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2008 |
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EXODUS, EVILE (14 April 2008) Dynamo, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
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ONSLAUGHT, SUICIDAL ANGELS, SEPIROTH (11 April 2008) Dynamo, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
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KEEP IT TRUE FESTIVAL X (4& 5 April 2008) Lauda-Konigshofen, Germany Review by Kostas Kounadinis
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BRAINSTORM, PAGAN'S MIND (7 March 2008) De Bosuil, Weert, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
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FLOTSAM & JETSAM, NON DIVINE, IZEGRIM (3 March 2008) Dynamo, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
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MUNICIPAL WASTE, TOXIC HOLOCAUST (11 February 2008) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Dennis van Dommelen
With two bands bringing the best of the 80's thrash revival going on at the moment the 013 was packed on a Monday evening. Headbangers, skins, punks, fans of the younger-but also from the older generation. The way it is meant to be. |
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HELLOWEEN, GAMMA RAY, AXXIS (7 January 2008) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel
AXXIS: Unfortunately I missed this one because of some problems with the public transport. But what I've heard of it, it sounds like I've missed a good show and a good band I haven't heard before. |
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OBITUARY, HOLY MOSES, AVATAR (4 January 2008) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Kees Schijven
This is one tour I've been looking forward too, with two of my favorite bands on it, namely Holy Moses and Obituary. This is only the second night of the tour in one of the best concert venues of our country, 013! The night before they played at the Hedon in Zwolle, where I also went to see them, as I don't want to miss out on my favorite bands playing over here! In contradiction to the night before, 013 wasn't sold out, but the amount of people attending was about the same I guess being a much bigger venue, with about 5 or 6 hundred being there. |
2007VENGEANCE, ROADKILL (12 December 2007)013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Mr. Globbetrotter
I was "going to a party on a Wednesday night", so to speak. Vengeance was to do a cd presentation gig in Tilburg, with coming band Roadkill as their support act. Starting with ROADKILL, the band did their best to warm up the audience for main act Vengeance, and partly succeeded in just doing that. The band had just released their debut album "Dark Side" so for them, it was a good thing that they were asked to tour with Vengeance. I don't know about sales figures of their debut album, but the audience seemed to appreciate what was brought on stage. They had about 45 minutes before the break would pave the path for VENGEANCE to shine on stage. |
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CARNIVORE, RAGING SPEEDHORN, MILKMAN (11 December 2007) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
This evening was one I was looking out for months already. Carnivore was one of the few 80’s metalbands which I never saw before simply because they never came over to The Netherlands earlier. The band had 2 support acts in Tilburg which both didn’t fit into this package if you ask me. MILKMAN from Tilburg, The Netherlands played a home match. The band played fast old-school hardcore in the vein of bands like D.R.I., S.O.D. & M.D.C. The band played for about 30 minutes full of old-school hardcore/punk. They played some songs from their latest album “Nostalgiator” but also some older stuff and even a Slayer & S.O.D. cover. Nice show but pity that the band had a bad sound quality on stage. |
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TSA, NEVIM (24 November 2007) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel
I thought I was dreaming when I saw this pronounce: TSA in my own town, wow! TSA is the AC/DC and DEEP PURPLE from Poland and attracts many visitors in their homeland. Me, as a big fan from this Polish Heavy Metal band, already have their classic albums "Heavy Metal World(1985)", "TSA(1981/1982)" and their new one "Proceder", who is less good, in my home for years! So it was really great to see these giants live. But before that, we saw the Czech child Rock/Metal band NEVIM: three long-haired boys between the age of 12 and 16 which were totally great! While they were a little unsure on stage, their music sounded great. The tiny bass player was singing with his fragile and soft child voice "I love rock 'n'roll " from JOAN JETT. It was so cute to see. The tough little drummer that constantly stole the show behind his drumkit and the tough guitarist/singer who was imitating Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, it was all great! Their own material and covers they played were pleasant, like NICKLEBACK, LIVE, NIRVANA and the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, METALLICA, BLACK SABBATH ("paranoid"), OZZY OSBOURNE ("Facing Hell") and two songs of JUDAS PRIEST ("Breaking the law" and "Living after Midnight"). |
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MOTÖRHEAD, OVERKILL (20 November 2007) Rodahal, Kerkrade, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
