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Brutal Assault 2011 (Saturday) - Day 3 @ Jaromer, Czech Republic |
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Brutal Assault Festival
Day 3 - Saturday
13.08.2011
@
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.
The last day of the festival started very early again. A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH, a very promising band from Brooklyn, US, managed to gather hundreds of people who hardly had a chance to sleep. The high interest might be explained not only by their debut album, which was really good, but also by the musicians’ personalities.
Some of them are known from such bands like Type O Negative, Seventh Void and Danzig. The music made by APHND reminds a crazy crossover of Alice in Chains with some Type O in the background. Slow but very impressive, somehow even disturbing due to the texts, perfectly performed – we’re definitely going to hear from these guys again and very soon.
A horrible misfortune happened to the Swedish gothic/doom metalers DRACONIAN – their keyboards got lost during the travel but they still entered the stage and were forced to make another orchestration. The fans tried to show their support as good as they could but after a couple of songs the band left, totally disappointed of themselves. That’s a pity, because it wasn’t bad at all.
KVELERTAK with their hardcore-experimental-rock’n’roll-metal-everything started to play under the burning sun, which (in combination with all the sleepless nights) aggravated the reception of any music. The vocalist’s effort is really worth an honour and admiration but his enthusiasm alone cannot pull the whole band to the great success. This was a very high-potential performance but not enough for such a big stage yet.
The Latvian cult band SKYFORGER is known for impressive live-shows but this time something went really wrong. The sound problems seemed not to bother the singer, who tried to explain some specifics of the Latvian folk wedding dance in very strange English. On the one hand it was very nice of him (as the lyrics are mostly in Latvian), on the other– who cares? The heat was unbearable, the beer was warm, the viking spirit was gone.
A couple of hours later a shudder passed over the whole fortress – VADER appeared on the stage to the strains of the Imperial March. Actually, did you know that the band’s name in fact comes from Darth Vader? Peter and his troop didn’t hesitate and showed what Polish death metal is made of. They finished their set with the Black Sabbath cover of the same name and the Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’, which was quite a surprise.
To be honest, ANATHEMA didn’t really fit into the festival line up and atmosphere. Nevertheless, it was one of the best shows of the whole festival and one of the best ANATHEMA concerts I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot). ‘Thin Air’, ‘A Natural Disaster’, ‘Fragile Dreams’ – the Cavanagh brothers know how to make the tough guys show their sensible side. The band seemed to be quite surprised by their big success at this festival, though.
Switching from ANATHEMA to SEPULTURA wasn’t easy but the Brazilians are so easy-going that soon everyone was jumping and singing along. This evening we heard lots of tracks from ‘Arise’ album and the grand finale of the set was presented by the ‘Roots bloody roots’ – no one would have let them go without playing the hit.
The fun faded away as soon as TRIPTYKON appeared on the stage. Surprisingly, a couple of songs later they managed to awaken the interest of the audience and people got really carried away. The problem was, one couldn’t avoid comparing them to Celtic Frost, although, comparing bands is as wrong as comparing women. Anyway, the musicians didn’t make it easier by playing compositions like ‘Procreation (of the Wicked) so it was difficult to stop thinking of the Celtic Frost.
After the 1349, AHAB and KHOLD the festival time came to the end. The first three bands of the Brutal Assault 2012 have been announced – MOONSPELL, TEXTURES, VIRUS and there are definitely more great names to come.
P.S. And a couple of words about the festival in general. The whole infrastructure is well organized. Almost all festival staff from the info kiosk to the toilet crew spoke English. Unfortunately, you cannot take it for granted at all Czech festivals. There are lots of conveniences spread all over the festival and camping ground. There is even an own cash machine and pharmacy available for the festival guests.
One big disadvantage is the criminal situation. Every year you hear that someone got robbed on the public camping side while sleeping. The organizers try to prevent these troubles and inform all the festival guests about this danger but it still happens. So if you decide to go to Brutal Assault, assume the possibility of booking a place at the secured VIP camping. It is really worth it.
The beer is good and cheap (approx. 1,20 Euro for 0,5 L). There is a wide range of different food stands in the festival area. There is even a vegetarian restaurant and hookah-tea shop.
For those who cannot stand the festival food there is a shopping possibility in the Jaromer town. There are lots of nice civilized restaurants if you want to have a break and relax for a couple of hours. There is even a public swimming pool not far from the festival area, which is great for the August heat.
The festival crew does everything to make their guests happy and it’s only getting better from year to year. The audience is very international: metalheads from all over the world come to Brutal Assault. With the motto of ‘Zero tolerance to violence’ the festival is a very friendly place for all the extreme metal fans. Come and experience everything yourself. See you there next year!
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Reviewed by Kate Maus
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Festival Reviews