The Report!!!

Thursday

Slayerjam

It not always the most fun job to open a festival, though if Slayer can't, who can? The local Slayer Jam took the stage at exactly 20:00 and kicked the party off with 'South Of Heaven' and continued to spew forth Slayer classics until they closed with the unholy trio of 'Dead Skin Mask', 'Reigning Blood' and 'Angel Of Death'. In between we had a good mix of old and newer tunes, and to be honest, the older material worked out the best. Of course I am myself most into the old stuff, and it was best this night. Take a track like 'Antichrist', one of the old and simple Slayer tracks with awesome leads and a killer build up, damn that worked well this night as well as the other old bangers.

Though the band lacked some stage presence and energy, it was like they were too concentrated on delivering the material and the audience never totally got into the game, that was quite a shame. And how can a singer forget the lyrics to 'Angel Of Death' after the first 2 lines in the first verse and first catch up in the chorus...

The festival had begun and was slowly getting into gears.

Behind The Curtain

Next up was yet a local band delivering progressive and technical metal. I hadn't heard of the band for years and thought they were long gone, though here they were. I didn't expect much of the band, due to the style the are delivering, though they caught me by surprise. Seldom have I seen metal delivered this energetic and with such a joy, damn the band seemed to enjoy themselves on the stage and that affected the audience immediately.

The music was also delivered well and was quite good too. Technical and progressive with great efforts all the way round. Blistering guitars, good drumming and great vocals. Though the 2 highlights were the inspiring keyboards from Morten Sandager and the straight in your face, technical and jazzy bassplay from Kasper Molin.

I wouldn't mind hearing new material from Behind The Curtain soon and would like to catch them on stage soon again as well, especially if they could kick yet a gig like this night and without the sound problems, as the bass disappeared once in a while, due to some electrics fucking up here and there, though besides the few fallouts and pauses, it was a great gig.

Plantera

And now to Sweden, to a Pantera coverband, if you hadn't guessed that due to the band name. The band kicked it off Pantera style and had a very high energy level and the singer and frontman did a good Phil Anselmo impression, though without (almost) all the talking in between songs. The guitar player also had it going, except when he was hit by a failing amplifier, which happened a few times, though while he struggled with that, as in 'Drag The
Waters' the band kept on going with drums, bass and vocals for a while, that was quite nice pulled off. We also got a taste of the singers melodic humor the other time the amp was gone.

Plantera pulled off most of the tracks very well and the few parts they had changed worked well, only fuck up was when the sound engineer cut off the chugging in the start of 'Cowboys From Hell'. Quite enjoyable to hear Pantera getting blasted from a stage, by this strong four piece. The band also accomplished to get the audience fired up, they made this Thursday night quite a party! Here's the setlist minus the first couple of tracks, as I forgot to note them in awe and attempting to be a photographer: 'Becoming', 'Mouth Of War', 'Drag The Waters', 'Strenght Beyond Strength', 'Walk', '5 Minutes Alone', 'Domination', 'Broken', 'Cowboys 'From Hell' and 'Fucking Hostile'. It can never go wrong with such a track selection!


Behind The Curtain


Friday

Crocell

This was my first encounter with Crocell, I didn't even know their album before seeing them taking stage this Friday afternoon, that would change though, as I after the impressive show picked up their debut CD 'The God We Drowned'. The band took on the stage with might and ready to deliver a party and they sure did. Their pummeling death metal took the crowd away from the cold November afternoon, into a world of headbanging and snaps. Crocell did a really good job at starting the party at this, the second day of the festival. They got over the stage and had a good grip in the audience and their fuck you all attitudes brought them far, together with their slaying death metal. A very good start on this Friday.

Lipid

Next up was Lipid, again some death metal, a bit more modern and groovy, with a good deal of melodies. It quickly turned out to be a somewhat more restrained affair compared to the previous band. I don't have big of a thing for the band, since their first release, and this did also quickly turn out be a tad boring performance, the band needed some energy and enthusiasm an didn't really bring their music over the edge of the stage. A decent performance lacking some drive and will.

Eminence

Then we had reached the Brazilian input of the day, Eminence, yet a band that I didn't know anything about. They took the stage with a hellish attitude and brought us directly into their energetic world of modern thrash with some Brazilian ethnical inspiration. Some nice and bass driven groovy thrash with a very energetic frontman. The bass was damn heavy and the drums smashing and they really got a claw in people, who seemed to enjoy their energetic stage approach very much. The music wasn't really my style, though Eminence is the best proof of how an intense performance can make such a gig enjoyable after all. Good job guys!

Last Mile

Now we had reached the point of the show, where it all was turned over to Århus, this band and the remaining 3 this Friday did all hail from Århus. And one or 2 of them, did once or twice ask why they just wasn't putting on the show down there, as that would have been wiser logistically. Well back to Last Mile, some good and hard hitting hardcore from the city of smiles, straight on and again an energy driven performance, from a band with some seasoned musicians within the Danish scene. They put on a really good show and had the audience caught from the beginning to the very end. I hadn't listened much to the band's music prior to this gig, but suspected a good and solid performance on the scene, and that was what I and the rest of the audience got.

