Gig Review: Rockstadt Extreme Fest, Romania – Days three to five

By BRENDAN DELAVERE

DAY THREE

DAY three of Rockstadt – the mid point. And fatigue is starting to set in. No time for that, because black thrashers Midnight already have the party underway as I arrive.

Part black metal, part rock n fuckin’ roll, and like Gutulax the day prior, all time fun in the pit. The summer heat still lingered, Midnight threatening to only play half a set, sweating to death in their leather and chains. Song after song, energy was high, sweat dripping from the corpse-painted faces of the packed pit.

“Unrelenting” is the only way to describe California’s Lionheart. The US hardcore band didn’t let up for the entirety of the set, security catching a nonstop stream of crowd surfers, the blow up boat rode high on the sea of people, all while pit ninjas stomped and fly kicked every inch of dirt.

Black metal was the vibe for the day and French breakcore artist Igorrr added to the extremity of that noise. It’s an amalgamation of styles, black metal riffs and screeching, soaring Baroque operatic singing and a mind melting mix of breakcore noise. How any of this came together is anyone’s guess but my God it’s mesmerising. “Camel Dancefloor”, “ieuD” and the body spasm that is “Very Noise”, how do you dance to Igorrr? I don’t know – but the crowd did.

I may not have been on my way to kill Euronymous but the true Mayhem certainly killed their set. Shrouded in smoke and hellfire red lights, the darkest band to exist, godfathers of black metal, Mayhem shrieked forth, grinding guitars and bass loud enough to cave in your chest. Forty years this band has dragged its bloody corpse through the darkness and there’s no stopping just yet. Atilla Csihar grins through a crooked sneer, holding a human skull in one hand and a cross of bones in the other like a machine gun. “Chainsaw Gutsfuck”, “Life Eternal” and “Pure Fucking Armageddon” provide a screaming finish for all the corpse-painted punters.

Last on the Braşov stage for day three is death/power metal crew Amorphis. Seriously heavy, seriously melodic, the five piece had crowd surfers over the barrier from the get go. “Northwards”, “The Moon”, “Silver Bride”, front man Tomi Joutsen raising his claws in the air any chance he got, the crowd roaring every time he did. Closing with “The Bee”, the audience scrambled to catch a drumstick or pick.

Creating a genre of metal ain’t easy. Still being the top of the game in said genre is a a feat all of its own. Fathers of djent, Swedish giants Meshuggah stomped onto the stage to 10,000 fists in the air. Crushing through a mammoth set, with plenty of cuts from new and old records, enough to keep any fan satisfied, “Broken Cog”, “Ligature Marks”, absolute monster “Demiurge” and the head-squelching “Pravus” included. Meshuggah pull no punches, no gimmicks, no confetti, just straight to the face slabs of down-tuned metal, bringing the main stage to an end like a shotgun blast with “Future Breed Machine”.

But wait there’s more: screeching black metal cohorts Marduk round out the night on the small tent stage. Themes of war and death, smoke, red lights and howling screams fill the air, the tent is filled with the stench of decay and sweat. Battle weary, the crowd broil and mosh, frontman Mortuus’ demon eyes pierce through his matted hair, surveying the 2am mess of people.

Fatigue was finally kicking this reviewer, time to call it a night.

DAY FOUR

Day four was an early start. This reviewer spent the morning checking out the Black Church in Braşov, fitting as today’s lineup includes the very Christian Impaled Nazarene.

Unfortunately, Portuguese cult black metal four piece GAEREA become victim to the German storm front, getting stuck by the weather and unable to make it to the festival. First cab off the rank, then, UK punks Discharge. Like a bull in a China shop the crowd surged and swirled and threw each other every which way. Short, fast, loud, that’s punk rock!

Keeping with the loud and fast, old school black metal icons, Impaled Nazarene came to preach about our Lord and Saviour… burning. More of that buzzsaw guitar, the band don’t move much on stage, the crowd happy to do the moving for them.

More balls to the wall punk from OGs Agnostic Front. Dirty, sloppy, fast, hits you like a punch to the face, just like the circle pit. Dust pouring out of the centre like a tornado, every song demanded a bigger circle. Guitarist Stigma getting amongst it to make sure that circle pit was worthy. Closing with a Ramones cover, Agnostic Front are still just as punk as ever.

Celebrating 30 years of Covenant, was the newest iteration of Morbid Angel, I Am Morbid. Fronted by the legendary Dave Vincent, and featuring drummer Pete Sandoval, I Am Morbid churned through a brutally heavy set. The sludgy doom of “Where the Slime Live”, skull crusher “Maze of Torment” and the eternally heavy “World of Shit” all stood out.

Old school death metal stalwarts and one of the big five of death metal, Obituary were up next. A double dose of death metal is just what the doctor ordered. No time for bullshit, just more slabs of riffs, blast beats and death growls. “Redneck Stomp”, “Slow Death”, “Slowly We Rot”… a face melting set of classic death metal goodness.

Before I go on, I need to reiterate just how good food and beer prices are at this festival. Two dollars for a full cup of beer, four dollars for spirits, and you can do as many shot of Jager or tequila you want! Not that we’re advocating binge drinking, but hey, when in Romania, do as the Romanians do.

Moving on, French synthwave artist Perturbator is making huge waves in the metal world. The bass heavy synth coupled with bursts of blast beat drums, lights and flames make for a complete experience. Every song melds into the next, no time for breaks, it’s just a non stop wall of sound.

