Road to ROCKSTADT EXTREME FEST 2013

After much internal doubt and debate, I've finally decided to attend the first edition of Rockstadt Extreme Fest 2013, held in Râşnov, near Braşov. I figured three days of chilling, drinking, headbanging and junk food eating in the mountains is a good way of blowing some money, especially since I probably won't go on any major trips or concerts this year - unless you count the excellent November to Dismember fest, and you should, but more on that later this year. Besides, there's tons more reasons for me to go:

• - I love the city of Braşov so this is a great way to visit it again. 
• - Said visit will take place in the company of a wonderful friend who I haven't seen in months. 
• - The food out there is excellent. 
• - There's a bear sanctuary and a cool cave nearby, so maybe I'll visit those too. 
• - Fellow blogger and sweet bro Jonathan will attend the second day of the fest, and who doesn't want to see photos of us being dumb together?

All of these would probably be enough to warrant the trip, but hey, there also BANDS playing at the festival! The organizers have assembled a pretty varied line-up, which I will comment on below: 

DAY 0 (??) - 29 August - The All Romanian Rejects

DAYS OF CONFUSION: 17:25 - 18:00

ROADKILLSODA: 18:35 - 19:15

GOTHIC: 19:45 - 20:30

ABIGAIL: 21:00 - 21:45

GOODBYE TO GRAVITY: 22:15 - 23:00

TROOPER: 23:30 - 00:45

NEGATIVE CORE PROJECT: 01:15 - 02:00

Highlights:

Days of Confusion play a mix between punk and easycore with plenty of melodic vocals and sweet leads. Sounds like something Sergeant D of Stuff You Will Hate would enjoy on an off-day at the beach. 

Roadkill Soda play psychedelic, sun-burnt, alcohol and petrol-fueled stoner rock, which will probably fit well in an outdoor setting. Looking forward to seeing these guys.

Goodbye to Gravity aka nu-metal lives again! The singer even kinda looks like Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. Also, mirin dat black shirt-Punisher t-shirt combo.

DAY 1 - 30 August - The day nobody wants to miss

FALSE REALITY: 16:00 - 16:30

CODE RED: 17:00 - 17:35

BUCOVINA: 18:05 - 18:50

CARACH ANGREN: 19:20 - 20:10

LAST HOPE: 20:40 - 21:30

DECAPITATED: 22:00 - 23:00

NAPALM DEATH: 23:30 - 00:30

GOJIRA: 01:00 - 02:30

Highlights:

Obviously, Gojira is the one band in this fest that's got a ton of people excited. Jonathan is driving from Bucharest just to see these guys (and to see me, of course) and I'm really looking forward to their show. I've actually gotten into them pretty recently, but I love L'Enfant Sauvage and I can't wait to see them perform Explosia, Liquid Fire or the title track from the latest album. BRING ITTTTTTT!

Again, Napalm Death are obviously one of the main reasons to check out this fest. I haven't really followed Napalm Death, but I'm pretty sure they've played at least like 5 times in Romania already. Still, I haven't seen them yet, so Rockstadt Extreme Fest will be a good opportunity to do so. C'mon, it's Napalm Death. Can't argue with these blokes.

Decapitated. Ehhhh. They used to be really good - Winds of Creation is an excellent death metal record - but the new incarnation of the band is nowhere as exciting. A fat white dude with dreadlocks and cargo pants is never a good sign. Still, they might be worth checking out if they're gonna play any of the old material. I dunno.

Some people are really excited about Carach Angren, so I'm including them in the highlights too, even though I'm not really into symphonic black metal and these Italians aren't probably gonna sway me otherwise. Still, if you like theatrical black metal with tons of violins and shit, this will be right up your alley. Also, the singer kinda looks and acts like The Crow, so that's pretty cool.

DAY 2 - 31 August - I'll probably eat hot dogs for most of the day

DELIVER THE GOD: 15:25 - 16:00

ABNORMYNDEFFCT: 16:25 - 17:00

SPIRITUAL RAVISHMENT: 17:30 - 18:05

INDIAN FALL: 18:35 - 19:15

KROW: 19:45 - 20:30

TEXTURES: 21:00 - 22:00

SEPTICFLESH: 22:30 - 23:30

PRIMORDIAL: 00:00 - 01:30

Highlights: 

The sweet boys in Textures are easily my highlight for the last day of the festival. They play a hybrid of djent, deathcore and progressive metal and they just seem like really cool guys, so I hope I get to meet them and tell them I really like their music. Reaching Home is easily my favorite Textures song. Love those clean vocals. Great video, too!

A lot of people really like Primordial and are excited to see them, so I hope they have a good time. I really can't get into their music, it just sounds super boring to me. Still, maybe seeing them live will convince me otherwise.

Fucking Abnormyndeffect! I remember seeing these guys back when I was in highschool in my city's only metal bar and they just fucked my face off. Granted, I wasn't even aware of grindcore at the time so my perception of this band might be a bit skewed, but I'm willing to put that aside and hope they put on another raw as shit show.

SepticFlesh might be worth checking out, although they seem to take themselves waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too seriously and again their music has symphonic elements which aren't really my thing, but I don't know, I might check them out. PERSEPOLIS YOU LOST YOUR CROWN.

So these are pretty much the bands I'm most interested in seeing at this festival. I'm also interested in all the festival food and beer, which they say are going to be "reasonably priced". Hopefully there's at least some truth in that statement and I will be able to pig out and rock out. EATING AND ROCKING! YEAH! And of course expect a lengthy review when all is said and done. 

If anyone else is going, feel free to let me know or just come say hi and bring me a hot dog. It'll be much appreciated! 

MORE INFO: 

http://www.rockstadtextremefest.ro/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockstadt-Extreme-Fest/159000234249419?fref=ts