Party-San 2015 Report – Metal Breeding

Thursday 06.08.2015

Party-San is the Festival for Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Grindcore and Black Metal in West Europa. The biggest Fan’s of Extreme Metal - every Year around 10,000 - are coming out there to the Airstrip near Schlotheim in Thüringen, Germany. Usually, August is almost the end of the summer season, but this year it seems like in the middle of the summertime with around 34 degrees on Thursday and 38 degrees on Friday. In comparison to last year, it was a little bit hard for the audience because of the high temperatures. The Party-San has only one main-stage and one tent-stage. On Party-san are not only playing great bands, but it's also the best time to hang out with your friends and meeting new faces of Metalheads. At the Party-San ground, you can get many different kinds of food and also a great beer and awesome mixed drinks, which are cheap priced and there is a Metal market too.

Last year I came to the Party-San by train and the shuttle-bus bringing all metal fan's from Schlotheim to the Party-San area every hour was named 666 bus. This year we came by car. When you arrive there, just before you enter the camping place, you can see the “Welcome to Hell” sign. After the checking by the security, we were allowed to enter our camping place.

One nice thing on Party-San open air is that people are allowed to park the car next to the camping place and everywhere there are toilets, which are cleaned 2 times every day and there are also big shower rooms.

After we were done building our tents, we grabbed some beers and were off to visit some friends. On Wednesday no Bands are playing, but there is a Metal Disco at the tent-stage with a lot of different Metal Music - the right time to meet all the friends, whom you see only one time in a year at Party-San.

I was so happy to enter the Gate of Party-San ground, sure all the memories from last year rushed in. Only a few meters from the Gate is the main-stage.

While the crew started to make sound check for the first Band, I was walking around to see the metal market and to get some food before the first Band was coming up. On Thursday the opening Band played at 4 PM, which was DEGIAL a Death Metal from Uppsala Sweden. That was the right time for some old school Death Metal. They sound a bit like old-school Morbid Angel, especially the guitars, it was a good start, even they had only 30 minutes to play.

After a few minutes break, comes to the next Band MORBUS CHRON Death Metal from Stockholm, Sweden. There were some issues with the sound system, so the show was delayed, it took nearly 30 minutes to fix that problem. Even at the first song, the sound is not quite good. Still they bring a great show up on the stage with the melodic and dry guitar sound and also some old school Death metal drum beats which makes all the people enjoy the show. It was great to see them perform live on Party-San stage.

MIDNIGHT the Black / Thrash Metal from Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The Band quite active for a long time, they have a unique outfit which covered their own head with masks and hood, this Band sounds not Thrash Metal-typical but kind of Punk/Rock and Roll, which bass heavily distorted and an awesome guitar playing

especially on the solo parts. They bring a lot of energy to the audience.

A few minutes Break NUCLEAR ASSAULT hit the stage with Thrash Metal from New York. Awesome Speed Metal riffing which old school sound kind like Overkill. The Band formed after bassist Dan Lilker left Anthrax in 1984, also they have already 3 times broken up & reformed. Even on that day, it was warm, but they performed a great show and brought a lot of power into the audience.

SECRETS OF THE MOON from Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany, was the next band to hit the Stage. One of the oldest Black Metal Bands in Germany. From the name of the Band you already know that is a Black Metal / Doom metal Band, the atmosphere became perfect for the next act. It was the right time for them to hit the stage because it was getting dark. They had a very heavy & melodic riff guitar and awesome song structures with a Female Bass Guitar-player. It made all the people come down and relax because it was a more atmospheric approach this band took.

The Extreme Black Metal Band from Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany, was the next band after Secrets Of The Moon. RUINS OF BEVERAST The Black Metal Doom from Aachen was a project Band from ex-Nagelfar member Alexander von Meilenwald. We did not watch the whole show, because it was time to eat something, and getting fresh for Thursdays headliners.

After we are finished with our food we headed back to the Stage Pit, to watch PRIMORDIAL from Dublin. It was the band most of the Metal fans were waiting for, the Band from Ireland was formed in 1987 they had already many Album out. Even if it is not my sound of music, but they have a lot of power and transport a great atmosphere.

