Neurotic Deathfest 2010: Tilburg, The Netherlands 30th of April, and 1st of May 2010

- Report written by Ewan Gibb

Friday 30th April, 2010

"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures… and the Dutch!" - Nigel Powers is a nob. Were he into Death Metal, and were he to visit the Neurotic Deathfest he'd be recanting that conviction more quickly than Origin can cover You Suffer. Taking place in the otherwise unassuming and ordinary provincial town of Tilburg, the Dutch, the very same people with whom Austin Powers' fahjer (sic) has a beef, lay on an extraordinary Death Metal Festival; "The largest indoor Death Metal festival in the world" if Rotten Sound's Keijo Niinimaa is to be believed. I for one do. Friday the 30th of April is Queen's Day in The Netherlands, a day when the country celebrates the official birthday of their Queen with a day of national unity, and the Dutch, whether Metal or not, are in party mood resplendent in their customary red, white, blue, and vivid orange, swamping the streets of nearby Eindhoven, and Tilburg to a lesser (but nonetheless impressive) degree, and no doubt everywhere else in the country, to mark this public holiday. The spectacle alleviates the grey, very grey, imposing clouds and drizzle.

Thankfully, and logically, given the time of year, this is an indoor festival, and 013's a venue which sees larger acts stopping off on their European tours (Slayer and Megadeth both being names on the list of upcoming attractions). Within the venue the action is divided between 3 rooms, the main stage, the middle stage, and the enigmatic Batcave! It's a labyrinthine complex, the geography of which even some of the staff had trouble grasping.

It was on the (surprisingly busy) middle stage that Hour of Penance kicked off the Neurotic Deathfest 2010. No mucking about with 3rd raters, or local supports.... BAM! Straight in with one of the hottest acts of the moment, and Hour of Penance set the bar at a level that few would eventually exceed over the weekend. Down the front the sound was muddy, all drums and vocals, the speed of the guitars getting lost in the mush, only cutting through when emitting demonic chords, but it couldn't diminish the battering being handed out. The set saw a healthy representation of latest album Paradogma (e.g. the title track, and The Woeful Eucharisty) whose material felt strong, but the way Hour of Penance ripped into older material such as set closer Misconception was simply astonishing. It's a pity to think this line up disintegrated a few days later.

Aborted (from nearby Belgium lest we forget) are the first band on the main stage, and it's here that the scale of NDF hits home. It's roughly 3 in the afternoon and the floor is packed with hundreds upon hundreds of enthusiastic fans ready to tear it up. It's not only the scale of the operation which impresses, it's the production values in general; the quality of the sound and the light show are at levels not usually associated with Death Metal shows. The colours, the clarity, from the balcony it's akin to watching a DVD. Aborted are an energetic band that's for sure, and the crowd showed copious amounts of appreciation, but it gets very samey very quickly for these ears, so it's off on an expedition to explore the hitherto uncharted depths of 013.

Dew Scented are up next on the middle stage, for their refreshing (given those about them) brand of Teutonic Swedethrash. No so many attendees as for Hour of Penance, but placing one's self a little further back in the room revealed a far better sound. The Germans have a good stage presence and good energy, they also regularly invoke Slayer and The Haunted, which makes for a set that maintains the interest to the very last minute. Unspectacular but worthy all the same.

Austrian goatbastards Belphegor are vomiting their satanic litanies on the main stage now. It's very tight, but the sound is all kick drums. The material is, let's say, un-dynamic and relentlessly blasts, not garnering much of a reaction from the pit. The crowd remain reserved and offer polite applause. Which is good of them, cos I'm off to get a good spot for...

...Malignancy on the middle stage. Vocalist Danny Nelson is a wise ass, make no mistake, and it makes for some entertaining between song banter (I should've expected this based on the live version of Intrauterine Cannibalism on the Motivated by Hunger EP). Mortician guitarist Roger Beaujard is back in Malignancy, only now he's on bass duties rather than behind the kit like in the old days, and he fits in like a glove. Malignancy are fucking heavy, fucking fast, and most of all fucking confusing, confounding all attempts to comprehend what's oozing out of the speakers. More PHPM (pinched harmonics per minute) than any other band ever, dare I say that Malignancy are slinky, if any Brutal Death Metal band can be described as such, flowing through blasts, bruising mid-paced sections, and into jazzy interludes. It all amounts to an impressive performance that the bulging (not in that way - dirty!) crowd lap up. Please tell me though that the title of upcoming album, Eugenics, is tongue in cheek, and the band don't genuinely think the practice viable.

