Anomalie - Taake - Diabolical - Frantic Amber - Waldschrat - Mortal Strike - Monument Of Misanthropy - Moros - Ebony Of Archways

16:00 16:30 :: EBONY ARCHWAYS :: - The Styrian band round the very sympathetic vocalist Michel got the honourable duty to open up this year’s KALTENBACH OPEN AIR. Melancholic gothic sounds get combined with metallic elements so that the group offers both eerie sentiments and very good humour. One reason for this ambivalent effect is the downright ear candy Hero In A Tragedy, but faster tracks invade the auditory canals conveniently and care for dynamic augmentations.

16:50 17:20 :: MOROS :: - In fact, it is very easy to describe the kind of music these crazy guys play, I only want to cite two song titles, namely Drunken To The Bone and Psychotic Maniac! I need not to say anything else, because a hyperactive, slightly weird front man with jeans and batman trousers disperses fun and drinks quite a lot, just to tell the audience that it gets more and more attractive – thanks a lot for the compliment and the nice thrashing tracks!

17:40 18:10 :: MONUMENT OF MISANTHROPY :: - Afterwards, the French-Austrian connection unleashes DeathGrind of decent technical way, whereby I really have problems to find the thread, because I am not familiar with the songs. So I only know the cover version of mighty Death and the band honours this legend with an enthusiastic version of Pull The Plug.

18:30 19:10 :: MORTAL STRIKE :: - Sorry, MORTAL STRIKE! I really wanted to watch the whole gig, but on the way to the stage I had a discussion about the variable musical program on this festival, but two genres are underrepresented: Doom and Power Metal! Unfortunately I miss some songs, but I can manage to listen to the band hymn For The Loud And Aggressive. The cheering crowd’s reactions show that the group got the certain something to light the spark, especially the last song Raining Blood enthuses every maniac.

19:30 20:10 :: WALDSCHRAT :: - I really appreciate this year’s alternating running order and the variable mixture avoiding boredom. Now the time has come for WALDSCHRAT to darken the sun for a while. The emotional, epic pieces are spiced up by duelling vocals and the calm passages enjoy the listener’s ear, when breaking the unleashed, poisoned speed attacks. One track called Als Das Leid Das Land Heimsuchte leaves memorable traces in my mind because of the felicitous build-up.

20:30 21:20 :: FRANTIC AMBER :: - Yeah, total female power with a male drummer as support, the crowd waits for the Melodic Death Metal hopefuls from Sweden! No wonder that the mood gets better and better with every song. Front lady Elizabeth knows how to animate all visitors while acting out continuously and occupating the stage with pathetic gestures. It is really fascinating to see how the growling lady is able to bang her head during the sovereign vocal performance! Thereby she crawls on the amps like a reptile, creeps on the floor and knees down in ecstasy. The show is really awesome, just one slight deficit: I cannot understand that the downright masterpiece Unbreakable is not played, what a pity – but I am happy with the earworm Soar, too! Damn cool!!!
Setlist: Intro + Burning Insight, Bleeding Sanity, Soar, Self Destruction, Entwined, Drained, Wrath Of Judgement, Ghost, Hammer Smashed Face (cover)

21:40 22:40 :: DIABOLICAL :: - The guys in DIABOLICAL showed up with a smile at the signing session and this friendly, quite contained impression is also true for the live performance. Well, it is not easy to find an access to the complex songs, but after some minutes, there is something like a hypnotic passion, which captures me totally, especially at the show’s last third, when more direct Black Metal structures form an interesting contrast to the complex beginning.
Setlist: Tremor, Decline, Requiem, Reincarnation of the Damned, Diaspora, Wolves' Choir, Fields of Nihil, Into Oblivion, Eye, Metamorphosis

23:10 00:30 :: TAAKE :: - Afterwards, TAAKE continue the evening of hypnotic sounds and convince with full force, because not only cudgelled parts or blasts dominate the scenery, but also elegiac sequences come into operation. All fans float away to distant spheres and are droned into the impelling sounds, deep down into pitch-black depths without return…

00:50 01:30 :: ANOMALIE :: - Sometimes the best happens at the end and the irresistible ANOMALIE set a fantastic punch line of this felicitous first festival day. Many compositions start in borne, dreamy manner, ere they augment little by little, just to explode in nasty-rapid outbreaks. I think that emotional music cannot be performed better, so that many adepts stay till the end to deeply indulge the epic and again hypnotic performance!

story © Leo • photos © Elisabeth Eichmüller for earshot.at