When the legendary Sepultura took over the mainstage on the Saturday, I don’t think anyone was properly prepared for the onslaught and energy that they would bring to the table. Whether you like this iteration of the band or not, there is simply no denying that Sepultura is a force to be reckoned with. As soon as the guys came on stage and started off with ‘Isolation‘ and ‘Means to an End‘, 2 tracks of  ‘Quadra‘, the latest (and possibly best) album with this line-up, broken up with the Sepultura classic ‘Territory‘, the floodgates opened. There was a constant stream of crowdsurfers flowing towards the stage, and people went absolutely wild. With a fantastic setlist mixing some of the best tracks of the post-Cavalera Sepultura and the ever present classics like ‘Roots Bloody Roots‘, ‘Refuse/Resist‘, ‘Arise‘ and ‘Ratamahatta‘ and a band in excellent shape, this was easily one of the top performances of the weekend!

Another bombshell of a show that Alcatraz Saturday, was most definitely when the German thrash legends Sodom set up shop in the Swamp Stage tent. If you weren’t there early enough, you had to squeeze yourself through a packed tent to get anywhere near the front. More people than ever showed up for these guys and turned the tent into a steamy whirlwind of old school thrash energy. With a bunch of old school tracks on the setlist from decades ago, it was true and true a performance that made the proper thrash metal fan’s day and Tom Angelripper and his friends were in excellent form. What a show!

When we showed up at the La Morgue stage, we didn’t necessarily expect such a positive and fun-loving atmosphere with the US thrashers of Evildead. These guys have been around since the eighties, but have been a bit neglected or underappreciated from time to time in our opinion. Since they got back together with a somewhat new line-up that blends different iterations of the band into a whole new beast, they’ve been on a roll trying to make people remember and acknowledge them by playing shows all over the place and releasing an excellent album a couple of years ago with ‘United States of Anarchy‘. They played a nice selection of tracks from that latest album, mixed with some of their classics, making it a great hour to spend among a truly excited crowd and showing that putting this band on the more club-like setting of this stage was a master move by the organisation. Let’s go!

About halfway the last day of the festival, another thrash metal legend took over the mainstage with Sacred Reich. The band has been around since the 80s and still radiate pure pleasure of being able to play their music to their fans. With classics passing by like show opener ‘The American Way‘ and others like ‘Who’s to Blame‘, and wrapping up with their legendary fun-loving track ‘Surf Nicaragua‘ that got the moshers going properly one last time, this was another must for any thrash metal fan this weekend!

As a thrasher, how could you not wrap up your weekend with Holy Moses? The headliner of the La Morgue stage and the very last band to set foot on that stage for this edition, was also probably the last opportunity for you to catch them live since they were on their farewell tour. The highly influential band always remained somewhat of an underdog and underground name, but is one of the best thrash metal bands around and has been cited by many musicians as one of those revelations that got them where they are now. The only remaining original member, vocalist Sabina, was someone who showed in the early 80s that women also had a place in extreme metal, being one of the first women to use harsh vocals. And now, over 4 decades later, Holy Moses released one more album and is doing one more tour to wrap things up on a high. And what a high! Besides the obvious tracks from the latest, and last, album ‘Invisible Queen’, we got hit with a nice slab of Holy Moses classics, and they turned the La Morgue tent one more time into a ferocious little area to be. Legends bringing one more show people will talk about still for a long time, no better way to end than this!