Rock Hard Festival 2016 to be streamed and recorded by Rockpalast.de

The open air festival of the paper magazine Rock Hard has become well known in germany and many other countries around the world. It's based at a small location at a historical theater in Gelsenkirchen and features mostly smaller bands. It's said that the bands don't play there to make some cash in but instead play for the fans and thank them this way.

Most of all the Rockpalast crew confirmed on Facebook that there will be a live stream this year. So far Turbonegro has been announced as a band that has agreed to have their show streamed online.

The Rock Hard Festival 2016 will be streamed and recorded by the legendary TV format Rockpalast

Info on the Festival-Livestream

But there's more to come - here is the timetable for

Friday the 13th 2016 (all times are MEST)

Year Of The Goat       16:00 - 16:40 h
Satan                          17:05 - 17:50 h 
Tankard                      18:15 - 19:15 h
Destruction                 19:45 - 21:00 h
Sodom                       21:30 - 23:00 h

Saturday the 14th 2016 (all times are MEST)

Grand Magus       15:35 - 16:20 h
The Exploited       16:45 - 17:45 h
Kadavar               18:15 - 19:15 h
Metal Church       19:45 - 21:00 h 
Turbonegro          21:30 - 23:00 h

Sunday the 15th 2016 (all times are MEST)

Orden Ogan                                15:15 - 16:00 h
Moonspell                                   16:30 - 17:30 h
Riot V                                         18:00 - 19:00 h
Best Of Rock Hard 2015            19:05 - 21:00 h
Blind Guardian                            21:15 - 23:00 h 

You can find the livestream at the homepage of the Rockpalast web presence.

I'll update the schedule on the upcoming days if things should change. You can also connect with Heavy Metal Underdogs via Facebook - I'll post updates on the streaming schedule there as well.

Update 2016/05/24: In case you missed out the livestream of the Rock Hard festival 2016 or want to watch some of the gigs again follow this link. The first batch of live recordings is online now thanks to the hard working people of the Rockpalast crew.

Update 2016/05/14: Rockpalast has uploaded some live footage as well as interview material and pictures of the Rock Hard Festival 2016 on their homepage.

For all those who can't make it to the festival or watch the stream the legendary german TV format Rockpalast will also make recordings of the performances and air them later via the TV station WDR.

 

Info on the TV broadcast

Here is the TV broadcast schedule for the recorded material (all times are MEST please keep that in mind).
There is a livestream of the TV station available from their homepage but I cannot say if you access it from outside of germany.

Update 2016/05/24: Updated the schedule once again. The show on 27th June 2016 is a completly new announcement.

Update 2016/05/20: Updated the TV broadcast with exact starting and ending times and added the bands that will be shown during the shows.

23. May 2016, 23.55 - 03.25 h @ WDR Fernsehen
Bands:
SODOM
KADAVAR
TANKARD
YEAR OF THE GOAT

30. May 2016, 00.05 - 03.35 h @ WDR Fernsehen
Bands:
TURBONEGRO
DESTRUCTION
THE EXPLOITED

6. June 2016, 00.45 - 04.15 h @ WDR Fernsehen
Bands:
BLIND GUARDIAN
RIOT V
MOONSPELL

27. June 2016, 02.15 - 04.15 h @ WDR Fernsehen
METAL CHURCH
SATAN
GRAND MAGUS
ORDEN OGAN

The following band list shows which other band will also play at the Rock Hard Open Air 2016:

BLIND GUARDIAN
TURBONEGRO
SODOM
CANNIBAL CORPSE
METAL CHURCH
DESTRUCTION („Mad Butcher“-Set!)
MOONSPELL
THE EXPLOITED
RIOT V
TANKARD
KADAVAR
GRAND MAGUS
SATAN
ORDEN OGAN
TRIBULATION
BLACK TRIP
NIGHTINGALE
YEAR OF THE GOAT
SULPHUR AEON
SORCERER
ACCU§ER
DISCREATION

More information on the festival itself can be found on official Rock Hard Festival Homepage.

Progdeathmetal band Infernal Outcry release foreboding filmclip

I always wonder how far even female voices are prepared to go. This one here is from the more brutal end of the metal spectrum. It's the progressive death metal band Infernal Outcry who gifts us with a special filmclip. And one word in advance: the music is just great! A perfect balance between progressive elements and straight death metal passages while the vocals are for sure set in the deep region but nevertheless they are understandable and express the message with agressive and fitting vocal lines.

The video itself comes around as an epic Five and a Half minute short film. The clip shows a man's struggle with time and humanity's reckless destruction of the Earth via it's nonchalance and ignorance. A man literally out of time. A foreboding message about the over-population of the Earth and the reluctance to care for the Planet which sustains us... but for how long?

