Man, the Graspop Metal Meeting festival was a mess. Mud everywhere.
Shows were cool though. I only went for 1 day, Saturday.
Bands I saw:
Defects:
Never heard of these guys tbh but they sounded heavily inspired by early Parkway Drive. If you look them up on Spotify you'll instantly see what I mean.
Their show was actually a ton of fun, at some point they just said **** and started playing in the crowd. The whole band. They were playing like a late evening highlight band, so props to them.
VOLA:
I guess I'd describe this as prog metal? Sort of? Idk their music is hard to label into one thing.
My friends didn't wanna go see this one because VOLA is definitely not their thing but at least one of the girlfriends wanted to come along.
Great show, and I was really surprised how good the vocals were. I was covinced the production on the albums probably helped out the singer significantly but no, he's really hitting those crispy clean high notes.
This song below would be a great example of VOLA as a band. I'd generally describe them as sounding somewhat like this, but they stray off this path quite often into all kinds of directions.
Love this song btw, especially the chorus.
Ice Nine Kills:
Ehhhh honestly not my thing. By all means they were solid live and the crowd enjoyed it but INK just isn't for me.
If you actually like Ice Nine Kills or the style they play, then sure I'd recommend seeing them.
Architects:
I don't think anything needs to be said here. They slap, end of story. Sam Carter literally sounds better live than on the album.
Only note is that I would've preferred more of their older work.
INTRODUCING, THE CHOCOLATE STARFISH AND THE HOTDOG FLAVORED WATER:
Yes this is about Limp Bizkit.
I'm pretty sure a lot of people in the crowd don't actually like Limp Bizkit, myself included for the most part, but ironically enjoy them.
It's like a 'so bad it's good' movie. You know it's bad but you love every second of it.
Fun show, would absolutely see them again if they happen to be in a good timeslot. The crowd was surprisingly big too, considering they got screwed by Belgium's football match being shown on the big screen during their set.
Avenged Sevenfold:
My friends wanted to see this one. I've strongly disliked every song I've ever heard from this band and this did not change. I hate everything this band has ever released with a passion.
They're great performers, go see them if you actually like them I guess.
Bring Me The Horizon:
This was the final show we saw, starting at midnight.
I'm actually not really a big fan of BMTH but I did really enjoy their new album.
That being said, it's now the second time seeing them live and I strongly believe they're the best performers I've been to. The first time I didn't even like (or dislike) them, I just went along with my friends for fun and it turned out to be a fantastic show.
Point being, if you get the chance to see BMTH live, go for it. Honestly I think even a hater would have a good time.
Sometimes you don't need to be much of a fan, or a fan at all, to have a good time at a show and BMTH is a great example.
Parkway Drive is nowhere near that level of a performance but even though I think their last album is absolute dog****, I still had a good time last time I went to go see them.
That was right after the release of their new album too so a lot of the setlist were songs I hated.
