NO MERCY'S FESTIVAL, 013, TILBURG, HOLLAND 4/01/02

I decided to go to Holland and attend the No Mercy's festival, pretty much at the last minute. I had been thinking about it, since I was going to be in Norway for the Inferno festival which was the weekend before.. So I just said basically, Fuck it…I am just going to go for it!

My flight arrived to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport from Oslo 15 minutes early. I had directions that my internet bud vinne emailed me for the train (which I had taken many, many times on my trips to Holland). Well I got a tad bit cocky and hopped on a wrong train going east instead of south! Not a problem, I got off at the first stop and headed back to Utrecht to transfer correctly. I made it to Tilburg at around 4:40. I was very frazzled and worried I was going to miss Destroyer 666. Even though I had seen them at Wacken last summer, I didn't want to miss this killer Aussie band! So as I got off the train, I saw about a dozen metalheads, so I just followed them. And I made it to the venue without a problem. Vinne showed up about 5 minutes after I arrived ! I had a bit of a problem getting my digital camera checked. Security were worried that it was a video camera I guess. But they let me in finally. So we checked my luggage (the only metalhead there wheeling in his luggage I bet….Blizz) and then headed upstairs to the mainstage.

DESTROYER 666:

We got to the stage and D666 were on stage playing "Ride the Solar Winds". I believe I missed one song, so it was not too bad. I was just happy being there. I understand that the band is now located in Holland. And their drummer is Dutch. D666 were thrashing it up as usual. The band touches on something that other metal bands try to touch on. But the only difference, is that D666 have it down like a motherfucker. Catchy, old school death/thrash, with war and satanic themes abound. The band wasted no time ripping into "Eternal Glory of War" which had the crowd raising their fist's during the chorus. D666's sound was great and I must say LOUD as fuck! Which is a good thing. For this band to be properly understood , it must be really fucking LOUD! They played a new song from their forthcoming album "Cold Steel" that went over real well. I really liked it, and am totally psyched for a new D666 album. They also played one of my favorite songs from their classic "Unchain the Wolves" LP. "Genesis to Genocide"! I just went crazy during this song and sang right along with KK Warslut (guitar/vocals). D666 got to play for about 40 minutes I would say. They ended their all too brief set with "I am the Wargod" from the "Phoenix Rising" LP. I was sad to see them go, but happy I saw them live again. HAIL DESTROYER 666!!!!!!


VADER:

I swear, that there are diabolical forces against me when it comes to seeing Vader live. At Wacken 2000, I was in a long assed line to get my fucking press pass. So I missed Vader, but could hear them. You can imagine how frustrating that was. So my anticipation of seeing Vader on the No Mercy's fest was very high. Well they were fucking killer. But I noticed after the second song, when Peter was talking that his voice was very hoarse and cracking. Then into the third song "Litany", It was obvious that Peter's voice was in total turmoil! In fact during one part he actually spoke the words instead of growling them. Well, after the 4th song, Peter apologized to the crowd. He said his doctor told him "No more than a 1/2 hour". And he promised to come back to Holland real soon and make up for it (Yeah, like that does me any good….Blizz) They played songs off the " Litany" album, and then I believe a new song from their forthcoming LP. I thought Vader were great. The fucking drummer Doc is one insane musician. Just hearing him drum makes me dizzy. So I cannot bitch about this because a 1/2 hour of Vader is better than no Vader at all. I hope Peter's voice holds out for the rest of the tour, since the tour had just started.


HYPOCRISY:

I have seen Hypocrisy 4 times now. And this show in Tilburg was by far the best. The sound was crystal clear and the crowd really got into them. Another advantage was the place we snagged to watch them. (also for Immortal's set) After the staple Hypocrisy "intro" music, out comes the band within a mist of dry ice. Peter Tagtgren being the last one to grace the stage. The crowd goes wild, as the band open their 50 minute show with "Don't Judge Me" from the new album "Catch-22" Hypocrisy drove through 9 songs. I was hoping they did "Fire in the Sky" and "Pleasure of Molestation" and they did. . The biggest crowd pleaser of the evening though was the classic "Roswell 47", which saw the entire crowd headbanging and dozens of stagedivers diving one right after the other. One fan even shook Peter's hand as he got up on stage and Peter gave him the "thumbs-up" sign and then the guy dove into the crowd. It was a great moment in the show I thought. It shows how Peter respects his fans. I had not picked up the new Hypocrisy album yet. So when they whipped into "Destroyed" off the new album, I was yelling in vinne's ear "WHAT IS THIS FROM, THIS KILLS"!!!!!! And he told me it was from "Catch-22". Very impressive song, with excellent guitar work. One thing I love about Hypocrisy is that they are never stale. None of their albums really sound much like one another. Forever evolving and morphing into something fresh and untouched. Yep, they are one of my top 10 favorite bands for sure. So the band left the stage and the crowd began chanting "We Want More". Then about 2 minutes later, they came back for a fitting encore "The Final Chapter". As usual Hypocrisy failed to disappoint me live. It will be my pleasure for the 2nd time seeing them "Destroy Wacken"


IMMORTAL:

Those who know me, know what a freak I am for Immortal. My moniker "Blizzard Beast" is taken from one of their albums. And I have flown across the land to see them live at Dynamo, Wacken and also March Metal Meltdown in New Jersey (which they were only allowed 4 songs before security pulled the fucking plug). Just something about this band that I like. Watching them live is blood chilling for me.
Immortal took the stage by storm, wasting no time and opened with "In My Kingdom Cold" from the new album. This was the first tour for their new bassist whom at press time is not known. When I was in Norway, a little bird told me that it was the bassist from Pain. But I do not know what he looks like. Anyway, the new bassist was excellent. He fit the band very well. It was funny though, he had white corpsepaint all in his hair and on his black shirt. Immortal sounded killer. They played for near one hour, touching on practically every section in their 11 year career. They only played one song off the last album "Damned in Black", that being the title track. And they played nothing off "Blizzard Beasts". I was hoping for maybe one from that album, but that's ok. The band stuck with stronger material, from the "At the Heart of Winter" album and also the new album "Sons of Northern Darkness". I got "chills" more than once during their set. Especially when they went into "With Stand the Fall of Time". And I must also say that they played "Sons of Northern Darkness" followed by "Tyrants"(my favorite song from SOND…Blizz). The new material went over very very well live indeed. They left briefly and came back and played three more songs. "Beyond the Northern Waves", "Battles in the North" and "Blashyrkh-Mighty Ravendark". How can one complain with Immortal ending their show with two songs from fucking "Battles"?? A total killer! I can't wait to see Immortal again next month on their North American tour with Manowar. That is an interesting, but odd pairing! Immortal rule live, so do not miss them if they come to your town!


In closing, I would like to say that this tour really was great. I am sad that I only got to see 1 and 1/2 songs from Kataklysm. They played the small stage, and from what I saw it had good sound. But their time slot overlapped Hypocrisy. Other than that and Vader playing only 1/2 of their set, the festival went very well. Metal is huge in Holland. And it was my pleasure sharing 6 hours of metal mayhem with the Dutch metalheads. I look forward to my next adventure in the not too distant future.

Cheers and Strong Beers

Scott "Blizz" Cameron
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Rating: 8 /10