The last day at the Rockharz Festival started with a sick package of death metal. Dawn of Disease was the first act of the day, and they were the right start. The death metallers spread a powerful mood over the infield. The guys rocked the stage and presented their stuff including their newest track “Akephalos”. Right after them, Deserted Fear entered the stage and delighted the surprisingly big crowd in front of the stage from the first minute. Powerful and groovy tracks like “The Carnage” made many people headbang to their music. The last artist of the morning was Dew-Scented – an institution for the death-thrash scene. Their show was hard, merciless, and the music invited to move your head, too.

After the show, I went to the cocktail stand to wait for Asphyx – the next institution, but for death metal. They delighted from the first tone they played. Songs like “Vermin”, “Candiru” and “Deathhammer” caused the people to create moshpits and parades of flying hair – it was fun to see that. Overall, the death metal package was awesome and sweeping, but the sound was mediocre, again. The power of these awesome death metal bands did not spread because the sound was flat and quiet. Too bad.

Moonspell was the next schedule of the running order. They had a nice arrangement on stage and the light show was appropriate just during their intro. The infield was well-fulfilled and a few ladies began to dance while they played their opener track “Opium”. It was a nice surprise for me that the guys played many tracks off their two oldest records ‘Irreligious’ and ‘Wolfheart’! The show in general was really nice and atmospheric, but the sound was not as good as I knew them live on stage.

The melodic death metallers Insomnium came next. The guys were awesome, epic and very atmospheric. Even the sound was nice, for the first time today! The sun was shining while they played the greatest songs of their entire discography, and the audience seemed to love it.

Korpiklaani entered the stage next, and a spirit of partying came over the festival ground. The guys on stage had great, and the crowd responded this with headbanging and dancing, especially while they played “Vodka”. Overall, it was a nice gig with focus on the records ‘Noita’ and ‘Karkelo’, which are quite nice albums to party to!

My favorite artist of the festival Dark Tranquility came up next. The guys had an awesome set list of many albums, and of course they presented some tracks off their newest album ‘Atoma’. Openers “The Treason Wall” and “Atoma” were a great combination, and it seemed the audience agreed. In general, they chose fine tracks to play live during the sunset. Frontman Mikael Stanne talked to the audience in a very likable way and applauded the feedback they got from the infield. All in all, a very fine show with a big bad thing: the sound was awful again. No power, no bass! This killed the mood while a fine band played their music! Nevertheless, it was big fun to enjoy their show at the festival.

Headliners Blind Guardian was my next schedule. I must admit that I was not a big fan of them, but I wanted to see them once in my live. So, I was really surprised when their sound was really good! I guess it was the best sound of the entire festival. I know a few songs like “The Bard’s Song”, “Valhalla” or “I’m Alive”; they played them, and I enjoyed it more than expected.  I think I must examine their discography and check for some more cool songs of them. The show in general was cool, because of the stage arrangement, light show and the band members themselves. It was a really good headliner slot!

So, many people began to collect their stuff on the tent ground after the headliner, but a few people wanted to enjoy the last band, Alcest. The French blackgaze band spread a hypnotic and melancholic mood with their really good sound tracks. A perfect end to the festival.

All in all, Rockharz 2017 was awesome in general. The organization was good, the visitors were nice, the infield was full of fine stands, and the bands were well chosen. I enjoyed the four days of the festival very much. But one thing was quite not always good and that’s very sad: the sound of the stages. I hope they improve this next year. This is the only (bigger) negative thing about the festival this year.

Nevertheless, I recommend to visit this festival always, because in its entirety, it is a really good festival with a wonderful landscape, too. I will be there next year!