Today it was a kind of jubilee for me; this night I would see Motörhead for the 40th time live! Also the fact that they brought Overkill as support was a special reason for me to drive to the south of Holland to see 2 bands that always impressed me a lot! |
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MARIO'S METAL MEETING (11 November 2007) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by several magazines/webzines
This was the first edition of Mario's Metal Meeting and because it was organised by Mario's Metal Mania it would not be fair to review my own festival :) For that reason I only add links to the several reviews on webzines & magazines: |
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ETERNAL ROCK FESTIVAL (13 October 2007) Hanenhof, Geleen, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel
Saturday morning around 12 o clock me and some of my friends left to Geleen to visit the second edition of The ‘Eternal Rock Festival’. Their organistator ‘Ludy’ had already told me that he wasn’t expecting a lot of people, and unfortunately he was right. I think there were only about 200 people around the evening… Much too less for such a cool festival! |
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VICIOUS RUMORS, AGENT STEEL, AFTER ALL (6 September 2007) De Bosuil, Weert, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
AFTER ALL had the honour to open this night of pure, heavy speed metal. I have never been a big fan of this Belgium band because live they never could impress me. After their latest album "This Violent Decline", which I rated very high, my expectations where much higher than normally. Well, the more disappointed I was again. Singer Piet Focroul is a very energetic frontman but live his vocals still cant impress me at all. The band played mostly songs from their latest albums but as said, live they are not turning out that great. After All had the bad luck that they also had a very moderate sound during the whole gig. Sorry guys, hopefully next time better |
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HEADBANGERS OPEN AIR FESTIVAL (12, 13 & 14 July 2007)
Brande-Hörnerkirchen, Germany Review by Mario van Dooren Headbangers Open Air is for me personally the highlight of the festival season. This edition was my 4th visit to this festival and I was looking out for it from the day after the last edition in 2006!! The atmosphere is so outrageous; its indescribable!! The whole place is filled with friends from all over the world and its for me the best festival of the year! The line up of this 10th edition wasnt that good as we are used but it was worth the wait!! Also the afterparty at the Ballroom in Hamburg was a real party (also on behalf of Pim & Oliver from Digital Steel webzine & Melissa Records who joined me during this battle of attrition). DAY 1 SIXTH ALLOY from Germany was opening the jubilee edition of HOA and they did a good job. The band had a good sound quality and their thrashmetal had a lot of variety and I also liked the clean singing on some of the songs! Nice show! Spanish SILVER FIST suited me much more this time than they did during their KIT performance a while ago. Still after a while I got bored stiff and the conclusion is that i'm still not a new follower to their fanclub.... INTENSE from the UK sounded good a while ago when I heard their latest album but they couldnt impress me last year as support of Ruffians. This time the band was much better than during that tour but after I while I got irritated again by the nasal voice of their singer; nice gig, nothing more. GRIM REAPER from the UK is a band that never enthralled me though the band has a real cult status. Maybe it has to do with the fact that i'm not a real die-hard NWOBHM fan. I did recognize their latest song of the set 'See you in Hell" because it was covered by Seven Witches a while ago. Nice show. Swedish WOLF came, saw & conquered on the first day of HOA. The band is very fanatic on stage and is musically a good band. Personally I miss the variation in the voice of their singer but they where a worthy headliner for the first day! DAY 2 ETERNAL LEGACY from the USA where opening on Day 2 and the band plays typical US-metal in a way I like it very much. Pity that the sound quality wasnt that good. I also heard sometimes some "out of tune" guitarsolos and I have to admit that I was only wellknown with the songs on their MySpace which sounded much better on MS that they did live. The band also played at the afterparty on Sunday at the Ballroom in Hamburg and that performance was much better! Still a very good, promising, band!! KAOS: I already met guitarplayer Keven Albert (son of the legendary Carl Albert of Vicious Rumors/Ruffians fame) when he was playing with Ulysses Siren at the HOA festival in 2006 and he already told me that they would perform on this years edition with KAOS. Well, the more disappointed I was after a few songs; the music of the band sounds good but doesnt belong on a festival like HOA; their metalcore-a-like metal doesnt fit between the mostly truemetal line up. Musically its all performed very well and the band is very fanatic but it was not really my piece of cake ....and a lot others visitors agreed with me! I never expected to see the Aussies from RAVEN BLACK KNIGHT in Europe! The more I was surprised when I heard that the band did play HOA and also some other gigs in (ofcourse) Germany! One of the first CD's I ever