During the performance of Last Fear it was very quiet in The Kade, apparently most of the people decided to come later because during Vermin it was already becoming a little bit more crowded.

Vermin
For me, the (progressive) death metal band Vermin characterized their self because of the different tempo’s in the same song. They played tight and the combination of that with the shrill grunts from singer Laurens made it inconspicuous that this band was performing without a bass player (they are still looking for one). Though this quartet wasn’t able to surprise me, it was a great performance.

Virulent
After Vermin, Virulent came up and tried to blow over us with their heavy sounding death metal. They failed. On their promo, “Prime of Naught”, Virulent sounds solid, live they don’t. It was the singing that made it boring. The voice of Daniël Nak, who does the vocals and the bass, sounded monotonous all the time. Musically the band sounded ok, the drummer did a great job on the double bass and the guitar players surprised with accurate solo’s.

Embedded
When Virulent left the stage and Embedded was about to coming up, it was pretty busy in the Kade. A lot of people came to see Embedded, so my expectations for the fourth death metal band of this evening were high.

From the first tones till the last, Embedded was able to keep my attention. Embedded placed an unforgettable show and it was clear that these five German musicians love to perform. A part of the public made a pit, the other part was head banging. All the people I spoke with were enthusiast about Embedded, especially about singer Rainer Düsing, who impressed with deep grunts and evil screams.

Textures
It was a pity that most of the people left after Embedded, while headliner Textures still had to perform. Though I understand that an empty hall isn’t favourable for the atmosphere, Textures didn’t even seem to notice it.

They came, they saw and they conquered. Textures impressed me with their fascinating music. With Eric Kalsbeek on vocals we can enjoy pretty aggressive parts, but clean parts too. The influence of Meshuggah is obvious present, but there is some Devin Townsend present too. Textures’ songs are catchy and memorable, just like their performance was.

Though Textures is a pretty young band (formed in 2001), they’ve already supported bands like the Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah and Morbid Angel, and I’m sure we will hear a lot more of these guys soon.

Thanks to a good friend of mine, Laurens, for the pictures. See his photopage for more: http://gaav.nl.eu.org/orklord/category.php?cat=52

(Review & Pics: Romana Pavesi)