Report

The Rain Was No Match For Brutal Assault's Second Day And Satyricon Was The Festival's Exclamation Point

The schedule for the second day of Brutal Assault was going to be more relaxed than the previous day’s. I had only penciled in seven bands to see, so there would be plenty more time to enjoy the other festivities the festival has to offer other than just stage hopping all day/night long. The weather was still unsettled by the time we arrived at the grounds during the early afternoon, but according to the forecast, the only chance of rain for the duration of the festival would be for today.

Cool stuff lurking about the festival grounds

Year after year, there are always newer bands that go viral as popularity. One of those bands, Escuela Grind, has been on my radar but I haven’t got to check them out until this year’s Brutal Assault. Before leaving for the Czech Republic, I did a little homework and listened to them during the flight. I do like Grindcore, thus I was interested in seeing how Escuela Grind would translate onto a Brutal Assault main stage.

When Escuela Grind took to the stage, I can only liken it to a simultaneous and timed grenade detonations. There were explosions of energy in every direction with the majority coming from their lead vocalist, Katerina Economou. I can only compare her to Barney Greenway of Napalm Death fame when it comes to stage presence. During one of the breaks between songs, she stated that Brutal Assault was the largest stage that Escuela Grind had ever played on. With the excitement I saw, without any doubt, I believed her. They were so pumped to be on a main festival stage and took full advantage of it.

Katerina Economou of Escuela Grind

After Escuela Grind, the soggy weather had returned and I had a difficult decision to make. Do I run the risk of checking out thrashers Havok knowing that it was definitely going to rain during their set? After the last night’s catastrophe during Abbath, it was a pretty easy decision. I'm sorry but I’ll have to catch you another time Havok.

The rain arrived as predicted but it weened to a drizzle by the time I had to leave to see the next band, Dopethrone. I threw on my flimsy emergency rain poncho and covered my camera with a sort of “camera condom” that’s “supposed to” keep moisture away from the camera body and lens. However, I didn’t trust the condom for use during a constant downpour like what happened during Abbath and Havok.

During the moments leading up to start of Dopethrone, there was still a bit of sound checking going on. The slender, dreadlock draped vocalist, Vincent Houde, was conversing with the soundboard engineer in a voice mimicking Butthead of Beavis and Butthead fame. Everyone that was waiting for the band to start really didn’t mind that the unplanned comedy skit was spilling onto Dopethrone’s allotted playing time.

If you haven’t figured it out already by just band’s name alone, Dopethrone is a stoner/doom metal band. If marijuana were legal in the Czech Republic, I am absolutely certain I would have gotten a contact high during their show. Dopethrone’s set consisted of plenty fuzzed out, doomelicious riffs, however Vincent Houde has another career outside of stoner/doom waiting for him in standup comedy if he ever so desires.

Vincent Houde of Dopethrone

I have been waiting 34 years to see the next band on my list. That band was Bay Area Thrash Metal titans, Forbidden. The first time I saw them, they played on a stage that could accommodate a three-piece local band. Was today’s set worth the thirty-four-year interlude? It was a resounding YES, a thousand times over. Only two of the original members were on stage today, but it sounded just like the band I remembered from so many years ago. Even Chuck Billy from Testament was spotted headbanging from the side of the stage during their set.

The new vocalist, Norman Skinner, effortlessly nailed every one of Russ Anderson’s vocal lines. I could barely tell the difference between the two at times. Daniel Mongrain, the guitarist on loan from Voivod, was an excellent fill in choice for the second guitarist role. I heard a rumor that he might join Forbidden on a permanent basis. What does that mean for Voivod if that happens? Enough of the rumor mill. Overall, this was one of my favorite sets from this year’s Brutal Assault.

Matt Camacho and Craig Locicero of Forbidden

The night had arrived and the remaining balance of today’s bands were going to be back-to-back-to-back. The first band up was Death Metal OG’s, Carcass. They always seem to play at just about every summer festival, every year. I’ve seen and written about them so many times, I’m out of adjectives that I can use to describe their shows at this point. I’ll just add that Carcass always attract a huge crowd wherever they go and their fans are some of the most loyal in the “Metalverse.” Tonight’s set was no different.

Bill Steer and Jeff Walker of Carcass

Testament is another band that seems to land on several summer festival line-ups year after year. The highlight from tonight was their setlist. They only played material from “The Legacy” and “The New Order.” For a seasoned fan like me, this was heaven for my ears. Chuck Billy and crew still enjoy playing their earliest and most classic tunes and they didn’t half-ass them. I really hope they play this same setlist when the tour with Kreator and Possessed during the Klash of the Titans tour happening next fall in the U.S.!

Chuck Billy and Alex Skolnick of Testament

When the intro music started to play for the legendary Black Metal band Satyricon, a thought entered my head. I had just seen them two months prior at Poland’s Mystic Festival and they were absolutely one of my favorite bands throughout that entire festival. Tonight’s show was no exception. I loved their energy and the crowd was going nuts. Again, they were my favorite of the day. When the crowd sang along to “Now, Diabolical” and “Black Crow on a Tombstone,” I got shivers down my spine. You just had to be there.

Satyr of Satyricon

Bassist Frank Bello (borrowed from Anthrax) looks even more relaxed now playing in one of the most historic Black Metal bands than he did at the beginning of their summer festival run. Vocalist Satyr loves to talk between breaks and one of the things he mentioned was that Satyricon refused to play in Norway during the pandemic, the reason? It wasn’t fair to their fans because the shows were only limited to 200 people wearing masks. That’s how much they love their fans, they weren’t going to half-ass it. He also said that they are thrilled to be back onstage and new material is on the way.

Frank Bello on loan from Anthrax

After listening to only four songs, no matter how much I wanted to stay and watch the complete set, it was time to head back to the hotel because tomorrow was going to be the busiest day of the entire festival and in addition, it was going to start at 10:30 a.m. I wouldn’t even have time to have breakfast. It didn’t matter. These are the things you do for the love of music.

If you want to see the full photo gallery from the today's of Brutal Assault, click here!