Words by: Wouter (W), Omer (O), Ingrid (I), Tal (T) and Roel (R)
Pictures by: Omer, Wouter, Ingrid

 

Here we wo again! To one of our personal favorite festivals of Germany, the illustrious and legendary Party San Metal Open Air. At Party San we make many bad decisions, find old and make new friends, decorate-and-discoball anything we can lay our hands on and dance our hearts out on ABBA – whatever that may look like.

We actually made great headway and got to the camping quite early. We had a few drinks on Wednesday and built the camp with several party tents. It felt good to meet up with the people we hadn’t seen for a year and soon got to the warm-up Wednesday Party to dance a merry (cuba-libre infused) jig. After a few drinks we called it quits however, to not spend all our energy on a night without bands. Because – like most years – besides offering on of best atmosphere and parties, Party San also offers a unique set of bands. This year was no different, on all fronts!

THURSDAY

On Thursday we got up, took out all our decorations, and made a cozy home of our row of party tents. After decorating party tents and ourselves, the early birds made it to the festival just in time to see the last notes of Horresque. It gave us a chance to consume the first Köstritzer-Schwarzbier. From the tent area, down the run-way and grass lands – the slowly but surely – the stragglers and late-risers also headed off to see the first band at the main stage. Like the festival, I was greeted by an illustrious, legendary if Sinister bunch, replacing Broken Hope. Hailing from the Netherlands, they have been around since 1988. They still manage a good atmosphere with their laid-back death metal and produce a true ‘sewer pipe’ sound. Perfect for having my first beer after missing most of yesterdays’ party. A much more melodic but less palatable performance was presented by Eternal Champion. Suggesting a Manowar-esque vibe from the back drop, the staccato epic heavy metal from the US didn’t sit too well with me. Expecting more from the ‘one’ (and probably only at PSOA) power/heavy act summarized my experience, so I decided to pay Wilt a visit in the tent stage. Incredibly cool vocals and a hammering bass welcomed me to their sound and energetic play. The guitars remind me of the chainsaw-like-Bloodbath sound; thus far a better show than the previous ones.

With the next band, the ‘pain of today’ at Party San is apparent; a lot of the billing today is somewhat sub-par. Perhaps it’s me (W), but I can’t really get in the mood for todays’ bands, except perhaps for the evening plays of Schammasch and Darkened Nocturnal Slaughtercult. This is confirmed by the black/death metal of (supposed super group) Vltimas. Played nicely and very tight (composition by Blasphemer, a.o. ex-Mayhem, Auro Noir), along with the spotless stage play of David Vincent (Vltimas, Terrorizer, ex-Morbid Angel), it should have been more enjoyable. But alas, no permanent hooks were set, composition skills non-withstanding. Unfortunately, Sadus did not do much to improve my first day. Old-school in both music (1987, US death/thrash) and appearance, they would have struck a chord would I (still) listen to (old) Slayer, Death and Morbid Angel – but alas, I do not. By no means a bad performance, just not very interesting.

In the tentstage Imha Tarikat produced some black metal in the vein of Bolzer/MGLA or Gaerea. It wasn’t anything new on the horizon. But it was well done and it kept the crowd entertained throughout the show. Rope Sect was one of the stranger bands on the bill with their mix of gothy vibes, wave and post punk. A band I (R) actually like a lot so I was happy to see them on this extreme metal festival (MORE OF THESE STYLES OF BANDS PLEASE).  They did not disappoint and the danceable hooks combined with the clean but somewhat detached vocals got quite a few feet dancing. The crowd size wasn’t big but not small either and I think the people who actually watched had a great time.

The last time I watched Black Dahlia Murder was actually… during Party San, in its 2018 Edition. Since then, infamous singer Trevor Strnad died and has then been replaced by Brian Eschbach, who until then was responsible for the guitar works there. We came with an open mind and like us, many others in the crowd. We do not believe that anyone was disappointed to hear massive old and new tunes such as “Verminous”, “Aftermath”, “Mammoth’s Hand”, “Nightbringers” and many others being blasted into the crowd, that in turn reacted with loving feedback.

