In August we attended the 21st Brutal Assault festival. Like previous years, one of the biggest Czech metal festivals took place at the old army Fortress Josefov in the town of Jaromer.
WEDNESDAY
The festival began on Wednesday 10th of August. The four day festival ended on the 13th of August. Over 100 bands from all over the world performed on stage of this metal festival, and we saw a good number of them. Festival had a great atmosphere with a diverse range of performing bands. This year the festival included more Czech metal acts than previous years. Shows took place at four different stages. Two main stages at the entrance: "Jagermeister" and "Metalshop" stage and the smaller "Metalgate" stage that was under a tent. Like previous years there was also a smaller Oriental stage, dedicated to alternative, mostly avant garde bands.
The first day of festival the weather wasn't summer like at all. Just before the door opened heavy rain poured down. That wasn't the only problem, the ticket scanning system had failed. A lot of people including us had to wait to get new wristbands before we could enter the festival ground. Luckily we didn't wait long. Through the whole festival the weather wasn't warm, but at least wasn't hot all the time like previous year.
On the first day of the festival we went to check out Devil Driver. Despite Dez's unnecessary comments during the show, about how there can only be one god and how he isn't afraid of anybody anymore, it was still a great performance.
Other performing bands that played the main stages, the first day were: Tesa (Post Hardcore from Latvia), Dust Bold (A German Trash Metal band), The Truth Is Out There (Electronic Post Hardcore band from Czech Republic), Vektor (an American progressive trash metal band from Tempe, Arizona), Gruesome (death metal from California), Neurosis (Avant garde band from California), death metal band Dying Fetus (from Maryland), Abbath (Norwegian black metal) and Chelsea Wolfe an American musician and singer.
Since the beginning of the year 2016 was marked by one of the biggest losses in the metal community, the organisers made a memorial altar to Lemmy Kilmister. It was in one of the underground passes of the fortress. At the entrance everyone was given a candle. At the end of the tunnel there was a life size altar made of glass, with the picture of Lemmy.
THURSDAY
The second day of the festival was full of performances of big names. The festival was opened by Demimonde, doom, gothic band from Prague.
We went to check out Animals As Leaders, a 3 piece progressive, modern metal act from Los Angeles, who are one of the pioneers of the djent scene.
Later it was time for another American group, the Black Dahlia Murder. It was a show full of great energy and circle pits. They started the show with "What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse", from the "Nocturnal" album. During the show vocalist Trevor pointed out that this is truly a unique festival, that he never had a privilege to watch a man urinate during his show, than he saluted him. They started the biggest circle pit of the day and lifted the energy of the festival to the next level. They closed the show with "Deathmask Divine".
The second day was time for another big name in the scene, Exodus from Bay Area. With the old classics they delivered a powerful performance. They started the biggest wall of death of the festival so far.
We were really excited to see Gojira, a progressive death metal band from France. They spread a nature conservation awareness whit their lyrics. But also include the themes of spirituality, death, rebirth. Their songs are atmospheric with unusual technical rhythmic style. The whole show had a great atmospheric vibe, with wale and crocodile balloons flying around. They really impressed with some older songs and songs from the new album "Magma". The crowd most enjoyed the songs: Silvera, Stranded, Flying Whales and Backbone.
In the afternoon it was time for more legends. First we saw the pioneers Ministry who delivered an overall great performance. They made a great visual effect with stage props and video displays.
Later it was time for more metalcore. Australian Parkway Drive who's latest albums have reached the top 10 Australian ARIA Charts, put on an incredible show full of mosh pits, a giant circle pit, pyro and overall amazing performance. They changed their style on their latest album called "Ire" and more modern metal influences can be heard. They opened the show with the song "Destroyer" from the newest album. During the last few songs: Wild Eyes, Bottom Feeder and Crushed the crowed went totally crazy, everyone was moshing, screaming, even crying and probably the biggest circle pit of the festival was started. They closed the show with "Home is for the Heartless".
The second day included even more legendary names such as Dark Tranquillity, the pioneers of the Gothenburg melodic death metal scene.
And other great bands: Ihsahn a black metal act from Norway, that was founded by the former vocalist of the Emperor Ihsahn. We heard that they had some problems performing. Their gear got lost at the airport, but was luckily replaced with borrowed equipment. Also some of the top death metal groups performed this day, such as: Immolation, Obscura, Aborted..and others.
