Brutal Assault 2012

8-11.08.2012 Pevnost Josefov,Jaromer, Czech Republic

For the past few years, Brutal Assault has been a festival that has a permanent place in my concert calendar. I always return there with pleasure because in this part of Europe, it is hard to find another event where in 3-4 days you can experience such a rich and attractive lineup.

I wasn’t sure how I would make my way to the Czech town of Jaromer, and since the „normal” transport options fell through, I was forced to hitchhike my way across Poland. Fortunately, it went quite smoothly and by around 11 pm on Wednesday, I was already there. Wednesday was the day when concerts were already taking place, but I didn’t manage to catch any of them. Honestly, I was only interested in seeing Anaal Nathrakh that day. The night exploration of the city (aka party) extended so much that the day ended around 6 am.

After three hours of sleep in the car with my friends from Krosno (greetings to Maki, Yuri, and Getto), we were ready to start Thursday. We were stationed just a stone’s throw away from the grocery store, so having a beer in the morning was a no-brainer. The beginning of the festival didn’t interest us musically (I only wanted to check out how our compatriots from Totem would perform), so we headed to the pool, and then to the town for some fried cheese. We got back in time for The Black Dahlia Murder. I was a bit impatient because they were starting to play while I was still waiting in line for tickets. Fortunately, the wait was relatively short. The queues at certain times were so long that people had to wait for 3 hours (and more) for tickets. Going back to the performances – I fortunately didn’t miss much of TBDM’s performance. I like this band, I saw them in the same place two years ago and this time I was also satisfied. Good sound, lots of energy, great performance – a very promising start to the festival. The band presented a mix of songs from different albums and we heard tracks like „Miasma,” „Moonlight Equilibrium,” „Everything Went Black,” „A Shrine To Madness,” „Necropolis,” and a few others. However, I missed a few hits from „Elder Misanthropy,” but unfortunately, that’s the nature of a big festival where concert times are limited.

A slight surprise for me was the fact that the current bassist for Black Dahlia is a musician known from Despised Icon. Their performance was a big plus and even though they are being pinned with a metalcore label, the musicians try to emphasize their attachment and inspirations from more extreme scenes, as evidenced by their Phobia or Misery Index shirts, as well as promoting young bands on Facebook, including the local band The Dead Goats. But that’s beside the point. Later, it was time to explore the festival grounds, so we only returned for part of the Lock Up performance. I’ve seen them a few times and this band definitely does not disappoint. Awesome death metal grindcore with Thomas Lindberg on vocals captured a large part of the Brutal Assault 2012 crowd. The next band was Swallow The Sun, whom I didn’t really pay attention to before, but after their performance at Brutal Assault, I decided to give this band a chance. Modern engaging doom metal with lots of atmospheric, calm interludes, clean vocals, building tension – the guys did pretty well, although I think they would have done much better in the evening. Nevertheless, their performance was a big plus. The next band on the lineup was German Heaven Shall Burn, which I was looking forward to because they are one of my favorite acts. The concert started with the atmospheric intro „Awoken” from the album „Iconoclast,” followed by the first notes of „Endzeit.” This time, there was no visual projection that the band had at With Full Force. They used a fragment from a WWII documentary, and the climax of the intro coincided with the detonation of a swastika in the air. The audience reacted very lively to the sounds generated by our western neighbors. People knew the lyrics well and perfectly finished certain phrases with the vocalist. The obligatory show element, the „wall of death,” was also present. Despite all these positives, it should be honestly noted that Heaven Shall Burn is not a technically outstanding band, and their sound and performance are not as polished as, for example, The Black Dahlia Murder. However, this didn’t bother me because certain shortcomings add a kind of authenticity and color to their performance. The band presented hits like „Counterweight,” „Combat,” „Trespassing The Shores Of Your World” (with a brilliant slowdown in the middle), “The Disease” from newer albums, but also classics like „Whatever It May Take” or my favorite „Voice Of The Voiceless.” They also did a cover of Edge Of Sanity’s „Black Tears.” Next, three Brazilians unleashed a true death metal hell on the neighboring stage. Of course, I’m talking about Krisiun. On stage there was a massive red banner with some demons, and from the speakers came brutal metal that the Kolesne brothers have accustomed us to. Lots of tempo changes, everything came together beautifully and sounded very selective. One of the best concerts of the festival in this atmosphere. We skipped Ministry and when we returned to the festival grounds to see Sick Of It All, we caught the end of Dimmu Borgir’s circus performance. Sweet keys, clean vocals, symphonic inserts – but not exactly what I wanted to hear in Jaromer. Fortunately, the atmosphere changed dramatically shortly after thanks to the aforementioned New York hardcore band. The NYC legend delivered one of the best performances of the festival and even kicked ass of those who admitted that they don’t normally listen to this type of music. Hardcore at Brutal Assault always works well, as evidenced by performances from bands like Madball, Agnostic Front, or Biohazard in previous editions. When Sick Of It All started, I immediately rushed to the stage because songs like „Scratch The Surface,” „Take The Night Off,” or „Uprising Nation” make it impossible to stand still. It’s worth mentioning that several factors contributed to their excellent performance. Great sound, incredible stage presence, and excellent interaction with the audience. No slip-ups and absolutely smashing performance. I skipped Samael, I had seen them before a couple of times, and every time I was begging for the disco to end as soon as possible. Nile is a band that, it’s embarrassing to admit, I hadn’t seen live before. So, I was curious to see how they would perform at Brutal Assault and it was one of my priorities for this year’s edition. My enthusiasm was dampened by the terrible sound – it was muffled and rough. The drum parts, which are one of the trademarks of this band, were below average. From the songs that the Americans presented, you can mention tracks like „Supreme Humanism of Megalomania,” „Sarcophagus,” „Kafir!,” „Ithyphallic,” or „Black Seeds Of Vengeance” with a polish accent in the form of a guest appearance of one of the best Polish metal graphic artists – Xaaya.

