Hi, as promised in the last report from Brutal Assault festival, here is a gallery of some fans there. Sure, its not whole twenty thousand, but hoping its enough of happyness and joy caught in the place. Enjoy! Thank you all!
The most important guys in music – fans
The fourth day starts and I feel a bit tired a bit from rushing stage to stage. Slight pain in the throat does not help at all, too. But rock’n’roll awaits still.
In the afternoon, the thrash group Nunslaughter, Exhorder and the Czech Faust are worth mentioning. I was happy with the music of Benighted, which I had the opportunity to see last year as well. Their extreme action full of growling and pig squeals was satisfying as usual.
Nunslaughter, Faust, Exhorder
From the modern and more progressive side, bands like Aviana, Stake, Humanity’s Last Breath, Frontierer played early. Another less metal, more hardcore (kinda) was presented by Comeback Kid and Sick of It All or fusion of styles by Stake.
Stake, Humanity’s Last Breath, Sick of It All
Outside of black metal, I was looking forward to doom performed by Swallow the Sun. Again and as always, nice performance. The sad melodies dug into us damn deep. Maybe even more so, when we watched the lead guitarist Juho Räihä. He seemed crazy thin to me…
Swallow the Sun
I was preparing for blackness again. Mainly Abbath and Panzerfaust from Canada. I saw the guys a few months ago in Czech club. The music was good, but because of the (in)correct lights and smoke, everyone saw complete crap the whole concert… At the Brutal Assault, it really bothered me that many bands of similar genre overlapped at the same time… Was it like that last time too? I do not even remember due covid break. Now it was very frequent and I was quite sad. Panzerfaust didn’t start playing until half an hour after Abbath, but that was actually even worse for me. Most of us who were at Abbath show wanted to hear the second part of the set, when they again played covers from the legend – Immortal. So I didn’t hear anything from that part… Panzerfaust showed us that their black metal is powerful and strong at least, even if there was a little too much of the fog for my taste. The „chaotic“ plucking of dissonant chords in the fast tempo and the slower passages enhanced the greatness and force the band has.
Abbath, Panzerfaust
As the previous day represented the legend of King Diamond, on Friday it was the legacy of Chronos with Venom. Again, and absolute professionalism combined with a fun that was felt from the members. They kicked off the concert with the legendary song “Black Metal” and that was actually enough to give me full satisfaction. As Imentioned overlapping times of some bands, here, due Venom, I have missed Slagmaur which was playing on other side of the festival, unfortunatelly. Black metal band who closed the day of the day, was Mysticum, which was more on industrial side of the genre. Besides good music and great light show, many of us drooled on the great muscle mass of the guitarist. I think ladies had quite a hard time to keep on their legs. Stay tuned for the final day.
Venom, Mysticum
Hey all, here are few lines for the third day of Brutal Assault, the festival in the heart of Europe, Czech to be more precise. We start to feel tiny tired due getting to sleep very late, or soon? Hah! Still, here are some lines and pics and another shall follow for sure. No rest for the wicked!
Start of a day was in the name of fun! Excrementory Grindfuckers was on of the first band playing, and surely they had fun on big stage as the fans had. Later on Czech death metal band Godless Truth showed us their more musical aspect on death metal with their technical approach and more modern vibe.
Excrementory Grindfuckers, Godless Truth
Another great death metal kicked our butts with energy is Baest from Denmark. Guys got full attention and their extremely live appearance recharged us, no matter how destroyed and tired we were from the previous day. From the same genre a bit later we have seen the legends. Gorish Aborted and later on, on the same stage, Cattle Decapitation presented their album Death Atlas and played some songs from older albums too. I am tiny sad The Kingdom of Tyrants has not been among these, but what can you do. The set was intense and brutal as always with their great combination of death metal, black and grindcore. Asphyx from Netherlands, Blood Incantation is another notable death metal music playing on Thursday.
Baest, Aborted, Cattle Decapitation
As the thrash metal dudes, Lost Society and Onslaught were both on main stages and made us mosh and stage dive as crazy! Various forms of black metal were divided into 1914, Necrophobic and for me, especially the Sweden Valkyrja, which was top notch stuff full of extreme power, even when played quite a bit after the midnigh!
Onslaught, 1914, Valkyrja
Many of us were curious how Cradle of Filth will be. I have to say, Dani Filth did not disappoint with his vocal, considering he is no longer a youngster. Other musicians of this UK/CZE object performed flawlessly too. Long live the king! Especially King Diamond and his Mercyful Fate. For many of us the was the most awaited concert of the day. The show was intense and another candidate for highest pitched vocalist of the festival with Dani Filth. The Theater aspect and mask were nice, same with the music of course!
Cradle of Filth, Mercyful Fate
The surprise of Thursday was made of three wizards and three seductive vixens – Shaam Larein. Their occultism packed psychedelic flow rich rock music was totally awesome live.
