Written by:	Baz Anderson, Promonex, GT
Published:	October 10, 2008
Event:	Wacken Open Air 2008 (Website)
Location:	Festivalgelände, Wacken, Germany
Organizer:	ICS Festival Service
Galleries:	Wacken Open Air 2008 - Wacken, Germany by GT (9) Wacken Open Air 2008 - Wacken, Germany, 30 July - 02 August 2008 by Promonex (104) Wacken Open Air - Wacken, Germany, 31st July-2nd August 2008 by Baz Anderson (135)

Grave
Mortal Sin
Cynic
Ensiferum
Kamelot
The Rotted
Sabaton
Autumn
Massacre
Children Of Bodom
Corpus Corax
Van Canto
Avantasia
Gorgoroth


Grave
Promonex: Grave opted to awaken us the brutal way. They grabbed us by the balls and swung us around for 45 minutes delivering a crunchy slab of finest Swedish death metal. Heavy and crushing riffs covered by the mud of ages and a drum sound which delivered kicks in your groin with every hit of the bass drum - what better way is there to start into the second full day of the festival?



Band Gallery:
Barry: Grave gallery
Promonex: Grave gallery


Mortal Sin
Barry: Mortal Sin were the first on the True Metal Stage of the day, and these Aussie thrashers have been around a while, the usual odd split and reform along the line included. There seemed to be a good number of these "true thrashers" at the festival and certainly a good number who were familiar with the old "Mayhemic Destruction" album. The band definitely picked up pace towards the end and put on a great set, just nothing truly memorable.



Band Gallery:
Barry: Mortal Sin gallery



Cynic
Barry: Cynic were the second on the Party Stage of the day and having proved to be popular even after all these years after their one album back in 1993, they pulled quite an audience to their slot of extreme progressive metal. Unfortunately it would seem that one year on, they have grown even more musically pompous and "deep", which turns their music from being stimulating and interesting to just pretentious. Rain also reared its ugly head at this moment and we soon had a full-on downfall to dampen the spirits.



Band Gallery:
Barry: Cynic gallery


Ensiferum
Barry: Ensiferum are one band however that rain will not get down. These cheerful Finns had a large slot on the Black Stage and got their fun-loving music over to the masses who had gathered for them. Ensiferum undoubtedly sound much better in a small club, but don't every band. So in that respect the intimacy I had been used to from this band was stripped away completely, still they managed to deliver a full and highly enjoyable set out to a nation of plastic bag wearing metallers.



Band Gallery:
Barry: Ensiferum gallery


Kamelot
GT: I'm not the biggest fan of Kamelot and my knowledge of their music is limited mostly to their newest album, but their show fitted perfectly with my other plans so of course I went for it. The band played on the True Metal Stage and had quite a crowd, which prevented me and my friends in getting up in front. I still enjoyed the show quite a bit and from what I could hear the setlist contained a good mix of both old and new. Roy Khan has a great voice live as well and when he was joined on stage by none other than the beautiful Simone Simmons it was near perfect. In spite of this I didn't stay for the whole show, but I liked what I saw and heard in the 30-45 minutes I was there.



Band Gallery:
Promonex: Kamelot gallery


The Rotted
Barry: The Rotted had the stage in the W.E.T. tent soon after, and this was set to be one of the highlights of the festival. Upon asking how many British people were in the audience, literally half raised their arms and made themselves heard. These guys, formally known as Gorerotted have changed direction musically more towards a punk edge but still keeping the extreme death metal strong in there. The set included all but one song, "Only Tools And Corpses", from the new album "Get Dead Or Die Trying" and even though it was slightly disappointing to not hear some more of the classics from that 2003 album, the new material sounded astounding live and blew people of all nations back. Superb stuff, The Rotted can only go up and up.



Band Gallery:
Barry: The Rotted gallery


Sabaton
Barry: Sabaton were lucky enough to play when the rain had stopped even though from here on the festival had become somewhat of a cloud-watch game to spot rain in the distance. On the Party Stage however the sound seemed to be lower than usual and this somewhat dampened the show, but the sound didn't need much help doing that seeing as the band seemed to prefer playing newer material which just does not have the same oomph and magic about it as the first few albums material. Finishing with "Metal Machine" was a high point though and definitely the highest point in the set.



