WITH FULL FORCE 2008

XV Edition

4 - 6.08.2008 Roitzschjora (GER)

Day 2: IN FLAMES OF NEW WORLD ORDER
Second day welcomed us with a nice sunny weather. So our crew decided to check the quality of water in the nearby post-mining excavation. It was a cool idea to take a little refreshment. By the way there’s no problem for those who don’t like to get dirty. However usually it takes few minutes of waitin’ in a line, but the number of showers is quite sufficient.

I decided to start Saturday’s party in company of drunk Danish crew. I’m not very familiar with latest ILL DISPOSED releases, but power of fondness forced me to bang my head along those mid-tempo melodic death metal songs. Bo Summer’s gurgle was exactly as deep as I’ve expected. Made me think about good old times when I thought that it’s impossible to reach such a low sound without singing through the vacuum’s cleaner pipe.

American deathsters from JOB FOR A COWBOY were victims of my unexpected meeting with some friends. But there was no other choice. Once again vodka was the name of the game. W
hen I came back ENTOMBED kicked off their show with “Serpent Saints” and “Chief Rebel Angel”. That track always make me feel like I’m a rebellious teenager again. It’s a pure pleasure to see Petrov’s stage behaviour. “No fuckin’ moshpits. Only Headbanging!” – Swedish vocalist ordered to follow the rules of true death metal. He’s one of the most charismatic guys on the whole metal scene So we had no other choice than to pay a tribute to such a classic albums like “Clandestine” (“Crawl”, Stranger Aeons”) and of course the unbforgettable “Left Hand Path” (“Revel In Flesh”, “Supposed To Rot”, title track). Here and there we’ve had few new songs like “When In Sodom”, so there was nothing to complain about. The only thing that could be perfected in my opinion is a guitar sound. If they’d decide to add second guitarist to their line up, I think that it’d be a good move. Anyway Swedish legends destroyed the place.

When I was counting the dead bodies on the WFF battlefield SIX FEET UNDER started to feast upon the remains with „Doomsday”. Chris Barnes was the man in command. He focused people’s attention with unique voice and deadly image. Terry Butler pumped blood in the veins of those straight-in-yer-face tracks. SFU treated us as a real “Human Target”, so each of us could feel like a “Victim of the Paranoid”. Some could taste how sweet is “Revenge of the Zombie”, other exploded while Florida’s legends launched “TNT” in front of the enthusiastic crowd. A good show indeed.

For many weeks I was looking forward to see MINISTRY. That band is a real legend. Since early ‘90s Al Jourgensen and his band has a special place in my metal heart. So when I’ve heard first riffs of “Let’s Go” I was ready for an unusual experience. And I must admit I was little disappointed. I expected some madness on the stage. But ,most of the time Jourgensen – with his characteristic mic stand, Campos (Tony, also STATIC X – bass player), Sin Quirin and Tommy Victor stood behind the steel bars. There was a very little movement on the stage. Songs like „The Last Sucker”, „No W”, „Rio Grande Blood”, „Senor Pelagro”, and „LiesLiesLies” were accompanied by visual projections. Some of them contained scenes from bands videoclips like „Just One Fix”. The peak was of course “N.W.O” the real industrial metal anthem. That was a magic moment, and a reason to regret that for at least few years we won’t see them on stage.

Headlining day two, Gothenburg metalheads prepared a really intense live show. IN FLAMES played at least six or seven songs from “The Mirror’s Truth” album (including: "The Mirror's Truth", "Disconnected", "Sleepless Again", "Alias". I'm The Highway". "Delight And Angers", "The Chosen Pessimist" and "Sober And Irrelevant" ). It was quite natural choice, and however I really like that album I hoped to hear more classic tunes from “Whoracle” or “Clayman” for example. Anders Friden tried to get a contact with the crowd, but it seemed like feedback was quite weak, maybe expect “Only For The Weak” when vocalist asked us to jump, and that was quite impressive view. Unfortunately Friden’s clean parts weren’t as good as they should be. Of course there was a lot of pyros and good light fitting – stage glittered with many colours – but I’m sure that they’ve played better shows in their career. It wasn’t a bad gig either, but something was missing, and that something is hard to name. Anyway we had a chance to dance along such a hits like: “Cloud Connected”, “Trigger”, „Reroute To Remain”, „My Sweet Shadow”, „The Quiet Place”, „Take This Life” and „Come Clarity”. And when the band left the stage fantastic fireworks lighted up the night sky.

After few minutes SATURDAY’S NIGHT FEVER began. DANKO JONES opened the rock’n’roll party with the package of songs form the new album “Never Too Loud”. Canadian trio rocked the crowd with their energetic songs. DANKO is a natural born frontman. Relaxed, funny and a little bit sexual provocative. That guy knows what to do when you’re a rock singer. After this really entertaining experience it was time to say good night.