MehSuffFestival

MEH SUFF! METAL-FESTIVAL - first and second day

08-09.09.06 open air in Widen (CH)

www.mehsuff-metalfestival.ch

photos © by Stefan and Siegfried Vogelaar

review by dalia di giacomo

The public use of these photos is strictly prohibited

without written permission

PUNISH

BITTERNESS

Drink more hey! Meh Suff!! In Swiss- German this means drink more and have fucking fun with your fellow sisters and brothers! How can you escape the temptation to drink some fine "heLLbier"- for just 1 SFr. each beer - and to eat steaks and würstels among green trees and sweet small hills attending some of the best emerging and newcomer Swiss/German bands? And even more when such an event takes place just only a bunch of km's away from home. Widen is near Bremgarten and Niederrohrdorf (in canton Aargau), seat of the gryphon. Have i the possibility to attend Punish (headliner of the whole festival) Unlight and Bitterness practically around the corner? of course i'm there. The only complaint? Darkmoon is not here, already engaged on Saturday, 9th September, at Sedel in Luzern with Misery Speaks. Ok, you cannot have everything....

The Meh Suff! festival is a two-days open air, one of those very intimate festivals where tents can be placed not far from stage and where the genuineness of extreme metal is still preserved. i adore this kind of events. commercialism is far from here, yet the success is very satisfactory .Cool to see that there are many young metalheads wearing shirts bought at the Metal Camp 06 Slovenia, or at some other big festivals. But now they are here to taste the roots in a familiar ambience, where metalheads are still kings and treated with the deserved attention in peace. gosh give me some more of this mead , available in classical and cherry version, of course to be drunk in horns available in different sizes. 2 days at the end of the summer season, in a corner of HeLLvetia, lost in the fields, blessed by an ideal weather with temperatures around 23- 25 °C and mild nights . Nights you would like to spend under the moon and the stars. Fortunately the near village has accepted the event although it's no possible to play after midnight and it seems logical to hope in 2007 edition. Just give a look to the stage! It's the most sympathetic, cutest and coolest and pagan stage i have ever seen, honestly. not so big yet equipped and bright in a wooden frame. Bands seem to be quite at ease. If you are curious to know what is boiling in Switzerland here they are, the bands who has given this festival some good smash and blow. Some of them will rule the new European scene, i'm sure.
In alphabetical order:
Abgrund
Ambrossia
Arcturon
Arkhan
Arsonist
Bitterness
Bleeding Hate
Carnal Decay
Creeping Vengeance
Cruszt
DarkRise
Death Delirium
Denial
Fire Rose
Petrified
Punish
Timor
Unlight

