• Mainstage • At The Gates - Sodom - Taake - Immolation - Grave - Niefelheim - Memoriam - Suicidal Angels - Sulphur Aeon - Svarttjern - Iron Reagan - Rectal Smegma

• Tent Stage • Drowned - Rebaelliun - Weak Aside - Mor Dagor - Mosaic - Asomvel

[BRT] Aaahhh, finally! After the temperatures were rising Friday evening, the Saturday served us a sonny wake-up, which, of course, invited us to drink beer right after ;)
[Dajana] Even worse… The sun got us out of the tent quite early, out of the sleeping back at least… ;)

:: pics ::

[BRT] A few years ago :: RECTAL SMEGMA :: had to cancel its PSOA appearance and so the winners of the “worst-band-name-contest” got invited again. Same procedure to open a PSOA festival day: Brutal Death/Goregrind with an alcoholically moronic and motley horde of fans in front of stage. Was funny. And entertaining. For an half hour. Perfect warm-up exercise. Musical depth no one expected at 12am.
[Dajana] Nope. It’s just a ritual, so to say. Though, I was surprised how many partisans were already alive and kicking. Probably all sun worshipers ;)

[BRT] Afterwards, the Crossover/Thrashcore heroes of :: IRON REAGAN :: did it much, much better. They were for sure one of the most entertaining and definitely the most active band of PSOA 2016. Permanently on high speed yet with a lot dynamics, groovy, invited to create circle pits and to mosh as no other band on this festival. Sure, more old school wasn’t possible but it was extremely great. Much more as the guys (among others Municipal Waste singer Tony Foresta) were pretty likeable. Send them on tour across Europe. Would like to see them destroying club stages.
[Dajana] Again, I absolutely agree! I really liked and enjoyed their show. Ok, I’m a Municipal Waste fan and IRON REAGAN ain’t not too far away from them musically. I would have loved to get me a tee, but they didn’t have girlies. Too bad :/ However, stunning show, first highlight of the last festival day!

[Dajana] The ritual continues. After the grindy wake-up call at noon, frosty Norwegian Black Metal follows at tea & cake time. Drenched in blood and spikey :: SVARTTJERN :: went all out. The Norwegians were evil, nasty and very, very dark. But couldn’t chase the sun away ;) And SVARTTJERN didn’t take themselves too serious and so went down more likeable as they probably intended to be.

[BRT] :: SULPHUR AEON :: are no fans of big festivals, but though cut a good figure on this huge stage. At blazing sunshine (the whole afternoon the sun stood over the stage) we got an ode to Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones. Such show surely works better in a dark and small club but SULPHUR AEON at afternoon tea was just great.
[Dajana] Yep. Everytime I see SULPHUR AEON praising Cthulhu I somehow expect to see tentacles approaching and winding around the stage. Give me another Whiskey and I will see them…
[BRT] What? You didn’t see them already? Well… oops, something’s scratching at the door…

[Dajana] Next up were :: SUICIDAL ANGELS ::, the young Greek version of Slayer, energetic and lively. Slayer fans got the best here, finest Thrash Metal. Even if they are almost an incarnation of Slayer, SUICIDAL ANGELS ain’t clones. They surely have their own style but got ahead of them. Slayer can go into retirement. Nice guys.

[BRT] :: MEMORIAM :: got plentiful praise in advance, especially, since Bolt Thrower’s Karl Willets is the one behind the micro, and thus wanted to be redeemed. And it wasn’t up to Karl that the band’s old school Death Metal was tough, lengthy and boring. Songs didn’t seem to be “through-composed”. Songs were lacking of highlights and melodies we know so well from Bolt Thrower. And I missed dynamics as all songs were cruising mid-paced over the airfield. To me a big disappointment. Though, I gonna keep an eye of them and the upcoming debut.
[Dajana] Hmm… I wouldn’t say it that hard. Yes, MEMORIAM anxiously try NOT to sound like Bolt Thrower but can’t hide is origin. To be honest, everybody sees them as the legitimate follower of Bolth Thrower and with Karl and Andrew plus two Benediction members no one expects them to sound much different. They just have to find somewhat of an own distinct style and then it will also work with the highlights and thrilling moments in their music.