Exmortem

I had been looking a lot forward to catch Exmortem live again, it had been a while since I've been to an Exmortem gig and on top of that they were ready with a new album as well. I hadn't heard 'Funeral Phantoms prior to the show, but picked while being there or a little while after, I can't really remember. Though the boys did put on a spectacular show, the atmosphere was evil and dark from the second they took the stage and until they left it again. A really slaying performance that sent shivers down into the audience, the stage control Simon has is enormous and he dictated the show all the way through, one of the best performances, if no the best I've seen from him. The band was also on fire and showed a lot of enjoyment for being on the stage again. We got a good deal of tracks from the new album, and some little older, though I missed some of the first material the band did, but of course only Sigtyr is left from back then, and the style they are displaying now, is somewhat more violent and brutal, so understandable enough. A damn good performance, that gave energy to the 2 last bands of the night and left the audience more or less speechless.

HateSphere

Next up was HateSphere with a revamped line-up, only Pepe from the original gang and the gang that made the band 'popular' was left, I don't know if this was the first gig with this line-up, though they hadn't done many together. Even though their music wasn't as tight as usual and that they weren't all that comfortable with each other on the stage. They put on a pretty good gig, the usual HateSphere intensity and energy was present and the new singer was all over the place, screaming from the bottom of his lungs, all the way through. Again a good performance, not the best I've seen from the band, but with the re-vamped line-up, they did it really good and the people around did also seem very satisfied with what they had seen and heard!

Illdisposed

The headliner this wicked Friday was legendary Danish deathstars Illdisposed. I haven't seen Illdisposed live since 1999 or 2000, so I was looking forward to catch the bastards again. The line up is somewhat rewamped from the last time I checked the band out (to be honest, it's been a while) so I was surprised to see Franz Hellboss from Volbeat on guitar and Mikael Ehlert (who was standing in for Jonas Kloge) from Hatesphere on bass, though they both did very well with the band.

The focal point of the band is the guttural madness known as Bo Summer, he's a great frontman and fills a lot on stage, he does his job at getting over the stage and into the audience and carries the crowd all the way through. Even though he couldn't do many growls before getting exhausted, due to that we got a lot of talk in between some tracks, though still a rock solid performance.

Musically it worked well too, the 4 musicians were on fire and delivered a great show too, especially the 2 newbies did well and had a lot of fun playing, nice to witness bands and musicians enjoying themselves!

Illdisposed would have been a nice closer Saturday, even though Opeth is ten times bigger a band, who can deny that 'Now We're History' is a nice way to end a day, or a festival with, it worked this night, after the usual bunch of fuck yous from Bo Summer. There might be better bands on a stage than Illdisposed, though not many as entertaining!


Exmortem

Saturday

Dødning

The band that had to kickstart it all this Saturday was Dødning, a young Danish band, I again knew nothing of, I had really done my homework this time around, huh? Some heavy southern rock, with some good doomy riffs here and there, a double vocal assault, where the screaming vocal was a nice kick in the nuts, with the insanity and hellishness such needs. The standard vocal a little, yeah standard, decent, but not that exciting, though with some more power and coherence with the music, it could turn out okay. A quite interesting band to start out with, they had some good features, though needs a little fine tuning to hit it off. There was some energy and intensity going on on the stage, but there weren't that many people in the hall yet, though a pretty good start to the day.

Oktan

Then we had reached, Oktan, and to repeat myself, yet a band I knew nothing of. It turned out they delivered some high fueled rock, it wasn't really that exciting, they really tried to get a party going and to get some energy over the stage, though it didn't really work. The music was a little too simple and didn't have enough balls to hit the audience, which nice and quietly was starting to show up. Not the most exciting band on earth, though
with a little work and focus it could turn out good, there were some nice heavy riffs here and there, and a little intensity did shine through once in a while.

Chaoswave

Now it was time for some modern Italian prog-power with a local guitarist as the driving force in the band. I've heard a couple of the band's records, and it hasn't really been me, so I didn't expect much of them. Though they did get a quite solid grip on the audience and the very charming and charismatic female vocalist did a really good job at keeping the party going, and her vocals are quite good. The male vocals didn't really convince me on stage either, it misses power and precision. Though the band put on a good and energetic performance and left a hall ready to party for Mugshot.

Mugshot

Yet a band that never has been my cup of tea, some modern metalcore with some intensity though, and they did well on stage and did fire up under the audience here and there. Though I personally found it quite boring, generic riffs and grooves all over the place and some mediocre vocals. Though the people into the band had a blast, but besides them, it didn't seem like the band hit some new fans or anything, again I missed the intensity and
hellishness that brings the music over the edge of the stage.

Svartsot

Then it was time for some viking metal, Svartsot a pretty local band hailing somewhat 50 km south of Aalborg, and they only had to enter the stage to set the audience on fire. I have seen the band once before, though that wasn't nearly as intense as this night, damn they took on the task with some balls and delivered hell of a show. Their music will never hit me, though I was caught by the atmosphere and sing along choruses. A really superb
performance from Svartsot and they left the audience sweaty and with smiles all over their faces.

