Wacken Open Air - Friday
4 August 2006
Wacken, Germany
Its 11am, we`re tired having been kept up by our over exuberant German neighbours nocturnal party, so what we really need is some manic black/death metal? Surprisingly the answer is yes as Mystic Circle manage to blow away our hangovers. Whilst this blast of metal is welcome, after a while the one dimensional vocal delivery of Beelzebub (yes he does get up in the morning apparently) rendered some of the material a bit samey, but throwing a portion of Raining Blood into Medina (Satan`s Whore) ensured attention was recaptured.
Mystic Circle set list:
Unholy Terror / Satanic Rituals / Awaken By Blood / Servants Of Twilight / Medina (Satan`s Whore) / Nine Plagues Of Egypt / The Bloody Path Of God / Open The Gates Of Hell
Wintersun were highly anticipated but ultimately thwarted by the outdoor sound. When ripping through Malmsteen-esque arpeggio`s Jari Mäenpää`s mob were a joy, but as soon as pedal hits metal the guitars vanished from the mix. Drawing a large following, Beyond The Dark Sun received huge cheers, but it`s when the guitars are tuned down for Beautiful Death that Wintersun really make sense. Ultimately Wintersun`s dynamics would seem more suited to the indoors rather than being lost to the occasional wisp of wind.
Wintersun set list:
Winter Madness / Beyond The Dark Sun / Battle Against Time / Sleeping Stars / Beautiful Death / Death & The Healing / Starchild
Just like Wintersun before them, Legion Of The Damned treat us to all but one song from their debut album. Unlike the proceeding band, the Dutchmen aren`t going to let the wind steal their brutal thrash attack, nor are we going to get disturbed by noise drifting from the other stage, such is the wall of noise assembled. Bleed For Me may sound like a Kreator covering Slayer, but, hell, when it`s this head`s down good who cares.
Legion Of The Damned set list:
Werewolf Corpse / Death`s Head March / Demon Fist / Taste Of The Whip / Into The Eyes Of The Storm / Killing For Recreation / Malevolent Rapture / Bleed For Me / Legion Of The Damned
Today`s square peg, Danko Jones, somehow manages to fit into the round hole and pull off a great set with a huge injection of hilarious attitude. Danko acknowledges early that this ain`t metal but rock`n`roll, and it`s also catchy as hell. Four songs in, the band get buzzed by a huge military helicopter with Danko comically screaming at the crowd to look at him rather than the air man waving from the open door. Elsewhere, a story of wanking causing him to wear an eye patch today and praises to Satan to send some rain, entertain as does the likes of Play The Blues, Lovercall and closing number The Mountain, which name checked just about every dead metal hero.
Danko Jones set list:
I`m Alive & On Fire / Sticky Situation / Forget My Name / Sugar Chocolate / Baby Hates Me / Invisible / Play The Blues / The Cross / Mango Kid / She`s Drugs / Lovercall / Sleep Is The Enemy / Mountain
All subtleties are banned for the next sixty minutes as Six Feet Under bludgeon the crowd in front of the Black Stage. Six years ago here, their late night slot was awesome, but today I`m more concerned about my head being fried by the unrelenting sun, than being Hacked To Pieces. Dreads flailing, Chris Barnes leads the sing along of Revenge Of The Zombie, and then turns death metal rapper for Feasting On The Blood Of The Insane. Capping off a groove filled set is of course an AC/DC cover, TNT.
Six Feet Under set list included:
Revenge Of The Zombie / Feasting On The Blood Of The Insane / The Enemy Inside / Still Alive / Victim Of The Paranoid / No Warning Shot / Torture Killer / War Is Coming / Shadow Of The Reaper/ TNT
Nevermore have been plagued by band illness so it`s an achievement that they are doing the European festival circuit this summer at all. Bassist Jim Sheppard has made the journey, but Steve Smyth`s condition means that once again Jag Panzer`s Chris Broderick is manning a seven string guitar. Broderick performs ably, but as usual its Jeff Loomis` guitar work that causes jaws to be collected from the floor. Warrell Dane seemed to be enjoying the occasion and after the surprise inclusion of the epic This Godless Endeavour, calls for a record number of crowd surfers which they seemed to achieve during an energetic Born.
Nevermore set list:
Final Product / The River Dragon Has Come / I, Voyager / Engines Of The / Dead Heart In A Dead World / Enemies Of Reality / Narcosynthesis / This Godless Endeavour / Born
I understand Opeth had suffered from the sound of Hammerfall drifting over last time they played Wacken and pretty early on today Mikael Åkerfeldt is asking who`s on the other stage. "Soilwork? They`re from the south & everyone from there is a farmer" was his tongue in cheek reply. Yes, Åkerfeldt`s dry wit was in tow, as he tells us he bought two castles from the proceeds of Blackwater Park before the Leper Affinity. Problem was you need to fully immerse yourself in an Opeth performance which was proving very difficult with another band audible and half way into the set it was time to give up and check out the second half of the farmers set.
Opeth set list included:
The Grand Conjuration / The Amen Corner / The Leper Affinity /
Funnily enough Soilwork`s bassist Ola Flink does look like a farmer. He also had a comical habit of standing on a raised platform stagefront with his bass lifted under his heavily bearded chin. A huge crowd had gathered at the Party Stage for the Swedes performance and it was songs from their Natural Born Chaos album that they were most keen to greet. Frontman Bjorn Strid, curiously in an American accent, demands the whole crowd jump up and down for As We Speak and the response makes it look like we`re stood on a bouncy castle.
