PARTY SAN OPEN AIR 2011

Morbid Angel - Ensiferum - 1349 - Belphegor - Melechesh - Primordial - Absu - Desultory - Skeletonwitch - Urgehal - Truppensturm - Puteraeon

“Wondering how Dave Vincent might look naked?” -“Like cement. Stiff!” - Dajana

[Dajana] Party to the full… that’s the way we looked and felt the next morning *laughs* To pick ourselves up at midday was… troublesome. The first promise of the day: today we take it much easier! But hey, we stood in front of stage on time when the first band entered the stage! The big stage! Crew was working all night long and in fact managed to fix everything. Stage got approved by the officials. Otherwise the PARTY SAN OPEN AIR 2011 would have ended here abruptly. That’s for sure. Thank you guys, you are awesome!!!
[Haris] That was a masterstroke indeed – but still a pity that the consistently good weather of the previous day couldn’t be used, since the one or other shower was forecast for Friday.
[Wiebke] After it took half of the day to look for my mind and the other half of my circuit I came to life again. Coffee helped a lot… ;)

:: pics ::

[Dajana] What, from the name, sounded to me like a band from South American, was in fact Swedish Death Metal ;) So :: PUTERAEON :: professionally opened the second festival day. Ok, the infantry was still lame, want to say, most people got their wake-up call now, from the stage. We made it already in the front row, but were still tired too. But homey Swedish Death Metal pushed the caffeine faster through the veins and step by step spirits got revived ;)
[Wiebke] Sound is still bumpy, bass and drums hum sort of monotonous in Experience Zombification, while the double bass in Grave Robber are almost like a punch in the guts. Damn… I need some food.
[Haris] My Swedish Death Metal fetish was fully pleased already in these early hours by the congenial guys from Alingsås. PUTERAEON had their fingers on the pulse of the time with their debut The Esoteric Order and surprised with their technical Swedish Death Metal in the same line as Entombed’s Clandestine. The material superbly worked live, especially as singer/guitarist Jonas and guitarist Rune let their Boss HM-2 pedal fuzz even more than on the album – an early highlight, the perfect defloration of the main stage.

[Dajana] I have to admit, :: TRUPPENSTURM :: is a band that passed me unnoticed so far. But their logo perfectly suited the motto of PARTY SAN OPEN AIR ;) Hell Is here! Hell yessss! Hell broke loose when TRUPPENSTURM kicked of their set. When closing my eyes I had the feeling that an ICE at full speed was passing me an inch ahead, for the whole of 45 minutes. Such feeling is awesome when the ICE is called Hate Eternal. TRUPPENSTURM not even rudimentarily reached such level intensity and furiousness.
[Wiebke] “Dumb is trump”. That’s at least my opinion. Nothing special TRUPPENSTURM play here. Movement to a radius of 0. This Black metal band could have played in the tent.

[Wiebke] In comparison :: URGEHAL :: already appear somewhat of melodic ;) The dudes look fit and fronter Nefas, once again a bit more corpulent, is in good voice. Bassist Mannevond animates fans unremittingly. There is actually no need for, the crowd is already taken. During their set URGEHAL not only Hail Satan, they also Die For Satan ;)
[Dajana] Hehehe… I was curious too. Last URGEHAL shows I have seen have been… well… anything else than good, mainly due to the band’s level of alcohol when they entered stages. Today, they just have been great.
[Haris] Well… I can share this with some reservations only – solely bassist Mannevond moved a lot on stage and tried to carry the audience. Singer Trondr Nefas (who already has a neat belly) was stuck to his microphone and Mr. Pinhead himself, Enzifer, obviously seemed not to have that much fun being “forced” to perform the sinister, cold Black Metal of the Norwegians in the daylight. The ingeniously interpreted black cover version of the Autopsy-classic Twisted Mass Of Burnt Decay was the only highlight for me – thumbs up for that.

[Dajana] That :: SKELETONWITCH :: are a guarantee for asskicking shows I already knew and experienced. So I was in front of stage on time, and yes, the US thashers lived up to my expectations and delivered once again a highly energetic and powerful Death/Thrash/Black Metal show. Another band with a brand new album. But Europeans have still to wait a little, Forever Abomination will be released on October 7. To make our mouths watering to brand new songs were played with Reduced To The Failure Of Prayer and Choke Upon Betrayal.

[Dajana] Next up was :: DESULTORY :: and these guys had a bad hair day, because right at the beginning of their show Ba’al opened his gates and it was raining cats and dogs.
[Haris] Oh yes, and it rained almost the whole set. The whiff of optimism faded at the latest at the gig of the Swedes – because I didn’t reckon that it would rain so massively and thus being clothed pretty summery on the one hand and on the other hand, the sound man just seemed to sleep during DESULTORY, one of my youth heroes, and tuned down the volume of the lead guitar. Which meant that you couldn’t know the promise of the genius hook lines, which lead guitarist Håkan knocked out – one of the band’s trade marks. Besides that, singer/guitarist Klas had technical problems, which led to playing the one or another bum note. The choice of songs was good-class, but the mentioned surrounding circumstances unfortunately lead to no other conclusion than speaking of the (personally) first disappointment of the PSOA 2011, and that in spite of pearls like Life Shatters or In A Cage. Bummer!

