However, during the show of today’s openings band, Alien Weaponry, there already falling a few drops of rain, but in an amount being refreshing rather than being annoying. The fact that this first show is scheduled quite early doesn’t seem to be a problem for many people. Quite a lot of people already are present to see Alien Weaponry kick off this second day of Dynamo Metalfest 2019. With their grooving sound they deliver a very nice and pounding show that will make you awake if you were still a bit sleepy. Due to this, energy is something that seems to be present quite fast, on stage the band members are showing quite a lot of energy, as well as in the audience, with quite a lot of people headbanging and creating a moshpit and a wall of death. Soundwise the bass-sound is, just as on the first day, quite loud, however the mix of this and the other sounds seems to be balanced much better, a clear improvement compared to the main part of the first day.

While the sun is shining through it is time for a show where that sunshine isn’t quite fitting, Tribulation is on stage now. As soon as the band members enter the stage they clearly attract the focus of many people. This isn’t weird though, because all Tribulation members are very nicely dressed and face painted, all in a different way. Probably standing out the most is guitarist Jonathan Hultén. This however is not only due to his cloths and face paint, but also is due to his special and nice way of moving around the stage during the show. The sound of the guitars, his as well as his colleague Adam Zaars’, is also very special, while they also deliver quite a few very nice guitarsolo’s. During the beginning of this show Johannes Andersson’s vocals are on a bit of a low volume, but this soon was fixed. The audience seems to be a bit less enthusiastic than at Alien Weaponry’s show, but Tribulation’s show also seems to be more of a watch- and listen-show rather than being a physically go crazy-show.

The next band, Armored Saint, played their first Dutch show thirty years ago at the 1989 edition of Dynamo Open Air. Now they’re back at the same location, the Kunstijsbaan in Eindhoven, this time at Dynamo Metalfest. So, this clearly is some old school metal. The audience doesn’t seem to react very enthusiastic during the songs, but they in fact clearly are very enthusiastic as can be heard at the loud applauding in between songs. At some moments yesterday’s bass-problem seems to come back, such as during Win Hands Down, but luckily this isn’t constantly the case and not as much as the main part of the first day. Guitarists Phil Sandoval and Jeff Duncan deliver a very nice sound out of their guitars, such as during  Last Train Home. Besides that Phil Sandoval also delivers a few nice solo’s.

Up next a legend is coming to the stage, Philip H. Anselmo. He is performing here with his current band The Illegals, so fully named Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals. The band starts with an instrumental intro while half way into this intro Philip appears on the stage. Immediately the audience is screaming their lungs out out of enthusiasm. After that Philip asks the crowd what they want to hear, The Illegals-stuff or something else? Soon the crowd is only screaming one specific bandname. So, something else it will be. The audience goes completely insane during this show while Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals are only playing Pantera songs. Even a huge shower of rain and hail isn’t stopping the audience or the band from going crazy. Quite some people are hiding for the rain and hail at the roofed parts at the sides, while others are still going insane in the rain and hail. The trampled grass is soon changed into mud. Almost everyone is screaming along with every lyric, while they raise their fists in the air, people are headbanging heavily and a huge moshpit and huge wall of death are also present. During Walk Max Cavalera also gets on stage screaming alongside Philip. What an energy, what an insanely nice and intense show. This surely is today’s absolute highlight!

While the next band, Metal Church, is entering the stage it still is raining heavily. Later on during the show the rain stops and the sun is coming back again while the temperatures are a bit lower due to the rain. It probably will get difficult to surpass the atmosphere of Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals’ show. However, the audience isn’t out of enthusiasm during this show, many fists are up in the air and many people are banging their heads during this show of these old school thrashers. Metal Church definitely plays a very tight and powerful show. Especially Kurdt Vanderhoof and Rick Van Zandt’s strong guitarriffs and Stet Howland’s drums are sounding very powerful. On top of that frontman Mike Howe also delivers some very strong vocals.

While the sun is already shining quite brightly Max Cavalera is back on the stage. This time not to be delivering guest vocals on one song, but to deliver main vocals on different songs with his own Soulfly. Unfortunately those vocals are not clearly audible at all times. What really stands out though are the very strong drums done by the younger Cavalera in Soulfly, Max’ son Zyon as well as the nice guitars by Marc Rizzo, including a quite long but very nice guitarsolo. Soulfly pounds quite heavily and a moshpit surely should be part of that, as it is.