Outside was nice and sunny, so of course to watch some quality Black Metal, one needs to venture into the shadows. The nearest one would be the already mentioned almighty Tent stage. A formidable tradition in PartySan, to (literally) give the stage to smaller bands, potentially introducing them to new crowds. It’s a chance to watch some favourite bands again and again and that was also the case with Mephorash. The Uppsala-based group has been around for some time now and with a kind-of new album from 2023. Clad in ritual robes, they succeeded in delivering a brilliant performance, playing lengthy tracks such as “Sanguinem”, “Krystl-Ah”, “Soma Yoni” and “I Am”. The spinning of the wheel between mesmerizing guitar work and harsh vocals, in comparison with the bands’ ability to keep the flow of melody is just… good. Catching it live is even better.

I (O) could never catch Death alive, unfortunately. Chuck Schuldiner died just around the time I got into concerts and with him died the dream of watching some of the best Death Metal acts the universe has spat out. Fast forward to 2024, and Left To Die is a Death tribute band that comprises of older Death members Terry Butler and Rick Rozz, together with members of Gruesome. What can we say? This is pretty fucking much the closest thing to Death you will ever have a chance to see and it was far from disappointing. The musicianship is tight as a nun’s pussy and the whole package simply does the musical legacy justice – on the one extreme Metal stage in Europe that would support every note as if it came from the full original lineup. Where classics like “Open Casket”, “Left to Die”, “Pull the Plug”, “Primitive Ways” have been accepted with not only open arms but massive headbanging as well.

One of the highlights during the festival were Ritual Death. If you’re not familiar with the name, perhaps you’d know Mare, Darvaza or Dark Sonority, where singer and guitar player Wraath is also playing a part in. The band’s sound is quite unique, and the performance is as ritualistic as it gets with the Nidaros scene of Norwegian bands. I mean, come on, it’s a skull as a vocalist, combined with flesh-cutting riffs that come from the depths of hell itself. The fact that that Tent Stage at this point acted basically as some Indian sweat lodge helped a little – and although I watched the band a few times in the past – this was easily one of the band’s meanest gigs I attended to date. It honestly doesn’t get better than this.

Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult are feeling at home at Party San, having been there for several years already. The Rhine-area Black Metal gang has already made a name for themselves over the years, with their shows being a focal point in their career. The mighty bleeding ghost Onielar commands the show and directs the ghouls around her as a deadly storm of songs from older and newer albums, each as a dagger penetrating the crowd.

The last band of the day in the tent was Schammasch. A band in the same light as the old Secrets of the Moon and Blut Aus Nord. They started off good but got even better the further they got into the set. Their repetitiveness got to you and made you bang your head clean off.  The songs have this way of slowly grinding away my barriers. When they started playing  ‘A Paradigm Of Beauty’ the concert really took off. The more rocky sound of that song just got me grooving finishing with ‘Metanoia’; their ‘hit’ from ‘Triangle’. Which is excellent at rounding off a concert, as it starts fast and slowly but certainly starts slowing down to a natural end.

Let’s say that if you don’t know the name Terrorizer, first of all turn this article off, go buy a copy of “World Downfall”, and then come back here. Never in my life have I thought I would ever get the chance to catch Terrorizer live. Mostly due to the fact that they split, then got together again, then split again, then reformed, then split… You get the point. Lo and behold, the one and only Pete Sandoval on the drums and David Vincent on bass, with reinforcement from the I Am Morbid guitar player and ex-Vital Remains vocalist and this is a massively good package. “World Downfall”, an epitome of Death Metal/Grindcore, has been played from beginning to end and yours truly was basically a smiling piece of living meat, having the time of his life hearing the album live.

You may like him or you may not, but one cannot deny that Abbath puts on a (freezing) hell of a show. Immortal-style axes and an armoured man of the hour decorate the stage. Hits of old and newer stuff all crammed up in one nice setlist, that would satisfy both the old & grumpy – ones that don’t understand why the band never continued the line of “Pure Holocaust” – but also the youngster who just got into the veteran band. As the time passed since Immortal’s dismay, the infamous frontman has managed to position himself in a relevant of a role as ever. Still dabbling in making his own music these days, while keeping the flame of his previous work alive through massive live concerts such as this. Memorable tunes from “The Call of the Wintermoon”, “Withstand the Fall of Time”, “One by One”, and of course “Blashyrkh” were hammered out one after another, as hundreds of spectators’ hearts were beating at the same rhythm as the bass drum, positioning Abbath and his current band as the ultimate main act for the day.

