Nailbomb, Forbidden; Backstage, Munich

The Hungarian band played a somewhat dusty mix of nu metal, a bit of death metal, and hardcore, which ultimately felt a bit too static. The drummer seemed to be stuck on the click, which didn't really get this otherwise groovy and heavy mix flowing. The guys were obviously having fun on stage, the lighting and sound were okay, but after five songs that sounded absolutely the same in the same key, we were more likely to wander around the packed area around the backstage area.

Mammoth Grinder were more to our taste; the finest crust punk, garnished with a delicious D-beat, underpinned by death metal, either with blast beats or the more lethal, slow version of it. Very tasty. And very diverse, because that merciless D-beat whips forward so fast and doesn't culminate in the more playful versions of thrash metal; because a distorted BC Rich long-scale bass lays such a dense soundscape on which the guitars can roam. Up until that point, it wasn't clear to us that this would be the best concert of the evening.

In my opinion, the same thing happened to Forbidden with Robert Flynn as Hawkwind did to Lemmy; both left to form more successful and interesting bands, be it Machine Head or Motörhead. Of course, many audience members celebrated the mere appearance of the band on stage, or indulged in what I considered the overly long instrumental parts of the songs. There wasn't a single song that stuck with me. I feel the same way about the more technically oriented thrash metal bands like Death Angel or Testament. Despite all their technical finesse, I'd still like to have a catchy chorus, like Exodus, Sodom, Destruction, and even Kreator manage.

Until last night, Nailbomb was the missing piece of Max Cavalera's numerous projects after Sepultura, Soulfly, and Cavalera Conspiracy. Nailbomb is more of a total hate bomb, while his other bands spread far more positive vibes, despite all their aggressive music. Okay, a personality as complex as Max Cavalera needs numerous alter egos to feel fully represented. And was there too much hate and negative vibes? Yes, we know there's a lot of crap going on in the world, we're not ignorant, it's just that the vibe the band put out was unbearably bad. In my 30 years of playing, I've always seen Max Cavalera smile on stage, and that was the case at this concert. We left after about a third of the set.