A few years ago Neurotic was more well known in the underground as a quality label putting out albums by the likes of Psycroptic, Spawn of Possession, Ulcerate, and Prostitute Disfigurement. The question regarding what happened to the endeavours of the "brand" in that direction is rendered moot by the quality of this Deathfest (formerly known as the Rotterdam Deathfest). That said, as a label Neurotic is still functioning and Enemy Reign from the US are one of the few bands now on the roster. Their set at NDF 2010 is Enemy Reign's first ever European show and there's no hiding the delight they exude. Musically they're an odd mix of intense, blasting Death Metal, and Punk rock (strange but true). It's not a mix I find compelling truth be told, and it's not aided by the band's performance which was on the sloppy side (I've never seen so many dropped drum sticks), and relies too heavily on attitude rather than actual musical substance.

The first trip to The Bat Cave of the fest is for Malta's Beheaded. The Bat Cave is tiny, and every square inch is rammed with a Brutal Death Metal fan eager to catch this display of real fucking deal Brutal Death Metal. Yours truly had to elbow his way to the front to get the requisite experience of one of his favourite bands, hell, back in 2005 when they last released an album (the awesome Ominous Bloodline), Beheaded were one of the top bands in the genre (by my reckoning at least). Theirs is a simple formula, excellent riffing strung together intelligently, performed at speed with plenty of aggression. They get a decent sound out of the tiny stage's PA, and bar a slightly disappointing set list, live up to expectations. Current frontman Frank Calleja strikes a more intimidating presence than the whirling ball of energy that was Melchior Borg, the guitarists peel off riffs and leads expertly, drummer Chris Brincat walks that fine line between chaos and disaster, and bass player David Cachia can barely contain his passion for his music. The good news is they pull out a couple of new tracks (it's about bloody time!) and they show they're not content with the same old same old. The bad news is there's only 2 tracks aired from Ominous Bloodline (although those were Esoteric Kin, which is a favourite of mine, and Scourging Repudiation which was mind melting). The crowd surged and convulsed, slammed, and thrashed throughout a formidable set that was fittingly rounded off by the killer Recounts of Disembodiment. It took a few hours, but finally someone raised the bar beyond the level that Hour of Penance set.

One of the few annoying things about NDF was the overlapping of what would otherwise be must see acts. Choosing Beheaded over Napalm Death was a pretty easy decision given the frequency with which I've seen the latter, but I still had that little twinge of disappointment having missed a portion of the ever reliable Brummies' set. The sound is so so and the band are barely holding it together up there, such is the chaos that has emerged since slimming down to a 4 piece. They're just a great live band, and dare I say, an institution, and during the back end of the set we got a mix of the very latest and the old classics e.g. On the Brink of Extinction, When all is Said and Done, From Enslavement to Obliteration, Scum, Nazi Punks Fuck Off... bound by Barney's righteous between song invective, decrying religion, inequality, and best of all monarchism (on Queen's Day! Hah!), and ending with the awesome Siege of Power.

As the overlaps continue, rather comically, the first song I experience by Rotten Sound (who're already well into their set) is a Napalm Death cover (The Missing Link from the Mentally Murdered EP). Keijo Niinimaa's attempts to get cheers for Napalm Death are met with slightly dull response - well, duh, all their fans are in the room next door! The Fin's make a great choice in lighting, with their own bright white lights overpowering those of the house, and the energetic gesticulation from Niinimaa makes for a visually interesting act. Their trademark guitar sound is in full effect, but from the balcony above the middle stage the sound is generally muddy and there's zero snare. Each encounter with Rotten Sound sees them appear more commanding than the last. Correspondingly the crowd reaction is rabid.

