19-08-2023 Dynamo Metalfest

Tempelores arrived when the Belgium band Fleddy Melculy entered the stage. These men are always up for a little party with their rawish lyrics sung in Flemish. They present us with a mix of hardcore with a little trashy edge. The best is their sense of humor and witty lyrics and a doze of self-mockery. We got some flashbacks to the Heideroosjes vibe.

Next up was the anonymous German black metal quartet Groza. Disguised, in black hooded caps they tried to win the hearts of the audience at the Kink Stage. A little melodic and gloomy on this sunny day and they didn’t really captivate the audience. Maybe they are a lot better in a dark venue. Or it might just take a bit to get used to, to swoon you over.

When the last tones of Groza faded away Shadow of Intent was more than ready to blast all that they’ve got onto the festival ground. This Connecticut band plays some symphonic deathcore. Their front man Ben Duerr was raging over the stage with his deep grunts. A bit gritty and loud accompanied by some brutal pounding drums.

Something completely different was the all girly band Hanabie from Japan. Dressed up in colorful Harajuku style they have a different appearance than all the other bands. They play a high-energy fusion of electronic pop tunes with metalcore. Think Babymetal but then actually more metal. These girls are definitely endearing but their music is a little rougher around the edges. Best described as a band that shows girly sweetness but with a contrasting harshness to their sound.

Prong is one of those bands that is always nice and delivers what you expect. Nothing too amazing but always a very solid set. Today was like any other although they seem to really enjoy their time on stage. Lots of funny smiles from front man Tommy Victor in between songs but also during. They got the crowd fired up some more today by presenting a tight set. Ending it with ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’. One of those bands to enjoy and have a good time.

Frozen Soul after Prong made their death metal maybe even a little more horrific. Brutal and jet bombastic is their sound. While it can be brutal at the same time watching them live can take it a notch down. Focussing on their icy riffs. They released their latest album, ‘Glacial Domination’, 3 months ago. And introduced us to it. A great portion of old school death metal while hammering away on stage.

It seems that every festival needs a moment for power metal galore. Today it was up to Gloryhammer to entertain us. Time to bring out plastic inflatable attributes and your party hat. The band surely knows how to put up a metal party. Not taking themselves too seriously but do care about some good solid singing lines that are contagious. Singing about unicorns and their made up universe they made loads of metal heads happy.

It was time for the American deathcore band Signs of the Swarm from Pittsburgh. The band formed back in 2014 and thus has been around some years. Another brutal band on stage. Playing deathcore with a bit of groove and rhythm. Maybe a little frenetic at first sound but they blow you away with a lot of power and well arranged glimpses of melody. Topped off with brutal riffs and amazing grunts from singer David Simonich. This we enjoyed, as well as the people in the circle pit.

Biohazard, oh yeah! What a madhouse it was. They were back together in their original line up and ready to kill it today. With this band you actually need two pairs of eyes as they are running and jumping around on stage while hitting the notes. Hardcore punk and heavy metal the way you want it. Energetic like no other, Evan and Billy get that circle pit going. And Billy decided to play a little from within the audience, crazy! If you didn’t catch this you did miss out.

Drain takes you on a mosh train. Yeah, that is bad but this band kicked up the dust in the moshpit. No second was used to slow down. For the first minutes of their set they asked everyone who just got crazy seeing Biohazard to do just the same with them and then maybe even a little more. Their music is definitely bouncy and vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro knows how to keep his voice steady while flying around the stage. Bass player Sam Jameson adds to the flying around madness and jumps high while maintaining the guitar.

Another experienced band on the bill today is Trivium. And it was just that. They showed us how capable they are and how to deliver a tight set but it did not wow me. The audience seemed to enjoy it a lot and as a result there were many crowdsurfers or it was due to the fact that singer Matt Heafy asked us to do better. Better than the Germans. The challenge was accepted and legs went up in the air while they played ‘Down from the Sky’ and ‘The Sin and the Sentence’.

What do you get when you are searching for a theme that has not been used by a metal band. We’ve got the craziness of Gloryhammer and Angus mcsix, pirate metal, viking metal and so on. Well if you didn’t forget about the Lord of the Rings Wind Rose is there for you. Dwarf metal. Playing straightforward folk metal with a dose of dwarf hilaria. Funny and entertaining indeed, musically not very special.

Coming a little late to their own party, Megadeth did deliver today. Dave was sounding pretty well today although at the start he was a little bit mumbling that soon changed. The stage was lit up by large video screens that set the tone of the show. The mix was good, as we love to hear the bass. Introduced us to some newer work but the set contained mostly festival favorites like Symphony of Destruction, Sweating Bullets and in my Darkest Hour. Sadly they had to shorten Peace Sells due to a strict curfew. But damn what a show.