After saving my mate from some Dutch girl who wouldn’t take no for answer, I finally got about 3 hours of sleep before the sun finally baked down on our tent turning it into a combustion chamber. Spotting heaps of people still parting the realization of “fuck yes, one more day of noise” set in.
By 10am I managed to be seated for the first band of the day. A band called Beton took the stage and started their sound check and finally I got to see a crust band that had a variety of influences, from Bolt Thrower to Nihilist and of course some Discharge to add that hint of d-beat. So it’s like crust/death/d-beat hybrid of some sort. They’re sound reminded me of a lot of The Beyond, especially their Frostbittenpanzerfuck record. It was like having bricks hurled at your head and the intensity was a lot to handle, I am pretty sure a few of the guys with hangovers were crying. It was relentless, unforgiving, crude and unrefined; yet well executed. Usually crust/punk bands can get away with being a bit sloppy, these guys were on the dime all the time. It was quite the live performance for the first band of the last day of a festival.
I found some time to grab some fries and a virgin mojito as I prepared myself for one of my favourite bands from France. The two-man grindcore machine that is Warfuck took the stage as a few of us gathered against the railing. Getting very up close and personal, it went off like a fucking rail-gun. It was destruction all over the place as the guitarist/vocalist made good use of the space as he shenanzed along the stage, playing and screaming as fast and loud as he possibly could. The drummer looked like he was a RAF tail-gunner of a B-17 flying fortress as he absolutely annihilated the hell hammers. They played most if not all of the songs off their Weak and the Wicked debut full-length and looked like they ended a bit too early, because they we’re playing at hyper-speed.
Warfuck
I managed to catch up the grind-duo after their show to congratulate them on one of the best performances I have seen and that from a two-man grindcore band… your move Wormrot. I managed to go complete fan-girl and bought one of everything they had to offer. They’re top blokes and if you can get their stuff, totally worth it.
Berns and Warfuck
It was time for more crust as Russia’s Distress took the stage, combining the best of British and Scandinavian crust punk in one destructive “fuck the system” package. The package detonated and sent the gathering crowd into a frenzy, especially the crust royal family, they quite enjoyed it by the dancing and being bad ass mother-crusters. Shit jokes aside, they were quite good and after I managed to drag myself away I spent some Krona at the grind-market. The best/worst thing was that the best of the day was yet to come and I was already in awe of the bands I saw, a noise-high if you will.
I made my way back from the market in time to catch Horsebastard as the air filled with blast beats, violence and the smell of cheap cider as they bestowed some god-awful noise upon us at an alarming speed. This is Horsebastard, the kind of band that you could see live and drinking piss would be totally acceptable. The chaotic grinding–powerviolence took most people by surprise, who merely came due to the absolute novelty of the name. They’re a lot of fun to watch live and they really do pack quite a punch! The crowed thoroughly enjoyed it, as did I.
It was finally time to see Sete Star Sept the drum and bass due from Japan. The mere fact that they were from Japan was a massive crowd puller as Japan has a reputation to produce bands that push the envelope. Thinking about it, bands like D-Clone, Disclose, Bathtub Shitter, Intestine Baalism and 213 to name but a few. The merciless noise terrorism that ensued was out of this world. I didn’t know if I should weep or jump for joy. It was something to behold as sheer analog terror set down like a napalm firestorm. The crowd was either completely horrified/shell-shocked or they were losing their shit. It was quite something to behold as the Japanese drum and bass brigade collectively tore the crowd a new fuck-hole! To make it easier to understand how disgustingly awesome the music was, have this analogy: If grindcore is the hardcore porn of extreme music, Sete Star Sept is tentacle porn, simple as that.
Bit of a break as I mentally prepared to sell my hole for Rock ‘n’ Roll as Swedish fastcore/hardcore punk outfit Massgrav took the stage. They were pretty adamant that the crowd had enough of this grindcore shit and asked us if we were ready for some rock ‘n’ roll. Well, fuck! It wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll as they ripped into the crowd at 1000MPH! They are in fact “Still The Kings” as we were crushed into oblivion by the sheer speed and intensity of it all. The Swedes represented at the front of the stage as you could only see silver studded jackets as the crust brigade were on the warpath, rocking out, some with their cocks out even! They even played us 'Police Bastard' by legendary crusties Doom or as they say “This is what we think it should sound like”. The fastest cover song I have seen performed live in my life, with the utmost precision. It was quite something special indeed from the Kings. All hail Massgrav!
