29 August 2024
Brutal Assault festival is always entertaining. This year’s difference was that we were going on behalf of Extreminal Magazine and would do interviews for the Extreminal Metal TV Youtube channel. One of the nice aspects of Brutal Assault is the contracted hotels where shuttles operate in front of them, allowing participants to easily travel between the festival area and their hotels. Another nice aspect is the compact festival area that is not too big and does not tire you out as you move from stage to stage. As for the bands and performances, although we have only watched some of them briefly, I would like to share them with you here in general. I should mention that we could not make it to the Warm Up party held on August 6th and could not watch the last few important names of the festival because we had to catch our flight.
07.08.2024
The day started for us with Misery Index. The band had taken the stage with a session guitarist instead of Mark Kloeppel. Our eyes searched for Mark naturally. But the band never disappoints. Netherton and friends did a great job, as always.
Hatebreed is a band I am not familiar with, but it is impossible not to appreciate Jamie Jasta. From what I have observed from the sidelines, the audience seemed happy especially due to Jamey’s success in communicating with the audience and their energetic music. Next up is Vltimas, a band that pleased me with their first album, whose review I wrote (see Vltimas – Something Wicked Marches In), but unfortunately disappointed me with their second album. David Vincent is a good frontman and Blasphemer is an important name. Although the setlist was mostly from the second album, they played 3 songs from the first album and even those were enough to excite me.
Although Deicide had the disadvantage of coming out during a bright hour, they crushed it with their classics such as In Hell I Burn, Once upon the Cross, Dead by Dawn. Exodus gave an average performance in my opinion. Gary Holt looked a bit tired. As you know, since it was festival season, the band had played somewhere almost every day and came here as the next stop. Still, they played quite well with their years of experience.
Triump of Death took the stage in the dark as this music deserved. With Tom’s incredible stage charisma that has been filtered through the years and the magnificent performance they put on as a band, they left us smiling before leaving the stage.
We missed a part of Abbath plays Immortal, but from what we watched, it seemed like the sound was a bit problematic. I couldn’t enjoy the performance of the band maybe because I always dream of that awesome trio comprising Abbath, Apollyon and Horgh perform this classics. Abbath’s costume on stage was good, but I found the long-haired mask he wore in between a bit unnecessary. Dark Tranqullity was our last band for the day. Mikael attracted attention with his extremely likeable stage presence as always. In Metal, I think there is no other frontman who can express his feelings so beautifully with the expression on his face this much telling the audience : “We are here because you are here”. Some all-time classics were not in the setlist, but despite this, their stage performance was awesome.
08.08.2024
We began the day with Necrot on the Marshall main stage at 10:30 in the morning. I really like these guys’ old school death metal. There are many people who share my opinion, and the stage was pretty packed for that time. Rock solid death metal. Don’t miss them. We interviewed the band a little after their performance (see Necrot Interview). They were sleep deprived from the night before, but it was still a good interview. They are great people.
The next band we watched was Polish progressive rock veterans Riverside. Vocalist Mariusz said a few times that they are not a metal band and this description is not a compliment to them, they were there to play progressive rock. This made the audience smile. Incantation were on Marshall stage and played from all eras. Mc Entee’s vocals are always great, and this performance was no exception. Forbidden played on the Sea Shepherd main stage and from what we could see from a distance, the audience communication and enthusiasm was very good. Afterwards, we watched 1914, whose vocalist Dmytro we interviewed (see 1914 Interview) in the daytime. The band that performed on the Obscure stage got a very good reaction from the audience and played to a very big crowd.
After watching 1914 for a while, we went to the Sea Shepherd main stage to see Carcass who performed at about the same time. The band played from almost every period of their discography. I had seen the band on the main stage 5-6 years ago and Walker’s voice was not very good to be honest. In the meantime, I have listened to many live recordings of the band and saw that Jeff had improved his vocals. He performed very well at BA as well. Bill ‘The Man’ Steer always has a great energetic stage presence and again was he so. After the Carcass performance was over, Testament came out on the other main stage. These guys always play immaculate. They played songs from The Legacy and The New Order albums. We closed the night with Satyricon. Personally I don’t like the last two Satyricon albums that much but the band’s playlist included a lot of songs from those albums. Regardless, it’s great to see Satyr and Frost live on stage. Forhekset and Mother North are more than enough.
