Haaifest 2023 review
-- Haaifest 2023 --
04/01/2023
Stijn Daneels
[INTRODUCTION]
Review written & pictures made by Glenn Schrijvers.
What to do on April fools? Go to a first edition of a brand-new festival
of course! Haaifest is organized by Sepp Coeck (who is member of death metal act Virus Inhumanity and owner of
the tattooshop Bittersweet Coeckey), Debby Van Der Zande and Bert Dens. This event
focuses on new uprising talents within both the metal and non-metal scenes to gain extra stage
experience. The first edition took place in the dinner café ‘t Buurthuis in
Veerle. That bar's located in the unspoiled nature and is the ideal starting point for your
walk or bike ride, with a spacious parking lot for cars and bicycles.
But also an ideal place to enjoy the tranquility and a pleasant chat
with friends and acquaintances.
You can host events, parties and meetings. I
had a very warm welcome from the organizers! What already stood out was the
organization of this event. By the entrance you had to check in at the counter
hosted by friendly volunteers and security. Sepp was in control of the P.I.
with a big smile providing everything for giving the bands the extra groove
alongside Geert Vandevondele (sound technician from Hangärhead). Debby and Bert
checking in frequently with everybody for any assistance. A big shoutout to the
crew of volunteers who provided everything with a smile.
[CANNIBAL SUN]
Haaifest kicked off with Cannibal Sun, a band with roots in Aarschot. This
young talented band consists of Vik Elsen on vocals, Beau Roten on guitar,
Josse Corluy on bass and Pieter Goossens on drums.
They brought a variety of music covers with rock serving as a basis and soaked in
grunge. The youngsters warmed up the audience nicely with songs like: I Wanna
Be You Doge (The Stooges), Lonely Boy (The Black Keys), Kryptonite (3 Doors
Down) and an entertaining own song. They ended their set with Killing In The
Name from Rage Against The Machine that the crowd certainly enjoyed.
[CATHARSIS]
Next up we got Catharsis, an old-school death metal band with one of the
band members having roots in Veerle. The band consists of Larz Van Rompu
(vocals), Werner Steenhaut (guitar), Gert Cools (bass) and Luc Croughs (drums).
They are all veterans from the 90s metal scene and came from bands like Body Of
Christ, Leech 54, Signs Of Cain and Solipsist. When they put their ideas in
action in 2020 Catharsis was born. They brought veracious death metal that
reminds of bands like Death, Deicide, Obituary and Morbid Angel. They recently
released their debut EP ‘I’ which features 4 devastating tracks with the track Pro Patria Mori as
my favorite so be sure to give it a spin.
Catharsis wasted no time on stage and
unleashed mayhem on the crowd with Larz headbanging and delivering primal
vocals, menacing riffs and pounding drums.
They played songs like Cauchemar, Pro Patria Mori, For I Am Sin
and Squid Nunc. The last song “Whirlpool” had an intro of Slayer that the
audience adored!
[INSANITY]
After headbanging on some old school death metal, it was time for
Insanity. Insanity is a friendly
cooperation between Ilya Roach De Donder (Provectus) and singer/songwriter
Stefanie De Wolf. Stefanie sings about the struggle due to suffering from a
mental illness with combination of piano and Ilya delivering extra dimension
with his guitar. This results in an intense combination of soothing piano and
vocals with fierce and melodic riffs.
I adore the visual aspect of the band! Stefanie
covered in bloody eyes dressed in a wedding dress and Ilya with ripped clothes
and covered in face paint and blood, it really set the tone. The extra touch
of the candle holder with the black candles and decorated with roses really
sets the mood of the dark atmosphere they bring. It was really something else
and was well received by the crowd. I was surprised in a very good way and be
sure to check their music video of Insane on YouTube here https://youtu.be/yeUp03CPnFo. They played
songs like Homeless Heart, Alive, Why and Insane.
[AVERT YOUR EYES]
Now it was time for Avert Your Eyes a band that brought a devastation mix
of hardcore and metalcore. What started among friends at Groezrock resulted in
the rise of Avert Your Eyes. The band includes Alec Elaerts (vocals), Ronny
Kaye (guitar), Kristof Janssens (bass) and the brothers Joni (drums) and Jordi
De Keyser (guitar). They played their first gig at Hell Café in Diest which was
a huge success. Now they are hungry for more and are busy recording a debut
EP.
