Brutal Assault 2024: Epitome of destruction in Josefov fortress, part four.
I’ve probably left the best for last, and many of you will agree with that. The last act of any work, whether musical, cinematic, literary or theatrical, is always the most important and most often the most remembered part of the work. I wanted to do the same by reserving some important cartridges to burn in this last entry of our chronicle about the 27th edition of Brutal Assault held at the Josefov fortress in Jaroměř on August 7 and 10, 2024. This being my last return to one of the festivals I have enjoyed the most in my life, I will record it in the last lines that I will publish about this edition until my return, whenever that may be.
I will start with my first time seeing Forbidden, one of those bands that I have admired since my teenage years and that unfortunately I had not been able to see live until a few weeks ago. What a surprise I had when the band members started to come out on stage and I ran into Daniel Chewy Mongrain from Voivod on guitar, who I also interviewed some time ago about their latest album Syncro Anarchy. Wow, I didn’t expect that! It must be said that a few days ago I had seen that the band itself announced on social media that it would be Daniel who would be accompanying the band during the festival season in Europe but my memory is already starting to fail so I was really surprised when I saw him on stage.
Regarding the Forbidden show, first of all I must say that Craig Locicero is a totally underrated guitarist who doesn’t get all the attention he really deserves. His work as a founding member of the band, not only on the six strings, is something that we should all applaud, since, with their comings and goings, Forbidden has always managed to maintain an important standard within the scene, even with those albums that few will remember, such as Distortion (1994, GUN Records) or Green (1997, GUN Records), beyond the band’s first two classics, or their comeback album Omega Wave (2010, Nuclear Blast), with which they surprised me enormously and from which I have been waiting for a continuation for almost a decade and a half.
Forbidden was performing again at the Czech festival after their first and only appearance at the aforementioned festival in 2011, so it was clear that the public was eager to see them in action again. After a few minutes preparing their exit while Rainbow’s classic Stargazer played through the speakers, the band came on stage with Infinite and Out Of Body (Out Of Mind), two authentic cannon shots with which they lifted the audience by putting all the artillery they had at their disposal into orbit. In fact, the band focused their entire repertoire on their first two albums only so when the brutal Forbidden Evil or the devastating Step By Step made an appearance, all of Josefov celebrated with great energy. Chewy and Craig make a phenomenal team, I wouldn’t mind at all if he became part of the band in the future. I must say the same about vocalist Norman Skinner. Damn, what a voice he has! The vocalist of Hellscream, Imagika and Niviane also nails it and seems very comfortable leading the Bay Area quintet. When Chalice Of Blood came on stage, everything exploded and after that there was only silence, silence after a tremendous ovation from the audience who had enjoyed an amazing live performance.
The audience was also eager to see Left To Die, a tribute band to Death formed by musicians who at some point in history were part of the original band and which is currently made up of bassist Terry Butler who was part of the band during the Spiritual Healing era, guitarist Rick Rozz (1990, Combat Records) who recorded Leprosy (1988, Combat Records), guitarist and vocalist Matt Harvey who is also a member of Death DTA and Living Monstrosity, as well as drummer Gus Rios who also shares the line-up with Harvey in Gruesome.
The incentive to see Left To Die was precisely that the band would focus their repertoire on playing the band’s classic second album, Leprosy. We could say that Leprosy is one of the best albums that Death released in its seventeen years of formation, but the reality is that absolutely all of Death‘s albums are authentic masterpieces individually, so it is too complicated to make a statement like this. As expected, the quartet played Leprosy in its entirety, although not in the same order as the songs on the album, making a brief stop at their debut album Scream Bloody Gore (1987, Combat Records) with the fast and aggressive Zombie Ritual.
This was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the festival, which many missed precisely because they did not know its members and perhaps the background of the band itself. Those who were there know that they witnessed something very special and will hardly forget a performance like the one Butler, Rozz, Harvey and Rios offered that afternoon at the Josefov fortress.
Even though I had only seen Testament a week ago, the quintet led by Chuck Billy is always a safe bet on stage. Enjoying the guitars of Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson is always an event to highlight, even more so if we add to this equation that Testament is in an enviable state of form and is also celebrating the re-release of its first two studio albums The Legacy (1987, Megaforce Records) and The New Order (1988, Megaforce Records), two essential works of American thrash metal.