After long sound check and also some stage decoration, finally the Polish blackened death Metal / Black Metal BEHEMOTH hit the Stage, The Headliner Band day one on Party-San. I have seen them a few times perform life, they always have an awesome live show, only the sound of that time was not that great, but there were sound problems the whole day. But you could still hear clearly the character of Behemoth, after 2 songs I just left the Stage Pit to join my friends in front of the stage. All of us was had a great time, you cant even stand up there, the riffs of the songs brought your headbang to the tunes. That was the awesome show on Party-San on Thursday.
After that, it was party time, we went to the party-tent, drunk lots of beers a met lots of friends. After that we went to our camp, sleep was needed

Friday 07.08.2015

Friday morning around 11.30 Am in the Party-san there is already a crowd, waiting for the opening band. Like every year, Friday and Saturday start with a Grindcore band, this year the opening band is CLITEATER from Holland. At the beginning there were only two guys in this band, using a drum machine now they are complete with 5 band members. The circle pit in front of the stage was very funny to look at because there were lots of funny costumes, like bloody Pig heads or a Duck swimming ring. That was an awesome show the 5 guys on the stage made, all of us had a pretty good time and the PartySan-Crowd slowly woke up.Only after a few minutes, the next band hit the stage, VANHELGD the Death Metal from Mjölby, Sweden. Started in 2007, they have 3

Only after a few minutes, the next band hit the stage, VANHELGD the Death Metal from Mjölby, Sweden. Started in 2007, they have 3 album released. Great old school Death Metal which dirty rotten sound and slow tight riffing. They do a pretty great show, I don't know so much about this band, just heard the name of this band before, but it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed watching their live performance.

Around 2 o clock afternoon, the sun was shining and it was very hot and no shadow could be found, but it was time for the Street Metal band GEHENNAH from Sweden. Even with this temperatures, the crowd was partying to the Motörhead-like sound with the alcoholic lyrics.

AETERNUS make Black Metal / Death Metal and are coming from Bergen, Norway. The band is active since 1993 after one year they already made their Demo album “Walk My Path”, in 2013 they returned successfully after a 7-years break, the extreme music style is defined best as dark metal. Fast, aggressive, intense and brutal, which reverberate an angry growling voice. They did a great live performance. I enjoyed the complete show.

It was not enough time for me to grab some Beer or get some food and come the next band Death Black Doom Metal from Holland SOULBURN which came after Aeturnus. Growling low voice, fat distortion came from the stage, after few minutes, it seems that the audience was not that big at that time, fewer people than before, because it was very very warm. Even the people that were there were partying, moshing and had a great time.

DESERTED FEAR - Time for the Death metal from Eisenberg, Germany. One of the most successful and quite known bands in the actual Germany Metal scene. The band was founded between 2007, 2008, and in 2012 they realized their first album “MY EMPIRE” and two years after come out the second album “ KINGDOM OF WORMS”. It was a great live show, full of energy. They sound kind of a mix between US Old school Death Metal and Swedish Death Metal, they got the audience out of the summer-lethargy and made a devilish live show.

Next band was also some old school Death / Thrash Metal from Berlin Germany - POSTMORTEM. At the beginning, the sound was not so quite good but got better within a few songs. I have seen them performing a great live show on the Tank Mit Frank Birthday Festival. We shared the stage with them, they do a quite great live performance. But when they were on the stage, it was not quite crowded, because the first band on Tent-stage was playing. Almost half of the day, we are just drinking more water than Beer. It was a great time to drink more Beer, sitting on the ground with friends, while waiting for the next band.

Few minutes after the sound check sound was done, the Band originally from Jerusalem, Israel now originated in Amsterdam Holland MELECHESH, playing Oriental Black Metal. They are one of the first non-Israeli bands signed from the Middle East, with their foundations in geographic and religious history, with Hyper blast drum Beat, with difference variable tempo from faster into slow, melodic and Oriental. After I took some photos, I just joined back with friends watching MELECHESH till the end. It was an amazing show, I was so glad to see them performing live.

