The show opens with black metal band Vesania. They are represented by a single song, "Marduke's Mazemerising," an interesting excurison into the black with a touch of progressive and a flair for the dramatic. They were onstage wearing face paint, standing still and creating a pretty imposing image. The performance was very good, I love the liberal use of keyboards and the jackhammer of the double bass. I had no idea what he was saying, but the growled vocals had a nicely evil feel to it.Next up was Hieronymus Bosh with a pair of songs "The Apogee" and "Blind Widow Stare." This band out of Russia has a good sound, a style of progressive death, complete with growled vocals. It is those vocals which are the weakest part of their sound, they just didn't stand out for me. On the other hand, the music was pretty was intense and very technical. The performance was interesting, I wouldn't mind hearing more of them.
The third act to appear suffered from slightly muted audio, sounded a litte flat. I am sure this wasn't due to their performance, was pretty cool and a different direction than the first two bands. They are called Hunter and their submission is called "Plytki Dolek." A Polish metal band whose name was inspired by the Def Leppard song "Die Hard the Hunter." Their performance is good, despite the diminished audio. It has more of a mainstream sound, although it more unique than that sounds. They incorporate violin into the music which adds another layer of interest. I definitely wish they had more than one song to show off what they could do.
Following Hunter was the black metal of 1349 a black metal band out of Norway. They are named for the year that the black plague came to the homeland. They were onstage, a mass of swinging hair, growled vocals, jackhammer fast drums, and a raw blackness. The three song set was definitely charismatic, if not terribly technical. The band is raw and they play to that strength onstage. The set concludes with the downright evil sounds of "Satanic Propaganda."
Acid Drinkers took the stage next, bringing their Polish thrash metal to the stage in front of a home crowd. I first heard of the band not long ago, thinking they had a great band name. Their set of three was filled with head banging riffs, driving drums, and an interesting take on the thrash style. The band has been around for twenty years, and longevity has not dulled their in your face attack. I had no idea what they were singing during the likes of "Life Hurts More Than Death" or "Human Bazooka," but it didn't matter, the riffs were catchy, infectious, and easy to get into.
Now we get to a band that I am a little more familiar with, and have liked everything I have heard from them thus far. The band is Nevermore, a band that blends thrash, death, progressive, and power metal into their distinctive heavy sound. I saw them in 2005 on Gigantour and was very impressed with their live performance, and their contribution here does not disappoint. I only wish they had more than three songs here (or came back to my town, or released a live DVD)! Warrel Dane sounds great, and the rest of the band is on point as the play "Final Product," "The Heart Collector," and "Enemies of Reality."
Nevermore was followed by another band that I have been a fan of for awhile now, Moonspell, hailing from Portugal. I had the opportunity to see them this past Fall in a very small club where they were very impressive. Moonspell is big, bombastic, and incredibly dramatic. With the layers of guitars and keyboards, they have a full wall of sound backing Fernando Ribiero's deep vocals. Their set consisted of "Wolfshade," "Opium," and "Awake!"
As we near our headliner, we get a trio of songs from Anathema. This band from Britain offered a rather different experience than its predecessors, eschewing much of the dark theatrics and thrash tendencies to deliver a more atmospheric/progressive performance, complete with a string section. Sure, they rocked, but it was a definite change of pace, I got a bit of a heavy Radiohead vibe from them. All told, this was very good and helped to demonstrate the variety of styles on display at the festival.
The final band to appear on the disk is Therion, hailing from Sweden, they really surprised me. They are a band that I had heard of, but not heard, so I did not know what to expect. I did not expect the symphonic metal that greeted my ears when they started. Quite frankly, I was very impressed with what I heard, it was big, epic, complex, and had a unique flavor that I really liked. Their set included "Seven Secrets of the Sphinx," "Asgard," and "Siren of the Woods."
In addition to the 22 track DVD, there is also a twelve track CD featuring the bands that played the festival's side stage.
The disk kicks off with Belphegor's "Seyn Todt en Shwartz," a galloping black metal track that failed to interest me. It is followed by Shadows Land's "The Energy of Masses." This cut features a bit of a Nine Inch Nails electonic vibe before cutting into an epic black track that I found myself very much enjoying. Track three is a brief song from Antigama called "The View," it is comprised of a cacophony of swirling guitars.
Totem kicks off the second quarter of the album with an epic song called "Thrash the South," which reminded me of Slayer crossed with Sepultura. Corruption's "99% of Evil" was next with more of an old school thrash sound. "Mercyful Hate" by the No-Mads was next, it was cut from a straight up speed/thrash cloth and was not groundbreaking, but it was easy to bang your head to.
The first half of the album down, the secong half starts with Archeon's "Prayer," a strong progressive track that brought in a more technical sound than the previous side stage bands. Centinex followed with "Victorious Flag Rising." Can't say that I cared for it, but it sounded good loud. Closing out three quarters is SuidAkrA with "The IXth Legion," a strong cut from a band with an oddly capitalized title. It was medieval metal that brought Jag Panzer to mind.
Heading down the home stretch, we have Misanthrope's "The Stud Farm of Amazones," an interesting death/black style song with a curious title. Beseech brings us one closer to the end with "Innerlane." This was a good metal track with nice guitars and big dramatic vocals, reminiscent of Darzamat. Closing out the CD of second stage acts is The Old Dead Tree with their song "Out of Breath," a death metal song that has more straight metal leanings. Good song with an interesting structure.
Audio/Video. Neither are extraordinary, but they all do the job well. The 5.1 audio is a bit of a mixed bag depending on the band, it is not consistent all the way through. The video is consistently mediocre. Still, there is a lot of material hear, and it is in a nice package.
Extras. Not much, but they are here.
- Like previous Metalmania entries they include desktop images of the coverart, the current logo, and a history of the festival.
- If you go to the song selection page, you will be able to get video interviews with each of the main stage bands as well as text information about the bands for both main and side stage acts. This is a very nice bonus to include.
Bottomline. Once again we are given a nice DVD/CD set of metal, most of which many of us are likely unfamiliar with. It is a great way to get introduced to some great music and different styles. They also make me want to brave the language barrier and travel to Poland to attend the event in person.
Recommended.
