3 juli 2010
Nijmegen

By Roel Damhuis

Fortunate enough Metal-Exposure had the chance to go to the second Fortarock festival. Last year’s edition was according to this site a reasonable success with acts like Satyricon, Moonspell and Death Angel. The reasonably heterogenic festival was few bucks more expensive this year with a price of 50 euro’s but still cheap compared to other festivals in the Netherlands (the few remaining).
The festival started with the Dutch band Textures. Due to some big lines at the entrance we didn’t have the chance to see more than one whole song of this band. It sounded like a good opener and especially Tessa was disappointed in missing them. The band was energetic and the clean vocals were good. Even though a big group was still waiting at the gates the band had a reasonable crowd. Maybe the festival could open their doors sooner next year?
The next band in line was Ex Deo. The Roman invaders (wearing legion outfits) did a reasonable job but did not succeed in convincing me. They still get lost in their own epicness. Having long songs with the same structure throughout the performance. This made the show really predictable, the lack of a keyboardplayer supported this as the whole show was following a tape. After a few songs (didn’t count them and was unsure when one ended and the other started) on a hot field (was about 30˚ Celsius) I left.

During the remaining songs I went to explore the terrain. The set up this year was a little bit different compared to last year’s festival. This year the two stages stood on separate fields making the flow of the crowd better and leaving some nice and cool shadowy places to sit in. Most parts of the day these shadow spots were put to good use. As Fortarock is a metal festival the Metal Market could not be missed. For a one-day festival the size of Fortarock, the market was quite big which is, of course, a good thing.

After a little roaming around and greeting some friends it was time for Hail of Bullets. The Dutch death metal band surprised me and put on a good show. After only one song this band was clearly surpassing Ex Deo. In between songs there was some humor and during the songs they just made it hard and heavy. They now have a new fan in me. I will have get the cd to listen to more than just myspace songs.

After my first surprise it was time for Decapitated. Decapitated is a band that is respected by a lot of people but just does not interest me. I went to sit beneath the trees to take a look at them from a big distance. As far as I can say they played a reasonable set and the audience that did stand in the scorching heat had a good time.
An example of the heat is that during Decapitated the normal bottles of water ran out (they were later resupplied).

Next up was Watain. This was one of the reasons I ended up on this festival and boy did they treat me bad. Watain completely lacked the ferocity they normally bring. This could have been because the sound was terrible (vocals way louder than rest), the show was mediocre and the music was off beat at moments (especially the drumming sucked). I did not watch the whole show but did catch a new song from the upcoming album called: Lawless Darkness. The song had the same kind of vibe as ‘Sworn to the Dark’ and so I will have to listen to the album.

After Watain it was time for Baroness. These progressive Sludge rockers definitely know what music is and have some great guitar playing on stage. Vocal wise I think it is not that impressive but the style fits the guitars and the strong riffs. I strongly recommend this band to people loving dark and slower songs with some cool solos.
Being a lover of the black metal arts the next band caught my eye. It was Behemoth. This Polish band known for their combination of death and black metal could be sensational. As the crowd waited we noticed something was awry as the band did not meet their starting time. After some small talk with my neighbours in the tent they finally started. And starting they did. This band is almost perfect in their performance. Al the instruments are played near to perfections and they even know how to get the crowd going. This was definitely one of the highlights of the festival and best band on the tent stage.

After the brutal violence of Behemoth it was time to get something to eat. The festival had a few stands with different food sorts all looking great. Possible choices were Vietnamese, Mexican, food from Suriname, BBQ and of course a snack cart for some French fries.
After picking my poison I went to watch Ensiferum from under the trees. It sounded like Ensiferum normally does. This means some entertaining Viking metal. The boys (and girl) on stage looked like they were having fun even though some of the sounds started to course through the systems at times.

Next up were the legendary guys of Fear Factory. The band could not be more opposite in style when compared to the previous band. Ensiferum was frivolous and playful on stage with their happy music. Fear Factory was old school industrial with loads of heavy guitar riffs. They intended to create a good vibe and got it. A big mosh pit was created during most songs. In the set were three new songs and a lot of older ones. Even though the band played a good gig, it is just not my style and I left to get something to drink during a speech about BP having to pay for the oil damage in the Gulf of New Mexico.

Another legendary band was up next. It was the thrash metal of the old band Kreator. Even though it started to pour during their show they seemed to enjoy themselves and gave us some good thrashing sounds. A mosh pit ensued leaving me battered and bruised. This was the highlight of the festival. Finally losing some of the heat and sweat mosh pitting with a friendly crowd, a beer or two and a great audience pleasing band.

After Kreator I missed Killswitch Engage but returned to the Open Stage to see Suicidal Tendencies. I actually never listened to this band but I had heard a lot about them. I was surprised to see the musicality of the band. The bass player and drummer impressed me with their craftsmanship. Even though the show was great the crowd was getting tired. This was most notable in between songs. Mike Muir tried to get some audience participation going but only a few people in front had enough energy to really participate. Still the show was great and I would like to say S—–T, S——T, S——T.

Last up was Bullet for my Valentine, a young band that is well known in the industry. I only had time for one song so I can’t review their sound or quality of performance. They did have a reasonable crowd going even though it was getting late.
Conclusion of the festival:
Great festival with great (maybe to hot) weather. The bands I was most interest in (wanted to see Ex Deo and Watain) sucked but lucky for me other bands took to the stage and truly rocked me (Behemoth and Kreator). Prices of the beverages could be a bit lower but it was well organized and even improved upon compared to Fortarock 2009. I can’t wait for Fortarock 2011.

Audience

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