In the 90s the area around Zaandam had a very lively death metal scene, of which most had lain dormant for may years since the 2000s. Most of the releases from these bands at the time were done by Displeased Records, which was from the same area. Some reunions took place in the recent years, Consolation and Nembrionic both played a few live shows the last few years. This autumn some of these bands got back together and organised a small festival with 5 bands form that area. The one thing they have in common is that Dennis Jak plays in all of them. There was no running order announced so who would play when would be a bit of a surprise. And it was pretty crowded in the venue.

The opening act was Cardinal. A short-lived band featuring mostly Consolation members. The line-up was a bit different, no Toep on drums for example, but Mano did handle the vocals. They played a short set of grinding death metal, mostly from their sole release, the EP Baptized in Cum, but the last song was a new one, Cannibalism. Pretty good gig.

Second was Dauthuz, the only band that is currently really active. This is more straight up death metal, mostly mid-paced, fairly standard. They planned to make the gig an album release show, but apparently the album is not ready yet. They did play a new song or two. The blast beats sounded quite weak. For the last two songs they invited some former members, including Mano.

Then it was time for Consolation, which I consider the best band from the time. They were fronted by both singer Mano (again) and Arjan. Even though the vocals aren’t all that different it makes a bit extra brutal sounding when they both sing at the same time. The set was fairly short, only 30 minutes and 10 songs. Murder is always a great opener. The ending of We Mourn went a bit wrong. They played one new song Sick Dead Buried, which they did play last time I saw them. Pretty cool song. The last half of the set was raging grindish death metal at its best with Godmode, Killjoy, the Truth and The Darkest Black. Quite a good gig. Unfortunately it is their final gig too.

Nembrionic was next. I haven’t seen these guys play since the late 1990 – some 25 years ago. Even though Noel Rule was there, there was a different drummer behind the kit, namely Bas from Dauthuz. They played a mix of material from their three albums, starting with a rearranged version of Psycho 100. Musically it all sounded quite good, but Marco’s vocals didn’t sound too well at all – way to forced. Anyway Coffin on Coffin is a cool song and Yog Sothoth, Beastmachine, Strength through Power, 15 minutes are also quite cool songs. The penultimate songs was the Motorhead-like Bulldozer off Psycho 100 and they invited some people on stage to sing along. And now Noel took over the drumkit too. The last song was quite different though, a song they used to play with nederhop group Osdorp Posse and a reworking of a Beasty Boys song called Geen Slaap tot Krommenie (Osdorp) from No Sleep Til Brooklyn. Jamil handled most of the vocals. Somehow it works for just one song.

The last band had never played live before although they have released 2 albums in the late 90 and early 2000s. Unlord was a side project by Marco of Nembrionic, Toep of Consolation and Dennis playing black metal. This was their first and last live gig, joined by guitarist of Consolation, Mano (again) and a bass player I could now identify. They all dressed up in black metal attire, covering their faces or using corpse paint. Musically not the most interesting band and most of the audience seem to agree as response was low and a substantial number of people had already left. I never dig this band much, knowning them only from a few songs of samplers. Never the less a pretty unique event. They played songs from their first two albums.

At the end of the gig, they gave away a free sampler to every one – signed by all band band members – with a couple of songs from all bands and Fuckface, another project of Dennis. At least Cardinal and Consolation delivered 3 new songs, Nembrionic and Unlord 2. Nice!