FRIDAY

Traditionally, one awakes to the Friday greeted by scorching heat, a hang-over of epic proportions and a dire need to sit-still-and-die; preferably quietly. Tradition also dictates this to be rudely disturbed by your campmates inserting inflatable unicorns and the like in personal places dark and sunless. Except for the scorching heat – much to my pleasure – this year was no exception. Off we headed, to see Stillbirth for breakfast. A death/grind metal show clad in Hawaii shirts, shorts and similar backdrop scenery (so what if the body suspended from the palm tree was a bit conspicuous). Many, many inflatables, vegetables and other ‘attire’ floating around from/with/in the audience. A lovely way to wake up and celebrate life afterwards with a much needed (baileys–infused)-ice-coffee.

Ice slowly melting, Obscurity greeted the day with some melodic pagan/death metal tunes. What began a bit boring soon turned to show of catchy songs. Sure, they might be better suited to pagan metal festivals like Ragnarok and be slightly out of sorts in a ‘pure’ black & death metal festival. But who cares if the music makes up for it? To compensate this bit of ‘pagantry’, Enthroned (Belgium, 1993) gave the first proper, decent and pure black act of the festival. Satanic hell noises, trigger happy drumming and tight solos. we’d like to think the sky slightly darkened during “Of shrines and Sovereigns”, albeit this could have been wishful thinking on out end. To continue on the streak of good plays: holy shit, Afsky (Denmark, 2015) ! This (black solo) project by Ole Pedersen Luk shook us with “Ofte jeg drømmer mig død” in 2020 and continued to do so with “Om hundrede år” in 2023. The voice, the screams, the fast blasting versus the intricate, incredibly well composed guitar lines… hell, they delivered likewise live. What a show!

Old and gold was Sacramentum (Sweden, 1993). One of the few still active bands from ye times of olde Swedish black metal; to wit: Dissection, Dawn and Vinterland. Perhaps not the best known, but they still rock. The live show is a bit static, the music is performed with such vigor to make one nostalgic for aforementioned past times. By recommendation, Vorga (2019, Germany) made us veer off the main(stream) stage to the tent. While enjoying a beer, the first half of their esoteric and science-fiction mid-tempo black metal performance wasn’t very enjoyable. Both sound and music sounded horrible initially. This however, was too soon a judgement, as the show evolved to one of better ones yet. The last song (Magical Thinking?) was true apotheotic ending to their play. This band deserves another look and listen for sure!

The play of Bewitched (Sweden, 1995) couldn’t catch my interest, although there was no lack of talent with both Vargher (Marcus Norman) and Wrathyr (Kristoffer Olivius) from Naglfar present. The old-school, low/mid-tempo thrash death was probably very well played, but sounded just boring to me. Instead I decided to use the time given a to have a beer and enjoy the many LP’s and other merchandise shops present at Party San.
On a day mainly dominated by Black Metal, Kraanium (main stage), was a warm welcomed change of scenery. After the traditional grind-core / brutal death metal ‘frühstuck’ earlier this day, we now had a brutal dinner (or lunch, considering the shift in waking hours on a festival). Despite the temperatures, they got the crowd moving. But it wouldn’t take long before most of the crowd moved towards the tent because winds were rising and dark clouds were gathering.
Weather situation aside, the tent stage seemed more popular than last year. Like mentioned before, this year’s edition of Party San felt dominated by Black Metal, which most of us from metal-exposure were very happy about. The tent stage is the perfect place to watch these bands, especially the underground ones. The setting of the tent stage brings out a better atmosphere for filthy music than the main stage in the bright and shiny sun that’s always present. Some highlights of this day were Los Males Del Mundo. Coming all the way from Argentina, complemented with live musicians, they made their Party San debut. Considering the fact that they are a relatively new band, with not that much live experience yet, it’s even more impressive to notice them being one of the better bands today.

