|
|
August 10
- August 12
Bad Berka, Germany
|
THURSDAY:
Upon
arrival, it was already obvious that this would be the highlight of this
summer’s festival season, a very relaxed atmosphere, no large cues to get the
festival ribbon or to get into the area at all, a clear and open camping ground
and many positive factors more that stand out of the other festivals at least I
did attend this year. After building up the tent, it was time to meet some of
the persons one only meets once a year, and since HELRUNAR was the first
interesting band there were still a few hours to go (nh). At this time (around 9
p.m.), the tent was already packed with people, and masses were still  standing
outside waiting for entrance. Now the german "Pagan Metal shooting stars“
HELRUNAR
were next to enter the stage, and from the very first moments of the set they
proved that their present status is not based on hype but on seriousness,
professionalism and passion. Playing songs from both full length albums “Grátr”
and “Frostnacht” in turn as well as the terrific 'Hauch wird Sturm' from the
split MCD with Nachtmahr, all
clad in an excellent, clear and aggressive wall of sound, the performance lead
to enthusiastic reactions from the crowd: “horns up” nearly back to the bar!
I had not seen the band before and was captured especially by 'Seelenwinter',
whereas the tracks from  “Frostnacht” lack a bit of charisma in my opinion.
Blame it on the fact I'm still not too familiar with this new record… In
conclusion, HELRUNAR
turned out to be more than an excellent appetizer for a great festival weekend!
(SI). Leaving out all the political fuzz (of which he certainly did not get to
know anything anyway as we were camping in true metalhead tradition), WATAIN
gave a lesson in orthodox Black Metal that still can be approved by many. There
is no chance to move forwards or backwards in the incense filled tent, and I am
pretty sure that the triumphant advance of the Swedish band will continue with
their album of which they already performed one song. The rest of the set was
mostly material from 2003’s “Casus Luciferi” and songs like ‘I Am The
Earth’ should not be too unknown to our dear readers anyway. A good start into
the festival, and for me WATAIN were the actual headliner of the first day (nh).
I
pretty much missed the first day's headliner MASTER
as I stumbled across Mr Westphallus of Necromaniac Magazine and Mr Zorn
(ex-FEARER, R.I.P.). All I can say was that the tent didn't seem as packed as
before and that Mr Speckmann and his partners in crime delivered a solid set. I
recognised 'Submerged in Sin' and 'Funeral Bitch' but that's it. Somehow they
don't really catch my attention any more but becoming a teacher I had to buy
their “4 More Years Of Terror” shirt, though (RC).
FRIDAY:
With
their cheap Aldi keyboards KILLING
SPREE
royally got on my nerves on a chilly Friday morning. Additionally, an
annoying drizzle tried to dampen the spirits. Next to hit the stage were KAAMOS
celebrating their last gig ever. They were aggressive but somehow this was sort
of melancholic as well. For obvious reasons. I just had to realise I’m not
familiar enough with their songs as I got ‘em on vinyl only and I’ve become
too lazy to choose that
 format lately. Consequently, I couldn’t worship the
band as they would have deserved. That was Voices-Nathaniel’s job who I
spotted in the front row going crazy together with quite a big crowd. After what
seemed like seconds KAAMOS’ set was over leaving an empty feeling in the
stomach. Backstage people were on their knees begging the band to think about
not calling it quits but in spite of their sad faces there was no chance of
making them change their minds (RC). SEVERE
TORTURE
from the land of cheese and weed were next on the bill. And to be honest right
from the beginning, after having seen this band approximately 5-6 times live,
their performance just bored me more than it aroused a need for crazy pit action
in me. Sure, they are professional artists, technically skilled, with matured
songs, but their behaviour and posing on stage is more or less the same every
time. This band was always kind of static in a live situation but for my taste
