[Dajana] And here we are. With a big, big smile I walked down the stairs of the Amphitheater and took a deep, deep breath. I even would have loved to jump… well, why I did not? Inhale, exhale… inhale, exhale… and again. Yes, there it is, this special atmosphere, the vibes we love so much. Okay, let’s get the party started! ;)
:: pics :: NECK CEMETERY ::
[Dajana] That :: NECK CEMETERY :: played the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL, is no coincidence. But it’s ok to open the festival and to warm up the crowd for the things to come. The show was quite entertaining.
[BRT] I missed them while queuing for the passes.
Setlist: King Of The Dead, Banging In The Grave, The Creed, Behind The Mask, The Fall Of A Realm, Castle Of Fear, Sisters Of Battle
:: pics :: SORCERER ::
[BRT] I was extremely looking forward to see :: SORCERER :: playing live. And Anders Engberg, the man with the golden voice, and his mates, absolutely nailed it! Vocal lines to kneel down, melodies that send shivers up and down the spine, all wrapped in a fine, melancholically draped atmosphere. Ah, just marvelous! SORCERER mix epic Doom Metal with Heavy Metal, less in the veins of Candlemass, but Solitude Aeturnus, with a portion of Black Sabbath of the Tony Martin era. That’s how the Swedes gained a solid fan base. By the way, light years better than a certain other band that played the festival on another day, which gets hyped more. For what reasons ever…
[Dajana] Yes, I agree. Best voice in Doom Metal, best voice of the festival! Goosebumps!
Setlist: Persecution, The Hammer Of Witches, Abandoned By The Gods, Lamenting Of The Innocent, Sirens, Unbearable Sorrow
:: pics :: NIFELHEIM ::
[Dajana] Yes, yes, yes! Now it was me who was looking extremely forward to see :: NIFELHEIM :: playing live. I saw them first time at Hole In The Sky Festival in Norway and love the crazy Swedes since then. Besides, a perfect contrast between epic Doom and classic Heavy Metal ;)
[BRT] I actually can’t stand Black Thrash, but there are exceptions as nutty NIFELHEIM proves. I’m sure it's not their aim to be funny but somehow the hair style of the twin gods Per und Erik Gustavsson makes me laugh always. Oops, yes, the music… is crushing and powerful.
[Seb] After some mighty struggles with the public transport (in all fairness, the RHF crew could and should have edited their directions page when they knew that the 383 bus would be using temporary stops: especially on Friday you could observe countless hordes of lost metal heads roaming the area around Horst Castle in search for the replacement stops) my first band of RHF 2022 would be the one I was looking forward to the most. And as expected/hoped for, NIFELHEIM would prove to be my personal highlight of this year’s edition…
These days, the Gustavsson twins look even older than I feel most of the days, and one almost fears for them to injure themselves with their as-large-as-ever assortment of thorns and rivets sticking out from every limb. But somewhat rusty looks aside, the music was just as great as I’ve remembered it from previous shows in ancient times. Especially the songs from the self-titled 1995 debut are so much better when played live: While they sound a bit flat and thin on the rather artlessly produced debut album, they come across as twice as raw, sick and brutal on stage. Of course the (for want of a better word) „newer“ songs (they didn’t play any from the most recent EP) were almost as good as the material that made them famous within the scene, and after one hour of pitch Black Thrash, there’s only one thing left to be desired: It would be really nice if the "Bröderna Hårdrock" could get their spikey butts up at least once more and grace us with another effort: the last regular album Envoy Of Lucifer was released a whopping 15 years ago and seeing what they still can do, it would be a shame if it remained NIFELHEIMS final full length output.
Setlist: Black Evil, Infernal Flame Of Destruction, Evil Blasphemies, Bestial Rites, Storm Of The Reaper, Sodomizer, Bestial Avenger, Possessed By Evil, The Final Slaughter
:: pics :: AXXIS ::
[BRT] :: AXXIS :: never was my cup of tea but is, admittedly, a respectable factor in these latitudes. When you listen you know why. Many melodies and hooks, perfectly arranged. It just didn’t touch me. With some time passed now, I have to say, it was a good live show.
[Seb] It took AXXIS 33 years to finally end up on the RHF stage (actually 32, to be precise: the band is one year older than the festival) which is quite surprising insofar as they were founded „right around the corner“ in Dortmund. That long wait was one of the reasons why vocalist Bernhard Weiß pointed out, how much of an honor it meant for AXXIS to enter the RHF stage at long last.