[Dajana] Another band followed that downright has blown me away :: ABSU :: I never saw them live so far. Drummer Proscriptor McGovern delivered such crazy sing-jump-drum-playing-performance I cannot really describe. Total madness. This man is insane. And, by the way, totally brilliant. After the self-titled fifth album last year a new one is announced: Abzu (how inventive *lol*) is set to be released in October too. Great music, great show, great mood!
[Wiebke] ABSU is a band you have to get into. So close your eyes and open up your ears and you will be rewarded with an extraordinary intensive, technically perfect, extreme metal. Each of these three musicians is a virtuoso. But how the drummer makes it to sing that way while going wild behind his kit, I have no clue…

[Wiebke] After :: PRIMORDIAL :: have played their best live show ever so far at Rock Hard Festival the bar was raised high. With 45 minutes playing time not soooo many songs could have been played, but nevertheless Alan did his best from the very beginning. His singing was not that clean but convincing. His charisma makes his mates to extras. Unfortunately. At Bloodied Yet Undied his micro runs down, for a moment, but Alan was nonchalant and charming covering up. It luckily was the only malfunction. At the end a great show but not one of these outstanding ones.

[Dajana] I was much looking forward to :: MELECHESH :: Long, long time I have not seen them playing live. They were one of a few faves on my festival list. And I give a fucking shit on Nile vs. MELECHESH comparisons. I like MELECHESH’s sound, their riffing, their rhythms and the oriental sounds in between and… anyway, great show! So!
[Wiebke] MELECHESH needed approx. 5 seconds to get the crowd under their spell. Ashmedi on stage has a monstrous charisma. MELECHESH sound best when they slow down a little and lead over to the oriental tunes. Unbelievably - intensive - impressing.

[Dajana] Ahem… well… :: BELPHEGOR :: I don’t like them. Low class, embarrassing, stereotype and overrated, added by Helmuth’s senseless announcements. First band with pyros and those got let off amateurish, uninspired and uncoordinated with the music. Promised “blood show” did not take place either, there have just been the usual bowels on the micro and an extra embarrassing… erm… dancer… at the end of the show. Totally dispensable.

[Dajana] Again a band that could fully convince :: 1349 :: Generally speaking PARTY SAN OPEN AIR 2011 was the festival of black metal bands. All of them just great during the entire festival.
[Haris] Definitely! The Norwegians seized the opportunity of their slot position and had one of most intense light shows of all the festivals and Frost or not – the guy is a perfectionist and you hear that in his play and in his drum sound. The sound of the snare drum was almost orgasmic! Singer Ravn posed perfectly while the guitarists played their stuff tight throughout the set. The highlight: the absolutely godlike Serpentine Sibilance from the underrated 2009 album Revelations Of The Black Flame.
[Wiebke] Yes, I was surprised by 1349 too. What tight, powerful and rocking performance! Those who think Black Metal can’t kick ass never experienced the Norse men in their top form. So it’s only worth one teardrop that Frost does not sit behind the drum kit.

[Dajana] *yawns* :: ENSIFERUM :: …Viking/Folk Metal. Can’t stand it anymore. Aside a very few exceptions. Experienced show, an audience that freaks out, nothing new.

[Dajana] The new album is really, really terrible. But live… :: MORBID ANGEL :: could still make it, if they play old songs, so I thought anyway. As if they have heard me thinking… *laughs* And… did you ever realize what great voice David Vincent has??? Just…. huuuuuuh HOT! There have not been less girls getting weak. Furthermore he cut out his senseless talking, just a breathtaking show full of classics and only 3 new tracks. Ok, I had 2. 3 more songs on my fave setlist, but hey, you can’t have it all, right? What I definitely did not like was the fact that only David had a spot and the rest of the band stood in pure darkness. Oh, and yes, the rain… There was no need for.
[Haris] Starting the set with the openers of my two favorites from MORBID ANGEL was fantastic – but the rain foiled me once again and made us watch the gig from the Rock Hard tent, alternately gaping to the stage and spying Götz handling with his mobile phone.
Setlist: Immortal Rites, Fall From Grace, Rapture, Maze Of Torment, Existo Vulgoré, Nevermore, I Am Morbid, Angel Of Disease, Chapel Of Ghouls, Where The Slime Live, God Of Emptiness, World Of Shit (The Promised Land)

[Dajana] As promised, it was a quiet day, regarding our party activities ;) Weather gave us the rest and brought us early into the sleeping bags.