First band up was Infuriate, a band that I had seen before, but whom had not performed live since a year and a half. So I was pretty curious on how they would manage this show. But as soon as they started, I had to try as hard as I could to make something of the mix in the room. The balance in the music was very hard to find, especially with the drums. All the cymbals and the hi-hats were very clear, but I could barely detect a snare and a bassdrum. No fault of theirs of course, but something that really ruins your act. Not even a Pantera cover can save that.
I felt a bit sorry for them, because the style that they make is quite technical metal, with all kinds of guitar fiddles that were just lost in the mix. The vocal duo had the best mix of all six bandmembers, besides one being louder than the other. They started their act with one of them wearing a gasmask with a microphone in it, which he can do for about one song. I still think it’s a cool thing too see. Ah well, better luck next time!

 

It had been since Cephalic Carnage in Arnhem that I had seen Charlie Adler, a show that I enjoyed pretty well, so I was looking forward to this performance. The mix was a whole lot better with these guys making the show much more enjoyable. Their mixture of Burnt By The Sun-like hardcore and Cephalic Carnage way of songwriting creates a musical chemistry that gets me quite excited. They played a very tight show, especially the drummer (who is also in Concubine whom I had seen  eight days earlier) and the bassist.

The only thing I have to mention (and he knows it!) is that I’m not too happy with everything the vocalist does. He can do some nasty crust screams and some death grunts, but sometimes he tries to do some clean parts and other weird things that just don’t do it for me. He doesn’t have the voice for it and it simply takes down the music a bit. Just keep it brutal please!

 

And then it was time for the band that has an album hot from the presses. They’ve played numerous times in the area over here, including a show opening up for Betzefer, but I had never seen them before. Haraszment’s music can best be described as some kind of angry rock. Up-tempo songs with way too much uninteresting riffs to keep it interesting for a long time. To be honest, after seeing three songs I had already had it with this band, but I watched the whole set. They too didn’t have a killer mix, and there was even more feedback with them then with the previous bands. It missed quite some volume as well.

The two guitarists both played solo’s, one being quite all right, the other far from it. The vocalist was someone who would’ve never made it through the first auditions of Idols, even though he had quite a long scream in his longs. The sound of his voice just wasn’t it for me.

 

The nicest thing about their show was a number of guest performances. There was a song with one of the vocalists of Infuriate, with him first making ambient noises before erupting in brutal grunting. Charlie Adler’s vocalist paid the debt back to Haraszment since their vocalist had joined them on stage too which was pretty funny to see because by now he was even more drunk than at their own performance.

And for some reason after the tuning of the guitars they switched from bass player, later on playing with two bassists at the same time. Quite weird.

Definitely not something I will like any time soon.