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~Written by Tommy, May 2005
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On the paper this looked like an interesting festival. Several reunions by classic and great bands such as Anthrax, Testament, Gorefest, Lääz Rockit and Obituary. And in addition to that, great bands like Masterplan, Evergrey, Jon Oliva's Pain as a worthy backup, and Mercenary and 3 Inches Of Blood playing the mid field. I already knew up front that I would have to miss Anthrax due to the fact that the public tranportations did not allow me to stay the whole night out if I wanted to get home. It later turned out that I had to skip Jon Oliva too due to exhaustion and coldness. Luckily these two bands were none of my highest priorities this day, so it turned out to be highly enjoyable anyway and I got my fair share of high class metal.

Unfortunatly the rain and the cold weather almost ruined the day. The week before the festival it was around 30 degrees and close to tropical heat in Holland but the week before the event the temperature dropped by 3-4 degrees every day until the festival day and we were faced with around 5-7 degrees and rain on the day of the festival. It started out gray with just some tiny dripping but the rain escalated to become pouring in the middle of the day. The area of course became completely muddy and you were constantly freezing. The stages were both sheltered by a tent, but only a roof and it was open on the sides so that did not do anything for warmth. Luckily the rain stopped later in the afternoon but the cold remained. After a long day standing up, freezing, being dirty and wet, I could not take anymore and decided to call it a day after Testament and therefor left out on Jon Oliva's Pain and Anthrax.

Let me also take some time to express my deepest despise and hate towards all moshpitters out there. I sincerely and honestly hope you will very soon die a very painful death, preferrably by being turned inside out or something, and then be fed your intestents to finally be grilled slowly over an open flame. People who have absolutely no interest in the music whatsoever should not be allowed to basically ruin a whole concert for so many other people that are only there for one thing - to look at the band and listening to the concert. If you moshpit in the for the event reserved area - fine. But randomly running, pushing, slamming into people far outside the area, throwing 'innocent' people around and basically ruin the concert for other people - completely moronic behaviour. It's not a surprise that all of you who are engaged in this kind of behavior look like neanderthals. A big, big fuck you to you all. The same goes by the way to all of you who find it amusing to constantly throw full beer glasses into the audience. You are nothing but retards. Fuck you too.

Mercenary

Main stage
12:30 - 13:10

Despite the fact that they played early in front of a very small and freezing audience, Mercenary did a really good gig and was a perfect opener for me this day. Their music can be described as melodic and progressive thrash with heavy, pounding riffs and growling as well as clean vocals. It showed that they are comfortable on a stage and the singer and the bassist, who also work as growler during certain parts, are natural front men. However, the sound was not the best. It was too loud and the drums were too high in the mix but when summarizing this, they pass with honor and it was a perfect start of the festival for me.

7,5 chalices of 10



SETLIST:

reDestructDead
Firesoul
Seize The Night
Sharpen The Edges
World Hate Centre
11 Dreams

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3 Inches Of Blood

Tent Stage
13:10 - 13:50

What in God's name is it that meets my eye when I line up for the 3 Inches Of Blood gig? A bunch of guys that look like lumberjacks that have been taken straight from Canadas most deserted wilderness, having two singers whereof one looks like a nerd taken straight out of any given american collage movie and is most concerned with keeping his hood on his head when he headbangs and one that loks like Zakk Wylde but sounds like Udo Dirkschneider on helium. I looked around me during the first song and I was far from alone laughing about what had appeared in front of me. It was quite a sight, since I had heard the band many times before but have never known what they look like. But man, do they write and play good songs. Uptempo, plenty of great and classic NWOBHM riffs and sounding like a mixture of Accept, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The tent stage was small and the guys were going wild so it's pretty intense, and after the initial smile due to the guys appearance, I could not help standing and enjoying this to the max. I would absolutely go and see them again.

7 chalices of 10


SETLIST: (included)

Fear On The Bridge
Revenge Is A Vulture
Wykydtron
Axes Of Evil
Deadly Sinners

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Masterplan

Main Stage
13:50 - 14:40

Time for Germanys/Norways new heavy metal sensation to enter the stage. Jorn Lande immediatly takes the commando, being the characteristic front man as he is, while Roland Grapow takes the position on the left side and start doing his job. Not much movement or action on stage from his or the other members side, but Jorn and the song material make up for that. It's a good collection of songs, such as the title track of the latest album, Wounds, Heroes, Crawling From Hell and the two not so brilliant singles Enlighten Me and Back For My Life among others. Just as Mercenary, Masterplan suffers from a bit crappy sound, being a bit too loud and drums too high. The performance was a bit laid back and even though competent, professional and musically very good, it did not really impress me. Perhaps I had too high expectations on this gig.

6 chalices of 10




1 2

SETLIST: (included)

Crimson Rider
Crystal Night
Wounds
Kindhearted Light
I’m Not Afraid
Enlighten Me
Soulburn
Back For My Life
Crawling From Hell

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Trivium

Tent Stage
14:40 - 15:20

Reading about this band and seeing that they play some sort of metal core, I decided that this was the time to get a bite to eat and something to drink. I was planning to skip this performance, but I heard something from the tent that sounded interesting, so I decided to pop over and have a look. It turned out to be something different than I thought. Even though the very young guys in the band looked like your typical hard/rap/metal core kids, the music was more in the thrash area with very heavy and fat riffs, and quite nice and distince melodies and refrains. You could spot a hint of the hard/metal core, but it was not much. Despite their young age, they seemed to have quite some stage routine. I bet they have done one or two gigs over in their home country USA.

