Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Josefov Fortress, Jaromer, the Czech Republic
Concert date: August 11, 2011
Attendance: 15
The second day of the festival had some interesting bands on offer early in the morning, but morning coffee and the first liquid bread tipped the scales, so I kicked off the day with Swedish melodic death metallers Scar Symmetry. In the early afternoon the guys energetically and confidently presented their vision of Gothenburg metal, which to my taste sounds way too generic and radio-friendly, a direction Scar Symmetry lean into more and more. Stock riffs, two posing frontmen with generic growls and whiny clean vocals did nothing to change my mind. Luckily, a lesson in real death metal was already being prepared on the other stage…
Martin Van Drunen got his due once again on day two, this time with Dutch “war” death metal outfit Hail of Bullets, who wrapped Brutal Assault in merciless wartime fury from the very first note. Like the legendary Bolt Thrower, Hail of Bullets build their music on war themes. The Dutchmen focused mainly on World War II, with their first record on the Eastern Front and the second on the war in the Pacific. War themes are nothing new in metal, but Hail of Bullets really do manage to conjure up the genuine atmosphere of war with their music. One moment riff shrapnel shreds you to pieces, the next ton-heavy guitar tones carpet-bomb you, warped solos douse you in napalm, and devastating, earthquake drums rattle you as if Hail of Bullets were hurling Fat Man, the bomb that wiped Nagasaki off the face of the earth, straight into your face. Hail of Bullets don’t overcomplicate things where there’s no need, stringing together one simple but damn effective riff barrage after another, each with the impact of a kamikaze landing on an American aircraft carrier at Midway. Van Drunen once again showed off a brilliant growl with a soul of its own, nothing like the hundreds of death metal growls that, with rare exceptions, are generic and as alike as two peas in a pod. When Van Drunen snarls, it feels like you’re being skinned alive and rubbed down with kilos of salt. The exceptional Van Drunen commands the stage and the crowd with ease, constantly urging them to join in and fight, and before every song the energetic frontman briefly filled us in on what his history lesson was about.
HAIL OF BULLETS
1. Operation Z
2. General Winter
3. Full Scale War
4. Advancing Once More
5. Tokyo Napalm Holocaust
6. Kamikaze
7. Ordered Eastward
One of the most eagerly awaited bands of this year’s Brutal Assault was without a doubt Polish technical death metal machine Decaptitated. After the tragic death of drummer Vitek, and with vocalist Covan still not recovered from that accident, the band returns completely reborn and refreshed. The only original member, guitarist Vogg, proved he has an iron will, a burning desire and a lion’s heart to carry the band on after his brother’s death (Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka and Witold “Vitek” Kieltyka were brothers and the founders of the band). He gathered a new lineup around himself, which recorded a new record early this year and released it in the summer: Carnival Is Forever, a kind of rebirth for Decapitated. And what a rebirth it is! Decapitated swept the huge crowd up like a hurricane in stormy winds of broken riffs, technically complex passages, otherworldly solos and earth-shaking drumming. New drummer Krimh got the toughest job of all, stepping into the shoes of the fantastic Vitek, who was already considered one of the best drummers of the young generation in his early twenties. Krimh clearly isn’t lagging far behind, playing even the most demanding parts with great dignity, confidence and professionalism, and the guy apparently has metronomes instead of legs, because I haven’t heard double bass work this precise in a long time. New vocalist Rafal fit into the lineup nicely, knew how to work the crowd and has more than enough stage energy, only his growl can come across a bit too monotonous at times. The guys more than successfully presented songs from the comeback album Carnival is Forever and, besides that, focused on the records Nihility and Organic Halucinosis. Decapitated closed their bombastic set in grand style with the crushing classic Spheres of Madness, and after the guys took our breath away, we finally managed to breathe again. Decapitated are back in a big way, and it’s great to hear that even tragedy didn’t stop Vogg, because Decapitated keep grinding on mercilessly!
DECAPITATED
1. Day 69
2. Pest
3. United
4. Mother War
5. Carnival is Forever
6. Spheres of Madness
After Decapitated, another technical death metal treat was supposed to follow with veterans Atheist, but sadly they cancelled their appearance. The organizers found a more than fitting replacement in French tech wizards Gorod, whose set I sadly had to skip because of my journalistic “obligations”.