And so to the headliners of Friday night, the resurgent Bolt Thrower, who, it seems, are gigging and touring as much as any band at the moment. Once again from the moment they take the stage they are nothing less than imperious, the slow rumbling and dramatic nature of their material providing an epic majesty. You can picture a windswept Karl Willets, gazing over a conquered battle field from atop of a pile of his vanquished foes. Or is that too Manowar? NDF has furnished them with a great sound, it's crushingly heavy, and heavy on the bass, Joe Bench wielding her BC Rich Iron Bird in an almost phallic fashion. Oh, if only they had a set list that was more balanced, yes there are classic tracks, but there's far too much post-Earache material for my liking. I mean, 2 songs from Mercenary but only 1 from ...For Victory? Something's wrong there. It must be said though, the combination of World Eater and Cenotaph gets more genius each time I experience it. Perhaps I should become better acquainted with the latter day albums before our paths cross next.

Saturday 1st May, 2010

And so to the second and final day of Neurotic Deathfest 2010. Just as on day 1, the quality was there right from the get go, and the first band demanding attention is none other than Origin on the main stage. The venue is hardly rammed at this hour in the afternoon, but the attendance is healthy nonetheless. The bottom line is Origin are just too harsh for the crowd at 3 o'clock in the PM, they're just not adequately lubricated to receive something quite so hard and vigorous just yet. This performance affords us a look at the band's new vocalist, Mica Meneke (formerly of The Faceless) and while he has the vocal chords required for the band, he lacks the malevolent charisma of James Lee. Given time I'm sure he'll be able to assert his authority on proceedings. Nevertheless, Origin are as astonishing a proposition as we've come to expect. Sure, the sound lacks some definition, but their light speed material picked from each of their 4 albums is killer. That said the songs do lack the dynamics to incite serious violence on the dance floor, instead jaws are audibly dropping left, right, and centre at the musical spectacle on stage. Enjoyable, but they can do better. (EG)

I would describe myself as something of a casual Dying Fetus fan. I own Destroy the Opposition and have a passing familiarity with Killing On Adrenaline and Grotesque Impalement; the one time I saw them live, supporting Vader and Cryptopsy in the immediate post-Netherton era, they weren't that impressive. Then I saw them play at Neurotic.

I always bemoan the lack of a second guitarist to provide rhythm under solos and extra crunch elsewhere, but this didn't cause Dying Fetus any problems. Recording and touring as a three-piece these days (John Gallagher on guitars and vocals, Sean Beasley on bass and vocals, and Trey Williams on drums), the band were on fire from start to finish. Opening with the first track off Destroy the Opposition, Praise the Lord (Opium of the Masses), the band get down to destroying Tilberg with a tight set of groove-laden death. The sound mix was superb throughout, which I could grudgingly attribute to the presence of a single guitar, but fundamentally Fetus's material works well for new listeners, full of chunky riffing, blast-beats and breakdowns that are accessible and, more importantly in the live context, gets everyone moshing like crazy - the ever-widening pit, to my mind being the first proper mosh of the festival.

Highlights included new songs Your Treachery Will Die With You and the title track from their latest album Descend Into Depravity (oh by the way guys, Prostitute Disfigurement called - they want their album title back!), an oldie in the form of Eviscerated Offspring, ending with Grotesque Impalement and the welcome bonus of Kill Your Mother / Rape Your Dog, banged out as a quick encore. Ewan and I were both very pleased as we'd been calling for those last two songs throughout the set - nothing like a sense of gratification when a band plays your favourite song, that being a pre-emptive "fuck you" aimed at Pestilence and Carcass, but more on that in due course. ( LV )

Scampering through to the middle stage now just about in time to catch Beneath the Massacre kick off their set. Following their display at Mountains of Death last summer I may have been wishing to catch them in a drier environment. Dryness was assured inside 013, however, I now wish to catch them somewhere a little quieter as today Beneath the Massacre are too damn loud. The jury's still out to my mind on this band in the live environment, but today they just don't seem to have that certain indescribable quality that makes a band truly special. They do tick a lot of boxes in terms of the quality of the musicianship, their stage craft, the presentation, but it just doesn't click. This is something the crowd has figured out and the band can sense.

