[b][i]When the Christian people say Easter, we metal heads say No Mercy!!!! As every year the No Mercy tour is around Easter and is usually well visited. Metalrage was present with 2 reporters: Mat-Core and DemonDust. This review was written after a hell of an evening, both of us totally stoned, drunk or both. We had some arguments about what and when, but we�ve settled that out. Note, Disbelief was replaced by Mystic Circle, due to unknown reasons.[/b][/i] Schedule of No Mercy and the writer of the review: [i]The Choice: Exhumed: Demondust Vomitory: Demondust Carpathian Forest: Mat-Core Kataklysm: Mat-Core Pro-Pain: Demondust Hypocrisy: Mat-Core Cannibal Corpse: Mat-Core Kleine Zaal: Noctiferia: Demondust Ancient Ceremony: Mat-Core Inhume: Demondust Spawn Of Possession: DemonDust Mystic Circle: Mat-Core[/i] [b][i]The Choice:[/i][/b] [b]Exhumed:[/b] Exhumed had a nice performance with crappy PA from 013�s �The Choice�, which was to be expected. Most of the times that I go to festivals at 013 the guitar sound is poorly arranged. That really sucks, since Exhumed was one of the few bands that I witnessed sober. Due to that crappy sound, most songs sounded alike. But those few that stood above that really kicked ass. And I mean tracks like �Necromaniac�, �Slaughtercult�, �Waywork�, �Decrepit Crescendo�, �The Matter Of Splatter� and of course the almighty �Open The Abscess� which was saved for the last. But I had rather seen them play as headliner on the small stage. Better PA, drunken atmosphere, loosened up people, just better circumstances to play in. But they will be playing this Friday again at the Little Devil with Inhume and Mangled, so check them out there if you can! They�ll rip your guts out and make pictures of it while you slowly bleed to death! Grind on!! [b]Vomitory:[/b] Due to the need for food I missed Vomitory, stupid me! I just had to go out and eat, but I was punished severely for this idiotic endeavour; the food was so fucking hot and spicey, that I ran back to the 013 to get me some beer! Al I can say was that I�ve been told that they were OK, that�s it. [b]Carpathian Forest:[/b] The band around Nattefrost was playing in Holland again. The last time I saw them was also in the 013, but in the �kleine zaal� and I must say I enjoyed it better then. The sound was not so bad, although the drums were too prominent. Nattefrost is known for his outstanding act, but it was a little bit lame this time. With an upside down cross he scurried over the stage screaming his blasphemy to the audience. Songs from all 3 albums were played and live the sound is clearer than on their regular studio albums. Songs from Strange Old Brew were variegated with newer material. I only have Strange Old Brew in my album stand, so I can�t say much about it. The show was nice though, but I�ve seen better! [b]Kataklysm:[/b] This band from Canada is finally earning the recognition they�ve should been given many years ago. They�ve changed their music style from traditional not so original Death metal, to a more complicated form of Death metal with a very special drumming technique, the one-hand roll. With Serenity In Fire they�ve found a new drummer and he kicked his drum kit hard. The show was not so special, except for the drum solo� MAN! What a machine and what an awesome technique! The drum solo faded away in Blood On The Swans and that really kicked some asses there. Their songs were mostly from the latest 2 records, and songs like As I Slither, Serenity In fire and Illuminati were played. As I said the show wasn�t that special, but the music made it up very well and the audience was satisfied as well. [b]Pro-Pain:[/b] I never really listened to any of Pro-Pain�s material, but I admit they were one of the better bands that were playing at this festival. Due to the PA, which was great for a change, they sounded really good. They opened with a solo act from one of their roadies or something who was playing Spainsh guitar and making the crowd scream he-na-na-na! Then the violence kicked in. Pro-Pain had a nice set going on and the crowd enthusiastically started the dancing. Not the really violent fight-to-death hardcore moshing, but the more drunken metalhead pit. And even though most riffs were quite simple, they entertained really well. They also played a track with that member of Ektomorf that also joined Noctiferia earlier that day, only this time he only participated on vocals. This band definitely was a great choice for the No Mercy festival and I enjoyed it a lot. [b]Hypocrisy:[/b] Hypocrisy is known to give away interesting shows and surely made this last show of the tour a vast memory in my head. A mayor technical problem (The P.A. blew up) didn�t cause Hypocrisy to fail this show. It just caused an annoying tick to appear every time a loud part was played. Highly irritating. Songs from almost all albums were played but I favoured the older work like Left To Rot, Roswell 47 (announced as Tilburg 47), Death Row (No Regrets), Fire In The Sky and Necronomicon. The new album was promoted with Slave To The Parasite, The Abyss and Born Dead Buried Alive