FRIDAY
We started day three with the UK metalcore band Bury Tomorrow. During the show vocalist Daniel Winter Bates gave a few inspiring speeches that the fans well received. He shared his thoughts about VIP tickets and meet & greets. He said that the bands are the one who should be waiting to meet the fans and not the other way around. They started and finished their set list with the songs from the new album called "Earthbound". The band members themselves feel like that with this album the band has achieved everything what they wanted to be about. We had an interesting interview with the frontman Daniel aftre the show which you can find below.
Overall third day was probably the most favourable for many black metal fans. Two of the greatest Scandinavian bands performed the stages.
One of the main acts of the day were Norwegian Satyricon. Who with their classics took us back to dark medieval times.
But there were more legendary black metal acts: Swedish Dark Funeral performed the Jagermeister stage. Just to make the atmosphere more black it even started to rain during the show.
We also went to see the symphonic black metal band SepticFlesh from Athens. They will release their 10th album in 2017. The group split in 2003 and went to play in other bands and started other projects, but they announced a reunion in 2007. Despite the shining sun they manage to create a powerful atmospheric ambient that took us back to Ancient times.
Day three included more atmospheric shows. For the doom and gothic metal fans Portuguese Moonspell performed on the Jagermeister stage. On the Oriental stage Sigh from Tokyo performed, with their black avant grade style they created a dark sinister ambient.
On Friday we also went to check out Raised Fist, a hardcore band from Sweden. They are named after the lyrics of the song "Know Your Enemy" from the Rage Against The Machine. A lot of their songs are dedicated to the life on the streets. Their album "Veil of Ignorance", which was released in 2009, was nominated for a Swedish Grammy Award. They gave a powerful performance, full of big jumps, bouncing around, strong stage presence, such as you would want to see on every hardcore show.
Arch Enemy made a great show with their new vocalist Alissa White Gluz, she has proven that she can give a strong performance on vocals and confidence just as well as her predecessor.
In the afternoon we saw Tesseract, a progressive, djent metal band from the UK, who played at the smaller "Metalgate" stage. Their sound is influenced by ambient music, with the mixture of clean and scream vocals, long notes and more melodic style. They have three studio albums so far. We didn't really have any expectations when we went to see them and they pleasantly surprised us, the whole performance was very well put together.
Day three included other bands, such as Voivod, Iron Reagan, Coroner, Die Krupps, Monarch, Antigod, Intervals, October Tide, Ahumado Granujo, Mithras, Leprous, Embryonal, that we would surely go to see if the day had more hours.
SATURDAY
Saturday was the last day of the festival, but still a big day with numerous bands for us to see.
One of the first bands we went to check out were Hungarian Ektomorf. In their sound there is a mixture of styles, all from heavy, groove to nu metal influences can be heard. It was still early in the afternoon, but a great number of people gathered to see them play. After the show we had a chat with frontman Zoli and drummer Robert, see below.
After Ektomorf it was time for Knuckledust, British hardcore punk band from London. They are together for over 20 years already. They gave us a good old hardcore performance that we yearned for, filled with metalcore and crossover influences.
We also went to see Eskimo Callboy who are tearing down the limits of the "allowed" with their electronicore. You either accept them or hate them, there is no in between. Their style is a mix of metalcore, post hardcore and electronic music. Their style is heavily influenced by techno. The band themselves calls their music "Porno Metal", because their lyrics include themes of drinking, parties and sex. A good number of people gathered to party with them, mostly younger population but we also saw some of the older guys, totally wasted, but nevertheless they seemed to enjoy the show quite a lot.
Earlier in evening we went to see Insomnium. They opened the show with the song "Primeval Dark" from the recent album Shadows of the Dying Sun. Just after the festival ended in September they released their seventh studio album "Winters Gate". With their latest albums they are increasingly improving their sound, with each album they are proving that they truly are the giants and will not run out of ideas any time soon. They closed the show with the song "Mortal Share".
Later in the afternoon it was time for another big name, Behemoth took the stage over. It seemed like every person on the festival has come to watch them play. The place was far more crowded than on any of the previous shows. Probably also because of the the fact that the festival was coming to its end. They opened the show with "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" from the recent album Satanist, for which they won the Album of the Year award. They finished with the older song Chant for Eschaton 2000 from their fourth album Satanica.
One of the last bands that took place on the Jagermeister stage were legendary German thrashers Destruction. They made a big show and added visual effects to their performance. The show was filled with fire, pyrotechnics and all sorts of theatrics that blew the fans away.
