09-11-2008 Raunchy

Supports: Last One Dying, Blind Sight; Venue: Baroeg, Rotterdam
By: Sabine van Gameren

On a Sunday afternoon Baroeg, Rotterdam (Netherlands) offered three metal bands for us to watch. It was not really filled up, but the metal did not taste less.

The Dutch band Blind Sight was first. They make a combination of Hardcore and Thrash metal. Recently they won a contest for being the supports of Slayer on their Dutch gig which was two days earlier. The contrast between the huge HMH music hall (capacity: 5500) and Baroeg (capacity: 400) is enormous. The band felt a bit lost on the small stage as they did not have that much space to move around, they told. For me it was nice to see what they did, but it did not stand out. Nothing new under the sun, it’s all been done before.

Up next was the German band Last One Dying. You can place them in the world of Killswitch Engaged. Musically, they did not stand out for me until the point that they introduced their special guest: Jeff Mantas (ex-Venom). That makes three guitarists on the stage. But watching Mantas bringing his input in the music made me enjoy the band way more. He definitely brought the music to a higher level. A lot of string violence there. The band seemed to enjoy their selves a lot even though the venue was not exactly filled. One of the guitarists took over the bass from their bassist for a song, while vocalist Hades added that their bassist (Sarpedon) was going to do a hiphop performance now. This was just a joke though.

The Danish Raunchy was headlining this day. Influences of bands like Soilwork, In Flames are clearly hearable in their music. Raunchy mixes melodic sounds with the harder metal riffs. The band did bring some fans to the venue which quite immediately started to show their appreciation and asked for their favorite songs. They played songs from their latest record “Wasteland Discotheque” as well as some songs from their older albums. The show from about one hour was an active show where there was loads going one. Where the bands before them failed in being energetic on the stage, Raunchy made it all up. The band announces to everyone that they will be at the merchandise stand later to chat up with the fans before they left the stage.

Stay tuned for an interview with Raunchy as well.

Photo’s by: sabinevangameren.com

Links:
Blind Sight MySpace
Last One Dying MySpace
Raunchy MySpace