By Jase Walker
So, following the rather late finish for me yesterday I’ve ended up sleeping in way too late and I’ve arrived at 3pm just in time to catch a bit of Sacred Reich. Screaming ‘Truth, Justice, and the American way’ before smashing into some good old-fashioned thrash is definitely the right way to get things kicked off for me today!
These guys have got the stage absolutely booming and the crowd is fully into it although they do get a few groans when they point out they’re about to play a 40-year-old song. There’s quick reminder to their 50+ crowd to not break a hip in the pit too. I think the main thing that impresses me is how bands of this age can play such high energy music and still look and sound fantastic for the whole slot. Thrash isn’t really my thing honestly but there’s absolutely nothing to fault this performance on.
I watch as a young lad with a unicorn O-ring gets launched on top of the crowd to be fished over the barrier by security, it wouldn’t be a metal show without some pit shenanigans, eh? Sacred Reich treats us all to a cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ which goes down an absolute storm, I don’t think there’s a single person here who isn’t belting out the words or the riffs! Sacred Reich absolutely killed it!
Next up today are metal behemoths, Soulfly! Bringing their unique aggressive yet infectiously rhythmic style to bear down on Maastricht. Max has still got it even now, the crowd is baying for more loud and clear! Arms wave in the air, words are screamed back loud enough to challenge the band themselves and I can see the centre of the crowd is going apeshit already!
There’s something about their distinctive almost muddy guitar tone against thunderous drums and bass that drives home the sheer fury of their songs, it’s every bit as groovy as it is angry. The bass and drums thunder through the floor and shake my legs while Max demands his pound of flesh from the crowd and they gladly oblige to any demand, if he wants a circle pit then he’s going to get it! Glad to hear that ‘Back To The Primitive’ is still in the set after all this time too, clearly everyone else is buzzing off this too! Pretty impressive getting a crowd that skews older to kneel down for the big hit of ‘Jump Da Fuck Up’, I’d have thought people would just not bother! Another fantastic set, Saturday is going pretty damn well so far!
Next up is Dark Angel and of course the man himself, Gene Hoglan, is the first to walk onto the stage to great applause. Again, thrash isn’t really my cuppa, but I’d be mad to miss one of the best drummers around melt my face off with his skills. As you could probably expect, Gene is by far the loudest part of the band and every single hit of the drums can be felt in my chest, legs and head, it’s incredibly powerful and yet somehow doesn’t totally drown out the guitars which is a pretty impressive feat. However, beyond watching Gene hammer the drums I can’t say I’m super engaged with this, it’s probably more to do with just not really being into thrash more than anything. Fun show but overall, I didn’t think it was particularly remarkable outside of watching Gene be a drumming genius.
A bit of a break and a chat with some friends and I’m back for Hatebreed and it has been a damn long time since I’ve seen these last. Nothing sorts out feeling a bit damp from the rain quite like Hatebreed opening their set with ‘I Will Be Heard’, absolute stormer to get things going! The rain might have muddied the ground a bit but it has done literally nothing to stop the crowd going bonkers in the middle to the Hatebreed soundtrack.
Hatebreed are clearly loving it too and every member of the band individually is jumping around the stage to interact, nevermind Jamie on his own. Beer glasses flying around in all directions, hair being spun around in windmills, arms in the air, all the good stuff you want to see from a crowd! Two gigantic inflatable ‘balls of death’ get launched into the audience that inevitably get bounced back at the band before long and take out a mic stand, great fun for the crowd, maybe not so much for the stage crew. Absolutely outstanding set!
And finally for the open-air segment of tonight its Accept. For the record I know literally nothing about this band but the way they’re kicking off this seems very similar to Anthrax in the way of mixing thrash with ’80s hair-metal style. This 6-piece are here to wrap up the open-air part of South Of Heaven’s Saturday in style and their thunderous sound is gonna do just that! These guys have staggering tasty riffs so little wonder that they’ve stood the test of time and can rip a crowd a new one like this!
These are reminding me so much of the likes of Motley Crue, Thunder, AC/DC, that it’s a wonder how I’d missed these in my formative days of getting into metal. Admittedly the crowd energy seems a bit lower compared to Hatebreed which is a bit of a shame but I think this may be down to the overall appeal to more energetic youngsters being a bit less. Their brief cover of Beethoven’s ‘Für Elise’ is a bit of a change of pace but little surprise that a German band would pay homage to one of the greatest composers their country ever produced!
Unfortunately, I’ve had to cut today’s show a little bit short as the rain has left me absolutely freezing cold and completely soaked even through my rain gear! So, I will be calling this one a little earlier as tomorrow is quite a stacked one for me and I need to make sure I’m fully prepared!