The festival then served up something completely different with Finnish doom metal band Kypck, and the next three quarters of an hour felt like a trip back to the glory and grandeur of the great Soviet Union. We sang for the glory of Mother Russia with Kypck, whose special thing is that they write their lyrics in Russian and thematically portray recent events in Russian history. Kypck did their job so well that even the Central Committee with Dzhugashvili at the head would have given them a standing ovation! Thanks to the Slavic language, the Finns’ set takes on a special charm of homeliness and romance, and it feels as if the band truly lives in the mighty days of great Russia. But frontman Erkki’s emotionally charged vocal performance hides not only Soviet pathos but also all the rot of a system that collapsed in on itself, describing big social problems like alcoholism, suicide and poverty. With slow-rolling doom metal, Kypck pushed us out onto the vast Russian plains, ruled by eternal cold, ice and snow. With a rhythm section as reliable as a Lada Niva they trampled us with super-heavy rhythms, while heavy, melancholic guitar lines flow over them like vodka down a throat. Kypck’s iconography (uniforms with red stars, S.S. Lopakka’s guitar made from a real AK-47 (Kalashnikov) rifle) deepens the unforgettable experience and underlines that Kypck are not a political but a historical band, as Erkki stressed on stage! The Finns ground on mercilessly like tanks in battle, which is the translation of the band’s name, and in their allotted time they picked an excellent mix of songs. Personally, I thought the standouts were the phenomenal, deeply emotional single from the new album Nizhe, the brilliant Alleya Stalina, and the cover of the Black Sabbath classic Chernyi Sabbath, sung in Russian, came off great too. Kypck is a band surrounded by warmth and cold at once, and they present that fantastically live as well. When it was over, there was nothing left for the proletariat below the stage to do but toast with our comrades with a glass of vodka.
KYPCK
1. Chernaya Dyra
2. Alleya Stalina
3. Tovarischam
4. Bardak
5. Chernyi Sabbath
6. Stalingrad
From melancholic, frozen Siberia we moved with Exodus to the feverish Bay Area of San Francisco, and the old cats of thrash metal once again delivered one of their brutal concerts packed with incredible energy, proving that Exodus right now eat the Big Four for lunch. The band, led by the one and only Gary Holt, marched onto the stage to the sounds of the acoustic intro of the first track from the new record Exhibit B: The Human Condition, The Ballad of Leonard and Charles, and plunged us into the bloody story of serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng. And blood was spilling and limbs were flying in every direction from the very first pick on the strings, when an apocalyptic mosh pit broke out below the stage and didn’t let up until the last second of Exodus dominating the stage. In three quarters of an hour Exodus sank their teeth into stormy-fast thrash, bloodthirsty riffs and crushing rhythms with incredibly raw energy, showing what it would feel like to go for a swim in a particle accelerator. The Exodus crew of 2010 is phenomenal and shows no signs of aging or running out of steam; boss Gary Holt turns into a real beast on stage, ripping at the strings with merciless attacks through sharp riffs and aggressive sawing, and when his brother in arms, the excellent Lee Altus, steps up beside him and the two walk their fingers through marathon, breathtaking solos, you truly realize that the Holt/Altus duo is right now one of the best guitar duets in metal. The H-team is dead, long live the HA-team! But Exodus don’t stop at slicing you up with riffs; they leave you in a puddle of blood with precisely measured blows from the rhythm section too. The phenomenal Jack Gibson once again proved how to serve the tempo of the damned, with colorful bass lines and a unique metallic rattle, and Tom Hunting once again justified his name as one of the best drummers in thrash. Josefov swayed under a barrage of lively, dynamic transitions, torpedoing bass drums and fast, tight thrasher rhythms. Rob Dukes has been a bone of contention among fans ever since he joined Exodus, but with Exhibit B Rob made the best Exodus album with him up front, and this time he proved he’s becoming a better frontman as well as vocalist live, and he even held back from his oafish outbursts. His one-note bulldog bark can get samey, but Dukes delivered this time. The Czech crowd, on the other hand, didn’t, still not knowing what to do when a frontman demands a wall of death. But the pleasure of the brutal, breakneck, gate-ripping “exodus attack” was once again perfect!
EXODUS
1. The Ballad of Leonard and Charles
2. Beyond the Pale
3. Iconoclasm
4. Blacklist
5. War Is My Shepherd
6. Bonded By Blood
7. The Toxic Waltz
8. Strike Of The Beast
The Dillinger Escape Plan, despite all the raves, weren’t even close to my cup of tea, but Norwegian black metal veterans Satyricon delivered one of the best concerts of the day just as darkness fell. Satyricon began their ritual unexpectedly but phenomenally with a classic from the debut Dark Medieval Times, Walk the Path of Sorrow, letting us know something transcendental was coming, something otherworldly yet primal and beastly. All that and more is what Satyricon are today, even if they get accused of losing touch with their roots and who knows what else; Satyr and Frost know exactly where they’re taking the band’s music. The incredibly charismatic Satyr commanded the crowd from behind his decorated mic stand, and it was truly amazing to see how well rehearsed his performance was. And I’m not talking about any kind of showboating or pre-learned poses, Satyr fused with the stage like a pentagram with fire. With an excellent choice of songs, Satyricon created a dark, mystical atmosphere, built above all by their unmistakable ambient parts (if I can call them that) and long instrumental passages, which created a kind of ritual ceremony led by the phenomenal Satyr. Satyricon got an especially massive sound when Satyr picked up a guitar as well, and with the help of Frost’s epic, animalistic drumming the band took on a monumental look. Satyricon ended their set, as expected but spectacularly, with the classic Mother North, which echoed into the night like the last cry of a mighty beast. Satyricon are a diabolical beast that mercilessly, magnificently plunged Brutal Assault into eternal fire.