just a little too much routine has developed in the meanwhile. Music-wise, I was
sceptical beforehand because I hadn't heard their recently released “Fall Of The
Despised” album yet but instead of that mixed opinions about it and the
seemingly predominantly slow compositions. But the new breed of songs turned out
surprisingly well live! Permanent double bass underlined the kind of groovy mid
tempo compositions which contain less blast beats than the older stuff, which I
still prefer though. Also presenting a good balanced mix of tracks from the
previous albums, I finally would say this gig was plain cool but not 100%
convincing at least for me. This impression may differ when focussing on the big
banging crowd before the stage during SEVERE TORTURE's gig (SI). Having
troubles with their drum position, DEW-SCENTED had had to cancel their
appearance. Instead, FALL
OF SERENITY
got the chance of their lifetime. I only knew them by name and did have my
problems with their stuff as I wasn't into melodic Death at the time. On the
other  hand, I liked KATAKLYSM and HYPOCRISY later that day so it might also be
the case that those bands have the stronger songs. Whatever. FALL OF SERENITY
delivered quite a strong show so if there had been more people in front of the
stage, they might have gained a lot more that day. I never liked DESTRÖYER
666 on
record but on stage they're quite a show. Oldschool bastards showing just how
much fun Metal can be if you're willing to give 100%. They were not only willing
but dying to do so. Consequently, they earned the first rave reactions on
Friday. As I had seen PRIMORDIAL's Alan hang out at the festivalsite there was
no big surprise when he joined the Aussies on stage for a song. Up next: music
for morons or is
 anybody of our readers into Humppa Metal? No, I didn't think
so, either. It's a mystery to me why there are masses of people following bands
such as TURISAS.
I have to admit they were better than KORPIKLAANI, a band that tormented me at
the Headbangers' Open Air earlier this year. You might recognise me as the guy
wearing some kind of anti-Humppa shirt next year, I guess (RC). If anyone would
have told me that NIFELHEIM
might become the best band on this year’s festival, I might have not believed
him. Honestly, my memories from watching them in 2000 on that year’s Under The
Black Sun are blurred by now, and although I did actually like them back them, I
don’t think they made that much of an impression on me like they did here.
Adding to this, I still think there are miles between the releases of this
Swedish band and their live performance. Completed by two NECROPHOBIC-guys, this
was a hell of a 45-minute Black/Thrash-attack. Clad in spikes and leather from
top to toe, this band showed what a live gig must be about, and anyone who could
stand silent during songs like ‘Storms Of Satan’s Fire’ must be deaf and
is certainly wrong in this magazine! I hope it does not take another six years
to able to witness a service of the infamous Gustavsson twins. Congenial! (nh)
After the fabulous Black Rockers NIFELHEIM even I doubted if my old heroes CRYPTOPSY
would be able to compete with them. But luckily they proved me totally wrong!
Vocalist Lord Worm will always remain a love-it-or-hate-it factor of the band,
even more today than in the glorious days of pre-Century Media releases, and I
still prefer Mike
 DiSalvo on the mic but the band played stuff of the first four
albums almost exclusively and only two songs of their latest offering “Once As
Not”, and this fact motivated not only me to enter the pit very soon!!! The
track list seemed to be just the opposite of their latest tour which contained
mainly new material. The songs tonight were all classics in a row, the stage
acting superb - especially the new guitar player has ants in his pants - and the
skills a class of its own! The only flaw was the sound which didn't go with the
Canadians' technical madness perfectly (the step from NIFELHEIM to CRYPTOPSY
sound-wise is however colossal, one has to admit apologetically for the sound
mixers). But who complains about weaker singers and the blurry sound any longer?
