[Dajana] It’s always a very special moment when you've made it through the ticket/press procedure, security check and entrance and then stand on the top gallery of the Amphitheater. Your first look down to the stage, where the first band is getting ready to kick off; a look across the filling ranks for a cozy spot (which is always the same ;)) and then you pounce on the first known noses to greet and cuddle them. That’s usually the perfect time to have the first cool brewski. This atmosphere - priceless! And then I have to rush into the photo pit for the first time... how I missed that!
[Psycho] Our regular corner was bursting at the seams this time - it was nice to see you all again! It's always worth going to the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL for that alone. The trend towards vegan/vegetarian food has also received more attention than in previous years. Everyone should be able to find something by now. The picture was mixed in terms of prices: I found the increase in drinks to be moderate (relative to inflation), but the food has become significantly more expensive. Don't think prices will remain stable until next year either.
[Sui] As usual, after entering the festival area, I rushed past the alcoholic and culinary temptations straight to our regular corner in the round amphitheater (pun intended) and was happy to finally be able to hug the old noses and beards again after four years. It actually felt like you had just come home.
:: pics :: SCREAMER ::
[Psycho] The festival's first band :: SCREAMER :: put on a solid metal show in crisp white vests. However, there weren't any real highlights, the Swedes' material is too low-tension for that. Still not bad for getting in the groove.
[BRT] Yes, solid live show from the Swedes, who are unfortunately over-represented. To me, their records are just too irrelevant.
[Dajana] I thought it was great that the amphitheater was already quite full during SCREAMER, which encouraged the band to give their all. A great start and a few songs from the brand new album Kingmaker ;).
Band: Andreas Wikström (vox), Dejan Rosic (git), Jonathan Aagaard Mortensen (git), Fredrik Svensson Carlström (bass), Henrik Petersson (drums)
Setlist: Kingmaker, Rise Above, Demon Rider, Ride On, The Traveler, On My Way, Can You Hear Me, Hellfire, Shadow Hunter, Out Of The Dark
:: pics :: MOTORJESUS ::
[Psycho] You can always rely on :: MOTORJESUS :: This time too: a lot of joy in playing, a proper portion of snot and a likeable demeanor made the show an entertaining pleasure. The choice of the cover song at the end was also successful: since Sacred Reich weren't there for some reason, they just played Independent. Fine!
[BRT] Yep, I agree. The guys show a lot of live experience, without it becoming routine.
[Sui] MOTORJESUS’ old school metal was fun, even if it was a bit static on stage. Before the band left with the first sing-along (cover) track of the day, Independent, a Jesus (though not motorized) generously handed out beers from the stage.
[Dajana] In fact, due to illness, there was a change of line-up on the guitar and singer Chris also had a cold and was therefore a bit nasal. And yes, it was a cool action with the beer-Jesus ;)
Band: Christoph Birx (vox), Andreas Peters (git), Patrick Wassenberg (git), Dominik Kwasny (bass), Adam Borosch (drums)
Setlist: Drive Through Fire, Dead Army, Fist Of The Dragon, Hellbreaker, King Of The Dead End Road, Motor Discipline, The Howling, A New War, Independent (Sacred Reich cover), The Outrun
:: pics :: HOLY MOSES ::
[Dajana] In February :: HOLY MOSES :: announced their split-up and are now about to close a 43 years long, influential German Thrash Metal era with the final album, Invisible Queen, and a whole series of farewell shows. No need to mention that this show was very emotional.
[Psycho] Well, I'm ambivalent about that. There was indeed nothing to complain about their stage presence and interaction. But the song material made it clear that the band has pretty much run out of steam. Certainly one of the reasons why there was almost only old material to be heard. But it's better to leave with dignity than to record X records that nobody needs anymore. And of course nobody can take Sabina away from her role as a pioneer in the extreme (German) metal scene.
[Seb] I also felt as if the emotional part took center stage during this gig: for once, Andy Claassen joined the band for some nostalgia minutes, and then Sabina announced both the imminent final HOLY MOSES gig as well as her forthcoming 60th birthday multiple times. Some songs in, I had the impression that this was much more a show for the band themselves than for the actual audience. The music was fine, technically well done (but then you've come to expect that after more than 40 years), but also a bit boring: I am not too familiar with the material and it may have been the choice of songs, but all of the songs seemed eerily similar, down to the guitar solo being almost every time in the "same spot". I wasn't excited about it, but the crowd seemed to like it.
[BRT] Yes, somehow it was cool to see HOLY MOSES one last time again. Sabina Classen had a lot of fun and charisma anyway. But somehow the performance also proved why HOLY MOSES were only in the second league of German thrash metal bands. The material is simply too bulky and, with a few exceptions (mostly from The New Machine Of Liechtenstein), has hardly any recognition value and real highlights. I celebrated the show tonight but won't really miss the band in the future. But it's also clear that Sabrina is a lot cooler than Mille, Gerre and Angelripper together...
