OK, some comments on the 10th Brutal Assault that took place in CZ from Aug11 to Aug13. The place changed and the change was good, its biggers now with lots of places to sit. The food is still shitty, but lets talk about music, shall we. We arrived late on thursday, so I didnt see Oblomov, a very promising czech death/black band, heard them though from the camp. The first band to my liking was Natron from Italy. Never heard them, but their death grind was really juicy! Silent Stream of Godless Elegy were next, its a czech band playing doom basically, but their last album Relic Dances opens a totally new dimension for them, they played with a folk group and the mixture was great. Then again a counter point, cause the next were Gadget from Sweden. Now, Ive never seen Nasum live and I never will, so this was a treat for me, because this band comes very close - an excellent performance, cool guys, talked to them, bought a T, great. Then there were Textures, I dont know from where, but a good progmetal, interesting. Well and then was time for the highlight of thursdays line up - Obituary. Ive never liked them, but man was their show good! Perfect sound, the guys were chilling, a great experience. Then it was time for bed, cause my attention was slowly rotting
from all the beer I had.
Friday - havent seen the first 5 bands, cause we had to find some decent food to make our stomachs work properly again. That food was 3kms from the fest area, so the first band we saw was Casketgarden from Hungary. Basically an At the Gates rip off, but a very very very good one, they played Heartwork from Carcass and Under the Serpent Sun from guess who, cooool! The next was a czech funny grind band Ahumanudo Granujo, yummie, like them a lot! Then a break and we returned to see a czech brutal death band called Isacaarum - again, heard of them, but never heard them, but I was impressed! Great show, especially the "singer" is a maniac, he really didnt save any energy, he was giving it to us plenty, hehe. Disillusion from Germany were ok, but nothing special, the first disappointment of the fest. The second one came right after, Negura Bunget from Romania. I was looking forward to seeing them, but they were lame as fuck, no energy. Then was time for Depresy - my friends from the town where I live. They played an excellent concert, despite the fact that they had to finish earlier than planned. They play death metal in the vein of the greek scene, but with their own style - my recommendation. Belphegor were stupid, just blasting away to nowhere, I was yawning like crazy. The same goes for Root, I cant stand them. Callenish Circle were great, but I was so tired that I just sat and listened. I was hoping the whole day that Id manage to stay awake to see Forgotten Silence, another great czech band, but after Callenish it was Agathodaimon and they bored me to death. My eyes were already asleep so I went and missed FS, a pity, cause I heard they were great.
Saturday - this was supposed to be THE day and it was in many ways. Its a paradox, but there werent any bands worth mentioning through the day. So THE day seemed to be pretty boring. But then came the headliners and one after another cut me to pieces. First Krisiun - three crazy brazilians, superb death metal! A friend of mine gave me some stuff from them before the fest but I didnt have time to listen to it. Well I will now! Excellent! Then came My Dying Bride and that was the top one for me. The sound was crystal clear and bone crushing - not a single false note or harmony when the guitars were playing the same motive together, Aaron sang, screamed, growled. When they played Shes the Dark and Catherine Blake I was in heaven. Awesome! The next band should have been the top one for me, but they fucked up - Necrophagist from germany. They came late, their sound check was too long, so they played only 22 mins. The drummer made some mistakes and the sound was so loud that all those riffs and beautiful solos of theirs were drowned in one big ball - it sounded huge, but if you didnt know their songs very well, which most people didnt, you were lost. Ive had a nice chat with the guys afterwards though. Then Ive seen a couple of songs from Ador Dorath - a great czech black metal band, but I was so tired that it was over for me. I went back to Necro-guys, had some beer with them and went to sleep.
The fest was great, overall, I went home satisfied.
