Once again I was lucky enough to grab a chance and be by the side of my lovely woman, so I kinda took some time off when it comes to writing and life in general. Well actually, that is a lie, I've been doing, or at least trying to do, some writing for several other projects I have in mind. If all goes well and I manage to beat a major writer's block I have, you will no doubt be reading about those other things I've been working on. Everything is just going extremely slow due to a number of things I'm trying to beat in my life, but I'm trying to take it step by step.
"Nemea" opened the final festival day. A local band hailing from the city Ostend woke up the audience with a brooding form of post metal. I didn't see the entire performance, but from what I witnessed, the band is really interesting. The have a rather compelling sound, in the form of flow and structure, although I somehow feel like they need more consistency. It is really hard to describe, but it seemed to me that specific song sections are way too flowing and at times lack a certain dose of heaviness. This is just a personal opinion however and the band is by no means bad. Absolutely check them out, they are still a very young band and I expect a long road ahead of them.
"The Death Of Anna Karina" was one of the bands that made my jaw drop to the floor when I saw it on the schedule for the festival. Do I really need to explain why? Cult Italian screamo, going strong ever since 1999. Although the band went through different stages of metamorphosis it always managed to hold its ground and stand out with its superb and unique sound. Each record they put out is better than the previous one and it seems as thought the band is on a constant path of growth and advancement. It is funny how I, for some reason, never thought I'd be seeing them perform live, yet there they were in hand-reach in front of me. A mix of older and newer songs was performed, so the crowd got to hear songs like "Castration" and "Dissoluzione", which I have to say was pretty awesome. The girl and me managed to acquire the setlist on paper from the lovely guitar player, but sadly I don't have it with me at the moment. If anyone is interested in the entire list of songs, just leave me a comment and I'll post it for you. In any case, the show was thrilling and had so much energy crackling all over the stage, lots of moving around, singing along and even the singer dropping to the floor and convulsing to the beat of the given song. Sadly, the set saw a flaw which definitely crippled my opinion about the overall show, but luckily I know it's not the band's fault. The vocals were abnormally low, which is obviously rather negative when it comes to a screamo band. You could barely hear the vocalist, although it was apparent that there was barely any air in his lungs from screaming his guts out. The moments when he was discernible were those when the rest of the band would grab a much lower tone or be far slower than usual. The person who was responsible for the sound truly failed, which is a sad fact for this band, since the vocals always played a key part of everything, especially on the last record where I find them quite powerful. Despite this, "The Death Of Anna Karina" impressed me and has sealed my love for their work entirely.
After a reasonable break it was time to get blown into oblivion by "Toxic Holocaust". Oh. Yes. This devastating Portland-based trio has been ripping ears with its crust, thrash, speed metal crossover ever since 1999. They have been unstoppable with releasing the finest outputs of the genre in all these years and they just keep getting stronger. The band was quick to unleash a true audio assault on the crowd, initially coming in the form of "In the Name of Science" which sounded amazing. I was definitely prepared for a brutal concert, but an impact of this caliber I wasn't expecting. The attack continued with "War Is Hell", "Wild Dogs", "Nuke the Cross" and "Endless Armageddon" among the score of other tracks performed, finally ending with the song "Bitch". This was such a fast and fiendish ride, you literally had no time to think and I barely managed to successfully scrabble some notes into my booklet. The sound was clear and powerful with a little bit of that thrashy crackling, everything ending up being completely as it should. Later during the day, while standing in the food line, I grabbed a chance to talk a bit to two members of the band who ended up being extremely nice and friendly, making the band that much more awesome. Can't say that you need to check them out, since by now you should have already done that a long time ago. If you haven't... don't make me come over there!
