Rock Altitude Festival 9 – DOWN, CONVERGE, RED FANG, KRUGER, IMPURE WINHELMINA, HEROD, etc.

Show review, 15 August 2014, Le Locle, Switzerland.

Behind us the another 9 edition of Rock Altitude Festival, which annually takes place in a small Swiss town, in the Jura mountains, in the Swiss Prealps. Unfortunately, this time the weather was dismal as for summer… The rains did not leave the sky most days… It was fortunate that the weather in day of concert was not bad… Anyway, as always, the organizers took care of the roof. In addition the blower with warm air were in the tent next to the small stage… But in the large tent was more cold. However, the stars of evening warmed the atmosphere…

The concert was began by Swiss HEROD… Men presented a very powerful and heavy wall of sounds woven of many threads of different genres of Rock music. The whole I can evaluate as Post-Hardcore with the low-tuned guitars, with the crushing riffs intertwined with the tranquil parties of chords… with the climatic solos and licks… with the powerful drumbeat… and of course at the forefront of the multicolored array of vocal elations, from the monstrous growls to the hysterical screams until the calm vocals… Unfortunately the vocals were difficult to hear and for that reason the listeners did not feel the full power of band… A few weeks earlier, I had the opportunity to review their debut album, so I know what I’m saying…

The songs presented during of the concert came from this album. The introduction to the song “Not Forgiveness Not Vultures” made me shiver. I knew this declamation in Russian language coming from “Master and Margarita” of Mikhail Bulgakov… At the concert in Le Locle probably it sounded exotic for most listeners. However I felt a bond with this song. All Poles know this novel from a school… The singer of HEROD was quite charismatic and communicative on the stage… He succumb to emotions like in trance, he threw out all his aggression… At one point he jumped off from the stage with a microphone, he passed by railings and he melted into the crowd… He closed his eyes and was screaming hysterically in rhythm of climate and heavy music… The tension was growing up with the screaming … Suddenly, he grabbed some guy standing on the side and he began to tug man gently – by this manner the singer was invite him for common feeling of the music. People have created a sort of circle and watched… and were undergo of emotions… Thus he ended the concert of Herod, who was crowned by common photos and thanks of fans…

… KRUGER from Lausanne once again appeared on the stage of Rock Altitude Festival… KRUGER is already very well known to audiences of Rock Altitude Festival, which was clearly noticeable, especially after the reaction of spectators who flocked to the scene… The team also was well familiar with the audience. It also was clearly perceptible… They played very dynamic and sharply. I think they did not disappoint the fans…

? In the meantime, we decided to cool emotions thanks to something to drink. The choice of drinks was as usual rich. However, we have decided for something more traditional – a beer and by the way as always we hunted with the camera on the fans of the musical entertainment. In thanks for photos we gave out the promotional CDs of different bands from Metal Centre…

… On a small stage… the Genevan band unusual called – IMPURE WILHELMINA was preparing for show… After warmup they presented a musical fusion of course, which most accurately can described as Post-Hardcore … In the music they have entered into a combination of dynamics, energy and melody. Some elements were easily falling into the ear and it caused the audience more integrated with the music, showing their expression for the sounds….

Meanwhile, the fans of the first star of the evening were herd in the front of main stage. CONVERGE came from the United States, the city of Witches – Salem. I think many fans of Hardcore know CONVERGE… Almost 25 years on a stage and they were still full of charisma and energy. Probably their music gave them such energy… The arrangements were heavy, aggressive, sometimes even chaotic, full of fury with frequent changes of tempo… It was not easy to catch the singer Jacob Bannon in the frame the camera… He was running around the stage like a madman, inspired by fury and hysteria. The same was in the front ranks of the stage… People went crazy…

Afterwards before America Stoner Metal RED FANG we took breake for get something to eat… It was long queue… But the choice of food was really diverse, from classic fast food to sweet snacks and oriental dishes… In the background we heard the warming up of the band. The weather was nasty, it was cold, so also we decided to warm up by not only hot coffee but by Pastis, whose the anise flavor stressed the French-speaking region of Switzerland…

As I mentioned on previous reviews of Rock Altitude Festival, the invitations for bands under the sign of Stoner Rock / Metal has become a tradition for several editions of festival. In 2015, in August you can listen bands from the United – KARMA TO BURN (once again) and BLACK TUSK, and this time we could listen sounds of RED FANG, who despite a small stage could enliven the audience by the dynamics and energy of tracks… In front of the scene was crowded and hot… The music of RED FANG is a good material for a concert. The characteristic structure of the arrangement of Stoner Rock/Metal caused that it was impossible to calmly stand or even withstand without little headbanging…

… Does Le Locle has established a collaboration with New Orleans? EYEHATEGOD was one of the stars of previous edition, and in this edition the star was Down with Phil Anselmo. I do not hide the fact that music of DOWN is less known for me, but awareness – that band is like a continuation of PANTERA, which many years ago belonged to one of my favorite bands – meant that I was totally excited by the presence on stage of Phil Anselmo with the rest of the respectable musicians… And Phil has proven himself to be very talkative man, of course it mostly was a monologue with a lot of vulgarisms and ironic lyrics for the audience…

The music of DOWN swept away hundreds of fans… The heavy and dynamic playing driven by the powerful screams of vocals gave motility for the crowd. However, Anselmo was not entirely satisfied with the reaction of the fans and he repeatedly urged listeners to more expressive feeling of the music. Sometimes he even mocked people, and even he went into the verbal skirmishes with someone from the crowd. He accused that listeners did not have the strength to scream louder. He was very charismatic and full of expression and characteristic mannerisms of movement, which I still remember from the period of PANTERA. He might be a pastor of a charismatic church but he swears like a sailor. In fact, before each song, Phil had something to say his strong and firm voice. The speech usually concerned of the next song or things which he included in the lyrics. There were also props on the stage in the form of a long-handled broom. He symbolically broomed the stage… And the music? Aggressive and heavy… And the crowd? People raged… The last song turned out curiously arranged a surprise… First Anselmo spoke about the team KRUGER, about sympathy and friendly relations, then DOWN started to play… Then suddenly the drummer of KRUGER joined to DOWN and smoothly took over the playing. Then, in succession the musicians of KRUGER smoothly started playing the song and they were fitted together with DOWN perfectly to play together. Ultimately only the musicians of KRUGER played and the musicians of DOWN said goodbye to their fans… The show of DOWN will be one of those unforgettable…

… We finished the next adventure with Rock Altitude Festival about 01:00… The weather was not admirable, sometimes it was quite cold and was raining but the warm and friendly atmosphere has compensated atmospheric conditions… The last performers in the night were KUNZ and ABRAHAM. However, we had to go home…

The another 10 edition of the Rock Altitude Festival in 2015 will be have one day longer because of anniversary. On the stage will play among other things THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, ARCHIVE, KARMA TO BURN, KVELERTAK, LOFOFORA and some surprises but for today day has not been disclosed the rest of information.