Death Feast Open Air 2024

Thursday

German technical death metal band Unhallowed Deliverance opened the festival with surprising intensity – the energy was immediately matched by the crowd with the first circle pit forming just moments into their first song. Despite their first full length release only dating back to May this year, the band performed a tight set. A new discovery for me, and one to keep up with in the future for any fans of bands like Cattle Decapitation and Dying Fetus, the former audibly a strong inspiration for vocalist Arthur Haltrich. After a short fifteen-minute pause, Austrian Deathcore quartet Pray for Pain took the stage, followed by Danish death and groove metal band Crown the Beast. Their first time in Germany, so the vocalist. Brought along with them from Denmark: lots of confetti, and some extra smoke machines. Sadly, the strong wind ruined the theatrics a bit (as well as much of the headbanging of the first few bands).

Un next: A Call for Revenge, beatdown hardcore band from Mexico, playing with a slightly reduced lineup. With a bit of encouragement from vocalist promising free t-shirts to whoever starts it, a circle pit forms again. With The Voynich Code, we return back to deathcore – a bit of a slow start with some technical issues in the beginning, but the band nonetheless ended up delivering a straight forward set with little fuss. The Portuguese band brought along some home support, some fans draped a Portuguese flag over the barricade.

With Diaroe, deathgrind is back on the menu (much to my enjoyment). A bit more political than the name (and earlier material) suggest, the German band sang (or rather, growled) about climate change, the top 1% and finance. For the latter, Unhallowed Deliverance vocalist Arthur joined Diaroe on stage – this time not in band shirt and shorts but in slacks, dress shirt and a casually draped pullover. Next up: Danish slam icons Guttural Slug. The band performed as a four piece – the drummer was sick and stayed home. Besides a selection of songs off of their latest two albums, the band also performed a still unnamed song. Highlight of the performance – a rendition of Plague of Filth, with the crowd chanting alongside vocalist Jack Christensen’ during the catchy chorus.

A little less catchy, but a great deal more technical is the follow-up performance of Hideous Divinity. They also played with a slightly different line up than usual; their vocalist broke his leg and didn’t join them on their summer tour. To my admittedly untrained ear, I wouldn’t have noticed the change if it weren’t for the impossible feat of growing your hair from nothing to mid back in the three months since I’ve last seen them. Performing ninth and last was Disentomb. Their performance was a worthy end to both the evening and the European Tour they co-headlined together with Stillbirth. A final wall of death to celebrate, and the first day was over. Despite it being only the first day, the camping was surprisingly calm for a festival; maybe the impact of a total of eight hours of extreme music, with performances of nine bands and a near constant circle pit at a cozy 25+ °C.

Friday

After a quick stop at the nearby skateboard rink, where the now traditional Friday-morning Parkbanksaufen was already well under way, we return back to the festival site. First up: Paediatrician. The Hungarian quartet opens the day playing to a sparser crowd than they’d deserve; the outdoor pool right next to the festival was a bit more attractive to some of the festival goers in view of the rising temperatures. But the one’s that showed up were in for a treat – some pretty good goregrind, and enough on the death metal side of things to be fairly accessible. Paediatrician was the only representative of the genre in the entire festival line up, so they already had my attention with that. What also caught my eye was their costumes, a bit silly but it fits the theme. I did however forget to ask whether the surgical gown green guitar was part of their get up, or whether that was just a coincidence; in any case, a fun detail. Next on stage is French band Deathawaits, playing a blend of death metal, thrash and deathcore. Not really my preferred genre blend, but still fun to hear and see live. By the end of the show, the vocalists’ forehead was covered in blood, almost stigmatic in appearance – maybe they should have borrowed the bandages Paediatrician performed in. Next up was Devine Defilement, hailing from Reykjavik. Despite understandably complaining about the heat, the six-piece delivered a fiery performance.

Belgian grindcore outfit Barren took the stage next, as – sadly – the only female fronted band of the festival after Stabbing cancelled their appearance due to scheduling conflicts. Maybe they will be back next year – hopefully alongside a few more women on stage. Barren delivered some excellent deathgrind in an animated performance, another band to look out for. Next up: brutal death metal group Human Vivisection. Bassist Tom Swimmen, who already played with Barren just before, is a back on stage, the fifteen-minute break between sets just long enough to put on a new shirt. With .357 Homicide, another slam band took the stage. The duo – a guitarist and a drummer sharing vocal duties – put on a great performance as expected, just a little static for my taste. But that’s probably the photographer in me speaking, as I was quickly running out of angles to shoot from, and turned my camera’s attention to the now near continuous circle pit that formed in the crowd. We’re back to grindcore (or maybe rather powerviolence) with Spanish quartet Teething. Compared to last time I’ve seen them, they dialed down the acrobatics a bit, and the stage truss remained unclimbed. Maybe that was because of a ban from the side of the organizers or out of fear that the truss was too thin to support the weight of a person. Still, security had both of their hands full with keeping vocalist Luis on the barrier while also not disconnecting the microphone. Highlight of the set: A woman-only circle pit to “Just Kiss”. Despite insistence from the band for all men to leave, the one or the other bassist from a band playing the next day decided to stick around…

