Waking up this morning I knew that tonight was going to be crazy, fun and eventful. That was a understatement. Tonight was the night of Metal Asylum Festival Day 2. The plan was to go for day 1, but unfortunately it was changed to 21+. Anxiousness ran through me like a wildfire, as I couldn’t wait to start moshing and headbanging! Met up with Joshua Rego and Jemuel Carillo, and off we ventured to experience total Metal Madness!
We were late, but fortunately so were some of the bands! Sitting down for a few minutes to mentally prepare myself for what was to come, but nothing, NOTHING can prepare one for experiences as brutal as what we were about to witness. The first band to perform was ‘Osprey,’ and they did a great job of getting the crowd ready for later, a true metalcore sound with harsh vocals and widdly solos and awesome drumming, this band got the crowd started. Next band were ‘A Blessed Aftermath,’ another metalcore band from Abu Dhabi, and they continued to get crowd pumped with viscous verses and brutal breakdowns. At this point, the crowd was way into the music, everyone in the somewhat small audience of 50 or so were headbanging… relentlessly. I, and a lot of people began to feel bad for their necks at this point, but no one seemed to care, all they wanted was for the Metal to conintue! And it continued with The Crow Murder, a heavy metal band formed in the UAE, this band really started to interact with the crowd, and it was amazing, the singer really captured the audience and get everyone fired up and did an amazing job of preparing the crowd for HATRED! As soon as they hit the stage and hit the first notes, the roof went off the place, the crowd went insane, headbanging in unison, jumping around, the energy was completely overwhelming. The German Thrash-Metallers kept the ruthless pace throughout the set list, the headbanging was unremitting as the whole place was wild. The mosh pits began, people started running around and going crazy, this was the most fun I had in ages. The singer was able to grab the audience and keep them together with every word and scream. These guys are the real deal, and tonight they proved it. With fast, heavy and vicious songs, the headbanging continued and the moshing was as brutal as ever.
After the show was over and the dust had settled, I needed to get out and give my neck and ears a break. Once my head was cleared, we went in to talk to some of the bands, and even though they are brutal on stage, they were really nice guys, talked to them for a bit, got pictures and the whole lot. And it was really good to see that these guys go out there and give it everything they’ve got, even for just a few people, and that’s what I love about Metal, be it 50 or 50,000 people, the energy given out from the fans are mind blowing, and you wont get that from any other genre.
And now, with a stiff neck, an almost lost voice, bumps and bruises and my half deaf ears, I know that I must take all those things and go to school tomorrow, be that as it may, it was an awesome night and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Yoan's Blog 