Once "Toxic Holocaust" finished their wild set, it was time for a bomb made out of positive energy called "7 Seconds" to explode on the main stage. There is probably no person out there in the hardcore/punk/whatever scene that doesn't know about this band. Legends of hardcore punk, these guys have been focused on shining out the most positive aspects of the genre, and ideals in general, for a remarkable thirty two year period. After countless records and tours, the band is still growing and being stronger than ever. Initially I heard about this band thanks to my cousin somewhere way back in 1999 I think, a time when I was just getting into music, and since then they never stopped spinning in my player. I absolutely adore "7 Seconds" now as much as I did back then and it was such a mind-blowing experience to finally get the privilege to see them live after all these years. That time has definitely been a huge catalyst, as far as emotions and expectations go, and the band completely delivered. The smile on my face and silly dancing lasted for the entirety of their set, the music and amazing amount of positive energy simply driving you forward. I don't think there was a single person in the crowd that was left unmoved or without a grin on their face. "One Big Guessing Game", "If The Kids Are United", "99 Red Balloons", "Here We Go Again Kids" and "Red and Black" are just some of the songs which incited everyone to just relax and enjoy themselves, making the festival into one enormous party. People continually climbed up on stage and had fun with the members of the band, the singer honestly being mind blown and constantly saying thanks to everyone. Of course, there was enough time to talk and bring out those positive ideals of music while bashing those stupid macho principles and asshole right-wing ideologies. (guess who?) The sound, of course, was absolutely flawless and like everything I imagined, which made the entire experience wonderful. This also falls as a runner-up for my top gigs of 2012 and I see that I will have a really hard time making that list in the end. All in all, a legendary band sculpting a legendary performance, no more words need to be written.
"Cattle Decapitation". I have to be honest, I never heard about this band before, which is really wrong of me, since they seem to have a fair bit of history, ranging from the distant year of 1996. The scariest thing for me is that most probably I would completely miss to see them on the festival, if it wasn't for a random encounter beforehand. Namely, my girlfriend's friend said that we should definitely catch them since they are "insane live", so thanks to him we gave these guys a go. Well now, let me tell you that his definition of the band was a serious understatement. This band adds a whole new meaning to insanity, not being just plain crazy or nuts, but seriously mentally deranged with a little touch of being demonically possessed. And all of this I mean in the most awesome and brilliant way possible, the project ending up as being one of the greatest discoveries for me on the entire festival. Without reading any further, I just urge you all to check these guys out, lurk up their music online, go to their shows like your life depends on it and simply support them in any way possible. So what exactly happened on the gig that it made me be so flabbergasted? First of all, the music was absolutely stunning, the band instantly lashing out with an aggressive fusion of black/death metal and grind, knitted into impressively complex and mind bending tracks. The melodies range between extremely exploding, technical, rending and beating to the brain, while at times sounding really epic and sophisticated. In the most schizophrenic whirlwind of instrumental sound stood the vocalist of the band... and I have no idea where to begin with explaining his performance. Remember that demonic possession thing I mentioned earlier? Well, this guy is the ground zero of a massive infestation from otherworldly beings. The score of sounds the man produced during the set was astounding, going from screaming, squealing and growling, all the way to having a funny humor-imbued voice during breaks. All of these were executed in so many different pitches and with a vast array of intensity, so you are left standing there and marveling at what is going on around you. Of course, the devils didn't nest just in the vocal chords, but in fact they started raping the entire band. "Cattle Decapitation" is one of those bands that is just a thrill to watch on stage and you can't look away. My eyes have never been so glued and focused, the state lasting for the entirety of the show. Crazy headbanging, making various deformed faces, the speed and style of the playing, the singer continuously pouring gallons of water on himself and dripping everywhere. And of course, the most marvelous of his maneuvers, launching a ball of spit above his head and then either re-swallowing it in midair or catching it with his hand and sniffing it back into his skull. Yes, everything is truly tense and constantly hanging on the peak of climax when it comes to this band. If all of this is not enough for you to check them out, then I don't know what is. On a side note, the band managed to grab even more of my love once I checked them out after the festival when I got back home. Apparently, the lyrics of "Cattle Decapitation" portray the horrible way humans treat the environment and nature, as well as continuously putting humans into slaughter and abuse scenarios , the same as those which are brought down upon non-human animals daily in real life, or even plainly speaking about genocide. I don't know about my readers, but this gets major thumbs up from yours truly.
