Brutal Assault 2024: Epitome of destruction in Josefov fortress, part one.
It is paradoxical that despite the amount of extreme metal I have listened to throughout my life, I have actually attended very few festivals dedicated almost entirely to this genre. Even more paradoxical is that at my age I am just starting to move into the European festival circuit when my body is already asking me to sleep in hotel beds and eat breakfast in buffets surrounded by chubby tourists whose only goal in life is to continue getting fatter and fatter every day that passes, fleeing from the daily life that they hate and from which they would like to escape if they had the slightest opportunity.
It must be said that this is by no means my first festival focused on a genre like extreme metal, nor is it my first experience camping, although it is funny that up to now I have done the opposite and this is the moment when I am starting to do what I should have done a decade and a half ago. Anyway, this is not the time to start giving a speech, since I’ve come to talk about my first experience at Brutal Assault, one of the quintessential festivals within the European circuit and one of those that works hardest to focus its experience on extreme metal and subgenres derived from it.
The Brutal Assault festival has been running for a whopping 27 editions, including the one I’m writing about today. This is a surprising number, considering that we’re talking about a festival that has been working hard since 1996, and that has hosted bands of the calibre of Mystic Circle, Necrophagist, Malevolent Creation, Pungent Stench, Gorefest, Hecate Enthroned and Septicflesh, to name a few of the most important bands in the genre. Not in vain, Brutal Assault is a must-see for extreme metal lovers from all over the world, and that in itself says a lot about the people who work behind the festival itself.
This year’s line-up is as striking as any of the previous editions, although on a personal level I must say that there were a number of bands that I was really looking forward to seeing and this was the perfect excuse to cross them off my list of bands to watch in one fell swoop. On the first day I was able to enjoy the energetic live performance of Laid To Waste, who since their formation have released two studio albums and their most recent album Trauma, which went on sale last week. The Czech quartet had a few aces up their sleeve and in the fifty minutes of their performance they gave everything they could. I really enjoyed their show with that old school thrash metal that has accompanied me for so many years. The next morning I also met their guitarist Sky while having breakfast in the bar near where we camped. It’s a real shame because I wanted to get the band’s new album but due to the tight schedule of the festival itself it was impossible for me. Sky, if you are reading this, please forgive me for not being able to find a suitable time for our transaction, I feel terrible.
Shortly after Laid To Waste it was the turn of the effective Hellripper, who we had seen a few days ago at Wacken Open Air, and also had the chance to enjoy their great live performance earlier this year accompanying Abbath and Toxic Holocaust. What can I say that I haven’t already said about James McBain? He’s a true phenomenon, a madman on stage who spits out every word as if he were angry at the fucking world and who knows how to mobilize the audience with an inner strength that I’ve seen in few kids his age. An hour is a long time and in that time we were able to destroy our necks to the rhythm of Nekroslut, The Hanging Tree, All Hail The Goat and my favourite since the album came out, The Nuckelavee. I’m already counting the days until I meet these beasts on stage again.
The first night came quickly because the rest of the days were packed and we had to replenish our strength for what was to come. The Josefov fortress eagerly awaited our arrival, thirsty for violent metal and cold beer, ready to destroy us completely and mercilessly. Skeletal Remains opened but unfortunately I didn’t get there on time so my first contact with the main stage was with Exumer, who I hadn’t seen live for a few years and who obviously did the job. It’s always a pleasure to see the lads let their hair down to the rhythm of Fallen Saint or Possessed By Fire, although I’m a big fan of their more recent works such as Fire And Damnation (2012, Metal Blade Records) or Hostile Defiance (2019, Metal Blade Records). Vocalist Mem Von Stein continues to be an absolute earthquake on stage, a true showman.
The day was set to be very interesting with the appearance of the immense Evil Invaders, one of the bands that has dazzled me the most in recent years. The Belgian quartet has only three studio albums to date and it is precisely their latest album Shattering Reflection (2022, Napalm Records) that has had the deepest impact on me, being the total protagonist of their performance. Joe’s inexhaustible energy on vocals and guitar made Feed Me Violence a true sonic whirlwind that grew until reaching Hissing In Crescendo before lowering the level of revolutions a bit with In Deepest Black to end up sentencing an electrifying concert with Die For Me and Raising Hell, with sparks and knives as garnish in its final burst.
