June 3rd 2012
ASPHYX - MESHUGGAH - SOULFLY - ANNIHILATOR - SLAYER

text and photos: Jason

Day two, slaughter second.

During midday communist agents tried to sabotage the Festival Radio's studio workflow with the most commie of all tricks - they cut the power. After the LOUD FESTIVAL'S tech crews took actions, the sabotage failed to succeed, so the commies withdrew, listening to North Korean Idol and we resumed our reign of audio terror. (OK, I'm coloring it a bit - the power was down, then it came back - booooring).

The terrain in front of the stage is starting to dry up, but we suspect that after it subdues enough beer and sweat (the rain was a bonus) it will be fit for chasing a pig in mud. Unfortunately in this urban environment real pigs are at short supply, so the security offers an alternative - chasing a particular drunkard from yesterday. Well, it turns out that he has crawled in the bushes somewhere to sleep, and no one know where, so we are left doing the only doable thing in these circumstances:

we drink beer.

[ I'll swallow one more right quick, because before you know it things will speed into motion ]

And then before you know it things sped into motion (told ya!). In our studio in short succession enter Mårten from Meshuggah, Martin от Asphyx (don't confuse one with the other) and Jeff from Annihilator enters before Martin left. We have time enough for only a short smoke-break (Jack-break for the nonsmokers) and Asphyx rush on stage.

SHOWTIME!

The sun shines as if it was solely meant to do so while in front of the stage the crowd thickens. They drink beer. ASPHYX come out on stage. They drink beer.

And then it was SLAUGHTER! I am not aware what these exact Duch are smoking but it's not something that makes you all smiley and shit. Yeah, they are very cheerful between the songs but during the actual songs they unleash punishment with so much vigor ans severity that one cannot be indifferent. And the crowd sure is not. Jumping, choir of roars, moshing and flying horn and beers accompany the entire set. The only sad thing is that the set end on time, precisely after 45 short minutes.



The whole ASPHYX visit was pretty short and tightly scheduled - they flew in, took their equipment on the stage, killed us, took their equipment off the stage, flew out. They promised to come back, and we hope so, because it will be worth it completely.

We drink beer.

MESHUGGAH are not exactly my pint, to be honest. They are great technicians and unbelievable virtuosos, no doubt about it (not only that - Mårten played Saxon's Princess of the Night on our Tngra-Loud-guitar and it was fucking awesome!), but I guess that I like my music a tad more chaotic. Or I'm just jelous.

The audience on the other hand has no such issues. "Me-shu-ggah!!!"-chants were going even before the Asphyx started and now the enthusiasm went beyond the boiling point. And it was mutual, I assure you, as it was obvious from the first note that crashed into the crowd all the way till the end.




Commie agents tried to sabotage the event by making a rain magic but it didn't work. If there were thunder magic also, no one noticed. And as it turns out, as soon as I turned my back, Jens Kidman had left the shelter of the stage for a short crowd-surfing in the rain. LOUD FESTIVAL 2012, baby!

I had turned my back to drinking beer, but also to unload the pictures from the camera in our festival studio. There I found Mariangela from Tristania, seeking shelter from the rain and Vassil interviewing her especially for you.

We drink wine.

The rains stops, Mariangela disappears somewhere and the crowd is already awaiting Max Cavalera and SOULFLY.



SOULFLY are old sharks when on Bulgarian soil (yep, sharks and soil, just because I can) but this doesn't diminish the fans passion. Rain or not, mud or not, the area front of stage is stuffed with people, waiting to be destroyed by Max. And he does! Blow after blow, the hammers fall onto our metal skulls and to obliviate any doubt that we are loco, a muddy, I mean MUDDY moshpit is formed. We have video shot from stage, let the pictures speak their thousands words.

We didn't need to be looking for a pig to chase, the whole thing turned out wonderful.

We drink.

ANNIHILATOR rush onto the stage with vigor and never stop until the end. When it comes to musician mobility, this is probably the most energetic band on the bill. For an hour+ the guys covered distances that would take them beyond to the nearby town or further. They were running forward on stage, they were running backwards on stage, on the speaker cabinets... Basically any surface that is runnable will at one point in time have an Annihilator member running on it.



The fact that they manage to play like beasts during all that running is some sort of voo-doo that I just don't get. The crowd is not as wild as during the Soulfly set, but that's understandable, given you play after Soulfly.

We dring, because shit is about to get really real!

And now the shit got really real! (Told ya!) I have to be honest and say that I intended this whole section to be just one very long SSSSLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEERRRRRR, because you one cannot put a SLAYER gig in writing. It's a law of the Universe like gravity, only stronger. But having in mind that the band is with a slightly different lineup, a few point should be made:
1) Garry Holt is not Jeff
2) Garry Holt is great as Jeff's substitute
3) The audience stopped giving any fuck about mud ant whatnot and pile up front of stage into a compact mass
4) We've went on and on about what a beast Kerry King is, what an Octopus Lombardo is and how Our Elvis guts us like pigs, no need to parrot all that again
5) [ this point exists only so that the funny works ]
666) FUCKING SSSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!


GALLERY