For the second year in a row, we attended one of Europe’s biggest metal festivals, and we just had to let you know what we thought. From good bands to rain to incredible weather, we really experienced it all, too!
Firstly, I’d just like to give an absolutely massive shoutout to the organisers of the festival. They got dealt a real shitty hand with the torrential rain the day before the site opened, and made the insane decision to keep the car parks shut all weekend. As a result, myself and plenty of other confused foreigners had to park in Dessel, a couple of kilometres walk away, and lug our stuff to the site. It was hard work, especially on the way back in the heat, and I saw how much shit the organisers took for it online. However, it was still one hell of an awesome weekend, and they did what they had to do. It was still far better organised than most other festivals I’ve been to!
The festival opened the main stages on the Thursday with a one-two-punch of incredible new bands. First up were the Swedish electro-metal band, Solence. While it has been half a decade since their debut album, they have been gathering a lot of steam recently for following up the feeling of their breakout hit ‘Good Fucking Music’ with similar party tracks like ‘Fuck the Bad Vibes’ and, most recently, ‘A Banger a Day’. The fact that they opened their set with all three, back-to-back-to-back, was not only awesome, but showed the direction of the band moving forward. They are here to party and show the crowd a good time, and I am more than here for it. Yes, they played some of their older, slightly more serious stuff, but they were still a fantastically energetic, fun live band. No matter what they played, they played their hearts out, and I think they gained a lot of new fans in the process. I love this band, and can’t wait to see them again and hear where they go from here.
Next up were a band that really surprised me, Dominum. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the album when I reviewed it, but I’d seen a couple of live videos from the band that didn’t fill me with excitement. How wrong I was. Felix Heldt and his zombies sounded amazing and honestly, have made me barely stop listening to their debut album since. Right from powerful opener ‘Imortalis Dominum’ through covers of Billie Eilish and even a risky Scorpions one, to the anthemic ‘We All Taste the Same’, it was a 40-minute masterclass of power metal and showmanship. Felix sounded amazing, and not only had the crowd in the palm of his hand, but looked like he was having a great time up on the stage. Meanwhile, the guitarist, bassist and drummer all played their hearts out to back him. I love the concept behind the band, and it made for a really fun live show. They are definitely ones to watch, as they are going to continue to get bigger and bigger in a short space of time!
Next, we headed over to the Jupiler stage for semi-local lads, Bleed from Within. Now, I loved them when they supported Trivium last year, and I loved their last album too. But sadly, I didn’t get anywhere near the same vibes here. I’m not sure if it’s a case of the crowd not being as familiar with them as they were in Sheffield, or that it was still raining a bit, but it didn’t feel kind like many around us were getting into it that much, and it kinda dragged down the experience for us a little. They sounded excellent still, and had a surprising amount of pyro for a smaller stage band, but yeah, maybe it just wasn’t their day. I’d love to see them at their own gig to see if I get a better sense of the band again!
Sadly, the tent was packed to the rafters for Alien Weaponry, so we headed over to North to see Amaranthe. Again, they were another one that I loved on track but couldn’t quite get into live too much. The three singers dynamic is a novel idea that works amazing on track, but live I only really found myself impressed by Nils Molin (more on him later). Again, the weather may have played a factor, but the band played the songs well, but just didn’t seem to put on a show the crowd got into, in my opinion. Still, I enjoyed hearing stuff off the new album, as I did really like it in my review!
We had a bit of a break after that, wandering around and getting some food and drinks, checking out the stalls that had now opened. We caught a bit of Michael Poulsen’s death metal band, Asinhell, in the tent, and they sounded awesome. We also saw a few tracks from the metal queen herself, Doro, who proves she very much still has it and had the crowd in the palm of her hand throughout. We also caught the last few songs of Slayer legend Kerry King. I’m a thrash fan but my partner is not, so I couldn’t convince her to see the whole set. However, they sounded as great as they do on track, and if I’d have known the incredible Phil Demmel was playing with him I may have fought harder! It was a set of amazing riffs, some blistering solos, and great thrash drumming, with Paul Bostaph holding everything down perfectly on the drums.
The next band we saw fully were Babymetal. Somehow, despite them being around for a decade now, I’d never seen them live. I’d heard how good they are though, and they certainly did not disappoint. Opening on the ever-fun ‘BABYMETAL DEATH’ before rolling into personal favourite ‘Distortion’, it started out with a bang. The girls are born entertainers, and put on one hell of a show from the moment they step on the stage. It’s nice to see them back up to three vocalists again with the edition of momometal last year, they all work so well together and it fits perfectly with three of them. As expected, the Kami band backing them are phenomenal too, proving why they are some of the most underrated musicians in the game currently. We even got some guests up on stage, though perhaps not the ones most wanted. Tim Henson and Scott LePage of Polyphia joined them for their latest single, blowing the crowd away with their insane guitar skills. But, scheduling conflicts meant that the band did ‘Ratatata’ sadly on their own. Still, it was a fantastic set that made them feel like a MASSIVE band, which they are these days. Loved them, and want to see them live again immediately!
Next up were thrash legends Megadeth. I was very much in two minds with the set. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to hear some lesser-played tracks like ‘Dread and the Fugitive Mind’ and even ‘Take No Prisoners’, and the band played their songs to perfection as always. However, Dave didn’t seem to into during the set, not interacting with the audience too much, and outside of their backdrop they didn’t put on much of a show at all. It was enjoyable, but when I’ve seen the band multiple times before, and they had to follow Babymetal, it felt just a touch lacklustre.
The first headliners of the weekend, Alice Cooper, were up next. Returning a year after his impressive set with Hollywood Vampires, it felt like Alice had something to prove by headlining. It may seem hypocritical given what I just complained about Megadeth for, but Alice rattled through his entire set before speaking to the crowd. He just rattled through hir after hit after hit, and put on one awesome stageshow while doing so. I’d somehow never seen him before though, so seeing the snake and the beheading and the straight jacket was all awesome, like a childhood dream coming true! And he still sounds fantastic too, helpfully and excellently backed by Hurricane Nita, and Beasto Blanco and the rest of the great band. And, just like Dominum earlier, they looked like they were having fun, it infectiously rubbing off on the audience. The guy is the master of the stageshow and rock music, and didn’t disappoint at all here. Decades later, he is still one of the best live acts around.
The place was packed out by the time Tool took to the stage. They were very much the band everyone was excited to see beforehand, and judging by the reaction of the crowd during and after, they lived up to the hype. Opening on the incredible ‘Jambi’, the band took us through an hour and a half’s masterclass in musicianship. It’s rather well known by now that the band don’t show the videos of them, instead having all the screens dedicated to their stageshow and music videos. It adds so much to the atmosphere, and also made everyone not only much more into it, but closer to the stage too, creating an awesome crowd. I saw them the last time they played Download and loved them then, but getting to see both ‘Rosetta Stoned’ and ‘The Grudge’ live was honestly mind blowing. They were easily a highlight of the weekend for me, and if you ever get the chance to see them live, I cannot recommend enough!