De Baroeg in Rotterdam is a small cosy venue with opertunities for the starting bands and smaller bands, that is significantly improving their line-up in the last few months. This evening was filled with LOUD NOISES...Which is nice!

Kicking off were MR heroes Model 101 with our very own 'Santa From Hell' Demondust on the bass. The challenge for them this evening was to show off their new songs and show everyone the line-up switch was the right thing to do. Did the new songs work out? Check! Did the new guitarplayer work out? Check! Model 101 proved once more they pass the test. Despite a small slip up during 'Act Of War', this was probably the best performance I've seen by them. Rumour has it, vocalist Remco dips his tongue in gunpowder every morning to clear his throat. Seriously, the man's voice frightens me, and tonight he was on top of his game! With two good guitarists, a good bassplayer and a drummer that doesn't mis a beat (Another rumour; He has USB, MIDI and FireWire portals on the back of his neck) this is a band with a good future ahead. Finishing it off with (personally) the best song in their catalogue, Model 101 is ready for the next step!

Setlist:

Swarm Of The Jedifish
The Megiddo Epilogue
Act Of War
Paralyzed
Liquid Wall
Particles
Pariah
Predicting Earthquakes
(LondonCustoms)

The second band of the evening was Traktor, how hillbilly and Dutch can you sound? The band aimed at a Pantera-like sound, keeping it heavy and groovy. Far from original, yet still quite entertaining. Unfortunately the band has a vocalist that screams, grunts and sings, the latter being quite crappy and thus fucking up the overall quality of the show. If they were to drop this part I think they’ll hit their target a whole lot better, for now it’s just another one of those bands you’d rather skip. (DemonDust)

I had witnessed the Frenchies of Hacride once before at the ZXZW festival two years earlier, but back then I didn’t like it because of the vocalist. This time they proved me wrong, for their show was quite near perfect. The atmosphere was perfect, the sound was perfect, the lights were perfect, it’s just that I find the vocalist to have a weird voice which apparently was due to a backing track that ran alongside the performance, besides that I have nothing to complain about. Luckily the vocalist managed to hit all of his notes this evening, something he didn’t do the first time I saw them. Overall the mixture of the music played by these guys has a high entertaining value, for they don’t really stick to just one genre. Kicking in their set with a slow doomy track which reminds of postcore giants like Cult Of Luna and Isis, the band also showcases some more up tempo metal and even some death metal blasting from time to time. They’ve sure proved me wrong, this band is more than worth your money if you plan on checking them out live sometime. These guys are on the right track for sure, hope to see them again some time. (DemonDust)