God Forbid Live At Hellfest
Friday June The 19th in Clisson, France American Metal in Europe
Jul 14, 2009
It’s an oppressively hot day on the west coast of France. Up and down the countryside the days are languid and peaceful, communities happy to relax among the vineyards and life moves quietly, at a slow pace. Except in one town; Clisson. Here, a sleepy little town has been invaded by a horde of black clad, head banging heavy metal fans. Festival time is here, it’s time for Hellfest.
Welcome To Hellfest
Now in its fourth year since the name change (it was at one time referred to as Fury Fest), Hellfest is rapidly becoming France’s premier heavy music attraction of the summer live season. With an eclectic mix of metal, punk, industrial and hardcore, fans can expect to run the gamut of extreme music but on a slightly more intimate scale than Wacken or Download. Due to the smaller scope, it’s a bit more tight-knit than its contemporaries and everyone here is up for a good time.
This is apparent even in the stifling mid-afternoon. New Jersey’s God Forbid take to the first of two adjacent main stages at precisely one forty in the afternoon. There isn’t a single cloud in the sky and it’s incredibly hot, but this doesn’t slow down Byron and the boys one bit.
American Metal Live In France
Popular opinion dictates that the band have long been the best kept secret of the modern American metal scene and given how muted their initial reception is, it’s all too clear that not many people gathered at the main stage have a clue who they are. They rapidly whip up a storm though and couldn’t have turned things around quicker without tossing hand grenades into the throng.
Clichéd though it may be, front man Byron Davies is a natural showman and by this stage of his career, has become an expert on crowd control. His boundless enthusiasm soon has the mosh pit surging and the first surfers of the weekend rapidly start to head to the barrier. As he and the rest of the band pile through the likes of War Of Attrition and To The Fallen Hero, machine gun drum rolls and barking death growls threaten to level the surrounding countryside, to such an extent that an impromptu wall of death breaks out without any encouragement from the band at all.
Hellfest 2009: God Forbid
By the time their allocated forty minutes draw to a close, God Forbid have proven a perfect festival attraction. Arriving as unknowns and leaving as champions, they leave a memorable mark on their first Hellfest and no doubt have made a few conversions along the way. An invigorating start to the weekend and no mistake.
