20 April 2024

04-10-2007 Hell on Earth

Venue: Bibelot, Dordrecht(Netherlands)
By: Elvira Visser

  Although I heard this tour was not that big of a success as the organisation
  had hoped for, I have to say that Bibelot (the venue of tonight) was filled
  with people. This years Hell on Earth Tour existed of six bands, four from the
  United States, one from the Netherlands and one from Germany. A great way for
  fans in this genre to see six bands together, with quite some known bands.

The first band up was “From a Second Story Window”, they left quite a weird memory. They play aggressive metalcore and are explosive on stage. Still they made me think about surf dudes.

Not the music because that fitted in with the evening, hard heavy metalcore. Just something about the singers appearance, his long hair, his knee high trousers mixed with a bit of laid back attitude in between songs (in the songs he was energetic). Think that in combination with them being the first band this evening and an audience being laid back as well only nodding their heads, made me draw this weird surf connection to them.

Together with the first band, “Freya” is a good band to get the party started.

During both bands it was not that crowded in front of the stage. Freya gave away a good show. Really something to get the people ready for the next band, to get that vibe going in the venue. They succeeded. Their vocalist Karl Buechner was moving from side to side. This band was quite captivating to see and listen to, or as Ethan Henry (their drummer) says: “We want to keep   the spirit of 80’s thrash alive”.

The third band this evening was “Fear my Thoughts” from Germany.

Definitely my favourite this evening. Good show and the most melodic of these bands. Their mix of being aggressive, growling and adding melodic guitar solos is something I personally appreciate. You can hear that they are influenced by different styles and that makes their performance interesting. Great guitar   solo’s woven into thrashy metal hardcore. This band got the crowd going, they built a little pit. The band requested a circle pit which was answered pretty fast resulting in a heavy pit.

“All Shall Parish” started with an energetic audience. There where “Fear my Thoughts” left them. Maybe this was the most brutal hardcore   band of this evening, raging guitars and fast pounding drums. One of the guitarists   played impressively on a 8 string guitar (if I am correct). Mike, their drummer, threw his dreads up and down in the air whilst playing which added something to their appearance. Some good ‘n fast, brutal and growling band.
“Born from Pain” is our own Dutch pride. This was absolutely something
  you could notice, seeing the mass waiting in front of the stage before they
  started to play. However I did not really see the band from up close,…No I
  was in desperate need of some cold beer. Damn it was hot in front of the stage.
  Making some room for a bunch of young boys aged 16 or 17. Who were anxiously
  waiting for this band. Explaining each other who was who in the band. I do not
  know if they stayed there a long time because from what I saw, leaning on the
  bar, there were many stagedivers and that circle pit was kept in good shape.
  I saw some people leaving the venue that needed some first aid, because this
  band made the audience go nuts. Their heavy energetic hardcore metal just made
  the people move and move. The fast paced riffs and the aggressive drumming,
  simply make you do everything but standing still.

Not weird that “Walls of Jericho” exploded on stage. To me the vibe
  in the venue was great. It was really hot in the venue which made me decide
  to stay at the bar. From that spot I could see them going, WOW! The voice of
  Candance…If you do not know this band, believe me she makes you stand there
  with an open mouth, in full disbelieve. Her growls and roars…so amazing. Even
  some guys around me did not believed it was her. She really knows how to make
  the crowd even more energetic, she is running on the stage, screaming to the
  audience to jump, to pit to….whatever. Together with the other band members
  they are a great band to see live. This was also a great way, for the audience,
  to end the show. What an energetic evening.