reviewed for MMM was their "Choose the Dark" (2005) album and I was so curious for their live performances! The music of the band varies between doomsongs but also a lot of more uptempo songs. Great gig and I liked the short high-pitching screams from their singer/guitarplayer. The band also did the afterparty show in Hamburg and that gig was great too! Glad that I finally saw this band after all this time!! Hope these guys come back to Europe soon!! Good, well performed show! KALEDON is one of the dozen powermetal/happymetal bands from Italy. The singer was sometimes singing out of tune but after all a nice gig. BEYOND FALLEN (USA) also made their debut on the European bottom. Their typical US-metal is well received by the German fans. Personally I never liked Joe's voice that much (I miss the high-pitching vocals) but beside of that; he is a great frontman! Musically the band also played "as tight as a chicken's ass" (hi Joe, hahahaha) and they also had the honour to headline the afterparty on Sunday. On the afterparty the band was again playing top! Germany's PARAGON is a great live band which is always well received by the German audience. Musically it all sounds standard but it is performed very well. Good show! WARNING SF played my fav. style of metal: US-metal! Musically its nearly perfect and you could see that the band was enjoying their performance very much! Very good gig from these guys out of San Fransisco, USA. Their show on the afterparty was also great!! VENGEANCE (NL): Partytime!!! Vengeance on stage is a guarantee for a big party. Personally im not impressed by the bands showart because the band is repeating & repeating their jokes for years now. Nevertheless; Vengeance is & will always be a big partyband. Nice show. SINNER (Germany) did a nice job on stage but personally I dont have any feelings with this band; their music is very corny and not my cup of tea. America's shock-rockers HALLOWEEN blew everything away with their superb performance! At KIT a few years ago the band already impressed me a lot but this time it was much, much better!! After singer Brian Thomas came on stage in a white suit; the hell broke loose!!! Good sound, good show and awesome performance!! I spoke to their singer later and he was hoping to play in The Netherlands someday..so maybe at another edition of Mario's Metal Meeting??? DAY 3 DECEPTIVE SILENCE from Germany was almost finished when we arrived at the HOA area but the few songs I heard werent that bad at all. The band won this years bandbattle in Hamburg and thats the reason they opened the last day of the festival. Nice show. KNIGHT ERRANT: from Turkey was a weird band between most of the festival bands during this days. The band uses a female violinist which gave the music sometimes a bit of a folkmetal-feeling. The band still plays real metal and I liked the first songs. The singer was doing a good job in the beginning but after a while he was singing out of tune. The violinist was very fanatic on stage which gave a special effect to their performance. Nice band for about 5 or 6 songs but after that it became boring. HOLLOW GROUND is a NWOBHM band which I only knew by name. The band did a very good job and had a lot of variety in their setlist. Good band; pity I was not familiar with their music earlier. THE BLACK from Italy: Terrible band, worthless singer, messy sound and an awefull performance; Worst band I ever did see at HOA!! Forget it a.s.a.p!!! TAUNTED (USA) was one of the bands I was looking out for. The more I was disappointed; the band had a bad sound and I also didnt like the singer's voice. The band also had a shabby sound because they only had 1 guitarplayer. The band played also at the afterparty on Sunday and they did a good job overthere and proofed they're a good US-metal band which will probably make a lot of progression in the future.. AVENGER: Another NWOBHM band on stage and I have to admit that they werent inferior to Hollow Ground at all. Eventhough NWOBHM is not my fav. Metal style; I liked both Avenger & Hollow Ground. Sweden's BULLET; The AC/DC & Accept klone! Ive seen the band several times but they never impressed me with their 'stolen' kind of metal. If I want to hear this kind of music ill prefer to visit an AC/DC or UDO gig! Bullet is a party band, nothing more, nothing less. WRETCH was also one the (US) metalbands that made me decide to travel to HOA again! The band is, despite the singers overweight, very fanatic on stage! The German crowd loved it and so did I!! Truemetal in a way I love it most! Good band and for me one of the winners! Hope to see them again someday! MOONSORROW from Finland plays atmospheric Pagan metal and thats not really my kind of music. What I heard didnt sound that bad at all but I will never buy this kind of metal for my private collection. The crowd loved it and thats what counts!! I never liked CANDLEMASS because their former singer Messiah couldnt impress me at all with his boring voice. Well, after I heard that the singer of Solitude Aeturnus (Rob Lowe) joined the bad: I was very curious because Rob Lowe is one of the best doommetal singers! And yes; I liked it very much! From now on Candlemass has a new fanclub member. Great show!! RAGE from Germany did a good job on stage but personally I dont have any feelings with this band; after a while the band played their superhit "Dont you fear the Winter" and shortly after that song we decided to grab a taxi. HOA was done, damn!!! Again I would like to thank Thomas Tegelhutter and Jurgen Hegewald for their support and for putting me, again, on the guestlist! My thanx also goes out to Pim B. & Oliver K. from Digital Steel (webzine) & Melissa Records (recordlabel). I had a hell of a time with these guys and still have a lot of homesickness...... Till next year my German friends!! |