Playing a little closer to home, or at least leading figure Noise, was one of the other highlights in the tent this day, Non Est Deus. Also accompanied by a live ensemble, this mysterious hooded man hasn’t been on stage with this band that often either, but the experience (Kanonenfieber) showed. The show was spot on, and the tent stage was filled, though not as filled as during tent stage headliner of the day: Konvent. This all-female band threw their doom all over us, with their slow, but captivating performance. They were a worthy headliner and the only comment we must make is that their show was way too short.

Those not afraid of a shower in the rain, bravely withstood the elements during Incantation. Truth be told, yours truly (I) wasn’t one of them and hid for shelter, only to witness one of the most amazing (double) rainbows ever seen. Or in the words of Nergal from Behemoth before their show: ‘The LGBT godz smile at us at Party San Open Air… it WILL be a great show’, and a great show it was! If you read our review of Dong Open Air this year, we witnessed one of the ‘tamest’ Behemoth shows we’ve ever seen not long ago. Today the vibe was entirely different, and for the better. The band (and stage) was on fire today and delivered a huge wave of satanism towards the crowd, proving to be a true headliner. The setlist – including Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer, Christians to the Lions and Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel – was predictable. But for a band this high up in the ranks, this doesn’t matter much.
Not every band was sunshine and rainbows though (yeah… see what I did there), since I have to confess that Batushka their show left me somewhat disappointed. Even though we witnessed the ‘true’ and in our humble opinion, the better, Batushka; Krzysztof Drabikowski’s Batushka, today simply wasn’t one of the better performances. The chanting was too monotone, and the band looked too stiff on stage. Now it’s hard to compare Batushka to Behemoth, but they could learn a thing or two about crowd interaction.
In between this unholy chanting, Solstafir offered a beacon of rest. The Icelanders and their melodramatic metal were one of the highlights of the day. The audience could drift away on their ambient performance during songs as ‘Ljós í stormi’ and ‘Goddess of Ages’. Being familiar faces on Party San, they have never disappointed and today was no exception.

SATURDAY

On Saturday the day started early… very early; but that didn’t stop the true black metal fans dragging their bodies, or by this time… corpses, towards the tent stage to watch Iron Walrus, but mainly to watch Bathory tribute band Blood Fire Death delivering a worthy performance. After this, the tent stage went quiet for a while and all focus was on the main stage.Imagine being a very true (black) metal band, creating dark music made for the night, covering yourself in dark clothes and then must perform in full sunlight. This often happens during festivals of course, but it isn’t how we imagined Regarde les Hommes Tomber their debut on Party San. Nevertheless, they put on a nice performance, though we would have wished for them to have a bigger audience, because the amount of people watching was a bit disappointing. Dealing with the same ‘black metal in full sunlight’ situation were the Germans of Ultha. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only issue they had to deal with because they had some sound issues during their performance. The vocals with barely hearable during a large part of their show, which is a pity since those piercing vocals are partly what gives Ultha their unique sound. The sound got better over time, but it wasn’t the strongest show of them.

What a lucky unit of a human being is the one (T) who sees Hate live for the first time! It is such a party to hate together with these machines from Poland. They bring their blackened death metal so insanely tight, it is almost inhuman. I have been listening to Hate for a happy 3 years, and it always feels like free therapy. But to actually see them live releases a whole new level of dopamine. Playing at the hottest moment of the hottest day of the festival, the crowd was either consumed by the scorching sun or by scorching hate.

Obscura rose from the mind of Steffen Kummerer, the main guy behind the band Thulcandra. Here, though, he mainly writes music panning to the more technical side of things, leaning on complex guitar work and rapid tempo changes. Certainly a refreshing gust of air through the festival!

The death metal onslaught continues as Australians Disentomb began wrecking the tent stage with their tuned-down guitar riffs and furious drumming, layered with some good, massive-sounding guttural vocals. This is where the tent stage shines: A band I had no idea about, revealed to me in all its gory glory, giving me a chance to dive into their music.

Dutch death-thrash veterans Legion of the Damned made their way on to the main stage and without any delays, managed to snatch every piece of attention from each person that didn’t attend the stage yet at the festival those moments. They opened with their infamous blasting tune “Legion of the Damned”. What followed was a massive hurricane of songs from different albums such as “Cult of the Dead”, “Doom Priest”, of course “Son of the Jackal” and more that showed exactly how much these guys feel at home and how massive they became – moving large numbers of spectators physically, almost having their heads snatched from their necks.

