KIT X: The review + pictures

ION BRITTON · Post by **ION BRITTON** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:50 pm

Yeah, it was indeed an amazing festival! Great bands, lots of records, new acquaintances, fully-patched dirty metal jackets etc etc.

HELSTAR were definitely the best as far as i am concerned. They played the whole Remnants of War album which is and will remain a top-10 fave US metal LP for me until the end of time. Couldn't believe i was listening to "Destroyer" at the gig! Eternal HAIL!

Second best were JAG PANZER with the brilliant combination of The Tyrant and Bob Parduba, who still keeps his voice at non-mortal levels! Best moments were "Chain of command", "Shadow Thief" (it really worked well on this one) and "The Crucifix". I missed "Ride thorugh the storm", but, hey, we can't be greedy. They played almost 2 and a half hours goddammit!

TITAN FORCE were absolutely great as well. Unbelievable playlist and an outstanding perfomance by all the members, this gig was simply a dream of mine that finally came true!

OMEN were fine, the new singer fits a lot more with their material and i definitely prefer him to K.Goocher. Their playlist was full of the classic hymns. The bad thing was that Powell's perfomance on the guitar was very average. I mean, i didn't hear a single riff played exactly the way it is on the albums. Some really enjoyed it even in this way, however i expected a better and more "sober" performance. And i do believe also that they need a second guitarist on stage.

MANILLA ROAD were excellent and Hellroadie sounded better than any other time i've seen him. Absolute highlight: the closing "Avatar" which is one my favourite MR songs, a very big surprise!

Disappointed by HEATHEN not because of their perfomance but mainly because of the selection of songs. Only two tracks from "Breaking the silence"? Why, why, why?

SENTINEL BEAST were far better than i expected them, Debbie's voice is still bloody great, though she's probably gained about 30 pounds since the release of "Depths of death". Dan would still fuck her out of sheer principle, i probably wouldn't

For the end, my metallic salutations to all the great people i've met there: Dan (A Cardiacs and a more thorough non-metallic discussion next time dude!), Andreas, Tomas, The Sentinel , Humus, Levi, nabel and everyone else i've met, but i can't recall until my headache stops. Hope to see you all again on KIT XII!

The Sentinel · Post by **The Sentinel** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:16 pm

You guys summed it up already. Omen was great, hearing Axeman drove me insane. Next KIT lineup is tasty as well (april 2009). I really enjoyed Attacker as well. I worship their first album. I still have a fucking headache

Nicko McBuff · Post by **Nicko McBuff** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:52 pm

Can someone please advise me as to what the hell these Distelhauser brewary chips are for and why cant I use them in this stupid expensive coin operated internet machine at the jugendherberge in Wurzbug!

Good memories-

All the cool people I met from the boards!

Having the Bad-Mergentheim police drive me around the village looking for my Guesthouse for 30 minutes, nice lads willing to help, much appreciated... they had nothing else to do.

I will especially remember these great people... I-ron Andy and co, who befriended me straight away, gave me a beer right away!, as I went to look at the campsite next to the hall on the 3rd (i wasnt too keen on camping) and then organised a place for me to stay and took me there to set up and to the party at oberbalach. And then the spanish metalheads who drove me to and from Bad Mergentheim each day and hanged out with me. Awesome, I met some great people in Germany, and Ill never forget their generousity. thankyou

tomas · Post by **tomas** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:21 pm

The moment you've all been waiting for........

PICTURES!!!!!!

drunken mosh mayhem

coolest patch ever!

Andreas, me and The Tyrant

Mark from Manilla Road

Ion Britton and Andreas

Smelliest jacket at KIT

More pics tomorrow!

humus · Post by **humus** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:48 pm

Alright, a bit more extensive this time.

We arrived around 1AM thursday night and parked our car on the nearly abandonned parking lot. Too bad for us we managed to set up our tent next to the biggest snorrer in human history. Luckily we had some nice Finnish neighbours (4 Finns with luggage in a one-person-tent).
First band on friday was Strikemaster. Have to say I was rather dissapointed, as well as with Merciless death's performance. Not a good sound, too low on guitars and only one guitarist which made their music sound too thin. Sentinel beast was better, I was expecting the worst with such a young line-up and such an old Debby, but nothing of that. Underrated band. Only heard Attacker with half an ear cause I've seen them a few times before, they have some good tracks but not really my favourite band. Than Omen and Helstar, enjoyed those shows aswell, although for some strange reason I can't remember a lot of it anymore. And it was before I started drinking. Tytan force was too proggy for my taste, some nice tunes but lots of songs I didn't like. Small party on the camping ground that night, thanks to the Finns and the Germans with their hard liquor.
Saturday I awoke just in time to see Fueled by fire. What a show! Great live band, great crowd reaction. Demon eyes was ok, minus the matrix look. I think French language really fits heavy metal, though ofcourse this band is not as good as say Blaspheme. Than missed a whole lot of bands 'till the end of Doomsword's set, which I found to be boring. Heathen performed well, but indead not enough songs from Breaking the silence. Manilla road, never saw them and heared lots of good things about them and indeed, a very good liveband. The setlist could have been a wee better but ok. I thought Jag panzer would be a bit of a letdown because I only really like Ample destruction, but they managed to convince me. Only, two hours is way too long for any band so I called it quits after one hour.

Saw some good music, bought some good records but especially, had a very good time with all those guys that visited the festival. Not only the guys from this forum here (although ofcourse they do deserve a mention! Just too bad I did not meet Nicko, Sovdat and didn't really speak with Ion) but almost everybody there, what a great metal atmosphere. Except for the German camped next to me playing Tokyo hotel for half an hour because he truelly liked them. Matched great with his Obituary backpatch.

