The East Frisian
extreme Metal scene is simply amazing! There is not "only" quite a
bunch of promising (and even successful) bands - if there is not enough Metal
around, they simply organie concerts and don't complain about the situation like
in some other areas. But this time the guys from ANASARCA had something bigger
in mind than a concert with 3 to 4 bands everybody here has seen half a dozen
times this year (nothing wrong with that, though): so they booked the "youth
center" in Emden which is somewhat bigger than the usual pub, and it's got
a stage that actually deserves the name! Furthermore, 8 bands from all over
Germany plus 2 Dutch acts were invited for a classy two-days Death / Grind
massacre. Unfortunately, two bands had to cancel their appearance in advance,
namely INTO DARKNESS and EPICEDIUM. INTO DARKNESS' drummer had just quit the
band and their bass player was injured. Dunno what happpened to EPICEDIUM.
Hopefully they can both make it next year. Surprisingly, Mike and Co. did not
only find the promising band DESPONDENCY from East Frisia but also came up with
SPAWN for replacement! Not a bad deal at all! Finally, the prices were supposed
to only cover the expenses, so who wouldn't want to go?
Story and pics: Ramon Claassen |
Obviously
not everybody, because when opening act DESPONDENCY
hit the stage, the venue was almost as empty as my wallet on the following
sunday morning. The band's way out of this was to try and blast away the few
early supporters: despite their line-up problems (brand new 2nd guitarist and no
bass player) they supported the good impressions their self-financed demo CD
"Extinction" gives by playing those songs and some new material. Funny
I only noticed one mistake by their killer drummer Dirk (also INGURGITATING
OBLIVION, formerly known as 
For some reason their music didn't really catch me - don't ask me why, maybe my
psychiatrist knows the reason. But their stage performance was the best of the
first night as their singer Matt has a really strong stage presence: he moved a
lot and looked verrry evil! Second (and last) band without a bass player as he
had to work that day. Their set was both professional and passionate. Two
questions remained: why cover a SEPULTURA song from the post "Arise"-era
and was the
DERANGED syndrom (snare far too loud) planned this way? As more and more people
arrived during the set, the stage was SPAWN's dominion that night. After this
strong performance, local heroes TEARS
OF
DECAY
obviously wanted to play
an equally intense set and as their singer (Michael) Eden is a rather
extroverted guy on stage as well, they almost reached their goal! The fact that
the band knew almost everybody in the (now fairly crowded) venue personally (and
vice versa) supported this a lot. Especially guitarist Henne had a fan club of
his own. While they were shouting his name throughout the whole set, he had
severe problems with all of the three guitars he tried out that night: torn
strings and hardware falling apart! Finally, TEARS OF DECAY played some
great new songs at
this vicious attack on my ears (on the next day 'twas even
louder!) Note: the only safe place is home! DISINFECT
turned out to be Friday's unlucky devils: because it was already getting late
and PYAEMIA
were still waiting for their turn, DISINFECT hit the stage without a soundcheck
and therefore almost didn't have any monitor sound on stage at all. A problem
like that always affects a band's motivation and consequently, they couldn't
really make the people move (not too easy with a North German crowd anyway), let
alone leave them pulverized. In fact, one East Frisian banger even passed out
right on the stage after a hard night of Metal'n'Booze. But as the sound in
front of the stage was okay, I enjoyed myself quite a bit. So despite all their
problems, for DISINFECT Emden was no place for disgrace at 
all. I had heard
quite a few enthusiastic comments about PYAEMIA in advance and therefore was a
bit disappointed when I learned they temporarily
had run out of CDs. I was even more disappointed about this fact when the band
started their set: absolutely intense music presented with great precision! The
SUFFOCATION cover fitted just perfectly and the crowd went absolutely nuts! I
witnessed spontaneous spanking scenes and even the "musicians' police"
(the guys in the back who usually have a band as well and who always seem to be
waiting for mistakes) stood there with smiling faces! The fact that PYAEMIA's
singer / guitarist was nailed to the microphone stand didn't matter at all!
Probably in February PYAEMIA will be on tour in Europe again, so don't miss them!
In Emden they didn't show no mercy indeed!
On
Saturday the first band to hit the stage was STILLBORN
CHILD.
Officially, the band doesn't exist any more, but for Ear Terror they reunited
for the fun of it. Unfortunately, there were even fewer people around than the
day before at the same time. So many people missed a set that left me wondering
why STILLBORN CHILD call it quits! Good piece
of raw Death Metal and the boys seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage as
well! This band was butchered at birth with no chance for a second coming!?
Obviously, 
MALEDICTIVE
PIGS
had played in this area a couple of times before because both the band as well
as the audience seemed to know each other fairly well. Around here, everybody
calls bass player Ronny "Otto" like the famous German comedian from
Emden. I myself don't think they look that similar. Instead, their drummer
looks a bit like a former classmate and one of the guitarists like a Swedish
friend of mine... never mind. On stage, MALEDICTIVE PIGS combine aggression with
a sympathetic friendliness that makes you like 'em from the beginning on.
Musicwise there was nothing wrong with them anyway: well executed Death Metal
the brutal way, no stylistic changes but instead some good friendly violent fun!
Finally ANASARCA,
the festival's organisers, were ready to put everybody into a stage of euphoria
and they reigned supreme indeed! Actually, ANASARCA is one of the rare
few bands with no need of an extra singer as Mike excellently communicates with
the audience as well. The crowd's response even topped those of TEARS OF DECAY
and PYAEMIA the night before! Absolutely amazing! I can hardly imagine it's
"only" the great music they deliver: that night there was something
special in the air (besides the smell of pot) and it felt as if everybody was
bonded in blood: Germans, people from Switzerland, Holland, Poland and Denmark.
For non-Frisians Mike started singing a song in the regional dialect because on
that day there happened to be a special (christian) day (St.Martin?) with a
strong East Frisian tradition (at least stronger than where I come from). At
least it's a good excuse for drinking. So how about celebrating Martini with a
Death Metal festival each year? In a case of total devastation like Ear Terror,
even the Antichrist himself (or herself?) would have to like that day... After
ANASARCA had finished their set, the crowd became smaller: two days of Metal and
alcohol (and who knows what else) had made many pay tribute to this and they
more or less managed to go home without passing out at the venue. Those people
missed one of the most impressive sets of the festival: SANITY'S
DAWN
was probably the oldest band (founding date) at Ear
Terror. Being founded in 1990 they started out as some kind of rock band and
developed into a pure Gore-Grind act over the years. For some reason I'm not
into their sound too much but the remaining crowd and especially the guys from
TEARS OF DECAY obviously digged what they heard. On stage, the singer was the
most aggressive musician of the whole festival and he almost made the stage fall
apart! Finally, NECROLOGY
were the unlucky devils of the second 
night:
just like DISINFECT on friday they had problems with the monitor sound and even
one drunkard of their own passing out on stage. Déja-vu! The few die hard
maniacs loved their rather old school Death Metal, though, and went absolutely
crazy. But the band couldn't cope with the bad sound situation and shortened
their set a little. However, if NECROLOGY had not forgotten to bring along some
merchandise they had sold quite a few CDs. And I always thought the dutch are
perfect salesmen: another stereotype torn to pieces...