PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Today stared off with a trip to the Press Tent and an interview with John from the Darkest Hour. It was a pleasure to catch up with him.
We discuss the band, the guys starting to write their new album, current tour before they take some time off to write the album and how the new guys are fitting in to the band.
To hear the interview click here
After the interview, we headed out to catch the remainder of Sacred Reich set. I had missed them when they played Glasgow a few weeks before so had to see them. The guys were on superb form, the crowd wasn’t as large as I expected but it was still early and the weather had been iffy all morning.
Highlight for me was ‘Circle Of Life’, he he he I kid ye not there was a huge pit going and they told everyone not to do a Wall of Death but make a Circle of Life, before singing the Lion King! Priceless! ‘American Way, ‘Independent’. ‘War Pigs’, was Neil’s favourite and to finish off, the superb ‘Surf Nicaragua’.
Setlist:
Death Squad- Love…Hate
- Administrative Decisions
- I Don’t Know
- One Nation
- Ignorance
- American Way
- Crimes Against Humanity
- Who’s to Blame
- Independent
- War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)
- Surf Nicaragua
Sanctuary performed a great set filled with fan favourites that had the crowd rocking along including a cover of Jefferson Airplane – ‘White Rabbit’ and the world premiere of ‘I Am The Law’ before finishing up with ‘The World Wired’ and ‘Battle Angels’
Setlist:
- Eden Lies Obscured
- Die for My Sins
- Taste Revenge
- Future Tense
- The Mirror Black
- White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane cover
- Sanctuary
- I Am The Law – World Premiere
- The World Wired
- Battle Angels
We head over to Bullhead Circus Tent to see The Black Dahlia Murder performance a brutal set that had the crowd going nuts, every track going down better than the last one. However during Darkest Hour it had started start to chuck down with rain and it had not let up at all during TBDM set. So about, halfway through we chucked on our waterproof jackets, headed out, and braved the elements especially the mud and headed back to the nice warm and dry press tent.
Setlist:
- Moonlight Equilibrium
- What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
- Malenchantments of the Necrosphere
- Necropolis
- On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood
- I Will Return
After we had splashed our way over, we caught the remainder of My Inner Burning showcase. They are a German female-fronted Metal band. Neil was rather taken with the singer for some reason whilst the rest of us enjoyed the riff and melodies that they were producing.
Check them out
https://www.facebook.com/MyInnerBurning
It by now had stopped raining so I ventured out to see Decapitated who I’ve been looking forward to seeing. The guys do what they do best and assault you with their deadly blend of tech death metal. They are on great form and sound superb. The pit was a big as I thought it would be however, the crowd was headbanging and bouncing along it was great show that was over too quickly.
Setlist:
- The Knife
- Pest
- Mother War
- Post Organic
- A View From a Hole
- Spheres of Madness
It was raining yet again; I think we are jinxed with rain every time I go see a band on the WET stages lol.
We headed back to the Press Tent to catch the Djerv showcase, they also had a slot the next night on the Headbanger Stage however they were going to clash with The Scorpions so we decided to check them out. They are a modern hard rock female fronted band from Oslo.
Check them out:
https://www.facebook.com/djervmusic
We managed to catch the very start of Hammerfall great set, Patient Zero and Heeding the Call, the guys sound on great form and its a shame we have to leave at the start of ‘Any Means Necessary’ to head back to Press Tent for the Metal Battle press conference.
The Metal Battle Press Conference is when the winners of the Metal Battle competition are announced. This was a highly charged and the tent was packed out.
They explain the system as well as trying to gain more countries to enter. No band goes away empty handed every wheat winner that has played gets a prize and the overall winner get as a 1-year record deal with Nuclear Blast Records as well as endorsements etc. Click here to hear the conference.
This year’s winner was Hamferð from the Faroe Island. Congratulations to Hamferð as well as all the band that took part.
I caught up with Theodor from Hamferð after they had accepted their prize. Click here to hear the interview
The next spectacular set was up next in the form of Dimmu Borgir and Orchestra and thankfully the weather had cleared up for this starting.
Dimmu Borgir was accompanied by the Czech National Symphonic Orchestra and choir, for this extravaganza. It was the Czech National Symphonic Orchestra fifth performance at Wacken so they certainly have the experience of playing on such a large stage along with metal bands!
The Orchestra & Choir opened with ‘Xibir’ before the band took to the stage and launched into ‘Born Treacherous’. The Orchestra and band entwine perfectly, to make it even more compelling was a few members of the orchestra had corpse paint on!
A great touch was the ‘Dimmu Borgir’ being played twice once by the Orchestra & Choir only then by the band. With songs such as ‘Ritualist’, ‘Progenies of the Great Apocalypse’, The Serpentine Offering’ this was a impressive set to have the pleasure of watching. They finish up with ‘Mourning Palace’ and then the Orchestra & Choir play ‘Perfection or Vanity’
Setlist:
- Xibir – Orchestra & Choir only
- Born Treacherous
- Gateways
- Dimmu Borgir – Orchestra & Choir only
- Dimmu Borgir
- Chess With the Abyss
- Ritualist
- A Jewel Traced Through Coal
- Eradication Instincts Defined – Orchestra & Choir only
- Vredesbyrd
- Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
- The Serpentine Offering
- Fear and Wonder – Orchestra & Choir only
- Kings of the Carnival Creation
- Puritania
- Mourning Palace
- Perfection or Vanity – Orchestra & Choir only
Next for us is an favourite if mine In Flames. I honestly wasn’t sure how they were going to top Dimmu’s performance but I can testify that they literally burned up the stage!
They opened with ‘Jester’s Door ‘where all you can see is scaffolding and a piano before the scaffolding falls away on the huge screen at the back and is replaced by moving blue cubes as the launch into ‘Cloud Connected’ and ‘Trigger’. The band looked classy in their white shirts, ties, black waistcoats, and trousers.
If you have ever seen In Flames at a festival before you know to expect a stunning set filled with flames/pyros and flashing lights, we were not disappointed tonight. The crowd bounced and head banged along to the set. We headed off to the coach during ‘Fear Is the Witness’ and as we walked back we heard the remainder of the set.
Setlist:
- Jester’s Door – intro
- Cloud Connected
- Trigger
- Where the Dead Ships Dwell
- Only for the Weak
- Reroute to Remain
- Crawl Through Knives
- Delight and Angers
- The Quiet Place
- The Chosen Pessimist
- Fear Is the Weakness
- Alias
- The Mirror’s Truth
- System
- Deliver Us
- Take This Life
- My Sweet Shadow
To view Neil’s pictures that he took at Wacken click here