Immolation are up next on the main stage. Or rather, The Robert Vigna show as I like to put it. Not to take anything away from his fellow band mates, but if you're near his side of the stage (as we were) your attention is commanded by this Death Metal performance par excellence. Immolation are a seriously well-oiled and professional live act, and it's difficult to not be impressed by their no nonsense approach. It's a shame in my view (as a Failures for Gods and Close to a World Below fanboy) that their set didn't have more mid-period material (where's No Jesus No Beast, for example?). Aside from the token oldie in Burial Ground from Dawn of Possession, Immolation pick a set list from their most recent albums, including latest work Majesty and Decay (probably their best since those 2 aforementioned albums in my opinion). Ultimately, and despite Vigna's guitar neck throttling and wrenching, this is merely a solid set which fails to catch fire.

After the debacle that was their appearance at last year's London Deathfest it was great to see a full set from Frenchmen Gorod. Gorod are a special band, of that I have no doubt. Both live and on record. From their faultless musicianship, to their none more engaging and energetic live show, they are a definite highlight of the fest, and are refreshing for their audacious musical gymnastics and boundless enthusiasm. Why the attendance was relatively sparse and muted is a mystery to me. I can't help but marvel at the irony that for their musical sophistication the frontman's vocals are so relentlessly barbaric and his stage presence downright simian. Live they're a tornado of arpeggios and legato, blast beats and polyrhythms, melody and brutality. They deserve to be huge and have fans hanging from the rafters and shoe horned into the darkest recesses at the rear of the middle stage. Perhaps a few more tours of the hard sell, spreading their propaganda, will enlighten the masses.

Talking of sparse attendances, I didn't see the main stage so empty all weekend as I did for Lock Up. I suppose that despite the all-star line-up, their profile hasn't been too high for about 8 years, as it's almost that length of time since Hate Breeds Suffering was released (can you believe it? I can't!). Tomas Lindberg, tongue firmly in cheek, still referred to it as their new album though. The crowd numbers were few, and precious fewer still seemed familiar with Lock Up's material for that matter. The Spark Hill/Santiago/Gothenburg mob's cause was not aided by a sound lacking bottom end, and the guitar of new boy, Anton, and the bass of Shane Embury seemed to be out of tune with one another. Lock Up do take a while to warm up, but in full stride, with Nick Barker firing on all cylinders, the lightning fast Grind is lethal and makes for another peak in the weekend's schedule. Touchingly they pull out a Terrorizer cover and dedicate it to the late Jesse Pintado, providing a timely reminder that Lock Up were originally touted as the reincarnation of those US Grind legends. Please do some UK clubs shows!

For its size Malta must have more killer Brutal Death bands per capita than anywhere else in the world, and NDF is proud in declaring that this is the first time ever that Beheaded and Abysmal Torment have ever shared a festival bill. If anything the tiny Batcave is even more rammed this afternoon for Abysmal Torment than it was for Beheaded yesterday, and this writer has to muscle his way to the front where the action is, and boy is action ever the word. Abysmal Torment are nothing less than aural and physical chaos incarnate. From opener Nefast Omen, and straight into Omega the band give their all, no holds barred, the crowd loving every second of the likes of Colony of Maggots, and Supreme Tyrant in Putrescence from Omnicide, and Befouled with Zest and Epoch of Methodic Carnage from the debut. If the response isn't rapturous enough, and to make up for their lack of a merch stand, the band regularly toss copies of Omnicide to the crowd, whose reaction is akin to feeding time at the zoo; any divide between band and audience completely blurred. Abysmal Torment are the quintessential Deathgrind act and provide what is probably the set of the weekend. (EG)

Public service request: could someone kindly inform Patrick Mameli that the new Pestilence album is shit? Until that happens, fans will continue to be served up a mix of 33.4% stone cold death/thrash/prog classics and 66.6% turgid brutal death tedium. Let me put it to you another way. Do you see Slayer playing much from Diabolus In Musica or God Hates Us All? Even on the official tour for the latter album, they played just one song from it. One song. That's because Slayer are not stupid. Any song from Pestilence's previous albums (that includes Spheres) shits all over Resurrection Macabre from a great height, and yet Mameli continues to disproportionally favour the new album's material. This exchange sums up the whole affair:

Mameli: "The next song will be Dehydrated..."

Crowd: *cheers*

Mameli: "....twooooo!"

