Leaning heavily on the classic era, the band demonstrated well why they’re still a force to be reckoned with on the live circuit, with particular credit going to session lead guitarist Jon Donais, who is always a pleasure to watch. The band have certainly lost some prestige over the years of “he said, she said” bickering and in-fighting (not helped by Scott Ian’s repeated hypocrisy in the media), but the songs have lost none of their vim and vigour. So I’ve substituted in a rather nifty video shot from backstage instead)Ī quick skip to one side found Anthrax bringing the noise over on the Main Stage, albeit to a much smaller crowd than I expected. (FYI – due to my position to the left of the stage, the footage I got was… all glare. Just a fantastic performance, through and through. Each member was still a bouncing ball of energy, particularly always energetic frontwoman Candace, who’s a veritable spitfire of furious venom and hardcore heart, and capable of some truly brutal vocalisations. I’ve not seen the band for quite a few years now, but it was as if time hadn’t touched them at all.
It was a truly intense experience, melding truly venomous nihilism and scorched-earth blasting with moments of sick, grimy groove.Īfter a short ramble it was off to the Second (Pain) Stage to see US hardcore bruisers Walls Of Jericho bring their punishing mix of high-energy thrash riffage and precise, pugilistic beatdowns to a truly massive crowd of the German faithful. The band pummelled the audience from start to finish with 16 tracks of brutish, caustic grind, rarely pausing between songs for more than a minute, never allowing the assembled crowd to catch their breath. Similarly compelling, and similarly annihilating, Rotten Soundwere my next port of call, and if I wasn’t awake before then, I certainly was by the end of their set! Combine this with the band’s relentless delivery – all jagged edges and harsh, ecliptic angles, and you get one singularly uncomfortable, yet incredibly compelling, live experience. The band’s frontman Vestal was a particularly difficult figure to look away from, screeching his savage hymns of depravity whilst physically flagellating himself with both his mic and his bare fists. We’ll have Part 3 of his review tomorrow.)ĭay 2 of the festival kicked off (for me at least) with some pure blackened misanthropy courtesy of France’s Merrimack who proceeded to shake the cobwebs out of everyone’s brains with an esoteric take on panzerfaust black metal blasting that recalls Deathspell Omega in places (though considerably more focussed and violent). To see his review of the festival’s first day, go here. ( Andy Synn delivers this review of the second day at the recently completed Summer Breeze festival in Germany, and again provides video of the performances.
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