After the first day of concerts and partying, and also surviving the first night in the camping, after having some breakfast and other necessities, we started our second day quite early by going to the Temple to see GLORIOR BELLI at 11:00 . Another underrated French band, who put up a good show, playing some of their best songs such as “There Is But One Light”, “In Every Grief-Stricken Blues”, “Deadly Sparks”. The band has been introducing different influences on their latest music, going from a typical Black Metal band to a fusion of Black Metal and Blues influences, which are quite obvious on their latest album, specially on songs like “They Call me Black Devil”. A good show, it was good to see them again and notice that they keep getting better and better.
While GAMA BOMB were shredding and kicking ass in the Main Stage 02, ROMPEPROP started their hilarious grindcore performance on the Altar Stage. Coming from Eindhoven, these dutch gentlemen know how to entertain a crowd, even though their music is tough to listen to, they’re still fun to watch. Some friends of the band brought inflatable toys and threw them to the crowd. The crowd’s reception was great so it didn’t take long for a huge moshpit to appear.
From a grindcore show to a psychadelic black metal concert… ORANSSI PAZUZU were playing next at the Temple. Known for their excentric compositions (starting in the band’s logo), these Finish guys showed their psychadelic sound, of black metal/rock riffs mixed with some electronics and lots of ambient. They sing in Finish but that just suits the music even better. A bit of a hypnotic show, presenting their latest album “Kosmonument”. Jun-His and Co. their setlist contained songs such as “Komeetta”, “Sienipilvi”, and “Uusi Olento Nousee”.
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| Glorior Belli | Rompeprop | Oranssi Pazuzu |
During a lunch break we had to miss NECROS CHRISTOS at the Altar, DEATH ANGEL performing at the Main Stage 02, at the same time AVULSED on the Temple and finally STEEL PANTHER.
The next band to be seen would be ASCENSION from Germany, led by a charismatic yet strange vocalist. It took them some time to appear to be comfortable on stage. Yet a band to see again, when there’s a chance. At the Valley stage, UFOMAMMUT delivered a good 45 minute-long train wreck of Psychadelic Stoner/Doom Metal in a not so crowded tent where they performed songs such as “Stigma” and “Mindomine”.
It was almost 6 o’clock when EXODUS and VOMITORY started to play again at the Main Stage 02 and the Altar stage, respectively.
While SEBASTIAN BACH was spreading some of his magic from the Skid Row times at the Main Stage, swedish suicidal black metal SHINING commenced their melancholic, angry and sadistic performance. The band’s frontman, Niklas Kvarforth is much calmer now, compared to his behaviour a few years ago, and the shows are not as chaotic as they used to be. Generaly the attitude has changed, but they still put up a good performance. Going through some of their classics such as “Submit to self destruction”, “Låt Oss Ta Allt Från Varandra”, “Ytterligare Ett Steg Närmare Total Jävla Utfrysning” etc, to the cover of the norwegian band Seigmen “Ohm – Sommar Med Siv”, SHINING didn’t fail to please the fans, but the performance could have been a bit more intense.
Quickly we managed to catch up with ABORTED again, who played a very aggressive and brutal show, with Sven always leading the destruction machine that this band can be considered. They’ve been on the road for quite a few years and they showed it. Then we ran to the Main Stage 02 where we could still watch part of EDGUY‘s concert. The show went on with a very communicative vocalist, always trying to get the crowd to scream and sing along the songs, with lots of “now scream for me, Hellfest!” moments. He even played a joke on the people who were already waiting in the first row of the Main Stage 01 for the GUNS ‘N ROSES concert, mentioning the fact that the last they played with G.N.R., they arrived almost 3 hours late to the stage. Apparently most of the fans there didn’t have a sense of humour so a big “Boooo” could be heard. The rest of the people laughed a lot.
We ran off to the Main Stage one, not to wait for GUNS ‘N ROSES, but to see WITHIN TEMPTATION. Led by the lovely and smiling Sharon, who made the fans scream a lot, specially during their classics “See Who I Am” or “Stand My Ground”.
After WITHIN TEMPTATION, we still managed to see a little bit of IN EXTREMO, who play a mixture of Folk with Metal sang in German with lots of fireworks.
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| Shining | Aborted | Within Temptation |
Back to the Altar to be trampled by Grindcore veterans NAPALM DEATH… Barney and his colleagues did what they do best, a chaotic, intense and crazy show filled with lots of classics from this Brittish band, who were welcomed with a big moshpit, no need for introductions for these guys. All the classics you could ask were heard… “Scum”, “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”, “Suffer The Children”, you name it…
Not being able to stay until the end of their show, we quickly ran to the Valley tent because Doom legends SAINT VITUS were playing at the same time. Even though they’re not what you can consider young anymore, they can still kick your ass, their way. Heavy, distorted, slowly paced Doom Metal, the traditional way.
This year’s edition proved to be a marathon, because we were always running everywhere because of the billing for this year, so many good bands, not so much time to see them all. It was time to run again, back to the Temple because we wanted to see ENSLAVED again. They’re always an interesting band to see live, still presenting their latest studio album “Axioma Ethica Odini”, very friendly and communicative, the band had no difficulties making the crowd cheer during “Giants”, “Ground” (dedicated to the ladies). There was still time for one unexpected song, a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”.
After ENSLAVED left the stage, it was time for one of the festival’s biggest headliners: GUNS ‘N ROSES. Everyone has heard of them, some hate, some love the band but one thing is undeniable: they have left a mark in the Rock ‘n Roll industry. Contradicting the joke played by the vocalist of EDGUY, the band showed up on time, ready for a 2 and a half hour concert. With a huge stage setup, with giant screens and plenty of space for all the musicians, it is possible that they were the band with the biggest amount of people watching them. Axl’s vocal skills are not what they used to be, but the Rock ‘N Roll’s bad boy can still pull off pretty much all of his trademark style while singing. Not even falling down in the beginning of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” made him lose control. The show itself, waas alright, perhaps a bit too long, but there were hundres of people who would have watched them for 3 hours if it was possible.
Meanwhile, we managed to see ENTOMBED at the Altar, who couldn’t complain about the crowd, who moshed a lot while the veterans were spreading chaos, the oldschool way.
Not only ENTOMBED was playing during the GUNS ‘N ROSES show… Polish death metal destroyers BEHEMOTH also played at the Temple. The band has been appearing a lot on the news lately, mostly because of the vocalist, Nergal’s illness problem. He has recently been diagnosed with leuchemia, a type of cancer. Staying strong as he always promised to stay, Nergal managed to beat the disease and nowadays he’s back on stage. Everyone was curious to see if the illness had left marks on Nergal but we couldn’t have said he had been sick unless we were told to. BEHEMOTH completely destroyed everything on their path. Brutal sound, flawless performance, very intense and filled with anger. They’re better than ever and it trully was a shame that their show was only one hour long… enough for 11 songs, and no one expected they would play a song like “23 (The Youth Manifesto)” but we’re glad they did, because it was great to listen to such an important and uncomprehended song by the Polish motherfuckers.
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