Band Gallery:
Barry: Sabaton gallery


Autumn
Promonex: Autumn's new vocalist Marjan had rather big shoes to fill after the departure of Nienke de Jong who just fitted perfectly with this Dutch atmospheric metal outfit. Marjan's voice might not have the same serenity and emotional depth as her predecessor's, but she makes it up with power and charisma. The band as a whole seemed to have a lot of fun on stage and smoothly passed it on to the audience, an easy task with upbeat songs like "Satellites" and "My New Time" of their newest album.



Band Gallery:
Promonex: Autumn gallery


Massacre
Barry: Massacre had the Party Stage next, and once again all the thrashers had found their way here - easy choice when you compare to the drivel that was on the main stage at that time. These reunited Americans who are also all members of other bands were here to show the young ones how it is done. As far as the setlist goes, just play their "From Beyond" album in order and you have it right there - you might as well have just listened to the album from start to finish, just on CD you don't get the rants from the slightly annoying frontman, and requests to see women's breasts after every song. Technically the band played well and it was obvious certain audience members were glad to have seen this band live.



Band Gallery:
Barry: Massacre gallery


Children Of Bodom
Barry: Children Of Bodom provided nothing worth watching and so a rest and sit-down were required. These guys will seem to do anything though, they covered Britney Spears on some single or something, and here they covered that annoying "Umbrella" pop song that is in the charts at the moment. Lovely.


Corvus Corax
Barry: Corvus Corax probably made up half the population of the press area, they filled the stage. Not knowing the slightest thing about this, group of people, before the festival - it was quite a shock to witness this live. A stage full of people playing all kinds of ungodly instruments and a woman with a big voice, it sounded like some kind of epic film soundtrack and even though it was quite offensive to hear at the start, it grew on you and was rather enjoyable towards the end.



Band Gallery:
Barry: Corvus Corax gallery


Van Canto
GT: After a quiet afternoon I teamed up with Promonex and had a few beers before heading for the festival area. Here we went for the W.E.T. Stage where the a cappella power metal band Van Canto were playing. Yes it was weird and yes it was a funny experience but it was also great. The atmosphere in the tent was great and the band just had fun on stage and gave it their best. Unfortunately we were a bit late and therefore we only enjoyed the last three or four songs of their set. This was more than enough for me to say that a cappella metal rocks and it was the perfect way to get pumped for what was up next: Avantasia.


Avantasia
Barry: Avantasia however proved to be the kings of the day. For the people who can tolerate this apparent limp-wristed "power metal", this set was just an hour and a half in paradise with the serpents. Having released a dramatically different third album, the sparkling rock star Tobias selected a very power metal oriented set with most tracks from "...Opera Part 1" and "Scarecrow" albums. No person left this set not feeling impressed with the whole performance, as it was something quite remarkable with its various guests including singing god Jørn Lande and German guitar hero Uli Jon Roth. "Serpents In Paradise" and "Sign Of The Cross" sounded just amazing, and "Farewell", although rather cheesy just had magic written all over it in this huge live environment. Tobi looked genuinely shocked at the reception he got and how much appreciation was shown for him. The set didn't go without its troubles however, Jørn's big entrance on "The Scarecrow" was cut short as for the entire song his microphone would not work and somehow looked confused when he got no reaction when talking to us. Still, all was fixed in the end and all had a superb time watching this metal opera take place. One of the magic, unexpected highlights of the weekend.



Band Gallery:
Barry: Avantasia gallery


Gorgoroth
Barry: Gorgoroth took us all to hell and back with their setup, and if there is such a place as hell, we are all going there for watching this... spectacle. To get this right, this was the Gaahl and King version of Gorgoroth, Infernus may yet win the name, but for now the Gaahl and King version is the one doing the business touring and raping the eyes of the innocent. Meat, head of some description on barbed wire fences, naked, crucified males and females and a hell of a lot of fire made up the visual side of things, not forgetting the corpsepaint and the murderous gaze of Gaahl as he stares into the abyss of the audience. Musically the band were fantastic still, usually with black metal it is the early albums that are the ones that possess the favourites, but the material played from the most recent "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam" album sounded fantastic and more intense than anything the band had put out before. Just look at the images and consider your eyes raped, this was the most spectacular visual show I have ever seen.



Band Gallery:
Barry: Gorgoroth gallery

Thursday, 31/07/08 / Friday, 01/08/08 / Saturday, 02/08/08