[Sui] I was eager to see HOLY MOSES if only because with Gert Lücking, an old band mate of mine, was sitting behind the drums. Even back in the 80’s Sabina Classen’s vocals were lost on me, even if they are the most striking feature of the German Thrash pioneers. The band was highly motivated and banged the sometimes somewhat bulky song material through the loudspeakers. The current stuff is definitely catchier but doesn’t stick as good.
Band: Sabina Classen-Hirtz (vox), Peter Geltat (git), Thomas Neitsch (bass), Gerd Lücking (drums)
Setlist: Defcon 2, Panic, SSP, Near Dark, Invisible Queen, Cult Of The Machine, Nothing For My Mum, World Chaos, Hellhound, Undead Dogs, Finished With The Dogs, Life's Destroyer, Current Of Death
:: pics :: VICIOUS RUMORS ::
[Psycho] Gradually things got serious... After numberless line-up changes, the men around Geoff Thorpe fortunately presented themselves without showing signs of wear and tear. :: VICIOUS RUMORS :: focused on the first 4 albums of their career - all absolute milestones of US metal. As a result, the enthusiastic audience was only served hits, with Ronny Munroe proving to be consistently up to the Carl Albert songs (R.I.P.). Cool! Timeless classics like Abandoned, The Lady Took A Chance, Digital Dictator or the bouncer Don't Wait For Me only left happy fans.
[BRT] And suddenly there were only songs that I knew. One burner after another. To be honest, I did not expect that and it blew me away. The first real highlight of this year's ROCK HARD FESTIVAL. And all the pals and gals that attended the VICIOUS RUMORS show 32 years ago in Herford had shining eyes. Killer! It’s known that VICIOUS RUMORS is a fucking great live band, but the show and set tonight was the icing on the cake.
[Dajana] Hah! That show in Herford. I remember. That was 32 years ago? Holy shit. I still have photos from the whole gang outside the club ;) Cutest statement by Geoff Thorpe: "20 years of ROCK HARD FESTIVAL, I told you we would be there, because we belong to you, the fans" ♥
[Sui] VICIOUS RUMORS have always been a great live band - and still are. Unfortunately, they were never able to step out of the shadows of bigger acts, which was probably also due to the fact that they couldn't take their full live energy into the studio, even with the classic albums. The guys around Geoff Thorpe have impressively proven how well the almost 40-year-old song material still comes across today. My first RHF highlight.
Band: Nick Courtney (vox), Geoff Thorpe (git), Gunnar DüGrey (git), Cody Green (bass), Larry Howe (drums)
Setlist: On The Edge, Abandoned, You Only Live Twice, Digital Dictator, Minute To Kill, Ship Of Fools, Lady Took A Chance, Six Stepsisters, Strange Behavior, Down To The Temple, Hellraiser, Soldiers Of The Night, March Or Die, Don't Wait For Me
:: pics :: BENEDICTION ::
[Dajana] After 12 years of silence and inactivity, British Death Metal veterans :: BENEDICTION :: returned with legendary singer Dave Ingram and rose like a phoenix from the ashes and released a fucking great comeback album with Scriptures, followed by many extremely awesome live shows. Just remember how they crushed last year’s Party San Open Air.
[Psycho] With their current album, the Brits are experiencing something like their second (or third?) spring. Scriptures thus formed the framework for a brilliant show, in which songs from the most important old albums were also taken into account. Regarding the stage acting, it was only possible to guess from a few bald patches in the hair that these were old warriors. BENEDICTION were really up for it and offered a killer show. But it's not quite enough for the official successor to the orphaned Bolt Thrower throne; it lacks the big melodies and a bit more variety.
[Seb] Following their furious show at Party.San 2022, BENEDICTION was the band I was looking forward to the most - and that by a large margin. And I should not be disappointed, even though the sound was pretty botched during the first two and a half numbers - unlucky and of course not the bands' fault. Sadly, it wouldn’t have been the last time that the sound crew let us down during this edition of RHF; actually it got (way) worse at some point... To my very delight, BENEDICTION decided to pay tribute to the 30th anniversary of their grandiose 1993 album Transcend The Rubikon (an album that I listened to more than anything during that year and probably the one after, and that still “in rotation” to this day even though I have been much more into Black Metal for two decades now) and played a whole block of it: Neck breakers like Nightfear and I Bow To None can easily keep up with any old school death metal band or song, be it present, past or future. Even though there was some emphasis on the most recent (2020) output Scriptures, BENDECITION played a lot of other classics, even my favorite EP (Dark Is The Season) was featured with the great Foetus Noose. Notably lacking was any kind of material that involved former singer Dave Hunt, but as I am more than happy with the "real Dave" Ingram being back at the mike I did not care the slightest.