Keep Of Kalessin

The night's input from Norway, Keep Of Kalessin had I been looking forward to see live, to hear if they could transform the energy, intensity and darkness from their albums into a asskicking live set. It didn't take them many minutes to convince me about that they could do that. Again a band that took the stage ready to slay from the first chord, they delivered their black metal in an dark and sinister atmosphere, with some stageprops hiding the
backline, they had their corpsepaint and leather and black outfits and a hellish attitude. They took on the audience and turned more or less all into their aggressive universe of relentless black metal. They took me by surprise as they were much more powerful and intense than I ever would have believed, a really good gig by Keep Of Kalessin.

Coldworker

This was my second gig with Coldworker, as I once saw them at this little nice place we have here in Aalborg called 1000Fryd, that was a quite good gig and I was looking forward to hearing them throwing their death metal with grindcore tendencies in our heads. Though it didn't take long to realize that the band was better on smaller stages, as energetic and intense the music is, and as intense the vocalist Joel Fornbrant is in delivering his lines, they didn't really catch on to the audience. They missed that last piece of energy and experience to get their music all the way from the stage, over the pit, into the crowd, and that was a shame. As I know how intense a gig with them can be, but it was still great to catch them live again, it is a pretty good band.

Konkhra

Then it was time for Konkhra, again a band I hadn't caught live for a good while. Anders Lundemark, again a man with an enormous stage presence, and he did take charge from the beginning and the band kicked in teeth with their quite good death metal. I'm not the biggest Konkhra fan in the world, but they have done some good tracks and albums throughout their career. We got a good deal of all the best tunes throughout their career and the band pleased the crowd, no doubt about that. And it is damn hard to keep the head still and not growl with on tracks as 'Spit Or Swallow', 'Facelift' and rest of the classics. A good and very intense death metal fest by Konkhra!

Opeth

After Konkhra finished we were in for a quite a surprise, all the light in the hall was turned on and we were asked to leave, due to Opeth's stage setup being one from hell, and that it would take an hour to set up, instead of the half scheduled. 1 hour and 15 minutes later they were finally ready to let us in.

One should think people were turned against the band, and while waiting in queue to get in, not all words were nice. Though as soon people were placed in front of the stage and the soothing tones from 'Damnation' were heard through the PA, people seemed to relax and realized what they were here to see, Opeth's first performance in Denmark the last 10 years.

And as the band took stage, the crowd went wild, and quite understandable, damn it sounded good. I'm no the biggest Opeth fan and was a tad cranky after wait, an old geezer like me needs to get home and get some sleep, though I too were spellbound by the sweet tones. When the sound was at its best, it sounded like the one on 'The Roundhouse Tapes' to draw a reference, though there were some feedback problems here and there.

Mikael Åkerfeldt was on from the start, with his quirky smiles, small comments and stage presence. The rest of the band did their job, and kept quite quiet most of the time, so nothing new there.

'Deliverance' came out nice and 'Demon Of The Fall' kicked ass big time, though 1 hour and 15 minutes is too little with a band like Opeth, especially when the wait from Konkhra until Opeth took 1 hour and 15 minutes, but I guess it always isn't about the fans, even though they make a machine like Opeth run. But overall a good experience and on stage not many can touch Opeth and their performance.


Keep Of Kalessin

All in all yet a great Aalborg Metal Festival, nicely arranged and some good bands putting on good performances, and almost no trouble at all, a nice and quiet metal fest, with a lot people and good mood. It is hard to put a finger on anything, of course we have the trouble with Opeth's scene and sound set up, though hard for the organizers to do anything there, if they want the band to play, and I'm sure we all wanted that to happen. I'm looking forward to invade AMF again soon, hopefully next year again!


Opeth

http://www.aalborgmetalfestival.dk

Pictures from Thursday: http://nhb08.blogspot.com/2008/11/impre ... day-1.html

Pictures from Friday: http://nhb08.blogspot.com/2008/11/impre ... day-2.html

Pictures from Saturday: http://nhb08.blogspot.com/2008/11/impre ... day-3.html




Torsdag

20:00 Slayer Jam
21:15 Behind the Curtain
22:30 Plantera (S)
Fredag

16:50 Crocell
17:40 Lipid
18:30 Eminence (BRA)
19:30 Last Mile
20:35 Exmortem
21:40 HateSphere
23:00 Illdisposed
Lørdag

14:45 Dødning
15:35 Oktan
16:25 Chaoswave (I)
17:30 Mugshot
18:35 Svartsot
19:40 Keep of Kalessin (N)
20:45 Coldworker (S)
22:00 Konkhra
23:30 Opeth (S)

oh wow, that's a good line-up, well, minus opeth

it's decent, a few smaller band that I haven't heard and it'll be good to catch some of the old names again... and Opeth... melikes

Here's a few pictures from yesterdays (thursday) gigs at AMF

http://nhb08.blogspot.com/2008/11/impre ... day-1.html

A few pictures from Friday: http://nhb08.blogspot.com/2008/11/impre ... day-2.html

Pictures from Saturday: http://nhb08.blogspot.com/2008/11/impre ... day-3.html

BUMP!