Ah! Beautiful Groningen! As I was too early, I strolled around the town and almost missed JUDGEMENT DAY. Young band, promising stage acting. At least they tried – something even quite a few veterans never did. Their rather technical Death Metal is pretty much to the point and the song structures aren’t too complicated. But after all, the band as a whole was quite unspectacular. Actually, one of their songs could have been played at “Neck Fracture” the night before and I wouldn’t have noticed. Once again: great sound at the Vera! Probably the best club for Metal in my area, including Osnabrück, Hamburg, Hannover, Bremen, etc.! HEARSE of ex-ARCH ENEMY singer Johan Liiva kinda sounded like Death’n’Roll, maybe because some musicians had been replaced at least for the tour. So I was told by one of the few German Frisians who made it to Holland that night. Actually, he sounded pretty much like a fan of the band but didn’t like the gig too much. As you might have guessed already I wasn’t overly interested in the band before I was confronted with them that night and after that I wasn’t, either. Johan’s stage acting or rather his whole body language reminded me quite a bit of Count Gothmog of FUNERAL PROCESSION but that was pretty much the most remarkable about HEARSE, I’m afraid. OCCULT were different. Finally the venue was packed and the crowd was celebrating songs like ‘Warbeast’ or ‘Killing For Recreation’. Remaining singer Maurice is such an excellent frontman: banging off his head and highly sympathetic! With the impressive support of hundreds of fans this was a lot better than the last gig in Hamburg in front of just a handful of people. Not the band’s fault, I’m sure. On records OCCULT may sound monotonous to some listeners but on stage they’re quite a show! Up next were CALLENISH CIRCLE. At least in Groningen they didn’t have co-headliner status compared to the fans’ reactions during OCCULT: it was a lot easier to sneak forward to the stage and take photos than just half an hour earlier. That doesn’t mean they played in front of five people, hell, no, it always looked like quite a good crowd and with their professional stage acting made quite a few people return into the pit. Gained a few new fans, eh? Just before their last medley the sound engineer couldn’t find the intro CD and when he finally did, the band already started to play. That’s professional attitude the way I like it: a billing of five or more bands needs a tight schedule because long breaks make people tired and bored. Something CALLENISH CIRCLE avoided successfully. Then, finally, it was time for some decend DISMEMBERment! The band was pretty sober (learned from the Party.San, I guess) but still their set was all about beer’n’sweat’n’Metal! Especially their new bass player is quite an extroverted type. Really long playing time for an extreme Metal band, by the way. No DEICIDE kindergarten. Kinda like 80 minutes or even longer. Not long enough, though, as quite a few newer tracks had to be played and they stood tall among the classics. Still, one tends to complain about the lack of classics at a show of a Metal legend, right? Of course, some poor lady had to be skinned alive but would it have been real DISMEMBERment without that one? Besides, she must have been very naughty. Being covered with blood, one simply had to buy some new clothes at the venue, then beat the street quickly and hit the mattress once again around 3 o’clock in the morning. www.judgementday.nl, www.hearse.se, www.occult.nu, www.callenish-circle.com, www.dismember.se, www.vera-groningen.nl

Setlists

OCCULT: Intro +++ Slaughtering The Pigs +++ Disturbing The Dead +++ Killing For Recreation +++ Reaper’s Call +++ Mind Domination +++ Nuclear Torment +++ Feel The Blade +++ Until The Battle +++ Warbeast +++ Slut Of Sodom

CALLENISH CIRCLE: Intro +++ Soul Messiah +++ For What It's Good For +++ Forsaken +++ What Could Have Been +++ Witness +++ Medley +++ Obey Me

DISMEMBER: Where Ironcrosses Grow +++ Casket Garden +++ Of Fire +++ Me-god +++ Soon To Be Dead +++ On Frozen Fields +++ Let The Napalm Rain +++ Tragedy Of The Faithful +++ Sword Of Light +++ Skin Her Alive +++ I Saw Them Die +++ Forged With Hate +++ In Death's Cold Embrace +++ Where Angels Fear To Tread +++ Dreaming In Red +++ Override Of The Overture +++ Skinfather +++ Hate Campaign

For this evening, Count Gothmog had prepared something in Leer. The JuZ was considerably packed, so not everybody was partying at the NRW Deathfest. Of course some Dutch Metalheads were around once again. And: not only the Vera offers good sound quality. In Leer Jörg Uken (Soundlodge Studio) took care of this issue. The first band to go were East Frisians MORDRAK. Quite some nice old Black Metal the Norwegian way, cold and grim. While I was whimping out due to the lack of sleep (I need my 12 hours at least), F. Cthulhu E. (VOICES) pretty much enjoyed the gig just like the next one: CONTRADICTION played groovy Thrash Metal and probably listened a lot to PRONG as The Old One pointed out. Not exactly my cup of tea but really good stage acting and very sympathetic. One could definitely sense they’re playing live quite a lot. After a quick dinner at the local McDonald’s, mighty Cthulhu decided to snore off in my car and save his powers for when he conquers the world or so. Is it the band he’s playing in (INGURGITATING OBLIVION)? Certainly not. Is it the mag he’s writing for? I doubt so. Or is it the foul scent of sleepiness I emanate? Possibly. Anyway: I decided to take a look at MATHYR and – what can I say – The Evil One definitely missed an impressive band. Cold but technical Black Metal. No corpsepaint, just pure rage. I’ll have to get a hold of their CDs soon. I admit I didn’t stay for local heroes THE DAMNATION from Aurich. Too much Metal for a whimp like me that weekend. Very cool indeed! www.mordrak.de.vu, www.contradiction.de, www.mathyr.de, www.thedamnation.de, www.juz-leer.de

Ramon Claassen

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