We started Friday exceptionally with concerts this time. The day began with some exceptional bands. The first was Cattle Decapitation, a band I had known for a long time, but it was only their latest album that showed the great potential these animal rights activists from the States have. It was a really great concert, and the modern death metal played by the Americans gathered a decent group of fans by the stage, which is not often those bands inaugurating the days of the festival can achieve. Also, the level of the band was a bit mismatched to the role of the warm-up band. They played songs like „Forced Gender Reassignment,” „Your Disposal,” and „Kingdom Of Tyrants.” Then, the Scots from Bleed from Within presented their charms to us. I mainly knew songs from their album „Empire,” starting with the track „Healing,” which had a music video. However, they also played tracks from their previous album „Humanity” like „Damnation.” The band may present standard metalcore/deathcore, but it was quite enjoyable to listen to, and the audience responded very energetically. Great performance by them. A cool highlight was also a cover of Pantera. After them, the festival grounds were dominated by sounds of a relatively young genre, djent. The Swedes from Vildhjarta are one of the most promising bands in this genre. Lots of „breakdowns,” broken rhythms, engaging atmospheric elements. The highly emphasized rhythmic section caught attention. The group presented compositions like „All These Feelings,” „Shadow,” Eternal Golden Monk,” or „Dagger.” Then it was time for a longer break because there wasn’t much to see in the sunny day, and since it promised to be quite long, we had to conserve our energy. We only returned to the festival stages for Darkest Hour, whose performance was exceptionally well, especially in terms of sound engineering. Everything sounded juicy and selective, almost like from the records. Really professional work. The band also presented their best side. You may not like this type of music, but technically they did an impeccable job. Among the songs they played at Brutal Assault, I would highlight in particular “Love As A Weapon,” “Savor The Kill,” and “Severed Into Separates,” the biggest hits from their latest album, but they also played tracks from previous albums – like “Doomsayer” or “With A Thousand Words To Say But One.” Right after that, we moved to the stage next door for Vallenfyre, a band that thrives on Swedish classics like Entombed and does it excellently. Grave atmosphere, grunge on the guitars, mid-tempo beats, ominous melodies, and evil. A lot of evil. I like that. Somehow, I missed Morgoth, and I regret it a bit. Only Hatebreed managed to draw me to the stage. This band may have less to do with hardcore ideals and more with mainstream, but their concerts are still full of aggression and anger, so you can overlook that from time to time. I still have a soft spot for their old albums, and I enjoy their metal-infused style, so the concert was enjoyable. They played tracks like “Defeatist,” “Facing What Consumes You,” “Live For This,” “Never Let It Die,” “Last Breath,” and “Driven By Suffering.” After that, I caught a glimpse of Municipal Waste (as energetic as always), and then it was time for some rest, so I skipped Napalm Death and Amon Amarth. I had seen the former multiple times, and the latter doesn’t really interest me. However, it was essential to attend Machine Head, although at that point, there was a dilemma for me because the Belgian Rise And Fall was also playing on the small stage. I had to come up with a compromise, so I watched a few opening Machine Head songs (including „Imperium”). Then I rushed to the garage, where the small stage was located, and Rise And Fall played one of the best concerts of the festival for me. Great dark hardcore with lots of intentional feedback with quite decent sound (although the sound on the small stage was a bit lacking). Added to this was the atmospheric stage lighting and the overall intimacy of the concert, making it stand out at BA. I stood near the barricades, so I had everything in the palm of my hand. Metal aggression and darkness on one side and punk energy on the other. Result: 10/10. Luckily, when I returned to the main stage, Machine Head started playing „Halo,” and later they played „Davidian,” so to sum up, I didn’t really miss much. It was very satisfying for me because for the first time in my life, I felt responsible and resourceful. Right after the stars, a jump to the other side because Converge was up next. And they killed it. This band shines in their live performances. Unconventional song structures along with the incredible stage presence of vocalist Jacob Bannon make their concerts unique, and you can feel a rare sense of originality compared to other bands. There is an incredible amount of incorporated accents, transitions, twists, etc., in their music. The only downside could be Bannon’s clean vocals, which, in my opinion, were slightly off, but overall, no questions asked, my mind was blown. One can’t forget the guest appearance of Thomas Lindberg from At The Gates on a cover of Entombed’s „Wolverine Blues,” which Converge recorded on a split with Napalm Death. A fantastic combination of classic and modernity. Paradise Lost wasn’t my cup of tea. I watched Gorguts for a bit, and they were doing pretty well with their technical death metal, but I was already looking forward to Pig Destroyer’s performance, which was the antithesis of Converge’s show. Static performers, announcing songs with an unemotional statement of the title (only the guy operating the samples jumped around a bit), but the music proved that they are one of the best contemporary grindcore bands. Totally twisted rhythms, paranoid screeches, lots of stops, and very intense vibes. It was worth staying until the second night.

