SWR BARROSELAS METALFEST – PORTUGAL
DAY 1 THURSDAY 30/04/09
On looking at festivals this year this one immediately stood out. For a start I am finding the likes of Wacken getting far too big and with Bullet For My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon on this years billing the rot has definitely set in. I also have never been much of a fan of British festivals, one day they will be run with European efficiency but the corporate aspects and money making schemes they employ really leave me with a sour taste and then of course there is the weather!
None of these factors were a problem with Steel Warriors Rebellion Festival in the wine growing countryside of Barroselas in Portugal. It was sunny, camping was comfortable just over the road in a forest of eucalyptus trees and the prices were cheap; €1 for half a pint of beer, wine or continental spirits measure. If that was too expensive you could take in your drink from the supermarket as long as you transferred it to a plastic container. It’s a long way from last years Bloodstock that’s for sure.
Before I get underway with the actual reviews some general observations must include what a friendly bunch the Portuguese are and the fact that everyone at this festival was a hardcore metal-head. They love the music and there was absolutely no trend setters or hangers on here in the slightest. There was nothing as crass as big named band shirt wearing which went hand in hand with the brutal line up. The natives I quickly found loved to dive off the stage, throw themselves into things like maniacs and have a good time with seemingly indefatigable energy.
By the time I got sorted and into the arena which was a massive tent with two stages (one big, one small) I had missed the first two bands Alcoholocaust and We Are The Damned but settled in to watch Despise from the Czech Republic. I was immediately thrown into a barrage of grinding riffery enforced by a twin vocal assault and an audience acting like maniacs and throwing themselves all over the shop. It was at this point I realised that neither of the stages had anything resembling a photo pit and it was a free for all taking pictures and trying to duck the lemmings diving off the stage over your head. The sound was as loud as Satan’s prolapsing ringpiece and the beer was nice and cold. I was slightly surprised to find that smoking was permitted inside here and this was the one downer of the festival as far as this moaning ex-smoker was concerned.
After that battering it was time for something a bit mellower and Dornenreich playing on the much bigger main stage. There was hardly time to scratch your butt as soon as one band finished the next pretty much were lined up to play. Having caught Eviga and Inva on stage in London recently I knew what to expect here, a jagged, stirring fusion of guttural vocals, violin fiddling and rampant guitars. The sound was spot on and the lighting was impressive (as was the case for pretty much the whole festival). Despite thoughts of mellowness this was not it was more a case of emotional and passionate as the group whipped us up and carried us off headbanging to their tumultuous and evocative ‘Sturm’ There was even room for blastbeats as the Austrians launched into their blackened back catalogue, trying to fit as much as possible into their 40 minute set, at the end of which it was obvious they had completely won over the crowd some of whom had no doubt been lucky enough to catch their acoustic show the night before.
It was at this point that popping over to the tent to get a jacket became something not as easy as expected. Even with a torch and having taken markers you were more likely to fall over your tent than actually find it. 20 minutes or so later meant I had missed a good bit of Dutch grinders Rectal Smegma set. With a name like that and albums like ‘Licking a Leper’ under their belts I was well prepared for on stage insanity and that is exactly what we got. The tattooed singer lurched about vomiting into the microphone the bassist was playing his instrument with his nose and there were a load of girlies dancing about on the stage. What the hell had I walked in on? Oh a song about eating baby flesh you say? How nice! Needless to say it was insane at the front and I felt like a kamikaze pilot running in and trying to get some snaps.
Although I am not a huge fan of brutal USA death metal (blasphemy I know) I got to admit the couple of bands from said genre at festival put on compelling performances. Unmerciful utilised the main stage fantastically with singer Tony Reust foot on monitor and growling over the heads of those of us at the front. With ex members of Origin in their ranks it was no surprise that this was carnage shredding mayhem and on numbers like ‘Mass Execution’ they had no problem getting the mosh pit that they had demanded. Another observation that must be made is that the natives all looked after each other in the pit, made sure they did their best to catch those flying off the stage (just as well the main one was fairly high up and gravel was on the floor) and I did not see a single fight all weekend (not even I started one for a change). By ‘Retribution’ Unmerciful and their malevolent battery had won me over and by ‘Shotgun Sodomy’ they had well and truly offloaded both barrels on us here.
Ad Hominem were the first of 2 highly anticipated French black metal hordes of the weekend. First number was ‘Dictator’ from brand new album ‘Dictator – A Monument Of Glory’ and the first thing that struck was just how militant it sounded. Unfortunately as much as I tried there was a spark missing here, vocals were drowned too much and did not cut through the quagmire of the instrumentation. It’s one of those occasions where a band just does not quite translate when it comes to playing live an accursed problem with black metal quite often. What I am listening to now on their MySpace page sounds fantastic but despite good intentions and a commanding performance from vocalist Kaiser I did not find myself pumping fists into the air with the other maniacs in the audience.
When it comes to truly blasting for Satan there are few better at it than Akercocke and tonight as they quickly proved it was all about worshipping the Cocke. Jason Mendonça having snipped his ponytail was on top English Gent form tonight and as ever the band were resplendently turned out. I was rather struck by the sheer fanaticism from the Portuguese. Akercocke have played this festival a couple of times before but they were obviously considered as returning heroes by many here. To me they are a band I have seen countless times from their early gigs but despite this I still have to declare them one of the best bands of the festival by quite a margin. “Do you want some fucking violence” the front man yelled and that is exactly what we got for the next hour. On the likes of ‘Verdelet’ I was knocked for six by the drumming, the clean vocal parts of the number sounded fantastic and majestic in their wake. Older numbers like ‘a Skin For Dancing In’ and even ‘Justine’ from the early years went down a storm and as for ‘Leviathan’ it rose and bit with jagged teeth. This was one of those sets that left me feeling shell shocked and heading to the bar like a desperate sailor who had just been flung to shore after a long time at sea shipwrecked.
It was now 1AM and if I had not wanted to see the last band of the night so much there would have been no way I would have stuck through Insidious Dicrepancy. Wandering to the small stage I was confronted by a man and his guitar which looked like it had actually been taken from someone’s Guitar Hero Playstation game. There was a drum machine rattling away in the background and this was about as interesting as watching paint dry only a bit noisier. 10 minutes of this boring one dimensional death bombast was enough and I went for more liquid sustenance. Had a feeling I was going to need it.
I had really been looking forward to Dutch maniaxxx Rompeprop and they did not disappoint playing the party set of the festival. Bonebag Bob was as suggested in his trademark skeleton costume and the Dirty Doc covered in claret. He kindly flicked this over us and I wondered why I was getting such funny looks in the supermarket the next day having got it on my mush, cheers chap. Inflatable beach balls and a crocodile were flung into the audience who should not have had anything like this much energy as 2AM but we were wide awake for one of the silliest bands on the planet who kindly proffered us a song about taking a shit on Jesus! If you have never heard of this lot think of anything you care to then think again and go and find the cover of classic album ‘Hellcock’s Porn Flakes’ on the interweb. With classic number such as ‘I Am the Dolphin Sprayhole Fucker’ being grunted out there was only one thing to do and that was drink as much as possible. ‘Vaginal Luftwaffe’ dive bombed in and loads of women got on stage to dance about, one with rubber breasts and a strap on. The set culminated with most the audience up there but of course this could all have just been a strange dream, which is what is probably going to be next if I ever find my sodding tent.
Pete Woods
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