The return of Dave Ingram really seems to have kicked BENEDICTION back into their former top shape; they looked as fresh and inspired as ever.
Just one little complaint: If the good old Dark Is The Season is dug out, why not play the outstanding Anvil cover Forged In Fire? That would probably have leveled the venue, but it would have been worth it ;-)
[BRT] Yes, I sign for it. A band that wants to be on stage and gives their all. I'm not really a big fan of BENEDICTION, but both, the young and the old in the Death Metal scene can learn a lot from the old warriors. Outstanding!
[Sui] With all the joy of playing that the old warriors of BENEDICTION showed: They didn't succeed in bringing old school Death Metal closer to me either. They were definitely worth seeing, but after about half an hour I had the feeling that I had heard everything worth hearing. I don't want to do the Brits an injustice, but the song material seemed to me quite limited.
Band: Dave Ingram (vox), Darren Brookes (git), Peter Rew (git), Frank Healy (bass), Giovanni Durst (drums)
Setlist: Divine Ultimatum, Iterations Of I, Scriptures In Scarlet, Vision In The Shroud, Unfound Mortality, Nightfear, I Bow To None, Agonised, Progenitors Of A New Paradigm, The Grotesque, Jumping At Shadows, Subconscious Terror, Foetus Noose, Stormcrow, I, The Dreams You Dread, Rabid Carnality
:: pics :: TRIPTYKON ::
[Dajana] To see :: TRIPTYKON :: playing live is already a great experience. To get an old school Celtic Frost set is even better.
[Psycho] Ugh, that was intense... and dark... and of course extremely cool. TRIPTYKON took us on a journey through time to the early days of extreme metal. The guitars sounded unmistakably creaky and were mixed far forward, with the mangy overall sound and Tom's unmistakable voice - it all fitted. With these conditions, it was a memorable performance, where especially Dethroned Emperor, Procreation Of The Wicked and Jewel Throne came across as really great. Of course, tonight's show had nothing to do with old CELTIC FROST shows - technically, the band is miles away from what it was back then, which leads to my only (tiny) point of criticism: the sound was almost a little too clean... Nevertheless, thank you very much for this set and this pitch-black performance: that was really something for the metal soul!
[Seb] After the last-minute withdrawal back in 2006, it took "only" 17 years for CELTIC FROST to make up for it: TRIPTYKON had announced to play a set, that would only be comprised of 80s CELTIC FROST tracks! I was pretty happy about it, as much as I like these; I am for some reason not particularly fond of TRIPTYKON in their own right.
I can only agree with what has already been said: The sound was massive and overwhelming in a sense that it can hardly be compared to the original recordings, but I don't care a bit: It was nonetheless simply awesome! There was a little bit of a letdown, though: The plan was to play both the debut EP Morbid Tales as well as the first full length To Mega Therion in their entirety. For some reason someone decided to time the slot for exactly 75 minutes (almost exactly the actual runtime) without accounting for announcements (and let’s be honest, Tom isn't exactly quick when it comes to those) or any other delay. In the end, a whole three tracks had to be skipped before TRIPTYKON finished with Necromantical Screams - a track that couldn't be missed in any case.
[Sui] At the risk of being (verbally) stoned here: As great as the performance by Tom Warrior & co. was, as important as CELTIC FROST were for the early days of Thrash Metal - they completely passed me by in the past. I would actually have preferred a TRIPTYKON gig with their own song material.
[BRT] Yeah, CELTIC FROST are the most important metal band in my universe and the prospect of getting a cross-section of the band years 84 and 85 is hard to top. Since Mr. Warrior-Fischer also had a good day, nothing went wrong, apart from the To Megatherion album, which was beaten down a little too quickly.
Circle Of The Tyrants, ugh! And even the more complex songs like Dawn Of Meggido and Necromantical Screams work without horns and drums.
Cool. Cool. Cool.
A worthy end to the first day.
[Dajana] Yep, dito.
Band: Thomas Gabriel Fischer (vox, git), V. Santura (git), Vanja Šlajh (bass), Hannes Grossmann (drums)
Setlist: Danse Macabre (Intro), Into The Crypts Of Rays, Visions Of Mortality, Dethroned Emperor, Morbid Tales, Procreation (Of The Wicked), Return To The Eve, Nocturnal Fear, Circle Of The Tyrants, Visual Aggression, Suicidal Winds, The Usurper, Jewel Throne, Dawn Of Megiddo, (Beyond The) North Winds, Necromantical Screams
[BRT] A strong first day! The final triple with VICIOUS RUMORS, BENEDICTION and TRIPTYKON can't be topped.(Almost prophetic words... – Psycho) |
