Triptykon - Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - Midnight - Decapitated - Zodiac - Nocturnal

[Dajana] The first day! There is still enough time left to take things easy. But I can’t. I’m too psyched, fidgety and restless. Let’s put people and things into the car and start the party! At the end we probably were too early for expected traffics and queues. There was hardly anything of them and so we stepped down the stairs into the holy Amphitheater super early. Never mind! Gives us more time to acclimatize and drink the first cool brewski :)

:: pics ::

[Psycho] Previously spread choruses of praise for :: NOCTURNAL :: I now can’t really comprehend. Rumbling Thrash Metal in the 80s style is not a revelation. Most time those three guys and fronting lady sounded like very early Sodom with Sabina Classen singing. There has been something better already back then. At least a solid show with a proper wake-up call…
Setlist: Storm From The Graves, Hellhunt, Disgracer, Merciless Murder, Taken By Fire, Beast Of Hades, Tyrants Of Damnation, Rising Demons

[Psycho] Muenster’s own :: ZODIAC :: right after offered the complete contrast and did not really fit into the Friday program, which gets usually dominated by heavier bands. Musically the 70s are not really my cup of taste but ZODIAC knew how to convince.
[Dajana] ZODIAC have downright enthused the audience! And this is quite impressing for the second band at the first festival day, especially since they do NOT play Heavy Metal ;) I like them a lot, not only because they are from my hometown. Ok, that there is currently a certain retro Rock hype I can’t completely dismiss. Great show anyway!
Setlist: Downtown, Free, Cortez The Killer, Diamond Shoes, Coming Home

[Psycho] Well, I didn’t know what to expect from Polish Death Metals :: DECAPITATED :: and now after the show I’m not any smarter either. On the plus-page are the highly energetic performance and the technical handcraft that counts, on the negative site I missed the groove in the slow passages and something that gets stuck in your ears. A more stringent songwriting and they could be awesome.
[Dajana] Same feelings here. Technically DECAPITATED are first class but I missed some kind of atmosphere. What I really found bad was the fact that the stage techs already got the backdrop down while band was still playing. This one minute they could have waited! A bad habit that got repeated over the entire festival weekend.
Setlist: Lying And Weak, 404, Pest, Post (?) Organic, A View From A Hole, Homo Sum, Carnival Is Forever, Spheres Of Madness

[Psycho] Next up is :: MIDNIGHT :: to me the big unknown of the festival as I never dealt with them before. MIDNIGHT offer an early Motörhead sound combined with a right-in-your-face Rock attitude. Additionally they tinkered themselves some funny face mummery, a mixture of Fantômas and a hangman’s hood. The show itself was fittingly anarchistic, blunt and much rock’n’roll like as the self-painted mini backdrop was already a challenge towards established bands. Musically not necessarily valuable but they have much delight in playing and it was truly entertaining.
[Sui] After a capital traffic jam I made it just in time to hear the first tunes of MIDNIGHT. Usually it is a difficult task for the first band of a festival to convince me and the strange masks seem to prove me right. But to see the Chicago-based trio rumbling between Motörhead and Venom was pure fun though, including the DIY backdrop. Not yet at feature-length but a great start for me to get into a festival.
Setlist: Vomit Queens, Evil Like A Knife, Lust Filth And Sleaze, All Hail Hell, White Hot Fire, I Am Violator, You Can’t Stop Steel, Endless Slut, Shock Til Blood, Satanic Royalty, Unholy And Rotten // Violence On Violence

[Dajana] Why the :: DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER :: got booked for the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL twice, and this time even as co-headliner, I don’t understand. Ok, I’m meanwhile out of all this Medieval and Folk-like tinged metal music, generally musical variation never does any harm, and the APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER always offer a great show, but organizers could have chosen any other band that has not played this festival so far.
[Psycho] I actually never dealt with the Thuringians and their show won’t change my mind. Of course, taste differs, but no, they are not for me. Here I absolutely follow the statement the APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER are the metal version of Unheilig: dripping pathos, trivial songs and the entire performance… that’s a turn-off. From an objective view, the “Reiter” sure had their fans and were - despite of the burning heat - one of the liveliest bands at this festival. And I have to admit that none of the other bands this day could have filled in for the co-headlining slot.
[Sui] I agree with Dajana. The APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER delivered a too polished and compliant mix of Rammstein-light and Unheilig-heavy. Yes, they had their fans and the show was solid, but latest when you can see their trailer on certain German TV channels you don’t need them at the RHF.
Setlist: Freiheit-Gleichheit-Brüderlichkeit, Revolution, Wir, Der Adler, Ein leichtes Mädchen, Wo es dich gibt, Hört auf, Friede sei mit dir, Es wird schlimmer, Nach der Ebbe, Seemann, Was bleibt bin ich, Adrenalin // The Smell Of Death, Reitermania, Die Welt ist tief, Rausch // Du kleiner Wicht

[Psycho] Regarding the other bands of this first festival day you can say that :: TRIPYTIKON :: truly play in a very own league. While the Swiss played a special show dedicated to Tom Warrior’s entire musical history in 2011 (also headlining the Friday), they now stayed in the presence, focusing on the fast and complex tracks as the opener Black Snow proved. TRIPTYKON just celebrate music. Entertainment is second-rated. So, nothing to party to but if you allow yourself to get into this perfectly created nastily beautiful atmosphere you get rewarded (as always) with a stunning show. Tom Warrior was actually the only musician who commented on the happenings with the Rock Hard crew and demonstratively dedicated his show (with great applause) to former Rock Hard chief editor Götz Kühnemund. I’m not sure if they will be invited once again after such statement…
[Dajana] I’m not sure if TRIPTYKON would play the RHF once again… And TRIPTYKON have set another mark! Probably unnoticed by the crowd, TRIPTYKON have skipped the main rule for photographers – 3SNF (first 3 songs, no flash) and invited all photographers to come and go when they wanted. And it worked fine, for us and the fans :) Awesome! And so was the show!
[Sui] TRIPTYKON for sure was a worthy headliner, but definitely a challenging one, not easy to access, but much welcome after the shallow monotony. Next to the immensely atmospheric dense tracks TRIPTYKON also offered some crushing pieces yet leaving the fans devotionally listening than freaking out. They made clear that the quality of a show cannot be measured on the number of crowd surfers. All together a fantastic, gooseflesh causing performance.
Setlist: Crucifixus, Black Snow, Goetia, Circle Of The Tyrants, Tree Of Suffocating Souls, Abyss Within My Soul, Visions Of Mortality, The Usurper, Altar Of Deceit, Messiah, The Prolonging // (Winter)

• stories © Psycho, Sui, Dajana • pics © • Dajana Winkel Photography •