The first band to play was Deathbox, a very young death metal band. You could see that these guys haven’t been playing for very long, since there wasn’t a single tight aspect about the entire show. Until halfway through the show I could blame it all on them being busy for such a short time, but then it became so annoying I just cannot be mild anymore. The vocals were as one-sided as can be, although he did occasionally differ from his main sound. Only it still sounded a bit the same, his range was too little to be interesting. The only thing that was a bit enjoyable were the breakdowns, but there weren’t too many of them. Perhaps in a year or two that they can prove me wrong.

 

Up next was the legendary Cliteater, who turned things up a notch in volume, speed and quality. Ultra brutal goregrind was spewed out in a high pass, and it sure did sound convincing. I personally prefer other grindcore bands from my region, but this one sure knows what to do with a whole lot of noise. Thank Satan that they use slow breakdowns as well, to give the fast parts more impact and to give the listener some rest every once in a while. Vocalist Joost produced some of the nastiest sounds that can be done with vocal chords, while the rest thrashed and bashed their way through their set. Support your local grindcore band(s)!!!

 

Portall is a band I’ve never heard of before, but I soon discovered that they have won several metal battles in Holland already. As soon as they hit the stage, I saw why. Very nice and tight grooving metal, with some monstrous breakdowns in it. I even was drawn into some moshing action because of their sound! Although I must also say that the vocalist (who also plays guitar) sounds a bit one-sided as well, but for the rest I have nothing really negative to say about these guys from the region of Arnhem. I could only wonder why I have never heard of these guys before. They got such an enthusiastic response from the crowd that they even got to do an encore, which was Machine Head’s ‘Davidian’. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of this band yet.

 

Headliner for tonight was a band that I’ve seen twice this year already. Engine Of Doom is the name, and rhythmic metalcore is the game. No real fucked up escapades towards mathcore type of shit, just plain headbanging with a little thought to it. Last time when I saw them, I was so drunk I didn’t remember a thing, this time I was drunk as well, only now I do remember. There definitely is potential in this band, but they just don’t cut it for me. The guys can play, and certainly put a lot of thought in their songs, but it never really grabs me for an entire song. This is a bit of a pity I think. Personally I prefer the vocalist and drummer’s other band Transmission0 (could be more people of that band in Engine Of Doom though, don’t know them that well), because that band blows me away like hell. Nevertheless the band did what they came to do, for the second time this day. They had already participated in the Metal Bash elsewhere in the country, so they played their second set of the evening. A good band, but it’s just not quite it I think.