Well, this was probably the second greatest PP I've attended, second only to the legendary line-up of 2001 (which I probably remember this fondly due to mixed reasons of nostalgia--it having been my first PP--and relative cluelessness at the time: I got to discover Wolverine, Andromeda, Pain of Salvation, Into Eternity, and Zero Hour all during the same weekend. Talk about my mind being blown).
The one thing that was missing for me this time was an absolutely amazing discovery. Cilice were nice and the impression I had in the very beginning of their concert (crap) was quite reversed by the end (parc? I guess?), but there was just not enough awesome in their music yet to really call them a discovery. They were a pleasant opener, no more.
Now I've been debating for a long time, with myself, no less, whether or not to say this at all, but in the end I decided I had a reputation as an outspoken, impolite, rude asshole to defend, so here goes: Suspyre was the absolute disappointment of the festival. Wtf was that?
I drank with some of the Suspyre guys on Friday night, and they sounded friendly enough (even though they have miles to go to catch up with bands like Atrox when it comes to fan interaction--there was a moment with Atrox in the rain that involved, let me phrase it vaguely, penises). On the stage, however, what the hell was that?
Suspyre were positively unable to play their own material. The frequency of small, annoying mistakes was incredibly high, and on top of that there were a couple of complete fuck-ups. It's hard to identify a worst offender. I guess I can say that their singer was probably the least bad. Calling him unimpressive and forgettable is probably a compliment compared to the rest.
Seriously, what was that? Their material isn't very complicated--certainly not compared to Cynic or Zero Hour, who seemed to be able to play their own stuff flawlessly hanging upside-down in a pit of ACID SPITTING SCORPIONS.
But it wasn't just the technically bad performances and the horrible sound, the song selection was equally puzzling. Why select your more boring songs when you have so many amazing songs? Why play songs from that first album at all?
No point to go on and on about this, but Suspyre were the one band this year that came nowhere near my expectations.
As for surprises then, Wolverine ruled during both sets, but I guess the biggest surprise for me was just HOW MUCH energy they managed to infuse the new set with. They were for me the highlight of Sunday, and had it not been for the legendary Cynic concert probably the highlight of the weekend. I'd say they were on par with Cynic, purely enjoyment-wise, with the difference that I did expect Cynic to blow me away like they did.
As for non-surprises, finally, Zero Hour played yet another fucking rock-solid, can't-believe-they're-not-robots-from-outer-space gigs, with Chris delivering even better renditions of Eric's old material than he had at Headway '07. Also worth mentioning: Mike destroyed like three sticks during the gig and always managed to get back into the song flawlessly. Try to clap along to a ZH song some time and you'll see what an impossible job that man has.
Atrox were great too, but I really have to get used to the thought that they're not the same band that made Terrestrials and Orgasm anymore. And of course they're now my favourite Norwegians IN THE WORLD. (Sorry, Jostein Gaarder)
The one thing that was missing for me this time was an absolutely amazing discovery. Cilice were nice and the impression I had in the very beginning of their concert (crap) was quite reversed by the end (parc? I guess?), but there was just not enough awesome in their music yet to really call them a discovery. They were a pleasant opener, no more.
Now I've been debating for a long time, with myself, no less, whether or not to say this at all, but in the end I decided I had a reputation as an outspoken, impolite, rude asshole to defend, so here goes: Suspyre was the absolute disappointment of the festival. Wtf was that?
I drank with some of the Suspyre guys on Friday night, and they sounded friendly enough (even though they have miles to go to catch up with bands like Atrox when it comes to fan interaction--there was a moment with Atrox in the rain that involved, let me phrase it vaguely, penises). On the stage, however, what the hell was that?
Suspyre were positively unable to play their own material. The frequency of small, annoying mistakes was incredibly high, and on top of that there were a couple of complete fuck-ups. It's hard to identify a worst offender. I guess I can say that their singer was probably the least bad. Calling him unimpressive and forgettable is probably a compliment compared to the rest.
Seriously, what was that? Their material isn't very complicated--certainly not compared to Cynic or Zero Hour, who seemed to be able to play their own stuff flawlessly hanging upside-down in a pit of ACID SPITTING SCORPIONS.
But it wasn't just the technically bad performances and the horrible sound, the song selection was equally puzzling. Why select your more boring songs when you have so many amazing songs? Why play songs from that first album at all?
No point to go on and on about this, but Suspyre were the one band this year that came nowhere near my expectations.
As for surprises then, Wolverine ruled during both sets, but I guess the biggest surprise for me was just HOW MUCH energy they managed to infuse the new set with. They were for me the highlight of Sunday, and had it not been for the legendary Cynic concert probably the highlight of the weekend. I'd say they were on par with Cynic, purely enjoyment-wise, with the difference that I did expect Cynic to blow me away like they did.
As for non-surprises, finally, Zero Hour played yet another fucking rock-solid, can't-believe-they're-not-robots-from-outer-space gigs, with Chris delivering even better renditions of Eric's old material than he had at Headway '07. Also worth mentioning: Mike destroyed like three sticks during the gig and always managed to get back into the song flawlessly. Try to clap along to a ZH song some time and you'll see what an impossible job that man has.
Atrox were great too, but I really have to get used to the thought that they're not the same band that made Terrestrials and Orgasm anymore. And of course they're now my favourite Norwegians IN THE WORLD. (Sorry, Jostein Gaarder)
