PARTY SAN OPEN AIR

BAD BERKA GERMANY 6-8/08/09

Thursday

I had always fancied this particular festival as I had heard many good things about it and it is small compared to the likes of Wacken, well organised and more importantly has no power and traditional metal on the bill. The line up was brutal but the surroundings on arriving were anything but. It had been a three hour train journey through the rolling countryside by train to the somewhat sleepy hamlet of Bad Berka. We had time to explore the picturesque town before the festival started music wise at 8pm on the first day and were camped surrounded by forests in the background, in a well contained friendly atmosphere. This was pretty damn mellow it had to be said, well it was until the music started!

It would have been a bit rude to have anything but a German band kick off the festival and it was down to Berlin mob Postmortem to do the honours. After air raid sirens ripped into the evening sky and columns of flame leapt out from the front of the stage they let rip their brand of guttural old school death metal. Although there was nothing fantastically special about songs like ‘The Way Of The Knife’ it was easy to get into the gnarly groove which was catchy as death itself and it had to be said the sound was excellent. They had a problem as apparently they ‘Cant Stop Killing’ and no doubt keep German morgues overflowing and after ‘Hate, Kill, Destroy’ they had an extra instrument on the stage, a fully operational chainsaw. I have to admit it did not sound the best buzz sawing through the monitors but having never seen the Plasmatics this was a first for me. German efficiency was luckily taken note of and there were no nasty accidents but on a small stage this could have been lethal. Leatherface would have approved and I did too, to this good old fashioned debauchery.

Perhaps not as well known a name as some of their Polish brethren, Azarath were not going to let that hold them back in the slightest. Notable for the fact that on album Inferno sits on the drum stool but live he was replaced by Adam Sierzega who did just as formidable a job. This was instantly full on and of course expertly played if not (as is most Polish death metal) a little on the workmanlike side. Bruno’s vocals suddenly seemed to take on another level, full throated growls ripped through the darkening sky and guitars seethed out the mix and squealed away into the night. As far as songs themselves were concerned ‘Whip The Whore’ lashed away and the particularly memorable ‘Christscum’ got a good infernal blasting. In all this was probably nothing we had not seen before but it did make a nice change from seeing the likes of Vader or Behemoth for the umpteenth time and as far as I was concerned was a great introduction to the band.

Tasmanians Psycroptic are not my normal listening choice but boy did they put on a powerful and professional show and again one with fantastic sound. Vocalist Jason Peppiatt acted like a possessed Hare Krishna dashing around the stage and yelling as the instrumentalists built up layers and layers of coruscating sound around him. Heading straight back to first album title ‘The Isle Of Disenchantment’ it was impossible not to spastically twitch around to the seething noise. This was actually a lot easier than I had expected to get into and was not as wanky and technical as I had thought it would be. The audience was reacting to the ever-scaling riffery and maelstrom of strobes coming off the stage and by ‘Skin Coffin’ I was well and truly into this myself. It was nice to get some between song announcements that were not in German too even if like the first band I still felt like I was in a musical slaughterhouse, this time perhaps with kangaroo on the menu. A lesson was learned at the end of the set as a person in the crowd who had been dressed as Jesus Christ (robe, beard, crown of flashing lights) was suddenly laid out one punch style by a massive skinhead. He survived and his attacker was apparently found and thrown out but dressing as the Lord is obviously a bad move at an extreme music festival.

