Ааааааа! I have no words! Nor I have voice! Nor I have power! I cannot be objective. Nor I can be subjective. I just was. To a concert of the leading metal formation in the world and one of the leaders in the metal… in the world. Without appetizers, without desserts – two main and bleeding dishes!

First. Salty, inspired and explosion hazard. In Flames. One hour with the music of the Swedes, that melted unnoticeably in the night. One hour with energy and two-sided relationship between fans and band, with strong contemporary metal and with the euphoria of the first visit in Bulgaria of the most popular and loved band in the melodic death metal. The guys came out and played with much punch, they showed great humour and obvious content of the warm welcome the crowd gave them, counting around 7-8 thousands which is super, having in mind that the last day of Kaliakra Rock Fest was the first working day of the week but still the fans were there.

 “The Quiet Place”, “Colony”, “The Mirror’s Truth” - In Flames heated the atmosphere with killing songs and made the crowd before them to boil. Anders Fridén, obviously amazed, didn’t cease to wave his long dreadlocks and to sing from his heart. And the smile never left the shiny face of Björn Gelotte. He greeted two of his most devoted fans on the frontline and even sent a roady of the band to give them picks directly in the hands. As an act of gratitude he received the t-shirt of one of the boys and smiling he tossed over his shoulder. I cannot speak anymore for this band – they are great and they promised that their first stay here won’t be their last.  They exchanged looks, pointing to the public, lifting shoulders and kept smiling while conquering the stage both sides. Only for the Weak” made the fans jump, clap and sing from the top of their lungs and the guest wished us good time with Slayer with “My Sweet Shadow”. Thank you, good night and see you very soon, we hope!

Half an hour of waiting, the tension escalated, the Kavarna night filled with scans: Slayer! Slayer! Slayer! Suddenly the lights were off and there scattered the so familiar intro of the previous album of the Americans. The titans emerged on the stage and they slaughtered us with "Disciple" of “God Hates Us All”. But even if they would have started with a traditional Bulgarian folk dance, the reaction would be the same.

The second main meal was bleeding, raw and stuffed with adrenaline. The crowd went insane. The people leaped forward rising hands high and screamed all of the breath collected in the lungs of a few thousand people and above one after another there followed classic sound chainsaws, forged long time ago the leadership and the status of the most cult trash band. “Chemical Warfare”, “Dead Skin Mask”, “Die by the Sword”... There wasn’t skipped also their last record, “Christ Illusion” (2006), and when Slayer shot “War Ensemble” there followed real war, war in front of the stage, war on the stage. Legs, arms, hairs, bodies, everything fused in a mass of total, canalized chaos. Hit in the head. What is that? An elbow! Not mine… Leap back in the moshpit, a happy sacrifice, led by the fierce music.

Tom Araya with hoarse voice thanked the fans for the patience, for the welcome, for the devotion. Hoarse but not while shouting the bloody hymns of the band. “Raining Blood”, the stage was washed in red lights, the crowd  swayed in the next dance of death and the security guards poured with water the overheated to red mass behind the enclosures and unendingly handed cups and bottles of water that saved not only one throat from tearing of the barbed wire the vocal strings turned to. Just next to the stage one tall figure in front the loudspeakers didn’t stop banging head. A known silhouette. Hah, that is the face of our photographer Victor! No, the emotion wasn’t spared to anyone.

“Angel of Death”. The end. A bow. And picks and sticks poured the fans. Thank you! There wasn’t encore. And it was no need. Exhausted, dazed, people swayed without seeing, aiming for the exit and the rescuing tents with beer. It is over. Kaliakra Rock Fest exploded, blew us in an uncompromising way. And despite all the concerts of great bands that await us until the end of the year, the lath yet is risen damn high.

Report: Ivaylo Alexandrov

Check out some great photos, courtesy of Victor Alexandrov, in our GALLERY.