19-07-2019 Dynamo Metalfest

The opener of the festival was the Danish formation Baest. They formed only in 2015 but got themselves a name out there quite fast.

Their Old School Death is brought with quite some dedication, the guys are having the focus on some strong riffs and with a charismatic front man the band easily connects with the audience which came out early to see them perform. Last year the band released their full length called “Danse Macabre” which shows quite well how driven these bands are, but bringing it live in such an energetic way makes the album land even better. One to watch!

Jungle Rot has been around a bit longer. And although the guys seemed more reserved performance wise, the Americans make up for that with the eagerness in playing. Last year the guys released album number eight so they have quite some material to choose from.

The guys are impressing us mostly with their teamwork. It is like you are watching the winning team, they have it all together. When the guys increase their tempo they are having the audience on their hands even more. A first moshpit is taking place and while the vocals lay some deeper edge onto it the band is surprisingly at ease with their show.

We have seen the band several times through the years, but we can safely say it is one of their better shows  we have seen. Also, probably the best one of the day.

The Swedish Heavy Metal formation Grand Magus is one of those acts you can always have at your festival. With their groovy sound, a bit of sunshine and a beer in your hands the festival mood is certainly set.

And so it is. The band has some new material out. The album is called “Wolf God” and it is full of the groovy tracks that we are used to, but perhaps a little more of that even. So the songs they choose to play today are more in that line. Not all of the songs are standing out much but, overall the set makes picture seems complete. And when they end their performance you have experienced a perfectly enjoyable forty minutes of Heavy Metal. They are not sticking out too much over the mass, but are entertaining well.

Eluveitie is one of those acts that divide the audience. You either like it or not. Unfortunately for the band we fall into the latter category and that is mainly due to the fact that the sound was terrible. The individual elements where kinda blurry and we have tried different areas on the festival terrain but nowhere it would really improve.

It is also not really the kind of act one would easily expect here. Surprisingly enough they seem to convince quite a lot of people who were yet undecided. The folky tunes and instruments they use are a bit odd, which may arouse curiosity.

What does speak for them is that their vocalist is quite strong with his voice. He manages to claim his part of the spotlight and that we had not expected so much, especially in the first couple of songs.

Avatar is having a strong fanbase out there. Also here the fans came around in large numbers. The band has the prog sound, combined with Death and a freakshow/circus theme. Recently the guys were on the road with Devin Townsend and now they are back in Europe for some shows.

On earlier rendezvous we were hoping that the talking in between would be shut down, it did not come out too steady and today it seemed to be a bit more moderate so we could enjoy it a little more. Suits the guys better, to focus on the music and the show. That show is one thing we can leave to them as the band is entertaining to watch, but also musically they are growing a lot the past years. They are breaking away with what was restricting them, trying to expand the range of audience they get and it seems to be working. Well done.

Headlining was the formation Airbourne. Known to have that kick ass rock and roll attitude the band has set a reputation of being a great live act. The band has their fifth full length release out and is giving it some extra spotlight with this tour. In the beginning the band seem quite modest given set expectations, but the guys enjoy to keep the energy growing so after a couple of songs the whole becomes more active even.

Though, nothing goes out of control too much today. The band seems to be aware of their audience and know that they are maybe a bit more metal based than usual and so the focus comes more to their playing. Well, there we have no complaining. Some solid riffing is rolling over us while front man Joel is giving us raw vocals.

Ending the set with some of the band’s classics like “Running Wild” was a smart move, the audience enjoyed the whole to the last moment. A worthy closer of this first day.