Ah, the youth today is not what it used to be, not at all ;). I remember when people knew how to mosh properly, but now... they came out and shoved each other around like children. Good thing I ran into a couple of acquaintances and showed them what real moshing looks like — bodies were flying left and right ;). But anyway, that is all lyrical digression.
The session was delayed, as usual. This no longer surprises anyone, but not by this much! The flyer said the event would start at 17:00; in practice everything was delayed by an hour and a half. Another 30 minutes were consumed by the process of getting inside through a fairly serious crush. But anyway, here I was inside. On stage at that moment MALINCONIA were just finishing their set. What can I say — not bad atmospheric, gothic-ish music with a pleasant female vocal. It would be an interesting thing... if not for the sound. It was poor, to put it mildly. And if on all the other bands this was not very noticeable, on MENTAL DEMISE and FLESHGORE (whose music is strongly recommended to be heard only on good equipment) it had a very significant impact. Incidentally, because of the delayed start, each band had to shorten their sets.
Then GRIMFAITH appeared on stage. They played better than before, but there was still something dry about it. And the vocalist's singing style doesn't particularly impress me — there's a certain amateurishness about it, or something of that sort. In short, a three-out-of-five performance.
Next to perform was the Chernihiv pagan black formation with the fine name NATURAL SPIRIT — a band I had long wanted to hear a second time (the first was at Ruskolun, which you can also read about on our portal). A decent band; they have even stopped sounding like PAGAN REIGN, though in places the vocalist's singing style still occasionally evokes associations with the Tver band's work. But overall it is all pleasantly Slavic ;), with flutes and whistles (synthetic ones, naturally, which is a shame — live instruments would have been much cooler). During the set things near the stage became considerably more crowded, and people started trying to mosh (which I already mentioned above ;)). Overall this band probably fired up the pit crowd the most. Some individuals, evidently not entirely sober, leapt onto the stage to join in, but only ended up snagging cables and microphone stands, whereupon the security immediately threw them back down — one person of note was a certain Crow, camera at the ready (referring to his assistance with security, not to his attacking cables =)).
But then the guys from Chernihiv finished their set, and the Christian black metal band HOLY BLOOD took the stage. The audience greeted them more than coolly, and throughout the set cries of "Rubbish!" and similar sentiments rang out. And at the end, when they announced they had concluded their set, someone rather too enthusiastic shouted "Hooray!" ;). The band, however, impressed me — in the best sense of the word. I had only heard them live once before, at what was apparently their debut performance some 3 years ago at the Ekran cinema. I had not liked them at all then, but now... thoughtful lyrics, keyboard used in measured doses, decent vocals. And most importantly: I came away with the impression that they had revised their worldview — the phrase "Slavic land" appeared in their output almost more frequently than in the Natural's ;), I was absolutely astounded. I can say with confidence that this band revealed itself to me in an entirely new light ;).
Then came WITCH HUNTERS — good, solid power metal, but their set was not especially memorable, given that afterwards Krokodil (the MC, for those not in the know) announced a competition called "Miss Big Tits" %). I think few people retained any memory of the band's set ;). The band remained on stage and provided musical accompaniment for a striptease. Several girls were invited up from the floor and began slowly undressing to the sounds of the music. Some, admittedly, were not particularly keen to part with their bras, but they received assistance =). A few more seconds passed while they decided who should receive the prize, and they resolved to give each girl a disc and return her bra. (A small observation: from what I could see, the number of attractive girls decreases with each passing year :( ).
The Lysychansk band MENTAL DEMISE took the stage. As I already noted, the sound ruined virtually everything. The two covers — of DEAD INFECTION and of SUFFOCATION — came across reasonably decently, but everything else frequently dissolved into complete mush. Then came FLESHGORE, who during their soundcheck displayed an orange scarf and announced that they were glad of the people's president's victory and that the whole band had supported him (although in our democracy — MENTAL DEMISE's bassist Yoffa was wearing a Yanukovych t-shirt). People near the stage immediately (one wonders at whose instigation? ;)) began chanting "Yu-SHCHEN-ko!" %). FLESHGORE even dedicated a song to the Orange Revolution, apparently called "Fucking" ;). Unfortunately, the sound also prevented this band from being properly appreciated, which was a shame.
And on that note everything concluded. Krokodil was still running around the stage shouting that everyone should immediately record the fact that he was stamping on a piece of paper containing FLESHGORE's programme and smoking various substances in the corners =). His request, as you can see, we are duly fulfilling.