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TESLA (29 June 2007) Plato, Helmond, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel Finally it was time, the American TESLA in my own country! For months I’ve waited but finally this was it. Tesla started their set with the Bluesy ‘Comin’ Atcha Live’ , and after that they immediately played the newer title song of the "Into the Know" album from 2004. After that it was time for some real classics like for example: 'The way it is', 'Modern Day Cowboy' and 'Lazy Days Crazy Nights'. Great to finally hear this classics from my youth live. After this we’ve got the great surprise that they were gonna play UFO’s 'Rock Bottom', which ofcourse is a classic for every self respecting hardrocker. After that 'Little Suzy' and 'Love Song', these guys just couldn’t stop with their great hardrock, wow! All the classics were played with full enthousiasm and joy and ofcourse not a single classic wasn’t played. What you give, 'Miles away', 'Thank You' and 'Signs', they were played every single one! Tesla even played some material from their upcoming cd: "Real to Reel". So the setlist was just perfect. Every bandmember had the qualities to give a perfect musical show, for which they didn’t need nonsense and/or a stage act. The guitarsolo’s of leadguitarist Frank Hannon gave you the goosebumbs all over your back en Jeff Keith’s vocals sounded really American, that guy really has a great accent. The hall was filled for 95% with real hardrockfans and every single one had to admit that it was really worth the effort in Helmond. The audience was really enthousiastic and that made the band play better. Tesla excists since 1986 and they haven’t changed their style and looks at all, all the bandmembers except for their drummer Troy Loccetta still have long hair, and they all (which includes the new guy “Dave Rude” ) still live for pure Rock ’n Roll. Tesla gave us a really energetic and good show here in Helmond, which will haunt my memories for a long time. I’m curious how it was at the Arrow Rock Festival because Helmond was brilliant!!! |
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PAUL GILBERT (30 May 2007) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel & Nick Polak
Wednesday, May the 30th, we've got the message to visit/review a concert in one of our local concert venues 013 of one of the best allround guitar players ever. |
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AXEL RUDI PELL & MAD MAX (26 May 2007) Plato, Helmond, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel
Hardocker 'Ludy' from Limburg did it again with his Eternal Rock
Promotion. Ludy organised another oldschool melodic hardrock concert. This
concert was actually suppossed to be at '9 February 2007', but because of
'Pell' being ill the concert was moved to 26th May. |
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SWORDBROTHERS FESTIVAL (19 May 2007)
Club Juz, Andernach, Germany Review by Mario van Dooren This was for me the second time to visit this German underground festival which is organised by metalhead & friend Volker Raab. After the cancellations of Ignitor (USA) & Powervice (NL) there was another cancellation just a few days before it all started; Knights of Tethys (USA) couldnt make it because a few members decided to quit the band and it was impossible to find substitutes in such a short time before the festival. The organisation decided to change the playing times of all bands and that turned out very well!! Good solution Volker! DEJA VU from Germany had the honour to open this edition of SB and they did it right. Deja Vu is a nice band, not sounding very original but their performance was good. The band owns a very good singer who hits the high notes easily. The sound of the band was also good, especially for an opener! Nice gig! CRYSTAL VIPER from Poland was for me one of the most important bands after Ignitor cancelled. The band is blessed with a very good, female, singer. A little girl with a great voice. Musically it sounded as a mix of Mystery Blue and (old) Warlock. Not all the songs where from a high level and I didnt like the Manilla Road cover but that has to do with the fact that I dont like Manilla Road at all. Nice gig after all with a reasonable sound. STIKKY FYKK; this was a kind of a parody on a parody. This kind of "metal" is only appreciated in Germany who also like bands as, for example, Oncle Tom. Not my piece of cake and I ran away after only 1 song..... Climax of the gig was the playing time; just 25 minutes of crap.... Next band on the bill was Belgium's DESPERATION. I've seen the band already once as support of Battleroar & Aiged L'Amh and they couldnt impress me that time. Well, things didnt change a lot; I still think its a very moderate band with an even more moderate (read: boring) singer. After Stikky Fykk they didnt sound that bad but to be honest; this kind of bands will never make it.... REAPER from Germany was also new to me. Their singer had a very raw voice which was nice for a few songs but not for a whole gig. The band exist for years now but its clear for me now why they never