In case you missed it, last weekend the 8th edition of Old Grave Fest took place in Fabrica, Bucharest. The already renowned old school/extreme metal festival is a staple for the underground crowd in Bucharest and beyond.
The whole event stretched for two days, the line-up consisting of fifteen bands. The “tomb” amassed a considerable attendance, pretty decent for an underground festival.
The groups covered a wide array of metal flavours, from Grindcore and Death Metal to Speed and even Progressive; here I’d like Dark Quarterer from Italy which was one of the biggest surprises in this context. Getting this out of the way, I find it hard to say that there wasn’t something for anybody when it comes to this spectrum of music.
Of course the generation gap was present both nights, only to be blurred by the energy and enthusiasm of the bands, ranging from up and coming acts to more established names like Blitzkrieg, the NWOBHM legends who were still kicking it after almost 40 years. Well, that’s got to show for something! Also the young bloods did not shy away from providing a great show, and in this regard I would like to mention Black Viper for the intensity of their Norwegian Speed Metal.
Another notable thing about this gathering was the “internationality” if I can call it that, stemming from the different places the bands were from. Guys traveling here from places like Scandinavia, Spain, Italy and if that was not enough even more exotic parts of the globe like Japan (ABIGAIL) and Singapore (Draconis Infernum), so that goes for extra credit. Of course, there wasn’t a lack of home grown acts like Terror Sickness, keeping the slime of Romanian Grindcore alive.
From the North came the evil sounds of Kill, a Swedish Black Metal band delivering a taste of the late second wave of black metal, the guys being active for more than 20 years. Also the southern parts of Europe don’t shy away, especially with bands like Graveyard from Spain who came east these last days to show us how blasting their Death Metal can get, and let’s not forget about the sick dose of Black Metal from our Asian guests. But if you want to see it for yourself, here you can find some footage with the bands I just mentioned to get the picture thanks to the guys from Headfullofnoise.
As for the sick maniacs who attended the show, there was no shortage of mosh pits, crowd surfs and people just generally going insane.
So we’re waiting the 9th congregation, more mad, more sick, and more extreme under the seal of The Romanian Thrash Metal Club.