Back to the show and next up was the ever formidable Deströyer 666. Now I had promised them a more sober review than the one recently in the UK and had lain off the lovely German schwarzbier to a certain extent but watching them stone cold sober would have been madness. Unfortunately as they started I was aware that Party San sound wise was not going to get things right every time, as this sounded like a chaotic miasma trying its best to escape from the speakers. Despite the fact they sounded a bit like savages hitting things with planks of wood this did not totally disappoint and made it seem all the more feral and less polished than you would hear on album. It was fast, furious and fucked up even and the flailing barbs of new tracks such as ‘I Am Not Deceived’ did their utmost to rip our heads off. Warlust and Shrapnel ploughed away without mercy and the crowd were really getting into this, many I had spoken to having never seen the band before and been waiting for ages. Really hitting their stride with ‘I Am The Wargod’ and with the sound finally gelling and beer in hand I was joining in the head-banging too. It was amusing noting werewolf howls between songs from some of the crowd and pillars of flame again roasted us from the stage as the band blazed out Blasphemic Fire and left us waiting for the main band.

I have seen Marduk plenty of times but this was by far the most impressive show of them all. We certainly got a full display of ‘Christ Raping Metal’ as the hour-long set time was thrown out the window and the band played for about 105 minutes. This was the tenth anniversary of the album ‘Panzer Division Marduk’ and to celebrate it was played in its entirety as well as tracks from pretty much every album of the group’s career. The fact that singer Arioch had only vocalised on the groups last few albums could easily be dismissed, he had everything down tight and did a good job gurgling blood down himself in the process. The group were also responsible for providing an in between song soundtrack to build (or should that be blow up) bridges between each number. We could hear the full machinery of war rumbling away, tanks rolling down and clanking chains, ghostly zombiefied voices. I have to admit (and I am going to do this and actually mention the war) but this was a really cold atmospheric way of doing things, I am sure many here had lost relatives during the Second World War and being British it did have me reflecting and feeling somewhat on edge.

The slow and reflective numbers that the band have been utilising on recent albums seemed at first forgotten. Marduk were very much in for the kill here and savage and visceral with it, going for the throat even with the likes of ‘Beast Of Prey.’ After the album was played we dashed between old and new, ‘With Satan and Victorious Weapons,’ ‘Of Hells Fire,’ ‘Throne Of Rats,’ ‘Bury My Coffin,’ were all duly noted and worshipped. There is nothing else to say really except that Marduk totally crushed and this felt like a real victory march as they stomped through things delivering a very special set which I will not forget for a very long time. (PW)

Friday

Summer’s Dying? Was it fuck, it was scorchio and we were roasting in the heat as the first band of the day from just down the road in Weimar took to the stage. Never heard of this lot but from the photo pit guessed straight away they were black metal due to the corpse paint. They only seem to have released a live album, demo and EP which is a bit odd and I’m afraid it was pretty quickly established that this lot were nothing particular to write home about. Many were not in the arena yet and the combination of searing heat and black metal was not really going down that well. ‘Black Witch Of Desire’ had quite a good melodic array of guitar harmonies and the band were getting into their stride and utilizing the stage well. ‘Kill And Die’ was hardly the most original song or title and after that one had to feel sorry as the band screwed up the intro to the last song about five times. Still full marks for effort.

Next must have been the festivals cursed spot, Exmortem had cancelled and we were very pleased to have seen replaced by Glorior Belli. Unfortunately rumours were flying that they had cancelled due to lack of live line-up. We crossed fingers that a replacement would be found in the form of a German BM band and I taunted fellow scribe Oliver that it might be his favourites Secrets Of The Moon. Well it was a German black metal band and we finally worked out the spiky logo and determined it was Grabak. This was more like it! Songs such as ‘Beyond A Black Horizon’ were tighter, hateful and thorny with a grim evilness seeping off the stage. Hell even the sun went and hid behind a cloud as they ploughed onward. ‘Nightworks’ continued spiralling away with spiteful guitar structures and thunderous rolling drums. Only at a festival can you be standing watching bilious filth like this to suddenly find two grown men walking past you in nappies, still this somewhat oddly structured band with two bassists did the fill in job admirably.

