30-08-2008 Loud From The South

Location: Klokgebouw, Eindhoven (Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren& Elvira Visser

Eindhoven brought a new born festival this year. As all new born are, small but yet an impressive lineup. With bands like Sabbat, Dark Tranquillity, Carcass and Soulfly they had an impressive bill for a first edition.
Arriving at the location it soon came clear that the festival was indoors while in the first news around the festival was spoken about an outdoor event. The building who hosted the festival was a factory hall where two stages were places towards each other.

When waiting for the entrance to open, which was a little delayed, it was almost time for the first band to start playing. That was a little weird because only a hand full has entered the festival grounds. Luckily the band could wait a little so more people had gathered around the Jagameister stage. This was the smaller stage compared to the Dommelsch stage and if you would turn around you could face the other stage.

It was time for The Lucifer Principle to open the festival. The band was founded in 2004 and since then it has a contrabass which gives the band a different look on the stage. But the sound of the bass is very nice woven into their music. What I liked about the band it their energy on stage while they were playing for a hand full, which was not because of them. They played very good, bit of an old school metal with nice pounding drums. Maybe it is little bit of Dutch proud as it was the only Dutch band playing at this festival.

The Dommelsch stage was opened by Evile. The thrash metal band from UK was a nice opening, the audience responded quite well on them while it was still early on the day. Vocalist Matt Drake impressed most by his intense way of bringing the music. The band will come back in Europe soon; they will go on tour with Satyricon. This all in order to promote their upcoming album “Enter the Grave” which will release at 13 October.

Back to the Jägermeister stage where Motorjesus was about to start playing. The band comes from Mönchengladbach, Germany so they were not too far away from home. What you hear back in their music are influences of Black Label Society. On the sound of the band we can be clear: clean, but raspy vocals, steady and dominant drums and the strings to bring up the speed and finish it all. The band showed an active performance and I think they saw every corner of the stage. They also talked to the audience quite some times where they also spoke some sentences in Dutch. I liked them better than I expected at first.

The Swedish Darkane brings us thrash metal with passion. The band was a follow up from the band Agretator. The band released 4 full lengths so far, the latest dates back to 2005. The band is working on their upcoming release though. It was clear that they had quite some fans coming for them, seen by the reaction of the audience. Energetic music and energy was clearly not a one line communication with the fans. They were the first band of the day that actually got their audience. They surely made a great show hear, can’t wait to see them coming back to Europe.

One band I did not like was Pilgrimz from Denmark. Although they formed the band back in 1998, they only have released two EP’s and last June their Debut album “Boar Riders” was released. They play a hardcore style metal, and that was not bad but I guess their singer Max got out of bed on the wrong side. He was a little bit demanding the people to come closer and the crowd was not really responding so he started yelling at them. Maybe he needed to get a little angry, but that fitted in the music and his screaming. I think the band has definitely a good performance to offer but today I think it was not their best. I would like to see them in a crowded not too big venue.

It was a bit an Scandinavian party in the afternoon and I looked forward to see the Finnish band Norther. Somehow I expected a little more from this band. As most members play in different bands, with many live experience. A thing I have to admit is that the sound in front of the stage sounded bad. I thought it sounded quite flat, this was more up to the sound guy, I guess. The vocals from Petri Lindroos were also a little to soft and even faded a little when they played their riffs. The clean vocal from Kristian Ranta were more present. The keyboards play an important role in their tracks but Tuomas Planman who plays the keys looked like he was quite bored. The others made up for that. Though I have to say that they do play great guitar riffs, and their music is very well composed but today it did not impress me at all.

Only Living Witness is a USA metal band which started back in 1989. They split up in 1995 but this year they did some reunion shows. Today, on Loud from the South would be their last reunion show. Not too many people seemed to be interested in them though. Actually, it was not really a shame that people went outside to get some food and drinks, because the band were pretty disappointing. Nothing new under the sun, like listening to a random song by any random band. As influences of their music they name Black Label Society and Slayer, which are there but somehow I get the image that these bands prefer not to be mentioned here. Although they tried very hard, the last show of the band was definitely not a great happening. Too bad.

When Dark Tranquillities intro was playing the audience gathered around, and to my surprise there were a lot more people. Maybe most of them were enjoying the sun outside during the other bands? But Dark Tranquility gave the crowd what it wanted, a good steady gig. Melodic metal played in a great tight way. Band members running around on the stage, sometimes I needed two pair of eyes to see what was happening. Front man Mikael Stanne is a guy who knows how to entertain the people with his weird moves on stage, but makes sure that you keep watching. But also the others know how to move on the stage and interact with the people that watch them play.

While Carcass was not the last band playing on this evening, they were definitely the band who attracted the most audience. Not any time earlier, the hall was filled up that much when the UK based band hits the stage. The band is also on reunion as they quit playing in 1995. They seem to be back and more popular than ever. Their old stuff was still enough to get people coming. They came with darkness and that’s how it supposes to be. The band is quite static, but they played a successful show on Loud from the South.

Closing the Jägermeister stage was privileged for Lääz Rockit. The band comes from California, USA and plays besides their instruments also the stage, their audience and everything that could be played with. Quite a lot of people left when Carcass was finished, not realizing that they miss a very entertaining band. Their singer Michael Coons jumps of the stage a couple of times and gets close with the audience. Overall a nice performance with surprising elements.

Well after the party with Lääz rockit it was time for Soulfly. What I noticed was that most people were there to see Carcass because during Laaz Rockit people left and did not return for Soulfly. Now that is a big shame. They played amazing, and just for a hand full. I think they quit a little earlier but still I was satisfied. They played with power and loads of energy. Many people in the audience were singing and screaming along. At some places in the crowd people were even dancing. There was a good vibe and Max Cavelera proved again he can still rock. It was a great performance they gave and the guys on stage seemed to have a good time.

The Lucifer Principle, Norther, Dark Tranquillity, Pilgrimz and Sabbat were photographed by Elvira Visser. More photo’s available at photographicretentions.nl

Evile, MotorJesus, Darkane, Only Living Witness, Norther, Carcass, Lääz Rockit, Soulfly were photographed by Sabine van Gameren at Sabinevangameren.com

Links:
The Lucifer Principle MySpace
Evile MySpace
Motorjesus MySpace
Darkane MySpace‘
Pilgrimz MySpace
Norther MySpace
Only Living Witness MySpace
Dark Tranquillity MySpace
Sabbat MySpace
Carcass MySpace
Lääz Rockit MySpace
Soulfly MySpace