The next band, Carcass, also pounds quite heavily. They deliver a bulldozer show in an all-destroying way. However, Carcass doesn’t pound just for the sake of pounding. Of course it all is delivered at a raging pace, but they executed it in a very tight and well done way. Something that of course has to be resulting in a moshpit and that indeed happens. Carcass also put quite a bit of variation into their show, with frontman Jeff Walker putting quite some variation into his vocals and guitarist Bill Steer also doing some vocals, resulting in a nice combination. Besides that there’s also room for some nice guitarsolo’s in this heavily pounding show, coming from both Bill Steer and Tom Draper, some solo’s done by one of them, some others done together.

After this there are only two bands left to perform at Dynamo Metalfest 2019 and then it’s already at its end. The first of those two bands left is Steel Panther. Musically Steel Panther perform their show very well, they all are great musicians that exactly know what they are doing and they seem to do their thing with quite some ease. However, at the same time this also is a bit of the disadvantage of this show. Every detail seems to be completely thought through and almost done on automatic pilot. This especially seems to be the disadvantage in between the songs. Their repertoire of jokes, mostly sex-related, seems to be ready for expansion and renewal. For those who’ve already seen Steel Panther live a few times the jokes are getting quite predictable. However, today it seems that many people in the audience are seeing them live for the first time, so many people don’t seemed to be bothered by this and are very enthusiastic. And I have to be honest, they do show a bit of expansion of their repertoire of jokes, I only think it could use a bit more of that. I don’t know if this expansion is completely new, but at least to me it was new. At one moment frontman Michael Starr is faking that his microphone is not working properly. Then he, together with his microphone and a stagehand, leaves the stage. Guitarist Satchel takes this moment to talk a bit to the crowd and he wants to show the audience his Randy Rhoads personification. He tries to change his hair a bit and then starts playing the intro of Crazy Train. Then Michael Starr comes back on stage in his Ozzy Osbourne personification singing the lyrics of that same song, a nice and fun moment.

Today’s headliner is Arch Enemy. In my opinion they also deliver a show that is thought through a bit too much, with almost no room for spontaneity left. Every detail seems to be determined exactly. However, musically Arch Enemy delivers a very tight, headliner-worthy show. Frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz seems to have some minor difficulties delivering her vocals during the beginning of their show, later on in the show this seems to get way better. Besides the music Arch Enemy also delivers a nice show. They brought their own lights, besides the festival’s lights, and the lightshow also is quite nice, especially now that it is getting dark. They also brought something else in case people were getting cold, a lot of flames are fired into the air.

And so Dynamo Metalfest 2019 already came to an end. Luckily the predicted thunderstorm skipped Eindhoven so that the festival didn’t have to be stopped prematurely. Besides that the sound also was much better during this second day.

You can read our live reviews of this year’s Dynamo Metalfest’s first day here, as well as our live review about Dynamo Metalfest 2017 here. You can read our earlier live reviews of Arch Enemy here (FortaRock 2018’s first day) and here (Heineken Music Hall, 2015). We also wrote two album reviews of Arch Enemy’s Will to Power (here) and As the Stages Burn! (here). Here you can read our earlier live review of Soulfly at Doornroosje.

Dynamo Metalfest Official Website
Dynamo Metalfest Facebook
Dynamo Metalfest Instagram
Arch Enemy Official Website
Arch Enemy Facebook
Arch Enemy Instagram
Arch Enemy Twitter
Steel Panther Official Website
Steel Panther Facebook
Steel Panther Instagram
Steel Panther Twitter
Carcass Facebook
Carcass Instagram
Carcass Twitter
Soulfly Official Website
Soulfly Facebook
Soulfly Instagram
Soulfly Twitter
Metal Church Official Website
Metal Church Facebook
Metal Church Instagram
Metal Church Twitter
Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals Facebook
Philip H. Anselmo Official Website
Philip H. Anselmo Facebook
Philip H. Anselmo Instagram
Philip H. Anselmo Twitter
Armored Saint Official Website
Armored Saint Facebook
Armored Saint Instagram
Armored Saint Twitter
Tribulation Official Website
Tribulation Facebook
Tribulation Instagram
Alien Weaponry Official Website
Alien Weaponry Facebook
Alien Weaponry Instagram
Alien Weaponry Twitter

The post Live review: Dynamo Metalfest 2019 Day 2 at Kunstijsbaan, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 20th, 2019 appeared first on DutchMetalManiac.