Dutch blasters Inhume were just a bit too full on when I saw them years ago in London. Although savage to the extent that one of the two singers looked like he was trying to boot the other one up the ass during the first number they were quite a lot easier to handle musically this time around. Grind is delivered by a ‘Meat Cleaver’ and this dripped blood and had the audience reaction to the hilarious call of an Eine Kleine Moshpit. ‘Firm favourites such as ‘Grind Culture’ tore off the stage and there was nothing for it but to stick your head under the cold tap and dig in. They said the audience were welcome to get on stage but security were having none of it. Statement of the festival, “The next song Bowel Movement is about taking a shit!” Yep they were the first band to really get us going in more ways than one!

All the way from Iceland came Solstafir offering a change of pace and allowing me to see what they were like live as 2009 album Köld had been a wonderful release. Frontman Aðalbjörn Tryggvason looked a bit like I would have expected and the others at stage front looked incredibly strange too, you can see the photos for yourself. As for the performance what can I say but wow! They were fantastic and their dusty parched desert psychedelic Gothic rock was one of the festival highlights and looking around everyone seemed similarly gobsmacked. The vocals hit the heavens, no roof could have contained them that’s for sure and the instrumental chug went from shoe gazing and mesmerising to, stadium rock, to pounding and cataclysmic heaviness. Songs such as ‘Pale Rider’ literally took us off to other dimensions and the riff work was really powerful. The humungous ‘Ritual Of Fire’ was an LSD trip and a half and seemed to last for just as long, the fact the band obviously indulged in the substance came as no surprise nor did the fact that Fields Of The Nephilim are a band they have a lot of respect for, certainly as far as the bass work of Svavar Austman was concerned. On tour later this year with Secrets Of The Moon, if you get the chance you have to see this band!

Warming up to the theme from Requiem For A Dream saw ‘Den Saakaldte’ gearing up to L'enfant terrible set of the festival. That naughty Niklas Kvarforth with freshly shaven Mohawk was on worst behaviour ever for this set (remarkably restrained for Shining the next day though it has to be said). Having loved recent album ‘All Hail Pessimism’ I had been looking forward to this and it was no surprise that this was one set that was going to be very popular in the photo pit so it was difficult to focus on the music itself at first. Kvarforth was busy glugging back a bottle of Jim Beam and gobbing it out at us whilst the rest of the band got on with the job of playing. There was unfortunately no brass section at hand as there was I had been told at Oslo but still they sounded miserably gorgeous. 1349 and Pantheon I bassist Seidemann cut an imposing figure on one side of the stage but as the band wring misery out their instruments it is all about Niklas who shouts “fuck you” at the audience and contorts his body into anguished contortions as he howls in distempered hate. As guitars lurch drunkenly the singer strokes the head of a worried looking camerawoman. The likes of ‘Samma Skrot, Samma Korn’ sound fantastic and when not singing or screaming and swigging back the spirits Nik found plenty of time to throw up vast amounts of his stomach all over the stage much to the amazement of the on looking and appalled crowd. Pointing downwards as though facing gladiatorial losers and insulting the crowd the band blaze into ‘Mesias’ with the singer not knowing what to do with his cigarette and using his chest as an ashtray. Finishing with the words ‘Buy our fucking record, fuck you,” it’s over. People walking out the crowd look bemused, job well and truly done.

I needed a break and having never heard of Evocation from Sweden but hearing they were just another growly band decided to take one. Getting back to tent I heard the Laura Palmer theme from Twin Peaks and with a doh, realised they had swapped with Swallow The Sun, the break would have to wait. After seeing them a few times I have to admit that although musically suited to a festival crowd, the Finns are not the most exciting band in the world to watch. As ‘Out Of The Gloomy Light’ washed over the crowd many had decided to sit down in the sun and dream along to the group’s rich melody lines and try and stay awake to ‘Don’t Fall Asleep.’ Vocalist Mikko Kotam?ki actually had a bit of a surprise for us in the form of a brand new song from forthcoming and highly anticipated album ‘New Moon.’ It was the first number entitled ‘These Woods Breathe Evil’ and it started with a might roar before melodiously twisting and turning down ever darker paths. Obviously a first listen to a song as dense as this is not going to sink in thoroughly but it sounded very promising indeed. Following it up, the dour band pulled some classics out the hat and played a spellbinding set, the sublime weeping guitar of ‘Swallow’ being a particularly effective highlight.

