Full Album HERE
The Party San Open Air celebrated its 25th anniversary this year with an amazing line-up, where we could find almost every old school metal style!!
Amazing weekend, with the best music and people!!!!
Thursday, 8/8/19
13:30 and the festival was officially opened with Esmiralda, before SLAEGT did the same musically an hour later. You can't really go wrong with heavy metal with a hint of black at Party San and so the Danes were well celebrated.
The enormously static performance of the musicians did the rest and made the performance a very tough story in the truest sense of the word, despite the good partysan 2019 song selection. With SKYFORGER it looked different again. Latvians, I'll make it short and simple: the band and their fans celebrated a proper pagan party, where everyone involved seemed to be having a lot of fun. In the meantime, the marquee stage had also opened and the Spaniards rumbled away BALMOG at the opening. They offered Black Metal in the vein of Watain, which didn't really grab me and so I returned to the main stage, where INCANTATION were about to take their turn.
Scene veteran John McEntee and his crew didn't hesitate and mowed the audience down with their diabolical Death Metal. The concluding (very good) Hell Awaits cover did the rest to make everyone present completely freak out and ends a terrific performance. In the tent things continued with DEVANGELIC. The Italians offered Brutal Death Metal, which wasn't always original, but banged mercilessly out of the speakers, which the audience honored with corresponding reactions.
Unfortunately, more in-depth reports on SOILWORK and TAPHOS (on the tent stage) fell victim to the food intake, but both were able to achieve good reactions from their audience from what was seen/heard from afar. I have no idea why the band is so hyped and why it is so high up in the billing list, but unfortunately what was on offer that day was nothing.
With extreme Metal from Brazil one is seldom wrong and so the gentlemen of NERVOCHAOS are banging on in the tent at full speed. The band obviously had a lot of fun, which of course also spread to the audience and made the tent shake a lot. The BELPHEGOR ghost train continued on the main stage. You may think what you want of the Austrians, musically Hellmuth and his team always deliver mercilessly. And so of course there was an absolutely impressive show with a lot of fire, blood and devils that day. BEHEADED then delivered the conclusion in the tent.
The Maltese have also been around for a few years and also delivered a merciless Death Metal show, which was celebrated hard by everyone present. Thanks to the late birth, I didn't experience the initial spark of the Hellhammer demos, but of course I'm aware of their effect on the scene. Still, I didn't expect too much from TRIUMPH OF DEATH's performance and was even more surprised by the kind of Brett Tom Warrior, uh, Fischer who delivered here. That was really top notch and songs like "Maniac", "Decapitator" or "Messiah" were celebrated like hell by everyone present. Brilliant! After this partysan 2019 demolition and the last, extremely boring performance at the same place in the back of my mind, I had little expectations from HYPOCRISY. Apparently the Swedes were really up for it and unpacked a killer set list, with which they simply ripped the (many) audience's heads off! The lord of dark circles, Tägtgren and his boys threw out one hit after the other and shouldn't have left much to be desired. The first day came to an end with the concluding duo “The Final Chapter” and “Roswell 47” and raised the bar enormously for the following days.
Friday, 09/08/19
Friday is traditionally heralded at Party San with GRIND and that's how it was this year too. GUTALAX asked to dance and it got almost as crowded as Hypocrisy yesterday. That the (shit) concept of the band appeals to so many people is, as always fucking GREAT, The Czechs and their fans walked so steeply that even as an outsider you caught yourself nodding your head. And not just out of recognition. Next It was DEFEATED SANITY's turn. They quickly proved in Schlotheim why the German/American quartet is one of the absolute top dogs in the microcosm of Brutal Death Metal. The guys banged a merciless set incredibly tight around the ears of those present, so that you thought you had been run over by a bus. In the tent such a performance would have been an absolute massacre. The next show by THE CROWN was a little less brutal, but no less powerful.
After a few somewhat aimless years, the Swedes reported back in 2018 with the super strong "Cobra Speed Venom", which of course also came through today. Of course, there were also a lot of hits, which are plentiful thanks to the extensive back catalogue. SOLSTICE delivered a completely contrasting programme. The Brits' epic Doom Metal might be great on record, but it managed to captivate very few people in front of the stage that day. Fortunately, after this short interlude, the club was unpacked again.
It was MIDNIGHT's turn to rock the stage and they did! The men in hoods spat out a terrific set list and the infield freaked out beer happily. Everything done right. KRISIUN live are always such a thing. They're never really bad, but they're rarely really great. Fortunately, partysan 2019 had an absolute cream day here! The three brothers took no prisoners and fired from all guns, which the crowd of bangers present gratefully accepted. Unfortunately, Thrash Metal 2019 has become a bit lame for me. Nine times out of ten he's just not aggressive and fast enough for me.
