Written by:	Bas
Published:	December 03, 2006
Event:	Metal Forces Festival X (Website)
Location:	SAK Wasserwerk, Lörrach, Germany

Prologue

The Metal Forces Festival X?. Apparently this was the tenth of a series of metal festivals held in the south of Germany, right next to the French and Swiss borders. Unfortunately it was the first time I heard of it and attended it though. Well one thing is clear in any case, this might have been the first time, but certainly not the last time, that I visit it.

The venue was a tad small but this was ok since I personally prefer the atmosphere in small venues over those in big ones. There were bands from a number of different styles so there was something for everyone. And I think that maybe only very very few people actually liked all of the bands that played there was no one who went home disappointed. We had thrash mixed with either death, black or technicality brought to us by Arsonist, Hellektrogen, Jesus Chrysler Superskunk and Final Breath. Black metal was given to us by Dark Fortress. Power metal came from Metal Inquisitor. Traditional metal came from Ruffians and Blitzkrieg. And finally melodic death metal, with various other elements were presented to us by Tremors, Biterness and last but not least; Darkmoon.

Warm-up Party

On the Wednesday before the party impatient metal heads were given the chance to get a little taste of what would come.

First up was Arsonist, a band that I already knew almost as long as they exist. This was the sixth time I saw them but I definitely wasn't disappointed. Arsonist did what they do best; they set my neck on fire! Not only mine though, the whole crowd became an inferno of flying hair and rotating necks. They played some of their older songs as well as some newer ones along with their cover of Napalm In The Morning (original by Sodom). Arsonist plays mainly thrash metal with some black metal influences and are really the perfect band to headbang to. The music was very good and the atmosphere was great. Once again Arsonist was definitely worth seeing. Great live band, nothing more to say.

Check them out at: www.arsonist.ch

Helloktrogen? I think I'll keep my comments short here and simply say they weren't my thing. They were a kind of technical thrash metal with a few minor death elements in their music. Technically they played great music. Simply by looking at the three musicians from right across the French border you could see that they definitely knew how to handle their instruments. For me they lacked something though, I can't say exactly what but I just didn't like their show much at all. Their music was good, but I think it's more something that should be listened to on CD then live. Communication with the crowd was done by the guitarist since the bassist/vocalist didn't speak German. They ended their set with Sepultura's Refuse/Resist for which they asked people from the crowd to come on stage and sing it, five people followed the call and sang Refuse/Resist together with the band playing it.

Friday

Bitterness took the slot of local symphonic black metal band Atritas, who couldn't play because their drummer quite the band and the new one wasn't able to play all songs good enough yet. I didn't mind at all though as I had already seen Atritas twice and wasn't enthusiastic at all about either time I saw them. Well here was Bitterness instead so let's talk about them instead of Atritas. Bitterness played melodic death metal, the melodic in it mainly coming from the rather melodic bass playing and the fact that the vocalist rather did some kind of screaming then traditional growling. They didn't play very original music but it worked very well live. I was rather surprised when the guitarist told us that the second guitarist was missing though. During their set it really didn't show that the music was "incomplete", respect to them for playing even when being one man down. I was rather disappointed when their, in my opinion too short, set ended, but oh well, time for Tremors

After the organiser had told me a few times to look forward to Tremors and that they were really great live, I was indeed quite curious. And I wasn't disappointed. I didn't think of them as so amazing as the organiser found them, but I do recognize a great show when I see one, and that is what Tremors gave us. Very good music, somewhere in between melo death, death and brutal death and very headbangable. The band itself gave a good example and they were headbanging throughout most of the show. Especially notable was the vocalist where putting on a great show and headbanging is concerned. Mostly because of his long hair which goes down all the way until the end of his back. Very good band which I'd definitely like to see live again.


Check them at: www.tremors.de

Quite a few people who were there on that night came mainly for Final Breath. I myself was looking forwards to them a lot too. I must say I was a tad disappointed though. I'm not sure entirely why though because they played a good show. I suppose I just expected a bit more from them. They did a good show, clearly over average, but I had expected a great one, and they didn't give us that. According to the vocalist's announcements the band played quite a few slower songs. The guitarist pulled off some really great solos on stage but the band generally didn't really catch my attention on stage. Like I said, they weren't bad at all, but they really weren't as great as I had expected at all either.

Friday was closed by black metallers Dark Fortress. I got the impression that the crowd was divided into two extremes. Those who generally like black metal greatly enjoyed the show and those who generally don't like black metal that much, like me, were rather bored by the show. Because of that I won't say much more about it because my opinion would be very biased. It should be enough to know that if you're into black metal you'll probably like them live and if you're not into black metal you won't. Headbanging was more or less limited to the first row, the rest of the crowd just watching. This stayed that way until the very last song, a cover of Emeperor's I Am The Black Wizards to which almost the whole hall headbanged along. It wasn't too bad that I didn't like the band though because luckily there were also a few merchandise stands in the venue. So instead of having to be bored I got the opportunity to buy myself a new ring.

Saturday

Jesus Chrysler Superskunk opened the second day of the festival. I was rather curious how they'd be as this wasn't their first metal forces festival appearance and the band has ex-members of Hatesquad, Necronimicon and two ex-members of Destruction. So I was looking forward to some good thrash metal. They disappointed me a bit though. The music was a tad heavier then I had expected but apart from that they didn't catch my attention at all. Unspectacular music and an unspectacular show. I realised that I wasn't the only one who got a bit impatient after a while but after a few songs and the joke that the next time we want to take our guns to school, we should consider that there are prettier places to pass away (referring to the recent school shootings), the show was already over.

