Party.San Friday

Friday

Friday starts slightly earlier, as already mentioned. Nevertheless, there is still enough time for a proper shower and breakfast until we get ready for the funny gig of the first band on the Main Stage at exactly high noon, after paying the traditional visit to The Seven Lords, of course.

It is a tradition to wear funny clothes and costumes in the audience. You can see unicorns and dinosaurs in a mosh pit when Danish GUTTURAL SLUG take the stage. Deep growls and massive groove riffs dominate this Slam act.

We continue on the Main Stage with A CANOROUS QUINTET from Sweden and some Melodic Death Metal. As with many others, it is the band’s first time at Party.San, even though they were first founded in 1991 and reformed again in 2016. It was about time for them.

Let’s get WORMED by another new band at Party.San. We cross Europe from north to south to find their origin in Spain. Getting WORMED means no compromises and plenty of technical skill, resulting in some of the finest Tech Death Metal. Indeed, some very heavy stuff at the early hour of 13:45.

It becomes more light-hearted when SORCERER take over. By the way, we go back to Scandinavia, more precisely Finland. They present their Epic Doom Metal for the first time at Party.San. At a different, mainstream metal festival, they would be the extreme edge; here, they are one of the softer bands, which certainly is no failure but a home in both worlds.

The Tent Stage is meanwhile ready for the first band on Friday, and NAIL BY NAIL we push ourselves through the set of this German Black Metal band, which premieres at Party.San as well as today’s previous bands.

While we only cross the infield, JUNGLE ROT have crossed a whole Atlantic Ocean, and these US-Americans are the first band today which have already performed at Party.San, in 2019. Finest American Death Metal rules, and they can indeed be called Friday’s first little highlight with their precise playing and show at teatime.

Back to the Tent Stage, I find myself surrounded by some Austrians. They must be the fan club of ENDONOMOS, and now it becomes dark, very dark, with atmospheric Death-Doom, well-thought-out melodies and lyrics – if you can understand them.

When Panzerfaust had to cancel their whole summer tour, Party.San was lucky enough to get their label-friends AFSKY from Denmark offered instead. They are more than just a substitute, but on the same level, even if their genre might be slightly different. Thus, their Black Metal not only convinces but rules the Main Stage for the next 45 minutes.

Between two Main Stage slots, I have to CRAWL not to Sweden but to the Tent Stage again. Their intense Death Metal experience awaits us for the first time at Party.San, and what should I say? You get what you paid for: straight, powerful and merciless.

They got us in the right mood for the Main Stage’s next act, right from the town of the US’s most famous military cemetery, Arlington. Please welcome DECEASED, once again a first time at Party.San. 42 years of existence and never played Party.San? I didn’t believe it, but it’s true. The band fits in perfectly with brilliant Death Thrash and no compromises.

We remain in North America but change to the Tent Stage and Canada when DEATH WORSHIP take control with a genre called War Metal – whatever it means. But it is raw, infernal, apocalyptic and chaotic. Well, we didn’t ask for anything else.

Finding a moment for some quick lunch or dinner is not easy with this tight schedule, but after a delicious vegan Afghan mixed plate, it is time for US-American WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM and Atmospheric Black Metal. Somehow, I always had the dire wolves and Game of Thrones in my mind. The epic song structures do their part, and I certainly have to rewatch all seasons again after Party.San, which they play for the first, hopefully not the last, time.

Do you know Sirtaki? Yes, you do. Do you know Costa Cordalis? Maybe you do, but hopefully not. Do you know Gyros? For sure you know. Do you know LUCIFER’S CHILD? If you didn’t know them before, you certainly do now: this fourth Greek export is playing on the Tent Stage now. Mystic and raw Black Metal is the case now, and as with so many other bands, it is LUCIFER’S CHILD’s first time at Party.San.

The Main Stage remains in US-American hands when it is time for SACRED REICH and its veterans of old-school Thrash Metal since 1985. They never learned to make compromises, and the attitude is clear and obvious: no rest for the wicked, barely time to take a breath before you’re hit right between the eyes again by another stroke of this unbreakable force.

Sadly, the stage is very misty when Dutch ASAGRAUM perform some of the most brutal Black Metal at its finest. The ladies in corpse paint celebrate their set as only a few bands do. It is more like an unholy service or ritual than a simple concert, and it convinces the large audience in front of the Tent Stage.

We move a little bit to the west and south of Europe when we are ready for French ALCEST on the Main Stage. The sky is already becoming darker and creates the right background for their melancholic Post-Black Metal with a Shoegaze live presence. The sound and its intensity let you drift away into other spheres until all hell breaks loose.

And this hell breaks loose when FLESHCRAWL from Germany perform on the Tent Stage as the last band today. Old-school Death Metal rules; powerful riffs and precise blast beats dominate, supported by brutal guttural vocals. As expected, they make us hungry for more.

It is the duty of tonight’s two headliners to feed this appetite for destruction. Be assured, Finnish DARK FUNERAL fulfil it with absolute ease. Their demonic Black Metal electrifies the masses of Party.San on the Main Stage as if it is Doomsday today and there is no tomorrow.

But there is a tonight, and it belongs to, surprise, surprise, AMORPHIS for the first time at Party.San. After their relatively soft – at least very different – latest release, Borderland, I was not quite sure how the Finnish band would be accepted by the usual very critical Party.San audience. I’ve never been that wrong about my fears. AMORPHIS are a completely different band on this album and on stage, like a cuddling cat and a wild Siberian tiger. To say so, it was “like always” in the most positive meaning of this phrase; the audience got exactly what it needed to finish Friday night before going to bed or the Metal Disco.

Well, bed for me, because it became quite cold as soon as the sun went down, and Saturday will become even more exhausting with its inglorious Frühschoppen on the Tent Stage.