FESTIVAL REVIEW: Hellfest Open Air 2019 – Saturday
Another day at Hellfest brings another cancellation, although this one is far more understandable: MYRKUR, due to bring her Folkesange show to the Temple that evening, has pulled out due to her pregnancy and replaced immediately by JO QUAIL, who was due to play cello with her anyway but now takes up the mantle herself. Other than that, everything is as it should be, and the Saturday kicks off with, erm, digeridoos?
Yep, LIKE A STORM (5) are first up on the two Main Stages and whilst their use of the aboriginal instrument is certainly a novelty, it doesn’t compensate for their otherwise stodgy nu metal. COILGUNS (8) are a super energetic slap in the face in the Valley and the perfect wake up call for any hangovers with their delightfully dissonant post metal. BANANE METALIK (6) are essentially a French, horror punk version of EVIL SCARECROW, although not quite as funny. They’re a good, silly start to the Warzone, mind. SKINDRED (9) prove they are the ultimate festival band wherever they might play and show the Newport Helicopter is a universal concept during their half hour on stage, along with getting everyone bouncing and paying tribute to THE PRODIGY. Inside at the Altar, homecountry heroes TREPALIUM (9) draw a monstrous crowd and respond with a blistering set of riffs and massive tunres including Moonshine Limbo. Dutch goth rockers DOOL (8) are one of the discoveries of the weekend, combining the despair of TYPE O NEGATIVE with poppier overtones and flowing through goth pop to melodic doom with ease.
American outfit ALLEGAEON (9) bring riffs for days – most notably during a crushing Stellar Tidal Disruption – and look set to only get bigger than they currently are; they’re also tighter than an otter’s pocket throughout. MANTAR (8) announce themselves onstage as ‘Manotar’ in a jibe at yesterday’s drama but that’s where the joking stops; their blackened sludge crushes The Valley, their set rife with raw and visceral snarls from all corners. Aussie legends THE LIVING END (6) draw a very sparse audience to the Warzone which is a shame for a band so seminal within the punk scene. It doesn’t affect them and their performance is solid enough, but the lack of response doesn’t do them any favours. SUMAC (8) could have done with being higher up the Valley bill given their penchant for twenty minute-long songs, but their doom-laden post-metal punishes the senses all the same, while CAVE IN’s (9) emotionally charged show in the same tent is full of passion and panache. Quite what happens to them after this is anyone’s guess, but their determination to make every show a personal high is evident.
The jury will forever be out on DIE ANTWOORD’s appearance at Download this year, but for a true heavy metal rave experience, look no further than COMBICHRIST (9). The Norwegian aggrotech outfit obliterate the Temple with a high energy set played at breakneck speed, sending the tent into raptures for a full hour of pulsating, industrial heaviness. DEF LEPPARD (6) are a far cry from their best today – the big hits like Pour Some Sugar On Me and Let’s Get Rocked still slay, but the set feels ploddy and bloated, leaving a sour taste in the mouth. It’s even more noticeable when ZZ TOP (8), now a full fifty years into their career, cast a blues-y haze across Hellfest as the sun disappears with class and charisma. The hits are all present from Gimme All Your Lovin’ to Sharp Dressed Man, and when Billy Gibbons has a roadie stick a cigar in his mouth and light it during Tush, one realises just how effortlessly cool the band still are. The ever charismatic Mikael Stanne of DARK TRANQUILITY (8) is clearly stoked to just be at Hellfest, and his bunch of melodic death metal men play a career spanning set that shows exactly why they are revered as genre pioneers. CULT OF LUNA (9) close out the Valley seemingly heavier and more entrancing than they’ve ever been, treating the tent to a new song called Nightwalkers along with an hour of stunning, pulsating post metal. Anyone who decided to follow that up with THE SISTERS OF MERCY (6) got half a set of gothic anthems perfect to throws shapes to followed by a slow yet noticeable slide in momentum, the band seemingly unable to maintain the zeal they began with.
The end of the road draws ever closer for KISS (9) on their farewell tour expected to last for three years, but if they’re leaving us on this sort of form, it’s going to be one hell of a party along the way. Yes, Paul Stanley’s voice has seen far better days and the set is filled with a number of different solos, but on pure spectacle alone this is a true rock and roll experience. Naturally, there’s enough pyro to make Guy Fawkes blush, but the moving platforms and abundance of confetti add to the magnificence of it all. The setlist is slightly questionable – there’s no Strutter, yet a song from 2008’s Sonic Boom called Yeah Yeah Yeah – but outside of this all the hits are there from Deuce to Lick It Up, Love Gun to I Was Made For Lovin’ You. The encore sees a nice addition of huge 80’s hit Crazy Crazy Nights and a rousing Rock and Roll All Nite to round everything off as “KISS loves you Hellfest” appears on the screens. With the time now well past 1am, ARCHITECTS (9) are left to send everyone home with a bang and, for all that’s wrong with our dysfunctional island right now, when you watch a band from your home soil laying waste to European audiences with as much savagery and ferocity as the boys from Brighton do tonight, you can’t help but shed a tear of joy.
Words: Elliot Leaver & Abi Coulson
And that rounds off our coverage of the Saturday at this year’s Hellfest! Stay posted to Distorted Sound as we bring your our coverage of Sunday’s action soon! Check out what we though of Knotfest Meets Hellfest and Friday‘s action.