Murphy… The band that went on main stage at 1 p.m. sharp weren’t Dutch and definitely not VOLBEAT, but SUBCONCIOUS from Stuttgart. The four guys were lucky enough being asked to replace REGICIDE. Their style of music is somewhere between MESHUGGAH, DEATH and ATHEIST and far far away from REGICIDE and VOLBEAT, but the metal audience didn’t mind as SUBCONCIOUS blasted their music full throttle into everyone’s ears. Especially the bass player Rainer Humpers knew how to work his 6-string guitar, played their songs at best rate and surprised everybody at times, for example with his tappings in “Reflections”. Also, drummer Konrad Ponto didn’t restrain himself from playing his parts at his best: doublebass-kit with for hanging and two standtoms and around 32 cymbals. A very nice beginning for day number one.

Same as on the main stage happened on the pain stage. This band didn’t have anything to do with metalcore, thus nothing at all to do with FEAR MY THOUGHTS, cause FMT had to cancel their stage appearance at the SUMMER BREEZE on short notice. They are recording a new album and the singer’s voice got so strained that it disappeared for days on end…. The first impression of the wild bunch on stage was mostly new metal because of the into-the-ground tuned guitars and rhythm-riffing. But over the whole length of their performance the band seemed more multifarious than at the beginning and even rougher. This band, by all means had the longest way to travel to the SUMMER BREEZE, being that they had to travel all the way from Sydney, Australia. You can’t beat that! The massive voice was a surprise for a lot of the metal heads, then their songs were really sung by a woman, Michele Madden was a real live wire and stormed around on stage and almost reached at some points the standard of Chris Barnes – and with her dreads they even had a common hair style! With samples and triggered speed passages the songs were spiced up even more and the audience loved it.

The Danish have climbed up a few positions in the billing after the short recline of REGICIDE – which turned out to be much in need because just a few minutes before their performance it seemed like they’ll never get on stage on time. Because of an axle fracture on their van near Fulda the band was stuck somewhere on the autobahn and almost couldn’t be there at the festival. Hooking up the instruments, turning the controller to the right and finally blasting their first song “Caroline Leaving”. Luckily, because of the saved five minutes from changing from one band to another, the band was able to play at least five songs which the people in the moshpit freaked out on. The mixture of rock n’ roll, metal and the voice of Michael Poulsen is unrivaled. It is known that Elvis lives, but you wouldn’t have thought that you’ll find him in Denmark! The singer doesn’t have a Elvis Aaron Presley- tattoo on his arm only for fun and jokes. At the Danish-Dynamite- Tour with their fellow countrymen HATESPHERE and RAUNCHY (which already performed at an earlier SUMMER BREEZE) in autumn you’ll be able to see them again on German stages.

As UNDERTOW went on stage the area in front of the pain stage was filled with people. No wonder, after all UNDERTOW is from the area were the SUMMER BREEZE is taking place, so they’ll have a great fan base here anyway. The boys present their new album “Milgram” and bombed their songs, which’s style reminds you of modern metal, with breathtaking force. The audience was infected by their driving power of the band and a moshpit was founded quite fast. On stage the band’s impressive dynamic was brought forth even better than on CD. Whether sad doom passages as in “Homemade Funeral”, or fast playing up-speed blasting songs or cool grooves, the band always plays at their best and are so recognized. For a lot of people this was the highlight of the day.

Those who suspect that NEAERA are just some standard metalcore band, were taught different by the ultrabrutal death metal blast by the band from Münster. With unabated abrasiveness the instruments were torn and beaten by the band and brought forth a storm. At first, the fans felt a little awkward, but got used to the sound pretty quick and moshed to whatever it takes. Although the songs were technically challenging NEAERA, which by the way were named after a Greek mythological figure, were playing their set list with a lot of ambition, at least in the first half. Singer Benjamin Hilleke went right into the ring of audience and found some fans that knew the lyrics by heart. The setlist was mostly compound out of songs from their newest album “Let The Tempest Come”, but also some songs from their first CD. Both for extreme-fans and for metalcore fans, this performance was just the right thing to mosh to!

