The 19th of December was the day we all gathered together in Eindhoven at the Effenaar for the event of the year: the Eindhoven Metal Meeting. Being Sold Out a couple of weeks ago, this had to become a great day of metal. First band of the day, was the Brazilian band Krisiun. Being a popular band it was a strange thing that they had to play first. But this did not seem to stop their fans by arriving early, since it was pretty crowded. With their impossibly fast drummer, Krisiun rocked the stage. And even though they were the first band, the crowd got loose already by moshpitting around!

One of my personal favourites on this festival was the Swedish band Shining. I was prepared to see a show with a lot of auto mutilation, that seems to be more known and popular than the music itself, but it seems that Niklas Kvarforth has calmed down a bit lately, because just like the last time I saw them, he behaved himself. Except for the kiss between him and bass player Andreas Larssen. I guess I was one of the few people that actually stood there for their music, and not their show, and I have to say it was a good performance. The music was tuned in very well, and we got lucky to hear a song from their upcoming seventh album Född förlorare.
Since the folk- and Viking metal is the metal scene that is growing the fastest at the moment, ofcourse their had to be a big name from this genre too. So the next act on the main stage was Equilibrium. This was only the second show ever for them in The Netherlands. Last time they were here they played with a drum computer instead of a drummer, so I was glad to see that they brought their drummer with them this time. It is obvious that this band got very popular in the last couple of years, since it was pretty crowded. But I have to say that I’ve seen better of them.
Of course there also had to play a Dutch band on the Main stage. The honor went to thrash metal band Legion of the Damned. Unfortunately their show wasn’t that good this time. The singer had a bad day which killed most of the show. This wasn’t the best show we’ve seen of them.

One of the bigger bands this day was Nile. They just brought out their new cd Those Whom The Gods Detest, and started their show with one of the masterpieces from this cd: Kafir! It immediately got the entire crowd excited. I guess the sentence “There is no god” is a good one to wake up a metal crowd. Nile did a really good job this day and their show was awesome. Karl Sanders is a master on the guitar, which was shown again today.
Unfortunately this was the for last show of Satyricon before they’ll have their break for a couple of years. But what a worthy goodbye this was! A perfect mixture between the old songs like Mother North and the new songs like The Wolfpack made it shown what Satyricon stands for before they stop. Drummer Frost once again showed what he’s worth and Satyr gave away an awesome show in style. Just as we know him. It was obvious that most people wanted to see them one more time before their break, since this was the most visited show of the day.
Finishing band on the main stage was Thyrfing. It was quite a bizarre show. As always you couldn’t hear the keyboards at all. But it seems that they found a solution for this problem, since during a couple of songs there was a woman singing along with the keyboard parts. Unfortunately this made the key parts disappear even more to the back ground. I’m not sure if I like this concept or not. It didn’t really gave an extra dimension to the show and it was a bit disturbing. Though I have to agree that the woman has a real good voice. I know this band can do better than they did this day.

Besides the main stage, there was a smaller stage too. I spent most time at the main stage, but there were a couple of bands on the small stage that had to be seen. First band, and also one of my personal favorite bands, was Elite. Quite extraordinary to see the singer step on stage while waving with a flag. Unfortunately they started of with bad sound, but this was soon fixed. Remaining was a great show, though I missed my favorite song.
Noticeable band on this stage too was Skyforger. Most people immediately noticed when they started, that something was missing. Usually Skyforger uses a lot of folk influences and instruments, but this day they weren’t present and there was a band member missing. This made it quite an unique show, but not bad at all. Of course the headliner of the small stage can’t be unnoticed.
Dutch/ Australian band Destroyer 666 is back to business. I prefer listening to this band on cd more than when they play live, but it seemed I’m one of the few, since it was pretty crowded. The show was a true finishing one for this stage.

It seemed that most people were too exhausting to stay around for the after party, since there weren’t much of them left. Too bad for them, because they missed two great shows from the bands playing at the after party; The Devils Blood and Hollenthon. The Devil’s Blood really isn’t my cup of tea. But musical wise they are great musicians.
Very last band, Hollenthon had to play in front of just a couple of people that were left. But this was already the second show they gave that night, since they had to play in Belgium earlier that evening. And probably being exhausted already, since they started at 3 a.m., they managed to rock the stage anyway! But even though most people didn’t make it till the end, it was a great day filled with metal!

Ingrid