CRYPTOPSY are stronger than ever! Stunning! (SI) I am sorry but how stupid can
it get? How can one actually cut ENSLAVED
a quarter of an hour in which they would have performed one of the anthems of
1990’s Norwegian Black Metal, namely ‘Slaget I Skogen…’ from their
legendary and überkult “Hordanes Land”-mini, when the delay has started
more or less already with the first or second band which was already pretty
obvious at the latest when NIFELHEIM were performing earlier, and just because
of a DVD-production that had to happen later? Sorry, I have no (and I mean
virtually no!)  understanding for treating a band like ENSLAVED like that. The
remaining ridiculous thirty minutes of their set was brilliantly performed,
although I personally must say that it is not a good decision to perform too
many new songs (with the exception of opening ‘Loke’), especially when
“Ruun” does not live up to its predecessor “Isa”. Still,
many
bands would hack off one of their legs to release an album like “Ruun” once
in their lifetime. And, ‘Slaget…’ would have even compensated everything,
even if they had played only “Ruun” - songs, or even worse – only
“Mardraum” - songs. Would… (nh) While Ivar of ENSLAVED was still fuming
backstage, KATAKLYSM
played a nice but – in my opinion – unspectacular gig. Nice pyros and
everything but no classics. Why are some bands ignorant enough to neglect old
songs at festivals? It's okay playing only recent stuff when promoting the new
album on tour but there are masses of people at festivals who don't know the new
material and can't follow the show with all that beer in their heads. Still,
there were masses of fans going crazy so the DVD the band shot that night will
at least look good. Talking about shooting DVDs: while ENSLAVED's playing time
had been shortened severely, KATAKLYSM got about 10 minutes extra. So you know
what you have to do in case your band gets a slot at Party.San, right? (RC) HYPOCRISY
was Friday’s headliner, and despite my reaction towards watching them nearly
every second festival I attend, I must admit that it was a solid performance
with even one or two surprises in the set list.
And judging the reactions of the audience, they had well-deserved their
position in the billing, and even with their post - “The Final
Chapter” material they are still leagues ahead of their Saturday’s
competitor (nh).
SATURDAY:
Déja-vu
feeling on Saturday morning: it was even colder and there was more rain.
Fortunately, German Blacksters AKRIVAL were not half as annoying as KILLING
SPREE on Friday. Solid stuff although I probably wouldn't buy their releases
(yet). If they  hadn't made such faces when making slight mistakes, nobody would
have noticed. My personal favourite at Party.San were MOURNING BELOVETH from
Ireland. I had only discovered the band supporting PRIMORDIAL in Hamburg at this
really small venue called Headbangers' Ballroom. At a big open air festival in
bright daylight their Doom Death isn't quite as intense but obviously they had
adjusted their set to the situation: MOURNING BELOVETH played relatively fast
songs (compared with their other material) and so slomos like me had a nice
second start into the festival's last day. Another thing I don't understand is
the hype around Flying Dutchmen
ROMPEPROP. As if there were no
Death Metal bands around
wearing surgeons' clothes playing with fake blood! Compared with HAEMORRHAGE,
for example, they're nothing. If you play that kind of music you really have to
write “hits” or leave. By the way: one guy from SEVERE TORTURE pointed out
that ROMPEPROP isn't a Dutch word at all! (RC) At the late afternoon the circus
continued with the Finnish Grind masters ROTTEN
SOUND. First of all, their new drummer left no time for mourning former
skinsman Kai's departure as he did an excellent job! Secondly, as always ROTTEN
SOUND's performance let literally not a second for breathtaking as one short
crusher followed the other and identifying certain songs was difficult as hell
even if  the records were well known to the listener as in my case. Thirdly,
maybe that is also to blame on the too gentle guitar sound. Finally, cult songs
from their more crust-influenced beginnings, like 'Super Satan' for example,
were sadly missed by me. Personally, I have seen this band better and more agile
several times, thus I was left somewhat unimpressed. But that is just my
personal opinion, so let's go on (SI). German Thrashers DESASTER showed bands
like KATAKLYSM how a band has to construct the setlist: don't give a fuck for
your most recent album! And play off your goddamn asses!! Consequently, the
already impressive crowd in front of the stage went wild for 45 minutes until
SEPULTURA's oldie 'Troops Of Doom' sent us to Metal heaven (RC). The line-up
and the style of SETHERIAL
has changed over the years, so it would have been asked too much of them to
perform anything from their breathtaking debut “Nord …”, but only one song
from “Lords Of…” is still not enough to please old fans of the band.
