Dwarfs and Winterstorms in Summer Heat – Rockharz Day 4

Zur deutschen Version gehts hier. 

You want more Rockharz? Check out Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3!

Oh well… That’s how fast four day reports are published… The whole thing makes me a bit melancholic, because with the last day report the Rockharz is truly over! But we don’t want to spread unnecessary melancholy here, but celebrate together. So let’s start the report and if you still can’t get enough of Rockharz, then keep your eyes open: In the next days you will get my interviews!

First of all though, huge thanks to lightinmirror.de for the wonderful pictures!

Hot, Hot Summer

Both Friday and Saturday were exhaustingly hot this year! Temperatures around 30°C are already hard to bear in the shady garden or at home, but at a festival such temperatures feel like being stuck in a huge oven. 

So it is not surprising that on this day many people were looking for a shady place. On such a big location, however, the supply of shady places is already limited by design, and so you could occasionally see people resorting to umbrellas (or parasols). In the coming years maybe the organizers can think about providing (more) shady measures!

I would like to especially mention the team from the metal.de autograph booth at this point: The line for the SALTATIO MORTIS autograph session was very long and the people stood in line for a correspondingly long time and were thus in the blazing sun for a large period of time. The team then distributed water to the waiting fans! Thank you for taking care of the people!

I would also like to thank all those who shared this festival with us and supported and accompanied us with interviews or wonderful conversations. Without you such a festival would not be feasible for us!

Furthermore, we are very grateful to the bands that they took the time out of their busy schedules to answer the questions they were asked!

Rockharz is always like coming home again. No matter how long you’ve been away, it’s nice to have a place where not that much seems to change. I look at this year’s edition with great pleasure and know that the next time I come back it will be as if I had never been away. 

Before I start crying from sentimentality, maybe a few words for all the visitors of this year’s Rockharz: It was again a great pleasure to party with you, to see your fun and to hear you singing with the bands. Without you this wonderful festival would be nothing and it is you who make the festival motto real! In this sense: See you next time with Metal, Beer and Best Friends!

Thank you for the Music

My day at Rockharz started with the Norwegians from EINHERJER. The scene giants of Viking Metal had quite an early time with the 14:00 slot, but nevertheless they got the most out of the set. The first song, The Blood and the Iron, really hit home! The crowd was a bit subdued from my point of view, but they didn’t let that show on stage. I was especially pleased that the band had also included Ironbound in their set! This song always reminds me of Rockharz 2014, when I saw them live for the first time! Unfortunately, the set ended way too early…. 

But joy and sorrow are known to be close together and so there was already the first huge fan moment of the day for me afterwards: WOLFHEART did the honors! Their album Winterborn has influenced my musical taste enormously and I can’t tell you how happy I was that they also played The Hunt, my favorite song of the band, from just that album! The music left such a deep impression on me that I’m currently seriously considering catching the tour with BEFORE THE DAWN on top of that! If you are also fans of Melodic Death Metal, WOLFHEART is your band!

From the wintry sounds of WOLFHEART we went deep down into the mines of Moria! The Italian Power Metal band WIND ROSE did the honors. The group around singer Francesco Cavalieri had gone viral some time ago for their cover of the song Diggy Diggy Hole and I was curious to see how they would perform live. And wow, was it fun! They literally tore up the stage with songs like Fellows of the Hammer, Mine Mine Mine! and, of course, Diggy Diggy Hole. Despite sub-Saharan temperatures, the Rockharzers had such a blast dancing to the upbeat Dwarf Metal that you could see real clouds of dust from all the moving feet! I was especially impressed by the fact that the band wore incredibly detailed (and probably hot) costumes and they performed as if none of this was a problem! Absolutely worth seeing! And if you like good power metal with Lord Of The Rings vibes, this is your band!

It became difficult for LEGION OF THE DAMNED afterwards. The band had sound problems, which is why they had to start late. If you know the music of the Dutchmen a little bit, my following statement won’t surprise you: The music didn’t pick me up at all… This Thrash impact ruins everything for me and therefore I couldn’t enjoy it at all…

Much better were MOONSPELL. Their distinctive mixture of Black, Dark and Gothic Metal makes them so incredibly good. It was my first time seeing MOONSPELL live and it completely enchanted me! The emotions were so raw and yet so tangible. It’s really hard to describe this band live because the impressions are so manifold. If you like music that has a lot of rough edges and you have to put yourself into it completely, MOONSPELL can be recommended to you with all my heart!

Unfortunately I missed LACUNA COIL completely due to the interview, but for CARCASS I was there again. CARCASS are also a band that has changed stylistically tremendously and even though I don’t like the earlier ( Grindcore ) songs, the newer ( Melodic Death Metal ) material is right up my alley. I found the set to be a balanced mix for everyone, even though my impression was that the Rockharz audience here didn’t really know what to make of the Brits…

I don’t want to say much more about the following LIFE OF AGONY… I thought the performance was terrible and therefore I took the opportunity to get something to eat. But maybe just this much: Hands off the drugs and the excessive use of alcohol…

Since the Rockharz booking team seems to be fond of contrasts, LORD OF THE LOST did the honors next. Now you can like their music or not, but I found the set very entertaining! Especially the 1-man-moshpit, where people are supposed to jump and spin around themselves, I found that to be very creative and funny. Regarding the success rates and the influence of alcohol on those, however, no information could be found!

After watching the ESC in May, I found Blood and Glitter live even better than then on TV. Since I also once again realized how much better than the last place this band actually was!

The following SALTATIO MORTIS could have provided a great nostalgic moment for me. Through them I slipped even more into the Rock and Metal scene back then and I always liked to go to their concerts. But as I wrote yesterday about EQUILIBRIUM: You just develop as a person and the development that SALTATIO MORTIS have taken doesn’t correspond to mine anymore. The gig was definitely good and the people had a lot of fun. Unfortunately it didn’t reach me… But the Spielmannsschwur had to be sung along! Everything has to be in order after all!

Now it was time for the Rockharz team itself to enter the stage. The closing of the 30th Rockharz developed into something unplanned emotional, because the Rockharz had lost two important members of its Orga family… While organizer Buddy was visibly at a loss for words, a devout silence descended over the grounds at the foot of the Teufelsmauer. Everyone present remembered the two wonderful people and showed this by shining a light each towards the sky. It was simply a wonderful moment of coming together and also of belonging together!

The headliner of the day was AMON AMARTH. It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from the Metal Vikings and it was thus also a bombastic conclusion to a brilliant festival. Opening with Guardians of Asgaard alone was such a fantastic decision! There was really something in this set until it (unfortunately already) ended with Raise Your Horns and Twilight of the Thunder God…. 

This also brings us to the end of my daily reports… But don’t be sad: Starting tomorrow, the interviews will follow. In the starting blocks are 11 interviews with different bands you can look forward to! Stay tuned!