Trivium played an amazing show with a mix of old and new songs. It was truly a blast for fans of the old school stuff and the new album as well. This was also bassist Paolo‘s first show, after having emergency hernia surgery. His bass was on a stand, so he couldn’t move as much as he usually does, but he was able to play the show this way. Trivium always ends their shows with ‘In Waves’. The whole crowd goes down to their knees and jumps up when the beat drops. Amazing!

They were a little bit of an outlier on the Alcatraz line-up, but there was no way we were going to miss a passage of the rather legendary psychobilly outfit Mad Sin on the La Morgue stage on the first day of Alcatraz! We had the impression that for quite some people passing by the tent, it was a completely new discovery, but for those who knew it was an absolute riot we all were waiting for! The highly infectious blend of rock ‘n’ roll and punk attitude, including a double bass adorned with lights and plenty of mohawks, was an absolute feast live, and we couldn’t help ourselves from dancing the night away on the damn right infectious music.

Easily one of the most intense shows of the first day of Alcatraz, if not of the whole weekend. US metalcore outfit Converge is highly regarded as one of the earliest in the genre, and still manages to maintain a certain degree of originality and artistry after over 3 decades. There simply is no other than Converge, and even though we were getting plenty tired after such a long day behind us, we were all there for the absolute pummeling send our way by the passionate and at times chaotic performance of this legendary band of the core scene. An absolute beast of a show that reverberated all the way to our core for a long time still.

New York hardcore legends Agnostic Front playing a show that starts way past midnight as one of the very last bands of the first day? Sign us up! These guys really show absolutely no signs of slowing down, even though they’ve been around for over 4 decades. Iconic characters like Vinnie Stigma and Roger Miret easily pulled in most of the attention, but honestly, the whole damn band was as solid as a rock. The old school hardcore punk side of my heart fluttered at their signature NYHC sound and when classics like ‘The Eliminator’, ‘United Blood‘, ‘Gotta Go‘ or ‘Something’s Gotta Give‘ came by, I was so ready to dive into the pit that had been going on from start to finish. And just when you thought things couldn’t get better, they threw ‘Blitzkrieg Bop‘ of the Ramones at you as their farewell song. With Sick Of It All earlier this year, now I’ve gotten another NYHC originator crossed off my list, looking forward to catching the rest still hopefully soon. Too bad Madball had to cancel their show this year!

With the day before having seen Agnostic Front, we couldn’t let a show of another staple of the NYHC scene pass us by. Especially not a rather special one like this: Biohazard reunited with the original line-up! Billy Graziadei, Evan Seinfeld, Bobby Hambel and Danny Schuler took over the Prison Stage and played in absolute top form a set that delighted any fan of the old school hardcore sound. Similar to Sepultura earlier that day at the same stage, the stream of crowdsurfers was relentless and never-ending, and at some point Billy even went and joined the crowd for a moment while continuing to play his guitar. Classics like ‘Urban Discipline’, ‘Down for Life‘, ‘Punishment‘, ‘Hold My Own‘ and many more all came by, and the crowd went absolutely wild. To our feeling, Biohazard is feeling it again, and we’re hoping so hard that it’ll result in more tours and maybe even some new music in the nearby future! Biohazard is back, baby!

If you wanna talk about absolute legends of the hardcore punk scene, you can’t go past The Exploited. With iconic tracks like ‘Punks Not Dead’, ‘UK 82’, ‘Beat The Bastards’ and so much more, it was a riot to get to see them live. Frontman Wattie is such a character, I don’t think you can go much more punk than him. I crave for these kind of hardcore punk shows that transports you to the craziness that was the 80s for just a moment. “Barmy Army let’s go!”

The German metalcore legend Heaven Shall Burn headlined the Swamp Stage on the Saturday, ending the day with a bang. It was already Sunday when they started playing, but the crowd definitely wasn’t tired, not at all, looking at the biggest circle pit of Alcatraz and the most brutal wall of death on ‘Voice Of The Voiceless’. And the pressure they put on the security during ‘Godiva‘ where we’re estimating having seen more than 100 crowdsurfers. It was a crushing performance with some impressive pyrotechnics put on display. The only reason they didn’t get to a full score, is because we missed some heavy hitters like ‘Counterweight‘ and ‘Corium‘ on the setlist, but what a crushing performance! We went home broken and beaten, and we want to bet that we weren’t the only ones…

After the exceptional party that Electric Callboy started at last year’s edition, the organisation decided to bring them back, but with a major upgrade. The Germans this time got to come to Alcatraz to headline and be the closing act of the festival’s main stage. And despite all the naysayers and people who didn’t understand what they were doing here as the headliners of their favorite metal festival, it was a blast. You love them or hate them, we didn’t really care and partied along with the thousands of people showing up for the show. Not surprisingly, they played only songs from their latest EP and album with their (viral) hits like ‘Hypa Hypa’ and ‘We Got The Moves‘, had a bit of a medley moment with ‘Careless Whisper‘, ‘When You Say Nothing At All’, ‘Let It Go‘, and ‘I Want It That Way‘, and their rendition of Cascada‘s ‘Everytime We Touch‘ was absolutely epic live. They totally deserved their headline spot on the festival and you can’t change our minds.