The whole festival took part inside of the Rockefeller building, which has got two stages - Rockefeller, the big one (capacity around 2000) and John Dee, the smaller, more intimate venue (capacity around 500)
Taakeferd @ John Dee
Ice cold and brutal black metal from the Northern parts of Norway, a corpse paint and spikes galore. Pretty good stuff, I enjoyed the show from the front row and got into their set quite a lot.
Chton @ Rockefeller
Norwegian death metal. Quite good stuff, perhaps their set was a bit too technical and clinical, but the crowd loved their video track "Book Of The Black Earth" (awesome song) and the cover of Venom's "In League With Satan".
Nebular Mystic @ John Dee
Quite similar to Taakeferd, decent black metal.
Mortiis @ Rockefeller
We watched the set from the balcony, laughing at and imitating all the fangirls dancing in the front row. They actually knew all the lyrics. He obviously played era 2 stuff exclusively.
Gorelord @ John Dee
Absolutely killer, the venue was packed to the max, and Gorelord slay all kinds of ass live. I took part in a mini mosh pit, with my mates, some death metal girl (an insane amount of good looking girls were at the festival, however together with their crap looking boyfriends) and an Italian. Awesome stuff.
Lamented Souls @ Rockefeller
Only watched a couple of songs before we left for some food and fresh air. None of us enjoyed them, but the crowd seemed to like their set.
Horricane @ John Dee
Surprisingly good tech-death from Estonia, they were absolutely overwhelmed by the great response they got from the crowd. I was a front row headbanging metal warrior throughout the entire set.
Amon Amarth @ Rockefeller
Venue was packed as usual, and 90% of the crowd headbanged and threw the metal fist throughout the entire set. However, I don't like AA at all, and I found their set boring. No tempo changes, just the same mid-tempo march for 45 minutes. Bleh.
Hatesphere @ John Dee
Flying fistfuck, was this a great show. Feck! I luckily got to be a front row warrior again, and I headbanged my head off while throwing the horns like the madman I am. Hatesphere has grown on me a lot the last couple of days, and I'd turned into a great fan of theirs just before this festival. The band play a totally insane and killer hybrid of death and thrash, fast as hell and with some super-heavy "breakdowns". They were about 500 times better live than on disc, and that's saying something. The air was filled with sweat and alcohol, and the entire crowd went BONKERS. I shook hands with the vocalist and guitarist during the set, and the vocalist said that we were the best crowd they'd ever played in front of. I know that's quite cliché, but I actually think he meant it.
Morbid Angel @ Rockefeller
What a frontman David Vincent is. Almost resembling John Travolta in Pulp Fiction at times, with a killer gleam in his eye and a small grin. I watched the first four songs from the front row, headbanging and throwing the horns, and spent the rest of the show in a huge, intense pit. If you fell, at least three other guys would pick you up, pat your back and continue to mosh. Vincent actually pointed down at us and said that this was the essence of metal - the unity and the brotherhood. Cliché, yes, but it felt right. It was a flawless set, and the highlight of the entire festival. OK, so it wasn't flawless, because God Of Emptiness is the most boring song ever created (by MA), but still.
Setlist:
Rapture
Pain Divine
Maze Of Torment
Sworn To The Black
Blasphemy
Lord Of All Fevers & Plague
Dawn Of The Angry
Where The Slime Live (OK, so this pretty much sucks too)
Blood On My Hands
Immortal Rites
Day Of Suffering
Evil Spells
Chapel Of Ghouls
God Of Emptiness
World Of Shit (The Promised Land)
Some observations/funny things
- Some short-haired guy from the UK, wearing some dark sunglasses and a winter jacket with a fur hood, yelled "Hail Norway" and "Hail Satan" throughout the whole MA set, twas hilarious.
- The Mortiis fangirls were pretty good looking (except one of them, who had dressed up as an elf), and didn't seem to be there with their boyfriends (unlike all the other good looking girls). But guys - fret not. I didn't try to score. They're Mortiis (era 2) fans. Even I have got some standards
- There were a bunch of Americans, Estonians, Germans, Frenchmen and Italians there. Everyone agreed that Norway kicks ass and has got the best metal crowds.
- T-shirts of Mayhem, Darkthrone and Satyricon could be seen everywhere, as well as a couple of Him and Cradle Of Filth-shirts
- Headbanging makes your neck hurt.