Now was Darkmoon's turn? It was the third time I saw them live, but I have been looking forward to it since quite a while already. In fact they were actually the reason I got to know about this festival a few months ago, as well as being the main reason I wanted to go. Let me describe Darkmoon to you. Mainly melodic death metal compositions which are enhanced by elements of death metal, black metal, thrash metal, gothic metal, and some jazz, add a bit groove to it and one of the most awesome growlers in our scène. Voila, Darkmoon. Neckbreaking riffs embraced by fascinating grooves and catchy melodies made with top notch musicianship make for great live material. Add that the band obviously enjoys playing live and puts on a great show on stage with loads of energy and headbanging. Unfortunately the band didn't have much time so they couldn't play anything from their three demos at all. This wasn't tragic at all though because their debutalbum is equally great if not greater. They played some songs off that one, including my two favourite ones, The Cell and Evil Goddess Of The Night, as well as two new songs. The new songs sounded very promising on first listen but I can't make a definite opinion as I heard them only once and live after all. I'm quite confident though and looking forwards a lot to the next album. Darkmoon is my favourite live band, next to being great guys, so be sure to see them if they come anywhere near your place. If you're a metalhead you won't be disappointed.



More information at: www.darkmoon.ch

Metal Inquisitor was the third band of the evening. How did they sound? Exactly like Iron Maiden. Basically that's all you have to know about them. Their slower songs sound exactly like the slower songs of Iron Maiden and their faster songs sound exactly like the faster songs of Iron Maiden. Further their guitar parts were a tad weaker, probably due to the fact that they're a guitarist less then Maiden, and their sound had a tiny bit more of a power metal approach. I wasn't greatly impressed by them, yet enjoyed their show because they were quite good on stage, not awesome, yet very good. The great amount of flying heads however suggested that the crowd disagreed with me and did think of the show as awesome, very awesome. So I'll just close this with saying if heavy metal is your thing, go and see them, if Iron Maiden is your thing, go and see them, if traditional metal isn't your favourite style, yet you enjoy good bands from this subgenre you'll probably like them, but I doubt it'll be worth going just for them.



Second to last was the American band Ruffians. This bay area based heavy metal (or traditional US power metal if you prefer) was quite famous back when they released their first few CDs, then however they split-up to unite again roughly 15 years later. With the new album Desert Of Tears recorded and released they hit Europe and played the last concert of the tour here in Lörrach. The band put on a really amazing show with very good music and was my favourite band of the festival right after Darkmoon. The boys were visibly having a great time on stage and were enjoying the concert very much. This atmosphere swapped over to the crowd which was soon as enthusiastic as the band and its great heavy metal with a rather cheerful attitude. All songs they played were great and even a number of people whose favourite metal genre lies somewhere rather distant admitted to have liked the show quite much. A really great band keeping the spirit of traditional heavy metal alive. Definitely a must see for everyone who gets the chance. After the show I also had the luck to meet some of the members and I got the impression that they are great guys who care a lot about their fans. Good band, great show.



For more about them look here: www.myspace.com/Ruffiansmetal

The last band of the evening, Blitzkrieg, brought us some New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. I needed quite some time to get used to ex-Satan vocalist Brian Ross's voice, but after a while I was fully able to enjoy his great singing abilities. Unfortunately I didn't like their music too much as I'm not so into NWOBHM, but I do recognize good musicianship when I see it, and I saw it while seeing Blitzkrieg. The crowd's opinions were divided into two groups, a number of people liking them a lot and another, smaller, number, me included, didn't like them very much at all. Like I said though, this is purely due to musical taste, the band played very well though, if this is your thing, you'll love them. They ended the set, and thus the festival, with covers of Metallicas' Blitzkrieg and Electric Eye, Hell-bent For Leather and Breaking The Law by Judas Priest. The covers were well done and very enjoyable to me except for the last one of which I didn't think it was a very good cover version.




Epilogue

Well, well. The Metal Forces Festival X meant three nights filled with metal in its purest form. The bands were hand chosen by the organiser based on recommendations and how much he liked the bands. So we luckily didn't have to put up with clearly less good and annoying more or less famous metal and metal core bands, nor with the specific kind of crowd they usually attract. This means these three evenings were definitely like metal is supposed to be. There was enough to drink, good merchandise stands, banging heads and good music played passionately by musicians how play for the sake of their music. The atmosphere was great and the music was very good generally. As you'll have understood by now, I didn't enjoy every single band, but there was none that really annoyed me. It's simply the risk that's taken, when there are bands of different subgenres with different sounds, and I'm very glad it was taken.

I saw some really great bands and got to know a few really cool people. This Wednesday and weekend were certainly worth the trips to Lörrach and I'm a 100% sure that I'll try to attend the Metal Forces Festival XI next year as well. I had a great time there and all the people I talked to had as well, actually I'd be surprised if anybody didn't. If you weren't there you missed something great. But don't worry, MFF will be back.

Highlights: Arsonist, Tremors, Darkmoon, Ruffians



[All pictures by me, if you want I'll grant you permission to use them, but let me know first]