became more wellknown... Moderate band that was boring after a few songs already. Also the coverversion of Judas Priest's 'Breaking the Law' couldnt change my opinion about that. VALKYRIES CRY from Canada was also one of the bands that I come over for from The Netherlands. Musically the band did sometimes remind me to cultband Sacred Blade (because of the high screams) but qua looks they reminded me of Death Angel. The band had a reasonable sound but I missed a second guitarplayer in this band; now it all sounded a bit to shabby. So my advice; get an extra guitarist and a good producer and you guys will make it!! ARCTIC FLAME from the USA already came over to Europe about a half year ago to perform at the November edition of the Keep it True festival. That time I liked the band but I didnt like all their songs. Now they had the same problem; their performance was quiet good but not overwhelming. Their singer has sometimes very weird singing melodies through which he sounds like 'singing out of tune'. Hitting the high notes was no problem at all and thats a plus!! Hope to see this band more in Europe!! After Arctic Flame it became a bit quiet because the next band, EMERALD (from my homeland The Netherlands), didnt show up!! Organiser Volker was quite rightly pissed off because they didnt give him any sign at all. Later I heard that the drummer had an accident and wasnt able to play. I still do understand Volkers reaction and really hope that the band will show up in September during the Tilburg Headbangers Fest (which I co-organise). Gladly the two headliners decided to play both a longer set to fill up the caused space in the running order. I've never been such a great SACRED STEEL fan but I have to admit that they did an excellent job today!!! The band is getting/sounding much more professional during all these years and their singer is a damn good frontman! The band also played a cover of Jag Panzer "Generally Hostile" and at the end of the set the female singer from Crystal Viper came on stage for some jamming..... Good show!! BLITZKRIEG (UK) had the honour to headline this edition of SB and hell they did!! The band had a superb sound and played a great set. After listening to singer Brian Ross I was wondering why Black Sabbath never did him an offer?? This guy would fit perfect to Black Sabbath with his typical voice. Well, gladly he is still in Blitzkrieg and thats the main reason that this band still kicks ass!! Great band on a wonderful headlining spot! They (and we also) deserved it!! Many thanx to Volker & crew and maybe till the December 22th edition ( DOOMSWORD (I), ZANDELLE (USA), ANGUS (NL), NIGHTMARE (F), SILVERFIST (E), SKELATOR (USA), KINGSCROSSING (USA), ICY STEEL (I)) |
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L.A. GUNS, POINTERS HEAD, HOTT (3 May 2007) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel
A perfect evening of sleazerocking in own town ! All local glamboys were here for the local evening of some glam metal! It was still very calm but ofcourse the die hard hairsprayers were already here! |
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TRIVIUM, ANNIHILATOR, SANCTITY (2 May 2007) 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Joey Ferwerda & Nino v/d Mark
The opener for this evening was SANCTITY: This is a band that earned
recognition before their first album was even released, according to their website. Trivium frontman Matthew K. Heafy saw their show and liked it so much that he helped them get a record deal, and Megadeth's frontman Dave Mustaine invited them to the second outing of his Gigantour festival. They play Melodic Thrash-Metal with a heavy metal sound with it, but try to do some new things as well, and the result is grinding riffs and screaming solo's backed by the raw vocals their frontman Jared supplies. Technically this band is top-notch. Additionally, they really know how to get the crowd warmed up, before they even started playing they had the crowd's full attention, and where able to hold it through most (if not the entire) show. The legendary 'bang your head, tits, cunt or whatever' showed up and
everyone thrashed there way to the end of the show! To bad the sound was killing everyone's ears.. better hire a new sound-guy. The band was good.. no better.. there great! Seriously this guys rock so check them out! |
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KEEP IT TRUE FESTIVAL VIII (14 April 2007) Lauda-Konigshofen, Germany Review by Mario van Dooren
Opener CAULDRON from Canada will not be very wellknown by most of the thrashers in Europe. The bandname they originally had a few years ago was GOATHORN. I reviewed the Goathorn album a while ago but I was not familiar with the new Cauldron stuff. Cauldron played a nice set of 80's thrashmetal but couldnt impress the audience that much; maybe because of their very moderate sound. Nevertheless a very nice opener! |
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KEEP IT TRUE WARM UP SHOW (13 April 2007) Dittigheim, Germany Review by Mario van Dooren
The 8th edition of KIT and for me the 7th time to visit this great festival (I only missed edition 1...). Because this time KIT was doing the "big" edition there was again a warm-up show on friday in Dittigheim. |
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LANA LANE & ROCKET SCIENTISTS (9 April 2007)
Biebob, Vosselaar, Belgium Review by Mr. Globetrotter
It was not crowded at the venue; that surprised me the most.