Here we come to a whole new level of misanthropy, apathy and depression. And this is the part of the review where things get downright serious. What follows is probably one of the top three performances of the festival and most likely rushing to be in the top for the entire year. Today I was riding in the public transport and briefly remembered how "Crowbar" executed their set on "Ieperfest" and I wanted to rip the gripping pole, beat people up and then smash my own face into a pulp... that's how perfectly beyond this world and words they sounded. I guess that I need to seem more coherent in order for the readers to understand my thoughts, so I'll try to verbalize the experiences I brought from that gig. Anyone who is remotely into hardcore, and its darker incarnations like sludge, knows about "Crowbar". And if you don't, you should go back and do your homework properly. This twisted and apocalyptic apparition has crawled out of the swamps of Louisiana way back in 1989, sowing despair and creating dystopian landscapes wherever it goes. The little town of Ieper was about to be desecrated and the band was determined to do it thoroughly. "We are here to kick your asses", were the mild words of the singer, not exposing the nihilistic monstrosity which was about to be let loose upon everyone until it was too late to run away. I stood there in utter awe, rattled by shivers when the silence was shattered on stage. "Conquering", "New Dawn", "Burn Your World" and "High Rate Extinction" were some of the songs which made the gigantic, slime covered citadel known as "Crowbar". "The Lasting Dose" and "Planets Collide", a pair of my personal favorites, were executed on stage making me completely stunned in the overall gray and desolate landscape the band weaved around the audience. The sound was so powerful and perfectly clear, giving the listener an ability to thoroughly revel in every performed tone. Recalling this show makes me feel really speechless, which shows me just how much a band can make an impression on you and leave you stunned. It was a powerful experience where "Crowbar" excelled at what they do and swiftly managed to live up to their name and reputation. This gig planted its roots deep into my heart and it surely won't be forgotten. My only hope is that, one day, I will get the chance to see them again.
For the past year or so, I've managed to be so lucky to be able to grab numerous bands I love. Anyone who is reading this blog on a regular basis could really see how much gigs I went to and the amount of infatuation I had for a large number of bands hosted here. To be extremely honest, the list of bands which I have seen live drew me to the point where I had no idea which projects I'd crave to see next. Well, among the really few bands that are left for which I would give anything to see was "Converge", so "Ieperfest" gave me the desired opportunity. Aside of personally being quite excited about seeing them in concert, it seemed that almost everyone on the festival was stoked to see the legendary mathcore quartet. Wherever your eyes would wander you would see "Converge" T-shirts and tattoos, leading me to believe that a really spectacular show and insane atmosphere will ensue, probably resulting in a number of deaths from crowd surfing and moshing. Overall I was beyond thrilled to witness the following spectacle and the expectations just kept boiling. And then, the long awaited moment came... and dear mother was I disappointed. It is really bitter for me to recall that gig and I don't even know where to begin with remembering. The choice of the performed songs was really not impressive to begin with, since in my opinion it wasn't as violent as it should be. Too many songs were slow and somehow dragging, which made the set dull, at least for me since I expected complete mayhem and destruction. Everyone can easily look up the setlist on the internet, so you can be the judge of my statement above. Also, following the steps of the chosen songs, the band members didn't seem so enthusiastic and energetic about the fact that they are playing. The singer had some inspiring moments, but it all seemed so bleak in comparison to what I imagined. Additionally, we all know that one of the biggest merits of "Converge" is just the most crushing and powerful, yet insanely melodic and driving, sound, but live they simply didn't cut it right. My impressions were that the volume could have been way more higher and impacting, but what did happen was the crowd getting just your average hardcore show. Having so many trashy thoughts about such a legendary band is not really aiding the popularity of this blog, and it's definitely not the first time I talked bad about a ridiculously famous project, but hey. Bad things happen, those also including bad gigs and this is by no means my final judgement of the band. I will hopefully see this band again in December and I will give them a second chance. Somehow I feel that they will sound much better on a gig which they are headlining, in comparison to a festival performance. We'll see, you never know.
Following the event that seemed like I was robbed off of my childhood memories, I decided to drown the sadness in food, completely forgetting that seeing "Bolt Thrower" would do me good. Although I was far away from the stage and barely paying attention, I guess I could say that I went through their entire performance and they sounded awesome. I was still pissed off by the previous show, so I devoured a meal of french fries, but this band managed to subtly make me forget about the disappointment. It is really sad that I didn't focus too much on stage and because of that I won't be writing much here. All I'll say is that for a "heard live" band they pretty much ruled.
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