Quick translation of a review I wrote elsewhere:
One of the toughest festivals I've had to endure so far, and not only in a good way. I was coming down with a cold already on Friday morning, tried to make it go away with booze, but to no avail. Unfortunately, the infection removed all my abilities to keep warm in the cold weather, and the wind, rain and the fact that this was the coldest recorded start of June in Sweden in 84 years didn't make things better. So, now I have a high fever, trying to figure out what really happened at Muskelrock 2012...
Thursday
High Spirits - Never listened much to this band before, and in retrospect I don't understand why. Felt more like they were from early 80's era England rather than being a contemporary US band. Really good and energetic performance, I'm sure these guys will improve even more with a few more shows under their belt.
Antichrist - Sounded so much like early Destruction it almost felt wrong they didn't include "Beastial Invasion" in their set. Too bad the stage banter was uninspired to say the least.
Friday
Grim Reaper - or rather Steve Grimmet + friends. He's still got the voice, that's for sure, otherwise an ok show but nothing exceptional.
M-pire of Evil - Tony Dolan really made his nickname "Demolition Man" justice, being unstoppable on stage! Apart from a few technical problems (possibly due to the pouring rain), this was actually better than the Cronos version of Venom.
Hell - incredibly tight, well rehearsed, theatrical - a killer show, by far the best of all the bands at the festival. No other band has felt more like a single unit rather than separate musicians doing their own thing on stage. I want to see them perform again and again and again.
If you ever get the chance, take it!
Raven - last time I saw these guys play (at HoA 2010) the show was riddled with "technical problems", mostly due to the band members screwing things up. I was going to give them another chance, but after the guitar fell silent 3 times during the first song and one amplifier blew up during the third, I chose to go back to my tent instead for an early night to try and cure the cold. And of course, the rest of the show went fine from there. I hope to see Joey Hasselvander in any other of his bands rather than with these guys once more. He seems to be far too professional to have to put up with all these glitches caused by the Gallaghers...
Saturday
Sienna Root - awesome heavy 70's psych just the way it should sound, complete with organ and sitar, a welcome contrast to the bass/guitar/drums combos the festival had to offer.
Picture - better than last time I saw them. Good solid heavy metal with a slight tendency to boogie things up a bit too much.
Pokolgèp - amazing. The sound was great (even if it went out at one point) and the Hungarians tried their best to make themselves understood, much thanks to the young drummer, who was probably the only one in the band to learn English at school. To hear the audience sing along during the choruses in a language they had absolutely no knowledge about was both comical and spot on at the same time.
Enforcer - when I saw these guys a few years ago, their performance wasn't that tight and they still felt like a garage band, but constant touring has made its mark, they were much more competent as a live band this time. Great show, and a big thanks to the Savage cover (Let It Loose), a choice warming my old nwobhm heart.
By this time I had pain in all my muscles, I was shaking and shivering, my throat was sore and my nose congested, but the most important moment was left -
Manilla Road. After seeing them perform over 90 minutes last time (I didn't have the luxury of catching them playing 2.5 hours at the Hammer of Doom festival), a 60 minute set seemed way too short for a band of this caliber. Apart from the classics from Crystal Logic and Open The Gates and the monumental "Breathren of the Hammer" from their latest album, there was no room to showcase their extensive discography, which is very unfortunate. Still, this is one of my top three bands ever, so naturally it was a fantastic experience anyway. Manilla Road played less than a 1.5 hour train ride from where I live!
I wanted nothing rather than to see the final band at the festival -
The Devils Blood, but at this point I had reached the end of my rope. The cold, plus a chili I had previously eaten that wasn't quite kosher literally forced me in bed (or rather, in my sleeping bag). And for the past two days I've felt like I spent 10 rounds in the ring with a pissed off Mike Tyson.
Hats off to all the nice people I met! Warepire told me I post too little, I hope this little text makes up for it.
