Well, back to Wacken for a second day of metal bliss...
On the way to the festival, there was an accident on the highway and we were delayed about an hour getting there. The reason why I chose the early bus was so that I could watch half of Aborted's set and watch the last half of Metal Church's set. With the accident I didn't get to do either... bummer.
Today was a little more laid back earlier in the day for me. The early bands were all bands I already have seen in the past (Morbid Angel, Orphaned Land, Fear Factory, Gamma Ray, Arch Enemy) so I watched AE and FF from the bear garden. Morbid and Orphaned over lapped and I went with my friend to watch Morbid. Gamma overlapped with Suidakra who I've never seen, so that was an easy choice for me. Anyway, on with my thoughts...
Arch Enemy was good - just like every other time I've seen them. I still have a hard time believing the sound that Angela can produce. Fear Factory was OK, didn't pay much attention to them. As I said before, I went to watch Morbid Angel because I followed my friends and I was interested in seeing Vincent back at the helm of the Angel where he belongs. The first thing I noticed (and this would plague Emperor later in the day) was that the really fast stuff just sounded like a wall of noise. You really couldn't make anything out and it took me a few moments to recgonize what song they were playing when they slowed down. The one thing I was a little dissapointed with was Vincents vocal delivery. It wasn't the really deep guttural growls I remember, it was more blackish in the deliver. I'm not so sure I liked it that way. It was cool to see Rutan on stage with them again. Besides the muddy fast stuff and the different vocal delivery from what I remember - they still sounded decent.
I didn't stick around for their entire set because I took off for Suidakra. Not sure if anyone knows these guys, but they play what I would consider a blackened/death folk type of metal. Heavier on the death portions with a screacher and a clean singer. Their last CD saw them move away from that sound but was quite please with their song selection which didn't consist of any thing off of Command to Charge. They had a little trouble with the clean singers vocals as in you couldn't hear them sometimes. Besides that annoyance, I thought they put on a great show and sounded good.
After Suidakras set, I check out the rest of Gamma Ray's set - it was what you would expect from Gamma Ray - very high quality power metal! Good stuff...
Next was another reason why I came to Wacken - Athiest. I had been a fan of theirs since the first time I heard Unquestionable Presence back in '93. I tried to get as close to the front as possible for this because I didn't want to miss it. They were unbelievable! It didn't seem like they haven't done anything together for almost 15 years, they were spot one and the 2 replacement guitarist fit right in. Shaefer sounded the same way he did and Choy and Flynn are still amazing. Probably the highlight of the show was Tony and Steve's solo/jam session. It was amazing to watch and hear. Definetly a high light of the weekend for me - and it got better!
After Atheist I took a little break and relaxed for a little and watched Whitesnake. I was never a fan of theirs and their set really didn't do anything to change my opinion of them.
Emperor was next. Like Amon Amarth, this was the second time I had seen them and this time I knew their stuff. Also like Amon, I became a fan of theirs after seeing them live. The same problem that Morbid Angel had on the really fast stuff plauged Emperor on their first couple songs. After that, someone seemed to figure something out with their sound and the fast parts were clear. They played a little bit from every CD and included one from Prometheus - which Ihshan said was the first time they got to play songs from that CD, since they had broken up before they toured. I think Ihshans clean voice has improved tremendously and his clean singing was supberb that night. The band was tight and sounded great.
Motorhead followed Emperor and they were, well... Motorhead.
Last, but definetly not least was Fintroll! I was really excited about finally seeing them live and in my honest opinion, they were the best band of the weekend! The crowd loved them and I thought they had the best reaction of all the bands this weekend. I saw people jumping, dancing, moshing, wind-milling, headbanging, singing, clapping, chanting, and just generally enjoying themselves. The band sounded amazing and the new vocalist really fit in well. I was totally blown away how great they sounded and how much everyone seemed to enjoy themselves on stage or in the crowd. Just an absolutely perfect way to end the weekend! I really hope I get to see these guys live again in the near future.
Well, that's my report - I hope I didn't you all too much.
