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Never Say Die 2009 - Metal just got gay?
Face it, this is probably the hippest metal(core) tour to hit Europe. If you’re a kid just getting into brutal music, this is where you show your face (with make-up), your styled hair, your fashionably multi-coloured shirt and of course your favourite dance moves. In other words, metal just got gay indeed.

The Ghost Inside
When I arrived at the venue it was already more than half full. The guys of the The Ghost Inside where the lucky ones to get the show started. The Ghost Inside were pretty much the only hardcore band of this tour. But still they got a lot of crowd response with some sing-a-longs and moshing, and with some catchy riffs they delivered a good show. Their setlist existed mostly of songs of their Fury And The Fallen Ones album, like Destined’, ‘Shiner’, ‘Provoke’ and they ended their show with one of my favorites songs ‘Faith Or Forgiveness’. Overall they brought a good and energetic show and with their upcoming new cd Returners’ I know we going to see a lot more off these guys. (Roflmao)

Iwrestledabearonce
Unfortunately the singer of Iwrestledabearonce was hospitalised with a severe case of the swine flu. The band didn’t want to cancel their show, so they went instrumental. But they did invite everyone on stage who wanted to scream or grunt along, which quickly resulted in a hilarious scene. Immediately after they played their ‘Final Countdown’ breakdown intro, every fool that thought he could grunt came on stage and made himself look like a dickhead. I honestly couldn’t stop laughing at them. In the end the whole stage was filled with attention seeking idiots that where moshing, singing or just standing there with no clue what to do. In the end it was kind of funny, but I was very keen on finding out whether the vocalist of this band would hold up during a live show. Guess I have to wait a bit longer then… (DemonDust)
 
Oceano
Up next were the deathcore newcomers from Oceano. Their debut release Depths left a good impression on me, with its killer atmosphere and supadelicious drums. On record they definitely top most of the deathcore bands that are currently popular in the mainstream, but their gig wasn’t that good unfortunately. The sound of their album couldn’t be matched live and sounded extremely monotonous and cliché. Every breakdown was powered by extreme bass drops, which are fun for a couple of times, but not during the entire show. The disappointing drums weren’t balanced enough and couldn’t grab my attention either. Oceano managed to bore me, even during their short playtime. (Mindsaver)

As Blood Runs Black
The fourth band of the day was As Blood Runs Black. I was looking forward to this show because I had never seen these guys before and I’ve known them for quite a while (since their 2005 demo). They started the show with their new instrumental song ‘Airforce One’. It’s an instrumental song because they are having auditions for a new vocalist. They played their songs but the crowd response was minimal. I think it had something to do with the sound. On record they bring tight blasting drumming, but live there was nearly nothing left of that sound. Also the guitars sounded weak. Overall it was good show but the sound ruined it. I enjoyed myself but I wasn’t satisfied. Hopefully next time they bring a good sound technician. (Roflmao)

Horse The Band
This band can only be enjoyed by people with an utterly good sense of humour. These guys and their self-proclaimed nintendocore play some sort of math/metal/emocore with every song from start to finish filled with 8-bit sounds. This means a guy that is ramming a keyboard with high speed, which looks very funny of course. The bullshit they talk between the songs is very hilarious as well, almost worth going to a show of theirs already. Although a lot of people really seemed to hate them, I found their show an amusing interruption and a refreshing sound between a lot of boring bands. Horse The Band is funny, entertaining, and overall quite good in a live environment. A success in my book for sure! (DemonDust)

Architects
U.K’s Architects had a rotating headlining slot, but even though they were announced as the headliners for this show, this fortunately was changed. Good thing because I don’t think their sound will hold together very well after Despised Icon has destroyed the stage. Although I really have to say that I enjoy a lot of Architects’ music, especially their mathcore influences, they kind of break it down for me with their emo parts. It didn’t matter to a large portion of the crowd though, for the stage-diving, crowd-surfing and moshing was quite fanatic during their whole show. Overall it was a very good show but I can’t say their sound has won me over this time. (DemonDust)
 
Despised Icon
So luckily Despised Icon were headlining tonight, and proved their status with a brutal opening that included 'Les Temps Changent' from the new album Day Of Mourning, immediately followed by 'Furtive Monologue' from The Ills Of Modern Man. We couldn’t have asked for a better start, and thus an aggressive and large mosh was formed in the middle of the hall, while we even saw some headwalking and a kick against one of the singers' head (who couldn’t really appreciate it and reacted violent). During the songs that followed, we were absolutely engulfed by Despised’s tightness and brutality. The combination of two frontmen still works great and drummer Alex is unbelievable, hitting every note with utter precision as well as with power; it seems impossible but he does it. This was surely one of the best Despised shows I’ve seen, while it could even be better if the drums weren’t out of balance (the kick sounded twice as loud as the snaredrum). The band ended their set with the new classic “MVP”. I hope to see these guys again real quick, 'cause I don't think they'll bore me soon. (Mindsaver)

Details Written on Wednesday Nov 18th, 2009
Writer @DemonDust

Tags: #Never Say Die 2009