With their characteristic energy on stage, the quintet from the Bay Area came on stage with a devastating song like Eerie Inhabitants that quickly gave way to The New Order from the self-titled album from 1988 before presenting the first song of the afternoon from their debut album, Apocalyptic City. From that moment on, the songs from The Legacy and The New Order took turns, increasing the intensity little by little as the performance progressed. The last third of their performance was dominated by the band’s anthems, as it could not be otherwise, from Raging Waters to Disciples Of The Watch, and they finished off their enormous performance with the devastating Over The Wall before closing in style with Into The Pit. The audience’s satisfaction was evident on their faces once Testament‘s energetic performance on the Marshall stage had finished.
Well, it was the turn of the Swedish act Vomitory, one of the most interesting death metal bands and at the same time the longest-lived despite the breaks they have made since their formation in 1989. In nine brutal studio albums they have explored, studied and at the same time extended the machiavellian death metal with which they have shaped nine authentic sonic beasts of albums in which you will not find a single weak limb. Their most recent album, All Heads Are Gonna Roll (2023, Metal Blade Records), would also be the protagonist of their performance although the band actually reviewed practically their entire catalog of albums during their appearance on the Marshall stage as the last band of the night on Thursday, August 8.
The four members of Vomitory came on stage with all the energy possible with Erik Rundqvist in charge of the vocals and the bass who was completely out of his depth. Guitarists Urban Gustafsson and Peter Östlund did a commendable job dishing out blows throughout the performance, accompanied by a brutal drummer like Tobias Gustafsson, who has been pounding the turntables in Vomitory since their formation in 1989. There was no shortage of classics like Blood Rapture from the self-titled album, Revelation Nausea from the album of the same name, or my favorite, Regorge In The Morgue from their most recent album Opus Mortis VIII (2011, Metal Blade Records).
Meanwhile, we were able to enjoy the British band Carcass and their melodic death metal once again, who are already one of the most committed bands to the festival. This was their fifth time on the Brutal Assault stage, but the attendees were very clear that they were not going to miss a party of this magnitude for that reason. The quartet led by Jeff Walker had not yet attended the festival with their most recent album Torn Arteries (2021, Nuclear Blast) and it was more than enough reason to present some of their new compositions in front of the crowded audience that had gathered on the Sea Shepherd stage after The Amity Affliction‘s performance.
Carcass‘ impeccable live performance is something that has always caught my attention, especially if I compare the band’s current sound with that of their early days when they released Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment in 1987 or the totemic debut album Reek Of Putrefaction from 1988, a lot has changed since those days. As expected, they decided to open the show with the pounding Buried Dreams before introducing the first song from their most recent album of the evening, Kelly’s Meat Emporium. They then went back in time to play the powerful Incarnated Solvent Abuse from their spectacular third album, Necroticism – Descanting The Insalubrious (1991, Earache Records).
They then combined each of their following songs, alternating between their first works and the most recent ones: Under The Scalpel Blade, This Mortal Coil, Black Star together with Keep On Rotting In The Free World and Genital Grinder before unleashing the finale with Exhume To Consume, Corporal Jigsore Quandary, Ruptured In Purulence and Heartwork preceded by a drum solo and Tools Of The Trade as the last song of the evening. It must be said that in addition to seeing them present their excellent latest album, this was my first time seeing Nippy Blackford (Amulet) as a guitarist and I must say that he did a truly spectacular job.
I don’t want to lie to you, Satyricon was one of the excuses to attend Brutal Assault 2024. The Norwegian black metal project led by Satyr and Frost has been one of my weaknesses since I met them quite a few years ago when I fell in love with their debut album Dark Medieval Times (1993, Moonfog Productions). I’ve had streaks where I’ve listened to them more often and others where I’ve practically forgotten about them, that’s something that happens to me with a lot of bands, but every time I go back it’s to crush their compositions for a long period. With the release of Satyricon & Munch (2022, Napalm Records) I met up with these old friends again and decided to review some albums that I had long forgotten, such as Deep Calleth Upon Deep (2017, Napalm Records) or their eponymous album from 2013.
