Neurotic Deathfest is held in the south of the Netherlands in the city of Tilburg, for the people who don’t know; it brings you the loudest, goriest and most brutal shit in a whole weekend drowned in beer, piss and puke. A few days before on Wednesday you already saw some long haired blokes with the most gory t-shirts walking around in the city, scattered around the many bars, benches, hotels and coffee shops found here. The amount of metalheads in Tilburg rose significantly every day towards the Festival. Everyone knows they will be shitfaced and totally smashed during this festival, people were preparing by eating the local (Kebaps) food and a wide variety of special beers found in different kinds of bars. It does set the atmosphere for the rest of the weekend, where this festival is known for. Everyone is relaxed and willing to socialize with people all around the world. We were looking very much forward to this festival, and finally it was there! Travel with us to Tilburg, close your eyes, imagine a light stench of old beer and man sweat as we go trough some of the highlights of this festival.

After a delightful dinner to set the mood the first band we saw was Deceased, normally an opener should be giving you a shot of major energy, but this band failed to deliver a good start. We were stoked for the festival to start, the first beers were already drank and was a bit of a downer to see this happen. It was a little bit too straight ahead and moreover, they didn’t really have the balls to get you in the flow. It was one of the bands I would really wanted to see, and musically this is a no nonsense band that usually would deliver you some harsh neck cramps after. Some props for the lyrics I found majorly interesting (I did my research before), reliving tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe the fact that the audience wasn’t that overly energetic while this band was playing might have affected the overall mood of this band what directly affected me and a bunch of other people. Maybe this band should have opened the smaller stage, it might have worked there.

More than an hour later Aborted, one of the bands I really had to see, started on the main stage having seen them live before and owning some of their albums. I was totally stoked to see this band play again. It was the second band starting on the main stage and the third band playing on this festival. The venue was packed with people, what surprised me because it was still pretty early, but then I got it, this band played way too early! The whole venue was in for a neck-breaking party with Aborted and was pumped for the first pit to start. The energy was radiating all over the place. Even some barmaids (that definitely weren’t into metal) seemed to like this vibe and were nodding their head on a uncomfortable but soothing way. Aborted definitely was one of the best live bands on this festival, and though I had seen them better than this (they were a bit flaky and not as tight as I was used to seeing them), it slapped in my face with killing death metal madness. Awesome riffery and blasting drums were flying all over the place. I felt like I was standing on a ship that was attacked by cannonballs, that was slightly off beat. But hey Aborted was in their natural habitat, and they were ready for blood.

I only have to laugh when I look back at the performance of Spasm. Yep, the band with that singer with the man-kini and a dildo on his head. I think I have said enough.

I was asking myself why this next band was called Shirenc Plays Pungent Stench, it confused me. But then it became totally clear: band-drama. Yeah, lets call it that. Martin Shirenc, the singer/guitarist of this band did choose a pretty good rhythm section around him, and I didn’t notice that there were some different members than before. It sounded exactly the same and the classics of this band were pushed through like they would normally had. They are with only three band members, but still, they bring forth a wall of sound that blasts you out of your socks. The interesting part of this band, leaning on the edge of thrash and death metal and bringing it in such a specific way that it isn’t like the other modern death metal. The nice groove and a bit of a garish sound they got me by my throat, and lets make clear that is in a good way.

I almost started to feel pretty young with the old-timers that stood on the stage, and Terrorizer didn’t make this any better. This band is coarse and pretty tight and made me enjoy them. I almost forgot about this band until I saw them on the bill a few weeks before Neurotic Deathfest. And I got what I expected, a full show that sounds exactly like a wood-chopping device. Which is kind of fun for half an hour, not really for a full hour if you ask me. These guys really have a heroic status amongst the death metal fans and that my friends, is a thing I totally understand. It feels real and steady, the grooving riffing fits completely with the overall rhythm (that is exactly the same, all the time). If I would have lived my teen years in the 80s I think I would have endured the whole show and probably would have stand in front of the stage.

Saturday started with the band formed by Incantation’s frontman John McEntee named Funerus. That I knew, but the fact that the grunts and bass guitar came from his wife came as a total surprise for me. I was enjoying this concert behind some 2 meter tall blokes and didn’t see the stage at all, some good old death metal riffery flew forwards. The next song got announced, and I heard a woman’s voice. I couldn’t believe it that these guterral sounds came from this woman and raced towards the stage to see this with my own eyes. I am so happy that Jill is one of those female singers that isn’t a gimmick, the sound was mature and straight to the point and swept you away while the well placed doom parts fell in. After the show, I was totally in for some more Funerus, they left me wanting more.

The intro of the following band already was pretty omnious, and when the band started I knew that Cytotoxin is one of the most promising young death metal bands out there. Their singer Grimo was ready to kill, and with his monstrous expressions he knows how to get the whole audience to their knees (most of them because of falling in the moshpit). What an excellent stage performance, and guterral sounds perfectly exchanged with pigsqueals at the right moments. The only thing that bothered me is that the band around him wasn’t that overly tight and had troubles to keep up with the energy that radiated from Grimo.

Then it was time for some other veterans named Brutal Truth. Unfortunately this is their very last show in the Netherlands and I was happy that I could experience this band before it was too late. But I have to say this too is one of the bands that would be better painted in a smaller venue, they even looked a bit uncomfortable on the main stage. This entwined in the following reactions of the audience, one part was overly fond to see this band and were already drenched in sweat after the first song, and the other part were looking like how the fuck they ended up here. But still everyone seemed to sort of like it. The band their obvious death sound mixed with some punk vibes create a chaotic sphere of noise and unwieldy violence.

Hour of Penace is one of the bands I have always liked but haven’t had the chance to see them live, this was my que to finally see them. As a big fan of Fleshgod Apocalypse I found this band a version of them, but without the orchestra. They pull the throttle as far as it can get without losing grip, you can find their bombastic sound in a melodramatic sound. I liked this, but halftime I got a bit bored because it didn’t gave me as much variety as I had expected to see in a live show.

Skinless started throwing onions(?) into the audience with the ultimate hillbilly intro. Which made me want to get beer immediately and as soon as I turned away from the bar they throw in some no nonsense bashing ass kicking noise that gets you, but doesn’t shock you. This band is about smashing your skull in with heavy riffery and drums that make your eardrums pop, and they mean this shit! Their singer Sherwood Webber bounces hyperactively over the stage what makes this band fun to watch and listen to. I was left with a good feeling in my stomach after this show or was it the beer?

And of course, between the New York bands represented on the stages this day only, one can be the winner and that is Suffocation. Their front man Frank Mullen was found on the stage with his one and only priority, the death metal jazz hand while the blastbeats were knocking your head off. I would love to spend hours to the one-way conversations of Mullen, but I was here for some good old Suffocation, and that is something I definitely got. Their playing live and on album are astonishingly good and always seem to get me. They really showed the other bands some real whoopass as they combine really technical riffery with being absolutely brutal, and for that we thank them.

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WORDS: KAAT VAN DORMALEN

PHOTOS: SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS