SUIDAKRA

We began Saturday with yet another German band called Suidakra. Suidakra was set apart from most bands at the festival because they have a large Celtic influence to their melodic death metal sound, which works quite well. They closed with one of my favorite songs, “The IXth Legion.”

RAGE

Up next was the German powerhouse Rage, not to be confused with Rage Against the Machine. Rage had a special performance in store for the audience as they welcomed friends and special guests on stage to play with them, such as Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian and Marcel “Schmeir” Schirmer from thrash metal legend Destruction. Rage’s set included “From the Cradle to the Grave,” “Set the World on Fire,” “Soundchaser,” and my personal favorite, “Higher than the Sky.”

CATHEDRAL

Cathedral, a doom metal band, was next to take the stage. I’m not all that familiar with this band, but it was interesting to be in the crowd that gathered for them. Half of the audience was sitting or lying on the ground, some catching up on some lost sleep, others kicking a soccer ball around. Not what you would expect at a heavy metal festival, but Cathedral still put on a good performance and played songs such as “Hopkins, Witchfinder General” and “Corpsecycle.”

TESTAMENT

After Cathedral plodded through some slower doom metal numbers, American thrash outfit Testament got the crowd fired back up with their fast paced thrash metal. Testament got the mosh pits going and played a set of classic thrash songs, which included “The Preacher,” “The New Order,” “Practice What You Preach,” “Over the Wall,” “Into the Pit,” “Burnt Offerings,” and some cuts off the new album such as “More Than Meets the Eye” and the title track, “The Formation of Damnation.” Definitely a highlight.

AXEL RUDI PELL

Axel Rudi Pell was the next band we planned to see. Yet another German band, but this one had more of a traditional power metal sound. The band is named after lead guitarist extraordinaire Axel Rudi Pell, who writes long, epic power metal numbers complete with emotional guitar solos. I looked forward to this band, but for some reason never really got into their set. Songs included “Tear Down the Walls,” “Strong as a Rock,” “The Masquerade Ball,” “Carousel” and “Fool, Fool.”

IN EXTREMO

In Extremo is a band you won’t hear much of in the United States, but being from Germany, the band had a huge following, which was proven by the large crowd that gathered for their performance. This was probably one of the biggest crowds of the festival, and similar to Gamma Ray, the set flew by. In Extremo is unique in that they use many folk instruments in their music such as bagpipes and harps. It was during this performance that I witnessed “backwards crowd surfing” for the first time; further proof that anything can and does happen at Wacken.

ENSLAVED

Enslaved is a black metal band from Norway and since they had a headlining spot, their performance took place at night, which really fit the atmosphere and mood of their progressive flavored black metal. I was glad I was able to witness this band; especially after missing a chance to see them tour North America. Enslaved put on one of my favorite performances of the festival, and though they didn’t have any flames shooting from the stage, they didn’t need any. Brilliant live band.

SAXON

What can be said about Saxon that hasn’t already been said. These masters of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal were celebrating their 30th anniversary and rolled out a setlist that included a song off each of their 18 albums and then some. Saxon played for close to an hour and a half or longer and I couldn’t stop headbanging the whole way through. Excellent performance and I hope to see them again. Saxon was the reason why I couldn’t look down for too long while filling out the U.S. Customs form on the plane ride back into the States.

KORPIKLAANI

Korpiklaani is one of my favorite bands. Their name is Finnish for “Forest Clan” and these guys have many songs about drinking, partying and nature. Their sound is a mix of metal, folk and humppa music, using a violin and accordion among other traditional instruments. Having seen Korpiklaani recently on a headlining tour in the United States, I only stayed for a couple of songs before heading over to the Black Stage to catch GWAR. Josh, however, was right in the mix for Kopriklaani and said he got the majority of his bumps and bruises from “dancing” to their happy folk music.

GWAR

GWAR is a unique entity. A band comprised of members who believe they are aliens from another planet and dress up in monster costumes when performing live is always going to give you something interesting and different. And that’s just what GWAR did at Wacken, although I don’t think the audience understood the performance. GWAR is famous for spraying their audience with fake blood and other liquids shot from stage props and figures, and they brought the whole kit with them to Wacken but not many were laughing at the jokes or the costumes.

SUBWAY TO SALLY

The final band of the festival was another well-known German folk band called Subway to Sally. Again this band is hardly known in the United States, but being in Germany, had a huge crowd helping them close out the festival, and I’d say one of the loudest crowds of the festival as well. I stayed for a few songs before my back told me to go back to the tent and lay down. Subway to Sally finished their set shortly after 3 a.m. and that marked the end of another year at Wacken and the 20th anniversary celebration of the biggest heavy metal festival on earth.

If you’re a fan of hard rock or heavy metal, or just enjoy exciting new experiences, I highly recommend you make the trip over to Wacken one day. It’s an experience unlike any other and one I still hope to repeat. As they say in Wacken, “see you in Wacken, rain or shine.”

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth and final entry in a series of reviews by reporter Matt Bower on his recent trip to Germany for the Wacken Open Air Festival. To listen to a podcast of a radio interview about his trip, head over to www.blacknightmeditations.com.