Comments? Questions? Flames?
On the way to the festival, there was an accident on the highway and we were delayed about an hour getting there. The reason why I chose the early bus was so that I could watch half of Aborted's set and watch the last half of Metal Church's set. With the accident I didn't get to do either... bummer.
Today was a little more laid back earlier in the day for me. The early bands were all bands I already have seen in the past (Morbid Angel, Orphaned Land, Fear Factory, Gamma Ray, Arch Enemy) so I watched AE and FF from the bear garden. Morbid and Orphaned over lapped and I went with my friend to watch Morbid. Gamma overlapped with Suidakra who I've never seen, so that was an easy choice for me. Anyway, on with my thoughts...
Arch Enemy was good - just like every other time I've seen them. I still have a hard time believing the sound that Angela can produce. Fear Factory was OK, didn't pay much attention to them. As I said before, I went to watch Morbid Angel because I followed my friends and I was interested in seeing Vincent back at the helm of the Angel where he belongs. The first thing I noticed (and this would plague Emperor later in the day) was that the really fast stuff just sounded like a wall of noise. You really couldn't make anything out and it took me a few moments to recgonize what song they were playing when they slowed down. The one thing I was a little dissapointed with was Vincents vocal delivery. It wasn't the really deep guttural growls I remember, it was more blackish in the deliver. I'm not so sure I liked it that way. It was cool to see Rutan on stage with them again. Besides the muddy fast stuff and the different vocal delivery from what I remember - they still sounded decent.
I didn't stick around for their entire set because I took off for Suidakra. Not sure if anyone knows these guys, but they play what I would consider a blackened/death folk type of metal. Heavier on the death portions with a screacher and a clean singer. Their last CD saw them move away from that sound but was quite please with their song selection which didn't consist of any thing off of Command to Charge. They had a little trouble with the clean singers vocals as in you couldn't hear them sometimes. Besides that annoyance, I thought they put on a great show and sounded good.
After Suidakras set, I check out the rest of Gamma Ray's set - it was what you would expect from Gamma Ray - very high quality power metal! Good stuff...
Next was another reason why I came to Wacken - Athiest. I had been a fan of theirs since the first time I heard Unquestionable Presence back in '93. I tried to get as close to the front as possible for this because I didn't want to miss it. They were unbelievable! It didn't seem like they haven't done anything together for almost 15 years, they were spot one and the 2 replacement guitarist fit right in. Shaefer sounded the same way he did and Choy and Flynn are still amazing. Probably the highlight of the show was Tony and Steve's solo/jam session. It was amazing to watch and hear. Definetly a high light of the weekend for me - and it got better!
After Atheist I took a little break and relaxed for a little and watched Whitesnake. I was never a fan of theirs and their set really didn't do anything to change my opinion of them.
Emperor was next. Like Amon Amarth, this was the second time I had seen them and this time I knew their stuff. Also like Amon, I became a fan of theirs after seeing them live. The same problem that Morbid Angel had on the really fast stuff plauged Emperor on their first couple songs. After that, someone seemed to figure something out with their sound and the fast parts were clear. They played a little bit from every CD and included one from Prometheus - which Ihshan said was the first time they got to play songs from that CD, since they had broken up before they toured. I think Ihshans clean voice has improved tremendously and his clean singing was supberb that night. The band was tight and sounded great.
Motorhead followed Emperor and they were, well... Motorhead.
Last, but definetly not least was Fintroll! I was really excited about finally seeing them live and in my honest opinion, they were the best band of the weekend! The crowd loved them and I thought they had the best reaction of all the bands this weekend. I saw people jumping, dancing, moshing, wind-milling, headbanging, singing, clapping, chanting, and just generally enjoying themselves. The band sounded amazing and the new vocalist really fit in well. I was totally blown away how great they sounded and how much everyone seemed to enjoy themselves on stage or in the crowd. Just an absolutely perfect way to end the weekend! I really hope I get to see these guys live again in the near future.
Well, that's my report - I hope I didn't you all too much.
Comments? Questions? Flames?
