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But these two bands are naturally not the openings acts. The 6.30 p.m. cannon fodder this evening is called Project 911. These boys, and I do mean boys, make me laugh harder than I have done during a metal gig since I saw Gwar. Think of me as a cynic and a bastard, but I can’t help it. Why? Well, even before we start talking about the music, I need you to picture a young man who’s the singer of a band. He looks lost, or at least as if he’s thinking about something completely different than the gig he’s a part of. When he’s not singing, he just stands there! He’s the first one to take off his t-shirt, by the way. Because that’s heavy metal. Apparently. Since all five guys in the band take them off eventually.
Then we have the important bit. The music. I have to be totally honest and say that it isn’t top dollar. The sound, and this is not necessarily the band’s fault, is not at all good. The drums in particular sound horrendous. But on top of that, Project 911’s compositions fail to excite and are delivered in something I can at best define as untight fashion.
It’s great to give young bands a chance, but perhaps for this festival, the benchmark should be raised a bit higher?
Rating: 28/100
Obtain Pain clearly have a few more years of experience to lean on, but their sound is just as disastrous as the first band, plus, truth be told, the death/thrash of the quintet does not impress.
The delivery is untight and the crisp guitar sound is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. When the bassist takes over the mike for the last song, things take a turn for the really bad. It sounds like a parody of a death metal song! I am truly amazed.
Rating: 40/100
Clonecircle impressed me immensely last year with their technology induced metal. They are cyber, but not in the Fear Factory fashion, but rather in an old-school metal and Depeche Mode sort of way, which is in fact not a bad blend.
Tonight, sadly, is not really Clonecircle’s night. Again, the sound is less than perfect and the lack of audience makes it difficult to set a real atmosphere. In some cases, this results in a less focused band, and that’s what happens here.
Especially a new song with a female vocalist (nice idea, by the way) fares poorly and sounds like one big mess, although I’m certain that the recorded version will be good.
That said, Clonecircle is still a fascinating act with excellent ideas. Front man Martin is unlike many others better live than on disc, and is deservedly the focal point of attention. The best songs from the Randers quartet are still Anathomy of Hate and the concluding In For the Kill. Probably the new album will change this?
Rating: 60/100
This evening’s special guests are Boil. Boil from Aarhus have received good reviews for their recorded output, and they have recently supported Ill Nino. I admit to not having listened to their music before this evening, but all the more the positive surprise.
First of all, a bit of twitching of the knob takes places, things are moved around on stage, and, hi ho, when Boil start playing the sound is all of a sudden much better! Oh, joy!
Singer Jakob Løbner is perhaps not a gifted entertainer, but the man can sing, no doubt, even to the point where one thinks that this is real talent.
Boil’s music is also a pleasant affair on the whole, although there are no real revolutions; their style is a mash-up of grunge/Alice In Chains and metalcore (most notably in the way they tend to break things down from time to time). Their grunge/metal blend is easy to appreciate to someone who was there in the early nineties, so I tap my foot think of Alice In Chains’ ‘Dirt’, one of the best rock albums from the nineties.
Rating: 79/100
Last act this evening is Svartsot. Their Viking folk metal debut, ‘Ravnenes Saga’ was one of my favourite albums of 2007, and their appearance at Underværket in March last year was totally enjoyable.
Much to my dismay, no new songs are aired tonight, and Svartsot seem less focused than I remember them, although their songs are naturally still entertaining and heavy as crap.
Drummer Niels starts out and impresses as the tightest drummer of the evening, but wavers slightly as we go along – misses completely in a few instances.
Approved because of their heavy songs, cool concept and excellent songs – not because of sharpness.
Rating: 79/100
Overall, I get the grim feeling throughout the evening that this has turned into a get-together evening for bands from Randers. They have a few beers, play metal and get regional funding for doing so. And perhaps this is sensed by the audience also, since the turnout is less than impressive.
Maybe a bigger name to headline the event would be the thing for next year? If the ambition is to be a real alternative to the metal festivals in Aalborg and Aarhus, something definitely has to happen.
Images from Mayhem Meltdown here.
Attended by: Thomas and Jesper
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