BRUTAL ASSAULT 2014


After visiting several festivals in the past, big ones and small ones I was looking forward to see what Brutal Assault in Czech Republic will bring.
The festival is happening in small town Jaromer in the old fortress, which is really something special.

TUESDAY

We arrived on Tuesday, and town was already infested with black ones. The VIP camp was pretty empty at that time. That changed the next two days. That was also the case with VIP parking.


WEDNESDAY  
On Wednesday the fest opened it's doors, some kind of warm up, but the bands that played that day weere like Flotsam and Jetsam, The Agonist, Terrorizer and legends Venom among others.
So I checked the first openers Suburban Terrorist from Slovakia, death metal with grind influences. They did a good job and already started a mosh pit in the crowd.

After that I walked over festival ground and explored what has to offer. You had a lot of diversity when it comes to food, the beer was also great one and what is more important, cheap for a festival.
The second band I saw were The Agonist and I was not pretending too much but also I didn't get too much. The new singer Vicky doesen't have a charisma of Alissa and she doesn't have a strong stage presence, maybe in time she will improve.
I took a break and went walking around festival site.
Next for me were Venom...when you hear songs like Pedal To The Metal you now why they are still kicking it around so much. They pulled a hell of a show!
I saw also the last band of the night Czech's djent Modern Day Babylon...not bad at all, but only instrumetal, without vocals.

THURSDAY
This was the real beginning of the festival with all 3 stages, but thank god the main ones are togheter so you don't need to run from one to another and also a third one Metalgate stage was not soo far away.
It was a sunny day and at 11.05 the first band of a long day ahead of me was Havok, trash metal in all it's glory. The band pulled out a great show!
Next one for me was Texas In July, metalcore band. It was a pleasant surprise, I enjoyed it a lot!
At 13.25 it was time for iwrestledabearonce...the band not for everyone...experimental core with female frontman but with a lot of energy on stage. The crowd was thankful.
I was planing to see more bands that day, but then we had intersting chats with colleagues in press area and time has flown quickly so I jumped to Katatonia. Good show from them.
Suffocation was a quick look, so I can't say too much.
The first band for me that I had to see was Bring Me The Horizon. I saw them few months back in Italy at club show and they made a good show. Sadly this time around it was not the case.
Like Oli, frontman of the band admitted on the stage "My voice is fucked up" and it really was. I don't count how many times he threw the mic on the floor.
The set list was sadly almost all from the new album Sempiternal.
But anyway they pulled out to the end of the show and the crowd appreciated!
The mighty Slayer...I just dropped an eye on, because I saw them 3 times before and they always disappointed me as a live band. After speaking with few people afterwards they had the same views as mine, boring live show.
The next band to see for me was Architects. The band that is on a rise now and they showed why, putting up a great show.
Next on the menu were 2 black metal bands. First one was Gehenna, depro black metal. Not exactly my kind of thing, but I've been previously on this kind of shows, the tent was full, and band got good vibes from crowd.
The last band on main stage was Khold, but this was a completely different story.
Musically speaking was a much better for me, they had melodies and groovy parts and I can honestly say, that this was the best black metal show I've been to.

FRIDAY
This was more of a chill out day for me, because there was not so many bands to see for my taste.
It was 18.20 when H20 hit the stage. I watched them for 20 min. Cool energetic show.
The next band to go on was Six Feet Under. What can I say? The legends did it again. Good show from them.
I went to the third stage to see The Ocean. The big tent was full. I think that this is one of those bands that you must experience live, evenn if you don't like their music. Good show also from them.
I went back to main stages to see The Devin Townsend Project and Amon Amarth.
Devin I saw it before at club show and see it here on open air, the result is the same. Great live show, great crowd control and interaction with the crowd. A must see!!!
Amon Amarth did a great job also, not being my cup of tea, speaking with others they made a great show. 

SATURDAY
The last day was already here.
First band that i saw were Hacktivist, UK combo that combine djent core with rap vocals over it. The crowed approved!


The next one were Dew-Scented, German trash heavyweights. They made a good show.
One of the bands that I was also eager to see was August Burns Red.
They made a good show with songs like Provison, Back Burner, Fault Line, Composure among others.


It was time now for some metal from Sweden...Soilwork. This guys will be celebrating 20 years of activity next year and they proved it again why are they still here after all this years. The grand finale was with Stabbing The Drama with audience's big approval.


Next one for me was Down. When you go to a Down show you are always hoping to hear some Pantera songs and that Phil will be in a good mood to do it, but sadly also this time around that was not the case. They were solid, Phil was good interacting with the crowd and for the end they played Stone The Crown with sing alongs.

Converge is a pure explosion on stage, with lots of energy, specially from the frontman Jacob.

My Dying Bride was the end for me. They did a good one also.

SUMMARY
Like I said at the beginning, after visiting several festivals around Europe, this is certainly one of the best ones I've ever been. Why? Let see.
One of the best line up's this year, with a lot of diversity between genres, so everyone can easily find few bands for themselfes.
The price for the ticket and how many bands you can get is win situation!
On inside festival area, the food and drinks are cheap and wide range!
I never saw that much merch from the festival and more important GREAT ONE with really awesome designs.
I also never saw so much young people be in important positions and running the 3rd Metalgate stage like in this case, congrats to Prasiak and Vojta, stage manger and host and their team for great work!!!
Press area was a really cool place to work and probably the nicest press guy you can ever get, Honza thx for everything!!!
The vibe itself of the festival is very special and unique!
One cool thing that was nice to see was when we were leaving the VIP parking space they had a free alcohol test.Plus this time around we had a great sunny weather with some dark cloud but also with a bit of wind from time to time.

Schizmo and the rest of the team, you did a great job and just keep doing what you do best, making one of the best festivals in the world!!!


Here is a short movie that we made.

 

See you next year BRUTAL ASSAULT 2015...A MUST VISIT FOR EVERY METAL AND CORE KID OR GIRL OUT THERE!!!!


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