Unfortunately Finnish black metal legends Urn due to unforeseen circumstances were not able to perform but with Dutch tech-thrashers Cryptosis the promoter found a very adequate replacement very quickly. So I headed towards Oberhausen that Friday evening and first attended the gig of Swiss-based Impure Wilhelmina. To be honest, I don't know why they found a place in this setting because they didn't really match with their post-metal stuff. At least some guys in the audience liked their very ambient-orientated music which was much too calm for me.

After that Cryptosis entered the stage. When I saw them the last time a year ago in Dortmund, they had some really impressive screens on their stage where everything was displayed with some video stuff. Now in the small Helvete, they had to focus on some more basic things like a very futuristic microphone stand. But the small stage didn't matter since the guys did a very solid and flawless job and presented one song from their latest EP The Silent Call as well as songs from their "debut" Bionic Swarm (which wasn't a real debut because they just changed their name from Distillator). Their newer stuff is much heavier than many songs from Bionic Swarm, as I stated in my review, they go more into black metal with their riffing here and there so I am curious what the new album which hopefully will be released later this year will bring. With 'Death Technology' they brought my favorite song by them which is a really fantastic tech-thrasher with a fantastic rhythm and also the crowd got pretty wild there.

Setlist: Decypher / Death Technology / Prospect Of Immortality / Transcendence / Conjuring The Egoist / Mindscape / Silent Call / Flux Divergence

Now it was time for legendary Desaster to show if they can still kick ass after being alive for 36 years now. I remember when I saw them back in 1995 with Mayhemic Truth and Occult (who are now better-known as Legion Of The Damned) when they had just released their first two demos. Back then the guys around Infernal were already super likable and now in 2024 they still are. Still being really down-to-earth and keeping contact with the fans you never have the feeling that they have such a huge status in the scene. Of course the fans went nuts right from the beginning and it was really hard not to be captivated by Desaster. The song choice was really deluxe and I guess nobody had any reason to complain. From their second demo up to a really interesting new song ('Towards Oblivion') which sounded a lot like older stuff they delivered almost two hours of black thrash.  Vocalist Sataniac did a very vivid performance, including the fans who were able to chant into the microphone in some of the songs and Infernal posed with his guitar like there would be no tomorrow. As cherry topping they did 'Speak English Or Die' by S.O.D. as closer. What a fantastic evening where the guys have proven once again that they still aren't too old and still have a lot of plans to accomplish.

Setlist: Learn To Love The Void / Devil´s Sword / Nekropolis Karthago / Phantom Funeral / Damnatio Ad Bestias / Towards Oblivion / Satans Soldiers Syndicate / Sacrilege / Churches Without Saints / Hellbangers / Teutonic Steel / In A Winter Battle / Countess Bathory / Divine Blasphemies / Metalized Blood / Speak English Or Die