The first edition of Linköping Metal Fest took place on November 1st & 2nd last year (2002). That time the venue Skylten was guested by N.C.O., Corporation 187, Throneaeon, Insision, Hatework, Sins Of Omission, Satanic Slaughter and Vomitory. If you know any of these bands from before you will quickly draw the conclusion that this festival is for extreme metal bands only and that is also the case.

The second edition of the festival took place at a venue called Skylten once again which is located in a red brick house very close to the railway station. The line-up was pretty strong this time as well with a good mix between black, death and thrash metal. When approaching 8 pm on Friday, the time when the first band was set to enter the stage, hardly any people had arrived so the organizers decided to wait a little.

Finally it was time for Demons To Prefer to enter the stage and open up the festival. This is a local band which is more or less the continuation of the thrash metal band Thornclad who released a full-length album called "Coronation Of The Wicked" in 1999. When the music changed they also decided to change the band name. They have now recently completed a new 7 track demo with the somewhat peculiar title "The Stolen Rat Recordings '03".

Unfortunately Demons To Prefer had to play in front of a very thin crowd which was a shame since they are definitely a band worth checking out. Even though they have left the strict thrash metal riffing of Thornclad they still have a very thrash influenced sound. The difference now is that there are much vore diverse influences from heavy melodic rock music. It is very heavy, dark, intense and melodic. The odd band of the eight who performed but their energetic show was a very nice opening for the festival. These guys definitely deserve a new record deal.

Next up was the black metal band Misericordia from the neighbouring city Norrköping. It had only been a week since they performed at Bergsbron in Norrköping but then I only got the chance to see one or two songs before having to leave. By now luckily more people had arrived. Usually the band performs with pig's blood smeared on their bodies but that was not possible this time because of contract obligations. Some may think that is an important factor in the performance but after all it is the music that counts.

Misericordia have released a mini album and their debut full-length will be unleashed before this year's end through the small Swedish label Downfall Records. The band plays fast and raw black metal or, as the prefer to label it, "pure dechristianizing black metal". It's not really something that you haven't heard before but they are serious about what they do and put on a solid show despite some sickness within the band. The most promising extreme metal band from the region to take over if / when Marduk falls back. The sound wasn't entirely perfect during their show, sometimes making it difficult to hear the instruments clearly, but that was beyond the band's control.

Now it was time for the long-time underground warriors of Maze Of Torment (replacements for In Aeternum who had cancelled) from Strängnäs who began playing under the name Harmony in the early 90s. With four full-length albums behind them they were the most experienced band on the schedule for Friday. Their music, a mixture of black, death and thrash metal with the emphasis on raw thrash, made them the most suitable band for headbanging but most of the audience obviously didn't seem to agree. Perhaps they were just caring for their necks. Anyhow, the band appeared to be a little frustrated about that.

The show from Maze Of Torment was the most intense, furious and massive performance in the evening and the crowd was very excited when they did their cover version of the Venom classic "In League With Satan". The years of experience showed and the band sounded very tight despite their music being rich of complex and technical riffs. I haven't heard much of the band's early material before but right now they are one of the few really good bands Sweden has to offer in their genre.

Closing the first day of the festival were Arise from Alingsås outside of Gothenburg. This band has been around for almost as longs as Maze Of Torment but it took long before they got to the record deal phase. Since their debut album from 2001, "The Godly Work Of Art", they have however been praised by many critics as one of the most promising melodic death / thrash metal bands in the country.

Something that became apparent right away was that the vocalist had cut his hair short (well, that was over half a year ago but anyway...), making him look very young indeed :-) Enough said about how the band members looked, that's the girls' department. This is a band who have been out on a European tour this year with the mighty Vader and I was anxious to see if they were a good live band or not. Obviously they know what they're doing. Their music is rather advanced with plenty of melodies, twists and turns but they still managed to put on a great show with plenty of energy.

I have heard both albums from Arise and reviewed their new one earlier this year here at the website. At that time the band for me was a group of very competent musicians who performed a good, solid but also semi-boring and slightly updated version of what had already been done at a higher level by bands like At The Gates and In Flames earlier on. I may have to re-evaluate my opinion here because Arise is a much better band live than on a plastic disc. The songs suddenly came to life, especially "Kings Of The Cloned Generation" which now sounded really good.

Arise is a band that no doubt should be experienced live. I would advice bass player Patrik Skoglöw to choose another position for playing though if he wants to stay away from back injuries. This was also the only band on the first day who had any "real" fans present except for a certain girlfriend of one of the band members of Misericordia of course (hi there!).

The first day and an overall very nice evening was over. The night came, morning broke and soon enough it was time for the second day of the festival. The pattern from the first day repeated itself with most of the crowd arriving late, forcing another delay and the first band to play in front of a very thing crowd once again.

The opening act on Saturday evening was Linköping's own Purgamentum (replacement for local thrashers Denata who had to cancel for personal reasons), a very young band who started out last year but who have quickly gained some interest from local metal enthusiasts. They will probably soon sign a record deal as well with an American label that you should all know of. As a live band they have very little experience and this was in fact only the second show in the band's short career. The first one they had done three days earlier at a local rock club.

