Rachel Rijsdijk Photography

No Mercy 2005

This last Easter weekend there were a lot of festivals. One of them was No Mercy: a one-day indoor festival in 013, in Tilburg. Many years it was a tradition for many people to come to this festival, not for the music, but to see and talk to old friends again. This year was the depth in their history. Unfortunately three bands had to cancel: Anvil, Iternal Majesty and co headliner Dark Funeral. Unfortunately that made that it wasn't as crowded on this Easter Monday than it should have been.

Opener of the mainstage was CATARACT, who played for an almost empty hall. For most of the people it was just too early. The show was fine altho not impressive.

Totally different was DEW SCENTED. These German guys finally had the change to show what they got. Songs from the last album "Impact" were played with a lot of impact and technically it was real rough deathmetal. A good start of the day that gave you a lot of energy.

In the small hall Belgian band PREJUDICE started its show. This band has been around for 12 years, and that certainly shows. This brutal heavy metal band is technically very impressive and their music makes it difficult to not bang your head. The small hall was quite full, but I got the impression that the audience was still not really awake yet, as they reacted all pretty tame.

DYING FETUS was the first band, that attracted a full main hall today. The band played a fast but boring show.. but there was a big moshpit, so that was all in all a good sign.

OCEANS OF SADNESS started their show in the small hall. Frontman Tijs who had just recovered from a collapsed lunge, was really impressive and there even was a small moshpit. Unfortunately most op the people were outside talking and did not really seem interested in the bands.

DISBELIEF is a well known name in the metalscene and guarantee a good show. A shame but today they had difficulties to convince the audience. maybe it was because they played a bit early, but the people were not very enthusiastic. The sound wasn't bad and the frontman did his best, but after a name like Dying Fetus it's difficult to impressive. Especially when the other band played a compact set. So the band had a hard time on stage but really gave all they had and that is more than some other bands that night.

The most terrible band that night was WYKKED WYTCH, their sound isn't that bad without the vocals, but the front woman just screams too much and she doesn't have a pure sound. For me it was time to relax and calm down a bit.

It just was too relaxed to talk with people, that I almost missed GORGOROTH, but I managed to be on time. I was surprised by their sound. The blackmetalgods were back with a lot of corpse-paint. For the first time tonight the main hall seemed almost packed. And the atmosphere was very excited. They played a fast and good set: the performance was good, but unfortunately not that impressive.

ENTHRONED was the headliner in the small hall and they were very in the mood. There was a lot of audience and it was good to see that a a lot of people in the crowd had a lot of beer.

The surprise of the day was NILE. It was one of the bands who had more time to play and it seemed that everyone came for this band. After some line-up changes they finally found a new drummer and a new bassplayer. The sound was better than ever before, but the most important thing was that the band had fun on stage: they were excited and enjoyed their show. They played a lot of wellknown songs and even some from the upcoming record. The crowd was wild and after the gig everyone was sweaty and smelled like beer. This is also the time that the other bands are hanging around outsite and have a talk with the fans.

In the meantime the headliner is busy with their soundtrack : the curtains are closed, but the fans are excited because SIX FEET UNDER finally comes back with a new show, but when the show starts it's not crowded. Many people decided to go home and they were right. The band had no inspiration and was boring on stage. It wasn't very bad but for a headliner they failed to create a good atmosphere. Hopefully the organisation realizes that they will loose a lot of people when they don't come with better names next time. Otherwise No Mercy will die a slow death.

Silvia Deurwaarder