Shaam Larein
Conjurer and Skepticism, who closed the festival did it with grace and roses brought calm peace, tho with heavy sound of course. before most of us came to the bed. What a great day! Stay tuned for another info.
Skepticism
The festival is over now and after bringing you the first day already, we got little more calm and piece to bring on another days. So here is the second one, Wednesday. The second day started with Czech band Sceletons. Guys present themselves as thrash death crossover and I totally agree. Even more, main vocalist and guitarist seems to be a really big fan of Chuck Schuldiner, which he borrowed vocal from. At least to my ears. Guys were really awesome. From the same genre, Heathen from US played their stuff, too. Call me crazy, but I have heard vocal from Iron Maiden a bit. The second day and am I nuts already, or deaf? At the very same day Czech Schizophrenia and D.R.I. closed thrash metal line-up.
Sceletons, Heathen
From old school to the new one. Core genres (especially the brutal one) were pressed into us by Lorna Shore. Guys had a hell of an audience, and their heavy deathcore with brutal and guttural vocals hit like a giant hammer! Bit behind, brutality wise, we could hear both lovely and heavy vocal of beautiful Tatiana and Jinjer. Djenty Tesseract also played at the afternoon.
Tesseract, Jinjer, Lorna Shore
Good ol’ brutality from years back were given to us by the Bloodbath on afternon and legendary Cannibal Corpse in the night. The stage was packed really tightly, tons of people definitivelly looked forward to see and hear these immortal butchers. Earlier, Misery Index made other fans really happy with their fast grind.
Cannibal Corpse, Bloodbath
We also witnessed some more experimental stuff by Igorr or Strigoi. The frontman appeared next day in other legendary band – Paradise Lost. No wonder Strigoi gave us some interesting heavy crust crossover with a doom song as a bonus. Imperial Triumphant trio was another more experimental band. Their combination of really jazzy approach (bass especially) with some black metal and masks were something many people waited for. The concert was even spiced more, when the E string of the guitar snapped shortly after the start of the show. He managed well even without it. Another not so metal band was Me and That Man. This bluesy concert was great for every fan of Nergal, as well as for everybody, who just wanted to chill from the extreme stuff.
Me and That Man, Strigoi, Imperial Triumphant
Another star appeared here for the first time. Bobby Liebling of Pentagram made lots of people (me included, especially) very happy with his old and heavy doom legacy, funny faces and lots of energy. Hard to believe he manages it in his age! With doomy aspect but more progressive, Czech Elbe was playing on afternoon. Many people waited for melancholical and calm French guys from Alcest, tho this set was much more intense due their last album. For fans of even more sadness and pain in the music, Amenra played their very heavy slow set, which was thick as the swamps in an abandoned wood. late in the night and we could hear the songs from various albums with nice classical projection behind them.
Amenra, Alcest, Pentagram, Elbe
One of the highlights of the day was the theater of Japanese cult band, Sigh. Their combination of occultism, black and thrash metal with blistering fast and cool guitar solos was really top and smaller stage suited them great for their rituals. Dark Funeral played lately that night, too. The night was closed by French black metal inspired horde Regarde les Hommes Tomber. It was 2 A.M. but there was still big pack of people craving to see the guys and party on to the morning hours as well.
Sigh, Regarde les Hommes Tomber
The most important guys – fans
At last! After two years of nothing, the gates of 25th Brutal assault open to us and here are some bands giving us their best. As usual, we witnessed little longer quevesat start, but nothing that we could not withstand. Some stuff was done at the last minutes as the ceilings on the balconies, but at least everyone could see what it takes to prepare festivals this big. So here goes the Tuesday.
Fans rules!
After little adaptation getting some tasty food in various of tents, both with meat meals but also vegan options, which is quite standard now, we could see the first artists performing in one of four stages. The start (at 2.15p.m.) was quite mild and not so in your face. Japanese metalcore of Sable Hills gave us some more melodic stuff so our skulls were not crashed immediatelly. After that the hardcore crossover Slope was pumping some positive energy into people as well as exotic Bloodywood with their combination of ethnical vibes and metal music.
Slope, Bloodywood
Some heavy hitters were delivering the best tho and that was Devourment from Texas with their brutal death metal. And they were not the only one in the day. Later on, Extermination Dismemberment and Korpse showed some nice work with a public and forced the people cheerfully to do some moshing, stage diving and even wall of death with their guttural rich music. Little less intense with brutality, but with added melodies, Rivers of Nihil played on one of main stages. Vola or Czech Avatar was even further in progressive approach with their music. At The Gates continued with the milder aspect of the genre later in the night.
Devourment, Extermination Dismemberment, Rivers of Nihil, Korpse
Two bands of another direct metal subgenre could be heard. Classical thrash metal from California, Vio-lence showed themselves in nice lights with their fast show and also another local band Exorcizphobia gave us some thrashy riffs.
Vio-lence
Slower, but surely not weaker kind of stuff was represented by another, quite a new, Czech band Můra who looked like their motto is: Blood, corpsepaint and wine. Doomy steam-roller combination of doom death and black metal (mostly visually) was damn good, if you are in this kind of music and little smaller Bastion stage (new, instead of Octagon one) suited them well, too.