I really should have taken a longer break, it’s not as though I have never seen the Rutan clan otherwise known as Hate Eternal countless times before and been bored by them each and every time. I think if my camera knew how to yawn at what I was getting it to snap it would have done. The band, down a guitarist by the seem of things and playing as a trio were even more static than usual and it was one monotonous blast after another and it really felt like they were going through the motions. One song sounded much like another, ‘The Victorious Reign’ was one title I distinguished and as the singer demanded the audience to make a circle pit by pointing meaty fingers at them and grunted “come on motherfuckers,” I couldn’t help but groan at this display of meathead metal. Afraid to say that was more than enough and I went off in search of a painted fence so I could watch it dry.

I have caught Thyrfing a few times at festivals and they have never really impressed although I always admit that they are good at what they do. This was the first time I had seen them with former Naglfar vocalist Jens Rydén at the helm of the battle clan and so I was more than happy to give them another go. Interestingly made up as always, this is a bunch of pillaging marauders who do not cater to trends, like many jumping on Viking ships and waving plastic swords with careless abandon. With the embrace of dusk the stage lights were also blazing into action casting the warriors in greens and reds and at times giving the stage a blood drenched demeanour. I was slightly peeved by the song announcements as they were spewed out and gargled in nonsensical fashion and although one particularly jaunty number which had the front row punching the air in salute was from the first album, I could not provide a title. Like Amon Amarth I get the impression that however many times I see Thyrfing I am never going to be a fan but they did at least create a positive impression.

This was apparently the first date of Misery Index tour with Hate Eternal and all I can say is they blasted them completely off the stage tonight. Again not a band I would go out of my way to catch but I was glad I did as this set was meaty, beaty big and bouncy and then some. I quickly found myself wrecking my neck and irritating the days sunburn to this lot, impressed by the sheer exuberance and energy behind the performance. Wildly bearded guitarist Mark Kloeppel was all action, his fingers moving as fast as his facial hair grows and singer Jason Netherton barked out his parts on songs like ‘Traitors’ with absolutely no remorse. Other numbers like ‘The Great Depression’ created an impression and again this was a set I found myself surprised to end up watching the whole of.

Unleashed bring their brand of never-ending hate to Party San and as ever it is a pleasure to witness. They deliver the message that ‘Your Children Will Burn’ which sees them heads down and twirling at the front of the stage with dry ice billowing around them. I do not know if Johnny Hedlund has a set routine and says the same thing every night but the announcement that they are playing ‘Winterland’ as “it’s so damn cold tonight,” has me a bit confused. Still the crowd are happy to overlook the faux pas as the singer works them during ‘In Victory Or Defeat and gets a good old sing along for his efforts. The beast is certainly unleashed tonight as the group cram in as many songs as possible and play some of their greatest war anthems. ‘Into Glory Ride,’ ‘Hammer Battalion Unleashed’ and To Asgard We Fly,’ follow in quick succession and then we are informed that it is the bands 20th anniversary and they hope to be doing it for another 20. Somehow I’m not too sure about getting down to ‘Death Metal Victory’ with the zimmer frame sinking into the mud!