Well, they weren’t the only band to do so, and compared to other highlights of
the festival, they were certainly boring and sterile (nh). I really liked THYRFING's “Vansinnesvisor” when it came out so
 I was quite looking forward
to seeing them for the first time. Obviously, I should have listened to that
album once again in advance because I didn't recognize a single melody. Maybe
they didn't play material from that particular album, though. Anyway, their
stage presence was quite impressive and the dirt (?) all over their singer's
body made them look pretty wild. Later somebody told me they had lost their
costumes and fake blood. In my opinion that's excellent because if they had
looked like TURISAS that might have spoiled everything for me (RC). I was
curious about the upcoming show of the Danish veterans ILLDISPOSED,
and what then struck me was… unexpected. I knew there would be no pure Death
Metal to be performed (ILLDISPOSED never were that either), but total groovy,
solidly performed and at the same time rather unspectacular midtempo Death Rock
covering the latest records was the game here during the whole set. And guess 
what? After a couple of songs I caught myself nodding to the groove, so the
music definitely grows on extensive listening I think. Much more entertainment
was the interaction of front hooligan Bo Summer with the audience which he made
in German all the time. I remember the info, Bo shall draw such language
abilities directly from German porn movies, and I'm not going to deny that here!
So everyone can imagine the character of these conversations by himself… Very
funny, moronic and in a way disrespectful indeed, but personally I felt this was
the right band at the right time and place regarding the exaggerated seriousness
of certain Black Metal bands (often resulting in ridiculousness) and
inexpressibly Humppa clowns. Thumbs up! (SI) NAGLFAR
had quite an unpleasant start into their performance as the P.A. broke down.
They might have done something and make the fans sing instead but when finally
the sound returned, the band seemed even more evil – probably because they
were pissed off a little from that incident. I had seen them only once before at
a club show and had found them extremely boring. Not that night at the
Party.San! Great sound, great atmosphere, great performance, great everything!
NAGLFAR are back on my list again! (RC) Another
band that is back are MARDUK!
After the clownery of their former front man Legion,  Arioch is giving back some
seriousness and blackness to the band. Additionally, they meanwhile have a very
diverse choice of songs again – starting off with an “Opus
Nocturne” - classic and including virtually every phase of their long history
that already spans ten albums. If they continue to go that strong and perhaps
not appear on every tour offered and not release an album every 12-18 months,
they might still make it in the years to come. That tight and dark, they brought
themselves back to life from being a parody of Black Metal (nh). Just like
NAGLFAR, SIX FEET UNDER suffered from a collapsing P.A. but unlike the Swedes
Chris Barnes showed a lot of professionalism and made the crowd scream for him.
That's how you win a fight against technical difficulties. The first SIX FEET UNDER open
air performance I saw and kinda liked. But like always their music annoys me
after 15 minutes and I had an early appointment with my air mattress anyway
while younger (?) and more energetic headbangers partied all night long (RC).
None of us was any longer able to deal with TANKARD,
and honestly I don’t think we missed anything, but as a conclusion, the
Party.San open air can only be recommended. I think major acts like SIX FEET
UNDER or HYPOCRISY are dispensable for next year not to attract an even larger
(and underground unaware) crowd, as the roundabout 15,000 person this year are
clearly enough. With the exception of the changeable weather, I would personally
consider this a more or less perfect festival, the festival ground is great,
perhaps the tent on Thursday should be a bit larger, but all in all, one could
certainly say that Bad Berka is worth a visit (nh). Not to mention the fair
prices, the Metal Market where I bought an original (I’m quite sure about
that) OBSCENITY - "Perversion Mankind" shirt and lots of cool people. See you in Bad
Berka next year! (RC)
www.party-san.net
Story: Nhashi
(nh), Steffen Ilm (SI), Ramon Claassen (RC)
Pics: Ramon Claassen
Back
|