Taakeferd @ John Dee
Ice cold and brutal black metal from the Northern parts of Norway, a corpse paint and spikes galore. Pretty good stuff, I enjoyed the show from the front row and got into their set quite a lot.
Chton @ Rockefeller
Norwegian death metal. Quite good stuff, perhaps their set was a bit too technical and clinical, but the crowd loved their video track "Book Of The Black Earth" (awesome song) and the cover of Venom's "In League With Satan".
Nebular Mystic @ John Dee
Quite similar to Taakeferd, decent black metal.
Mortiis @ Rockefeller
We watched the set from the balcony, laughing at and imitating all the fangirls dancing in the front row. They actually knew all the lyrics. He obviously played era 2 stuff exclusively.
Gorelord @ John Dee
Absolutely killer, the venue was packed to the max, and Gorelord slay all kinds of ass live. I took part in a mini mosh pit, with my mates, some death metal girl (an insane amount of good looking girls were at the festival, however together with their crap looking boyfriends) and an Italian. Awesome stuff.
Lamented Souls @ Rockefeller
Only watched a couple of songs before we left for some food and fresh air. None of us enjoyed them, but the crowd seemed to like their set.
Horricane @ John Dee
Surprisingly good tech-death from Estonia, they were absolutely overwhelmed by the great response they got from the crowd. I was a front row headbanging metal warrior throughout the entire set.
Amon Amarth @ Rockefeller
Venue was packed as usual, and 90% of the crowd headbanged and threw the metal fist throughout the entire set. However, I don't like AA at all, and I found their set boring. No tempo changes, just the same mid-tempo march for 45 minutes. Bleh.
Hatesphere @ John Dee
Flying fistfuck, was this a great show. Feck! I luckily got to be a front row warrior again, and I headbanged my head off while throwing the horns like the madman I am. Hatesphere has grown on me a lot the last couple of days, and I'd turned into a great fan of theirs just before this festival. The band play a totally insane and killer hybrid of death and thrash, fast as hell and with some super-heavy "breakdowns". They were about 500 times better live than on disc, and that's saying something. The air was filled with sweat and alcohol, and the entire crowd went BONKERS. I shook hands with the vocalist and guitarist during the set, and the vocalist said that we were the best crowd they'd ever played in front of. I know that's quite cliché, but I actually think he meant it.
Morbid Angel @ Rockefeller
What a frontman David Vincent is. Almost resembling John Travolta in Pulp Fiction at times, with a killer gleam in his eye and a small grin. I watched the first four songs from the front row, headbanging and throwing the horns, and spent the rest of the show in a huge, intense pit. If you fell, at least three other guys would pick you up, pat your back and continue to mosh. Vincent actually pointed down at us and said that this was the essence of metal - the unity and the brotherhood. Cliché, yes, but it felt right. It was a flawless set, and the highlight of the entire festival. OK, so it wasn't flawless, because God Of Emptiness is the most boring song ever created (by MA), but still.
Setlist:
Rapture
Pain Divine
Maze Of Torment
Sworn To The Black
Blasphemy
Lord Of All Fevers & Plague
Dawn Of The Angry
Where The Slime Live (OK, so this pretty much sucks too)
Blood On My Hands
Immortal Rites
Day Of Suffering
Evil Spells
Chapel Of Ghouls
God Of Emptiness
World Of Shit (The Promised Land)
Some observations/funny things
- Some short-haired guy from the UK, wearing some dark sunglasses and a winter jacket with a fur hood, yelled "Hail Norway" and "Hail Satan" throughout the whole MA set, twas hilarious.
- The Mortiis fangirls were pretty good looking (except one of them, who had dressed up as an elf), and didn't seem to be there with their boyfriends (unlike all the other good looking girls). But guys - fret not. I didn't try to score. They're Mortiis (era 2) fans. Even I have got some standards
- There were a bunch of Americans, Estonians, Germans, Frenchmen and Italians there. Everyone agreed that Norway kicks ass and has got the best metal crowds.
- T-shirts of Mayhem, Darkthrone and Satyricon could be seen everywhere, as well as a couple of Him and Cradle Of Filth-shirts
- Headbanging makes your neck hurt.
