Brutal Truth was about as far away from my wish-to-watch list for Copenhell as a band could possibly get, but Lunah (Lauridsen, our photographer) called this shot, and after the empowering Killswitch Engage show which had just ended, I figured I could take on anything.

“It’s been about 15 years since our last visit, sorry about that.”
- Kevin Sharp (vocals)

Despite my initial concerns for this show, I was immediately impressed with the relaxed and down-to-earth attitude the band displayed on stage, especially apparent in Kevin Sharp’s appearance with his small cowboy hat, comfy jeans and bare feet. This was about as far away from what I had expected as Brutal Truth in its entirety had been from the list I mentioned above; and you know what? I liked it!
I still hold fast that the music is nothing for me; grindcore and brutal death metal has never really picked my fancy, and only a very few select bands from this corner of the metal world are on rotation on my music box.
This wasn’t about the music though, well of course it was for the fans I’m sure, and I think I can say without lying that there were quite a few of them here, but no, this was about the entire kick back and have some fun attitude the band was bringing to the stage, and the perfect clash between it and the furious music they were putting out. It made the whole thing so much more dynamic and interesting than if they had gone down the more expected route, like Dying Fetus did the day after, where they act up and try to give off as brutal and pissed off an appearance as persons as the music does in itself. Not surprisingly, Dying Fetus and their way of performing was nowhere near as interesting and gripping as Brutal Truth’s way of doing it.

“I don’t have any money, but I desperately need some friends to take me to Christiania!”
- Sharp (vocals)

Well, friends and fans the band seemed to have in plenitude, and they were making a rioting moshpit in the middle of the grounds as soon as Brutal Truth began playing. It may not have been the biggest one of the festival, but it sure was enthusiastic!
What impressed me even more though, was that Brutal Truth actually seemed to have a pretty good grip on Denmark, what with the Christiania comment above, and also their dedication of a slower song (yeah, I’m not familiar enough with this stuff to do any name-dropping) to Hank Shermann, best known for his work with Mercyful Fate. Other bands were name-dropped by Sharp as well, like Mastodon, whose guitarist, Bill Kelliher, could be seen checking the show out from behind a stack of amps.
It was the more familiar tone of Sharp that got to me though, showing him as more of a nice chum than a rock diva (Manson, you could learn from this) as he sent a greeting into the crowd for someone called Anders and the rest of his Danish friends. Needless to say, Anders was in the crowd, and it was easy to pick out his enthusiastic reply!

Yes, Brutal Truth was good friends of the people, and in return the people loved Brutal Truth.
For good reason too, they really nailed that performance above and beyond any expectations, and even though I’m not going to rush out and buy any of their albums just yet, I can honestly say that Brutal Truth walked away with at least one new fan this day. This was easily one of the high-lights of the entire festival!