Cock and Ball Torture
Next up was Wormed, Spanish tech death behemoths, who put on quite the show, but it’s not really thing, I wanted to see Cock and Ball Torture! The crowd started gathering and the Banana grinders were there as were the other costume freaks, in full force. There was a party about to go down and everyone with a keen ear for “Toilet Grind” was welcome as the kings of said “Toilet Grind” took the stage. Flailing limbs and beach toys were the order of the pit as it got quite out of hand with beach balls and lazy boys being thrown about as if an maple syrup enema/ant hill combo were upon them! It was absolutely nuts! I have never experienced something quite like it as the German band was really getting the crowd to participate. Our esteemed “colleague” with the CBT tattoo was representing as if his life depended on it somewhere in that pit, I’m sure.
Cock and Ball Torture madness
We were in the twilight of the festival as the final stretch seemed to be in sight. The bands that were to follow included Hemorrhage, Krisiun, Aborted, Ratos De Parao, the gorelords Exhumed and the mincecore machine Agathocles.
Hemorrhage picked up where CBT left off as the scrubbed up Spanish grinders donned in surgical outfits appeared on stage. The response was lukewarm like a fresh body. As Dr. Fernando made his entrance, drenched in blood as the first song kicked-off. The Spanish splatter goregrind legends were right at home and started to peel away at the crowd as the noise rained supreme. The crowd got into it as the D&G (Death and Grind) party kicked it into a high gear! A splatacular performance from the goregrind champs and the crowd showed their appreciation with stage-diving/dancing on-stage mischief.
Dr. Fernando and Berns
Brazilian death metal trio Krisiun took the stage to deliver an ear full of Satan, darkness, murder and death. Riff, upon riff, upon riff rang round the festival as live execution was in full flow. They tend to thank the crowd a lot more than the crowd thanked them, well mannered lads. I only noticed their continues crowd praising/thanking because my Aussie mates pointed it out. We started counting the amount of times they said thank you after each song. Dickheadedness aside, they were amazing and oh so tight. It was the kind of performance that makes one feel inept as a musician.
One of the top acts around took the stage and they were all in a band called Aborted and fuck me, goremageddon was well and truly here! The Flemish death metal act was there with one objective, to deliver a clinical colostomy of a performance. It was a surreal performance. One of the best death metal acts and well on par and even better (in some people’s opinion) than Hour of Penance. The struck an amazing balance between death metal and goregrind making sure that even their oldest fans got into it and everyone loved every minute of it!
Break out the riot shields, water cannons and tear gas! Ratos De Parao came to deliver face crushing crossover thrash/hardcore punk. The band has seen a lot of line-changes over the year but still maintained that “fuck the system” attitude to their music. Doing what they do well and just having fun! It was business as usual for the basement rats as they played some killer tracks and just had a blast whilst doing it! It was an electrifying atmosphere and a very special performance from the Brazilians.
The end was insight, whether we liked it or not! The disentomb foursome Exhumed appeared on stage to deliver their own brand of Gore-Fuckin’-Metal! They wasted no time and just got to it, with their iconic mascot running around with a chainsaw to the sweet death metal tunes that send chills down our spines. I saw them a few years ago at Party-san and they surely delivered, creating putrid atmosphere as the mosh pit descended into utter chaos or as Carl likes to put it “ANARCHY IN THE PIT”. Blood, Guts and Beer would be an ideal description for the atmosphere as they ripped it up!
Agathocles
It was time for some MINCE FUCKING CORE as the split-kings Agathocles started to grind us into mince-meat. The mincecore trio from Belgium and their bestial noise reigned supreme over a battered and bruised Trutnov. If grind is protest, then Agathocles embody that completely with a no-bullshit approach to their mincecore noise that had a real punk feel to it. Next level noise attack that left me in utter mince mania disarray, absolutely fantastic live performance from the split-kings! Words can’t describe what happened on that stage, it was phenomenal.
It was finally time to say some goodbyes, but that didn’t stop us partying all night! I definitely want to go back next year! Best festival I have been to! Thanks Curby, you’re a fucking champ!
