Germany is well known for hard rock and heavy metal bands, and the vast number of fans of the genre. The chance to attend a heavy metal festival, just a short train ride away in Bamberg was hard to resist, although due to various reasons, I only managed to attend Saturday, and even then, not for the whole 13 odd hours. I did return to Bamberg on Sunday, and I will have a separate post on that later.
Overall, I really enjoyed myself. Yes, it was louder than any concert I have ever been to. Yes, it was a bit weird to be one of the few non Caucasian people in the hall (I did spot two Chinese guys). But this is also Germany - it was the most organised music event I have been to: sets were changed within the allocated 20 minutes, bands stuck to their time limits, sound and lighting were fantastic, refreshment stalls were quick and efficient, and even the merchandise stalls were efficient. Even language was not an issue; primarily because it was an international event featuring bands from a number of different European countries.
Heavy metal music is actually quite fascinating. Despite the colourful names of the songs, there is not much in the sense of lyrics ... it is usually someone screaming into the microphone. And it seems that much the screaming effects are done at the mixing desk, not by the singer himself (well all the screaming frontmen were men), as a number of the frontmen chose to use a separate microphone to talk to the crowd. In fact, I am not too sure what the purpose of the frontman is really ... after all, anyone can scream (and have it distorted accordingly). It is also quite easy to see why heavy metal attracts labels such as satanic: just look at the names of the song: anything and everything on the "wrong" side of morality: illicit sex, drugs, disease, violence and hell. But above all, it is about the show. The show featured many things that I have never seen on stage. Metal music, above all, is about non conformance. And this is what makes it so fascinating.
So with that, a run through the bands that I saw.
Morning Beloveth (Ireland)
I only caught the last part of the act, so can't really say much.
A.O.K. (Germany)
Of all the acts I saw, A.O.K. was the embodiment of non conformance. The performance was, I think, the most fun I have ever seen a band have on stage. It started with a food fight ... started with a song called baguette ... where the one of the lead singers (there are two frontmen) bashes a baguette on his head, while the other throws baguettes into the crowd. And off course the crowd throws the baguettes back. But the food fight carried on, including wieners, lettuce and corn flakes. The food fight between parts of the crowd and the band was hilarious to watch ... esp since the band actually just carried on playing.
It did not stop at the food fight either ... first the front men mooned the crowd, and eventually ended up prancing naked on the stage, head banging during the last part of their show. If nothing else, A.O.K embodied what is different about heavy metal.
Exrementory Grindfuckers (Germany)
They were not as impressive as A.O.K, and coming in after them must have been difficult. There was one highlight though: a duet, in English (a love song to boot) with a female singer (I presume from a band that played earlier). The lyrics were quite funny actually ... although I can't remember the details.
Rompeprop (Netherlands)
This was the first foreign band, and it featured the biggest moshpit I have seen - in size and number of participants. The hall was fairly large, and the mosh pit took a significant portion of the audience space.
Delirium Tremens (Germany)
While A.O.K's show was about celebrating chaos, this band had the most interesting and impressive stage show. It started off with the frontman emerging wearing what can be best described as medieval armour ... his entire body seemed to be covered with studded clothing ... and massive studs at that. And slowly the show evolved ... two pigs heads appeared, carried by two men wearing hangman’s hoods. After removing himself from the armour, the frontman briefly joined the moshpit, grunting and screaming from the middle of the moshpit, before moving back to the stage to perform some fire breathing. Quite impressive really.
Tyr (Denmark)
Tyr was the replacement band, for the more interestingly named Prostitute Disfigurement. They were by far the most mainstream band of the evening ... playing music much closer to the likes of Metallica and the like i.e. more heavy rock than heavy metal. Musically, it was the performance I enjoyed listening to the most.
Fleshcrawl (Germany)
One of the main bands of the festival, it embodied all the screaming and heavy riffs and drumbeats. In fact listening to them, I was wondering what the border was between noise and music ... and for the first minutes of their set, I think it was more noise than music. But they are really impressive musicians, and I think part of the problem, from my view anyway, was the screaming. Unlike the previous bands, Fleshcrawl did not have any on stage antics. And the music was actually quite impressive, especially when the frontman shut up :)
Dismember(Sweden)
They were the main band of the day, playing a 80 minute set. Unfortunately, to catch the last train out of Bamberg, I had to leave sometime in the middle, so when the band took a break in their set (after 40 odd minutes), I decided to leave. Simply put, they were a better version of Fleshcrawl and Tyr put together. Their music was brilliant, especially when their songs required solos, and their songs were more than just screaming. In fact, I even recognised a few :). It was easy to see why they were the headline act, and I wish I could have seen more of them. But the next train out of Bamberg was at 5am the next morning, a whole 2 and bit hours after the last act was scheduled to finish.
Overall, I really enjoyed myself, and I would consider going to another metal festival ... but only if it is organised by Germans :p
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