Hellfest (Saturday) - Day 2 @ Clisson, France

Hellfest

Day 2 - Saturday

19.06.2010

@

Clisson, France

Making it onto the site just as TANKARD begin their set on the main stage 2, is a stroke of luck as the veteran German thrashers tear through an energetic set that includes minor classics such as 'Chemical Invasion' and 'Zombie Attack' and managing to show younger whippersnappers like Municipal Waste a thing or two in the process.

RAVEN and ANVIL plunder their trad metal pasts as expected, but end up looking and sounding like leather clad pub rock bands in the process. It's easy to admire their dogged persistance in staying true to their respective paths, but it isn't difficult to understand why their contempories left them in the dust back in the early to mid-eighties either.

AIRBOURNE thankfully pull out all the stops and provide the day's first real hell-raising, beer-drinking, rip-snorting rock n' roll performance of the day. Their AC/DC- infused assault is nothing short of exhilarating as they blast through tracks from their 'Runnin' Wild' and 'No Guts, No Glory' LPs. Live wire frontman/guitarist Joel McKeeffe even risks life and limb at one point to climb all the way up to the top of the railings at the side of the stage before carrying on playing. A high voltage exercise indeed!

Any band would find it difficult following Airbourne's electrifying performance and NEVERMORE are no exception. It doesn't help that their sophisticated power metal is better suited to darkness rather than brilliant sunshine. Nevertheless, Warrel Dane is in fine form vocally and the band play with enough conviction to see themselves through. A poignant performance of 'The Heart Collector' being a particular stand out moment.

Filling in for a cancelled 7 Seconds, DISCHARGE prove more than a worthy replacement as they blow away most of the Terrorizer Stage's 2nd rate hardcore pretenders with a simply ferocious onslaught of prime punk fury. All the classics you'd want to hear from 'Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing' and 'The Possibility Of Life's Destruction' are delivered like a steamroller to the head and the crowd goes suitably apeshit in return. One of the weekend's top highlights.

One could never fail to be impressed by ANNIHILATOR's display of virtuoso wank-plank mastery but after a while it all seems to make the teeth hurt and the beer tent's magnetizing power is impossible to resist. With liquid replenishment in hand, a return to the main stage 2 sees Jeff Water's merry bunch rip through a rousing 'Alice In Hell' and suddenly everything is alright with the world again.

As the darkness falls, the stage is set for IMMORTAL to ply their trade and break the thrash template of the day. Opening with tracks from latest album ‘All Shall Fall’, the black metal titans plough through a set, which could have been a lot more varied with such a discography, however is still equally impressive. True kvltists were thanked with classics such as ‘Pure Holocaust’, unleashing a sound so powerful for merely a trio, showing the pure musicianship of Immortal. Abbath may seem like a joker in the metal pack, but anyone laughing tonight would be promptly slaughtered. [LR]

Back to the main stage 1 and ALICE COOPER is as entertaining as you'd expect and sees the grizzled rock veteran strut through his headlining set like the true showman he is. The show itself includes all the crowd-pleasing moments such as the obligatory beheadings, gimps being speared with microphone stands and nurses parading around and timeless rock staples such as 'School's Out' and 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' are bashed out by Alice's backing band with professional aplomb.

CARCASS see the evening out with a life, or should It be said, death-affirming display that blows occasional accusations of going through the motions right out of the water! Virtually the whole of the seminal Necroticism LP is performed in full and serves as a timely reminder of just how good these songs are. The band at times seeming to transcend the death metal genre they helped to spawn, to resemble a kind of fetid and gore-soaked version of classic rock. Near the end of the set, Jeff Walker gives credit to Michael Amott and Bill Steer for being the finest guitar duo of his generation and judging by tonight's fantastic display, it's impossible to disagree.

Reviewed by Lily Randall [LR] & Clive Boddy
Photography by Frédéric Schadle (www.moocher.fr)
Special Thanks to MetalStorm (www.metalstorm.net)