Basinfirefest
Saturday, 28 June 2025
Spálené Poříčí / Festivalový areál / Czech Republic
Extending our stay in the Czech Republic — especially after the AC/DC temptation on 26 June 2025 at the Prague venue Letnany — was absolutely worth it, and it made sense to catch another concert or two, either in Prague or somewhere reasonably close to the Czech capital. We were looking for something that wouldn’t drain too much travel energy for a car trip (one straight shot, no overnight stop — just to the venue and back).
The 19th edition of Basinfirefest, held in the not-too-distant town of Spálené Poříčí — 20 km south of Plzeň — fit the bill perfectly. It was the last, third day of the festival, and 110 km each way was just about the right distance to not feel like a slog. We arrived at the grounds at 4 p.m. By then, Legion of the Damned, Xandria, Master Boot Record, Assassin, and Tensia had already played, among others. On stage, just getting started, were our old pals — old-school death metal stalwarts Benediction, the Brits whom we’d caught back in April in Mostovna (Solkan, Nova Gorica). Right before the set kicked off, the thunderous Ingram had us in stitches when he colorfully reacted to a question that came through the mix desk and which he clearly took as a provocation: “What kinda question is this, if we are ready? Aren’t you professional, you fucker?” The earthquake of down-tuned grumbling and crushing thunder drew maybe 500 curious souls to the stage in the afternoon heat — which was quite surprising. Given the festival’s long track record, we’d expected it to pull in several thousand. But first impressions can deceive. In a way, based on experience, you could almost compare it to the late Slovenian festival Metal Mania. Loads of greenery, shade, great spots for camping, total relaxation all around the site — including incredibly friendly festival staff who were handing out, among other things, free breathalyzer tests (you know how it is — zero tolerance for blood alcohol in the Czech Republic).
Bottom line: Benediction delivered exactly what’s expected of them. In 50 minutes they showed why they’re considered one of the most respected names in old-school death metal! The band in great spirits. Dave Ingram in top form, Brookes and Rewinsky seriously precise on guitar! Mostly new material. The opening stretch with Scriptures in Scarlet, A Carrion Harvest, and Stormcrow, then the older In The Dread Of The Night and They Must Die Screamin. After the new Crowling Over Corpses the band moved into the closing phase, tackled Progenitors of a New Paradigm, and wrapped with the new Engines Of War. Benediction churned out track after track, no lengthy speeches — just a pure, venomous shot of relentless demolition across the axioms of old-school death metal. Minimalist, but with devastating phrases and the gut-level fury of the rhythm section itself, led by Ingram’s rage, it delivers a lethality without equal. Those 50 minutes were over in a flash.
Up next were The Dead Daisies, coming from a completely different musical direction. We caught The Dead Daisies earlier this year when they stopped by Padova on a short European tour in March. Again with a slightly adjusted lineup. Instead of Tommy Clufetos, drumming duties on this tour went to Brent Fitz — an excellent drummer with an enormous résumé. He’s played with Slash, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, Steelheart, Union, Ronnie Montrose, and more. You’d want Fitz to just stay with The Dead Daisies. He blended perfectly with the rest of the quintet. He’s also incredibly approachable, funny, and relaxed on stage. His outfit left a lasting impression too — a David Bowie shirt with a Moonage Daydream motif.
A completely different crowd had gathered at the front. Hard rock fans, lovers of meaty riffs, and followers of the lineup’s most celebrated member — the extraordinary guitarist Doug Aldrich! The Dead Daisies killed it again. As expected. Corabi again in great shape. Aldrich has put on some weight, which means that after his cancer recovery he’s fully back to himself. The band playful and absolutely pumped — it was the last show of their summer European tour. The mood was loose and infectious, and that good vibe quickly swept over the crowd. Sound: very good. The band opened with the title track of their latest studio album “Light ‘Em Up”, then jumped to Rise Up and the “Burn It Down” album from 2018, staying there for the third song of the night, Dead And Gone! Then back to the latest album with Take A Long Line and the explosive I’m Gonna Ride — one of the best things they’ve written in recent years, and one you’d want to see stay in the set permanently. Corabi asks: “How many of you have the album Looking For A Trouble?” (The Dead Daisies released a covers album in May this year.) What followed was a hard-hitting, decibel-loaded Freddie King’s Going Down.
