Hypocrisy - Hellhammer - Belphegor - Craft - Soilwork - Incantation - Skyforger - Runemagick - Slægt // Beheaded - Nervo Chaos - Taphos - Devangelic - Balmog

:: Pics ::

[Dajana] PSOA kept the bad habit to start earlier into the festival on Thursday. Daft. I don’t like it. Just to put one more band on the billing on the opening day. Well, this time things worked out well so that we stood in front of the stage on time to welcome the first band.

[Dajana] Danish black metallers :: SLÆGT :: opened the PARTY SAN OPEN AIR 2019. I haven’t seen them live before, so my very first impression was: hey, that‘s Tribulations mini me. Or as Nova said: Tribulation 0.2. It is actually not bad what SLÆGT do there. Much the opposite (I love Tribulation). It is just… there is already a band, much better, much stronger and more present than the Danish guys. They are photogenic, admittedly, and they played a solid opening show. Ok, now a dark Köstritzer, that’s why we are here for, right? ;)
[Öko] I think, SLÆGT are over-hyped. It is solid Black/Heavy Metal that left me cold. Additionally, sound was pretty bad in the beginning. Luckily the sound engineer readjusted during the gig. SLÆGT displayed much enthusiasm, especially guitarist Anders M. Jørgensen movements reminded of Tribulation. And yes, first beers were drunk.

[BRT] Right after, :: RUNEMAGICK :: kicked off strong and powerful. Bone-dry Doom/Death Metal as its best. It was a pleasure to watch them. Sure, stage-acting-wise there does not happen that much, though, the RUNEMAGICK show went down well. More of this Doom stuff next time ;)
[Dajana] Musically I absolutely loved them too. But, to me, it is band best listened to back home within your four walls or in a small club. On the PSOA stage they could not captivate me fully.
[Öko] To me, RUNEMAGICK was one of the highlights of the entire festival! I’m a fan for years yet have never seen them live before. With 12 (TWELVE!) records under their belt, plus various EPs the Swedes have a huge repertoire to draw from. The early stage time does not make sense to me, after all, it is one of the first European (Doom) Death bands. More beers followed.

[BRT] The first bands were quite diversified, but, to be honest, :: SKYFORGER :: was a nonstarter. Pagan Metal between I-wanna-be-evil and melodies to sway to and fro? No, thank you! Moreover, it seemed that parts of the music came from tape and was just like pasted over. Nothing to expect positive feedback from.
[Öko] Doesn’t need it on CD, and doesn’t need it live on stage. I'd rather drink another beer.

[BRT] :: INCANTATION :: are actually made for darkness, smoke and a great light show. To see them on a sunny afternoon at tea & cake time did not work out well for me. Unfortunately, the sound was too clean to benefit the blistering darkness of the INCANTATION sound. I love this band, but here and now they did not captivate me.
[Öko] Well, yes, it was kind of boring, indeed. On the other hand, after the previous band such Death Metal franticness was much welcome. I would like to see INCANTATION together with Runemagick in a club. The atmosphere on the big PSOA stage was too summerlike. By the way, summerlike... to a summerly mood a beer perfectly fits.

[Dajana] I somehow felt the same way during the :: SOILWORK :: show. I really love the Swedes and their music, and I love their most recent record Verkligheten. You can have a lot of fun during a SOILWORK show. But the show stands and falls with the voice of Björn "Speed" Strid, which was once again just… too weak and powerless, to say it the nice way. The band did their best – finally some very lively stage-acting and posing. But all in all a rather average show.

[BRT] White Noise And Black Metal was surely one of the Black Metal highlights in 2018, so my expectation towards the :: CRAFT :: show were accordingly high. And got disappointed. There was neither atmosphere nor recognition value. Perhaps it was the big stage, or the early time on stage, who knows. The band might have better fit onto the tent stage at a later hour.

[Dajana] No, no, no, I won’t get along with :: BELPHEGOR ::. I just don’t like them. Though, I have to admit, The Austrians around Helmut killed it. It was the first band with a lot of pyros. The Austrians were the first band with a lot of pyros during the show. Warmed up the fans ;) But, wasn’t the show a little bit short? Felt like they just played a half hour or so. Or have they been so entertaining that time passed by so quickly? Hahaha. However, compulsory exercise in the photo pit, then another beer!
By the way, BELPHEGOR debuted a brand new song called Sanctus Diaboli Confidimus, probably to find on the band’s next record, the 12th one, to be expected in summer 2020.

[Dajana] It is indeed funny to see how often Mr. Tom G. Warrior plays the PARTY SAN OPEN AIR, a festival he never ever wanted to play anymore after his first visit. Anno 2019 we see him for the third time, with his freshly invented :: HELLHAMMER played by TRIUMPH OF DEATH :: show. This time I had no expectation, which could have been disappointed. And they would have been disappointed. Always the same ufta-sound, and it all sounded like Triptykon…
[BRT] Just cheaper…
[Dajana] Tom finished the show with the words: (translated to) “I was a pleasure to be here”, was that satire? Nope, it was not. Much more, it was a declaration of love to the PARTY SAN OPEN AIR as a festival! See you next time Mr. Fischer :)
[BRT] Somehow, the feedback to the HELLHAMMER show was similar everywhere: There is no need to see them a full hour. That made some of the old classics extremely like any. 25 minutes would have been way enough.
For a (PSOA) change, Tom Warrior was in great mood. That Visions Of Mortality (from Morbid Tales) was the very last song written by HELLHAMMER I did not know, but makes sense.
[Öko] In preparation of the festival, I listened to Apocalyptic Raids after a very long time again and asserted that this record is rightly called a groundbreaking release but does not contain specially good songs. At least not, if you compare them with later work of Tom Fischer and Martin Ain. That’s why I did not have high expectations as well. So, to me, the show was ok to watch and listen to, but, as BRT said, 25 minutes would have been too.

[Dajana] When it comes to :: HYPOCRISY :: count me in. I love this band. The Swedes started with delay but then with enormous oomph and power. And they played loud. And with a lot of smoke. There was hardly anything to see, except smoke. And sometimes some shadows. Though, a great show! And… HYPOCRISY played a new song. Did I hear rumors about a new album to be released this year?
[BRT] I totally lost sight of HYPOCRISY after their Final Chapter album and did not have any interest to change that. Altogether, a good show, whereas the classics were received much more frenetic than newer stuff. And Peter Tägtren is great front man with a lot of humor. His band is super tight, perhaps with too much routine. Great show but the band left me cold.
[Öko] Watched the first 3 songs, found them boring, went to bed.

[Dajana] That's how the first festival day ended and so we staggered towards our tents.

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