Talk about an experience, a complete performance: Avatar! Part rock show, part circus performance, all theatrical and all time amazing. I couldn’t tear my eyes away as vocalist and showman Johannes Eckerstrom led the entire crowd for 60 minutes like the Pied Piper. They will be on Australian shores for the first time this month. Do not miss them.

Headliners In Flames almost didn’t make it to Rockstadt, victims of the heavy storms affecting Germany and Slovenia, having to charter a private plane to fly them to the newly built Braşov airport. Nothing to worry about because they made it in time to power slam Rockstadt into the ground. If you caught them at Knotfest, you’d know that In Flames have gone back to their roots, more riffs, more melodic death metal. The metalcore days are mostly behind them now. Some deep cuts from early albums, “Behind Space”, crowd favourites like the circle pit inducing “Take This Life” and a couple of new ones from recent release Foregone.

Not intent to let that be the closing number, kvlt black metal and iconic meme figure, Abbath hosted the final set of the night. Back in the third stage, Abbath stared down the crowd, sneering, grimacing, cold and frostbitten expression. Yes, Abbath has become a famous meme around the internet, but musically, he still crushes. “To War”, “The Rise of Darkness”, “Endless”: an hour of black metal from the frozen north.

Being a Saturday night, I wasn’t content with going home and so the after party raged til the wee hours, DJs playing the hottest 100 of rock and metal. Hell yeah!

DAY FIVE

The final day, and fatigue has well and truly hit me. Cheap beers are catching up but in the name of metal we power on!

Diving head first into a death metal pit for Immolation is the only way to shake me out of my stupor. Brutal and relentless, cliche I know, but how else do you describe old school death metal? Straight after was a kick to the teeth with the new wave of European metalcore, For The Wicked, who for a good 20 minutes whipped up a tornado of a circle pit. Pit ninjas flipped in from every side like a Jackie Chan film, arms whirling, legs flying. I needed eyes in the back of my head. Unfortunately the set was cut short when power was lost completely.

Not to worry, all your hardcore needs were to be met when Stick To Your Guns hit the main stage. That is until the Transylvanian weather set in and absolutely lashed down. Unfazed and dedicated, a sizeable crowd stomped through the rain and mud to every song. The rain only lasting half the set but the rain dance continued, mud flying every which way as the rest of the crowd who took shelter emerged to help throw all the wet buggers over the barrier.

A bit of a reprieve next for rockers Kadavar, the sun peeking through the evening clouds, the mist rising from the forest, the smell of good weed in the air and all the riffs you could want. Rock n roll, stoner rock, call it what you want, man it jams and feels oh so sleazy. “Black Sun”, “Last Living Dinosaur”. After all that rain, I just want to rip off my shirt and dance around.

Complete vibe change as Dying Fetus hit the stage next. Not ones to fluff about on stage, the trio came to drill deep into your ears. If the bears in the forest were still lingering nearby, they weren’t anymore. “One Shot One Kill”, “Compulsion for Cruelty” and “Wrong One to Fuck With” were all like a sledgehammer to the chest every time.

Tonight was a mixed bag, no discernible genre ruled, with euro power metal front runners Epica taking us on an epic (excuse the pun) rollercoaster ride. Simone Simons hit the highest notes of the week, fire and lights flowing out into the darkness. Powerful, beautiful, melodic, so many adjectives running through my mind to describe this set.

Looking like Dr Karl on speed in his rainbow jacket, Matt Heafy led the charge as Trivium ran us through a career defining set, an hour not enough to touch on every song the crowd was desperate to hear. “In Waves”, “Becoming The Dragon”, the massive hit “A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation” and new cuts “Feast of Fire” and “In the Court of the Dragon” amongst them, Trivium have always been a force to reckon with, and that goes double for Arch Enemy. Both bands were recently in Australia; Arch Enemy destroyed their club shows, but here on a much bigger stage there’s room to swing, and did they come out swinging! Alissa White-Gluz commanding in a spiked black leather bodysuit, hair windswept back, banshee scream cutting through your very soul. With such a storied back catalogue as theirs, the set list covered every facet of the ages: “War Eternal”, “Ravenous”, “We Will Rise”, Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis shredding their magic. The crowd was going off, I counted a guy in a Jason Vorhees mask come over the barrier more than a dozen times, high five-ing all the kids in the front row every time. And another guy holding his prosthetic leg high as he surfed over the barrier, absolute lunacy in the pit!
Closing with “Nemesis” and a shower of confetti and fire, Arch Enemy are still top of their game.

With a giant yellow rubber duck staring down the crowd, 10,000  pirates ready to walk the plank for Alestorm stared back. With a chorus of keytar, Alestorm hit the stage, ready to party for the final night of the fest. Plastic swords clashed, pirate hats flew into the air, that damn rubber dinghy was amazingly still afloat on the crowd, though not for long as it would eventually sink to the depths of the crowd, out of air. “Keelhauled”, “Under Blackened Banners” and the raucous foot stomping of “Captain Morgan’s Revenge” all surfaced, Christopher Bowes noodling away on his keytar, rolling about on the stage like a pirate possessed. Alestorm closed out the final main stage set of the week with “Fucked By An Anchor”. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

Normally at any festival that would be the end of it, but Rockstadt wanted one more solid bout.  Americans Knocked Loose were in the tent, with no barriers! Screaming in the face of everything, Bryan Garris and Co hit overdrive, punters leaping from the stage every second of every song, the front ten rows dodging knees to the head. Through “Belleville”, “Billy No Mates”, and “God Knows” the tent went ballistic, an hour set of just about every song on record . Set closer “Counting Worms” with a resounding “Arf Arf” at last brought Rockstadt Extreme Fest to a bloodied finish.

Check out the review of Days One and Two here.