Avert Your Eyes unleashed chaos on the crowd with their aggressive intense
vocals, headbanging riffs and neck crushing breakdowns. This resulted in
headbanging, moshpits, circle pits and even a crowd surfer. At the last song we
even got a ferocious wall of death. They played song like Unmarked Grave, Raise
Your Voice (Obey The Brave), Cold Hearted (Get The Shot) and Absence.
[TOM VAN HOOF]
After all that moshing it was time to settle down with Tom Van Hoof armed
only with an acoustic guitar to prove that it doesn't take much to amuse a
crowd. Tom brought covers and self-written songs about the battle against cancer.
Let me tell you something my fellow shredders after a hardcore performance
bringing his set proves that Tom has guts! Delivering his message and love for
music was relaxing and entertaining and the audience loved it. I really liked
the song “Je Weet Het Nooit”. Tom Van Hoof played songs“like Reason To Wake Up, Colouring Books And Sleeping Tea, All Of Me (John Legend) and Shotgun
(George Ezra).
[THE BROKEN]
Then came the moment for The Broken from Meerhout to go on stage. They presented hard
rock with new wave influences. The bandmembers are Kurt Peys (keyboard), Evert
Smeyers (drums), Werner Van Braband (bass), Bart Daems (guitar) and Bruno
Mondelaers (vocals/guitar). The keyboard elements mixed with the hard rock which was a little grungy sometimes was a pleasant combination and was well received by the
crowd who were genuinely enjoying their set. It was as if we had been transported back to the 80s and 90s at the same time. I
enjoyed the facial expressions of Evert while playing. My favorite track of
their set was Pride. The Broken played songs like Blessed With Decay, Into
The Abyss, Deliverance and Reflections.
[CLOCKWORKMAN]
Next up was Clockworkman who played progressive rock flavored with a mix of several metal genres. The bandmembers are Paul Haesaerts (guitar), Koen Vanthournout
(guitar), Jaan Couvreur (drums) and Kevin Vits (vocals). Clockworkman released
an EP called ‘Current World Order’ in 2022. Be sure to check out their EP on
Spotify. They reminded me of bands like Metallica, Volbeat, King Crimson and Nirvana.
Clockworkman played an energetic fast paced driven set. I really liked the
old-school microphone from Kevin! It reminded me instantly on the album The
Strength/The Sound/The Songs from Volbeat. Also the vibes of the guitarists
were entertaining. Clockworkman played songs like Freedom Of Speech, Awkard
Handshake, Warmonger and Clockwork. Warmonger was my favorite song of
their set.
[RUDLON]
We were almost reaching the end the day with Rudlon, a band from the Kempen who started in
2021, rehearsing behind the tattoo studio Everlong tattooing from the frontman
Lon. The bandmembers are Lon Sprengers (vocals/bass), Tom Vandingenen (drums), Tom
Engelen (guitar) and Rudy Pauwels (guitar) Rudlon played cross-over metal the Kempen
way (thrash, heavy, hard rock).
If you combine Motorhead and Katastroof with Kempen
attitude you get Rudlon. The fact that all bandmembers wear leather jackets with
custom patches is a real eyecatcher. Rudlon plays a severe testosterone driven
set with songs like Zakkevullers, Kzen Wie Kzen, Zieke Parasiet and God
za dank.
[HANGARHEAD]
Before the last band there was a secret prize that one of the bands
could win. The prize was to record a single at Reddrum Studio. Instead of making
it a competition Debby let an innocent hand draw a name and the winner was
Clockworkman. Now the last band was Hangärhead to finish this event with a bang! They are a
great party band that brings covers of the best hits in metal and rock! The band
includes Peter Verwimp (vocals), Axel Maesschalck (drums), Jan Verschueren
(guitar) and Siegfried Jans (bass).
Peter was a master in heating the crowd up
and Jan making the crowd laugh with his jokes. Mid-set Jan even went off stage
to take a walk in the crowd while playing. The crowd went wild that resulted in
headbanging and singing along. During the song Cowboys From Hell from Pantera
Sepp gets on stage to sing along with Peter. The crowd got completely out of
control and the security had a hard time holding the fences intact. A few songs later Peter amuses
the crowd with a toy chicken! Hangärhead really crushed their set with songs
like Raining Blood (Slayer), Drink (Alestorm), Bodies (Drowning Pool) and Primo
Victoria (Sabaton).
[CONCLUSION]
{Haaifest was a huge success thanks to the performances of all bands, all the sponsors, the audience, the organizers (Debby,Sepp and Bert) and all the volunteers who helped making this festival an enormous success! I'm already looking forward for a second edition!}