Distaste was up next; front man Armin Schweiger already had a little taste of the stage during the previous set of Teething. While I usually enjoy their brand of death grind quite a lot, the heat and constant loud music started getting to me and I excused myself to the camping half way through their set after taking a few shots of the band. And while it didn’t end up raining (yet), the clouds accumulating on the sky made me just a bit worried about my camera; so I also got my rain cape, prophylactically. Nearly immediately after I came back, Korpse started playing. With the sun slowly setting, it was getting a bit cooler, and maybe more importantly for me, the excellent stage lighting finally came through. My notes at this point just say “slam slam slam”, and I wish my migraine addled brain would have come up with something more interesting to say than that, but it’s still a pretty good description on the band. Oh, and Waking the Cadaver vocalist Don Campan made a surprise appearance. Another fifteen-minute break, and Putridity is up next. Again, great lights, and a joy to photograph, even if my headache kept me from enjoying it to the fullest. Thankfully, by the time Stillbirth came around, I felt much better and well enough to be able to brace the wave of surf death metal just about to assault my eardrums. From minute one, the band had great energy on stage; of course, dressed on brand in swimming trunks and with surf boards flanking the drummer for decoration. The antics on stage continued off stage, with vocalist Lukas daring to take crowd surfing literally, getting carried on top of the crowd in circles on one of the surf boards – worked “better than he thought” (maybe even huäre guet). Of course, the iconic inflatable bongs and green beach balls were not to be missing from an authentic Stillbirth party. And for the ones that weren’t able to get their hand on the freebies, there was also plenty of merch to go around – including the iconic Stillbirth swimming trunks, useful for anyone that forgot their own at home but still want to profit from the public pool to cool down for the next day.

Last but certainly not least to play on Friday was Waking the Cadaver, an exclusive European show for the American band. Even though the organizers planned in a more generous thirty-minute break between the previous band and them, they were eager to play and started early. The band around front man Dan Campan went through a few line-up change since reforming in 2018; with Marco Pitruzzella on drums since 2021, and Anthony Cossu (Bass) and Ray Suhy (Guitar) joining just this year. The band delivered an energetic performance of both “MySpace era” songs as well as newer pieces. As encouraged by vocalist Dan (and to the dismay of security), the crowdsurfers, this time without surf boards, were plentiful. For their performance of “Arbiter of Punishment”, off their most recent album “Authority Through Intimidation”, the band invited Paula Wehbe on stage; dedicating the song to ex-singer of Decapitated, Adrian Kowanek, wheelchair bound after an accident in 2007. Sadly, the set was a bit shorter than the planned hour and seemed to be over before it started, around half an hour before it was supposed to be finished.

Saturday

The third and last day of the festival starts out with Finnish band Putrid Defecation. A bit of a reduced line up this time – their vocalist stayed home sick, and drummer Alpo Laitinen did double duties on drums and vocals. The temperatures on Saturday were projected to climb even higher than on the last two festival days, but despite this, a pretty active pit formed – with some cooling down provided by the organizers walking around with water guns. Infestation took the stage next, performing a pretty short but intense set – little to no stage banter but with frequent water breaks; setting an example for the public battling for the few shady spots at the venue. Sadly, the photo pit was still completely in the sun, so I reapplied sun screen for a third time between sets. Next up: German slamming brutal death metal band Chordotomy. Vocalist Dan thanked the crowd for showing up as “he wouldn’t have showed up” if he were them; and dedicated their song Systematic Extermination “against the fucking sun”. Still, all things considered, the crowd was pretty decently sized, and whoever brought along a crocodile floaty thought it would better serve in the pit than in the nearby public pool. Turkish death metal band Cenotaph took the stage next, followed by French deathcore outfit Kanine – a very last-minute replacement for UK brutal death metal band Sodomized Cadaver. Besides a little technical issue (and a much-needed water break for the entire band), they breezed through their set. The crocodile floaty made another appearance, this time as the support of a daring crowd surfer that took some inspiration from the previous day’s Stillbirth performance. Next up: Maximize Bestiality. Maybe it was a streak of bad luck (or the heat getting to everyone, including the glue), and the drums shifted around. Nothing that a short break can’t fix, and the rest of the set flew by without any other hiccups. We’re back to grindcore with Inhume. The Dutch bands’ last full release dates back to 2010, but fret not, the band is back in the studio and a new single will be released “next week”.

Anime themed slam band Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship takes the stage next, their “first time here”. The drum issues return for one last time but were again fixed quickly. Not really a band I expected to enjoy as much as I ended up liking them – and on paper that might still be the case, if it weren’t for their excellent live show. Tons of energy, drops that made my chest hurt and fun anime inspired guitar solos to add a surprising amount of melody to the otherwise straightforward slam. Next up: Gorod, the odd band out of the line up – as front man Julien Deyres noted “the pop rock band” of the festival. Well, maybe not quite, someone expecting Imagine Dragons would have been disappointed. Still, it took a return to some older, more brutal material to really get the crowd going. As the sun was setting, bringing some much need relief from the heat, the band fittingly played “Are We the Sun Gods”. Maybe all of that was a bit too much of a good thing, as it started raining midway through the set of Disavowed. Out of precaution, I put on my rain coat and some protection around my not weather proof camera lens. But only a few minutes after getting back out again, while taking some pictures of the now crowd surfing vocalist, the concert was interrupted, and the crowd is asked to return to the camping to secure their tents.  While the worst of the storm thankfully didn’t end up hitting the festival site, the festival organizers decided to better be safe than sorry – and decided to cancel the rest of the festival. The two last bands of the festival, Cephalotripsy and The Red Chord, were therefore sadly not playing at all – hopefully they will be back next time.

Now, is Death Feast the most brutal festival in Europe? It’s pretty brutal, yeah, but my measly sample size of one doesn’t really justify the superlative quite yet, and I of course also need to cross reference a few other festivals along the way (for science, of course). The next edition will take place on the 21^st to the 23^rd of August 2025. Until then, how we say in Switzerland, bon appétit and en guäte.