The Summer Storm - The biggest annual festival of the summer here in the north of Israel.

Aye, we're still on the state of war against the terror and this event was a pretty great escape from the cruel reality here in the Southern State. Aye, two days before the festival, the promoter, Igor Benditkis, had to move the festival to the Wunderbar club instead of the Gala, whose manager decided to remove the festival in a very ugly way.

The city of Haifa is the 3rd biggest city in the State of Israel, and hosts a lot of great names in the local Metal scene that even raised to a world-wide fame like KATASTROF, FERIUM, STELLA MARRIS and whatsoever, the list goes on and on.

The first band to get on stage was EDELLOM.
 

EDELLOM is a local Symphonic/Goth Metal. Their presence on the stage is very morbid and sinister, their music is very powerful and the lyrics are very meaningful and amazing. Those guys are formed from 17 to 22 years-old teens that are surely to be a great, amazing and promising band in the international community.
 

The second band to get on stage was an Old-School True Death Metal band called SEPARATION ANXIETY.

Those are apart from good friends of mine, and also colleagues of mine in my work in the Israeli Metal field. Aye, they did an excellent show. Their presence and movement on the stage is powerful. Their connection with the amazing and hardcore crowd is second-to-none.

SEPARATION ANXIETY really resembled the band Death, in a more modern, powerful way. It's like they've combined the old ways with the new ones to perform a mega-band with players from another excellent bands like ARALLU, and more.
 

The third band to go onstage was SINNERY. You like Thrash? Modern, hard hitting, jaw breaking, in-the-face spitting Thrash Metal? These guys are just perfect for you. Hitting us hard from the Hasharon Region, these high-schoolers came to school us all up. With a perfect set of modern, hard hitting music and a cover to the one and only band PANTERA (To the song "Cowboys From Hell"), this band delivered just what it is all about - Grab a beer, Head bang your head, and break one's bones in the pit!
 

The fourth band to go onstage was a Progressive War Death Metal band that calls herself FUTURE INDEFINITE. This band is amazing. As simple as it sounds. You can't go to their concert without crediting them to be a one-of-a-kind Death Metal band. The front man, Daniel White, have a very powerful stage with his height. It's like a titan is growling in front of you. Also Matvey, Matt and Samond have an amazing performance ability and withstanding power. But really, I'd like to quote Matt. "You know what really amazes me about the scene here in Israel? The brotherhood between us. We always help each other and support each other. We are like brothers and sisters, and the next song is dedicated to our brothers who's fallen in war and now fighting for our freedom." Matt…You rock. I'm saying it with my hand on the heart, this band is one of the most promising bands in the world.
 

The next one to go onstage was a band called Visions Arise. Summing up a super group from great Israeli Metal names such as ETERNAL DECAY and etc., this band really surprised me. Yes, I thought this was yet another Melodic Death Metal band but this band delivered it. Big time. With two fascinating guitarists, an animal drummer, great bassist and a female front man on the vocals, they gave me the vibe of the Israeli version to Arch Enemy alongside with The Agonist. The beauty of the singer alongside with the amazing vocal ability made their first show live to be one of the greatest I saw in my life. Also, they covered one of my most beloved songs by DEATH, "Without Judgement". You guys rock!

SHIVER. Did you ever heard of SHIVER? These guys will surely make you shiver… They play some kind of heavy as hell Djent Metal. Honestly, I can't really describe their genre. It's like GOJIRA with more of a heavy term to them. Also, they covered GOJIRA in the show). This band breaks the crowd, the vocalist have amazing vocal power, and the synchronization of everyone is perfect. Those guys are on the edge of releasing their EP.

The next band was Igor Benditkis' band KATASTROF. Those guys came back from a performance in a festival in Taiwan to give us some nice Melodic Death Metal to listen to. Their performance was smooth, those guys are absolute professionals on stage. For face that I know, they never underestimate the place they perform. Either it's a 220 Thousand crowd in Asia, 220 people in a small club, or a rehearsal, they give from themselves 200% live. It was even greater than listening to their album. A+!

After KATASTROF, the next band was Pure Metalcore music. The Israeli FERIUM band was kicking ass, their music is modern, and heavy. You can argue all day whether you like Core or Metal, but in this band, you have elements from both, which deliver a great experience for any crowd that you can come across.

We are coming up to the late evening. Everyone getting pretty tired in this point, some, unfortunately, leave the club and go home… Just to miss one of the greatest bands today in Israel. SINTAX. Those guys define themselves True Extreme Jerusalem Metal. Hailing from the holy city, these guys know nothing but Metal when it's comes to their band. Two BRILLIANT guitarists (Which one of them, Lemmy, is my favorite guitarist to see in live. He head bangs and jumps like crazy and goes down to the crowd with his guitar. Love him)The bassist looks great, and his bass guitar looks even greater, the drummer is crazy, and the front man, Yehi Zaken, Is a true morbid vocalist. He looks really cool, he performs well, and the band ticks like a mechanical clock well oiled. You'll never know what the true meaning of Pure Extreme Jerusalem Metal and SINTAX if you didn't see them live. They are one of the most promising names in the holy land.

The last band to perform was SPAWN OF EVIL. Those guys are…well…Evil. They do Death Metal. Brutal. Death. Metal. VERY Brutal and evil Death Metal. Honestly, I had no idea what they sang most of the time, I don't care, Those guys delivered a great show big time - The singer looks like George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher (CANNIBAL CORPSE), The guitarist is a piercer and tattoo artist and looks just like he should look, The bassist is fast and accurate, and the drummer is a crazy fast animal. In the end of the show they threw on us free CDs! I'll never forget how we laughed when a friend of mine got hit in the hand from a flying CD by SPAWN OF EVIL.

Those guys even announced a new song for us!

Thanks for a great, amazing night. This was one of the best if not the best gig I've come across. It was just another pure example that's Metal isn't dead, that it keeps rocking. It just gave me a good remind why I was so into this type of music. The production was great, the place was great, and the evening was great. I'm eager for another show!