Typical, everything is running so smoothly and headliners Satyricon take an extra 30 minutes before coming out to play. Now as I snapped away to the likes of ‘Commando’ and ‘Wolfpack’ I began to wonder if I had gone deaf or if something serious had happened to the volume levels here. Apparently Satyr informed the audience that it was going to be a long set as they had not been over to play here for some time. Satyricon are one of those bands I have always stuck by despite the fact they are far removed from black metal roots with songs like ‘Now, Diabolical’ and they have that incessant rolling groove about them that always gets me in the end. Tonight was no exception, although the performance was not particularly dynamic tonight and Satyr’s arsing about on his trident microphone stand is becoming clichéd, it was difficult not to enjoy them. The singer informed us that they normally play louder so there was obviously something amiss here especially considering we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing really to scare here apart from ‘A Black Crow On A Tombstone’ (sorry). ‘Havoc Vulture’ is a great song even if a bit quiet and I was happy to plough a groove into the dirt as they got into it and watch a stream of bubbles flow from the centre of the pit. Peace man! Watching Satyricon is a bit like watching Night Of The Living Dead. In the film you always know Ben is going to get shot in the head at the end and you always know the band are gonna conclude with ‘Mother North.’ ‘Fuel For Hatred’ first, oh ok go on then. Final note to Satyr, sorry you were not playing in front of 20,000 fans tonight, maybe next time! (PW)

Saturday

Ah some welcome cloud cover greeted us today and we knew that rain was inevitable. It was still very hot for the first band of the day but that did not put Hellsaw off in the slightest. Starting with the excellent ‘I Saw Hell’ they instantly impressed the errr hell out of me. It was not just the music either but there is something about these Austrians that epitomizes the essence of black metal. Aesthetically they have the make up just right and look menacing and evil and they utilise the stage really well, posing together, sticking tongues out and really putting on a good show for both the cameras and the audience. Aries rasped out that ‘The Black Death’ was spreading, not guilty although I had a touch of suspected swine flu that I had smuggled into the country. Putting on a violent and savage display laden with barbed hooks, their saw buzzes and cleaves and is very much the whole of the law. ‘Moonrites Diabolicum’ had me completely captivated and this had so much more energy about it then last nights closing display. Satyricon were you watching and taking notes?

We were after this whisked off by Season Of Mist bearded giant GunnaR to have a listening session of the new Imperium Dekadenz album. No expense was spared as it was played out of a car boot on the campsite. The band were very friendly and had supplied some local delicacies from the Black Forest region they hail from. Oliver reviewed the meat as it was not something I could do and described it as meaty, I reviewed as much alcohol as possible and found the schnapps to be particularly schnappy and decided it was a good idea to hand over the rest of the days reviewing duties to Mr Cass. As for the album, well more on that when we get the finished version. (PW)

Although it hadn’t been long since I saw Shining in London, they were still one of the main attractions here for me and I did wonder how they were going to come across in daylight hours. Seeing Koldbrann here the previous year in such conditions had unfortunately not worked one iota for me disappointingly, though a very quiet guitar sound was partly to blame.

Well I didn’t recognise the opener, deducing it as a new one, but believe it was in fact ‘Vilseledda Barnasjalars Hemvist’. The guitar sound was full and threatening; a velvety darkness pouring into the light, but thankfully not losing its impact. Kvarforth was on better behaviour today, keeping the contents of his stomach safely inside, away from the disconcerted security guards. He settled instead on threatening to ‘fuck up’ a ‘Black Metal mongoloid’, vowing to find him after the show. As for songs, the new era of Shining was fully represented, delving back only as far as ‘I Och Med Insikt Du Forga’ and ‘The Claws of Perdition’. As they finished with ‘Uttiligare Ett Steg Narmare Total Jaula Utfeysning’ I exclaimed ‘is that it?’, before looking at my pad and realising they’d played eight songs.

Kvarforth’s insult of ‘the next bunch of posers’ couldn’t really have been a more unsuitable description for Brutal Truth, the contrast between the bands being colossal. The delicate musicianship was swept aside most savagely, and noise reigned supreme for the next forty minutes, with vocalist Kevin Sharp hopping around the stage barefoot and barking.