Můra
Later on the Pallbearer stayed in the genre as well as Evoken who represended slow funeral doom as if the time has almost stopped when heavy down-tuned riffes have been played.
Pallbearer, Evoken
Stay tuned for next days reports! Thanks.
Turku Saatanalle continued… 3 months later.
By: Serena Solomon / Dark Art Conspiracy
The most anticipated band of Turku Saatanalle V, Batushka, finally made it to Turku along with the homegrown black metalers Korgonthurus who also didn’t make it to their TSV appearance. The double make-up gig also included a much anticipated bonus – hailing from Sweden, melodic black metalers; Wormwood.
At Ravintola Kåren, the venue hosting the gig, it is more typical to find events that involve cloth covered tables and fancy food being held there. Needless to say, when the venue was announced for this gig, I was quite intrigued. The last gig I attended there (or was even remotely interested in attending) was a cover band night hosted by Åbo Akademi’s rock club three years ago. Not only is it rare to see a gig such as this hosted there, the more frequented venues in Turku have a completely different setting and ambiance. Experiencing this kind of gig at Kåren was refreshing in a way, but in other ways, felt off… such as watching Korgonthorus in all their corpse–painted rusted–nail-covered bracer glory– then looking to the left and seeing a renaissance style mural taking up the entire wall, complete with crystal chandeliers.
Despite having to get used to this new atmosphere, the bands played, the people watched headbanged, moshed, and even meditated?
Korgonthurus
Upon entering the venue, the curtains were closed (scoff) and doused in red lighting as atmospheric music played in the background (nothing I could recognize).
The curtains were pulled back and the band was in position… which was a bit comical and theatrical, completely out of place in comparison to the simple “walk on” typical for this type of gig. They had a bit of sound difficulty but their performance and the acoustics of the place distracted and the crowd soon relaxed and got into the music.
Their sound was solid for their genre but compared to the other bands playing that night, to me, they were like a base coat for a more intricate design- a solid band to set the mood for something more anticipated and unique.
Wormwood
The crowd was noticeably more attentive when the curtains opened for Wormwood. The band also, in my opinion, started with one of their strongest songs (The Universe is Dying) and the crowd was hooked.(4 left)
They, too,had some sound problems but powered through and it didn’t hinder their show a bit. Their presence and sound had that something unique I had been waiting for during Korgonthurus. And similar to the headliners, only having one album, in my opinion played the best songs off the album.
Their energy on stage was infectious and I think my memory of the gig is partially foggy due to my own energy catching up and running around to try to capture it all and enjoy at the same time. My only complaint is that they didn’t play longer! Also to the asshole who kept putting his arm around my waist, fuck you.
Batushka
Initially it was hard to discern when the atmospheric music being played between bands ended, and Batushka’s intro began. But then,the stage hands came to light the candles-enter the frankincense I was hoping for.
That sensory element only certain bands can pull off and an added component that can almost be noticeable if missing.As the candles continued to be lit, one solitary undistorted guitar played the intro to their music to set the mood. Though it is known a large portion of Batushka’s show and stage presence revolves around ritual and symbolism, I couldn’t help but remember someone complaining at Turku Saatanalle, that these days there is more ritual activity happening on stages at such events than actual instrument playing. The person had a point, but I also think many fans of such music appreciate the variety in stage presence and activity on stage embracing and supporting the bands imagery and lyrical themes.
It also surprised me that some unexpected things happened as well as a few things being left out from what I was expecting after watching some of their live videos online (to get a feel of what was coming). I didn’t think their activities on stage could vary that much but it was, in a way, a good thing that it was a bit unpredictable (for someone who had never seen them before).
Though their faces were covered, the main vocalist successfully portrayed some emotion and somehow translated facial expressions through hand gestures and body language. 
I could visualize, for example, when he had his hands out towards the crowd a certain way, what kind of facial expression might go with such gesture, which gave a bit more of an idea of at least the mood behind the lyrics (since I could not understand them). The setup of the stage was also interesting to me. Of course, the vocalist/frontman is up front and, to go along with their ritual/mock-religious ceremony theme, was set up behind a podium/alter. The backup vocals had their place somewhat behind and to the side… but three of the four musicians were far far behind, in the shadows, as if they should be heard and not seen. 
One of them I couldn’t even manage to get a photo of and it wasn’t the drummer. I’m curious about the significance of that.
It was also incredibly interesting to observe the crowd’s reaction and response to their music and show. At some points, the vocalist directed the crowd to “shh”… and they did. 
Other times, I looked around and saw people with their arms extended and palms out as if truly at some religious ceremony. Others seemed as if they were meditating… eyes closed or open. Feeling and interpreting the music in ways I have never seen at such gigs, as if it was more of a ceremony to them than a metal gig.
Check out rest of the photos at https://darkartconspiracy.com/concert-photos/
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