Anno 2005 it has grown out to an open air fest with lot of great bands - not only from the Netherlands but from all across Europe. Thanks to its small scale (less than a thousand people) Occultfest is still a charming festival with an intimate ambiance.

Enraged
Starting Occultfest 2005 was Enraged, featuring Douwe Talma on drums. A band based in the northern part of the Netherlands, which makes a kind of progressive death metal. The band has no record deal but released four demo CDs by themselves. The last CD is from 2004 and is called \"Resist or Serve\". It received very good reviews in magazines and on websites across the world. On stage the band is tight and fast. Enraged proved a very good opener for a festival like this. Yet somehow it was too early for the musicians, who called themselves the “heavy metal breakfast”, because the band was a bit uncertain on stage. But as the time passed by the guys grew in a very tight machine that surprises the people with vast and complex compositions.

Carnal Leftovers
Next band, Carnal Leftovers, is very energetic. The music they play is a mixture of old school death metal and newer bands like Dying Foetus. The band has no problem to get the crowd go wild. You could feel all energy of the band display itself on the audience. The band played very well and the sound wasn\'t bad at the start of the festival (something what went a bit different later that day). When you have the chance to see the band, don\'t pay attention on the drummer Micha Kieftenbelt, because that crazy motherfucker can\'t do anything normal. During the show he makes stupid faces while playing drums like a machine, and when you watch him play you forget to look and listen to the rest of the band.

Nuestros Derechos
Hailing from Utrecht, Nuestros Derechos delivers trash metal mixed with punk and hardcore influences. Singer and guitarist Jerry was a bit nervous at the start of the gig but after a few songs and great response of the crowd he changed into a raging front man who is playing fast riffs while screaming his lyrics towards the people. Bass player Juan and drummer Johnny provided a very tight and heavy wall of sound throughout the gig. The songs were short and fast and the crowd had to adjust listening to something else than black or death metal that day for the first time, but the audience was impressed, judging by the looks of the first rows in front of the stage.

Toxocara
Next on the list was Toxocara, which has a great fan base in the Netherlands. And that is not surprising because their raging death metal is very good and even faster than most death metal bands tend to be. Their gig was very persuading and a good example for what we can expect of their new album that is coming out in October or November 2005. Title of this new album is \"Imminent Repulsion (Suffice to Prevent)\" and it will be released by Severed records (SR-024). Drum animal Michiel \"Yank\" van der Plicht is also known from the band \'Prostitute Disfigurement\', who had just finished a tour with Macabre and Flesh Made Sin.

See My Solution
See My Solution, with Tim Kuper on the drum throne, offers some kind of modern metal in the vein of Killswitch Engage and System Of A Down. The band is very energetic on stage, especially singer Ido rages the stage like a complete idiot (and I mean that in a positive way). But on Occultfest the band suffered from a bad sound on stage and in front of it. It is a pity they had to concentrate so much on the sound because usually their stage performance is better.

Accelerate
The biggest surprise of the festival turned out to be Accelerate. Their old school style of new wave of British heavy metal was a nice break between all the death and trash metal served this festival. The band played fast heavy metal with a lot of double bass by drummer Danny Volkers. Helped by bassist Jaap, he laid down a solid base for the guitars and the voice. The guitar tandem Andre en Bart chased each other in fast en melodically riffs and very nice twin solos. And singer Ronny reached for the highest regions of his voice. Altogether a great band and a nice break for the metal heads in the crowd.

Izegrim
Thrashy death metal with a female singer, that is what Izegrim serves. The band is very hard and singer Krisz has a grunt in here throat many male singers don\'t dare to dream about. Drummer Joep van Leeuwen and the rest of the band played very persuading and the crowd was going out of its mind in front of the stage. In particular the songs of their latest mini album \"New Word Order\" received a lot of recognition. Izegrim may be on there eve of a breakthrough to a bigger audience with this style of metal. Despite the leaving of their second guitar player Carsten the band was playing as a solid formation and the loss of one guitar has not harmed the band much as we all could hear.

Screamin\' Daemon
The English band Screamin\' Daemon was another surprise; I had not heard of the band before. With their horrifying black metal and their intensive stage act it was a nice present for the crowd. The music of Screamin\' Daemon is very fast and played very tight. The screams of singer and guitar player The Reverend Trudgill makes everybody shiver and goes well with their music. Also the backing vocals of lead guitarist Alhazred Jihad make the songs complete. Along with bass player Voulgartoktonos and drummer Nate Gould, the band made a lot of new fans during their show.

Love Bite
Next on the list was the Dutch punk rock band Love Bite. The music is what you can expect of a punk rock band and the show was energetic and cool to see. Especially their bass player Andre is a madman on stage (and off he was even worse, ha ha). A great show and again something completely different.

Pulverizer was the next band. You could hear that they had not played together for a while. The first couple of songs where a bit hard to get trough. But the band improved thanks to the great response of the crowd as the music was very well received by them. Maybe it was the fault of their guitarist: he played the first song banging and waving his hair around. Later he put his cap back on so he could see his guitar again, ha ha ha. Well don\'t worry: the band has promised to do more gigs and try to take some more time for the band.

Annatar
Annatar, with Bram Quettier behind the drum kit, is a gothic metal band with a female singer. Their music was good but perhaps a bit too much in the veins of other bands with female vocalists like After Forever and Epica. Front woman Madicken de Vries is blessed with a great voice and she can do her thing on recordings as well as live, which is a great advantage.

Desaster
German based band Desaster is another story. When you heir them play you know that they have been around for about 17 years now. Their old school trash metal with influences of Hellhammer and Destruction should sound this way. No compromise, just do what you do best, and for Desaster that means thrashing! Man what a terrific show, especially drummer Tormentor is one big mean monster. The way he played the drums with his mountain like posture was quite unbelievable.

Slechtvalk
Slechtvalk was the next band. Their mixture of black/viking metal was received very well by the crowd. The band played very tight - drummer Jan-Paul Lucas in particular! - and the show on stage was cool. Dressed in middle-aged clothing and painted with horrifying masks with blood all over, the band knows what the do. I like their music very much: it’s heavy, spherical and with a perfect mixture of grunt and female singing they deserved to play towards the end of the festival.

Holy Moses
Last band at Occultfest 2005 was the most legendary band of the day: Holy Moses. The German band exists for 25 years now and they are still going strong. With a new album out, entitled \"Strenght Power, Will, Pasion\", singer Sabina Classen is ready to rock around the world once more. The new members on bass and drums made their live debut on this festival.

With their energetic performance and great songs they formed a great headliner. Despite of some technical (sound) problems the band, including new drummer Asgard, played awesome. Both old and new songs were played with great verve. And of course the classing To Drunk To Fuck was played as the last song of their gig. A great gig and a respectful clincher of a very good festival.

Thanks to the bands, the organisation and especially you all who made this an unforgettable day and a remarkable festival, see you next year!

- Henk ‘De Tank’ Bosma

NB: more photos are available at the artist and band profiles.