09.08.2024
We were able to catch the last 2-3 songs of Rotten Sound. They took the main stage at 11:45. I wish they had played a little later. After all, they are one of the 2-3 important Grindcore bands that shared the throne vacated by Nasum once. I love Grindcore and Rotten Sound make it perfect. After Rotten Sound, we couldn’t watch some bands for a while due to work to be done. Our next band was Legion of the Damned. The band, who play a very fast death/thrash mix, was good on stage but had problems with the sound in the first songs. The vocals went in and out and as a result, they couldn’t show the performance they intended.
Imperial Triumphant had taken the Obscure stage and we had a look at them from a distance. Their sound was good. Afterwards, we moved to Aborted on the main stage. They are very popular and the front of the stage was crowded. With the intro, Jigsaw in a wheelchair came on stage first. Of course, King Diamond’s Grandma came to mind. It was a good performance in general.
Afterwards we went to see Villagers of Ioannina City on Obscure stage. The band, whose Dark Age of Aquarius album I loved, came on stage very simply. They didn’t even have a Backdrop in the back. They played well but Ioannina is a band who would be more enjoyable to listen to indoors due to their musical character. Jinjer took the Sea Shepherd main stage. As you know, they are very popular now. The front of the stage was quite crowded. Tatiana’s outfit and stage charisma were very good. If they continue like this, they will grow even more.
After Jinjer, Left to Die came out on the Marshall stage and they performed Death classics one after another. Rick Rozz, although he played well, looked quite numb on stage. The musicianship and songs were great but they couldn’t really fire up the audience. We couldn’t watch some of the bands because of the work we had to do afterwards. During the break we had a pleasant interview with Kyle from Akhklys for Extreminal Metal TV (see Akhlys Interview). The first band we watched after that was Khold. The uniquely imaged black metal veterans from Norway did a great job on stage. It was an intimate show because they played on the smaller Octagon stage.
Kampfar has grown a lot. I think the awards they have received in recent years are the biggest indicators of this. Dolk has a stage charisma and they are very good at pumping up the audience. After Kampfar, we watched Ved Buens Ende for a while. The band got together again for concerts in 2019 after 12 years and, as you know, their lineup is amazing. Vicotnik’s albums with DHG – I personally would put the last album in a separate place – are already great. Aggressor’s Aura Noir and Skoll’s Arcturus are obviously great. In this respect, it was an important performance. They presented a clean show where everything they played was understood one by one. And then we came to Akhlys’ performance, which made us wait until 02:15 in the night.
They are literally amazing. They came on stage with Maze of Phobetor and played songs from all three of their metal albums. Red lights, masks, everything was great. Thousands of people were there for Akhlys at this time of night. Topnotch!!
10.08.2024
Cloak, who did a great job with their latest album Black Flame Eternal, was on the Sea Shepherd stage at 10:30 in the morning and unfortunately it was not possible to watch them. It was one of the biggest disappointments in BA for me. Since we arrived at the festival area a little late, Pestilence was the first band for us. They focused more on the older albums. And they did well. Mameli took his place on the stage with his headless guitar and swollen muscles. They were a little dull on the stage but the beauty of the setlist they played made us happy.
Sadus continues on the road as a duo. Di Giorgio’s absence was evident in The Shadow Inside, which I think is the weakest link in their discography, they released in 2023. Possessed guitarist Claudeous and Rasta-haired bassist Bobby Real accompany the band on stage. Of course, they were very good thanks to years of experience. Impaled Nazarene should perform indoors and with light shows. If they are going to play at a festival, they should play in the dark, even if it is on a smaller stage. Daylight had a negative effect on Mika and his band’s stage. The Finnish black metal mafia threw up all their filth on stage. They played from many of their albums. Totenmesse. The band I loved with their 2023 Fiktionlust album (see Totenmesse – Fiktionlust) played on the Octagon stage. Vocalist Piotr’s disturbing stage performance, with a mentally ill look that reminded me of Kvarforth from Shining, was remarkable. They played the entire Fiktionlust album from beginning to end. They were really great.
It was 20:50 when Emperor, the last band of the day and the festival for us, took the stage. They began the show with Into the infinity of Thoughts, devastated the audience and finished with my favorite Emperor song Ye Entrancemperium. Art, experience, stage presence, discipline, solemnity. What more can I say? By far the best performance of the festival. They are so great.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t watch 3 important bands who took stage after Emperor; Behemoth, DHG and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Because we had to catch our plane. Especially DHG, whose latest album I really appreciate, would I like to watch. Brutal Assault, as always, was left behind in a peaceful and near-perfect way. Last but not least, special thanks to the Press team.