and the sound of the new work was promising, yet it could not compare to those old school songs. I had to leave somewhat earlier due to an interview with Kataklysm, but the show surely was one to remember! [b]Cannibal Corpse:[/b] Cannibal Corpse is surely settled with their ultra blasting pre-age death metal and with a very strong new record out; they�ve got another trick up their sleeves. [img]https://upload.metalrage.com/CC.jpg[/img] The show was a compilation of older work and new work but too bad they left out some songs that I really wanted to hear again. What they did play was certainly not bad! Songs like Fucked With A Knife, Sentenced To Burn. Stripped, Raped & Strangled, Pit Of Zombies and the ultimate song from Vile; Devoured By Vermin. Of course the new album wasn�t skipped and they played Decency Defied, Severed Head Stoning and the title track The Wretched Spawn. The sound was nice and the performance was neat. After 50 minutes of brutal death metal No Mercy was ended like only Cannibal Corpse could do�. and they did that with Hammer Smashed Face, a final fury racing to the end of the tour. [i][b]Kleine Zaal:[/i][/b] [b]Noctiferia:[/b] What a surprise! The opening band on the small stage of which I had never heard before seemed to be quite all right! Pretty good I might even say! It was exactly what I search for in a band, except for some details. Take death metal as foundation, add some doom and black metal to it and you�ve got Noctiferia. If only some metalcore was involved, it would have been great, but you just can�t have everything. They played very convincing and even though I didn�t know any of the songs I thought it was a great show. They covered Sepultura�s �War For Territory� which kicked ass. It featured a member of Ektomorf on guitar and vocals. Another compliment goes out to their drummer, even though he wore headphones to keep rhythm, he kicked ass. Great band which will grow out to be big someday. Young & wild!!! [b]Ancient Ceremony:[/b] It�s quite difficult to make a sane review about this band because I�m not quite into the style, however I can listen to it. Ancient Ceremony play an old school style of black metal with atmospheric influences. The sound was quite nice which is quite common in the �Kleine Zaal� and the band certainly entertained the audience. The songs were after 3 or 4 songs not very different from each other, so I decided to move on for some dinner, which caused us to miss Vomitory. [b]Inhume:[/b] Since November 2003 I hadn�t seen these guys perform anymore, so I was quite excited to see them once again. I had missed them At �Op Volle Snoeren� already, so I had to see them here. They opened up really powerful with �Squirming Parasites� from the first full-length album �Decomposing From Inside�. And immediately they had shown that they truly are the greatest grindcore band Holland has to offer. They grind, smoke and scrape flesh, like they should. My favourite track �Airplane Crash� was played great and my head was banging like an insane paranoid bee in a jar. Hair everywhere!!!! Among other tracks played were �Ignorance Of The Elevated�, �Dead Man Walking�, Blood Orgy At 7th Street�, �Genetic Intervention� �Inhume� and the one saved for last: �Incineration Of The Body By Own Will�. After these and other tracks my neck was aching and I had seen the best performance I would see at No Mercy 2004. They had great PA, were really energetic, acting crazy like hell (especially Joost (vocals)) and just have the best death/grind drummer Holland has to offer. Roel (drums) was at it again, rambling all life out of that kit. 35 minutes of hard work were performed here for our entertainement. Definitely the best show for me! Support the undergrind!! [b]Spawn Of Possession:[/b] This was the second time I saw this Scandinavian death metal band, and they were still quite all right. More technical than I remembered them, but it could be my memory failing me on that point. They sounded brutally hard, with some highly technical guitar solo parts mixed through. Not interesting to see from the start �till the end, but still quite nice to see for a couple of songs. A little more variation in songwriting and a little more creativity in the brutal riffs and we�ve got a great death metal band! They are certainly heading in the right direction, because last time I saw them, they were playing before Inhume, this time it was the other way around. [b]Mystic Circle:[/b] Disbelief was supposed to stand here now, but for some unknown reason we had to look at Mystic Circle, which I didn�t mind at all. Mystic Circle is a band that have brought out several interesting releases. It�s only a pity that the last 2 releases of the band were a bit the same and that there was no real progression in it. The show was quite entertaining, but I wasn�t able to watch it all, because I was so fucking exhausted that I almost fell in sleep during the show. The songs that I heard were mostly from the latest 2 records and sounded not bad, but as I said, I cannot say anything more of it. Luckily my energy returned when Cannibal Corpse had to play!