Extreme Music Blog

We presented this event with our METAL NIGHTS event series but actually it was pulled up by the BLEEDING NOSE guys. So I was really curious. The advance sale was great and the venue was completely sold out which means more than 1500 people would attend this show.

The good soul from our event crew – Tanja – had birthday this evening and we wanted to celebrate it at the show. So I went there straight by train. After a short visit in the venue seeing DEADLOCK doing the sound check I went back to a restaurant where we had a nice meal first. Good one. Afterwards we had some bubble water and beer at the parking lot.

Now we went back to the venue which was already really crowded. There was no space for one single more person. Unfortunately we missed DEADLOCK but regarding their sound check I have to admit that front girl Sabine Weniger did a good job – and did not look metal at all during the sound check.

SWASHBUCKLE were already on stage when we finally got our place. So time for another beer! The party boat was about to sail cross the ocean of people… To be honest we always made fun of SWASHBUCKLE. Anyway they seemed to be very nice guys who simply had fun and fired their songs straight out of the boats canon into the audience. Cool gig – despite my prejudices!

SWASHBUCKLE

A lot of people were waiting for DARK TRANQUILLITY. I do not know why they were not put on the billing as co-headliners. This would have suited them much better than playing in the middle of a very modern package. Anyway Stanne seemed to have much fun on this last gig of the tour. He enjoyed standing on the crash barriers all the time. And the audience seemed to enjoy this passion as well. The only bad thing I have to point out about this gig is the sound which was very high pitched and not quite transparent.

DARK TRANQUILLITY

As CALIBAN entered the stage I thought that they could not go beyond the euphoric reactions of DARK TRANQUILLITY and I was right. Somehow this band is not that interesting anymore but at least the kids went crazy. The first crowd surfers were spotted. A solid performance – nothing more and nothing less…

The security crew was looking forward to HEAVEN SHALL BURN and to have a lot more crowd surfers. The so-called “Grabenschlampen” whom you might also see at the Summer Breeze Open Air in front of the stages (the security guys who always wear red shirts) are enjoying shows like this one themselves. Their boss “Mille” asked me to join them behind the crash barriers and pull out some surfers. New experience – so I did it. Like expected, HEAVEN SHALL BURN started very powerful and the crowd went straight. First surfers were on their way to the stage. And me? Well I was hit by the head of the bass guitar in first instance. But nothing more. The sound was great and the guys really kicked ass! Songs like “Iconoclast (The final Resistance)” simply blew the audience away – and me too. During the encore, the singer made a funny announcement: “These guys behind the crash barriers have trained with me – it did not work out for me – but for them – people – make them prove that they are strong enough for you!” BAM! Dozens of crowd surfers at the same time. The first time I had to go up and pull out some surfers – and it was hell – good feeling though because most people give you a “Thank you!” when you have put them on the ground smoothly. After just a few minutes I was out of breath. But I could have kept going forever. Cool side note: at the end of the show, the singer was standing behind me and mixing up my hairs – now that is what I call a nice boy, hehe.
Great show, guys – and I am really looking forward to see this band again!

HEAVEN SHALL BURN

After the show is before the show. So we had to put down the light and get everything loaded in different vans. HEAVEN SHALL BURN left off to Leipzig and the rest of the tour package was leaving for home as well.

Finally, at 4 in the morning I could go home – not to mention the short stop at the SCR office where we had to unload some shirts (the new AGRYPNIE shirts for their upcoming “16[485]” album).

HEAVEN SHALL BURN – MySpace – Merchandise
CALIBAN – MySpace – Merchandise
DARK TRANQUILLITY – MySpace – Merchandise
SWASHBUCKLE – MySpace – Merchandise
DEADLOCK – MySpace – Merchandise

Thanks to Simon for taking me and the shirts “home” and to Björn for helping unload the shirts.
Thanks to Gregor for the pictures!

My decision to go to the so called SATANS CONVENTION (what a stupid name by the way) was based on the fact that I would reside in Lengerich this weekend anyway.

First shock was the fact that SIX FEET UNDER had cancelled the show. This alone would have been no issue for me because it was in no means one of the bands I wanted to see. But to to me this is a reason to lower the ticket prices. To still ask for 35 Euros for a show where the headliner is missing is a rip-off in my opinion. Including the fact that the

Unfortunately we missed the first three bands TRIOSPHERE, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS and UNLIGHT. But we met our friends from UNLIGHT later who were of course absolutely surprised about my appearance on this festival. Concerning other reports TRIOSPHERE managed to do quite well but did not fit in the billing with their sophisticated power metal music. ABIGAIL WILLIAMS seemed to be a matter of taste. UNLIGHT were claimed to be the best black metal band this evening.

We were quite in time to see the start of DESTRÖYER 666, a band which I wanted to see for ages but always missed. The black thrash mix of the Australian band surely met my taste. To be honest I had expected a bit more stage action from this four piece. Quite nice show and maybe the first highlight for me this evening although I had expected a bit more power.

DESTROYER 666

I have seen GOD DETHRONED already several times and last time was in October with Endstille, Hollenthon and others. As far as I can recall they never had a weak show so far and this should not change on Satans Convention as well. Again, female guitarist Susan was eye candy. But of course a metal show is about the music. GOD DETHRONED covered almost all of their albums and played a powerful set.

GOD DETHRONED

TAAKE singer Hoechst was still in my mind with his misbehaviour the last time TAAKE played in Essen. Showing up with a Swastika on your breast in Germany is not even rudimentary funny. This time he seemed to concentrate on the music instead. But rumors spread that he had made some strange statements in the backstage area which resulted in a close fight which Hoest lost against Schmier from DESTRUCTION. Maybe TAAKE should think about the quality of their performance instead of wasting time with bullshit… this was for sure the worst performance this evening.

Thrash metal veterans DESTRUCTION was a pleasure for my ears after the black metal vacuum cleaner (and do not take me wrong – I like black metal and even like the TAAKE recordings). Hell yeah what a power. I have not seen a strong performance of them for a long time. Maybe it was more powerful this evening than ever before. The audience seemed to agree as there was a circle pit and a lot of headbanging, in one word – enthusiastic responses. And DESTRUCTION enjoyed this show as well. Well done – winner of the evening!

A huge task for ARCH ENEMY to cheer the people up again after this intoxicating thrash metal set. Of course I expected a lot from the guitar front as ARCH ENEMY have two great talented guitar players in their line up. Maybe Michael Amott might be little bit more known due to his work with CARCASS but his younger brother Christopher is a bit more varied and plays insane lead stuff. It is always a blast to see this guy play. Turning up the volume for the (renewed) headliner is a common thing to do but if this leads to a bad sound it might be something you should NOT do. Unfortunately the second case happened to come true this evening. Being really tired and being not able to hear the sole guitar sounds from the mush of sounds made us leave the venue after 3 songs from ARCH ENEMY.

So we went home in an icy winter night with approx. minus 15 degrees Celsius with both, good and bad memories in our mind.