There has been something missing in the Scottish metal scene for a long time. Though Glasgow’s Lords of the Land and North of the Wall, Dundee’s Hordes of Belial, South Lanarkshire’s Wildfire Festival, and countless other all-day shows have been providing Scottish metalheads with something a little different from the standard tour packages, Scotland has been missing an honest-to-god metal festival, with wide appeal and big names. 2017 saw Heavy Scotland’s first incarnation, and though it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing, it was doubtless the best thing to happen for the Scottish metal scene in a long, long time.
Ignoring the music of the weekend for a moment, and looking at the festival itself, there is a lot to be said. There was, unfortunately, a clash in events with the aforementioned Lords of the Land taking place in Glasgow on the 1st of April, which was a real shame. This did no one any favours, and what could have been two really incredible events for Scottish metal were marred by the drama that came from the clash. This obviously lead to a less than brilliant attendance at Heavy Scotland – though Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange was far from empty for much of the weekend. Everything from the venue and staff to the line up itself was just excellent, and great food, a free Uber ride and buses put on by Heavy Scotland going to Glasgow after the festival displayed a real sense of care the Heavy Scotland organizers had for the punters.
Musically, the festival was, on the whole, excellent. The sound for pretty much every band that played was crisp, clear, and really full. Glasgow groove-metallers Centrilia [7/10] had the unenviable task of opening the festival, and though the crowd had only just started to arrive, what I saw of their set was a tight barrage of chunky, groove-focussed riff work. Sodomised Cadaver [5/10] followed, and though the majority of their set clashed with an interview, I managed to catch a couple of tracks. Their set, unfortunately, felt like a poorly-done parody of old-school death metal, rather than a modern OSDM band. Dyscarnate [7/10] provided a far better death metal experience for Heavy Scotland’s still growing crowd, and appeared to get a far better reception overall.
Warbringer [9.5/10] proved themselves to be one of the best bands of the entire festival. Their newest album, “Woe to the Vanquished,” is without a doubt the best album the L.A. based thrashers have ever penned, and they brought that newfound energy and rekindled love of the music to the stage, and then some. John Kevil’s stage presence is something really special, and his ability to really stir up the crowd is a true talent. Havok [8/10], who are currently on tour with Warbringer, are going to have to play their asses off to follow the So.Cal thrashers every night. Havok played blindingly well, proving exactly why they are one of the 21st century’s best thrash bands, but they failed to match the intensity of Warbringer.
By this point, the crowd was looking filled out – though the event was certainly not a sell-out, Heavy Scotland definitely managed to sell a good number of tickets. Fleshgod Apocalypse [8.5/10] had a stroke of bad luck, with their drummer hobbling on stage on a set of crutches. With the help of a backing track for the bass drum, the Italians powered through a scorching set of hard-hitting, beautifully symphonic death metal. Fleshgod Apocalypse are a supremely underrated band, thematically and in terms of tightness standing alongside the likes of Behemoth with ease, and the presence of their pianist and opera singer on stage with them made it one of the most unique and interesting sets of the whole weekend.
Heavy Scotland was the first time since 2007 that Swedish death metal veterans Grave [8/10] had played Scotland, and though their brand of buzzsaw, gore obsessed old-school death metal seemed unfamiliar to many in the crowd, they delivered a set that was definitely worth the decade-long wait, and almost certainly won a few new fans.
Behemoth [10/10] are again and again proving themselves to be a force of nature. One of extreme metal’s most successful bands, witnessing their live set is something special. Powering through a set largely made up of tracks from the universally acclaimed 2014 album ‘The Satanist’, frontman Nergal, bassist Orion and guitarist Seth displayed a uniformed fluidity on the stage, perfectly mixing the theatrical nature of their stage show with an element of classic heavy metal fun. Musically, Behemoth were the tightest band of the whole weekend, showing the Heavy Scotland crowd exactly why they are one of the most popular extreme metal bands in the world – they are not the product of a major-label hype machine, they are simply, utterly incredible. After finishing the main part of their set with “O Father, O Satan, O Sun,” and taking a brief break from the stage, Behemoth stormed through perfect renditions of “Ov Fire and the Void” and “Conquer All,” before bidding Scotland goodnight.