For some unknown reason Swedish Sonic Syndicate had been bumped up one day, so instead of following Vader on the Monday, Graveworm had to cut their set short here on the Sunday to make place for the Nordic sextet.

Maybe this unexpected change was the reason for the small turnout of people, maybe it wasn’t. All I know is that there were fewer people on the grounds than for any of the other bands I had seen so far; though as a contrast, the hill next to the stage was well-filled with people sitting in the wet grass enjoying the show from afar.
“We’re from Sweden, we don’t fucking bite!” Richard Sjunnesson, one of the vocalists and brother of the two guitarists Roger and Robin Sjunnesson, exclaimed to bring some people down to the stage, but he met with only a small success. The wildest reaction I could find in the crowd were the four guys in the middle doing a form of combined moshpit / mud wrestling in the soggy ground in front of the stage.

I for one found the low turnout a bit strange.
I mean, even though I personally feel that their music is somewhat generic and lacks identity, their live show is definitely not one to be taken lightly. Everyone is extremely lively, and there isn’t a dull moment to be found. It was actually better than I remembered it from two years ago, but intensive touring would of course have given them an even better stage experience. Luckily, it had not made them tired; they were as crazy as ever.
Especially guitarist Roger Sjunnesson stuck out as the most vital in my opinion, but the others were not far behind.
They also announced a song (can’t remember the name), for which the main riff had been stolen from Amon Amarth’s The Pursuit Of Vikings; and this certainly lifted the show for me. The reason we were given, was that Sonic Syndicate had been on tour with the Vikings, and had thought that this was a killer riff they just had to rip off. Quite understandably, I might add.

All in all, I quite enjoyed myself at the concert. As I mentioned, the music completely misses the mark for me; but for what the music lacks, the show definitely weighs up.