On Saturday there will be nine bands performing, on Friday there will be six bands with the first band beginning at four o’clock. One hour earlier the festival area would be opened, but that got a bit delayed. Around 25 minutes later than planned it opened. Once inside the festival area turned out to be set-up in a very spacious and clear way. In case you didn’t see the festival map a few things might call for a bit of searching, such as the place of the signing sessions, but the most important things, the stage, the token booths, the bars, the food stands and the toilets are easy to find and easily reachable. The weather forecast for this Friday predicted that it would be dry and hot, something that indeed became true. Whether that’s the same for Saturday…

Around four o’clock the first band enters the stage. It is up to Baest to kick off Dynamo Metalfest 2019. During the opening show it soon became clear that the bass-sound is way too loud. The other sounds are audible but the balance in the mix is a bit disturbed. Unfortunately this stays this way during this entire show and for the main part of this day. However, Baest delivers a pounding start of the festival. Due to this way too loud bass, but also in a more positive way, especially due to the nice buzz saw guitars of Svend Karlsson and Lass Revsbech. Both guitarists also show to be able to deliver some nice solo’s, such as in As Above So Below and closing track Crosswhore. Baest also shows a lot of enthusiasm on stage, something that’s cool to see. Frontman Simon Olsen shows to be quite energetic and the band has a lot of contact with the audience. The audience itself is also already quite enthusiastic as can be seen at, for example, the amount of fists up in the air during As Above So Below.

The second band of this Friday also is a death metal band: Jungle Rot. During this show the bass-problem is a bit less obvious, resulting in a better balanced mix. This makes that Jungle Rot sounds very powerful. That power clearly also passes onto the audience. A lot of people are banging their heads and there also is a moshpit going on, turning the dry grass into a cloud of dust. There aren’t many people crowdsurfing though. At least not until frontman Dave Matrise encourages this before starting Paralyzed Prey. Now, the first person is already crowdsurfing, even before the band started Paralyzed Prey, and soon many followed. During this show the nice atmosphere of a festival is getting better and better. James Genenz delivers a nice humming sound out from his bass guitar and Geoff Bub delivers a few very nice guitarsolo’s in a show that is very tight and well executed, including quite some tempo changes without losing brutality.

Then it’s time for a show where people can get a bit more rest compared to the two preceding pounding shows, it’s Grand Magus’ turn now. This show’s tempo is quite a bit lower. However this says nothing about the quality of this show, because Grand Magus delivers a very nice show. What is especially standing out is the drumming style of Ludwig Witt, which is quite heavy for this show’s tempo, but it fits very well. Besides that bass player Fox Skinner delivers, just as his colleague in Jungle Rot, a nicely humming bass sound. JB Christoffersson performs, besides his vocals, a few very nicely roaring guitarsolo’s. The audience seems to be a bit less enthusiastic than before, but that could also be the case because of the contrast between this show and two preceding shows.

After this show it gets busy on the stage, nine musicians are entering the stage, a few of them also playing some rarer instruments like the hurdygurdy, harp, fiddle and whistles. You probably already guessed it, Eluveitie is on stage. Soundwise, unfortunately the bass-problem is back, resulting in most of these rarer instruments being barely audible. The only instrument out of these rarer instruments that is audible quite clearly are the whistles. However, this doesn’t decrease the audience’s enthusiasm and energy during this show, as can be seen by the moshpit and the many crowdsurfers during Call of the Mountains. Unfortunately Fabienne Erni’s vocals seem to be a bit emotionless during this song. However, later on in the show it appears to not always be this way, especially not when she’s singing Artio. The other vocals, those of Chrigel Glanzmann, are also very well done. Besides that it also is nice to see that the band has a lot of fun during this show.

