As Friends Rust / Strike Anywhere

Darkest Hour / Standstill / Dawncore / Wasted

Date: Saturday November 24^th

Location: JuZe Hammerschlag, Schorndorf (Germany)

What a great event took place that night! As Friends Rust were on tour together with Strike Anywhere, and on a separate trip were Darkest Hour, Standstill, Dawncore and Wasted. But that particular evening all bands played together and it was a lot of fun, although Tobi and me missed Wasted which apparently were pretty good. At least that’s what some of the lucky guys said that saw them on stage.

Dawncore were next to conquer (hehe, anyone seeing that clever Bolt Thrower hint?), but I didn’t give them that much attention because their sound wasn’t exactly my kind of music, too complex and stuff.

I could write the same for Standstill from Spain who came up with some interesting electronic effects. They did a good job on stage, but this noisy and complicated sound isn’t really the music I am into. But who cares, many people seemed to like them and that’s fine with me. The funny thing about their set was that mainly their drummer had to communicate with the audience as he supposedly had the best English of those five Spanish freaks.

Then it was time for Darkest Hour. Tobi had awaited them eagerly and they kicked ass. I didn’t hear them before, all I knew was that they were on Victory and apparently played some kind of metal. Well, that they were pretty much into metal could be seen even before they started to play, because one of them (I think it was the bass player) wore a Slayer shirt that showed the image from the classic “Hell awaits.” Yeah, you rule, dude. One of the guitarist wore a Guns n’ Roses shirt instead, what a poser! No, just kidding. Darkest Hour indeed played some kind of a metal sound, but the vocals were more hardcore and didn’t quite remember me to the typical metal shouters like Udo Dirkschneider from Accept (by the way, one guy sold a Manowar LP and an Accept 7” at this show, that was great). Pretty soon the fans were going crazy and danced pretty wildly (especially one guy wearing a D.R.I. shirt). The singer of Darkest Hour asked the audience if they could do a circle pit and their followers did just what their master wanted them to. You see, pretty much going on during Darkest Hour’s set. I liked their music, brutal, heavy and fuckin’ metal!

Strike Anywhere came next and they were my favourite band this evening. The energy on and in front of the stage was really incredible. 250 people going crazy, stagediving and singing along all the while. Strike Anywhere write fantastic songs and their live show was so energetic and brilliant, I loved it! Both thumbs up for Strike Anywhere.

Maybe the good reactions for Strike Anywhere were a problem for As Friends Rust who were to end this show. I really like their full length “Won” a lot, but live they couldn’t convince me 100%. It seemed that many people were tired, and so the reactions to As Friends Rust were by far not as frantically as they had been during Strike Anywhere’s set.

Anyway, Damian and his mates seemed a little bit unenthusiastic, because in between the songs there were longer breaks and Damian said that the new record would suck but people should buy it anyway. Strange… Don’t get me wrong, I like their songs, but this night Strike Anywhere were way better.