Soilwork set list included:
The Bringer / Follow The Hollow / Light The Torch / Nerve / Stalemate / As We Speak
Since I hate bagpipes and most Germans seem to like In Extremo, it was time for a quick venture to the empty shower block before catching a rare performance from Carnivore. Hardly a reformation, Pete Steele has simply assembled a new line-up, but with Life Of Agony`s Joey Z on one guitar, it`s one that delivers. Carnivore`s chunky NYHC crossover sound works perfectly through the outdoor P.A., and there are no concerns about interference from the other stage. Of course this is Pete Steele so there`s mischief to be had, with a faked initial set consisting of about 2 chords. Once back for real, its awesome stuff as the band, in uniform black and red, power through choice cuts from their two albums. Jesus Hitler came as something of a surprise inclusion, given our location, and for Sex & Violence having appeared in blood stained butchers aprons, the band are joined by topless girls with blood squirting water pistols.
Carnivore set list:
Carnivore / Race War / Angry Neurotic Catholics / Male Supremacy / Inner Conflict / Predator / Helter Skelter / Suck My Dick / Jesus Hitler / World Wars III & IV / Sex & Violence
Potty mouth Alexi f**king Laiho and Children Of f**king Bodom put on a stage f**king show and draw a crowd big enough to be considered f**king headliners today. In fact it`s pretty much the same f**king show the band have been touring since the release of Are You f**king Dead Yet? As experienced before at f**king outdoor events, Bodom seem to like the f**king sound kept f**king low to ensure its f**king good quality. It is, but it`s too f**king quiet, though the show is as ever, f**king good. Just why does Alexi insist on f**king swearing so f**king much.
Children Of Bodom set list:
Silent Night Bodom Night / Hate Crew Deathroll / Living Dead Beat / Sixpounder / Angel`s Don`t Kill / Towards Dead End / Hate Me / Needled 24/7 / Deadnight Warriors / Are You Dead Yet? / Everytime I Die / Follow The Reaper / In Your Face / Downfall
Everything was perfect for Celtic Frost. With the night sky above us, the stage decked out in Celtic Frost heptagram`s and a huge Geiger To Mega Therion backdrop, oodles of dry ice and eerie blue & purple lights. Onstage, Tom Gabriel Fischer`s persona is indeed frosty, with little to say between each crushing song. And they are crushing, with the foot taken off the gas on much of the older material to increase the heaviness, Frost seem more akin to the doom scene than the thrash scene they once dwelled in. Its bassist Martin Eric Ain that grabs most attention however. With a mass of hair and beard covering most of his corpse paint smeared face, he strolled around the stage purposefully wearing a cassock like some sort of evil priest. His monologue during closing epic Synagoga Satanae was downright eerie and whilst an odd selection of finale, the choice added to a strangely satisfying uncomfortable feeling that Frost evoked.
Celtic Frost set list:
Totengott (intro) / Procreation (Of The Wicked) / Dethroned Emperor / The Usurper / Ain Elohim / Necromantical Screams / Dawn Of Megiddo / Visions Of Mortality / Into The Crypt Of Rays / Circle Of The Tyrants / Synagoga Satanae
Woooah! Who turned the volume up and how? Somehow Ministry managed to be twice as loud as any other band all weekend. The band themselves are just shadowy figures backed by blinding white lights and a series of images, most commonly of George W Bush. They may not be very visible but the line up Al Jourgensen has assembled for this tour included a rhythm section of Joey Jordison (Slipknot) and Paul Raven (Killing Joke) with Tommy Victor (Prong) handling one of the guitars, so it`s no surprise how tight Ministry are. Choosing the first nine songs solely from the band`s last two, more metallic, albums, Ministry conjured up an awesome spectacle of sight and sound, before hitting us over the head with some older classics to close the show.
Lights images
Ministry set list:
Fear (Is Big Business) / Senior Peligro / No W / Rio Grande Blood / Great Satan / Waiting / Lies Lies Lies / Worthless / Wrong / NWO / Just One Fix / Thieves / Khyber Pass / Psalm 69
Amon Amarth shirts seemed to be everywhere this weekend so it`s no surprise, even given it`s 2am, that the field is once again flooded with people for their performance. Johan Hegg was certainly up for it, as usual without shirt, stomping around the stage encouraging a response as the band power through Pursuit of Vikings and For the Stabwounds in our Backs. Billed tonight to include a Viking re-enactment group, the warriors finally appear during an extended end to An Ancient Sign Of Coming Storm where an onstage battle took place. Later they reappear during Where Silent Gods Stand Guard as a Viking guard. The Viking`s had been camping in the press area, where they did have a traditional Viking camp. Though I`m not sure the original Vikings had Frosties for breakfast! Runes To My Memory is aired from forthcoming album With Oden On Our Side which hinted that Amon Amarth aren`t deviating from their trusty sound. Vikings and all this was a triumphant night for the Swedes.
Amon Amarth set list:
Pursuit of Vikings / For the Stabwounds in our Backs / An Ancient Sign of Coming Storm / Fate of Norns / Where Silent Gods Stand Guard / Runes To My Memory / Releasing Sulturs Fire / Victorious March / Death in Fire
LINKS:
Wacken Open Air
Amon Amarth
Primal Fear
Ministry
Celtic Frost
Children Of Bodom
Korpiklaani
In Extremo
Opeth
Soilwork
Nevermore
Six Feet Under
Danko Jones
Legion Of The Damned
Wintersun
Mystic Circle
End Of Green
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