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Brutal Assault 2011 (Friday) - Day 2 @ Jaromer, Czech Republic |
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Brutal Assault Festival
Day 2 - Friday
12.08.2011
@
Jaromer
Czech Republic
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Brutal Assault is one of the biggest extreme metal festivals in Czech Republic with approx. 17 000 visitors yearly. The festival area is situated directly inside of the old military fortress in a small town of Jaromer, which is 130 km away from Prague. The two big stages are placed next to each other so you only need to make a few steps to see the next show. The bands do theirs soundcheck while the previous one is still playing and it turns the Brutal Assault to a non-stop metal marathon.
I don’t know what the German EXCREMENTORY GRINDFUCKERS did to the festival organizers but it wasn’t the first time they had to play in the early morning. However, many people forgot their hangover and came to see them. The band highly appreciated this devotion and didn’t disappoint their fans. From ‘ I’ve been looking for grindcore’ (exotic cover of David Hasselfof’s epos) to the ‘Final Countdown’ of Europe (however, I’m not sure about the spelling in this case) and ‘Ballroom Blitz’ - everybody including the band had lots of fun. It’s quite sad that crazy Rufus in no longer one of the Fuckers but Horn, the new vocalist, did a great job, too.
SCAR SYMMETRY gathered a huge crowd and started to kick ass from the very second they stepped on the stage. The beautiful combination of harsh and clean vocals and brilliant guitars made perfect Swedish melodic death metal. Unfortunately, they had just 35 minutes to play – enough time for 6 songs including ‘Mind Machine’ and ‘The Illusionist’.
DECAPITATED brought what everyone’s been expecting – tonnes of slashing Polish death metal. The half of the set blended with some older stuff was dedicated to their latest album ‘Carnival is Forever’.
ATHEIST would have been a perfect follow-up to but they were forced to cancel their show and were replaced by a French band named GOROD.
It was a little bit strange to fall right into the KATATONIA lethargy right after the kicking-ass EXPLOITED show. Even despite a really ‘best of’ set list and great performance people remained calm for a very long time. Nevertheless, ‘Forsaker’, the last piece, made everybody to go crazy.
The most mind-blowing 50 minutes of the festival started with the ‘Farewell Mona Lisa’ by THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN. The fans made a huge moshpit - not only the people in front of the stage but also the people in the bar queue and many people in the natural ground area, which was actually built for chilling.
SATYRICON was one of the most expected acts on the BA this year. It felt like everyone stopped doing whatever they’ve been doing and came to see the Norwegians. It got very ‘diabolical’ as soon as they entered the stage. The masses sang along, and Satyr was very delighted by the fans’ reaction. With the unforgettable ‘Mother North’ in the end of the set list they left everyone jaded after an extreme headbanging. People may say whatever they want and call SATYRICON commercial and mainstream – they are still great musicians and deliver a great show.
Another example of the classical Swedish melodic death metal SOILWORK played in one breath. 50 minutes felt like 5. ‘Late for the Kill, Early for the Slaughter’, ‘As we speak’, ‘Stabbing the drama’ and other masterpieces made the crowd go bats.
It was pretty funny that the CATHEDRAL with their psychedelic stoner music felt like a perfect continuation of what the SOILWORK started. Never-changing Lee Dorian and co. with a ‘must’ composition ‘Hopkins’ were also one of the festival highlights.
If there was a prize for the strangest performance of the BA, MAYHEM would definitely get it just for being MAYHEM. Everything felt so wrong: beginning with the outfit ending with the sound. Attila was more interested in two skulls he was holding in his hands than in making something to entertain the audience. He kept on saying strange things like ‘The next song is 'Time To Die'. and yes, this is a message to the pope". Then suddenly he stopped talking and the band started to play one song after another without any break. Approx. 20 minutes after their stage time was over they left without saying a word (or did the stage manager just switch off their equipment?) and left the people confused with a silent question in their eyes – ‘what on earth was that?’ This is what happens when the true and evil underground goes for masses.
On the very second when the Norwegians (with a Hungarian) left, DEW-SCENTED started attacking those who survived till this late hour with the ‘Cities of the Dead’. Even at almost 3 a.m. people banged their heads as if it was the last thrash concert in the world. It was really astonishing how the band managed to play that perfect with so much energy in the middle of the night. German thrash – so pure and clean as if it was made by the cyborgs.
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Reviewed by Kate Maus
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Festival Reviews