20-07-2019 Dynamo Metalfest

The main day of Dynamo Metalfest started with Alien Weaponry. And luckily for them we told you already three weeks ago about this band so we were not suprised seeing a lot of people getting up early to see them. They started before 11.30 so that is not so much a guarantee.

But the New Zealand formation has no trouble convincing the early birds, we were wondering if the show would come alive as well on the larger stage of this festival but the guys have enough energy to own that whole stage. From songs like “Raupatu” or “Kai Tangata” we get energetic ourselves.

They maybe the opener only, but certainly a highlight this festival. And, the guys are returning to Dutch grounds one more time at Into The Grave festival later this year.

Tribulation got themselves a name out there. The Gothic/Heavy Metal band is known for their theatrical approach. Not only the show, but also the music has some eerie elements, making the darkness a comfortable place, yet while playing in the middle of the day there is hardly any darkness to be found.

Yet, with them floating around, dancing and hand full of mystery the atmosphere came to it. Maybe this is not the heaviest band of the day, but when the vocalist briefly shares his wife being in labour you come to realize the dedication that the guys have. Not putting too much attention to it, ready to go on and play their energetic set. The line for their signingsession later on the day was quite long, says it all.

Armoured Saint was announced to be celebrating today, the guys have been around for quite some years and so it seems that many have seen the band before. As charismatic as the guys are they can easily give you the impression they play specifically for you at that moment, an admirable feature.

The guys play a tight set, yet for us there is a bit of a click missing. Something that takes it further than general. Maybe it seemed a bit much like it was done a million times like that. So the surprise element was not there, the click was missing for us. The guys by all means played a good set but it was not the most convincing performance of the day.

Phil Anselmo had shows cancelled with his other band Down due to a political statement made, but life is all about new chances and so he was booked to play with the Illegals. Here and some murmering about the hypocrisy of that was about, but Phil seems eager to play a good set today.

Bad luck on his hands, the hail started to fall from the sky, causing the audience to seek cover on the sides of the terrain, under the roof. Almost like a wall of death starting. But, when all that had fallen down the sun showed again and the band decided to get shit going again. Max of Soulfly joined the stage and the band would play Pantera’s “Walk”. Legendary moment we would say, the place exploded. Everyone was singing and cheering along. We probably gonna remember that moment for a long time. Phil came, Phil won.

Metal Church had to endue some heavy rain during the start of their set. But although all their equipment was placed a bit more to the back of the stage, it did not seem to stop them to come up closer and connect with the audience.

The band released “Damned If You Do” last year and they are now promoting the album here. Yet they did not leave us without the classics, an interesting mix was chosen in their set. It is obvious the guys have great joy in touring even after being around for long. Maybe the whole set was not the most surprising thing of the day, but with Metal Church you can always count on decent quality so it was surely worth to watch.

Soulfly is a band that many appreciate and it was good to welcome Max and co on stage today. Of course Max showed his face at Phil’s set already but now back with his own thing.

What not everyone could possible have seen, but our photographer saw happening is the drummer having his hand injured. We think it is a great thing to see how playing so fanatic while he seems hardly able to bend half of his fingers.

Max had his way of getting people along, letting them “Jump The Fuck Up” or classics like “Tribe”. Groovy pleasures filled the field and makes it clear that Soulfly is ready to have things going at any time.

Carcass is one of these bands that pops up almost every year at your festivalschedule at some point. A band that tours a lot and is quite consistent in the quality of their shows.

Today they may be a bit unlucky as the sound did not always come across too well and to be fair, it has been quite a while since we saw a full length coming from their hands. Sure, the guys have plenty of material to fall back on, but we would not mind if they brought us something new again. Performance wise they managed to find their audience quite well. Being a bit playful but not ridiculously active the guys are filling up the minutes at ease. Knowing that Steel Pather would be after them, it is not strange to see a complete different kind of fanbase at the first rows either. Interesting enough they managed to entertain everyone decently.

Well… Steel Panther. The great divide we would say. You like it or hate it. You get it or not. The main question that rises every time we get confronted with this formation is: Is this a band or a comedy show? Because they do not take it too seriously, joking around and spending half of their stagetime chatting about sex. Feels a bit like faceapp got a VR function. Teenage talk with the face of some.. older guys.

Nevertheless the band is a big success here. They are entertaining and people who are really not into these guys have either left or found themselves at the bar as it seems. Maybe Steel Panther is not an act you go see for the music, but mainly because of the show. The music is just a part of that. And with that being said, they were a big success at Dynamo. Not our favorites, but obviously for many they were.

Last on the evening are Arch Enemy. Recently being part of a scandal the band certainly had the talks on them being there. But the band has not let it get them down and gave the audience of Dynamo a hot show. Starting straight away with some pyro action and an hyperactive lightshow the guys are showing what they are up for.

Having songs like “You Will Know My Name” and “Dead Eyes See No Future” are also setting the audience on fire, a lot of energy is going on.

Alissa, the lady up front, has some batwings on her jacket, which made us smile as bats were a subject of trouble when the festival arranging their camping. Naturefans objected that the audience would scare the bats away. Seems like they are attracting it instead.
Arch Enemy delivered a professional, strong show here tonight. Hyperactive and everything that you are used to from this band. A good closure of this year’s edition of Dynamo Metalfest.

For next year the first band is already announced: Sepultura. All the early bird tickets are sold-out already so it may be worth to invest in next years ticket already before more bands are going to be announced.