AGALLOCH - Dark Metal / Folk / Progressive from Portland, Oregon, USA. I don’t know so much about this band and also don’t listen to kind of music like this stuff, but it was something new for me cause they play kind of colossal and cinematic sound. Could be the soundtrack to existential themes concerning man, nature, loss, and death. It was a gloomy, dark and depressing atmosphere, a really great show and I was so glad to see them perform live at Party-san.

The next band to hit the stage was the Death Metal from Holland, ASPHYX. They are quite successful in the metal scene. ASPHYX are one of the bands at Party-San, where nearly every metal-fan is waiting for. The death metal with a large dosage of doom makes their sound both heavy and crushing in aural and atmospheric terms.

BLOODBATH - Death Metal band from Sweden. I listened to all of their albums from the beginning ,it was one of my favorite bands but my first time shows seeing them performing live. At the beginning the guitar player has some sound or technical problems, I saw, that he was angry or stressed, cause the sound was not really good. It seemed they were not in the mood to play at that time, but after few Songs were done it sounded much better. It was awesome because they played one of my favorite songs, called “Eaten”.

Melodic folk metal from Helsinki, Finland ENSIFERUM. It's kind of old Viking heroes which are inspired by archaic cultures. Telling the stories of past time. With power metal riffs, and raspy guttural vocals. Ensiferum was founded in 1995 and they have many albums done. Sorry, but this is not my kind of music. Also seen them in some Festival open air in 2013. but I enjoyed seeing the live performance they are really awesome and fantastic on stage.

Finally, the Headliner on Friday hits the stage, now with one hour delay after the soundcheck, and as the Red light went on, CANNIBAL CORPSE hit the stage, the absolute legend of US Death Metal. Nearly all Metalheads couldn`t wait to see them perform. It was really full in front of the stage, and they played one of my favorite songs, I Cum Blood, I was moshing nearly to unconsciousness. Awesome show, they have really power and do also a very aggressive show on the stage, especially the vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher.

The time was passing so fast, that I did not realize we were already 3 days at Party-San. After getting some breakfast , I just relaxed at our camping place,

Saturday 08.08.2015

The time was passing so fast, that I did not realize we were already 3 days at Party-San. After getting some breakfast , I just relaxed at our camping place, before I go back to the festival ground. Just prepared my Camera and I also brought my jacket cause we the weather was not so good, little bit rain around 11 o clock. When I arrived in the Festival ground I was walking around and hang out with some friends and had still plenty of time to explore the metal market.

opening Band was from Portugal HOLOCAUSTO CANIBAL Death / Grind / Gore with 5 band members, they hit hard, and awoke the people with some Death, Grind, Gore breakfast. The crowd was amazing, like yesterday when CLITEATER were playing. The are really brutal, without compromises on the stage, with fast guitar riffing and hyperblast drumming, and a growling singer they had also some death metal elements, they were a totally sick band.

HEMDALE the Grindcore Band from Cleveland, Ohio US. They were a funny Grindcore band with the Bass player who was of full energy and running around the stage, jumped and stuff like that. The 3 guys were pretty active, but not only them - also the whole audience also was moshing brutally, doing circle pit and mosh pit. It looks like this band has just only fun to play , cause I can’t hear the riffing of the Guitar, but still they made us have a real good time.

Time for all Thrash metal fan’s with EVIL INVADERS, the old school Thrash Metal mixed / Speed Metal from Leopoldsburg, Limburg, Belgium. Definitely the sound, like Old-School Heavy Metal, or Thrash Metal influences - cause from the fast riffs you can hear it. Also they have kind of slowed down harmonic guitars and high pitched vokills. After they had a few songs done, I went to get some Lunch before I got some more Beers.

Back from Lunch, I went back to backstage to get some Beer, it was not long enough cause even my Beer was not finished yet came the next band ZEMIAL Avantgarde Metal. I cannot make a very good description of this band but they are an awesome band, some old school thrash, with old school guitar-iffs and some Black Metal sounding vocals , mixed with Rock, Black and heavy metal elements, very harmonic and melodious. Some progressive and psychedelic elements also appearred.