Infernal Outcry’s debut "Mass Extinction Requiem I" was produced by legend of the Australian Metal scene, Joe Haley (Psycroptic) and released on 18th March 2016, thanks to a grant from Tasmanian Regional Arts Fund. You can purchase the song of the video as well as the full EP both digitally and as a physical copy in the shop of the band's website or on Bandcamp.

The band Infernal Outcry from Tasmania, (c) by Infernal Outcry, used with kind permission

Also make sure to stay in connection with Infernal Outcry using the social outlets on Facebook or Twitter. 

Warfield release old-school thrashing video for "Barrage Fire"

Allright, the weekend has finally arrived for all of us. The perfect time in my eyes to let some pressure burn that has been built up in the recent days. One of the best ways to do so in my eyes is to grab some good old thrash classics and then headbang like there's no tomorrow. :-)

Happily young bands are still around that haven't forgotten all the lessons of the classic past but also maintain the style with adding own trademarks to the typical rough and pushing sound of this metal genre. A good example for that are Warfield from Germany.

(c) by Warfield, used with kind permission

While their sound reminds me on a first listen a lot of old school Bay Area bands and german classics such as Sodom or Destruction it also quickly becomes clear that they've added a straight forward feeling to the sound. It's not that monotone soundwise it goes with more diversity and most of all it's more direct and heavy leaving behind everything that could lead to a feeling of "the band has fiddled around to much with this and that". It's easier to go out of yourselves with the music. Just try it with the video below and have fun.



Lyrically the band set's a focus on political and social mistakes and also keeps a eye on the wars going on these days.

The band has put out a EP in 2014 entitled "Call To War" which you can purchase right here. 

You can see Warfield live during the following shows in Germany:

10.10.15 Zweibrücken
11.12.15 Mainz
16.01.16 Landau
12.02.16 Kaiserslautern

Also make sure to check out their social sites such as Facebook, Youtube or BackstagePRO.

Italian thrashers Kontra reveal new band line-up

After communicating in March the news of their reunion, Kontra officially present their new line-up.

Next to the only original member Marco Barraco, singer and rhythm guitarist of the thrashers, now there are: Luigi Di Meglio on lead guitar, Luca Buonanno on bass guitar and Francesco Verrazzo on drums (former drummer of Manach Seherath). A first picture of the new formation has been uploaded by the band, too.

The new band line-up 2015. (c) by Kontra, used with kind permission

Kontra is currently rearranging all the old songs and has for the next months a surprise for the fans in store. Stay tuned with them via their official Facebook profile so you won't miss out on that.

Legendary thrash metal band Kontra from Italy reunites

I love Thrash! Yeah, legendary thrahsers Testament printed this saying once on one of their band T-Shirts. I'm very happy to be able to say there is a active underground scene alive these days that constantly provides us with fresh stuff from the heavier and straighter side of Heavy Metal.

Recently I've received a message that one of the legendary thrash underground acts from Naples, Italy did reunite.

They are called Kontra and did exist from 1999 to 2007. The band influenced both by Bay Area Thrash and by German Thrash Metal now has a new line-up of 3 members which the only original one is the singer/rhythm guitarist and founder of the band Marco Barraco.

(c) by Kontra, used with kind permission

Kontra played live on many stages in Naples and suburbs producing also 2 demos: “Strike Zero” in 2003 limited to only 100 copies,and ‘’Demo 2005’’ never published because the band splitted up. The band has been influeneced by acts like Metallica,Slayer,Kreator,Sodom,Destruction, Venom,Sepultura (the old ones), and Motörhead.

I'm looking forward to see what the band will do next and keep you guys out there updated on the further progress. In the meantime you can also hold an eye on Kontra's Facebook page by hitting the famous like button on their site.

Steamhammer Label Sampler up for free download

Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year! Hope you had a great start into the new year.

Amazon currently gives away a Compilation of Metal songs for free download featuring new songs from Running Wild and Axel Rudi Pell as well as some classic tracks from the past. Enjpy. :-)  Jump over here to see the product page.

The trak list reads as follows:

1 Loner- Eat The Gun
2 Soldiers of Fortune- Running Wild
3 Killing the Fuss- Betzefer
4 Deathwish- Pro-Pain
5 Godzilla- Mad Max
6 World Arena- Vengeance
7 Shadowmaker- Crematory
8 Dropping Like Flies- Spiralarms
9 Agent Orange- Sodom
10 Mad Butcher- Destruction
11 Ace of Spades (live)- Motorhead
12Long Way to Go- Axel Rudi Pell