Report

The Final Day Of Brutal Assault 2024 Was Perfection.

After the 10-band marathon from the previous day, today’s manageable list of 7 bands felt more like a five-kilometer race in terms of running from stage to stage. It was sunny and noticeably warmer than all the previous days. The soggy weather that the festival began with was now a distant memory. There was a different energy in the air today due to the ideal outdoor festival conditions. The final day of Brutal Assault 2024 already had the feeling that it was going to be a memorable one for the Brutal Assault archives.

The first band of the afternoon was technical Death Metal legends, Pestilence. I haven’t seen them since Martin Van Drunen left the band and if you’re doing the math, that’s a really fucking long time ago. I tried listening to “Testimony of the Ancients” post Martin leaving, but the brutality that the previous albums had was non-existent. I didn’t like it and basically wrote them off after that. During today’s set, Pestilence played Dehydrated from my favorite album “Consuming Impulse,” but I just couldn’t get into it. The vocals were weak and forced. Martin Van Drunen was Pestilence. I’ll just stick to Asphyx from here on out.

Pestilence

I was excited to finally see Sadus, another legendary Thrash Metal band from the Bay Area. Brutal Assault was chock full of them this year. Sadus is another band that has been around forever and it took a festival in Europe for me to finally see them. I noticed that one of the guitarists was Claudeous Creamer from the current Possessed line-up. It’s nice to see Bay Area Thrash bands helping each other out by lending members for tours and shows. After my 3-song photo set, I’d be lying if I said they were anything more than “just good” live. The crowd was into it though, and that’s all that probably mattered to Sadus.

Darren Travis of Sadus

In general, I’m a huge fan of Polish Black Metal and that doesn’t translate to just Behemoth. Poland has a treasure trove of Black Metal bands and my next band, Totenmesse, is one of those that deserves your attention. I missed their set due to a scheduling conflicts at Mystic Festival a couple of months prior, but I was able to right that wrong today.

Piotr Wujkowiecki of Totenmesse

There was already a decent sized crowd waiting at the claustrophobia inducing Octagon Stage for Totenmesse when I arrived. By the time they started, you could no longer maneuver freely through the crowd without spilling beers and getting swaths of other people’s sweat on you. Overall, I really enjoyed their set. Their vocalist, Piotr Wujkowiecki, is the visual focus for the band. He makes these faces that you don’t know if he’s getting ready to stab you in the face or vomit on you. If you don’t believe me, just check out this video from their set here.

The next band, Dopelord, was another band from Poland and also played the Octagon stage. I didn’t think any more people could squeeze into the area, but I stand corrected. Everybody was stacked like cordwood by the time Dopelord unleashed their first fuzzed out and doom-laden riffs. Their set mostly contained material from their most recent album, “Songs For Satan.” I’ve seen Dopelord before but seeing them at night with green and red concert lighting with a ton of fog machine to boot really added to their stonerish, doomy vibe. I guess you could say I got a contact high, sans the green stuff, from their set.

Piotr Zin of Dopelord

The rest of the bands I penned for the day were thankfully scheduled at the non-claustrophobia inducing main stages. The first of them was The Dillinger Escape Plan. I’ve never been motivated enough to see them live because Metalcore isn’t my thing. Yeah, yeah…I’ve heard that Dilliinger was incredible live. I was going to find out soon enough if that was the case.

Wow…I wasn’t expecting that. That was something else to see live. How many steps did that set count for? But seriously though, do they need to train to get into stage before tours/festivals? My heart rate jumped up just watching them from the photo pit. Like I stated before, Metalcore isn’t my thing, but hats off to them, that was jaw dropping. Would I see them again if they weren’t included in a festival lineup? Not likely…But I get it now and overall, I was really impressed.

Dimitri Minakakis of The Dillinger Escape Plan

Behemoth are a long ways away from their Black Metal origins, but they are THE heaviest big production extreme band currently out there. Fight me if you don’t think so. There’s a lot of production that goes into their shows now and the proof? The several semi-trucks parked next to the stages. When I arrived at the photo pit staging area, I think every media type with a photo pass for the festival was there and then some.

Nergal and Seth of Behemoth

Behemoth didn’t disappoint in regard to the production part I bragged about in the previous paragraph. There was plenty of fire, confetti cannons, and fog machine usage throughout their whole show. Behemoth is now a choreographed live act these days. It’s obvious to me that they rehearse their stage choreography before tours. Is it a terrible thing? I don’t know…Taylor Swift does it and she’s the biggest pop act in the world. But this is extreme metal and I’m of the opinion that metal shouldn’t be choreographed. Those two words should never be mentioned in the same sentence together. Behemoth put on a great live show, but it doesn’t feel genuine anymore.

Orion of Behemoth

My farewell band for this year’s Brutal Assault, Heathen, played at the main stage opposite of Behemoth. Heathen were one of the five bay area Thrash Metal bands scheduled for this year’s festival. That’s one of the things I love about Brutal Assault. They always include a lot of OG Thrash in their line-ups.

Both of Heathen’s guitarists were shredding throughout their set. While the band was putting on a killer set, the massive crowd that was there for Behemoth was passing by and not giving them any thought. That’s a shame, they really missed out on this gem of a band. Heathen has always played second fiddle to the more popular bay area thrash bands, but they are just as good, if not better than some of them.

Heathen

After Heathen, I looked at my list of bands and forgot for an instant we were finished. Just like that, four days of one of my favorite metal festivals had come to an end. It was now time to reflect on this years festival as my wife and I walked towards the taxi pickup point.

Brutal Assault really turned the corner this year to mentioned in the same breath as the other large summer metal festivals, i.e., Wacken, Hellfest, Download Festival. Metalheads from all over the world travel to Brutal Assault. We met people from India, Mexico, the United States, Peru, and of course from all over Europe. Brutal Assault is still pretty affordable considering that everywhere you go, everything costs more now.

I would continue my reflection over the next few days, a “Brutal” hangover if you’re into puns. However, I’ll end my report by saying, if you’ve ever thought attending Brutal Assault, make it happen. It’ll be one of the best festivals you’ll ever go to. Just make sure to bring a rain poncho and some sun block.