08-08-2015 Into The Grave

[schema type=”event” evtype=”Festival” description=”By Sabine van Gameren” city=”Leeuwarden” country=”NL” ]

This year we are looking at the fifth edition of Into The Grave and with a fine line up the day is promising to be a great one.

Cornered is the first act of the day. The Hardcore formation won a local band contest and therefore was scheduled to open up this year’s edition of Into The Grave. The band is active, running back and forth over the stage and their expression of passion for these words is surely remarkable for a young band like them. A bunch of early birds seem to enjoy their show, but it does not result in a moshpit or lots of movement, the audience seem to be a bit awaiting. Nevertheless it was a nice opening, setting the tone for what is to come.

Had you thought the previous band was energetic, well better be ready for Betraying The Martyrs as they flow over that skyhigh. Jumping, Kungfu movements (?! Ok we are no experts on kungfu but like the movies…), loads of interaction with the audience, this band leaves no time go to waste on stage, there is always something going on. With the vocals being divided between Aaron Matts and Victor Guillet, which also plays keys, but rarely feels the need to be static in place, the band creates an interesting playfield that they can use to go into diversity. A cover is played called “Let it Go” coming out of some Disney movie, which may be meant hilarious but misses the spot a bit as the audience is not really singing it along. Statement made, the harder Metal songs are more in favour today. Luckily the guys have plenty of that in their set as well. If you were not awake yet, these guys took care of that. A wild and entertaining act!

The Norwegian Audrey Horne is one we often see in Netherlands. The band has a solid fanbase here and so they are up performing for them today. Don’t take it all serious, the intro tells you already. Just playing and having fun! The band plays a bunch of songs of their 2013 album “Youngblood” as well as their latest full length “Pure Heavy”. Cheerful as they are, they address their audience constantly and with them guitarist being rather active in not only their show, but also their playing they are giving the Hard Rock fans out there plenty to enjoy. A solo here and there makes the whole energetic and interesting, Audrey Horne is good for a proper show. Perhaps the long-time fans prefer to see the guys in a club as they tend to be much closer to the fans as today, but yet a delightful show.

Avatar draws a rather young crowd to the festival and the Swedish formation is ready to bring a big show. The circus gone mad, that’s a way to describe it. The band split the audience in two. At the core their fanbase is having an amazing time, moshing, jumping, headbanging etc. but around them is a group of people that really don’t see the fun of them. Perhaps they were more interested in bands Like Obituary and Cannibal Corpse which have a longer career already. It is to understand though, vocally the band is not really at its strongest and everything that comes out of their mouth between the songs give you the impression they have been enjoying some weed or other Dutch delights as it does not really seem to make sense. In the end it does not really matter. A whole bunch of people were having a great time seeing their show, being well entertained. That counts.

The Finnish band Ensiferum makes Melodic Folk Metal. Just a couple of months ago they released their album “One Man Army” and it has been doing well. They started off loud, very loud and although some may appreciate it, it does not benefit the sound very much. Fair to say that after a while it got a bit better. The band played a couple of classics to please the crowd, “Lai Lai Hei” is always one that seem to hit the audience right and so it did today. With enthusiasm they win their crowd. Ensiferum is always a win.

Obituary draws a bit different crowd, usually a bit older, people which have been listening metal for many years. Formed in 1988 and even active before that under a different name, the guys have quite some years on the counter and with nine studio albums on their name you could say they have enough to draw from. Their latest, “Inked in Blood”, got out in 2014 but today the show is much about the album “Slowly We Rot”, their debut out of 1989. A pure blessing for the long-time fans, but it seems like Obituary is also convincing some of the youngsters out there today. Calmly and controlled they look over their audience, seeking not only the frontrows, but all the way to the back of this sold out event, seeking also those who came in later and enjoy the party from afar. Obituary does not stick there but is appreciated front to the back!

Cannibal Corpse is also a solid Death Metal name. Thirteen full length studio releases from these guys are out there and numerous smaller releases make that for the collectors there is always something to desire. The first couple of songs in their set are from the last couple of years, but they dig a bit deeper with songs like “Striped, Raped and Strangled” and “I Cum Blood” on their set list.
As the band hardly has to put an effort into making people mosh and headband, they don’t really do that and watch the audience enjoy themselves anyway. Vocalist George does demand a vocal response when asked a question, correcting them when they do not answer loud enough but then the rage is back on and before you know it you are listening to cultsong “Hammer Smashed Face” and you are close to the end of their set. Just one more and then Cannibal Corpse is done.

Sepultura is around and the band from Brazil may have been a bit quiet with releases the last couple of years, a single is out since early June indicating more may follow. Yet, these Thrashers are not in shortage of material to play. Over thirty years of active releasing and touring guarantees that we are up for something and so we are. The band really created a wild variance in their setlists, having songs from diverse albums throughout their career, picking the finest and the most popular ones. The groove is on, and when they halfway in their set decide to play their new single it does not even occur to wonder if it any surprising track, no: it is Sepultura. You know what to expect! Crowdpleasers as “Refuse/Resist” and “Roots Bloody Roots” are passing by and afterwards you can say: Yes, I saw Sepultura again and it was great as usual.

Headlining tonight were the Swedish guys of Sabaton. The guys are always up for a show having their tank along, a crazy variety of pyro’s and confetti… yes the show is well thought. Very well thought, because if you happen to have seen this show earlier this year (like we did at Tuska) you may recognize it. The songs, but also the words and actions in between. Really, it is clear that it is not a spontaneous bullying between the members, all comes out scripted. That is a little bit disappointing for them visitors who saw them before. Two groups of people don’t care: die-hard fans and those who see them for the first time this tour. Those people are surely having a great evening out there as the whole show is quite a spectacle made. We could say it ends the evening with a bang, but perhaps that’s just too cheesy. A well.. it is Sabaton 😉

Another edition of Into The Grave has been successfully passed by. The first name for next year is already made public: Exodus. Seems like you better get them tickets fast!