Anyway, if you ever have the possibility to visit this festival just do it. See you all next year!

Edit: on a sidenote, I saw Omen and Sentinel beast again tonight. This time they didn't play for 2000 people but for 30 people. Specially the singer of Omen should be mentioned, because he really managed to get the crowd going without being annoying. You know how some singers can get on your nerves because they try too hard, well this guys has found the golden road between apathic and trying-too-hard stage performances. I'll see Fueled by fire again wednesday, hope their show will be as good as this weekend, and I'll see strikemaster again next week, hope their show will be better in a small venue.

MEXDefenderOfSteel · Post by **MEXDefenderOfSteel** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:21 pm

too bad for Strike...anyone else saw them?...what about Pharao?....i have to go again next year for sure! its been 2 years since the last time i went, and i thought i was going to be there this past weekend, but shit happens....

sovdat · Post by **sovdat** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:06 am

Went there to see Heathen and they didn't dissapoint - too bad that they only had 1 hour to play, I'd love to see at least Goblin's Blade and Timeless Cell of Prophecy!

About the rest - missed Helstar & Titan Force

Jag Panzer were great, although I have to admit that I wasn't watching til the end of their show. Manilla Road - OK, but I was expecting a little more "epic" show. Omen & Attacker - solid, but nothing spectacular. Merciless Death, Strikemaster & Fueled by Fire - just as bad as they did on albums. Sentinel Beast were very enjoyable, although Debbie really seemed too fat

I wasn't really paying attention to all the new bands like Crescent Shield, Pharoh etc., I'm only sorry for Metal Inquisition since I really enjoyed their WOA 2006 show.

Metal market was a slight dissapointment for me, not many rare thrash CDs for coold prices

But I still managed to find one of my top wants - Evil Invaders on price killers (from the same seller that had it at WOA 2007 metal market), and I even hold original Armed and Dangerous MLP in my hands for the very first time - the price was 400 EUR

Unfortunately I forgot when the Corroseum meetings were, so I met only Dan (btw, I got your PM when I got back from KIT unfortunately ..) - next year perhaps?? At least for me the best line-up so far - Exumer, Abattoir, Militia + more

Any rumours about 2 headliners?

nabel · Post by **nabel** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:09 am

My KIT in a nutshell:

Arrived during Merciless Death, it was okay but I was in hurry to get some vinyls. Sentinel Beast was good, but something was missing. Maybe because I'm no too familiar with their music. And the guitarist with Stone shirt and a tattoo was something strange to happen outside Finland...
Last bands of the evening were in great shape, Attacker, Omen, Helstar and Titan Force. I was basicly blown away by Conklins vocals (the way he can do it also in live situation).
Luckily some swedes gave their taxi to us, as my knee (got it dislocated quite badly after Overkill gig few weeks ago in Estonia) and Anthares back was also giving signals!

Saturday was as good. Not a bad performance from the bands I saw, best were perhaps Demon Eyes, Manilla Road, Jag Panzer (WARFARE). Doomsword was great when they did not play their earlier material, quite boring stuff. Pharaoh did not do the trick, nice melodies but something missing. Cage and Heathen were also ok.

Anyway, pics coming later and larger report also. Best solutions ever was to rent a car, there was no hurry to airport at sunday and we could drive to Frankfurt through small towns... Fuck off to our hotel, 50 euros extra because wine was spilled on carpet.

And Faust Pils is probably best beer I have ever had!

great_knuthulhu · Post by **great_knuthulhu** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:19 am

...and you are a great guy to talk to Nabel. Very nice to have met you - hope to see you again at a later KIT (or somewhere else). Also nice to meet Ion Britton (John? Jon?) and others. A pity I didn't get to talk to people like Sovdat, Humus and Tomas.

Dan; what was that thing I was going to do for you? I've totally forgotten, and I wasn't even drunk.

msp · Post by **msp** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:04 am

Travelling back to Wurzburg after the festival was a nightmare. No taxi or bus. Had to walk back along this cycle path back to Lauda after the concert in total darkness. Got soaking wet and then waited four hours at the train station in the cold for the first train back to Wurzburg.

It was good to meet a few people there: Dan, Levi, Nabel and a few others (Randon German guy with beer) under that gazeebo thing in where the cars were parked.

Hope to see you all again some day

Post by **DaN** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:13 am

great_knuthulhu wrote:Dan; what was that thing I was going to do for you? I've totally forgotten, and I wasn't even drunk.

Some research work when you find the time. PM sent.

Post by **DaN** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:14 am

msp wrote:(Randon German guy with beer)

Funny, I keep running into that guy on every festival I visit

ION BRITTON · Post by **ION BRITTON** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:51 am

great_knuthulhu wrote:Also nice to meet Ion Britton (John? Jon?) and others.

Nice meeting you too, great and big knuthulhu

John

great_knuthulhu · Post by **great_knuthulhu** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:30 am

ION BRITTON wrote:
great_knuthulhu wrote:Also nice to meet Ion Britton (John? Jon?) and others.
Nice meeting you too, great and big knuthulhu

John

In Norwegian, the words for great and big are the same one ("stor"), so it doesn't quite work right in English. Should probably change it to just "knuthulhu".

mordred · Post by **mordred** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:01 am

Was I the only one enjoying the hell out of the Doomsword show? I think they did the best gig of the festival next to Omen. The other highlight was Manilla Road of course, being a great fan as I am. I was so happy they did "Road of Kings". Jag Panzer was great, but I was so bloody tired by then. Hadn't they kicked so much ass I would probably have fallen asleep in my seat.