Katatonia - Primordial - Asphyx - Daylight Dies - Ahab - Ereb Altor - Ophis

[Wiebke] Since we now knew how to get in we queued correctly till the doors opened. Belated, while it is icy cold outside. What we had to learn first is that 40 WATT SUN cancelled their appearance due to illness. More playing time for the other bands…

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[Wiebke] :: OPHIS :: were already raring to go and then played with much drive and power right from the first second on. Beautifully deep growls and sluggish riffwork, perfectly made to headbang to, made me smile at this early hour. Yeah, it’s “rrroooaaarrr“-time! Beneath Sardonic Skies got dedicated to the former bass player, who is anywhere among the audience. My personal fave is definitely the closer, Halls Of Sorrow, its quieter passages raise a Swallow The Sun-feel.

[Wiebke] It might now have appeared as if Isole did not had a shower last night and furthermore abused Alan Averills vanity case, but it is :: EREB ALTOR :: Layered voices, catchy guitar melodies and acoustic parts pleased every Viking fan. By Honour let me think of Bathory and promptly Home Of Once Brave followed, heating up mood and emotions. Great show!
[Dajana] Although EREB ALTOR for sure breathe pure Bathory sound and vibes, but it’s the cover version, which is the weaker song in the set. However, great show though, loved it ;) The Swedes scored 9 out of 10 points with their last record The End.
Setlist: Myrding Prologue (Intro), Myrding, By Honour, Home Of Once Brave, Our Failure, Balder’s Fall, Vargavinter

[Wiebke] :: AHAB :: started with technical problems, bass-player Stephan had even to leave the stage to get his equipment fixed. Misery does not stop as drummer Cornelius has to announce that the entire band is sick, caught by a cold, and singer/guitarist Daniel not able to sing clean. But AHAB do their very best and a great job, Old Thunder is a mighty smasher and the crowd thrilled.
[Dajana] AHAB were also part of the most emotional moment of the festival when organizer Jose entered the stage to dedicateAHAB’s last song The Hunt and the entire MADRID IS THE DARK III to Jota, a friend and business mate, who recently passed away.
Setlist: The Divinity Of Oceans, Old Thunder, O Father Sea, The Hunt

[Wiebke] Afterwards there was such run towards the stage that I assumed to get to see a Spanish band now. Far wrong. :: DAYLIGHT DIES :: hail from the US East coast but seem to have a huge fan base in Spain. Rightly! Their Scandinavian influenced brand of Dark Metal is awesome. Great riffing, a keen sense for melodies and their delight in playing live. There is pure energy on stage. DAYLIGHT DIES got me and the audience under its spell in a twinkling of an eye. At the end plecs and drum sticks were much sought-after and got thrown among the crowd and on me head.
Setlist: A Life Less Lived, A Portrait In White, All We Had, Lies That Bind, Cathedral, Four Corners, A Dream Resigned

[Wiebke] Premiere time. I never saw :: ASPHYX :: playing live before. So it got to be a private lesson in Dutch Death Metal. Martin van Drunen and his mates had to play with other bands equipment, their own got lost on their flight to Madrid. ASPHYX had a hell of a blast on stage and so did the audience in front of. Band and fans moshed and posed and headbanged, people started crowdsurfing again and everybody had to be aware of shoes and various bodily parts. Martin was always up for a joke and backbit KLM, Real Madrid and the look of his bass player with his lent bass guitar. Awesome! Want more of that!
[Dajana] We actually experienced the same phenomenon as with Morgoth the day before. Spanish metal heads seem to love Death Metal and downright freaked out. Again. Moshpits and crowdsurfer galore. And again no one made it onto stage…
Setlist: The Quest Of Absurdity, Food For The Ignorant, Scorebutics, Vermon, Death The Brutal Way, MS Bismarck, We Doom You To Death, Forgotten War

[Wiebke] People kept standing cuddly packed to welcome :: PRIMORDIAL :: But luckily no one jumped into my back anymore. The crowd got hypnotized by Alan’s performance and frenetically celebrated the band. Autumn‘s Ablaze wss a highlight, older songs got demanded. „Sing sing sing to slaves, sing that Rome burns“ got likewise loudly sung by fans and the band. Gooseflesh the second! The Coffin Ships was unfortunately the last song of PRIMORDIAL’s set, it got shorten to make up with the delays. Abruptly and disappointed the Irish men left the stage, while the fans vehemently shouted for an encore.
[Dajana] For the first time fans started booing loudly. It definitely was not a nice situation for the band, fans and organizers. The time schedule still did not run… smoothly.
Setlist: Intro, No Grave Deep Enough, Autumn’s Ablaze, Lain With The Wolf, As Rome Burns, Bloodied Yet Unbound, The Coffin Ships

[Wiebke] The time that was gained by shortening Primordial's set got lost again during :: KATATONIA :: change-over. It took a felt eternity till the Swedes got their equipment and sound set up. Though, Anders, Jonas and co. get welcomed enthusiastically and knew how to use this advantage. Forsaker thundered powerfully out of the speakers while the band got into a very lively and energetic live performance. Fans were on high spirit and sung along almost every song. Especially Teargas, Ghost Of The Sun and July got celebrated. I favored Evidendence. Gooseflesh the third.
[Dajana] No idea what happened there. As with Skepticism the day before there was only one plug set wrong, leaving one of the guitars without a tone. To find out those one was like to look for a needle in a haystack. Too bad, really. The next thing I thought the club owner would like to explode again was when Per lighted a cigarette. It is, as everywhere in Europe, forbidden in Spain too. But nothing happened. Till the end of the set. When KATATONIA was supposed to play little bit longer than midnight the owner was going bitchy again, looking to unplug everything
Setlist: Intro, Forsaker, Liberation, Soil’s Song, The Longest Year, Wait Outside, My Twin, For My Demons, Chrome, Teargas, Ghost Of The Sun, Nephilim, Evidence, July, Day And Shade

[Dajana] With a great band and a great headliner show MADRID IS THE DARK III found its worthy end. The festival was well attended but, as it seems, not good enough. As to read on the festival site, organizers are speaking of an economic loss: “a very poor one compared with the budget of the festival, but enough to make us reflect on the possibility a fourth edition”. I definitely cross all my fingers and hope that another edition of MADRID IS THE DARK will be possible.

I say thank you tons to Jose & Adrian for making this festival happen for us! We really enjoyed the festival!

Besides, bad luck got stuck with us. Was Martin (Asphyx) backbiting KLM, we had the problem with Ryan Air. Also the robbery should entail more adversity. Nevertheless, Madrid is still a metropolis worth visiting! Amen.

story © Wiebke & Dajana • pics © Dajana