As far as the music goes, classical Melodic Heavy/Power Metal isn’t exactly my cup of tea and I feel somewhat under qualified to say much about it. As usually, the high pitch clean vocals are what bothers me the most about this subgenre and something even triggers my escape reflexes. But either my memory betrays me, or Bernhards voice has changed a bit due to him closing in on 60 years of age: it wasn’t extreme this time. I’d guess his age was also the reason for the several rather long announcements and yarns he gave between the songs; he even admitted that he was almost already gassed after the first two songs. However, the stories about how there were mostly girls in the crowd in their early days and so on were kind of funny and the crowd took them pretty kindly – even the more gross one e.g. involving carrots and orifices *hrumph*
Setlist: Monster Hero, Tales Of Glory Islands, Little War, Blood Angel, Virus Of A Modern Time, Heavy Rain, My Little Princess, Little Look Back, Living In A World, Kingdom Of The Night
:: pics :: HEATHEN ::
[Dajana] What? Wait… Something is wrong! :: HEATHEN :: without Lee Altus? Can’t be. What the fuck happened? He’s on the road with Exodus right? Hm. The line-up generally looked different. Did I miss something the last two years?
[BRT] Hmmm. The question rather was: did the sound man sleep? The bass sound was terribly overamplified. HEATHEN unfortunately had the worst sound of the day. They realized that and tried to make the best out of it. Newer material is more mid-tempo driven, right? At least it adds variety to the live set. I like HEATHEN but tonight they didn’t catch me.
[Dajana] Yep, same to me. I love the Bay Area thrasher and usual adore them to the max. Tonight it didn’t click. At least, HEATHEN saw the first crowd surfer of the day ;)
[Seb] HEATHEN are one of the bands that I had always „managed“ to miss out on, even though they have been around for ages. However, having Dajanas praises in mind I expected something really special. Alas, I found the show a bit underwhelming. There’s no denying, that HEATHEN are highly technically skilled, but their songs - at least the ones they played that night - were missing something for me, particularly there was a lack of memorability: It all seemed somewhat generic to me. Few minutes into the next break I could rather recall the (sometimes very funny, his running gag was him regretting not to have a DJ/MC name like „David Quick“) announcements by David White than any of the riffs, let alone full songs. In my book, the show will go down as solid, yet far from special outing. Anyways, the crowd in front of the stage obviously enjoyed it a lot, and that’s certainly the most important thing!
Setlist: The Blight, In Black, Arrows Of Agony, Goblins Blade, Sun In My Hand, Blood To Be Let, Dying Season, Control By Chaos, Dead And Gone, Opiate Of The Masses, Empire Of The Blind, Death By Hanging, Hypnotized
:: pics :: SACRED REICH ::
[Dajana] No doubt, no question, :: SACRED REICH :: was the best band of ROCK HARD FESTIVAL 2022. Not less than the band of hearts. So to say. Musically SACRED REICH was killer! However, it were the emotional announcements of singer Phil Rind - his voice almost broke two times and who had tears in his eyes. Phil spoke about the love and loyalty of the fans generally and especially during the last two years; about to finally play live again and to be at the RHF once again. The most touching announcements were those about change. If we want to change the world, we must change ourselves first. Here and now. To face and to stand all the shit that is going on in the world and to change it to the better. He’s so damn fucking right. We must start. Now! ♥♥♥
Speaking about the songs they played – most was old school from the first EP Surf Nicaragua (1988) on and a lot from the 2019 released reunion album Awakening, the first one in 23 years.
[BRT] There is not that much to add. It was extraordinary great what SACRED REICH offered tonight. By the way, the headliner of the next day has shown how NOT to do announcements. SACRED REICH is a band that always has something to say, that always takes up a stance. That’s why they are one of the most respected bands in the scene.
[Seb] I am not sure if I just didn’t notice them earlier, but (at least) from Saturday onwards one could spot an enormous amount of people who proudly sported an (often new) SACRED REICH shirt: I’d not be surprised to learn, that the band sold their entire merchandise during and after their headliner show. Concerts and festivals aside, I’d almost never listen to Thrash Metal these days, but as I started my „metal journey“ with Slayer and Sepultura back in the olden days, I am still very appreciative of a good Thrash Metal show. Not only are the guys simply very likeable: after 37 years, SACRED REICH are very accomplished masters of their trade and are extremely well attuned to each other. A very satisfying finale to the first evening!
Setlist: Divide & Conquer, American Way, Killing Machine, Love…Hate, One Nation, Ignorance, Salvation, Whos To Blame, Independent, Awakening, Free, Manifest, Death Squad, Surf Nicaragua
[Dajana] Well, and now the first festival is already gone again. Can please someone stop the time? |