At least TRAITOR have no problem with the latter shortcoming on the tent stage. In front of a fairly sizeable crowd, the boys from Balingen put on a really strong performance that left little to nothing to be desired. Without much fanfare, NEKROVAULT also get going in the tent. The band from Memmingen hammered their slightly black Death Metal with a mercilessly heavy sound on the audience, which the band celebrated just as hard. NIGHT DEMON were allowed to open Party.San a few years ago and even then the response from the audience was enormous. So it's hardly surprising that the band was celebrated quite a lot again today and caused numerous flying hair and spilled beers. Hardly any other German underground band is as fond of touring as STILLBIRTH, and of course you could tell that on the (tent) stage. As usual, the six from North Rhine-Westphalia came out on the boards only in swimming shorts and simply tore down the tent! Playing a Slipknot cover for the anniversary of the festival caused a lot of incomprehension on the part of some, but of course the target group still celebrated it and decided on a really strong performance.
At MGLA it got really crowded again in front of the main stage and the horny people present experienced a real show. Black Metal from Hauben, Ännern isn't really my building site, but what the Poles deliver here was really great black cinema. In the tent, the veterans of THANATOS got to work and gave the numerous audience a lesson in Dutch parties at 2019 Death Metal. The band could never really pick me up on record, but the performance here was really great and maybe I should get involved with the band again... After it leaked out that DEICIDE canceled their performance at Brutal Assault the day before bets were already being made as to whether the Americans would even compete in Schlotheim today. But they were there. Whether Glen Benton was in a good mood or not was difficult to judge due to his very short and monosyllabic announcements, but he and his team delivered a great performance that was peppered with hits.
Here we go! Friday's headliners were TESTAMENT and anyone who has seen the Bay Area veterans live in recent years knows what followed. With an ultra-brutal sound and a lot of enthusiasm, Chuck Billy & Co. dismantled the infield and once again underlined their status as thrash kings. Hit followed hit and was frenetically celebrated by the headbangers. As was delivered here, the Big 4 pensioners can all pack up. "The Formation Of Damnation" then put the lid on it and closed the second day more than impressively.
Saturday, 10/10/19
VULVODYNIA heralds the last day. The South Africans deliver slamming deathcore and cause quite an alarm. None of the musicians stood still for even a second and the audience slowly got excited. There was a complete contrast afterwards with SVARTIDAUDI The Icelanders play black metal typical of the country, which is played rather calmly was worn. Ultimately not a particularly outstanding performance, in complete contrast to JUNGLE ROT afterwards. What a huge show the Americans have opened up here! The slightly grooving old school death metal of the Americans was apparently just the right thing for the time, because quite a few headbangers had come to freak out. Getting on stage after such a demolition is of course a very thankless task and the SUICIDAL ANGELS couldn't really convince me afterwards either. The Thrash Metal of the Greeks came with a lot of energy and heart and soul and was well received by the audience, but it wasn't that great. But then it got really awesome with VOMITORY! Without much ado, the four Swedes came on stage, counted and then gave everyone present a new hairstyle for 40 minutes. Was that a massacre and one can only hope that the guys might pull themselves together again and make a new album...
SATAN is always a great live apperance to enjoy. IMMOLATION' did like always an impressive show. Motto "Start together, finish together". It then continued with DESTRUCTION. The pandering babble of frontman Doro, uh, Schmier still gets on my nerves, but hits like “Curse the Gods” or “The Butcher Strikes Back” were able to put me in a mild mood. It then continued with UNDERGANG. I don't think I've noticed exactly when the Danes have been so popular, but the tent was bursting at the seams. Those who still fit in saw an enormously great Old School Death Metal show. NAGLFAR then played one of their (now unfortunately) rare shows on the main stage. Too bad the sound wasn't that great because the Swedes had put together a really strong setlist. But in the end it didn't really matter, because the band was frenetically celebrated. It was then filmed in the tent at MALOKARPATAN. The band can take pride in being recommended by Darkthrone oddball Fenriz, but regardless of that, the Slovaks know how to please with their idiosyncratic mixture of Heavy Metal, Black Metal and Punk.
You couldn't get past LEGION OF THE DAMNED before and even if I really liked the first two albums, the band with their sound just couldn't pick me up anymore at some point. But it was definitely a cool thing to see the Dutch live again, because of course Frotgaul Maurice and his team played an energetic show, where there wasn't really much to complain about. I was already able to admire DEATHRITE. It was better as the headliner of the tent stage, but the spark didn't really jump over here. Apparently only with me, because the tent was packed and celebrated the performance enormously.
SOLSTAFIR are also welcome guests at the Party.San and this time the Icelanders beamed everyone present into other spheres with their carpet of sound. As expected, the band's hit “Fjara” received the greatest popularity.
BLOODBATH will close the 25th Party San. While the Swedish musicians celebrate their HM2 Death Metal with wild headbanging, singer Nick Holmes looks quite different but fits so good. So all in all a mixed performance (for me), which of course still finds its followers. who likes to go to Schlotheim. By the way, with Dismember and Infernäl Mäjesty they have already confirmed 2 absolute hits for 2020. Looking forward to see you all there again in 2020!!!!
Be happy and listen to Metal!!!!
