Dutch deathmetallers NOX had the chance to kick off the evening but because of my struggling with the oh-so-great Dutch public transport and DemonDust’s slight illness (this evening proved once again that beer, and especially Hertog Jan is the best cure) we both missed the first band.

 

So Gorod was the first band for both of us. These Frenchies have recently released their new album Process Of A New Decline and got the chance to support Immolation on a small tour. Their sound can be compared with Germany’s Obscura, but with a little more brutal death. The very fine guitar work the band has on record didn’t come through the wall of sound they produced here though. Even though the band certainly enjoyed themselves and the performance was pretty energetic, the combination of the flat sound and the avarage vocals proved the band can not match the brutality they produce on CD. I see some potential in this band, but I’m not convinced yet! (Brent_)

 

Where DemonDust doesn’t care about this band at all, I was really psyched to see Polish death metallers Vader live for the first time. With a lot of festival shows this summer and an upcoming tour with Marduk in September, the band had a few spare dates for some non-festival shows, including supporting Immolation this evening. The band recently had some member changes for the 100^th time, including the addition of ex-Decapitated bassist Tomasz Rejek, but it did the band no harm. Kicking off with an epic orchestral intro, the band soon blasted into some heavy old school brutal death metal with some serious headbanging as result. A mixture of old and new tracks like ‘Back To The Blind’, ‘Silent Empire’, ‘This Is The War’ and ‘Shadow Fear’ (including the intro from the last album used as an interlude) got the crowd pretty wild. Just like with the other bands, the sound wasn’t too good unfortunately, but the band’s energetic performance made up for it. A full hour of good old death metal, a good crowd reaction and the tasty beer kept me interested throughout the whole set. Time to check them out on the Marduk tour next time! (Brent_)

 

After finally seeing an impressive show of the ancient death metal giant Immolation, I just couldn’t resist to find out if they would be able to pull it off again a couple of days later at the Baroeg. Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed again, for the sound was not good at all this evening. I think the sound-guy actually forgot to put the guitars on the PA, which sucked. When he corrected this mistake, you couldn’t hear the vocals properly anymore, which were already as blurred as can be. So overall the band had to play with a horrid sound. I do have to say that this was the second time I felt that drummer Steve Shalaty was truly nailing those songs. Immolation drums are pretty black metal but still very technical, I guess it took him some time to really adjust to it. But he’s nailing it now! But despite the shitty sound, I was still very pleased to hear songs like ‘I Feel Nothing’, ‘Once Ordained’, Father You’re Not A Father’, ‘Son Of Iniquity’, ‘Swarm Of Terror’ and of course ‘Into Everlasting Fire’. In the end it was a fun show, too bad the sound spoiled the fun. But beer saved the day! (DemonDust)