As the most important East German stage, the Partysan Open Air is behind the pure teaching of Death Metal & Co. – and sets standards that have nothing to do with playgrounds like Wacken.
“Thank you for the music”: East Germany’s most important extreme metal festival ended on Sunday morning with hundred-throated singing, metal fists raised in the air and circling hair on the head. What sounds unusual is part of the routine: the Partysan open-air always closes with half an hour of canned Abba and a polonaise. Before that, Dismember, a veteran of death metal, gave the finale in the official part of the festival. With wonderfully creaking guitar cascades, low-hanging bass loops and a drumming that one can still hear its punk origins, the Swedes thrilled everyone who could still stand in Schlotheim in northern Thuringia – and like most of them, they showed a joy of playing that is above all evident Years of pandemic live abstinence declared. Even bands that otherwise portray themselves as dark and elitist could hardly hide their joy at being here.
Is it still possible to write about metal festivals without using the words “Pommesgabel” and “Metalheads”? That seems hopeless in view of the lavish Wacken reporting. However, you get a completely wrong impression if you want to measure Partysan against Wacken. It’s no small edition of that. Many who visit the meadow near Mühlhausen would not set foot on northern Germany’s most famous field: too big, too mainstream, too trendy. Mud wrestling and Viking villages, Mambo Kurt and Paulaner beer gardens have no place at the party. No matter how often Tagesschau & Co. can report from the Wacken Open Air: It’s still a kindergarten. It certainly has its place, but Partysan is all about enjoying the music – and talking about it. At best with the first complete stranger you meet at the drinks stand. He will have an opinion and idea and will be happy to share it with you.
Around 10,000 such music experts came together for three days. “Finally again” was probably the phrase most used at a festival where people treated each other a little more attentively and cautiously than usual. Corona is also omnipresent in such a dance of death, which conjures up human finiteness with drastic symbolism.
So Dismember pushed the keystone into this vault of inverted crosses. After the amazing laying of the foundation stone on Thursday afternoon by the grindcore comedians from Birdflesh (Sweden), many people helped. Only those fellow lacemakers from the acoustic Cathedral of Power and Dome of Fear should be mentioned: quite early on, Der Weg eines Freiheits (Würzburg) provided a neck-breaking three-quarters of an hour. Groovy, but with no-frills string saws and snare drumsticks, they dug into your ear canals. This is fresh Black Metal from Germany, which does without costumes, make-up and artificial blood. Cannibal Corpse also wowed by avoiding overly grand gestures, they were as routine as ever, but seemed less distant. The masters of clear singing from High Spirit (USA) were also in the mood for the stage.
But especially for fans of grindy death metal, hearts beat faster. The Chemnitz-based Cytotoxin were finally able to present themselves to a larger audience as co-headliners on Saturday evening; including a massive circle pit. In circles with inflatable animals and soap bubbles, the fans also ran to Kadaverficker (Dortmund, photo). Misery Index (USA) smashed the second night before it was the turn of the musically perfect but a bit too sedative Doomers of Katatonia (Sweden). Finally, Carcass (UK) shot everything away. The space in front of the stage was full. Hundreds banged their heads, dozens of indefatigable people ran in circles. Carcass pulled the sausage from everyone’s sandwich. They pulled out the vivisection instruments and mainly played down the first albums.
It was a worthy return for the partysan, once again devoid of bullshit and clutter. The organizers can’t do anything about the pretty, romantic full moon above the stage. Thank you for the music.