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From today the yard of the JUZ Live Club in Andernach fills up: Deathfeast Open Air opens for three days. 33 bands from 18 countries, one stage, no clashes — the organisers call it the most brutal open air in Europe, and one look at the bill leaves little to argue with. They recently reported being close to another sold-out edition.
Thursday, 20 August
Signs Of The Swarm close the first night at 23:00. The Pittsburgh deathcore act is the biggest name of the weekend and something of an outlier here — the rest of the day belongs to the underground.
Before them: Coffin Feeder from Belgium, one of two late additions, Cutterred Flesh from Karlovy Vary, Filth from Gothenburg, Scatology Secretion, Emasculated Vituperation from Taipei, Coprocephalic Mutation and Imperial Execration from Prague. Home Reared Meat from Meppen open at 16:00.
And this is exactly where the running order changed at the last minute: Fatuous Rump from Taipei were down for the Thursday 20:45 slot, but singer Larry Wang did not get his passport in time. Cutterred Flesh — booked for Saturday and already on the road to Andernach anyway — filled in. Fatuous Rump play Saturday at 16:45 instead. That is how the underground solves things.
Friday, 21 August
Internal Bleeding close the night at 23:00. The Long Island band helped define what slam even is with "Voracious Contempt" (1995) and has set the pace for the New York sound for over three decades. Before them, Cerebral Incubation from Las Vegas play their only EU show of the year — and so do Annotations of an Autopsy: the Brits stepped in alongside Coffin Feeder after Vulvodynia cancelled the rest of their tour and Extermination Dismemberment failed to get EU visas.
From Chemnitz come Cytotoxin, the most technical set of the day: Chernobyl-themed death metal, a fixture since "Gammageddon". Add the Roman blast veterans Hour of Penance and a Southeast Asian block you essentially never get to see over here: Deadsquad from Jakarta, Jasad from Bandung, Death Vomit from Yogyakarta. Internal Suffering travel in from Colombia, Human Mass Extermination from Costa Rica, Kakothanasy from Lausanne. Music starts at 13:45 with Suffer.
Saturday, 22 August
Revocation close the festival at 23:00. The Boston four-piece is that rare death metal band riff nerds and pit dwellers agree on. Before them: Condemned from San Diego with material off "Daemonium", Despondency from Leer and Gutrectomy.
The afternoon is the most international stretch of the weekend: Brutal Sphincter from Belgium, Guttural Disgorge from Aarhus, Molested Divinity from Ankara, Phrymerial from Barcelona, Darkall Slaves from Lille, Sperm of Mankind from Bratislava and Pikodeath from Liberec. Plus, newly slotted in, Fatuous Rump at 16:45.
If you made it to Dortmund Deathfest at the scrapyard in late July, you already know the handwriting: it is the same crew. Andernach is under two hours from Cologne — the full running order for all three days is in the KRACH app.