The Black Metal band from Manchester Uk WINTERFYLLETH hit the stage. Since 2007 the band has released 4 Album, which are very successful the English underground metal scene and also the wider international metal arena. It's a great mix of heavy melodies played with soft distortion resulting in big, anthemic songs that were singable without being too poppy, though it sounded a bit like Black Metal.

The next band are one of my Favourite Band from Brazil, also almost all metal fan’s were waiting for them - the Death Metal Band KRISIUN. In 1990 till 1992 they already made two demo album “Evil Age” in 1991 and “Curse of the Evil One” in 1992 which released by them self, in 1995 they released debut full album “Black Force Domain” and after the that "Apocalyptic Revelation" in 1998. It was awesome cause they played few songs from the new album “Forged In Fury” there to admire enough older compositions. That was a great show I have seen and was have great time to see them for the last day of Party-San.

After that it was time for the Thrash Metal Punk Band from Portland, Oregon U.S TOXIC HOLOCAUST. The straight old school Thrash Metal which sounded a bit like Motörhead , the only difference was the own vocal character, very old school riffs guitar and growling vocals. After a few songs, we wanted out to get some stuff from our camping place before the next Band coming.

One of the first black metal bands from Greece - ROTTING CHRIST, formed in 1987 playing experimental Black Metal with Gothic and folk elements. Already 28 year it this band active with 11 album released, they are already long enough rooted of Metal scene , which most of quite large Black Metal Fan's knowing them. A very active and great performance they did, switching between right and left running around the stage.

GHOST BRIGADE Doom Metal from Jyväskylä, Finland. Mixing many elements from melodic death metal, atmospheric sludge metal, doom metal and progressive metal and a bit alternative into their music, switching from clean vocals into grow rasping growls. They very unique. In my opinion they do not fix well into this event, mostly the line up was extreme Metal Music. Anyway its also great to see different kind of music.

The second of my Favourite band to hit the stage on Saturday was KATAKLYSM from Canada. After a vew more relaxed bands, it was time for an Extreme Death Metal party, which most of the audience wanted to see. Even I saw them a few times performing live, but never enough. Deep Growling, lots of Hyperblast drums ,fat tight & groovy, speed and dignified riffing which makes most of the audience moshing brutal in front of the stage. There was stage diving, circle pits, and a lot of action for the security that time. They played some of my favourite tracks - Ambassdor of Pain, Shadows and Dust, and the last song of the set' Cripple & Broken. That was one of the most amazing shows I ever saw.

It was getting dark seemed a bit romantic on the Airfield in Schlotheim with a beautiful sun set. Now playing was the Norwegian Black Metal Band MAYHEM. Scandinavia, most of the great Black Metal bands are coming from there, also most Extreme Metal fan’s knows that. The Oslo Black metal band was formed in 1984 and are one of the pioneers of the Norwegian black metal scene. Saw them for the first time, they were great.

MY DYING BRIDE the Doom / Death Metal from UK the band Co-Headlining the last day of Party-san. Since 1990 they already released 11 full albums, clean vocals with dismal darkness in heavier and mournful fashion. Deeper and tight guitar riffing and a very melodic and dramatic sound , even very heavy.

SAMAEL the headlining Band on the lastday of Party-san. The Black Metal / Electronic / Industrial from Switzerland. After a long sound check and some stage decoration, they started after 30 minutes. I dont know much about this band, but they sound interesting cause they incorporated electronic sounds which would best define their genre as industrial metal. While the show I just try to understand what kind music it , cause normally it isn`t my kind of music. It was not a bad show and i had a great time till the end the show.

How fast the time passed by, I did not realize I was already 4 days at Party-san on th airfield near Schlotheim. It was an amazing weekend and a joyful event , meeting new people and friends to hang out. Some of them I only see on Party-san. Sadly I missed nearly every band from the tentstage, , cause the schedule was too full for me running from stage to stage, for photos and stuff like that. Around 8 o clcok in morning we were ready back home, even I did not sleep so much, but I was happy and I look forward to the next Party-san 2016. Bye and see you next year.

See some more informtion about party-san 2016 it will update what the new from Party-San.