Third time around we can say that we left the festival filled with positive impressions and we will definitely be back next year.
WEDNESDAY
The festival began on Wednesday 10th of August. The four day festival ended on the 13th of August. Over 100 bands from all over the world performed on stage of this metal festival, and we saw a good number of them. Festival had a great atmosphere with a diverse range of performing bands. This year the festival included more Czech metal acts than previous years. Shows took place at four different stages. Two main stages at the entrance: "Jagermeister" and "Metalshop" stage and the smaller "Metalgate" stage that was under a tent. Like previous years there was also a smaller Oriental stage, dedicated to alternative, mostly avant garde bands.
The first day of festival the weather wasn't summer like at all. Just before the door opened heavy rain poured down. That wasn't the only problem, the ticket scanning system had failed. A lot of people including us had to wait to get new wristbands before we could enter the festival ground. Luckily we didn't wait long. Through the whole festival the weather wasn't warm, but at least wasn't hot all the time like previous year.
On the first day of the festival we went to check out Devil Driver. Despite Dez's unnecessary comments during the show, about how there can only be one god and how he isn't afraid of anybody anymore, it was still a great performance.
Other performing bands that played the main stages, the first day were: Tesa (Post Hardcore from Latvia), Dust Bold (A German Trash Metal band), The Truth Is Out There (Electronic Post Hardcore band from Czech Republic), Vektor (an American progressive trash metal band from Tempe, Arizona), Gruesome (death metal from California), Neurosis (Avant garde band from California), death metal band Dying Fetus (from Maryland), Abbath (Norwegian black metal) and Chelsea Wolfe an American musician and singer.
Since the beginning of the year 2016 was marked by one of the biggest losses in the metal community, the organisers made a memorial altar to Lemmy Kilmister. It was in one of the underground passes of the fortress. At the entrance everyone was given a candle. At the end of the tunnel there was a life size altar made of glass, with the picture of Lemmy.
THURSDAY
The second day of the festival was full of performances of big names. The festival was opened by Demimonde, doom, gothic band from Prague.
We went to check out Animals As Leaders, a 3 piece progressive, modern metal act from Los Angeles, who are one of the pioneers of the djent scene.
Later it was time for another American group, the Black Dahlia Murder. It was a show full of great energy and circle pits. They started the show with "What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse", from the "Nocturnal" album. During the show vocalist Trevor pointed out that this is truly a unique festival, that he never had a privilege to watch a man urinate during his show, than he saluted him. They started the biggest circle pit of the day and lifted the energy of the festival to the next level. They closed the show with "Deathmask Divine".
The second day was time for another big name in the scene, Exodus from Bay Area. With the old classics they delivered a powerful performance. They started the biggest wall of death of the festival so far.
We were really excited to see Gojira, a progressive death metal band from France. They spread a nature conservation awareness whit their lyrics. But also include the themes of spirituality, death, rebirth. Their songs are atmospheric with unusual technical rhythmic style. The whole show had a great atmospheric vibe, with wale and crocodile balloons flying around. They really impressed with some older songs and songs from the new album "Magma". The crowd most enjoyed the songs: Silvera, Stranded, Flying Whales and Backbone.
In the afternoon it was time for more legends. First we saw the pioneers Ministry who delivered an overall great performance. They made a great visual effect with stage props and video displays.
Later it was time for more metalcore. Australian Parkway Drive who's latest albums have reached the top 10 Australian ARIA Charts, put on an incredible show full of mosh pits, a giant circle pit, pyro and overall amazing performance. They changed their style on their latest album called "Ire" and more modern metal influences can be heard. They opened the show with the song "Destroyer" from the newest album. During the last few songs: Wild Eyes, Bottom Feeder and Crushed the crowed went totally crazy, everyone was moshing, screaming, even crying and probably the biggest circle pit of the festival was started. They closed the show with "Home is for the Heartless".
The second day included even more legendary names such as Dark Tranquillity, the pioneers of the Gothenburg melodic death metal scene.
And other great bands: Ihsahn a black metal act from Norway, that was founded by the former vocalist of the Emperor Ihsahn. We heard that they had some problems performing. Their gear got lost at the airport, but was luckily replaced with borrowed equipment. Also some of the top death metal groups performed this day, such as: Immolation, Obscura, Aborted..and others.
