to see: he died August 8, funeral on August 12, having battled Melanoma outbreaks for a year. So.. this story, this adventure, albeit without the promised pictures to Menno, is for Menno.

Summary: the trip should have been cut in shorter pieces as most of us tired ourselves too much this week, bands were mostly awesome, beer is cheap, weather was beautiful, good news and bad news and nearly a fight between my friends. But metal. Next year’s announcements already mentioned Asphyx and Behemoth…

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Last edited by herrieman72 on Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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