Despite being completely unfamiliar with their back catalogue, this was a surprisingly enjoyable performance, strengthened by their vivacious stage presence. New guitarist Erik Burke looked engulfed in a world of his own as he threw out scythes of razorized riffage, his facial expressions reflecting what he was playing. You see some strange things at festivals, but potted plants aren’t something I’ve come across before. Instead of holding up a drink or clapping the end of the song, a man a few metres in front of me had brought along a bloody plant to hold up in the air! Absolutely bizarre. ‘The Birth of Ignorance’ was the only title I caught, but some of the onstage banter was pretty amusing, including Sharp forgetting an album title and drummer Rich Hoak promptly reminding him, before shrieking along in unison at the start of the song.

Even if Grind isn’t my forte, I can without doubt say that Brutal Truth kept me entertained, while Sadus I’m afraid, did nothing but bore me. I knew they’d been going for a while, but apparently it was their 25th year, and bassist extraordinaire Mr DiGorgio referred to 2006’s ‘Out for Blood’ as a new album, which in retrospect is a bit odd. Unfortunately I can’t add any more to that as they left me completely unmoved.

After that, Moonsorrow really hit the spot. As dusk descended, dark clouds gathered in the sky, and it gradually began to rain. Thanks to these conditions, their set was really atmospheric and again, despite my not being familiar with their music, I really appreciated their performance. The additional clean vocals did nothing but strengthen the songs which seemed already rich in feeling. Blast-beats and keyboards filled the airwaves, fighting the rain for a place to go, and I wondered what it would have been like in the surrounding forests listening to this almighty din. ‘Pakanajuhla’ from their first album was all that I could make sense of, but it didn’t really matter. It was the whole experience in this case, and I applaud the clouds for aiding their already very impressive set.

Brujeria were pure entertainment and though the musical part of the band did consist of Jeff Walker, Shane Embury and Adrian Erlandsson, it was really vocalists Juan Brujo and Pinche Peach who ran the show. Members of Brutal Truth could be seen watching the comedy unfold from the side of the stage and who could blame them? Even if it did sound like the same song being repeated numerous times, the on-stage antics made it worth it.

I suppose the Spaniards in the audience were the only people who had a chance of understanding 90% of what was being said, but when the crowd were told ‘marajuana?’ ‘YEEE!!’, ‘tabacco?’ ‘NEEE!’, it was kind of amusing. ‘Pito Wilson’ was all that I could really make out song wise and everything else flew by in a brutal cacophony of Mexican extremity.

I had hoped Eluveitie would be an exciting Folk inspired band, but sadly they grew old very quickly. The riffs just didn’t stand up on their own and it looked like there were more members than there needed to be. The two girls, Meri Tadic (fiddle) and Anna Murphy (hurdy-gurdy!) were showing the rest of the band how to head-bang in between bouts of instrumentation, but I’m afraid it just wasn’t doing anything for me. In all honesty, it made me wish Arkona were there abusing Bad Berka instead. ‘Primordial Breath’ was just one segment of a pretty uninteresting set.

Earlier in the day I’d been told of a different way to approach watching Dark Funeral – see it as pure entertainment and little else. With this in mind I began with a very optimistic stance with which I very impressively kept up for about two songs before gradually drifting into reverie. It’s all very good being savage, but if your songs don’t go anywhere or do anything, I wonder what the point is frankly. Emperor Caligula announced in a very nonchalant way the song ‘An Apprentice of Satan’, stating with a shrug that the ‘Teach Children to Worship Satan’ EP had given them a lot of trouble around the world. Again they blasted away, hair flapping half-heartedly, whilst their silly corpse-paint slowly faded. Oh well, it could have been worse I suppose.

Now saying that, Six Feet Under were on next, and the only good thing I could fathom about them was the sight of Chris Barnes flinging his incredibly long dreadlocks around the place. I couldn’t believe how much stage space they took up! If he did that in the Underworld, he’d probably take out everyone on stage and half of the crowd! As Pete put it before retiring to bed, ‘that was not headlining material.’ Too bloody right! (OC)

Next Party San takes place 12-14 August 2010. We await line-up announcements with expectation.

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