Despite being by far the most unexperienced band at the festival they gave a good solid performance and made a very nice impression on the crowd. The band's brand of brutal death metal is both technical and melodic and there are not many quality bands in this genre today in Sweden but Purgamentum is one of the most promising new acts. The guitarist and main composer in the band was at least one of the most enthusiastic musicians of all on stage during the two days. Their show was mainly without flaws except for the fact that the second vocalist could hardly be heard at all.

The next band was supposed to be brutal deathsters Visceral Bleeding from Kalmar but as they had called in to cancel only a few days before the show the organizers were not able to find a replacement act. The reason for cancelling was that their vocalist Dennis Röndum was out on a US tour with his main band Spawn Of Possession together with Deicide. Instead there was a longer than usual wait for Immemoreal.

Just like Arise from Friday, Immemoreal hails from Alingsås but apart from their place of origin the two bands don't have too much in common. Immemoreal performs fast, intense and dynamic black metal with a touch of death metal. In fact, the band performed at Bergsbron in the neighbouring city Norrköping together with Misericordia and Blodsrit the previous weekend. Yet again they made a solid performance with plenty of energy and furious black metal riffs of the better kind. The band seemed a little strained and tired but other than that you couldn't have many complaints about their show.

Immemoreal is another of those bands who should be experienced live because it is almost impossible to catch the unique atmosphere and energy of their live performance on record or at least so it seems. As they have only released one full-length album so far on Britain's Blackend Records they don't have too many songs to choose between for their live set but I was not bothered by that. Instead me and everyone else got to enjoy some very well performed massive black metal.

To round off the Saturday evening and the entire festival Mörk Gryning from the Swedish capital of Stockholm was set to enter the stage. Being one of the more experienced bands at the festival (the other one being Maze Of Torment) and veterans on the national metal scene with four full-length albums behind them, the crowd was anxious for them to start. This was the second band to have visible fans in front of the stage.

Mörk Gryning distinguished themselves among the festival's bands as the only one to use keyboards. They have never really been a band with a full line-up until recently and now only Goth Gorgon remains from the original line-up. They could still put on a great tight and powerful show with both older and newer material. Earlier on Mörk Gryning were pretty much a standard Swedish black metal band, albeit one of hight quality, but their latest album "Pieces Of Primal Expressionism" from earlier this year showed a more experimental and daring side of the band.

I have never been a big fan of Mörk Gryning but once again I have come to the conclusion that it is a whole different experience witnessing them live in front of a stage than it is listening to one of their records in their cd player. They were one of the few bands of the two days who were lucky enough to get some response from the crowd. In my opinion the band could very well do without the keyboards in live situations because they don't add much to the whole. A very good show though and a nice ending to the festival. The band did their cover of Slayer's "Necrophiliac" and performed the final song of the entire event - the titled track "Tusen År Har Gått" from their debut album - their best and most requested song so far.

Overall the festival was as good as last year I think. Several high profile bands like Arise, Mörk Gryning and Maze Of Torment added much to the whole experience but none of the bands were disappointing. On the contrary there were a couple of positive surprises. Musically the festival was a success but financially it was not as the crowd was rather small compared to last year. I especially feel sorry for Demons To Prefer and Purgamentum who had to perform in front of a very small audience which is a shame because they both deserve better than that.

It is difficult to say why there were so few attendants at this year's festival. One reason may be that there are only Swedish bands from a rather narrow genre playing. As there are mostly Swedish metal fans at the festival they may not find it that exciting and many have probably already seen one or more of the bands. Last year the festival was new and news always attract more people. A solution could be to make the festival less narrow genre-wise and / or add one or more foreign bands.

Another reason could be that the tickets were too expensive (150 SEK for a one day ticket and 200 SEK for both days). It is not a lot of money for someone with a full-time job but as many potential fans and visitors are still in school it may be a matter of priorities for them. This is the weekend after everyone have received their money, whether they work or go to school, which means that they have chosen the right weekend but it is also right after the final payday before Christmas. Most people try to save money for presents at this time which may also be a reason why they didn't come to the festival. Last year the event took place a month earlier.

A third reason why people stayed at home instead of going to the festival is simply that the line-up was not good enough. I know for sure that some didn't go because of this. Yet again it might be a good idea to make the festival more of a metal festival with bands from all genres instead of focusing only on the more extreme genres. It would be great if it worked but Linköping may be too small for such a festival right now.

Enought analyzing for now. Instead it's time for the final summary. The second edition of Linköping Metal Festival obviously failed to attract a large crowd but there was no lack of quality music. Every band wants the support from other metal fans and you'd think that they would be ready to support fellow musicians in other bands by going to their shows when they visit your area but most people unfortunately fail to live up to those expectations. That's a shame because this was a good festival with both good music and nice people. Let's hope for a bigger crowd next time. Here follows some kind of rating of the bands' performances. They are based on the performance on stage alone and not on how much I actually enjoy the music when it's in my stereo.

Many thanks to Stefan Karlsson, everyone else at Skylten and all the bands for making a very good festival!

All photos are taken by Caroline Christiansen. You are not allowed to use them yourself without permission. More photos from the festival can be found in our photo archive.