Copenhell 2012 - Day 1

Copenhell is Copenhagen's biggest annual metal festival (and also a very recent one, this year is only the third year). Compared to last years shit foot, the food served at the festival this year is actually very good, ranging from grill burgers and hot dogs over Thai food to crepes. Also, there is a generally positive atmosphere, which really improves the experience a lot - even to asocial assholes like me. Yesterday was day one, and featured, for my money, the strongest roster yet in the short history of the festival. Of course, I did not get to see all the bands who performed, but I saw the ones I wanted, and I was positively impressed by all of them:

Barricade:
A Danish sludge metal band with two drummers, Barricade, as far as I remember, actually won some kind of competition where the prize was that they got to open the festival. Anyway, their music was sludgy and punky, and they managed to make it sound really massive on stage, pretty much blowing the audience away. Although not my cup of tea, I must say that they are a great live band and definitely a very appropriate act to kick off the fist day.

Skeletonwitch:
The American black-thrash act proved, once again, what a great live band they are. Blending old school thrash with black metal and adding a dose of melodic speed metal, they capture a lot of the things that I like about metal, and, at Copenhell they showed that their brand of metal is just as compelling live as it is on CD. I also liked how they seemed to have a good time on stage, and connected with the audience. They did a very, very good job, indeed.

The Rising:
Unfortunately I missed these guys because they played at the same time as Skeletonwitch - I hope that in the future, the organizers of Copenhell will refrain from having acts on the Pand�monium - which is 100% dedicated to Danish metal - collide with acts from the Helviti and Hades stages.

Killswitch Engage:
Probably the biggest metalcore act ever graced the Helviti stage with their presence. With their original Jesse Leach vocalist back in the fold, they were out to prove that they could rock as hard with him in front as with Howard Jones in front. And rock hard they did. Whether you like their brand of melodic metalcore or not, there is no denying that they are an awesome live band who are very active on stage, and personally I have no problems with Adam Dutkiewicz clownish stage antics - nothing wrong with a bit of humor.

Brutal Truth:
Having visitid Christiania prior to the gig, the grindcore quartet were pretty much stoned off their ass, and having guzzled down a case of beer in no time, they were also drunk off their ass - but that didn't stop them from begging the audience for weed and beers. Under normal circumstances, this is typically considered lame and unprofessional, but, with a band like Brutal Truth, it is forgivable... actually it is part of the whole experience, and the audience played along 100%. Their set was chaotic and noisy, and they did what they do best: unleashing chaotic brutality upon the crowd, who loved every single bit of it. In fact, the band seemed to have such a great time on stage that they totally lost track of time. Brutal Truth delivered a grindcore show which was the way a grindcore show should be: intense and chaotic.

The Interbeing:
The Interbeing played at the same time as Brutal Truth. I went to check them out in the middle of the Brutal Truth set, but I decided to go back to Brutal Truth after a few minutes. Not that there is anything  band)wrong with The Interbeing's brand of melodeath-informed industrial metal (actually, The Interbeing is a very good. It was just that the Brutal Truth show had left me in a frame of mind that was incompatible with the aesthetics of The Interbeing's more polished and organized music. Again, the Copenhell organizers should consider a way to not have bands from the Pand�monium stage collide with bands from the two other stages.

Anthrax:
The highlight of the day. What a great live band! And what a great front man Joey Belladonna is. Their set featured a few tracks from the new album, but otherwise consisted mostly of classics, including their famous cover versions of 'Got the Time' and 'Anti-Social' plus a cover version of 'Neon Knights' (or was it 'Die Young'). As expected, they were very active on stage and connected 100% with the audience.

All Shall Perish:
Not really a band that I follow or anything, but they strike me as being a good live band, and they showed that, if performed well, metalcore-style breakdowns and grooves can be really awesome and powerful live. Still, I am not going to rush out and buy their albums (the frantically screamed vocals are not my thing either, I must say)

Mastodon:
Having had to cancel their gig at Copenhell 2010, Mastodon had to deliver double plus this time around. And they did. Their performance was solid, and especially the tracks from the first three albums came across very well. They didn't really connect with the audience, but I don't think that's their style anyway. Their performance was top ace though.

Gojira:
This is one of the bands I never had the opportunity to explore, so I had actually never heard them before. Their live performance was incredibly tight - probably the most tight and professional performance I've seen in a long time. One thing that was interesting was that, since there is only very little melody to their music, what resonated with the audience were grooves, rhythms and syncopations. I have to say that, in order to pull that off, you have to be a very accomplished musician. I might explore this band some time in the future, but, despite my admiration of them as musicians and live performers, I was not completely sold on the music itself. Not a critique, just a matter of my taste in music.

Slayer:
Slayer seemed tired, but their music is so full of energy and aggression that, despite the absence of virtually any activity, apart from Kerry King and guest guitarist Gary Holt doing some headbanging every now and then, the concert was still a very positive experience. This is actually meant as a complement to Slayer's music - the songs are so powerful and full of aggressive energy that they can stand on their own. They do not need any stage show or any sort of stage antics to be made interesting. The sound swas also pretty phenomenal - they've managed to capture that unique Slayer sound on stage.

So today is the second day, and I actually don't know what to go and see. Saxon is the only name that I am really interested in seeing, and perhaps immortal and The Kandidate.

Gallery


Edited by Time Signature - 17 Jun 2012 at 3:27am

UMUR wrote: Especially the two latter had extremely good live sound. I�ve never heard Slayer with such a clear sound before.

True. Slayer's sound was extremely good.  Also, Kudos to Gary Holt for stepping in... it was like seeing both Slayer and Exodus at the same time. ;-)

UMUR wrote: I unfortunately missed Skeletonwitch as I was waiting in line to get into the festival while they played.

They were very good. I went there early this year, to avoid standing in line... I even had time to grab a sandwich with my significant other for lunch before heading off to Copenhell. Also, I went alone so I wouldn't have to wait for anyone and all that shit. Being the asocial bastard I am, I actually enjoyed being there on my own, not having to take anyone other than myself into consideration.

I would say that Anthrax probably had the best connection with the audience off all the bands who played Friday.

He did? Well, I forgive him :-)

I agree. They did seem tired - I liked Gary Holt's solos though. He really managed to make them just as chaotic as Hannemann's solos.

It's because their music in itself is so powerful. I mean, they could be sitting around in sofas with the backs to the audience, and it would still be a great show.