Severe Torture came from the Netherlands to delight us with their misanthropic death metal that they have been cultivating since their formation in Boxtel in 1997. With their new album Torn From The Jaws Of Death (2024, Season Of Mist) under their arm, released just two months before their time at Brutal Assault, the quintet made their way through the Sea Shepherd stage with powerful riffs and a devastating rhythm section made up of bassist Patrick Boleij and drummer Damiën Kerpentier. The powerful voices of Dennis Schreurs echoed over the boards as if it were an earthquake while guitarists Thijs van Laarhoven and Marvin Vriesde did their thing as if their guitars were sharpened with red-hot steel.
One of the bands at the entire festival that I was most looking forward to meeting again was Havok, seven years after having seen them for the first and only time. The Colorado thrash metal quartet led by guitarist and vocalist David Sanchez was one of the first bands of the new school of thrash metal that I started listening to with the release of their debut album Burn (2009, Candlelight Records) and that has accompanied me throughout the fifteen years that have passed since then, having been able to see them only once in my country and it was precisely with the tour of what remains my favorite album of the band to date, Conformicide (2017, Century Media Records).
The tight setlist made the American quartet get down to business with Point Of No Return that sounded like a real shot in the face. There was no time to entertain themselves with long speeches, Fear Campaign would be the next point-blank shot before unleashing the sonic discharge with Hang ‘Em High. From that moment on it was a constant bombardment with Prepare For Attach, Phantom Force and From The Cradle To The Grave, ending the recital with the devastating Time Is Up.
Another of the proposals that generated the most curiosity for me was that of the American avantgarde-black/technical death trio Imperial Triumphant, formed in 2005 by vocalist and guitarist Zachary Ezrin and currently completed by Kenny Grohowski on drums and Steve Blanco on bass, vocals and keyboards. The curious project, which has included musicians such as Max Gorelick, son of the famous Kenny G, has built a good reputation in the scene by fusing a good number of genres, making their proposal something quite unique.
I can say that Imperial Triumphant did not disappoint me at all. Their dedicated attitude on stage made their performance one of the most notable of the Friday session, focusing their entire repertoire on their third album Vile Luxury (2018, Gilead Media), from which I highlight the exuberant Gotham Luxe with which they came on stage as well as the agonizing and melancholic Chernobyl Blues.
I missed Incantation at Wacken Open Air the week before Brutal Assault due to tight schedules and despite having had a good number of opportunities to see them in my country I had never met them so this was the perfect opportunity. The long-lived old-school American death metal project has remained active for three and a half decades, regularly releasing a multitude of records during its extensive career, so this was a good time to celebrate its three and a half decades of life by reviewing its discography as well as its most recent album, Unholy Deification (2023, Relapse Records). There was no shortage of some classics from the band such as The Ibex Moon, Blasphemous Cremation or Shadows Of The Ancient Empire in a show that sounded crystal clear thanks to the excellent work by the sound engineer.
I should say that Unto Others was another of the bands that surprised me the most from the whole Brutal Assault, but I’d be cheating. The heavy/gothic quartet became a sensation with the release of their debut album Mana (2021, Eisenwald) under the name Idle Hands, to which I dedicated a good amount of time as soon as it came out and which I also reviewed when it came out, but the album that really made me fall in love was their second full-length Strength (2021, Roadrunner Records), one of those albums that caught me from the first moment and that I burned at a time in my life when I had just changed jobs and was going through a difficult time emotionally, so songs like Heroin served as a soundtrack accompanying me on my trips back home late, after dark.