A real special feature was the performance of ANGEL BLAKE. It was the first on stage live performance by the Swedish after all. But you couldn’t even sense a hint of nervousness! The band is a solo project of ex- THE CROWN guitar player Marko Tervonen and are used to being real professionals. Besides him, Tony Jelencovich, ex-TRANSPORT LEAGUE and ex-MNEMIC singer also plays in the band. The band’s eye catcher is by far bassplayer Magnus Olsfelt with his contrabass. This instrument is just perfect for the rock sound and gave the listeners a vibration in their stomach. The rock sound itself is made up of a mix of traditional rock with a lot of metal and you can hear the band’s affection towards DANZIG. The singer has a lot of charisma and tries his best to drag the audience on his side. But the audience doesn’t really go with the flow. At their last song “The Forsaken” only a small crowd stayed to listen. Maybe the rest needed some coffee after this great amount of metal. But the performance by ANGEL BLAKE was great!

The perfect entrance in their set was the SLAYER-ish “Dark Intentions”, as it was just a little taste of what was to come. The band did not once take a break to introduce themselves, but played three songs in a row. The fans were already driven almost over the edge as frontman Peter Dolving, with a sweet mohawk, greeted everybody in front of the stage. Dolving is the archetype of a frontman. While the songs are played he transforms into a berserk und rushes over the stage like a psychopath, reminding of a young Phil Anselmo. Between songs, while announcing he seems to be a likeable guy with a good bit of humor. Best example for this is when he told the audience to think of the gayest dancing move to “The Hatesong”, which he is very good himself, or fussing around because he only sees black t-shirts in the audience. And with this group he knows how to pull the strings just right. Their musical talent shouldn’t be forgotten to be mentioned also, they know exactly how to get the party started. They only played their greatest smash hits from their last four albums, but didn’t even play one song from their newest album “The Dead Eye”. Nevertheless, their performance was the best and most energetic of all till now.

Not only since the prosperity of IN EXTREMO, which you could see at some other SUMMER BREEZE shows, is the medieval metal genre not on the fringes anymore. But SALTATIO MORTIS is the first band today to play this genre. And if you look at the massivly growing crowd the fans are anticipating this performance. An the stage itself was filled with the seven members of the band. The clothing, which you can’t find at the next mall, was a nice fit to their play of music. Men in skirts and medievel costumes, armed with flutes, hurdy-gurdies and shalms, but also with e-guitars and drums. The stage was flanked with two burning plates which blazed up to every song at the right time. The songs were mostly happy-go-lucky and invited to dance. Frontman “Alea the Humble” (this is what he is really called!) proved a lot of talent with how to treat his audience, was savored in courtesy and couldn’t get off stage on time because of this. The fans didn’t mind at all and blasted all the German songs at high volume. SALTATIO MORTIS was the afternoon-peak at the SUMMER BREEZE open air.

The Portuguese were a little agigated because the band beforehand played way too long and started to run around in circles and wanted to go on stage very badly. The stage itself showed a blood red sunset over a graveyard in the background. Besides that, the stage decoration had two huge put up-hinges with the band’s emblem which flanked the drum set. For the second time after 2001 the dark rockers are playing at the SUMMER BREEZE open air and really enjoyed the new lit attention with their “come back album” “Memorial”. The band had to fight their way through a thick wall of fog to finally arrive on stage. Their eyes were encircled with black eyeliner and singer Fernando wore a blood red coat – but the coat was kicked off by the singer after their first song “Finistera”. Fernando (wearing a simple-but-nice Mercyful Fate shirt) brought forth all the German vocabulary that he could master and tried his best to announce everything in German. He also should have received a medal for running around on stage all the time and using all the space on stage that he could. Old hits like “Opium” as well as songs of their album were greeted with open arms by the audience and so the band’s second visit will be held in good memory.

It took a long time, too long for most, until the first black metal band were next in line and so 1349 had an easy game to play. A band with just the right taste in black metal, with everything the fans needed, they’ve reached 100 points on the black metal checklist: high-contrast black make-up, black clothes, high boots, vocals somewhere between growls and nagging, groovy guitars, nail wristbands, bandoleers, tattoos without an end – everything checked. Without any first words, they blasted their songs, after some problems with the sounds and the guitars, for 45 minutes, with an extraordinary sound and performance. Especially drummer Tony Laureano (ex-NILE and MALEVOLENT CREATION), who joined the band instead of SATYRICON’s Frost, was the real reason for so many jaws dropping down and is now counted as the new reference of precision – forget Swiss watches! What this man played with only his right leg in some passages, some people aren’t even able to do with two legs…