The second half brought even more fun, driven largely by the expected covers that always keep a The Dead Daisies show firing on all cylinders. Fortunate Son (orig. CCR), followed by the brilliantly fun original Mexico, then Midnight Moses (orig. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band), and a massive finale with Resurrected and the crowd-demanded Long Way To Go. And right at the very end, detonation via the proto-heavy-metal riff of the unforgettable The Beatles — Helter Skelter! One straight detonation. Tightness: perfect. Aldrich magnetic throughout his solos, fiery bassist Michael Devin again delivering excellent backing vocals, boss David Lowy playing the part of the true conductor. Fitz handled his role with complete authority. The Dead Daisies remain a band that vividly fills the gap in rock’n’roll and hard rock. They’re something of what’s been missing from stages in an era when Led Zeppelin and Whitesnake have long since gone.
Sacred Reich, Arizona’s surf-thrash hooligans, took over the stage! For openers, a warm-up with the Thin Lizzy classic The Boys Are Back In Town, then Phil Rind (vocals, guitar), Wiley Arnett (lead guitar), Joey Radziwil (rhythm guitar), and Dave McClain — a devastating drummer who once played with Machine Head — actually walked out and launched into the title track of the cult record “The American Way” (1990). Attendance again very relaxed, especially for latecomers, since you could squeeze all the way to the fourth or fifth row at any point during the show. The band got the crowd on their feet fast, and keeping the energy high was no struggle — Sacred Reich were reeling off classic after classic. Mainly the first two albums, with a finale that opened with the expected War Pigs (orig. Black Sabbath) and closed with the even more anticipated knockout blow of Surf Nicaragua, taken from the cult same-named EP (1988), where every throat in the crowd helped Rind carry the song. The band also worked two tracks from “The Awakening” into the setlist — Divide & Conquer and Salvation, the latter dedicated by Phil Rind to everyone currently protesting against US president Donald Trump. The classics Death Squad, Love… Hate, Ignorance, and Independence each delivered the perfect exclamation mark on this excellent encounter with legendary thrash metallers who bring a genuine hellfire bomb to every live show!
D-A-D (also known as Disneyland After Dark) are Danish glam metal legends. The band doesn’t exactly play every corner of the circuit, and their appearance at Basinfirefest was honestly the deciding factor in us making the trip. Unfortunately the band ran into a heap of sound problems. The show, scheduled for five to eight in the evening, started with at least a 20-minute delay, and one of the two amplifiers used by lead guitarist Jacob Binzer kept up a relentless, nasty buzz that nobody managed to fix — all the way through to the end of the set, putting a slight damper on the good vibes. A shame. The band didn’t let it get to them too much, though Jacob was in constant contact with the tech trying to sort out the issue. Either way, his brother Jesper on vocals and rhythm guitar routinely steered the crowd from song to song, and as expected, the lion’s share of attention went to the glammer of all glammers — bassist Stig Pedersen, wrapped and draped in silver, who again put his two-string basses through every acrobatic maneuver imaginable, and spent a good chunk of the show testing the structural integrity of “Rock’a Billy” drummer Laust Sonne’s kit by repeatedly climbing up on Laust’s bass drum.
The band compensated — or at least cleverly camouflaged — the sound woes with a heavily old-school setlist, led by the cult album “No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims” from 1989, from which D-A-D opened with Jihad, followed by the new 1st, 2nd & 3rd, then Girl Nation, while the mandatory classic Sleeping My Day Away closed things out. Jesper was brilliant with his gorgeous vocals, though the crowd support felt a little thin, and the density at the barrier was lower than it should have been — a real shame. Then there were the old favourites from the “Riskin’ It All” era: classics Grow Or Pay, Bad Craziness, and Riding With Sue from the debut “Call Of The Wild” (1986). There’s never a dull moment with D-A-D. Their decadent, boyishly vain rock’n’roll delivered a straight punch right to the forehead, and it made you completely happy. The only sad part was those sound woes. D-A-D remain their own story. So for the time being we’re left hoping the band turns up somewhere a little closer to Slovenia — on a proper new headliner tour.
