Netherlands Deathfest Left Tilburg in Ruins After Three Days of Death Metal

Haemorrhage - All photos by Niels Vinck

Netherlands fucking Deathfest. When the team behind North America's biggest annual metal party Maryland Death Fest, announced that they were planning to organize a meeting of extreme metal on European soil with the organizers of the Dutch Neurotic Deathfest, all eyes were on the lineup. Last weekend, the time was finally upon us. Three days, more than sixty bands, a lot of exclusive shows and bands playing on this side of the ocean for the first time—and not a single dull heavy metal band in the bunch.

Here's our day-by-day recap of all the madness and metal that went down at this debut edition of Netherlands Deathfest.

DAY 1

Ignoring the text messages from friends who wanted to meet up for a beer (at five euro apiece), I pushed my way into the interior of the small hall. Kraanium's set was a party, with lots of inflatable toys going through the crowd as their perfectly brutal death metal started the day. Two large beers and a joint with a lot of haze in it later, I'm all in my zone, watching Dropdead. The entire main stage is filled by their sound. The singer does a couple of speeches (as hardcore bands do), speaking out about how many innocent murders meat eaters cause every year. I stay for a bit, watching Doom and some songs from Keitzer, but i’m looking forward to the next band on the list too much to be overwhelmed by anything else.

Primitive Man

Time for another go-round with Primitive Man (their third visit to Tilburg in the past year). The throat of the ex-frontman of Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire rips the Patronaat (a small venue across the huge 013 hall) completely open, and what is still left is easily demolished by rest of the band. To finish, we are treated to a never previously played track from their last EP, Home Is Where The Hatred Is. Perfect.

I get to the recently renovated, no-longer-so-small 013 hall much too late, and Magrudergrind has already begun. While I was pushing in, countless terrified fans were trying to get out. The moshpit at this gig devours everything in its path—it's no wonder that the hall was being voluntarily evacuated. The band's new album destroys, but live is still better.

What really stood out between shows was seeing how few young people were walking around. Ten years ago, when I started going to to concerts for the first time, full of pimples and the buring fear of being called a poser, I was far from the only youngster there. Where did all the kids go? This music is getting more interesting every day, but the young flock that will eventually take over is nowhere in sight.

Autopsy

I was in the (way too empty) main hall as I noticed this, waiting for the headliner of the evening—the half-man, half-machine Agoraphobic Nosebleed. This is the first time since 1994 that the band is on European soil. Joined by new singer Kat, the band recently made a full-length full of cave-dwelling, raw as fuck doom—but right now, there was no time for Arc. We were given three quarters of an hour filled with perfectly orthodox grindcore, nothing more. Unfortunately, the drum machine wasnt always that convincing, and the unfilled room stayed too quiet. The enthusiasm of the band certainly was not at fault here, though, and to see Kat devour the stage like she does was very impressive.

The absolutely legendary grinders in Infest and Cripple Bastards lit the 013 on fire with all the skill in the world. The last band of the first day was Undergang, and they sobered me up just enough—a slurry of dirty old school death echoed through the poor Patronaat, and my even poorer head.

Infest

DAY 2

Let's say that I didn't go straight to bed, and let's say that the Tilburg - Antwerp connection is actually quite a long drive. Let's also say that UK death metal upstarts Cruciamentum are really not to be missed. The audience was quite dull—there are a few survivors present, whose livers were rapidly realizing what they were about to get into, and not feeling too good about it. There were some heads banging back and forth, and some enthusiastic newcomers venturing into the pit. The band itself cracked into one glorious track after another, fluidly blending material off Charnal Passages with older tunes. It was really fucking good; time for another tour with Dead Congregation, if you ask me. At Angelcorpse, I enjoyed a wild show; the sound was a tad disappointing, but all alone on the huge steps of the main stage, the band really shone. Afterwards, they got massive applause, and rightly so. Afterwards, I looked for a bar to lean on during Flesh Parade and Haemorrhage while they raged hard. Haemorrhage always remains the same, and that's a good thing—about ten years ago, the singer could be found on stage with all kinds of props like little jars with dead embryos in it, and, well, nothing's changed there.

Wormed

Then it's finally time for Piggy D, but just like we saw during Agoraphobic Nosebleed's set, the venue was far too big for a band like this. Pig Destroyer cleaned every existing crumb in the venue nicely with an oeuvre including stuff off Prowler in the Yard, Phantom Limb and Book Burner. Scott Hull was on stage yesterday for his other brainchild, but there is simply something Pig Destoyer does that only they can do. This was perhaps the best show of the festival. You either hate it or you love it, but their mix of grind and death metal is played with so much skill that anyone should be able to appreciate it.

Personally, I was looking forward to Aosoth enormously. The Frenchmen recently dropped a brilliant split with Order of Orias and allegedly played a very good show at Netherlands Deathfest—I say "allegedly" because they switched places on the timetable with Ofermod without this being clearly communicated to the public. Anyhow, Ofermod played an absolutely stunning set, so that was a lucky hit after all. If you missed Aosoth too, you may soon rejoice, because they’re coming back to Arnhem soon.

Revenge If you manage to get noticed in this very extreme lineup because the music you make is so extreme, that's quite impressive. Revenge took the challenge very seriously. The only downside to their performance was that the sound in the room was lacking. A raw band like Revenge really needs to be able to play quite a bit harder; their set may have been really good, but to no real avail.

Both ancient rulers Blasphemy and Spanish gore pioneers Wormed were really good, but that's about all I remember. The moshpit was merciless, though, and the night came to an end with a seriously frightening, strangem and glorious set from Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult. The lead guitar and vocals were provided by Yvonne Wilczynska, a robed Polish wraith who likes to drink blood while releasing her terrorizing black metal upon an unsuspecting crowd. Even when her mic sound dipped in and out, this band just kept on grinding the venue to shreds.

Blasphemy DAY 3

My hangover avenged itself as a poltergeist and left me again with no other option than just to continue drinking… a lot. Two Triple Carmelites (Belgian beers with an alcohol percentage of 9 percent) in the sunshine on the terrace later, and I was ready for Gadget and Squash Bowels. Gadget instantly catapulted themselves to being one of the best acts of the festival, playing breakneck grindcore with the same casual efficiency as a drunk scarfing a kebab. Their new full-length album The Great Destroyer is coming out soon, and I can assure you that everything on it kills. Squash Bowels had little trouble keeping the fans warm with a killer set that was only narrowly inferior to Gadget's.

Gadget

And then it happened - not everyone was ready, not everyone saw it coming, but the Japanese lads in Coffins shut the 013 venue down once and for all with arguably the best set of the whole weekend. How the hell do they play such rough death metal with so much groove? Their set consisted of a perfect combination of old and newer material; I would have killed to be able to experience it again. Practically the entire mainstage agreed fully, which was confirmed by a deafening applause.

I also peeked in at Demlich, Funebrarum, Asphyx, Entrails, and very briefly, Autopsy, which made for a perfect ending to a festival that brought three days of unprecedented quality for a ridiculously low price, and extreme level of professionalism that other organizations can only dream of. When the press release dropped in my inbox yesterday, telling that there is already a second edition ready for 2017, a large, sinister grin grew on my face and a heavy sense of satisfaction came over me. This is not the end, this is only a temporary farewell.

See you next year!