OneMetal.com music ARTICLE:
Hellfest 2012 – Jack And Rob’s Ones To Watch

Hellfest has grown from humble beginnings as the hardcore punk themed ‘Fury Fest’ in 2002 to be France’s largest metal festival. It’s had a rocky ride getting to where it is now, becoming tangled up in the politics of its hometown on numerous occasions. For example: in 2009, Coca Cola withdrew their sponsorship of the festival, having been pressured by right wing and religious groups over their support for the allegedly ‘satanic’ festival, whilst regional politicians in opposition have been known to use the ruling council’s support for Hellfest to detract from their perceived values, and in 2010 Christine Boutin, leader of France’s Parti chrétien-démocrate wrote to Kronenbourg asking them to also withdraw sponsorship of the festival.

The power of metal has prevailed however, and Hellfest has gone from strength to strength, weathering these blows and consistently delivering a quality lineup. This year promises to be the biggest and best yet, headlined by none other than Black Sabbath, and playing host to a smorgasboard of metal delicacies both vintage and modern. This year’s highlights include:

Origin

Those who keep up with Onemetal’s comings and going will have noticed that Origin’s new album Entity was awarded a well deserved 5/5 when I reviewed it, and they also made it into my staff picks of 2011. As such, I was very excited when they were announced for this year’s Hellfest. Having had the pleasure of being aurally battered by Origin on two preceding occasions, both with and without original vocalist James Lee, I can confidently say that they are one of the best live metal bands I have ever seen. Technical death metal can be hit or miss in a live context, often lacking a certain intensity of performance that the more simplistic styles of death metal don’t struggle with. Not so Origin, who leaven their preposterous musicianship with a fearsome intensity that never fails to induce bad cases of headbanger’s neck in all present. Not only that but their songwriting is second to none within their genre. If you see any death metal band at this year’s Hellfest, see Origin.

Alcest

Sure to be airing material from their recently unveiled new album Les Voyages de L’Âme, Alcest will be no doubt be one to watch, performing as they are on their home turf at Hellfest 2012. The band is a brainchild of Neige (A man who is to the French black metal scene what Moriarty is to the 1900s organised crime scene), and over their history have blossomed from a raw black metal caterpillar into a beautiful post black butterfly. Alcest are a black metal band one doesn’t necessarily need to like black metal to enjoy. Their sensitive, folky melodies and gentle walls of chord will appeal to anyone with an ear for the delicate and beautiful. An uplifting listen, particularly in a festival context.

Aborted

Deathgrind veterans Aborted will also be making an appearance. Their hotly-anticipated seventh full length release Global Flatline has recently been released (reviewed here), and material from it will certainly be breaking heads at this year’s Hellfest. Aborted are supremely easy to listen to; having ditched the ‘all dissonance all the time’ approach early in their career, their later work is peppered with hooks and melody while still retaining the atmosphere and riff onslaught of their more brutal roots. Long time listeners will already have Aborted marked as one to watch, and if you’ve never had the pleasure, you should certainly join them. A potential festival highlight.

Dying Fetus

Having had the pleasure of making obeisance before the Kings of Slam back in 2009, I don’t intend on missing a second of their set at Hellfest. As a live band, Dying Fetus are so heavy it feels like the air is being sucked out of the room, their breakdowns, oft-imitated but never bettered by legions of deathcore wannabes, proving that in their particular field, they are the original and best. Add mechanical slam riffage, Sean Beasley’s effortless bass runs and sweeping and of course, John Gallagher’s iconic rumblings and you have a force to be reckoned with.

Amon Amarth

Think melodic death metal is for wimps and posers, the preserve of fifteen year old metal noobs cracking one off to Angela Gossow, a genre losing relevance and edge as originators and pioneers like Carcass and Bolt Thrower slip towards the dubious honour of being the style’s ‘old guard’? Think again. Odin, having looked down from Valhalla and noticing that Melodeath is in danger of losing its balls has despatched five of his mightiest warriors to rectify the situation. Those men are Amon Amarth, and they have arrived at Hellfest 2012 to smash apart unbelievers in the name of the Allfather. Thick, rough hewn guitar tones anchor the music with weighty melodicism and are backed up by thunderous double bass grooves and Johann Hegg’s tectonic rumblings. With lyrics drawn straight from the Prose Edda and their utilitarian approach to songwriting, Amon Amarth offer a refreshingly unpretentious approach to melodeath. Theyre also a blinding live band.

Hour of Penance

Romans Hour of Penance are finally receiving some well deserved attention from the metal community at large, having proved they can hold their own against brutal death metal’s veterans with their new album Paradogma. If you’ve never had the pleasure of listening to the band in question, imagine a band that combine Behemoth’s antireligious aesthetic and tonalities with say, Nile’s flair for the grandiose and the relentlessness of their more aggressive numbers and you have a fair approximation of Hour of Pennance. A nice touch is that they know how to have fun onstage and bring a genuine party atmosphere to the usually po-faced death metal gigs where they can be found. A good choice for a festival, then.

