”Metalcamp, I need you to bring the darkness!”
- Maurizio Iacono (vocals)

I know that this explanation is getting old, but death metal has never been my forte. On the other hand, since the memories of my last Kataklysm encounter (Wacken 2011) are very positive, I figured it couldn’t hurt to give the band another chance. It is after all a well known fact that a good performance transcends any genre, and emerges into pure awesomeness regardless of the specific sound.

“This is death metal, bang your heads!”
- Iacono (vocals)

After a short intro the band emerged on the stage quickly and went straight for the kill. I didn’t know the song, but could feel the power. One thing the band definitely had going for them was the sound, which was coming through well-mixed and very clear even though this was hard and fast-paced sonic mayhem; it was an audible delight compared to many of the other shows here!
So much said about that, in the end it didn’t really matter sadly as the band members themselves had a hard time living up to it with their not so overwhelming performance – in fact, even though Iacono spat out words meant to entice the crowd into more action (sometimes also coming with some jokes and other comments, he was still going on about the 20th anniversary from last year) between almost every song, he should possibly have directed these words to himself and his band mates instead. Ok, so it wasn’t that they were completely dead up there, there was some headbanging and walking going on, but for some reason it really left the stage and connected with me...

“If you don’t give me a circlepit, we’ll leave and play the rest for ourselves backstage!”
- Iacono (vocals)

It would seem that I wasn’t the only one not completely finding my place at this show.
To begin with the crowd had an ok large size, but people were mostly standing still, many of them with raised devil horns though – still, far from the boiling sea of sweaty bodies that the band and music demanded. Maybe this was why the large frontman decided to try and threaten us, with a smile glinting across his lips of course. It did have an effect though, and people were more willing to show their appreciation of the Canadians in a more physical manner.
Without going completely over the top though. Even the reprise of the “security stress test”, while effective and bringing quite a few crowd-surfers out of the crowd, things never really managed to lift of, and ended on a quite underwhelming note.

I suppose this was one of those gigs where, if you are a die-hard fan, could find enjoyment in the tightly played and well-mixed music, but for those of us who don’t possess an extensive knowledge of the band and was only looking for a good time, things fell quite flat. Better luck next time, I know they have it in them.

Setlist (incomplete):

Prevail
Face The Face Of War
Iron Will
At The Edge Of The World
Bound In Chains
Crippled And Broken
As I Slither
Push The Venom