[b]On the 22nd of February the Metalfest tour was in Tilburg. We from Metalrage went to the 013 and had a great day with an amazing headliner. We were able to interview Steve Tucker. Drink some beer, some of us to much. So here is the live view from this day, starting with the kleine zaal. Kleine zaal[/b] [b]Brutus[/b] from Breda have certainly put up a quite nice touring list. With Metalfest they�ve ended a tour with Cephalic Carnage and Macabre and have gained a lot of experience due to the many shows played. The 4 Death Metallers; Schoft, Ploegbaas, Bastaerd and Ploert have improved their live sound and made the show with several blasting songs like Ontrouw, Onan, Wrevel, Lijfstraf and of course the title song of their album Slachtbeest. There was even room for a very cool Mortician cover called Zombie Apocalypse. My head kept moving during the show and that�s only a good sign for the sound. With a short but brutal set they�ve given Metalfest a good atmosphere for me. [i]Live-view by Mat-Core[/i] This would be the third time that I would see [b]Cephalic Carnage[/b] in four weeks. But I can�t even begin to compare the first two shows with the one that they played at the metalfest. Again they were fooling around with a part of an old pop song, playing it before starting with the show, and several times during the show. Since I�ve met these guys, I know that this is just another part of their idiotic goofy humor. Insane people, well, at least a couple of them. They opened up with the doomy song �Scolopendra Cingulata�, whatever that means. And yes, the screeching rotten opening sample of that track which kills your eardrums is included live as well, so don�t worry. After that track they continue with �Fortuitous Oddity� which is pure chaotic, but structured grindcore. At that point Lenzig on vocals joins in to create more noise. Cephalic Carnage sounded really good and performed at least just as well. This would be the last day for these guys in Europe, but the urge to go home just couldn�t keep these guys down. The crowd was flying around too so Cephalic Carnage became ever more enthusiastic. Tracks like �Anthro-Emesis�, �The Isle Of California�, �Hybrid�, Observer To The Obliteration Of Planet Earth�, �Cryptosporidium� and �Jihad� were played aggressively, yet accurate and smooth. And of course they sampled their track �Cannabism� once again, taking a little break, only to destroy the room once more with their (in my opinion) best track �Lucid Interval� which is also the name of their last album. What definitely surprised me was that they played �Pseudo� which sounds impossible to play when you hear it on the album. To finish of the show they played �Black Metal Sabbath� (which was the cause of my dislocated shoulder, last time I saw them) while wearing their black metal masks, whom were exchanged for idiotic glasses and caps halfway during the song. Crazy people. Definitely the best show of the metalfest, can�t wait to see them again! [i]Live-view by DemonDust[/i] [b]Krisiun[/b] The band headlining the Kleine Zaal was already playing when I tried to force my way through the thick human mass. After a few minutes I was through and enjoying a set with brutal songs from several albums. I heard Conquerors Of Armageddon coming by and also the nice song Cursed Scrolls both from the Conquerors Of Armageddon album. The set was varying from older work like Black Force Domain and the newer work from Works Of Carnage. It didn�t matter what they played though, because it all sounded very well due to the magnificent sound quality. My Metalfest was succeeded with fine shows of Brutus, Cephalic Carnage, Krisiun, Macabre and of course headliner Morbid Angel. A nice Sunday afternoon/evening! [i]Live-view by Mat-Core[/i] [b]The Choice:[/b] [b]Epica[/b] It was not my plan to view this show, but because there wasn�t anything else to watch, I peeked in the hall. I wasn�t really expecting a super performance, but I was wrong. Epica stood and conquered. Due to their place on the set list, the audience was quite lame, but they still had enough people to watch. Powerful songs from The Phantom Agony were played, including Seif Al Din, Cry For The Moon and of course The Phantom Agony. Epica made a quite fine show and entertained me long enough to watch the whole show. Nothing wrong with this opening of the Metalfest 2004. [i]Live-view by Mat-Core[/i] Just one year ago we were dreaming to see [b]Chimaira[/b] live in Holland and on Metalfest 2004 it was the third time we�ve seen them. And they were great once again. Chimaira is a band that can be loved by Nu-Metal lovers but even the Heavy-Metal fans like this band. Why is the question everybody asks but the answer is simple. Like the label said in its promotional period: Chimaira is the New Wave of American Heavy Metal! But back to the concert. This was the first time we saw Chimaira with new drummer Richard Evensand (Ricky). On Sunday the 22nd of