Heretoir ‘s niche style of Black Metal, with a bit of shoegaze, a bit of clean vocals and a bit of keyboards thrown into the mix, did not deteriorate even the toughest of tough festival guys, as the Tent stage had been filled. The band’s music spins itself like a medieval tower; It moves from harsh guitar works and shrieks, to some of the more beautiful and melodic passageways in Black Metal, generally. Topped with masterful clean vocals from time to time, and the recipe for one of the more interesting bands this weekend is complete.

Every musical scene has their few weirdos, and with extreme Metal, it’s definitely UK-based Anaal Nathrakh that their main purpose is to fuck up every place they’re touring in and make around one third of the other shows pale in comparison. Their explosive mixture of Grindcore, Black Metal and Industrial is so damn weird and so damn good at the same time it should be celebrated at every family dinner. The music is mental, the crowd went mental like it didn’t just experience a million other bands today. These guys always deliver and the concert this time was no different.

One of the concerts we were looking forward the most was Scottish-made Hellripper. This violent Black ‘n Roll band/project that started in James McBain’s mind has caught the ears and eyes of pretty much everyone when it first came into existence, and it wasn’t any different at the festival. As the first riff of “All Hail the Goat” the Tent stage was already filling up with sweaty men and women who chose to escape the heat outside and come into the, well, heat, inside. Hits like “Hell’s Rock ‘n’ Roll”, “Nunfucking Armageddon 666” and the almighty “Bastard of Hades” pretty much sent people moshing and flying into places they didn’t think they could reach. We also liked the fact that the band didn’t waste too much time in between songs. A fact that left time for an encore, which is not something common in the Tent stage, which allowed them to kick “Flesh Ripper” into action.
Everything hurts like a motherfucker and I am happy.

Paradise Lost isn’t a name that should be introduced, really. Having been around since the end of the 80s while being one of the most influential bands on the whole Doom/Gothic genre, there isn’t anyone that wouldn’t want to have been in front of the Main stage at these UK giants started their set. The vocals that Nick Holmes manages to produce time and again, combined with the bands’ ability to weave beautiful melodies into the harsher parts of each song, manage to stir all kinds of emotions with the crowd, that are in turn attracted to the stage like moths to a light source, even if it’s late and half of them are tired.

Anyone who may have thought, that the Black Metal section in this Party San edition has been neglected, surely had his opinion mended. Stepping into the Tent stage once more, you could catch a glimpse of Akhlys, amidst the constant burning red cloud that set the tone on the stage. The band sprang into the minds of fans a few years ago (although they existed since 2009), as one of the more original acts in the world of modern Black Metal. The immersive musical experience that almost sounds like it comes from another plane, managed to be transferred in its fullest also when being played live. That was an aspect of the band that I feared for, and I can safely say my hat has been eaten. Experiencing tunes like “Maze of Phobetor”, “Ephialtes” and “The Dreaming Eye” in their live version was just as mesmerizing as listening on the albums.

There aren’t many bands that helped jumpstart a whole genre, still exist, and that are still kicking to this day, remaining relevant as ever. One of those however, did us the honours this year. The one and only German veterans of Sodom! Their magazine came full with timeless classics like “Blasphemer”, “Napalm in the Morning”, “Ausgebombt”, “Nuclear Winter”, “Remember the Fallen” and many others that naming all of them here would take an hour. In any case, assaulting the crowd with their relentless tunes positions them as the main headliner for a reason. Seeing thousands of people sing/roar/yell alongside Tom Angelripper is a sight that never gets old, as thousands of eyes are fighting to stay in their sockets while the head whiplashes itself in every direction. Old? Outdated? These Germans have a stage presence that makes 25 year olds look like a bunch of grandmothers in a nursing home.

We’ve been coming to PartySan since 2010, the infamous “Mud Edition” in Bad Berka. Since then, religiously (aside when the world was half shut down during Covid)  have been attending this Köstritzer-Schwarzbier infested area time and again, and time and again finish it with a huge fucking smile, knowing that this is one of the ultimate Extreme Metal events in Europe. Not too big but not small, good atmosphere, good people, with fair prices and a mean lineup of bands every year.

No gimmicks, no bullshit. Just music.
See you next year!