The next band that enters the stage is the first band that also brings a bit more show-aspects to the stage. Everybody that have seen Avatar, the band I am talking about now, perform live before knows what I mean. The band members are entering the stage with nice make-up and in very cool, characteristic outfits. It also is very clear who’s standing out the most, that’s frontman Johannes Michael Gustaf Eckerström. He is a true showman and really knows how to lead this show in a phenomenal way. He does so in different ways, by his eccentric way of talking in between songs, his movements as well as through his strong vocals. He and Avatar’s other members are getting the audience very enthusiastic and a lot of people are singing along with the lyrics. Avatar delivers a very strong show with quite a bit of variation included. This surely is one of today’s highlights.

After Avatar’s show there is one more band scheduled for today and that’s today’s headliner Airbourne. Airbourne probably brought their own sound guy, because the sound during this show is way better, a clear difference compared to the rest of the day. Airbourne doesn’t perform just a show, this clearly is a headliner-worthy show and the absolute highlight of the day. Airbourne executes their show in a very tight way and the audience is completely going crazy. A few highlights of this show being the toast to Lemmy and the moment that frontman Joel O’Keeffe is playing guitar while being walked around on someone’s neck through the audience to let a can of beer explode in the middle of this audience in a very intense way. Besides their show being very well done musically, the light show is also very nice and having some effect because of it getting darker.

Unfortunately the sound of this first day of Dynamo Metalfest 2019 wasn’t that great, something that hopefully is a bit better on the second day. Exceptions to this were Airbourne’s show with great sound and the show of Jungle Rot when it was a bit less obvious. Despite that this first day of Dynamo Metalfest 2019 was a nice day with nice shows with my personal highlight being Airbourne’s show, closely followed by those of Avatar and Jungle Rot.

Tomorrow we will post our live review of Dynamo Metalfest 2019’s second day!

Here you can read our live review of Dynamo Metalfest 2017. You can read our live review FortaRock 2018’s second day, when Avatar performed there, here, as well as our review of Avatar’s Feathers & Flesh here.

Dynamo Metalfest Official Website
Dynamo Metalfest Facebook
Dynamo Metalfest Instagram
Airbourne Official Website
Airbourne Facebook
Airbourne Instagram
Airbourne Twitter
Avatar Official Website
Avatar Facebook
Avatar Instagram
Avatar Twitter
Eluveitie Official Website
Eluveitie Facebook
Eluveitie Instagram
Eluveitie Twitter
Grand Magus Official Website
Grand Magus Facebook
Grand Magus Instagram
Grand Magus Twitter
Jungle Rot Official Website
Jungle Rot Facebook
Jungle Rot Instagram
Jungle Rot Twitter
Baest Official Website
Baest Facebook
Baest Instagram
Baest Twitter

The post Live review: Dynamo Metalfest 2019 Day 1 at Kunstijsbaan, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 19th, 2019 appeared first on DutchMetalManiac.

White Boy Wasted
Vuur
Toxik
Prong
Entombed A.D
Exodus
Devin Townsend Project
Testament
Gojira

I must honestly say that Dynamo Metalfest was a last minute decision between me and a friend of mine because we are both HUGE fans of Gojira and it was just too cheap to not go to the festival. I am also into Exodus and Devin Townsend for that matter so I had a lot of reasons to go. So let’s summarizing the bands in order as listed above.

We were a little late to the party so we actually missed White Boy Wasted. My apologies dudes, I’m sure you had great fun on the stage with such a big crowd. Halfway through Vuur’s set me and my friend came marching into the building ready for some metal. Vuur had some pretty good riffs and the guitar player really handled his instrument well. I just kept thinking that it needed a male vocalist. I’m a fan of Anneke van Giersbergen’s voice but I just think it doesn’t fit this style of metal nicely.

Toxik was the first thrash metal band of the day. Really coincidental a friend of mine showed me the band just a week before this show so I was kind of excited to see them! They had a lot of people confused with their proggy brand of thrash. People didn’t really know whether a riff was headbangable or not. No offence to the band of course, I really like their music and their bass player is insane! The speed in which he accurately plays riffs is mind boggling. The singer had a really great voice and overall it was a great warm up for the bands to come.

