Without even mentioning their name the entire set Resistance did their very best to convince us with their death metalcore with some thrash influences. Sadly…they didn’t succeed. I heard some nice riffs, the guys could play and all, but I missed an important element: originality. The young singer had a hardcore look but regularly used a good brutal grunt, but still there was never a moment in their set that thrilled me. When they threw in a thrash riff that could have come straight from Reign in Blood, I was done with this band.   

 

Next up was another Belgian band, Crimson Falls, which does manage to mix death metal elements with their metalcore in an original and thrilling manner. At the end of previous year they came with their full length debut and I was blown away by surprise. Their songs have a strong, headbanging basis over which catchy melodies are played and a song like ‘The True Face of Human Nature’ has a light mathcore touch. All their songs are well distinguishable, although their singer could let us hear, especially live, a more varied sound than the monotone screams; in contrast to the first band he used too little brutal grunts. There were some minor flaws in the guitar melodies, but Crimson Falls is definitely one of the more interesting bands in the growing pool of bands which combine death and metalcore. Too bad that they did only play 20 minutes or so!

 

Headlining band of the evening was 37 Stabwoundz from the Netherlands which is getting pretty good critiques in their home country, especially since their latest effort, A Heart Gone Black. Unfortunately I must say I can’t share those opinions, because what they bring us is too standard metalcore; it did work quite well live and they gave a very active show, but their songs just won’t stick in your head because the riffs are too much alike. In contrast to Resistance and Crimson Falls their music is much more hardcore oriented. The singer sometimes adds some grungy vocals which distinct this band in a positive way, but most of the time he uses his screaming voice. In the end I must conclude that Crimson Falls would have been the worthier headliner.