Historical relevance
In the late eighties/early nineties Sweden spawned a typical blend of death metal with heavy, crunchy riffs: the raw, somewhat primitive old-school Stockholm death metal sound. These bands used a trademark \"Sunlight Studios\" guitar sound formed by linking together two distortion boxes to create a mechanical, electric buzz. The first wave consisted primarily of the bands Grave, Carnage and Nihilist. The latter two fragmented into Entombed, Dismember and Unleashed.

In 2006, these four most influential bands in this scene decided to start touring Europe together. Thanks to the \"Masters Of Death\" concept, metal fans had now the elected opportunity to see them all perform live on the same stage.

Exterminator
But first things first: the support slot was filled by Belgian metallers Exterminator. They started in 1991 and have released several demos and two albums since. Drummer Marco Vreven joined the group in July 2006 after the departure of previous sticksman Marc Damiaens. Exterminator delivered solid but rather average death metal. However, their fifteen years of experience paid off with a tight set.

Grave
Which of the four co-headlining bands would start in Eindhoven? It turned out to be Grave. After drummer Pelle Ekegren quit shortly before the tour due to \"personal reasons\", the group recruited Ronnie Bergerståhl (Julie Laughs Nomore, Amaran, Centinex, among others). With their new sticksman the band played a lot of material from early albums, including classics like Turning Black, Soulless, and Into the Grave. Grave was absolutely decent but suffered from a slightly dim performance.

Unleashed
Unleashed, with drummer Anders Schultz behind the kit, started of intensely. They mixed many old favorites with some new songs, focusing on their latest release \"Midvinterblot\". The band clearly enjoyed themselves on stage and played with vigor. Of all bands this night Unleashed had the most interaction with the audience.

Entombed
Entombed, complemented by drummer Olle Dahlstedt after long time member Peter Stjärnvind\'s departure from the band, performed very to-the-point. Olle Dahlstedt is a great addition to the band. With his somewhat non-metal approach, but extremely groovy swing and his perfect fills, he glued the music together and pushed the band forward like a downhill steam engine with broken breaks. The guys were rocking very intensely and showed the most enthusiasm and sheer joyment on stage, propelled by frontman Lars Göran Petrov. Classic songs like Supposed to Rot, Crawl and of course Left Hand Path culminated this death metal celebration.

Dismember
The headlining band this evening was Dismember. Founding member and original drummer Fred Estby has hit the skins in Dismember since they started in 1988. Estby has also helped shaping the group\'s distinctive sound as he has produced several Dismember albums. This may be the reason that Dismember have remained closest to their early days style. With their show Dismember proved to be a fantastic finishing act of a great (and deafening!) evening.

The concept of four classic bands within a genre touring together with rotating headliner positions to keep things fresh, turns out to be very fruitful. Time for the next four genre defining groups to join forces!