Artist(s):Ozzy Lamb of God, Hatebreed, Static-X, Lordi, Devildriver,Behemoth and more!!
Venue:Tweeter Center Camden NJ
Date:8/22/2007

What a mess Ozzfest has become. This once heavy metal summer camp has become a walking parody (much like the tours namesake) in recent years. After successful line-ups in 2004 and 2005 it seemed Ozzfest was ready to become a serious metal festival again much like it was in the mid-90's and that its nu-metal years had come to an end. Well then there was last years line-up which was arguably the worst line-up of any summer tour out there(Distrubed, Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu ect.) Needless to say it was a complete flop and ended up costing the Osbournes a pretty penny.So in an attempt to return interest to the tour their great idea was to make the festival free and mix the lineup with some nu-metal bands(Static-X,Ankla,In This Moment,Lordi) and some real metal bands that have become WAY overexposed in recent years(Lamb of God,Hatebreed). But you cant beat a free ticket and after their ticket give-a-way system failed they ended up just releasing tickets to anybody, one of which I was hooked up with through a friend, so with nothing better to do I went.

Upon entering the gate an Ozzfest employee came up to me and asked us a real easy to answer question to get pit tickets. It was really easy and stupid so of course we got them (I think it was "Who's Ozzy's guitar player"?)so they must of been desperate to give those away. The 1st band we saw was 3 Inches of Blood. I was happy that I didn't miss them as they were pretty much the whole reason I was here.I was surprised at the great reaction they got as they were the odd band out on this bill. New songs such as "Goatriders Horde" and "Night Murarders" went down with a storm and of course the classics were great as well, as the whole crowd sang along to "Deadly Sinners".


The next band I saw that caught my interest was a band from Taiwan called Chtonic. They were pretty generic black metal ala Dimmu Borgir but it was neat to see a band from a part of the world you wouldn't usually see. I'd have to see a longer set from them before i bought any of their material (if its even possible to get in it U.S)but overall I enjoyed their set. A bunch of either crappy or nu-metal band followed afterwards(In This Moment,Ankla,The Showdown,Daath) before death metal legends Nile hit the stage. I think they scared the shit out of most of the kids at Ozzfest which must of made them happy because thats what they said they were going for.Towards the end the crowd got into it but I don't really see the band benefiting from this tour as their sound was to extreme for the more mainstream fans who come to Ozzfest.


Behemoth however seemed to walk the perfect line between extreme death metal heaviness and accessibility as they received one of the best reactions on the 2nd stage all day.They only played one song for their godly new album
"The Apostay"(review to come shortly) and the rest of their set was classic material. The pits were as nasty as they could get during "Conquer All" and closer "Slaves Shall Serve". Devildriver was another reason I showed up to Ozzfest. Their late addition to the tour sealed the deal for me and I was glad I didn't miss them. Dez seemed to get a little winded during their set but other than that they were crushing!!.The played 2 new songs, a few off of Fury of our Makers Hand, and 2 from their self titled debut.They were a hit amongst Ozzfest fans today and easily could've headlined the stage and they totally blew away Hatebreed as far as crowd reaction went.


Seeing as Hatebreed do Ozzfest every year and if you hear one song of theirs you've heard them all, I went and rested before the main stage began. 1st band on was Blacktide, a band whos oldest member was 17. They seemed to be trying to do the 80's hair metal sound ala Motley Cure or Ratt. The crowd was very unreceptive with alot of booing and middle fingers in the air.They probably would've been better suited for Family Values than Ozzfest.


I could hear alot of GWAR chants as the stage was being set for Lordi and looking at their appearance it was completely warranted.Their music however could not even hold a candle to GWAR.Chessy Kiss like anthems with awful vocals and awkward keyboards would be a good way to describe their sound. Luckily their over-the-top pyro and stage show kept the crowd interested.


I was surprised that Static-X ended up being my favorite main stage band of the day.I still enjoy their debut album and they played plenty of songs off it. They also played the key cuts that are worth anything off their more recent albums really making their set flow nicely. The crowd was very into it too. This tour might be the one to make the band the major band they once were at the turn of the millennium.


Lamb of God. You cant get away form this band these days no matter how hard your try. Much like Trivium they suffer from extreme over-exposure.But much un-like Trivium they have the musical talent to back it up.Not to say I don't like Lamb of God's newest album its just that I wasn't in the mood to hear the entire thing tonight and they pretty much played all of it. I kept wishing for more off album cuts from New American Gospel of As The Palaces Burn or even some rarely played stuff off of Ashes of The Wake but no, it was all singes and Sacrament songs tonight which left me very disappointed. You could almost guess which song they were going to play next which made their set very boring. It could've been because they knew they were infront of the Ozzfest crowd who only realy know the singles but still, Iron Maiden didnt cave in to that on the 2005 tour. Hopefully they take some time off re-energize and come back with a more inventive set list.


Ozzy was Ozzy. Alot of "Let me fu*king hear you", "Louder now I cant hear you", hoping around,throwing buckets of water,other stupid bullshit and an all hits set list. I left as he started "I Don't Wanna Stop" which might be one of they worst songs ever. Also I cant stand Zakk Wylde either. "In This River" has ruined him possibly forever for me.

So that was Ozzfest. A few good bands this year and luckily it was free because I would've been very disappointed if I paid for it. Hopefully this is the end for Ozzfest because I don't see it happening again for free after it was such a mess this year. Gigantour and Sounds of The Underground will make up for its absence. If you do go make sure to check out 3 Inches of Blood, Nile,Behemoth,Devildriver and Static-X as they were the best bands of the day, at least in my opinion.