Crowd: "Fuck you you cock-teasing wanker!" (okay, maybe that was just me)

I'm probably just bitter that I missed out on seeing Defeated Sanity and Abysmal Torment, because I (reasonably) asserted that unfamiliar Brutal Death Metal bands would be less entertaining than a band I know well. That was rather comprehensibly destroyed by a daft set list and an average performance. Thank god Carcass put on a great show, otherwise I would have been arrested for stamping repeatedly on Mameli's face whilst shouting "Play some proper songs you deluded fool, and while you're at it if you're going to record an album with Peter Wildoer, make sure you find a replacement who is vaguely close in skill!"

Yeah, so about the performance. The non-Resurrection Macabre material was excellent, consisting of Chemotherapy, The Process Of Suffocation, Out Of The Body amongst others, but the new material stands up no better now than it did when I saw the band last year. Mameli still has his riff-writing mojo, it's just that he spread his ideas out too thinly on the album and it's all too apparent when you spend 4 minutes or more listening to the same three riffs (although that title track riff is crushing).

Second guitarist Patrick Uterwijk and new drummer Yuma Van Eekelen would wave at the crowd to get them cheering or moshing, but frankly no one was going to move anywhere unless some old shit was played. Mameli himself was initially channelling Peter of Vader, by nodding at the crowd and saying "Yesssss" in this sibilant and creepy sort of way, before realising that he was playing to a local crowd and reverting back to Dutch for the remainder of the set. Oh, and of the new bassist and drummer? Both fail on the basis of not being Tony Choi or Peter Wildoer. Harsh but true.

Verdict: Pestilence 0 : Every other band at NDF 1 (on second thoughts, every band except Six Feet Under). ( LV )

After a couple of vocal-less sojourns to the UK, Defeated Sanity's set in Tilburg sees the return of AJ Magana to the fold, and it goes to underline what an asset the man is to the Defeated Sanity cause. Lille , Christian, and Jacob are untouchable musicians but AJ, as I've written before, is a monster, nay a beast among Death Metal vocalists and performers. Tonight's performance isn't in the same league as that in Mountains of Death, but then that set was the stuff legends are made of, so that's hardly a negative comment. By any other yardstick this is still an excellent set culled from Chapters of Repugnance, as well as Psalms of the Moribund (one area where tonight improves on Muotathal where AJ was unable to learn any older material in the time given) and the mix of the cerebral, the light speed, and the heaviest slams in existence gets the reaction from the abundant crowd that the band richly deserve. Scary to think they've only really begun this chapter (sic) and will continue to improve and one hopes, confound expectations. (EG)

After Carcass comprehensively laid waste to Wacken in 2008, I should really have watched Man Must Die with Ewan (seriously, you made the right decision buddy - EG). It was unlikely that the emotional high of seeing one of my favourite bands arise from the grave would be matched, and besides the set was going to be about half an hour shorter. Added to that is the fact that No Tolerance for Imperfection prods all manner of buttock and I've been dying to see that material played live. Except Carcass are Carcass and who knows if I'll get another chance to see Walker, Steer, Amott and Erlandsson play together again and you know, one of these days I may get to hear Carneous Cacoffiny. Plus I was on a low after the abysmal Pestilence performance and needed some comfort listening.

In theory this write-up should read something like "Carcass destroyed everyone and played a great set - the end", except it's not quite that easy. The band did indeed put on a good performance but dammit if the lack of new material bugs me (ironically enough, Steer has said that he's up for it despite being the one who allegedly said that he couldn't believe he'd wasted years of his life playing death metal). Just to kick me when I'm down, there was no Carneous Cacoffiny, nor even Death Certificate. Still, 'bad' Carcass is better than most Carcass-clones and other bands around these days (*coughs*Aborted*coughs).

Getting things going with Corporal Jigsore Quandary (with no vocals from Steer - boo hiss), Carcass lurched straight into Buried Dreams (where I finally got to see how Steer plays the tapped intro - hurrah!) before taking a short break to tune up. This was to happen quite frequently with the resultant effect of destroying the atmosphere. Walker duly apologised for the delays, citing their old age in a self-deprecating manner rather than the fact that both guitarists use fixed-bridge guitars these days. The crowd were a little subdued at the start, but duly started showing some life after Walker stated that the other bands were disappointed with Dutch crowds as all they did was "drink, fuck and smoke". Ahem.