We took it easy on the third day, although we managed to get up for the band that inaugurated the day. The freshly reactivated Ahumado Granujo started things off. Their performance was good, but below expectations. The throne of Czech grind still belongs to Jig-Ai (although Ahumado had a guest from this band on vocals). AG is a great band on records, but in my opinion, they didn’t deliver live. It seemed a bit clumsy technically, and remembering the phenomenal Pig Destroyer concert a few hours earlier, you could see it was a different league. It lacked that feeling, passion, and madness (I probably would have liked it more at Obscene Extreme because of the festival’s character and its audience). Later, we took a long break for a shower (it was too cold for the pool) and as a result, we missed Skarhead and Aborted. We were determined to see Sodom, but it turned out their performance was moved to the night slot. We checked out the folk musicians from the forest, Finntroll – maybe it’s fun and cheerful music, but it didn’t do much for me at all. It wasn’t until Immolation that the real show began. I finally managed to see them live, and I wasn’t disappointed. The American veterans delivered classic death metal with hits like „No Jesus, No Beast” and „Dawn of Possession.” Then it was time to relax in the town, and we returned to the festival when Agnostic Front was playing. They had big shoes to fill after Sick Of It All and Hatebreed’s great performances, but they didn’t disappoint. I saw them in Jaromer for the third time, and once again, I gladly joined in the fun with hits like „Gotta Go,” „For My Family,” and „Crucified.” A pure burst of energy. Right after them, we had to rush to the other stage because the legendary At The Gates was starting their set, and I was particularly excited about that. It kicked off with a bang, and there was total madness with hits like „Suicide Nation,” „Cold,” „Blinded By Fear,” „Slaughter Of The Soul,” „Windows,” „All Life Ends,” or „Kingdom Gone.” There wasn’t a weak song, and the excitement was building with each familiar riff. Great sound, catchy melodies, Lindbergs’ charisma, and that typical Swedish vibe. It was fantastic. After that performance, Brutal Assault was over for me. I had no more energy or desire to see Immortal or other bands like Moonsorrow, and I collapsed in the car.

Brutal Assault once again showed that it is a festival worth attending for many reasons. The lineup is always so good that you have to choose, juggle, to cover everything and at the same time not burn out in the excitement of the event. At the same time, the lineup is not yet as „over-saturated” as, for example, the Hellfest, so compromises, as I mentioned, are still on the table. It wasn’t without disappointments – Nile’s poor sound quality, or the missed set of Unearth due to their concert being moved an hour earlier. But as they say, the key is not to let the negatives outweigh the positives, and in this case, that scenario is out of the question. Lots of friends, good atmosphere, better beer compared to previous years (the switch from Gambrinus to Budweiser was finally made), a cool location (although there may be changes to come because the festival was sold out, and it turns out there isn’t enough space for it to grow). There’s nothing left to say but, traditionally, see you next year!