Neurotic Deathfest @ 013, Tilburg, Netherlands

\r\n I’ve been waiting for this festival for a long long time and the date kept looking distant. There are only a few times when so many beasts of the extreme sound march together in front of us mere mortals. So I took my ass to Tilbug, Netherlands to witness the massacre first hand. After a long, tiring journey I arrived to one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. I will not start talking about how ideal this place is because I’ll end this text in delirium. A magnificent place to visit if you’re looking for relaxation and some good weed. But let’s get started...
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\r\nI started trembling when I entered the building since this is my first time to the 013 venue. An amazingly structured venue that is housing 3 stages(1 main stage and 2 smaller ones) on which the bands are scheduled to perform their music. The time schedule is followed accurately to the last minute. The sound, lighting, airconditioning are at exceptionally high levels. These guys mean business! This experience has all the needed standards to become a successful event. So, the very first act to set the fire is LOGIC OF DENIAL. Hailing from Italy, the youngsters hit the small stage and with only one album under their belts their start their attack with death metal in the vein of Morbid Angel and Immolation. The throat-man is doing a good job, the drummer though needs some more practise hours in order to reach the desired level.
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\r\n A good appearance all in all, next thing is me, running to see INCANTATION kill it on the main stage. Tight performance, good sound and the old folkes in a mood for some old school cleansing. They played with passion, honouring their entire discography as well as the wristbands they were wearing. Fuckin’A! On the smaller stage, young act FLAYED DISCIPLE, one of the unsigned bands that had the privilige to play NDF gained a good amount of followers with their performance. A lunatic vocalist lead the death/thrash band into the massacre. Keep an eye on them. Nice fellas! Right after their show, I set off for the Midi stage, located in the building right across the street where AEON, currently on tour with Cerebral Bore, broke necks with their Deicide meets Cannibal Corpse atheistic death metal. Classic headbanging stage presense and a lot of fans supporting them, the Swedes destroyed the place with ease.
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\r\n Back to the main stage again where Spanich ubber brutal technical deathsters WORMED would fill in for Necrophagia due to a delayed flight. Fine by me since I prefer these guys a lot more. So, I see myself gathering pieces of what’s left of me after their pulverising appearance. These lunatics feel their music to the very last riff. Their vocalist is a nuthouse escapee for sure, his vocals are guttural to the bone! Massive sound too, one of the best shows of NDF in my opinion. Right next, on the small hall, the reformed CENTURIAN reek of evil and occult awesomemess. The band currently consists of members from Prostitute Disfigurement and Severe Torture. A guaranteed result if you ask me, the members’ experience led to an amazingly brutal performance. They played songs from the latest NOX mini cd as well as older(late 90’s) material from the Centurian discography. Cvlt!
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\r\n EXHUMED and gore go together. I’m not sure whether the brutallers have played in such a big stage before they certainly seemed to enjoy it though. They even hand picked songs from 7’’ releases for this show and the crowd went nuts, moshing to the last note. Bad ass apperance! Next, I chose to ignore the BLOOD RED THRONE show since MISERY INDEX is an undying love affair for me. Adam behind the drumkit is a granite monster and the songs work so well live. Panic is spread in the moshpit and despite this being the third time I get to see them on stage, I have to admit it’s the best one yet. Setlist is mainly based on their latest opus but treats like "Ruling Class Cancelled" were more than welcome. Flawless all the way. Onwards to some slamming brutality with KRAANIUM now. The Norwegians know how to do business, so slammers filled the dancefloor with blood and innards. The sound was clear enough to crack skulls too. Slam is entitled to a bright future.
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\r\n Unfortunately ATHEIST didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Death metal is not a suitable label for them in my opinion. I think they’d fit into a prog-fest’s billing much better. Kelly Shaefer’s voice is anything but strong. So, after 3 songs I got bored and I went to the smaller stage to get a front raw seat for Italian brutal deathsters SEPTYCAL GORGE. Tight as concrete, technical "where it should be" and groovy "where it should be" extremete corpse praising metal that leaves no space for doubts. Orgasm to the ears!
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\r\n Some minor changes to the schedule bring CEREBRAL BORE on the stage next. The Scotish guys and gall have done quite some noise lately and lots of stuff are heard around their name. Freshly signed with Earache Records, having done some death metal fests as well as a tour with Devourment C.B. proved thier value on stage. Som’s vocals are extremely good, the bassist is a torturer and to put it simply: a great deal of the future of BDM is here. Those of you who haven’t listened to their stuff yet give them a chance.
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\r\n Times flies and so do I towards the main stage to catch the leaders of the so called melodic death metal. AT THE GATES had given a "last show" in Athens 2 years ago but fortunately they did not keep their promise. Kickin’ in with "Blinded by Fear" the Bjorler bros and co showed us their teeth fromt the very begining. Classic like Swarm, Terminal Spirit Disease and all the known songs were delivered to the extatic crowd that kept singing along with Tompa. A great show once more! I was getting so damn tired but BEHEADED was the last act of the day, so I had to do myself a favour and go see one of the most underrated bands out there. These guys know how to play like machines, with an amazing vocalist, leading the crowd to frenzied pits. A strong show from a band with class and talent. Eagerly awaiting their new album later this year.