Then followed the usual suspects of Carnal Forge, No Love Lost, something off Symphonies (so sue me if I only recognise Exhume To Consume and Reek Of Putrefaction),"Incarnate Solvent Abuse, This Mortal Coil, Reek Of Putrefaction (where Steer stepped up and did vocals. Yes, you heard that right. Steer did vocals on a Carcass song. Woo!), Keep on Rotting In The Free World, Pyosified, finishing off with Heartwork and the outro to Carneous Cacoffiny. Bah.

So, overall it was a good set, tune-up delays aside, but if Carcass are to continue touring then it would be nice if they changed up their set-list a bit more. Play things like Rot N' Roll, Carneous Cacoffiny (natch) and even Edge Of Darkness all the way through (it's actually quite a good song!). Who am I kidding? I'll pay money to see Carcass live again and again until they do throw in the towel for good, as for all my bitching they were still one of the best bands of the festival. I'll just have to hope that the band goes on a 20th anniversary Necroticism tour and plays the album in its entirety. Only one year to go guys - make it happen! (LV)

Poor Man Must Die. Everybody bar one or two dozen is over at the main stage watching Carcass. One feels that even if the slot scheduling Gods had been on their side they still wouldn't have got much joy. On record they're still pretty gnarly but live almost all traces of Death Metal has been lost from their sound. It's shouty, it's aggro, and at this hour, it's unappealing.

One thing you can't deny is that this Dutch audience loves their Brutal Death, and Septycal Gorge's set in the Batcave is received with levels of enthusiasm only a notch or 2 below that of Abysmal Torment a few acts previous. What they have in common with the Maltese is they're ludicrously brutal, and in contrast what they lack in sheer wild violence they make up with surgical precision. Proving their impressive set at last year's MoD was no fluke, up close and in a confined space Septycal Gorge cut an even more impressive figure, mixing material from debut Growing Seeds of Decay and awesome follow up Erase the Insignificant. These Brutal Italians are a fitting conclusion to the Batcave and their set climaxes with the band orchestrating a stage invasion that sees vocalist Mariano hoisted into the air and his fellow performers totally buried in the mass of bodies. They're damn near triumphant!

Final act of the fest is Human Mincer and the crowd react as if they don't want the brutality to end. Which is more than can be said for the guitar amp, which packs up midway through the Spaniards' set causing a lengthy delay, but entertainment is on hand in the form of an impromptu drum solo and the crowd bursting into a rendition of 'Everybody Dance Now' (I shit you not). Bizarrely post amp explosion the sound improves as before that Human Mincer's sound was pretty poor - let's just say they sounded like Brodequin on Methods of Execution, which is to say raw and brutal. Nice! The band dished out an arse whipping, tearing into that eviscerating Brutal Death, Phlegeton being the vocalist of a million brutal voices and guitarist Miguel bludgeoning through riffs with sheer bloody mindedness. And then that was it. All over before we knew it, and as our appetites are just about sated. Out into the chilly night air to contemplate just where the time went and how it did so with such speed.

I was genuinely taken aback by the sheer scale of the Neurotic Deathfest. Without overstatement, the crowd numbers and reactions were in realms that I simply haven't experienced for music so extreme, what with being used to under subscribed UK gigs. Many even as good as to be the kind of live Extreme Metal experience I could only dream of previously. The bill was fabulous, the organisation and professionalism were also top notch, and all covered by a very reasonable ticket price. Pair that with The Netherlands' well-oiled public transport and an uncanny grasp of English, and it makes for a highly accessible festival. My only criticism is of 013's token system for buying drinks, but then I guess that's not the organiser's fault. NDF is highly recommended, and if you fancy it here're a couple of tips, 1) book accommodation early – Tilburg isn't exactly flush with hotels, and 2) make sure you have plenty of Euros - the Dutch have a bizarre aversion to the credit cards you'd use anywhere else in the world. NDF 2011? Do it!

- Report written by Ewan Gibb

Guest writeup by Lal V. All pictures copyright Ewan Gibb