FRIDAY
We started day three with the UK metalcore band Bury Tomorrow. During the show vocalist Daniel Winter Bates gave a few inspiring speeches that the fans well received. He shared his thoughts about VIP tickets and meet & greets. He said that the bands are the one who should be waiting to meet the fans and not the other way around. They started and finished their set list with the songs from the new album called "Earthbound". The band members themselves feel like that with this album the band has achieved everything what they wanted to be about. We had an interesting interview with the frontman Daniel aftre the show which you can find below.
Overall third day was probably the most favourable for many black metal fans. Two of the greatest Scandinavian bands performed the stages.
One of the main acts of the day were Norwegian Satyricon. Who with their classics took us back to dark medieval times.
But there were more legendary black metal acts: Swedish Dark Funeral performed the Jagermeister stage. Just to make the atmosphere more black it even started to rain during the show.
We also went to see the symphonic black metal band SepticFlesh from Athens. They will release their 10th album in 2017. The group split in 2003 and went to play in other bands and started other projects, but they announced a reunion in 2007. Despite the shining sun they manage to create a powerful atmospheric ambient that took us back to Ancient times.
Day three included more atmospheric shows. For the doom and gothic metal fans Portuguese Moonspell performed on the Jagermeister stage. On the Oriental stage Sigh from Tokyo performed, with their black avant grade style they created a dark sinister ambient.
On Friday we also went to check out Raised Fist, a hardcore band from Sweden. They are named after the lyrics of the song "Know Your Enemy" from the Rage Against The Machine. A lot of their songs are dedicated to the life on the streets. Their album "Veil of Ignorance", which was released in 2009, was nominated for a Swedish Grammy Award. They gave a powerful performance, full of big jumps, bouncing around, strong stage presence, such as you would want to see on every hardcore show.
Arch Enemy made a great show with their new vocalist Alissa White Gluz, she has proven that she can give a strong performance on vocals and confidence just as well as her predecessor.
In the afternoon we saw Tesseract, a progressive, djent metal band from the UK, who played at the smaller "Metalgate" stage. Their sound is influenced by ambient music, with the mixture of clean and scream vocals, long notes and more melodic style. They have three studio albums so far. We didn't really have any expectations when we went to see them and they pleasantly surprised us, the whole performance was very well put together.
Day three included other bands, such as Voivod, Iron Reagan, Coroner, Die Krupps, Monarch, Antigod, Intervals, October Tide, Ahumado Granujo, Mithras, Leprous, Embryonal, that we would surely go to see if the day had more hours.
SATURDAY
Saturday was the last day of the festival, but still a big day with numerous bands for us to see.
One of the first bands we went to check out were Hungarian Ektomorf. In their sound there is a mixture of styles, all from heavy, groove to nu metal influences can be heard. It was still early in the afternoon, but a great number of people gathered to see them play. After the show we had a chat with frontman Zoli and drummer Robert, see below.
After Ektomorf it was time for Knuckledust, British hardcore punk band from London. They are together for over 20 years already. They gave us a good old hardcore performance that we yearned for, filled with metalcore and crossover influences.
We also went to see Eskimo Callboy who are tearing down the limits of the "allowed" with their electronicore. You either accept them or hate them, there is no in between. Their style is a mix of metalcore, post hardcore and electronic music. Their style is heavily influenced by techno. The band themselves calls their music "Porno Metal", because their lyrics include themes of drinking, parties and sex. A good number of people gathered to party with them, mostly younger population but we also saw some of the older guys, totally wasted, but nevertheless they seemed to enjoy the show quite a lot.
Earlier in evening we went to see Insomnium. They opened the show with the song "Primeval Dark" from the recent album Shadows of the Dying Sun. Just after the festival ended in September they released their seventh studio album "Winters Gate". With their latest albums they are increasingly improving their sound, with each album they are proving that they truly are the giants and will not run out of ideas any time soon. They closed the show with the song "Mortal Share".
Later in the afternoon it was time for another big name, Behemoth took the stage over. It seemed like every person on the festival has come to watch them play. The place was far more crowded than on any of the previous shows. Probably also because of the the fact that the festival was coming to its end. They opened the show with "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" from the recent album Satanist, for which they won the Album of the Year award. They finished with the older song Chant for Eschaton 2000 from their fourth album Satanica.
One of the last bands that took place on the Jagermeister stage were legendary German thrashers Destruction. They made a big show and added visual effects to their performance. The show was filled with fire, pyrotechnics and all sorts of theatrics that blew the fans away.
Third time around we can say that we left the festival filled with positive impressions and we will definitely be back next year.
Comments
Post a Comment