7 chalices of 10

SETLIST:

The End Of Everything
Rain
Drowned & Torn
Asunder
Suffocating Sight
Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr
A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation
Ascendancy
Like Light To The Flies

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Lääz Rockit

Main Stage
15:20 - 16:10

The first reuninon of the day, and what a gig it was. This was the concert of the day, along with Obituarys. American, classic thrashers Lääz Rockit had a great sound, a very intense and eventful show and the old songs sounded awesome. Brilliant riffing, heavy as hell, good vocals - the old dudes still know how to do it. The songs were picked from almost all of their first albums. This was the only band this day that actually delivered some fun and entertaining talk in between the songs. The singer was joking around and the response from the audience was great. It was perhaps not a coincidence that it was during this concert that the sun decided to show itself for the first time this day. Only for a while, but a very welcome break from the pouring rain.

9 chalices of 10


SETLIST:

Fire In The Hole
Prelude
Bad Blood
Say Goodbye M.F.
Spared From The Fire
Forced To Fight
Most Dangerous Game
Last Breath
Euroshima

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Evergrey

Tent Stage
16:10 - 16:50

I think it was a big joke to place Evergrey on the tent stage. The stage was small and did not leave room for much action and the actual tent did not take many people. A band as big as this should have been on the main stage in order to be able to play out every card of their productions. Evergrey did what they could out of it anyway, and they did it damn good. They managed to produce a mighty atmosphere and the tempo was good. Their progressive metal was embraced good by the tiny audience and many knew the lyrics and sang along. It must be almost impossible to become bored during a concert with Evergrey since they have a perfect balance between tempo changes and style changes throughout the songs. One of the better bands in the genre and perhaps the best in Sweden at the moment. Once again: too bad about the stage.

8 chalices of 10


SETLIST: (included)

Blinded
End Of Your Days
More Than Ever
She Speaks To The Dead
I’m Sorry
Recreation Day
A Touch Of Blessing

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Gorefest

Main Stage
16:55 - 17:55

Another reunion, and the second for the day. Hollands own premier act in death metal Gorefest has decided to start up the machinery again, and what could be better than doing the first gig at Dynamo Open Air? Songs from the whole career were played, including some from the album Mindloss and of course quite a few from False. What I do not like about this band is the many slow parts of the songs. The only thing they do to me is make me bored and it makes the concert lose its power and momentum. When it's uptempo and double bass drums it's awesome, especially when accompanied by Jan-Chris de Koeijers magnificent growls. He is in my eyes one of the best growlers there are. So powerful and brutal, but yet so clear. But during the slow parts, as I said, I start to look at the watch. And since there is not much going on on stage, I have to say that this is partly an enjoyable concert, but nothing special.

6 chalices of 10


SETLIST:

The Glorius Dead
State Of Mind
Low
Mental Misery
False
Erase
Reality – When You Die
Chapter 13
From Ignorance To Oblivion
The Mass Insanity
Confessions Of A Serial Killer

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Obituary

Main Stage
18:15 - 19:15

Yet another reunion, and this was absolutely awesome. Obituary owned Dynamo, and I have to say that this was one of the better concerts I have seen. Not many bands are able to create such a flow throughout a concert, but with the abundance of monster riffs Obituary have, it is not hard for them to not completely run us over. This was the only band that made me completely forget the cold, the tiredness in the legs, everything. It was pure magic on stage, and when they fire away classics such as Cause Of Death, Chopped in Half , Slowly We Rot - it is a complete experience. John Tardys vocals were very good and the guitar sound as marvellous, fat and clear as on the albums. They also played a song from the forthcoming album, and it sounded absolutely ace. Uptempo with a brilliant, classic and flowing Obituary riff. If that was an indication on how the album is going to be - be sure to pick up the new album sometime this June.

9,5 chalices of 10



SETLIST: (included)

Internal Bleeding
Threatening Skies
Cause Of Death
Chopped In Half
Solid State
Kill For Me
Insane
Slowly We Rot

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Testament

Main Stage
19:40 - 20:45

And yet another reunion. Testament is back on dutch soil to crush Dynamo once again. The last time that happened with this classic setting was 1987. The guys obviously enjoyed themselves and it was intense and powerful. Everyone except guitarist Skolnick was going wild and Chick Billy did a splendid vocal performance. The songs were mainly taken from the first albums, and we got to hear classics like Into The Pit, Practice What You Preach, Over The Wall, Trial By Fire, Disciples Of The Watch among ohers. In that lies also a bit of the weakness of the show, since I would like to have heard a few songs from the later albums. In my eyes, the setlist is up for discussion, but the audience loved it, and it was indeed a great show anyway, so....

8 chalices of 10

1 2

SETLIST:

The Preacher
The New Order
The Haunting
Electric Crown
Sins Of Omission
Souls Of Black
Into The Pit
Trial By Fire
Practice What You Preach
The Legacy
Over The Wall
Disciples Of The Watch


Related links: www.dynamo.nl

Tommy, May 2005