Carcass, the cult British death metallers and goregrinders, flipped the festival atmosphere at 9:20 p.m. all the way to the opposite extreme! This is a band renowned for outstanding live performances that always delivers a devastating party. In that regard, Carcass are surely among the most thrilling acts in the extreme metal world. The horrifying body-shredders are masters of technical precision — the kind that underpins the band’s brutalized aesthetic. Insanely low tuning and a destructive, devastatingly massive sound. Even if extreme metal isn’t normally your thing, this sonic-performative perfection simply nails you to the stage and you just stay there. To the end. The band had the crowd at full throttle fast. About 10 metres from the stage a massive circle pit broke out, occasionally replaced by a wall of death, and the crowd surfers never stopped coming throughout the show. The whole thing felt like perfect post-atomic chaos, dust rising from the festival grounds in real salvos under the band’s command! Jeff Walker, who has recently switched to short hair, remains the extraordinary captain, the charismatic leader and a frontman who maintains a remarkable growl. Without any apparent strain he led the crowd into the kingdom of scalpels and other surgical instruments, slicing and tearing through flesh over the course of an excellent performance lasting a good hour. Walker didn’t forget to warmly thank the crowd at the end, saying this Czech concert was the final show of the band’s summer European tour, and that it couldn’t have ended any better.
The band played, among others: 1985, Unfit for Human Consumption, Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody / Death Certificate, No Love Lost, This Mortal Coil, Dance of Ixtab (Psychopomp & Circumstance March No. 1 in B), 316L Grade Surgical Steel, Corporal Jigsore Quandary, and Heartwork. An hour-long anatomy lesson of the human body that makes your skin crawl. After the show I immediately checked my internal organs to make sure everything was still in its place.
Moonspell are Moonspell. We saw them in April in Ljubljana and Zagreb — they were fantastic. Moonspell are always excellent. Their concerts are pure hypnosis that locks you in and pulls you into some parallel world you can’t easily exit. The time was 11 p.m.! For Moonspell, who weren’t positioned as the festival’s headline act — they were given the same slot length as Carcass before them and Ensiferum after — this concert was something special. As frontman Fernando Ribeiro himself emphasized when the band took the stage! The band had decided to use the available time to perform their entire debut studio album “Wolfheart” from 1995, which also doubled as a tribute to the album’s 30th anniversary. On top of that, the Basinfirefest show was the band’s last before a three-week break. So Moonspell wrapped up their current tour in the most beautiful — if not the best — way possible!
Moonspell took the stage as a sextet this time around. Ribeiro was joined by backing vocalist Eduarda MissBlue, who also paired with Fernando for a few duets. You genuinely can’t fault Moonspell. They have it all. A performance quality you can only envy. Led by the incredible Fernando, who again delivered not just an exceptional vocal performance, but also shone throughout as a sort of MC, skillfully stoking and holding the crowd right there with him. The band threw in a mid-set surprise when they tackled Tenebrarum Oratorium (Andamento I/Erudit Compendyum) — a track even older than the Wolfheart debut, found on the band’s first EP “Under The Moonspell” from 1994! For real Moonspell devotees, a genuinely unforgettable encounter with the band. The show ran incredibly smoothly. No hitches, in very good sound conditions. The band also didn’t forget the folk track Aetegina, which Ribeiro introduced as a Portuguese song made for a beer-soaked party — a track that wasn’t included in the standard version of “Wolfheart”.
The one hiccup of the night hit during the intro to Lua D’ Inverno, when only guitarist Ricardo Amorim and keyboardist Pedro Paixão remained on stage. The sound cut out after a few seconds. Then came back. Then cut out again. That rattled Amorim quite a bit. Both left the stage. That section was slightly shortened as a result, but the stage soon came back to life with Trebaruna (a close twin of Aetegina). Not much stood between us and the finale — and the finale delivered the absolute pinnacle. Opening with Vampiria, a manic Fernando, a brilliant compactness that carried us forward into a gothic metal treat — the sinister yet powerful An Erotic Alchemy. One single track remained, the one everyone had been waiting for impatiently. A peak not just of this show, but of any Moonspell concert. The black metal dirge called Alma Mater. The great closing finale in which all of Basinfirefest stretched their vocal cords alongside Fernando. A shame that its performance also meant the end of the Moonspell concert!
Moonspell wrapped up a few minutes past midnight. Far too soon, needless to say. With Moonspell it’s always over too soon. They remain live spectacle of the highest order! The last act of the festival was announced for half past midnight — Finnish Ensiferum, whom we deliberately skipped. We had to get back to Prague and preserve some energy. As we made our way to the car, streams of Ensiferum fans were trudging toward the grounds. A lot of young faces among them too.
Basinfirefest is a festival with a long and established history. RockLine turned up there for the first time this year — without any particular advance plan. Given the outstanding impression we came away with, we’re already impatient for next year’s festival announcements. Never say never, and it wouldn’t take much persuading to get us back there.
Text: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Edita Klemen
