Therion - The Crüxshadows - Janus - Nik Page - Elis - Regicide - Down Below

Having had a brutish heat last days the rain God has of course chosen the last Saturday in June for a little cooling, making the NH crew (Psycho, Maya, Kerstin, Calani) remembering the last year’s issue of the CASTLE ROCK FESTIVAL: arriving 12.30 pm heaven opened its doors and it was bucketing down. But as in last year with the beginning at 1 pm it stopped raining. Although we got uncomfortably wet one time n between it was way better than spending the day in the brutish heat of the last days…
Ergo the weather can’t be blamed for why the sixth edition of CASTLE ROCK wasn’t sold out as it was all the last years before. If that were the several events in the same area (Nine Inch Nails headlined the Area 54 Festival 5 km away, Germany played against Brazil and entertainer Stefan Raab was crushing tons of cars at Schalke Arena during his Stock Car Crash Challenge) or this year’s festival billing … I don’t know.
But just to forestall the conclusion: this year’s CASTLE ROCK was again an all around well-done and great event! Again the festival and organization went off without a hitch and the castle itself still offers a great ambiance. Most of the bands of course convinced and – in consideration of the ticket prizes – who will nag about anything here? Only little bummer was the fact that the after show party at Ringlokschuppen didn’t take place. For the next year the organizers should definitely think about an alternative.

:: pictures ::

One of the better bands this evening kicked off the event: DOWN BELOW from Rosslau. Ok, we completely missed the announced Egyptian influences musically but at least visually (Egyptian stage outfit) the gents around frontman Neo-Scope lived up the expectations. Musically we got offered independent and powerful gothic metal, jazzed up with modern elements at the right places and energetic stage acting. With self-deprecating announcements like: “good evening Muelheim … we don’t know watches in Rosslau …” they mastered the difficult task as an opener without any problems.
DOWN BELOW focused on their current material with songs such as The Man Who Robs Dead People and Return Back From Ignorance taken from their latest record Silent Wings: Eternity. But highlight of their show was without a doubt the cover version of Hèroes del Silencio’s Entre dos Tierras.

Likewise convincing was REGICIDE from the north of Germany, who left us all quite helpless with their last year’s album Viorus. But live on stage they made clear: they want to rock earth! Beside great music this band knew how to convince with great stage acting, excellent musicians and the two great singers Frauke and Timo who complement one and another perfectly. REGICIDE pleased the audience with songs like Behind His Eyes, the completely played An Embracing Space and used the chance to present brand new material like Pirates which got stuck in our ears. Just the weather sucked a bit; in the middle of their set it again started to rain, but it didn’t derogate anybody’s mood.

Hailing from Lichtenstein ELIS left a quite ambivalent impression. They in fact played an experienced set but the choirs were synthetic, the stage performance too static and the band’s material didn’t offer many interesting parts to puncture the ears. It was like ELIS were missing an profile on their own. There was absolutely nothing to differentiate them from the rest of this genre. Regardless of a good mixture of all three albums they left just an average impression. But to be fair: despite of the rain, they went down well and said good-bye to the fans with the MTVIVA-rotation-clip Der Letzte Tag.

Such luck ex Blind Passengers singer NIK PAGE didn’t have. But to be honest: his problems were home-made. His blend of wannbe-rockstar-posing and quite uninspired music was naturally made to fail at the audience. The band’s praised electro rock didn’t want to kick any ass and emerged as a lame copy of Sisters Of Mercy to Mother Russia-times with more electronics and a Mad Max outfit. Seriously: who needs that? Low point was a really bad cover version of the Ärzte classic Mysteryland. After NIK PAGE tried to turn the mood of the audience to the band’s benefit he resigned a little later and consequently cut their set short. They closed with Absurdistan - an old Blind Passengers song – and even duped themselves, revealing the listener the difference in quality …

All the more our personal highlight JANUS knew how to utilize the additional time. Not only that they could give an encore (first band this evening), they also got the chance to present another brand new track. The heavy performances of the likeable Hessians (together with their “family”) are notorious and again at CASTLE ROCK Rig and Tobi – nowadays with female singer Diana Nagel completing the line-up – just left scorched earth. As usual all tracks were new arranged putting as much guitars as possible into the songs, underlaying them with quite harsh electronic patterns. Mission succeeds! Tracks like Verflucht, Ich will seinen Kopf, the re-dug-up Saitenspiel, Mein krankes Herz and the heavy-thrashing brand new closer Neuroleptiker energetically rocked as hell!
What attracted attention was – beside the high level of energy – the grimace competition between singer Rig and guitarist Oliver, latter one won clearly ;) A short moment of reflection the listener got with the very intensive Grabenkrieg (a new one – I could have cried about the lyrics - Cal) and Kafka, before JANUS started to rock again. That life isn’t always so serious Rig proved with his announcements (big laugh for: “we are L’Ame Immortelle and now play Bitterkeit…”) so that JANUS deservedly got tons of applause (and the encore)

While Cal went on struggling thru the photo pit me (Psycho), Maya and Kerstin urgently needed a break, not experiencing the entire performance of American darlings THE CRÜXSHADOWS. Of course front-entertainer Rouge was mastering the packed audience kicking off his set again from the backside, walking thru the crowd. Fans were almost freakin’ out creating a great party mood. Rogue was again climbing on everything worthwhile and seeking close contact to the audience, furthermore improving his already good German language. Worth mentioning is the fact, that THE CRÜXSHADOW exclusively presented a brand new song, which is to find on the band’s new DVD/CD. Although the Americans were the ones who least suited the billing they gathered such a huge and loyal fan-base having the strongest feedback at this festival.

As in the last year the ending of CASTLE ROCK was under the sign of blending metal with classic. Swedish metal veterans THERION were the headlining act additionally performing with a 5-head-choir (2 men, 3 women). To be honest: me (Psycho) and Cal have lost sight of THERION over the last years, so we were quite surprised how peppy and powerful they got into their set. Heavily posing and head banging the band enjoyed a lot to play live. They hardly needed any samples, the choir alone created a great classic atmosphere, while the rest of the band focused on a proper metal performance.
With Mats Leven I – Psycho, was extremely pleased of finally experiencing one of my favorite singers. What can I say? This man just rules and with his great voice he refined older songs such as Evocation Of Vovin and Into Remembrance. With Riders Of Theli THERION even played an “oldie” while the rest of the set consisted proved classics such as Seven Secrets Of The Sphinx, Schwarzalbenheim and Wine Of Aluqah putting the fans into high spirits. Also Christopher Johannson used the opportunity to show his German language knowledge, showing himself from a humor-like side. As no one of the crowd could name the home of Nordic gods (Asgaard) he put the blame on his German knowledge explaining this with too many holidays in Bavaria …
With the classic Beauty In Black THERION said good-bye finishing a great evening and a great event. Coming back for encores they belt out a grandiose version of Motörheads Iron Fist. That kicked ass as hell! Awesome!

...And because that applies on the entire festival (time flew hella fast) we will be back next year! That’s for sure!