LIVE REPORT DAY ONE PARTY SAN OPEN AIR SCHLOTHEIM 8-10.08.2019

Admin Messages : 674 Date d'inscription : 03/10/2011 Localisation : PARIS

The Party San Festival on the airfield of Schlotheim, Thuringia, Germany has become for many extreme metal-heads from all over the world the absolute highlight of the year. Through time it has become an insider favorite and when visiting it for the first time, everybody knows why. The atmosphere is familiar, much know each-other from past visits and no one cares where you are from or the color of your skin. So one will meet brothers and sisters from every continent. There is plenty of space with probably a maximum of around 10.000 attendants or more. One has not to stand in endless queues for a drink, food or a toilet. There’s enough bars, food-stands and hygienic facilities as there are interesting small stands with metal gear or records/cd’s in case you wanna wander around a bit.
And with two stages it is very oversee-able. In other words, you don’t have to miss a single band.
The prices are very fair. The organization are metal-heads themselves and they have no intention of making this festival a money-machine against all costs.
Even the security are friendly folks. Never have I seen an act of violence on Party San. Not from visitors, nor from security.
What also must be mentioned is the friendly people of the region, everybody seems helpful and hospital.
So these are all factors that make Party San so special. And then every year the bill has its surprises. Extreme metal with a wide range of variety from all over the planet. Only don’t expect commercial stuff like Sabaton here. It’s metal for true metal-heads, not for children.
Once you visited Party San, it will always have this special place in your iron heart.

RUNEMAGICK

First band for me to witness on the Party San 2019 edition was Runemagick. And I must say I was pleasantly surprised to hear this band. One would expect a band from Sweden to come with this typical distinguished Swedish sound, but this was not comparable to that at all. Their style of doom death comes closest to the early Peaceville material mixed with an old slower Bolt Thrower touch. But even though the metal is very interesting, their stage-acting is a little rigid.

SKYFORGER

Skyforger come with a rare stew of Maiden metal meets folk. However the riffings are a bit predictable, so what they were doing all sounded like one has heard it before. But at that time of the day it was pretty good to have an extra beer to and to cheer along with them. Not overwhelming, but an alright performance.

INCANTATION

One of the ancient US death metal bands. Vocalist/guitarist Jon McEntree being one of the icons in the scene after 30 years. One can always expect a good gig and the attendance showed. Like in history Party San celebrates its old school soldiers. And Incantation rewarded them with a fine set consisting of early and later tracks. Finishing with a cover of Slayer’s Hell Awaits, which they actually didn’t need to do with all the releases they put out. But hey, the crowd appreciated it.

SOILWORK

After Incantation, it was tough for Soilwork to get the audience going. I never heard this band and one may ask if Party San is the right festival for them. Very catchy modern metal that I can best compare to their Danish colleagues of Raunchy. Singalong choruses fused with nu-metal/hc parts and keyboard melodies. Honestly, I liked it. This group can become massive, gaining a lot of airplay and with their professional act they confirm that.

CRAFT

With a great fuss Craft announced this very first show of them ever. So promises were high. And the people were in for something extreme following the catchy tunes of Soilwork. So there they had an advantage. And I guess they needed that because it was messy, sloppy and at times even clumsy. Perhaps after a few more shows Craft can find more confidence and convince. For the die-hards they maybe did. For me they did not.

ASCENSION

German Ascension played more or less a home-match, coming from Saxonia. Maybe that was why there were playing at that time of the evening. Or else I don’t have a clue why they were on that position. I tried hard to find something during their act that could inject my metal heart with enthusiasm, but nah, I’ve seen tons of other bands no-one has ever heard of, who did achieve that.

BELPHEGOR

Fortunately it was now time for Belphegor to wake us all up with sheer hellish aggression and demonical insanity. Ha, and they delivered! Helmuth will always be a maniacal creature and a madman on stage and I’m sure Satan himself will have a place next to him in Hades. This is just how chaos/death/black metal should be like. No compromises and in your fucken face! I think everything during this show was superb. Sound, lights, musical skills and yes; entertainment, finally, because that is also metal. Although I’m not into their highly technical style, this was just bloody enjoyable to witness. Or as Helmuth himself would state: Fuck!

HELLHAMMER

Calm before the storm on the Party San when the 2nd godfathers of extreme metal went on. Triumph of Death. And a triumph it became. From early demo tracks until the very last tones of the morbid death/doom classic of Tom Warrior’s named ensemble this was a victorious pre-old school campaign.
None of us had ever witnessed Hellhammer live and therefore objectivity may have been a little lost here. Who cares. Memorable!

HYPOCRISY

If there’s an example to be given on how various metal truly can be, then Hypocrisy playing straight after Hellhammer is one of them. Hypocrisy has become an institute over the years. A guarantee for high quality metal. And so it was finishing this Thursday night. A machinegun-fire of all their hits mercilessly spewed over the airfield . There is not much more to be said. A conquest of perfection.
What a grand finale of the first day of Party San 2019

Live report by Jean-Claude L'Enfer
Pics by Immortaliza