27-08-2011 Elsrock

Location: Rijssen, (Netherlands)
By: Elvira Visser

This year the 6th edition of Elsrock was taking place at the very Christian town Rijssen. This resulted in the deal the organisation had to make to end the noise at midnight. The festival had two stages and due to the bad weather this summer they had one big tent for one of the stages. What was great about this festival is that it felt like a very small festival, with truly metal lovers. Even when there was rain predicted all day long people where happy. This easy going feeling was great and definitely added to the experience of this festival.

Hollenthon is one of those bands that you either like or hate. They try to fuse different kinds of metal and other music together into the Hollenthon sound. A lot of their music contains of orchestral sounds from little effects to grand melody lines that really influence the style of music. The band is currently working on new material and this evening they have also played some newer work.
Martin Schirenc dressed up as a priest was funny to see as they play in a very Christian town. Somehow they did not came across as strong as they can be. They can take you with their music but today it was a bit dull and did not came to this climax that you can experience with them. It was not due to the sound and it was not their performance. Vocals were good, the guitars brought some nice riffs and the drums were a strong bad bone, but there was something missing. Not a bad gig but definitely not their best. We hope they will be touring Europe when their new CD will be out. Then you should all be ready to get blown away by this band.

The Dutch founded Asphyx is an legendary death metal band that was founded back in 1987. This was one of the bands today that really stood their ground and left a great impression. Of course this band was playing in their own country making the communication with the audience sometimes easier. With some technical problems and a little frustrated front man Martin van Drunen (because he wanted to start the gig and preform) they made this gig to a worthy one. The energy was there, the backbone of their old school death metal. The audience in the tent were screaming their heads off and enjoying this gig a lot. This was maybe as well one of the best shows of this day. Just men that like to play and don’t care that much about presence and just wanna play and play as much as they can, in their own unique raw unpolished way.

Grand Magus is a Swedish band existing out of three band members. Grand Magus was formed by former Cardinal Fang vocalist Janne Christoffersson and bassist Fox. It did not take long before they were joined by drummer Fredrik Liefvendahl. Later on Seb would take over the drumsticks. This band was playing on the smaller stage and it was actually even with 3 band members rather small. Therefore the band members were not moving around much and the audience rather had to enjoy the music than watch a good show. Not that many people came to see this band but those who were seemed to enjoy them. They did not leave a devastating impression. Just a nice band, that did not really stand out. Maybe their big Swedish flag as backdrop did. The sound of the band was more heavy metal like rock with some metal influence then brutal metal. The pilot sunglasses even added to this. A nice band that watch, if you know their music probably more interesting.

The Swedish Death Metal Grave has a legendary status. But still need to fulfil their name on stage. The band has seen many line up changes over the year and their latest asset to the band is bass player Tobias. This guy is the one that makes the band more interesting to watch!. He makes sure there is action on the stage whereas the others are kind of stuck behind the microphone stand. Quite static. As said having the status they do need to put down quite a good show and this evening it was again lacking that extra bit. They do play well and bring forth a good set of black metal but I have seen them better. Ola Lindgren leaves the entertainment lever of a performance up to others, he rather focusses on his singing and playing tight. And that is exactly what they do. They played all tracks form their album “Into the Grave”.

Mardruk was one of the more lucky bands, the band playing before them on the outdoor stage was Legion of the Damned. Hell of a show, but sadly in the pouring rain. Maybe decided to stay in the big tent, the smaller tents with benches and tables to sit and talk but even though it was raining cats and dogs they did attracted many people out there in the rain in front of their stage. Impressive show from this band. Marduk had the luck that the rain basically just stopped and restarted at the end of their show. The Swedish band Marduk was named after a Babylonian Sky God who created the earth and sky from the body of the great dragon Tiamat who was the mother of all beings. This band had taken more effort of their shows. Lots of smoke and dark colours. What can be said about this band is that they been known for being a relentless assault on the ears. Their brutal sound, tempo and riffing. However on today’s show there were more mid-tempo tracks played as well.