Ufomammut

Ah Doom, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. Another Italian band, Ufomammut are equally at home with bizarre drone and noise experiments as they are with sludgy grooves and greasy riffage. Despite having album titles like SnailKing and Lucifer Songs have always come across as slightly more highbrow than most of their stoner doom compatriots. This makes Ufomammut interesting, particularly when a lot of doom bands (even a lot of good doom bands) are essentially charicatures of either the cheesy, bombastic side of doom or the tragic, weepy side of doom. Ufomammut’s music is certainly bleak, but rather than extravagant melodrama, they give us introspection. Their grooves are understated and cool rather than unsubtle headbangers. They even drop in chord progressions more typical of post rock and shoegaze now and again, its not all toothless melancholy though, this music is also deeply unsettling in places. Ufomammut are the thinking man’s sludge rockers.

Brutal Truth

Brutal Truth, New York’s much admired grindfathers (see what I did there?)have returned. Two albums into their reunion, they are older and wiser, but no less outraged about the current state of play on planet earth. Brutal Truth embody the true spirit of grindcore. They are, in essence, a hardcore punk band, but more, and from its earliest days, that is what grindcore has always been about: musicians railing against the folly and utter destructiveness of human nature, from the way we treat our world to the way we treat each other. Brutal Truth are deadly serious and their music is frustration and outraged compassion distilled into sound. Forget punk. Punk is dead. Only grind can save us now.

Darkest Hour

Did anyone ever REALLY think of Darkest Hour as a hardcore band? Yes, I know they were signed to Victory Records, but even as far back as their first record they had more in common with melodic death metal than any ridiculous and tenuous subdivision of the hardcore oeuvre you care to mention. Fully embracing this with 2003′s Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation by going to Sweden and recording with Fredrik Nordstrom, the band have upped the ‘melodic’ with each following album, culminating in last year’s ferociously beautiful The Human Romance. At a guess, the main reason people lumped them in with the hardcore scene was their explosive live show – if these guys are on in a tent at Hellfest, expect ambulances and stretcher crews to be waiting at the exits.

Sacred Reich

Absolute legends, at least among metallers of a certain vintage. The Arizona thrashers have promised not to spoil their recorded legacy with a sub-par new release, preferring instead to turn up onstage and rip faces off with brutal precision and a set packed full of classics. The moment THAT feedback heralds the beginning of ‘The American Way’, expect nothing less than carnage in the pit.

Nasum

As one of the few opportunities to see Nasum before they wave goodbye to us forever, this is a legitimately big deal. Albums like Human 2.0 and Helvete are STILL so far ahead of most of the grindcore pack that their influence will be felt for decades to come, whilst the choice of Rotten Sound frontman Keijo Niinimaa to fill in for the lamented Mieszko Talarczyk ensures the live urgency that characterised the band should be maintained. Both a celebration of their 20-year history and a memorial service for Mieszko, this summer’s dates promise to be emotional and crushing in equal measure.

Enslaved

Come ON! Do we really need to explain why you should be excited for Enslaved?
OK OK. One of the few bands that remain from the early days of black metal, Enslaved have evolved from primitive beginnings to become nothing less than one of the greatest metal bands in the entire world – heartfelt, progressive and head-crackingly heavy all at once, just listen to ‘Ethica Odini’, the first track from their last album to get a picture of what they’re about. Done that? Good. Now you’re excited too.

Pentagram

Arguably nearly as important to the entire doom scene (and by extension, metal in general) as headliners Black Sabbath, and dating back just about as far across various incarnations, Pentagram will be a must-see. Frontloon Bobby Liebling is an electrifying performer, and classic songs like ‘Be Forewarned’ and ‘Sign Of The Wolf’ should get heads banging and horns raised with the Last Rites material thrown in for newer converts to the cause.

Death Angel

2010′s Relentless Retribution was one of my favourite albums of that year, heavy enough to satisfy my inner thrash freak with enormous singalong hooks to balance the crunching riffs. As long-time veterans of the live arena, expect nothing less than consummate stagecraft in a set packed with moshpit anthems old and new.

Integrity

How essential they’ll be rather depends on whether they play outdoors or on a smaller stage, but in the right setting (think small, sweaty, dark and packed) Integrity are one the THE best live acts out there. Their brand of blackened metallic hardcore (as typified on their seminal album Seasons In The Size Of Days) lends itself to more intimate environs, and should cause an explosion of sweat and stagediving from the second they hit the stage.

Benediction

Just pure old school death metal power featuring Dave Hunt of everyone’s favourite misanthropes Anaal Nathrakh supplying the vocal nasties, and one of the true mainstays of the entire scene. Although their recorded output has been somewhat thin on the ground over the last decade or so, a Benediction gig always leaves you feeling like you’ve been run through a washing machine full of hate and massive grinding riffs. A definite must-see.

For further details including how to get there and tickets, see www.hellfest.fr