February Chimaira returned to play in the 013 as a part of the yearly Metalfest-festival. This year the line-up mostly consisted of deathmetal giants like Morbid Angel, Krisiun and Cephalic Carnage. Chimaira was the little black duck of the lineup, with their succesful combination of thrash and (nu)metalcore. The touring festival had 3 dates in Holland this year. Chimaira already had two gigs in 2003: as the opener for Spineshank and as a part of the Roadrage tour.The many shows are in promotion of their new succesful cd, The Impossibility of Reason. The first thing I noticed was Mark Hunter's (vocalist) tired look. Maybe he didn't feel to good, or he was just being tired, but he looked more fit when I saw them in 2003. Fortunatly the rest of the band was more energetic, with alot of running around and classic corny metal poses. Hunter seemed to get it going toward the end of the gig. The setlist consisted mostly of songs of Impossibility. New drummer Ricky got to play an impressive drumsolo during 'Severed', a song thats from Chimaira's debut. It really showed that Evensand is a worthy replacement for Andols Herrick, who quit the band because of lack of tour-interest. Crowd interaction was really good, and again, the crowd was asked to perform the "Metal-Moses": The crowd splits up towards a side, runs / moshes into eachother on command of Hunter. Not something that everyone will like, but very cool to see, and to participate in (if its your type of thing). Chimaira played a good set, and had a lot of support from the crowd. Its a matter of time before the men from Cleveland get their own headlining tours. [i]Live-view by Carn & Buzzin Hornet[/i] Great clouds of smoke raised, shadowy forms appeared. There they where and kicked off [b]�ORPHANAGE�[/b]. The grunter George Oosthoek asked the audience if they wanted to have a good time with a lot of blast beats, and I thought the crowd didn�t react that well actually! But after a while I think the crowd got more in to the music and later on it was show that I think the band members had hoped for. In the beginning they played some old song from previous records, but later on they started to play songs (as expected) from they�re new album, and if I am really honest I didn�t expect that the people would react on the new material, but instead the crowd got wild after some time, and the almost even started something like a MOSHPIT. If I may say so I thing both Rosan and George were a bit off voice, they didn�t sound �clear� maybe a bit false, to me, and the sound was not that really good. My opinion is also that Orphanage is a great band but they�re not growing like the rest of the bands, and that I don�t really like. [i]Live-view by Dinges[/i] [b]Macabre[/b] opened with a lot of noise and continued with Dog Guts, from the Dahmer album. Macabre was pounding just like it has to. Their show was wicked and the whole set list was as usual. The nice rhymes about serial killers and even a nice visual presentation with the song about children eater Albert Fish were definitely getting the crowd along. I enjoyed the whole show with a big grin listening to the little introductions vocalist Corporate Death made. Nice performance, and definitely a lot better than the previous show, held in the Kleine Zaal. [i]Live-view by Mat-core[/i] The headliner today is [b]Morbid Angel[/b]. On this tour Tony Norman (Monstrosity) supported Morbid Angel as second guitarist. For me it was a long day with personally some boring bands before Macabre had to play. Macabre made my day, and Morbid Angel made it even better. The lights went out and Steve, Trey, Pete and Tony entered the stage. The first song they played was �Day of Suffering�. The sound was a little bit disappointing, the guitars weren't loud enough, but after a couple of songs it improved. Morbid Angel was here to promote their new album �Heretic�, so from that album they played songs like �Cleansed in Pestilence�, �Enshrined by Grace�, �Beneath the Hollow�, �Curse the Flesh�, and �Stricken Arise�, that changed into �Where the Slime Live�. They�ve promoted �Heretic� the best they could! Other song were �Day of Suffering�, �Lord of all Fevers and Plague�, �Ageless still I am�, �Bil Ur Sag�, �Chambers of Dis�, God of Emptiness, �Rapture� and the magnificent �God Of Emptiness� After the show they came back to play �Chapel of Ghouls�. Trey Azagthoth made a big impression on me and Steve Tucker showed he has a great impressive voice. Tony did his job well for the so called �fourth� bandmember. And Pete? Behind his amazing drumkit he looked like a octopus with epilepsy. This guy is so fast, it�s unnatural, that is how Morbid Angel is!! Afterwards when I sat in the car on the way home I realized I saw one of the best concerts I�ve ever witnessed in my life. Morbid Angel is still the number one in extreme music and after this concert there will never be an other favourite band for me. [i]Live-view by D.M.A.[/i]