[BRT] More old school we got with :: NIFELHEIM ::. Old school Black/Thrash Metal. While most of the bands of that genre bore me to death, NIFELHEIM did everything right: stage outfit and stage acting over the top, humor, speed and a bunch of great songs and melodies. That I call entertainment! That was pure fun and critically increased the beer consumption.
[Dajana] NIFELHEIM are just a real hit! I love them ♥. The Swedes manage to take themselves not too serious but get taken seriously music-wise. And they play great songs. They had a lot of fire on stage and I was already scared that they would get scorched. The hair, you know ;) Musically as well as visually once again a real pleasure :)

[BRT] The :: GRAVE :: show was solid, nothing less, nothing more. As for my taste, their music was quite one-dimensional and undynamic. GRAVE couldn’t reach me. I went to the tent and there, the last minutes I was able to catch, :: MOR DAGOR :: left a much better impression. Great. Need to listen to them back home.

[BRT] Drum, way too loud and triggered to death, a missing guitar and maximum shitty sound… that was :: IMMOLATION ::. To me THE disappointed of the entire festival. Really. I’m quite a fan and was looking forward to this show but that was a nonstarter. No, no, no… Let’s scram and drown the disappointment in beer.

[Dajana] :: SODOM :: surprisingly enthused me at Rock Hard Festival and I was looking forward to see the guys again, especially since SODOM were about to release their brand new album, Decision Day, a few days after the festival. We were waiting for new songs, but got disappointed. As Tom Angelripper said, the band was not allowed to play new songs. WTF? You couldn’t do any better promotion than to play new songs on a festival… Label politics… pfff… Instead we got a best-of set. Wasn’t the worst either ;)

[Dajana] And here we are, at the grand finale of PARTY SAN OPEN AIR 2016. And there couldn’t be any better band than :: AT THE GATES :: to take over that job. You don’t get to see them that often (unless you’re a festival junkie maybe).
[BRT] My love to AT THE GATES significantly cooled with the release of Slaughter Of The Soul, because they turned down all the brilliant twists and atmospheric moments of With Fear I Kiss The Burnign Darkness in favor of brutality and simplicity. So, I did not expect anything from the headliner. Good to see that you also can be mistaken. AT THE GATES played an outstanding show, had the best sound of the festival and went through the entire history. It goes without saying that Tompa Lindbergh is such a fine guy and also the rest of the band was in best mood and had visibly fun to play the festival. Yes, AT THE GATES was a worthy headliner. And they outweighed some lost ground… Awesome!

Summary:

[Dajana] And so the 22nd PARTY SAN OPEN AIR came to its end. While the last two bands were playing, many parts of the festival area got already dismantled. That always leaves a stale aftertaste, like a sacking, but also a melancholic one. It was a great festival again, but with some downer. The repeating bands for example, and the pushed up Thursday with its earlier beginning to let more bands play and the fully booked tent. Nope, I don’t like that. Many people have still to work on THU and FRI and thus have more stress to get there and will miss bands. Stupid. Really. Ok, the matter with the weather… It’s fate. The first two days weren’t nice and caused some sound problems. As for that, the SAT was perfect :) However, see you next year!

[BRT] Yes, it once again was a brilliant, perfectly orchestrated family meeting with an unique atmosphere and some flaws. As Dajana already said, the repeating bands annoy. To book the same bands every 2, 3 years has already scared the fans away and killed the one or the other festival. Also the more and more stuffed program isn’t necessary. To create that competition between the bands on the mainstage and the tent with overlapping stage times is rather stressful. Though, I’m much looking forward to the next year’s edition!

story © BRT & Dajana • pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography