RED ALERT
Venue: Village of Morske, Sudak district, Crimea, Workers' Cultural Centre
Dates: 22–23 July 2006
RED ALERT, created by the MHM organisers, is the only international core-oriented music festival in the post-Soviet space. Since MHM paid no particular attention to core and nu-metal, the "Progressor" agency decided to run an alternative festival in the same part of Crimea, inviting alternative acts well known across the post-Soviet sphere and beyond. If you take the broader audience's perspective — the band selection could have been slightly more varied, though this is not a minus of the festival as such, since the general stylistic direction of the performing bands was declared from the start.
Fortunately, the first pancake was by no means a disaster — everything was organised excellently; you could immediately see that the organisers had solid experience running festivals of this kind.
We (and a significant portion of the festival's audience, including several bands) stayed in a tent camp on the sea shore, twenty minutes from the festival venue. The cultural centre was a ten-minute walk from the sea and crowned what was evidently the village's main street. Despite the unremarkable exterior of the building itself, everything inside turned out to be entirely suitable for large-scale concerts. Separate entry and exit points helped avoid crowding; bringing in alcohol in any form of container was prohibited, but in the foyer, alongside the merch table, draft Chernihiv beer was available for just 3 (!) hryvnias. The main hall itself was quite spacious — a large open area in front of the stage for moshing and seats at the back for the weary. The surrounding grounds, in turn, were perfectly suited for decompressing from the musical assault — plenty of space to relax in the fresh air, and an abundance of snack bars and other spots for satisfying thirst and hunger.
The sound system was provided by a combined company, ART-MAX: BMS speakers, Premier drum kit, 2 Marshall stacks, JBL tops as side fills, numerous haze machines and colour changers — so the sound and lighting were generally at an appropriate level. Though with most bands it did suffer from excessive volume and heavy clipping (which was quite tiring over extended periods inside the hall). A pleasant detail: the mixing desk and the press access to the stage were separated by crash barriers.
The festival audience, as one might expect, consisted predominantly of hardcore and nu-metal fans (it would be strange otherwise), though a fair number of metalheads, punks, and emo fans were also spotted.
DAY ONE
- Lucky Sun Day (metal-core, ua)
- Sanctum (metal-core, ua)
- Kontur (pop-core, by)
- X-Ray (metal-core, ua)
- Hosteel (death-core, md)
- I.N.F. (death-core, ru)
- M.L.A. (nu-metal, by)
—break—
- MAMAY (metal-core, ru)
- ANNA (nu-metal, ua)
- Hunter (nu-metal, pl)
- KOREA (metal-core, ru)
- Skinhate (street-core, ua)
Day One was opened by Lucky Sun Day, or simply LSD. The metalcore collective in their pioneer neckerchiefs tried to warm up the audience with aggressive dreadlock-whipping, BENASSI covers, and the soundtrack to a well-known unpalatable TV series. Generally a reasonably successful set, though nothing outstanding.
Almost immediately Sanctum took the stage — the same metalcore, but considerably more aggressive. Strained vocals; the bassist, in something kilt-like, growled the overdriven bass guitar impressively; dissonances and chromaticism — not bad at all as second band on the bill.
The moment we heard KONTUR, we immediately jokingly dubbed them pop-core. It turned out we weren't wrong — the poster confirmed it. Not much to say about the music — teary LINKIN PARK-style riffs, not hardcore at all, emo vocals (though quite good for the genre — the vocalist was genuinely trying and singing in tune).
X-Ray, unfortunately, couldn't be properly assessed. Excellent metalcore riffs and drums were undermined by terrible sound, but the impression from this young band was positive — just bring their own sound engineer next time.
Hosteel, on the other hand, disappointed with repetitive riffs and an evident HATEBREED influence — though they did manage to fire up the crowd, or was it just the beer?
I.N.F. were personally our stars of Day One. Despite the death-core billing, the guys were playing something closer to mathcore or mathy metal — not TEXTURES, certainly, but the polyrhythm was a real treat. The vocalist was like the MESHUGGAH frontman, only stockier. One guitarist with a 7-string covered what two players would normally do; a decent drummer and solos with a wah pedal. Sadly the bass and cymbals were inaudible, but it didn't particularly ruin the picture.
M.L.A. — unremarkable nu, again tearful metallic harmonies, a noticeable PAPA ROACH pop flavour, their SLIPKNOT cover didn't impress — it doesn't work in D minor. However: the sound was simply excellent — big credit to the guys and their engineer on that front.
MAMAY probably take second place behind I.N.F. — metalcore, but quite interesting and melodic; in places it even recalled DREAM THEATER's Train of Thought, and the guys also aren't averse to non-standard time signatures — overall very, very decent.
After this, regrettably, our eardrums couldn't withstand the assault any further and we missed Hunter and ANNA. From conversations with people we gathered for this report that both bands played well, properly energised the crowd, and that the Hunter lineup included a violin and a substantial dose of melody. This last fact made us regret missing those sets.
Headliners KOREA delivered their metalcore, the sound of which fell considerably short — especially compared to their studio recordings. The set was not particularly tight, and came across rather palely, especially against the day's overall impressions — the guys simply weren't memorable. That said, for all of that they played considerably better than the day's actual headliners: Skinhate. Any sense of musical cohesion among the musicians was entirely absent; technique failed badly. Objectively speaking, the headliners were a disappointment.
DAY TWO
- Surrogat (rap-core, ua)
- Portal-Z (metal-core, ru)
- 33rd Day (metal-core, by)
- Minerva (nu-metal, ua)
- Zv!k (nu-metal, by)
- Bazooka Band (metal-core, ua)
- Ikona (emo-core, by)
—break—
- Stardown (nu-metal, ru)
- Frontside (metal-core, pl)
- HOSTILE BREED (metal-core, ru)
- Rasta (synth-metal, by)
- [AMATORY] (metal-core, ru)
Day Two was opened by home-city act Surrogat. Their solid rap-core fired up the crowd; the hall joined in with the guys on a well-known political chant. We approach rap-core somewhat coolly as a rule, but it should be acknowledged that as opening-act duty goes, the guys handled it very well.
Portal-Z, however, left absolutely no impression whatsoever. Mediocre metalcore with fairly indistinct sound. The majority of the audience seemed to share our assessment, as the hall was nearly empty. Moshing enthusiasts did find something to their taste here, as always.
33rd Day, unfortunately, continued the trend set by the preceding band. Again, mushy sound significantly undermined the set, making it impossible to assess the metalcore properly. In the end it came out pallid and forgettable — though I think this can largely be attributed to external conditions.
Minerva offered some variety with nu-metal in which the spirit of the genre's well-known masters KORN was very much felt. The presence of keyboards was also welcome. The set would have gone well entirely if not for a broken string on the bassist, which is where it ended.
The next two bands — Zv!k and Bazooka Band — we skipped by tradition to preserve our eardrums. Not much could be learned about the former — evidently nothing worth missing was missed. Bazooka Band, by general consensus, played quality but fairly standard nu and metalcore in the spirit of SLIPKNOT, on whom a cover was performed.
Ikona distinguished themselves on Day Two by playing emo-core. Their service to us essentially ended there, as we didn't find anything particularly interesting in their music. In general terms: quality emo with hardcore riffing.
After the break the baton was picked up by Stardown. Here the high quality of the sound and their performance overall deserves mention. They played quite precisely and technically; you could feel the band and their engineer operating at a very high level. The material itself, however, didn't dazzle with any particular originality; a certain derivative quality inspired by the genre's masters was evident. That said, this didn't especially undermine the impression.
Frontside were a pleasant surprise. The Poles played quite varied metalcore — mid-tempo death-influenced riffs in a MORBID ANGEL vein were complemented by solid thrash solos; the guitarists made interesting use of melodic intervals — which in core is quite rare. And the sound didn't let anyone down: it was softer than most bands', without excessive distortion, and the drums were exceptionally well set up. The vocal energy was also impressive — something like a deep growl mixed with a core scream.
HOSTILE BREED are memorable mainly for good sound, odd time signatures, and decent solos. They played tightly and with quality; the crowd got going, but nothing particularly stood out.
Rasta, as always, played with real dignity — excellent sound, great delivery; they were better suited to headline than [AMATORY], and their music was more varied too. The keyboardist was excellent — good work with synth and sampler; I suspect the drummer was playing to a click track — sampled and live drums alternated, but the tempo match was perfect. Their EURYTHMICS cover was a pleasant touch. As core-festival fare goes, synth-metal sounds original — though this plus is only really felt in this kind of context.
[AMATORY] were the evening's disappointment. Yes, the guys did their job; the sound was decent enough; the stage presence and technique held up — but listening to them was frankly boring. The DON'T PHUNK WITH MY HEART cover sounded quite stupid — covering pop like that is something only beginners should do; the "Master Of Puppets" intro riff at the start did land nicely though. Their mega-hit "Cherno-Belye Dni" came out flat — in their enthusiasm AMATORY set a very fast tempo. The rest of the songs didn't grab at all — one good song across nearly three albums is no reason to give them the headline slot. A gift to the fans: songs from the as-yet-unrecorded album (no great difference was noticed). Overall there was a sense of a tight, well-rehearsed but somewhat soulless approach to music and performance. However, judging by fan responses, the band delivered for their audience — so the above can be attributed to objective, cold analysis from the outside.
Wrapping up, the first thing one wants to say is how competent the organisers were. Everything was run smoothly and precisely, without unnecessary delays or incidents. No fights were observed; the tolerance and effectiveness of the technical staff and security were equally at the right level. We hope Red Alert will continue and grow in both audience and the range of bands invited. Your humble servants, for instance, would very much like to see representatives of the mathcore style (elements of which were noted in several of the performing bands). It should also be noted that our portal's musical orientation leans toward the heavier end, which explains the specifics of this report — we tried to approach things objectively and without fanboyism. We also express gratitude to the organisers for the accreditation provided.
On this lyrical note, we bow and thank you for reading.
Photos from the festival can be found here