I’m not kidding you either, judging by the number of people who had gathered in front of the Sea Shepherd stage that Thursday, August 8, I think I was far from the only one who wanted to delight in the Norwegians’ sinister black metal. And when the first chords of To Your Brethren In The Dark began to sound, everything fell apart. Good old Satyr is a real beast on stage, with an imposing presence and a voice from beyond the grave. He is also accompanied by guitarists Steinar Azarak Gundersen and Attila Vörös, but the real surprise was seeing legendary bassist Frank Bello from Anthrax accompanying a band like Satyricon, that was something I will never forget.
I was also debating whether I should dedicate a single entry to Frost‘s work as a drummer, but that way of playing is insane. The power, the frenzy with which he hits the cymbals and the double bass drum is something that still surprises me enormously to this day. The drummer offered a true masterclass in drumming in Black Crow On A Tombstone or in the energetic Repined Bastard Nation, but where he really went all out was in Forhekset and the unexpected Hvite Krists Død that the band had not planned to play that night but finally gave us because they had finished the setlist they had prepared ahead of time. On the other hand, I will never forget Satyr‘s ghostly presence on stage, his appearance carrying a black flag with an inverted cross and his way of shouting in songs like K.I.N.G. and Fuel For Hatred, that is a memory I will never forget.
With Behemoth, I have something similar to what happens with Satyricon. They are not a band that I return to often, but when I do, it is to dedicate long hours of listening to them. On this occasion, I had just seen Behemoth a few days ago at Wacken and the surprise of their spectacular setlist no longer took hold of me. However, Behemoth managed to exceed my expectations that night after the spectacular Emperor concert thanks to the fact that this time, unlike Wacken, they played at a much more appropriate time and were also in charge of closing the Brutal Assault concerts on the Marshall stage.
The band led by the inexhaustible Nergal came on stage with Once Upon A Pale Horse and won the audience over from the first minute. The veteran Polish black/death band formed by drummer Inferno and bassist Orion has put together a very interesting setlist to review their thirty-three-year career, recovering some gems such as Chant For Eschaton 2000 from Satanica (1999, Avantgarde Music), Christians To The Lions from Thelema.6 (2000, Avantgarde Music) or No Sympathy For Fools from 2002’s album Zos Kia Cultus (Here And Beyond), songs not so common in Behemoth‘s latest setlists.
Behemoth is currently in an enviable state of health, with an inexhaustible energy on stage that they also infect the audience with and that the band would be able to maintain for more than three hours, I assure you. Obviously they reserved O Father O Satan O Sun! for the end, after having played Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel and Bartzabel.
And now it’s time to talk about the jewel in the crown: Emperor. Those who know me know very well that both Storm Of The Light’s Bane (1995, Nuclear Blast) by Dissection and In The Nightside Eclipse (1994, Candlelight Records) by Emperor are my two favorite black metal albums. I can’t imagine my life without these two albums in it and a large part of my musical development has been thanks to the fact that these two albums caught my attention and made a huge place in my heart, holding a privileged place in it that probably no other album will be able to take away from it with the passage of time.
2024 is also the year in which Ihsahn, the alma mater of Emperor, has published one of the albums that will probably top my list of the best albums of the year and, I would dare say, of the last decade. Their unique vision of music has already given us gems such as the aforementioned In The Nightside Eclipse or the famous Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk (1997, Candlelight Records) as well as other solo gems such as The Adversary (2006, Mnemosyne Productions), Arktis (2016, Candlelight Records) or their most recent self-titled album, Ihsahn (2024, Candlelight Records).
With only four studio albums under their belt, few would expect Emperor not to focus the setlist on their first two albums. These are undoubtedly their best albums, although they are not given the credit they deserve for albums such as Prometheus – The Discipline Of Fire And Demise (2001, Candlelight Records) and IX Equilibrium (1999, Candlelight Records), from which they only performed In The Wordless Chamber and Curse You All Men! respectively. Unlike the only time I had seen Emperor live, where they were celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their second full-length, this time they offered a true black metal show with anthems of the genre such as Inno A Satana, The Burning Shadow Of Silence, I Am The Black Wizards or Into The Infinity Of Thoughts from their debut album.
Both Samoth and Ihsahn offered a masterful performance in their respective positions, without taking away importance from the work of Secthdamon on guitar and Jørgen Munkeby on keyboards. Songs such as With Strength I Burn or Thus Spake The Nightspirit were some of the highlights of a concert that set a standard, a true masterclass of how a concert of this kind should be.
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.
