18-07-2015 Dynamo Metal Fest

Location: IJssportcentrum Eindhoven (Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren

Dynamo is a nostalgic name, a metal version of Woodstock on fame. After years of absence there is now a new festival that carries the name of Dynamo: Dynamo Metal Fest.

One stage, a bunch of bands, some food and drinks and all is good. Less is more and that’s a concept that keeps proving itself in Netherlands. This first edition of the new Dynamo may have found some points to learn, but was a good one for the memories as well.

Opening the day was Facelifter. They are the local heroes today, making Extreme Metal. Formed at the very first Metal academy of Europe they are having a solid base to grow on. The guys leave no time going to waste with their show. Straight up with vehemence they start their show and reign on to the end of their set. A small moshpit comes up and the tone is set for the day.
The band said to have an EP coming and so is read to “give Metal a facelift” as they say themselves.

The Dutch Bodyfarm is ready to take it over. By now the place is quite filled up with people already, showing that people are curious enough to even enjoy the first bands as well. A bit long queue appears, but as the location is set up in such a way that you can pretty much see the stage from everywhere, people don’t really have to miss out on Bodyfarm.

The band makes Old School Death Metal and does that with a consistency that keeps you interested. Skillfully they play their songs and watch the audience respond on it, while their own performance is maybe not that active. You could argue that Bodyfarm is a great band to listen to rather than one to watch for the show, but with a diverse crowd in there, they find enough fans (to be) around.

The British formation Orange Goblin is the first act from abroad that is entertaining us today. And they do it in style so to say. With flair they present us with their Heavy Metal drained in Stoner. An elaborated mix that has a relaxed atmosphere over it. Not going to thick and deep, but just playing with the groove and simply bring out these tunes.

Frontman Ben has no problem in letting it all flow easily and with some words to the audience he manages to keep everyone at them until the end. A charismatic act from London, a welcome guest on a sunny day like this.

Alestorm, well what can we say. It is for sure that not everyone will like them. They have a strong divide between the likers and haters, because their Pirate Metal is not to be taken that serious. Fact is, the majority seem to like it. It suddenly became quite crowded upfront and while inflatable objects like swords, hammers, sausages (!!) are hold-up in the air, you could say there is more above you. From the photopit we could at one point count seven crowdsurfers falling over the fence at the same time and it seems like the waves of them never exhausted at all.

Not that it really matters what they are playing, it seemed like songs as “1741 (The Battle of Cartagena)” are bringing some extra enthusiasm to the festival. Keytar playing frontman Christoffer has them eating out of his hands. And although we expected maybe an epic key battle with mr Vernon which has a more static position with his keyboard, that was not going on. Alestorm, you hate them or love them.

Biohazard had announced themselves to be pleased to play at Dynamo earlier this year when seeing them at Dokkem Open Air but to be fair, in the beginning of their set they seemed a little less exciting as we saw them at that event. Energetic enough so to say, they bring some good old Biohazard classics to the stage today starting their set with them 90’s songs. We were not able to see all of their set as we had an interview with another band on the schedule as well, but when we returned from that they were playing their final songs and it seems like they have entertained their audience well.

Time to Thrash it up and how to do that better with an act like Nuclear Assault on the bill? Well, people better have enjoyed it as the guys have announced this to be their final tour. Fair enough, counting over thirty years of band history, they are having enough to dig from. Recently they released an EP called “Pounder” though, not willing to hold that back from their fans.

This ‘final assault’ of today was including some classics for the fans, that with a day like this enjoy the nostalgia anyway. On stage the band is maybe not always putting too much attention to the fact that they are on their final tour, but simply play what they want to play. After three breakups you never know whether they decide to go on or is this really it?!

Death Angel, one of our highlights of the day. The band has a long history with Eindhoven and it is clear they are very pleased to play here today. One of them wears a Dynamo shirt, showing affection for the festival. Compared with Nuclear Assault they are coming across a bit more passionate in their show as well. Vocalist Mark is not only claiming the stage in a way that no band has done before this day, he also takes the band along in all. A team going strong and their enthusiasm does not stop there, because all the energy the guys give is returned by the audience.

The next release the guys come with is a live album. “The Bay Calls for Blood – Live in San Francisco” is what the guys refer to and it will be out in a couple of days. How can you promote a live album better than playing live? Well not really we think and they don’t really have to. Seeing the show of today makes us convinced that this is one for any Thrash lover’s collection, the live prove we witnessed right in front of us here.

Headliner of the day is Arch Enemy. New vocalist after having Angela on front for many years, different face, different voice but still very Arch Enemy. By now there are some releases on their name having Alissa on vocal duties, but the band does not refrain from their older work at all. Songs like “Bloodstained Cross” and “Nemensis” are played as well and more crowd pleasers came along. A powerful performance in which the band does not really take much of a break but reigns on till the end over their Dynamo audience. Some flames jump up in front of them every now and then to make their point even more vehement, but the band is not one that let the show take it over from their music.

A solid ending of this first Dynamo Metal Fest. During the day the festival organisation has already announced a new edition to be hold next year. First band announced: Sacred Reich. That will certainly spark people’s interest and besides some small points of improvements the day was great, so we have no reason to tell you not to go. We encourage you: go!

Photo’s by sabinevangameren.com

Links:
Dynamo Metal Fest Facebook