Party San 2004
Saturday, August 14th, 2004
The day didn´t start off very well, because I noticed that I had lost my little extra camera (on which all the photos of the signing sessions were). My friend didn´t give me hope that I would get it back (even if someone might have found it). But as I still believe in the good heart of the Metal fan I didn´t give up and asked for it at every merchandise stand. And really… someone had found it and gave it to an owner of a stand. Thanx to “unknown” herewith!
Then I still watched the rest of “GOREROTTED“ who really made an effort for the fans with their Grindcore starting at 2 pm. The Lords from England made a fuss… and if that hadn´t got them all the attention yet, they would get it when the band member with the kilt showed his naked ass to the audience.
“INCAPACITY“ dominated the stage from 14.45 on and played good ol’ Death Metal. The mood among the crowd wasn´t THAT good yet, but I guess they weren´t really awake yet (at least I guess a lot of liquids were flowing the day before, so the hangovers might have caused some headaches as well). But the best mood of the day was yet to come.
And then it was already time for the next autograph session, this time ENSIFERUM`s. I like this band somehow, so I went there as well. Here´s one of the results:
But let´s talk about “ENDSTILLE“ who were the conquerors of the stage at 15.45. They performed with the first corpse paint of this day and Iblis (the vocalist) seemed to be in a good mood, because he was posing without end… this includes a face as grim as possible (see photos below). And songs like “Negator” really made the audience rage… it looked like the band has brought along their own fanclub. At least the mood among the crowd was excellent now.
After that it was much harder for “THE DUSKFALL“ to get the fans headbanging again. This is understandable… I mean… at first there`s this merciless Black Metal war of “Endstille” and then you hear the soft tones of “The Duskfall”. It really needs a little time to get used to that change. But I have to admit that some girls in the audience seemed to be melting away. The reason for this might have been the visual similarity of their singer with Ville from “Sentenced”….
As “Graveworm“ had cancelled their gig, “HEAVEN SHALL BURN“ were set on the billing as a replacement. And they are another band from my home > Thuringia. They didn`t blacken Thuringia`s name, because their Metalcore was really outstanding (normally I don´t like that style of music, but Heaven Shall Burn made me moving my neck muscles). It was unbelievable… a real home match and home win! Moshpit beyond compare! The band called themselves a “local band”, but they should better be called “local heroes”. Praise goes to the vocalist of the band (Marcus) for his “Impact” shirt of “Dew-Scented”. And for his good contact with his fans. He jumped into the photo pit and sang along between all the fans… handshaking included.
You could think it might have been difficult for “HATESPHERE“ to continue this home game.... but hey, the Danish Metalheadz know every trick in the book… and so does Hatesphere as well. They are really skilled Thrashers and for 45 minutes they took care of not letting the moshing stop. The singer of this band seemed to be overwhelmed by the reaction of the audience because he even changed his shirt with a fan. Very cool!
And suddenly it was night again and getting close to 8 pm, which meant : “VOMITORY“! Jo… Swedish Death Metal … there´s nothing more brutal in the Metal scene at the moment, as you know. They created a real rumpus with their 4 - and 6 - strings… you could say they tortured the axes until one would need the hospital. This went especially for me, because one drunk mosher almost broke my spine. I had to leave the first row because of this… but luckily I had already taken some photos of Vomitory for you. The photos of the following bands will be much worse, as I had to take them from far away.
“MISERY INDEX“ were the only band coming from overseas = United States. From 20.45 until 21.30 they could prove what oversea-Metallos can provide in the Grind- and Death Metal section. Out of the comments of the vocalist I could guess that he doesn´t like to live in the States. But oh well… I would say, as long as they do a great gig like at Party San they are allowed to fly over here for more gigs at any time!
And then the Finns of „ENSIFERUM“ took care of a good treat for my ears with their battle hymns which echoed over the forests of Thuringia. As they were the only Finnish band at this festival they had to fight for the reputation of all Finns of course… and they handled it successfully. Okay, I had a feeling they don´t have their very best day, but the expression of their songs was anyway fantastic. Pure Finnish battle feeling!
Many fans had been looking forward to the reunion show of “GRAVE“ here at Party San. At 22.45 it was the time for it. The celebration could start. Grave provided old school Death Metal of the finest. Unfortunately they had only 1 hour time and this was over much too soon…
“DARK FUNERAL” from Sweden were the ultimate highlight of this day and the festival from exactly midnight until 1 am. I´m sorry for the fans who were too drunk to still remember their gig. Because Dark Funeral performed the blackest of any Metal that night… a real treasure for dedicated Black Metal fans. Visually it was interesting as well, because the fake dust caused some great effects in the dark “light”… it looked mystic. The bandmembers themselves did their part to it by their outfit, corpse paint and of course their merciless Black Metal. And one last time every visitor that still could move a muscle did some heavy headbanging one last time. A great end for a festival!
Luckily and unfortunately then it was all over again. I say “unfortunately” because there had been really great bands at the festival, and I say “luckily” because it has all been very exhausting to protect the camera all the time in that terrible weather. Okay, let´s see what 2005 might bring! As I can always visit my parents too when I`m in that area, I might indeed visit the festival one more time. Cheers!
(more photos of all bands in the "Festival Photos"! // report by Twilightheart // translations by Twilightheart and Victoria)