I would have chosen another time for Unto Others but the impeccable show offered by its four members was so intense that it didn’t need to be night for their magic to transport us to the depths of darkness from the moment the first chords of Nightfall began to resonate through the amplifiers of the Obscure stage and the iconic voice of Gabriel Franco shook us to the core. The setlist focused largely on their devastating debut although it did peck at some songs from their second album such as the aforementioned Heroin or When Will God’s Work Be Done, recovering some songs from the two parts of their EP Don’t Waste Your Time and two of the most recent singles from their long-awaited third album, Butterfly and Raigeki. This was one of the highlights of the festival, without a doubt.
Triumph Of Death was probably one of the concerts that made me decide to go to Josefov. It may sound pretentious but it is true, good old Tom G. Warrior has been one of the greatest exponents of the genre and for many he will always be a visionary who made the music world a much better place, be it with the first compositions of the early Hellhammer, the interesting and intense path traveled by Celtic Frost or the new incarnation of his musical work as Triptykon, three bands that have continued to redefine the scene and shape the future of music with something that many bands today do not have, soul.
In the case of Triumph Of Death it must be noted that this project led by Tom G. Warrior himself and composed of guitarist and also vocalist André Mathieu (Neolithic Regression, Punish), bassist Jamie Lee Cussigh and drummer Tim Wey dedicated to playing the musical anthems composed by Hellhammer between 1982 and 1984. This was my third time witnessing the magic of Triumph Of Death on stage and I must admit that it is an experience that I would be able to repeat many times if time and money allow it, enjoying songs like Blood Insanity with André on vocals or the agonizing and tortuous Triumph Of Death is an unparalleled experience, something that can hardly be described in words.
Part of the indescribable experience of seeing these four great musicians on stage was partially captured in the live album Resurrection Of The Flesh (2023, BMG/Noise), which I highly recommend listening to not only for those who enjoy Hellhammer’s music but for all those who want to have a piece of history on their shelf, not only on a musical level but also on an artistic level, since the cover designed by Daniele Valeriani and the photographs that make up the booklet by Roland Moeck of Arkana PhotoArt, Henryk Michaluk, Allan Larsen and Arash Taheri already justify the well-deserved outlay on the double vinyl that Prowling Death Records, BMG and Noise released almost a year ago.
The titanic presence of Tom G. Warrior on stage can even be threatening due to the seriousness with which the Swiss musician comes on stage, but his interaction with the audience even makes you laugh out loud at certain moments. Likewise, André does a great job as a guitarist, taking the lead vocal role in songs such as the aforementioned Blood Insanity or Decapitator. This time the setlist was slightly altered, leaving out of the setlist songs such as Crucifixion, Horus/Aggressor or Maniac, however we could see how the rain started to fall with the first notes of Messiah and as the song progressed the rain only increased. By the time Triumph Of Death made an appearance we were all soaked and had given ourselves body and soul to the cause of Warrior and his henchmen. With Triumph Of Death it was like witnessing the arrival of the messiah of chaos and destruction, making Triumph Of Death‘s performance on the Obscure stage one of the most cheered by the public at Brutal Assault.
Brutal Assault 2025: First batch of bands confirmed
With a hangover still in our bodies after the last edition of the Czech festival Brutal Assault 2024, the festival’s organisers are already preparing the next edition of the European extreme competition par excellence, having revealed some names that will be part of the 2025 line-up. Those who attended the festival were able to experience first-hand the bands that will be part of the upcoming line-up, as they were announced on-site by the organisers, highlighting the confirmation of Gojira after their spectacular performance at the Paris Olympic Games.
The rest of the bands confirmed so far are Dimmu Borgir, Ministry, August Burns Red, Angelmaker, Benighted, Between The Buried And Me, The Kovenant, Dope, Obituary, Pig Destroyer, Static X, Suffocation, Thrown and Unleashed. As usual at Brutal Assault, the number of bands confirmed so far once again shows the variety of subgenres within extreme metal that the organisers always handle in their line-ups, with a bit of everything for all tastes.
Brutal Assault 2025 will once again be held at the Josefov Fortress in Jaroměř from August 6th to August 9th, the first digital tickets have gone on sale at a price of €171 and at the time of writing this article, 68% of the first tickets at this price have already been sold. You can get your tickets at the official Brutal Assault store.