Death Delirium, Denial , Abgrund, Carnal Decay, Ambrossia and Cruszt bring motion to the first day. I am on place when Abgrund begin to play . I liked a lot the 5 piece combo Abgrund. The atmospheric key carpet is just base for a commanding rhythm and powerful melodic songs and cadenced Death metal inspiration. Abgrund play tight, catchy and groovy. Brutal Carnal Decay offer erratic snare hits and abyssal feeling. Vocalist Rene from Swiss Cropment joins the stage singing with the band. Typical vokillz in action and grunts in freedom that mix pleasure and fear. The highlight of the second day is represented by the German Bitterness, and by Unlight and Punish. Death/Thrash Creeping Vengeance, back from the z7 metal dayz, confirm their good preparation and provide for headbanging , although i would prefer more originality from them. Some deep evolution and change is in sight for this band after the upcoming concert at Hellvetia Day VI in Sursee on December 23. German Bitterness, a band i have always appreciated so much , surprises me a lot because, in spite some recent line up problem, delivers a super performance beyond the usual expectation. First off, i find singer guitarist Frank Urschler more mature and in full shape, with a natural way to interact, maintaining a certain student-mood . It's strange to see Bitterness without "viking" bassist Sebastian Jehle , who left the band a bit ago quite unexpectedly. Therefore Bitterness presents itself with a new bassist (Marcel Konz) and with new dates: after the tour with Necrophobic in October they will support nothing less than Napalm Death on November 10 in Freiburg. Bitterness proves to be a group of fans among fans, metalheads among metalheads, stage and pit together. The formidable trio (because today Bitterness play without guitarist Alex Hinterberger) acts naturally, they even would have preferred to see people stage diving. Nevertheless they can become in one second commanding and masters of the horde. Utopia is one of the songs presented, technical yet catchy with lethal tempo changes. Bitterness guys thrash till death in a technical yet catchy involving way. "Warum trinkt ihr nicht Bier?? ich dachte es ist Meh Suff!!!!" (why don't you drink beer, folks, , i thought we deal with a "drink more" festival here!!!) . so Frank tells us from the stage ordering some beers for the band. Said done, beer and mead appear in the hands of people as if come from another dimension. While drums are always so precise , so criminal and so supporting, the rest of the band takes care of the rhythmic and of all necessary embroideries. Songs are taken from the albums Dawn of golden Blood and Sweet Suicide Solutions. Of course emblem T.H.R.A.S.H. cannot be missed. See you at X Metal Forces Festival in Lörrach, Bitterness! Great band, powerful and bangeable. The band i liked the most and couldn't be different. "Trinkt meine Freunde, trinkt!"
Let's proceed with great vibes among brutal death and elastic thrash /hardcore through a lot of energy. As meaningful examples of these good performances, very appreciated by the crowd, i would like to mention Arkhan, Timor and Unlight. Moreover Unlight bring a welcome touch of sinister Black Metal with both melodic and fierce approach. German/Swiss Unlight is the darkest group of the convoy and opens up the way to the technical venomous torturing "punishers" Punish.

It's the second time i attend Punish (being the first in Zürich with Hour of Penance on 19.11.05). In order to understand Punish you absolutely need to be acquainted with technical menacing Death chords and virtuoso implacable, many times erratic solos nonetheless. Collapsing and/or cardio kinetic tempo changes are included. "Alpha males" Ralph Huber (guitar), Reto Crola (drums), André Mathieu (guitar,voice) and Reto Hardmeier (bass,voice) can "punish" us all (oh look, us all or as*holes? ;P) also without former vocalist Chris. Reto Hardmeier's deep rasping vocalisms and shouts turn into evil screams in the mouth of wonderful guitarist Mathieu (as the band itself says in a Myspace blog: "micro duties will be handled by bassisticus Fat Hardy and guitarristi Slim Mathieu") . However it's "bassisticus Hardy" the one who seems to have taken full control as frontman. Difficult to say which Punish are the best, the previous ones with Chris or these ones.... i liked both to be honest, but this 4 piece version is surely even more aggressive. It has to be said that i find the band a bit nervous, under tension and pressure (new album release is just a question of a couple of months), finally even not allowed to play a full set because of time limits: no sound can be "emitted" after midnight, pity!, in any case, the show was a success in spite all this. The crowd, asking warmly for the show to be prolonged, gives to this Swiss ferocious and eclectic band a big satisfaction. During the show i closed often my eyes in order to detect better the most atrocious side of Punish music. a) Punish are extremely technical and very good in playing b) Punish conveys these abilities into a highly sadistic musical construction c) Punish is very percussive. No, not only as consequence of the great propulsive (with blasting attitude) drumming by Reto Crola (also member of Requiem), but because their guitar tremolos get a totally fast percussive misanthropic nature. Punish sharp strings cut your skin but also beat you in reiterate short intervals without pause. Their upcoming album (produced by Alex Krull) is entitled "Dawn of the Martyr". Any objection?

setlist Punish

Screams for misanthropic Town

Dawn of the Martyr

Miss Anne Thrope

Neo phosphorescent Insignificance

Obnoxious Objector

Freaks

Fragrance of Abomination

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PUNISH