After Toxik came Prong, which was the biggest surprise for me that day. I had honestly never listened to Prong before. To most people that is a weird statement because Prong is a pretty well known, established band in the metal scene for years and years but I just never took the time to listen. I really liked the riff-driven anger in their music which was also very groovy and got a lot of people headbanging.

One band I totally forgot about was Entombed A.D. They immediately showed me that they are a band that should not be forgotten. With their signature death ‘n roll sound they have created something unique. I’m not sure Dynamo Metalfest was the right audience for them because I didn’t see too many people enjoying themselves during the show. Probably because of the fairly “old” audience.

After Entombed A.D came Exodus and boy they ripped. You could notice the spark in singer Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza’s eyes from miles away. The Exodus boys were really enjoying the fact they were returning to Eindhoven for the Dynamo experience. The set was pretty much made up with old school songs for the older fans that were there 16 years ago. The only thing that bothers me a little is that I’ve seen Exodus twice now but still haven’t seen them with original guitar player, Gary Holt. I think he should make more time for his own band rather than “sinking ship” Slayer.

So, now… The Devin Townsend Project. This was actually the show I was looking forward to the most. I have liked his music for years now and he is a very gifted musician. Between the songs he can crack you up as well! The funny thing is that he takes his music very lightly although it deals with some pretty serious topics. I was pretty much star struck the whole time. There is no other human being with a voice like him. His operatic vocals are so strong and to top it off with some inhuman screams is just the pinnacle of metal as a whole. Best show of the day for sure. I’m sorry Gojira. Hevy Devy took the crown.

After the show we had to wait for an awkwardly long time. We saw the stage being prepared for Testament and it looked awesome! They were probably the only band next to Gojira that made an effort to make the stage look like they were in for serious business. Unfortunately due to technical problems they couldn’t perform their whole set. Also due to the strict 23:00 curfew they CHOSE to shorten their set to have Gojira do their whole set and still finish on time for the curfew. This, people, is professionalism. I admire Testament for making that decision because it is a hard one to make. I’m sure they will make up for it on a European tour sometime this or next year.

Headliner of the day, the most popular metal band on the planet right now. And for a damn good reason too. When I discovered Gojira during the time they released From Mars to Sirius I knew there was something special about this band. Some serious Frenchmen that make brutally devastating death metal with a cause, to save the planet. This approach to metal earned them the tag of environmetal. Which I think is hilarious. Their headlining show was so impressive that I’ve seen every band member of the previous shows next to the stage admiring the mighty presence of Gojira on stage. Bone-splintering set with classics such as Backbone and The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe made for a diverse Gojira experience. Out of the four times I’ve seen them now, this was by far the most impressive one. Also props to the sound and the light guy. Great jobs, both of you.

After a great day of amazing metal I was once again reminded why I listen to this style of music. It just makes you feel so powerful. You don’t need drugs to get a great experience with metal. That’s what makes it great for me. Thanks for a great line-up Dynamo!

You can also check two parts of Promoting Bands in which Tim van Velthuysen wrote about Vuur here and here, as well as an interview with Anneke van Giersbergen by Glenn van der Heijden here.

A review of Entombed A.D.’s Dead Dawn written by Nino Milillo can be read here.

Two live reviews about Exodus can be checked here (also written by Joost van der Leij) and here (written by Nino Milillo)

Dynamo Metal Fest Official Website
Dynamo Metal Fest Facebook
Dynamo Metal Fest Twitter
White Boy Wasted Facebook
Vuur Official Website
Vuur Facebook
Vuur Twitter
Toxik Facebook
Prong Official Website
Prong Facebook
Prong Twitter
Entombed A.D. Facebook
Exodus Official Website
Exodus Facebook
Exodus Twitter
Devin Townsend Official Website
Devin Townsend Facebook
Devin Townsend Twitter
Testament Official Website
Testament Facebook
Testament Twitter
Gojira Official Website
Gojira Facebook
Gojira Twitter

The post Live review: Dynamo Metalfest 2017 at IJssportcentrum, Eindhoven, July 15th 2017 appeared first on DutchMetalManiac.