To introduce the ludicrous Finnish right now would be like telling a German what sauerkraut is. This band is a well known guest at the SUMMER BREEZE and is the ideal band when it comes to having a great big party with the whole audience. Their almost-metal with a extra portion of saucy Finnish Humpa-parts is a very cool mix and so nobody can hold still. In 1349 this, too, was frenetic and thus FINNTROLL made a triumphal procession! But for some the singer was a big surprise. They only remembered a rather corpulent singer with the name Tapio Wilska and now, on stage, there is a rather skinny-dainty boy called Mathias Lillmans with the microphone in his hand. Against his outer appearance his voice wasn’t skinny at all, but just the opposite, remarkably strong and full of power – you could ask yourself where the hell that voice came from. From the far back of the stage you could think that a girl band was playing on stage, cause every member had a long skirt on and long hair banging to their music, oh what joy! Unquestioned highlight was their band anthem “Trollhammeren” of their album “Nattfodd” and the audience rocked as hard as the band itself and the only thing you could see were raised hands – as already mentioned, a triumphal precession.

This band divided the opinion of the audience – one part were desperately waiting for their appearance of this cult band, the other half thought that the were misplaces and uninteresting. The mixture of Prodigy-programming and Rammstein-riffing with a cuddly goth-blanket had its charm and alot of individual character. Most of it was built on the three vocals singing, which were more classic than modern and conjured up a wonderfull atmosphere. Singer Alexander Spreng a.k.a. Asp savored the show, was sputtering out a good mood, reminded of uncle Fester from the Addams Family and was even happier because of the early nightfall – or the fireworks to “ich will brennen” wouldn’t have made much sense. The show was underlined with a lot of pyrotechnical special effects and so this band was not only a treat for the ear but also for the eye.

With KREATOR a real god-like metal band goes on stage that embossed German metal and also the international Thrash metal scene. KREATOR is really honouring their position as a headliner and weren’t fooled. The stage decoration which they brought with them consisting of stairs, pedestrials and not to forget the impressive light and effect show were awesome. As well as the set list. Starting with some new songs as “Enemy Of God” and “Impossible Brutality” before classics like “Extreme Aggression” were pulled out of their hat. Frontman Mille proved once more that he is a friendly coeval that didn’t see himself as a star and saw himself more eye to eye with the fans. And he knew exactly which buttons he had to push. For example, before he played “Pleasure To Kill” he told them that this song shouldn’t be taken word by word and he was only joking – which was a side blow against the overprotective local church organisations. The assortment of songs were like a walk through all the albums of KREATOR and had songs from the ep “Flag Of Hate” like “Awakening Of The Gods”, only “Renewal” was sadly forgotten. After 20 years of being in the metal business KREATOR never lost any of their metal driving charisma nor any of their penetrating power nor any of their ability to enrapture. Even after their final medley “Flag Of Hate” and “Tormentor” at which end the stage was enclosed in fog, the fans screamed for more, but regrettably didn’t get any. But the show was filmed for an upcoming DVD, there you can get some more if you didn’t have enough.

Not only a huge part of the audience yearned for another performance from the Swedish, but for the band itself the SUMMER BREEZE open air has a special status. Some band members have written on their homepage that the breeze festival is their favourite one. The conditions were ideal and the eye of the beholder was captivated by the stage background’s backdrop with the album design by Travis Smith and the first thing you could hear was the unobtrusive organ and strings to absorbing light. The band went on stage while the intro played, stood with their backs to the audience, meanwhile the drummer went behind his drum set. Unlike some other bands they didn’t wear any fancy clothes for their performance and so they wore plain clothes and even singer Jonas Renske’s performance was more introvertet and simple. Mostly, he held on to the microphone while his face was hidden behind his hair. The show’s opener was “Leaders” from the newest album “The Great Cold Distance”, followed by “Wealth” from their last album “Viva Emptiness”. Generally, it is surprising that the band’s set list consisted mostly of old songs instead of concentrating on some new songs, but the fans loved it. The first single of the album was cut short because sadly, the band only had 50 minutes on stage, songs like “My Twin”, “Teargas”, “For My Demons”, “Sweet Nurse” and “Tonight’s music” should have been in a regular headliner show, and not even one song was played from “Last Fair Deal Gone Down”. If it works out well, after KATATONIA and MOONSPELL will have finished their US-tour, maybe they will tour through Europe as a headliner, keep your fingers crossed…