A Trilogy of Festivals – The Encore
After a few weeks break from festivals, it was time for the long awaited first encore. For the first time, I could concentrate on photos and editing only. I didn’t need to write the article myself afterwards because DerminBoad took care for it, made notes during the shows and put everything in nice, warm words afterwards. Enough words from my side wasted now, here is his article, enjoy and get a feeling for this great festival.
Party.San Open Air
For the 29th time nearly 10.000 fans of the more extreme metal genres gathered at the airport Obermehler near Schlotheim in Thuringia to enjoy – with only a handful of exceptions – mostly variants of Death, Black and Thrash Metal peacefully together while having fun and in-depth discussions about the bands. As you can find a more detailed description of the area in the articles from the last two years, this year’s focus will be more on the tight programme and the most important thing, the bands.
Wednesday, 6th August
Wednesday was the day of arrival. After arriving without any longer queues, it was time to set up the camp, make friendly contact with the neighbours, get your wrist band and get in the right mood for the days to come. Finally at 20:00 the gates to the tent stage and a small part of the infield opened and it was time for some fun at the infamous Metal Disco by HELLBORN Metal Radio and the Cuba Libre stall.
We used the time to ask some fans about their reasons for coming to P.S.O.A and their expectations for the upcoming days. People who had come here for a couple of years highly appreciate the size, the choice of bands and the local and family-like character of the festival. The short ways from the tent ground to the infield and especially that there are no unnecessary gimmicks like ferris wheels, make it special compared to some other bigger festivals. P.S.O.A is just about metal. Later we found some really nice, a bit older, first-timers who came here from France to enjoy metal, finding new bands and because they had been tipped off by friends. Another reason for them to come here was to find out if the festival was also fit for people with handicaps. We met them again a few days later and they told us that their expectations had been fully met by the management.
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Thursday, 7th August – Black Metal Rulez
Finally, at 14:00 the gates to the infield were opened, as it is tradition at P.S.O.A, with the shots of the two cannons flanking the main stage and half an hour later it was time for the actual start of the festival. There was a short statement by the host wishing everyone a lot of fun and confirming that actually everything just stayed the same, apart from the wider selection of bands playing this year’s festival and reminding everyone to stay hydrated in some way or the other.
And then German-Swedish ROTPIT got the party(san) started with their old school Swedish Death Metal. It didn’t take them long to get the audience banging their heads to songs whose texts all somehow amazingly included the word “rot”. They passed on the stage to Belarusian EXTERMINATION DISMEMBERMENT with their brutal Slam Death who got the first Wall of Death of the festival while SERVANT opened the tent stage for the day with corpse-paint and a melodic alternative for the Black Metal fans around, being the first of seven AOP Records label bands. …AND OCEANS were the next gig on the main stage playing a mixture of high-quality Symphonic and Black Metal. You could hear their long year experience. This Black Metal block was continued by Brasilian OUTLAW on the tent stage.
Black Metal fans really could have their share that afternoon because THE SPIRIT entered the main stage presenting their Blackened Death Metal. A trend which was continued by Austrian THEOTOXIN on the tent stage with maybe some more Death Metal elements. While FIRTAN on the tent stage kept the Black Metal fraction of the audience in their grasp with their atmospheric Black Metal, the main stage offered an alternative with the unique sound of DOOL. Clear Vocals and slow melodic parts gave the audience some kind of rest. Then it was time for the first Heavy Metal band of the festival. Swedish GRAND MAGUS entered the main stage after 11 years of absence.
In the tent the Austrian Harakiri for the Sky singer Michael J.J. Kogler had his first appearance with his side project KARG playing Post Black Metal with many different influences from all kinds of subgenres. We would see him again later. The main stage offered another unique experience with the Italian FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE who definitely stood out with their mixture of Death Metal and opera. Back in the tent again CHAOS INVOCATION celebrated old school Black Metal. With HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY we welcomed back J.J. for his second show, but this time on the main stage with beautiful melodic parts pervading their Post Black Metal and great sound. Somewhat similar in style and also including great melodic parts AGRYPNIE conquered the tent stage as the headliner of the label night.
Now it was the time for the Grindcore legends NAPALM DEATH to take the main stage and get the crowd raging. Singer Barney seemed to have an infinite storage of energy, always on the move on the stage and using the breaks for in-depth criticism of today’s society. After a Dead Kennedy’s cover, they passed on the stage to Bay Area Thrashers DARK ANGEL who had their premiere at P.S.O.A. with the headliner slot. The death of their guitarist Jimmy Durkin in 2023 still seemed to weigh hard on them as singer Ron Rinehart dedicated several songs to his memory. And then the first day ended with the Metal Disco for those who still had some reserves and energy left over.