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\r\n The end of the first day finds me dead tired but also happy for all those bands I had seen during these last hours. And to think I had also missed so many too..on the second day, I was prepared for another mayhem of deadly music so I run to catch VULVECTOMY. A cult band, giving ultra guttural slamming death metal to the masses with painfully executed artistry. The drums where programmed but nobody had a problem with that! Quite an interesting selection for this year’s NDF. Germans OBSCURA hit the mainstage afterwards and showed the world how it’s done. Technical death metal with a ritch sound and intriguing tunes. The "hit" Anticosmic Overload gave away tears of joy to the fans while the new album gains a different weight when played live.
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\r\n One of my favourite disgusting metal bands is next: PROSTITUTE DISFIGUREMENT! Splattered remains everywhere! Accurate playing, sick vocalist Niels gone apeshit delivering songs from their entire disco. "She’s Not Coming Home Tonight", "In Sanity Concealed", "Left In Grisly Fashion" and the beloved "Freaking On The Muitilated" and more made my ugly face smile like a bitch! Loved them! Right after the Midi stage massacre ended I rushed to the main stage to catch DECAPITATED only to be bummed by the sight of a vocalist, one guitarist and a drummer. I had no idea they would come out as a 3 piece. The sight, let alone the sound, was peculiar, the least to say. I guess something came up and they didn’t want o cancel the gig. Fans didn’t seem to mind though. To each his own I guess...
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\r\n Moving on the the smaller stage I see BENEATH THE MASSACRE demolish the universe and its surroundings. Truth is, I get easily bored when I listen to their stuff at home but when played lived, the whole thing gets another perspective. For real, these guys destroy! The bassist is a god, playing his socks and making stupid faces while at it, loved his stage presence! The throat of BTM is a beast too, a mountain of muscles and one of the best screamers out there. Another plus was the powerful sound, especially terrifying during the breakdowns. Jeez! Neeext: PATHOLOGY. These dudes were by far the most brutal act to hit the stage of NDF 2011. The new frontman is Jonathan(former I Declare War) and he is by far the deepest guttural throat I’ve ever listened to. Brutal slammable death metal that will melt your face! On the other side, veterans MACABRE set up a cool show full of serial killer visuals(they even had a guy dressed as Albert Fish on stage!) and killer music. Redneck butchery, cult!
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\r\n HATE ETERNAL is up next and I really got confused... Having your drummer on a constant high speed bpm doublepass and blastbeats after blastbeats can get quite tiresome. Erik Rutan surely knows what he’s doing but I think Hate Eternal’s music is a tough sport to handle when on stage. Still, when hymns of brutality like King of All Kings were heard the pit was ignited instantly. I didn’t enjoy it that much though...The cancelation of SARCOLYTIC and the fact the room was crammed to the ceiling when BIRDFLESH was playing made me hit the main stage again to see OBITUARY. A value like no other in the extreme metal spectrum for way over 20 years they treated us with anthems like "Dying", "Threatening Skies", "The End Complete" and brought smiles to our faces. Terry Butler(ex-Death, ex-Six Feet Under) does a great job as a new member and Tardy’s voice is as scary as hell after all these years.
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\r\n Let’s keep it old school. GRAVE is up next to the midi stage. Experienced as they are, the honoured their entire discography and showed us how to dig a grave the swedish way. I didn’t stay that long though cause I had to re-live the shock WORMED gave me the other day. Yes, the played the second day too, and again: they killed! Time flies though and I went to see one of the main acts of whole fest. AUTOPSY. The whole place reeked of rotten carcasses while the band played tracks from Mental Funeral, Severed Survival and so on. The sound was amazing, band, crowd and death became one, an extraordinary show!
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\r\n So, only one band left to end this year’s celebration of extremity and that is no other than the french sickos BENIGHTED. The loonatics gave it a good blast, a large part of the crowd was french to my surprise so the air was electrified a million times. Slammers, stagedivers, bashed their skulls with "Slut", Grind Wit" and the freshly released " Let The Blood Spill Betweeb My Broken Teeth" which was dedicated to the vocalist’s dentist haha! The band’s drummer is a living ENGINE, the guy is fast as hell(you may also check him with brutal masters DISAVOWED), he must have been drinking tons of redbull all day. I cannot explain it any other way!
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\r\n Either way, the ending was simply put, ideal. At least to my ears. With such an excellently organised event I couldn’t be nagging about anything! Every band played their asses off to deliver the goods in the best venue I’ve ever been to. A big thanx goes out to D. Papanaoum(bree bro! for his valuable help with organising issues and passience. I truly hope I’ll be able to attend the fest in the years to come..\r\n