### Graspop 2010, Belgium: Day 3

#### 27/08/10 || Altmer

Who: A fuckload of bands. When: 27-06-2010. Where: Boeretang, Dessel, Belgium.

Another hot day. Another way of having to die while watching your favourite bands. The sun shines relentlessly. But I braved it, all in the name of metal, just wishing for more water every second of the day. I suppose that is what you get for going to summer festivals when it’s, you know, summer. In any case, this is the last part of the Graspop report: it also features the best bands! And the one that gets the highest score, wins the Global Domination Penis Trophy for Best Live Cocksuckers. Or something along those lines. Or maybe they just have my eternal gratitude. Whatever, I hate all of those bands anyway.

Opening today were the American prog-metallers Between the Buried and Me. I didn’t like this band on record – their songwriting is much too disjointed for me – but live they are slightly better. Only slightly, because they are still the biggest fans of Dream Theater this world has ever seen. The only thing is they have screamed vocals and some metalcore-ish guitar riffs. But it’s mostly worship of the heavier Dream Theater side. Sometimes there is some Opeth thrown in. It would be more entertaining if these guys moved around more, but I can’t fault their skills. It’s just a pity that amongst all their talent there is too much generic and derivative prog thrown in. Oh well, they score a 5.

More prog metal in the form of Evergrey. There is nothing much to say about these guys, actually – they lost band members, found new ones, and they play the same shit as ever. Moody, melancholic prog metal with tons of skill and a decidedly worrisome lack of hooks. They have the right charisma, they have the right attitude, they have the right temper, they lack the right songs. I just wish that among all the stuff they’ve recorded, I would enjoy more than a couple songs. I wish that they would be less… there. There’s nothing special about Evergrey and even though their set is all fine and they seem like nice guys, I just can’t seem to love them for all their appeal. 6.

Katatonia are one my all time favourite bands and they delivered as per usual this time. Playing mostly recent material, they know how to set atmosphere and mood. They have that little bit extra, not with their stage presence but because the songs have exactly the proper vibe to be enjoyed in a live setting despite the suicide factor. Jonas is a force to be reckoned with vocally, and their chick metal is exactly what I needed on this day. They showed how it’s done. A fantastic band, fantastic guys (no rides with roadies this time though…) fantastic music and a fantastic set. 9

Setlist is as follows:

Forsaker Liberation My Twin Ghost Of The Sun The Longest Year Evidence July Day and Then the Shade Leaders

I sort of half witnessed the thrashers of Exodus. I like thrash, and I like this band superficially, but it gets to be so boring after two songs. Maybe that’s why I don’t like thrash metal – it all ends up sounding the same to me. Exodus do their thing really well, but thrash metal is only for me if it’s Slayer. 6

Then we come to the band of the weekend. Divine penises. The hair on your metal arse. The divine message of Satan brought to you by his Polish messengers. I speak of none other than Behemoth, who played a ravaging set including the most famous crowd pleasers. In front (or behind, what with some really elaborate microphones)of a wicked stage setup, they completely dominated the place. Nergal has extraordinary stage presence, his masks, monstrous faces and facial expressions doing nothing short of tearing the house down. Evil, honking, brilliant metal – this is how I like my extreme metal. Behemoth provided me with the best set of the festival and they get a 9.

Setlist is as follows:

Ov Fire and the Void Demigod Conquer All LAM As Above So Below Slaves Shall Serve At the Left Hand ov God Alas, Lord Is Upon Me Decade of Therion Chant for Eschaton 2000

Two more bands left. Clearly some members of Katatonia were pulling double duty, because the same stage that hosted them earlier now offered to us the mighty Swedish Bloodbath. Mike Akerfeldt is as funny as ever (man I love his dry wit) and Bloodbath are tight motherfuckers. One hour of excellent Swedish death metal to blow my head clean off is all that I wanted from them, and despite the kick drums being INSANELY loud, they offered me some strong headbanging time. Fantastic. Fucken Swedes do it best, and Bloodbath are no exception to the rule. One of the best contemporary death metal bands and it’s a shame they don’t play live more often – but then, we wouldn’t have Opeth and Katatonia as much. And those are excellent live units too. Anyhow, GD’s favourite Swedes get a 8

Setlist is as follows:

Ways to the Grave Soul Evisceration Process of Disillumination Iesous Breeding Death Mouth of Empty Praise Mass Strangulation Cancer of the Soul Mock the Cross Like Fire Outnumbering the Day Eaten

Rounding out the entire festival were another Swedish band, this time the macho vikings of Amon Amarth. They tore like madmen through their songs, adding awesome pyros to their stage gear for the occasion. Amon Amarth put on a fantastic live show, and even if you’re not into slightly more melodic death metal, they are worth seeing for the live atmosphere and experience alone. Even a major sound hiccup – I think the amps completely blew out for the last song, due to the volume being insanely high again – couldn’t dampen the spirits of the crowd, who were roused into an unaccompanied chorus of “Pursuit of Vikings” by the ubiquitous Johan Hegg, that particular tune being the eternal closer for any Amon show these days. It was amazing to see how even a complete technical failure was still canceled out by a patient and welcoming crowd who made the best of an unfortunate situation. Once the power had returned, the band slayed with their closing song – and rounded out an excellent closing day of the festival. Amon Amarth are one of the strongest live bands in the metal scene at the moment and you would do well to pay a show of theirs a visit. They are worth the bucks. 9 (because of the sound failing).

Their setlist was as follows:

Twilight of the Thunder God Runes To My Memory Asator Thousand Years of Oppression Guardians of Asgaard Victorious March Varyags of Miklagaard Death in Fire Live for the Kill Cry of the Black Birds (here the power cut) ———————————— The Pursuit of Vikings

All in all, this was the most enjoyable day of the festival, which is also reflected in the overall grade – today receives a 7,5 out of 10, overall. Death metal and related forms seem to have kicked the most ass at this festival, and the failures mostly came from sound guys who don’t understand that EVEN THOUGH IT’S A FESTIVAL, YOU DON’T PUT THE VOLUME AT 150 DB TO KILL EARS. Fuck, the volume can be turned down just a little. If the lineup is as good as Sunday’s again, I will definitely visit the festival again. It was an enjoyable time – a well organized festival with a decent lineup, and one I wish there were more of around the planet. But with that, I took a train ride home at 5 in the morning, and returned to planet Normal again the next day.

I’ll miss you, sweat and beer.

Graspop 2010: Day 1. Graspop 2010: Day 2.