The first band I got to see was 3 Speed Automatic. A 3 piece band with long haired guys playing all kinds of old rock styles. Let’s just say it was rock ‘n’ roll. A nice set was played and I actually remember two songtitles of it as well; ‘Hey Man’ and ‘Walking On The Sun’. The crowd (at that moment only about 50 people) seemed to enjoy the set and so did the band. Nice warm up for what was about to come.

 

At this moment I was a bit confused because the band that was supposed to start its set was Another Messiah, which I really wanted to see. Too bad! But the band that started instead was pretty nice as well. Zeus makes heavy, pure and grooving rock. The vocalist had quite a good voice and even songs he had never sung live before were done in an excellent way. His humour was quite simple most of the time but nonetheless I could appreciate it just because this band was really trying to get the crowd moving. I’d say again a very nice live band that got the crowd going.

 

After Zeus it took a while for the next band to get ready for their set. Next band up was the Danish metal band Volbeat. I heard quite some good reactions about these guys so I was quite curious to check ‘em out.
 

On the internet I found a very good description of the style this band plays: “Elvis-metal”. Coincidence or not? But the vocalist has an official Elvis tattoo on his arm as well. For people who can’t imagine what “Elvis-metal” would be about, The term “Metallic Rock ‘n’ Roll” will do as well.
 

Goddamn! What an energetic set these guys gave away. A lot of double bass was used but that sure did make the crowd headbanging. The Elvis element in this music is also the one thing I don’t really like about this band: the vocals. It’s original, but at the same time a bit annoying as well. Reminds me of power metal with the only difference that these vocals aren’t so freaking high. Well, since I didn’t know any of their songs I can’t recall any song titles but if you get the chance to see this band live some day (preferably for free of course!) then just check it out. It’s quite nice for a couple of songs!

 

And now the band I actually came for entered the stage. And before I start telling you about the show: on the contrary to most of the other Metalrage crewmembers I’m NOT a HUGE Textures fan. I’m just a person who happens to like good music and I gotta admit that I can’t even sing along one single song from these guys. So I guess that makes me quite objective…

Funny thing is, this band simply kicks fucking ass! After 4 hours of watching bands (alone! ‘cause my friend didn’t show up for some reason) this band made up for all of that! What a power! What an enthusiasm! It’s just great! These guys enjoy their show so much that the average visitor can’t do anything else than bang his head to this ‘noise’. They even got a small moshpit started in this way too small tent. And how I enjoyed the sight of tiny little wannabe gothic babies that almost started to cry as soon as they got hit by someone from the pit. And just when the worst pain got away they got hit again, ahhhh, next time just don’t stand in front of the stage with your ‘please fuck me after your show’-look alright? Then nobody will hit you!

Greatest song of the night? Hmm…hard to say! But I guess that would be ‘Swandive’, daaaamn! This kicks ass! One thing I do know for sure: I’ll listen a lot more Textures in the future. Like it or not, Textures is good, real good!

 

Circular

Swandive

Millstone

Young Man

Ostensibly Impregnable

Stream Of Consciousness

Transgression

Polars

Denying Gravity

Regenesis