After arriving at home, chilling, eating a warm meal and of course sleeping; here’s some impressions about this year Brutal Assault Festival.
I can say that for me the highlights of the first day were THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN and HELHEIM. Sadly I couldn’t catch the whole HELHEIM show because these bands where playing at the same time. But I can confess that even if THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN ain’t my type, they made a good live performance at the festival. From HELHEIM I’ve enjoyed very much the songs from their latest album entitled “LandawarijaR”.
Other good performances where MACABRE, OVERKILL and WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM. Some other nice shows where MASTER’S HAMMER and also ROOT, who’s musical carreer is only “pour les connaisseurs”. BATUSHKA had a good show, but convinced me to believe that this band is better seen indoors. WINTERSUN also was nice but not exactly my type of metal music.
The second day of the festival started for me with NERVOSA, Thrash Metal all female band for Brazil. These chicks were amazing and had one good warm up show. Although it was hot like hell, people stayed to watch them perform. HAVOK was also a pleasant surprise. I didn’t see them live until now, but I can tell you that I was very impressed. Some other excellent performances were from NILE, SUFFOCATION, ROTTING CHRIST and OPETH, of course. The big highlights of the second day were definitely EMPEROR and SWANS, in my opinion. For me, EMPEROR was like a dream come true and I think that it will remain one of the best live shows ever. It is amazing to see that this band can play as uniquely as in the old days and still earn money from their masterpieces, although all members are involved in other metal projects. EMPEROR proved that their music is and will remain eternal.
The 3rd day had some excellent performances as well, with the likes CARCASS, ELECTRIC WIZARD, POSSESSED, IGORRR, SWALLOW THE SUN, GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT, EINHERJER and DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT gracing the stage. Highlights of the day were: CARCASS, who destroyed the place down, IGORRR who smashed some brains out and of course, GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT who had a beautiful light show and a very powerful sound.
The 4th day was the hardest thing to survive. I was too tired and managed to see only a few bands, but it was awesome to see DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT for the 3rd time this year, whose live performance was perfect. DEMOLITION HAMMER was a big surprise for me as well. They showed how old school music should be played. Another thing that I personally waited for, for a long time, was the live performance of TIAMAT. It sadly didn’t rise to my expectations, because Johan Edlund’s attitude towards the public was completely miserable.
Overall a good festival with great bands, but it became a bit to exhausting for me. Maybe if you’ll survive it, you’ll become invincible and…..immortal….Who knows?