SATYRICON
1. Walk the Path of Sorrow
2. The Wolfpack
3. Now, Diabolical
4. Black Crow on a Tombstone
5. K.I.N.G.
6. Hvite Krists Død
7. The Pentagram Burns
8. Fuel for Hatred
9. To the Mountains
10. Mother North
We floated off into friendlier waters in the company of Swedish melodic death metallers Soilwork, who, judging by the size of the crowd below the stage in the Czech Republic, are clearly a really big band. The guys played their set with distinction, but to my taste they too, like so many Swedish melodic death metal bands, are sailing into ever more radio-friendly waters. Energetic frontman Bjorn “Speed” Strid, who had the crowd eating out of his hand, uses more and more pretty, catchy choruses, and the setlist was made up more or less entirely of newer songs. Soilwork’s sound was like it was coming out of a tin can, which made Dirk Verbeuren’s inhumanly good drumming stand out even more.
SOILWORK
1. Follow the Hollow
2. Night Comes Clean
3. The Crestfallen
4. Let This River Flow
5. Late for the Kill, Early for the Slaughter
6. Two Lives Worth of Reckoning
7. The Chainheart Machine
8. As We Speak
9. Stabbing the Drama
The clock was creeping toward midnight, the witching hour, and the organizers couldn’t have picked a more perfect time for legendary British doom metal band Cathedral. Especially since this set was exclusive in nature, being one of the band’s last concerts, as they’ve announced their farewell show for this December. So this was probably the last chance to see one of the classic, pioneering British doom metal bands live. Over a good hour Cathedral walked us through their discography, and first the Vampire Sun shone down on us. All eyes were glued to the unique frontman Lee Dorian, who with his unhinged stage act, psychotic grimaces and constant motion has been the band’s icon and mascot since the early nineties. Cathedral are old-school doom metal that drew its inspiration mainly from the work of the fathers, Black Sabbath, and that shows strongly in the Brits’ music. The faster, epic, groovy songs came off even more psychedelic under the perfectly chosen live lighting, to which Dorian contributed hugely with his rough, stoned vocals. With such a rich discography Cathedral could play for hours and hours, but they had to cram the songs they picked into a single hour. Since this was the last chance to sway to Cathedral’s hypnotic rhythms, I missed a few more classics, but banging my head to the doom anthems Enter the Worms, Midnight Mountain and Cosmic Funeral was unforgettable. Cathedral ended their set, as expected, with the eternal classic Hopkins (The Witchfinder General), giving us a slightly bitter but beautiful and unforgettable goodbye. It’s a real shame that the legendary Cathedral is closing its doors, but it’s also true that precisely because of that, their set at this year’s Brutal Assault carried even more weight and significance.
CATHEDRAL
1. Vampire Sun
2. Enter the Worms
3. Soul Sacrifice
4. Midnight Mountain
5. Cosmic Funeral
6. Ebony Tears
7. Ride
8. Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)
Cathedral’s majestic farewell was far from the end of Friday night, though, because other giants of Norwegian black metal, Mayhem, excellent German death/thrashers Dew-Scented and one of the pioneers of Viking metal, Einherjer, were still waiting for their sets. All three more than worth seeing. But after a whole day of standing around, listening to great bands, hot sun, liters of beer and miles walked, not even a strong urge to mosh to aggressive death/thrash from Dew-Scented at half past one in the morning could keep a person on their feet. The classic Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) was therefore the perfect send-off into a night full of dreams… nightmares about kamikazes, communists, wolves, vampires and witches.
Photos: Nina Grad
Setlist
Excrementory Grindfuckers Cannabis Corpse Dordeduh Your Demise Benighted First Blood Debustrol Ram-Zet Svart Crown Scar Symmetry Hail Of Bullets Decapitated Gorod Kypck The Exploited Katatonia Exodus The Dillinger Escape Plan Satyricon Soilwork Cathedral Mayhem Dew-Scented Einherjer
Photo Gallery
