If I am not mistaken this is the 2nd time that this festival is being organised in the Dru Cultuur Fabriek in Ulft in the east of the Netherlands. Almost 500 people had bothered to show up and check out a handful of tribute bands such as Unforgiven and The Art Of Pantera, but also Pro Pain, Hell and Destruction. And for these last three yours truly had flown across the pond to shoot them for Metal Forces.

We arrived late so we managed to catch about 20 odd minutes of Pro Pain who had a good sound, and I like the but not a very good light show, almost every light was positioned behind the band.

Little did I know that things got worse, much worse, from a photographic p.o.v. I and a few other shooters were on one wave length when it came to the quality of the overall imagery as a result of the way the lighting had been setup. Most disturbing part was that the ceiling in the hall was filled to the brim with cans that just hung dormant….

Hell was next, the band and I had especially travelled for. The first 5-6 songs had no meat to it at all. Vocals sounded thin and guitars on their background and only when vocalist David Bower changed from his head set to a handheld mic did things improve. But the band also used a lot of bursts of smoke, about 30 times did they use this effect during their set and this which turned the room into a scene from the film The Fog. I kid you not….. I wanted to know when they were gigging next or the new album release date and no information was available at all. But a few days after this show they posted on FB that the gigs will be for what they were and that all focus will be on the third album. Great, I cannot wait for one and look forward to its release.

Destruction I saw in 1985 last when Stefan Schipper and I visited them in 1985 when they played along with Kreator in Kaatsheuvel. We, took some funny pictures with fake noses and moustaches, when Destruction were a 4 piece.

This time Schmier and co had not lost their power, actually their sound packed a serious punch and yours truly ended up banging his head a few times, I actually had to tell myself to stay pro for a lil’ while longer.

Light wise however it ended up looking like a CIA controlled LSD experiment, I kid you not. The chick behind the lighting desk treated the sliders on her mixing desk without any form of precision, just an utter barrage of rear positioned lighting at its fiercest setting. Simply unreal and pretty much to capture anything of quality from a photographic view.

You can see more photos at the Metal Forces site.