Rocket Scientists is a highly respected progband from the USA, and Lana Lane, the Queen of Symphonic Rock, is a very talented singer, surrounded by even talented musicians. |
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HEADWAY FESTIVAL V (6 & 7 April 2007)
P60, Amstelveen, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
Headway was celebrating their 5th edition this year and the organisation programmed a very varied line up again this time. Gladly I was invited to review this festival but even if I wasnt; I would have been there with such a good line-up! |
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RUSTY CAGE FESTIVAL (16 March 2007)
Dynamo, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren
Today Rusty Cage Records, a new label from The Netherlands, had their first anniversary and the label wanted to celebrate this with a few of their bands. The label re-released several old albums from Dutch metalbands but also a few newcoming bands. |
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KREATOR, CELTIC FROST, LEGION OF THE DAMNED, WATAIN (11 March 2007)
013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel
Yep Finally! It was time again for an evening of Thrashing at 013! Because it's becoming routine that bands play half an hour earlier at 013 so I made sure I was right on time. The first band WATAIN was just starting. Watain comes from Sweden and plays Oldschool Scandinavian Blackmetal like it was meant to be in the early 90’s. |
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THRASH 'TILLBURG FEST (18 February 2007)
013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel
A whole weekend of metal takes it toll, so at the moment of writing i'm unbelievably
tired. Too bad I missed the first band of the evening because of the local
carnival and a little problems with the guest list.
This cool thrash festival was organised by local thrasher Tjerk ( Outburst/
Loudnoise ) and has almost the same name as the festival me and Mario
organise ("Tilburg Headbangers Fest"). Thrash Tilburg Fest was taking place
in the small hall of the 013 venue and there was not that much audience. Probably
it was because of the local carnival. |
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THERION, GRAVE DIGGER, SABATON (16 February 2007)
013, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Marco van Empel
SABATON was the first band of the evening. This Swedish heavy/power metal band played very good! I even think it was the best show of the evening. I only own their “Attero Dominatus” CD from 2006 so I only knew the songs: ‘In The Name Of God’ and ‘The Metal Medley’ ( Metal Machine, Metal Crue). I really liked the metal medley because they were singing about all the great bands in the world ! Sabaton has a really good singer and has great musicians. I hope to hear a lot more from this band! |
2006ETERNAL ROCK FESTIVAL (7 October 2006)Hanenhof, Geleen, The Netherlands Review by Mario van Dooren Eternal Rock; a new festival in the South of The Netherlands; organised by metal/hardrock fan Ludy. This was the first edition of Eternal Rock which took place at concerthall Hanenhof in Geleen, The Netherlands. A very nice place with an overall good sound during the whole day! First band PREDATUR from the UK played a very moderate kind of hardrock that couldnt suit me at all. Their musical direction was a mix of Status Quo & Led Zeppelin. Not really my cup of tea and a bad opener (to my opinion). Luckely the rest of the other bands didnt disappoint me at all! Next band where the dutch newcomers of POWERVICE. The band played as normally a good set. Their Maiden-a-like metal fitted perfect to the taste of most of the festival visitors. Singer Stockie was, again, singing superb and the rest of the band where also taking their job(s) serious. Again a very good show from these guys!! FREEDOM CALL from Germany was the next band on the bill. The band started with a bad sound quality but after a few lsongs the sound engineer pulled it al equal. The band played Helloween-a-like powermetal but to be honest; not all of the songs could impress me! Another great loss is the fact that the band sounded shabby because they only had one guitarplayer. Conclusion: nice show but i'm convinced that they will sound much better with a second guitarplayer in their ranks! VENGEANCEdoesnt need any introduction. This band reunited last year, again, around frontman Leon Goewie. Singer Leon is still the eye-catcher of the band. On stage this guy totally gets loose and opens his box of tricks. Lots of jokes and tricks are his trademark. The band played a lot of songs from their old repertoire but also a few songs from their latest album "Back in the Ring". Vengeance was suited with a good sound and the band showed that they are still one of the leading live bands in The Netherlands. Good performance!! As a bonus the band played the Rose Tattoo cover "Bad boy for Love". One of my alltime fav. bands headlined this edition of Eternal Rock: Y & T. The band had an awesome sound and they played a special set because the show was recorded for a possible DVD. Most of their classic songs where played; 'Hang 'm High', Lipstick and Leather', 'Keep om Runing', 'Dirty Girl', 'Mean Streak', 'Barroom Boogie', 'Winds of Change', 'Eyes of a Stranger', 'Hurricane', 'Rescue Me'...and lots of other songs. Frontman Dave Meniketti is still singing great after all these years. The music of Y&T is in my opinion ageless. Awesome show from this great band!! Ludy: You did a hell of a job!! Thanx for inviting me to ER. Next year I will be there again!! |
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TILBURG HEADBANGERS FEST (30 September 2006)
Cafe Extase, Tilburg, The Netherlands Review by Kees Schijven As I arrived too late, I missed the first two bands (CEREMONY OF OPPOSITES and CHAINSAW) unfortunately, from what I heard Chainsaw had a real good live performance so I'm sorry I missed that. The atmosphere was great, and the weather too, so a lot of bangers were outside on the terrace when I got there, but also in the venue there was a crowd, so it must have been nearly sold out I guess. As I didn't know most of the bands, I was curious what to expect and was going to be surprised by some bands as I found out. But one band I did wanna see for sure was FORETOLD, after I reviewed their CD 'Factor' for Mario's Metal Mania (see Archive CD/DVD Reviews), I was anxious to see them perform live. When I got inside the venue they had already started, and were playing 'I am the way' which sounded very brutal! They had a real good sound, and played very thight, and William's throat sounded awesome, one of the best dutch grunters if you ask me. They played a lot of songs from their CD, and did a good job too, so for me this performance was brutal perfection. Next up was METHUSALEM from Friesland, this was really a surprise for me as I didn't knew them, they play real heavy metal in an old school way. Their singer sounded like Rob Halford himself in his better days, and is a great frontman, although I later on heard this was his goodbye gig. They really got the crowd going, this band should have been higher on the bill if you ask me, Heavy Metal!! RED DRAGON played together for the first time in 25 years, in their hometown. A lot of family and friends were there to see them after all that time, which was a nice sight to watch. The venue was packed, and they got the crowd wild and going. Although their kind of metal sounded a bit out of date, nobody seemed to care, least of all themselves, the band had lots of fun playing and it showed! This band got the most response of the day if you ask me. Their music sounded like old Bodine, Picture and Vengeance, so real recognizable dutch hardrock/metal sound. After the diner break it was time for MARTYR to hit the stage. I only knew their name, but never heard their music, but it rocked! They also have a great (wet) show/frontman who got the place going. The guys played full energy and fanatic as hell, which the crowd picked up from them as well as they went wild. They seem to play a lot lately since their reunion a few years back, and it showed, a well oiled machine! Next up was the only foreign band on the bill, MYSTERY BLUE from France, who play true 80's heavy metal. Their sound is like Saxon or Priest with female vocals, and this makes it an unique and surprisingly well combination which sounds killer! Not many people knew this band, but after just a few songs it sounded so familiar as if it was back in the 80's, everybody banging their heads off, great! This was an excellent choice for this festival, well done… Headliner were dutch Celtic Frost, PENTACLE, around for over a decade, and still going strong. They played as if their lives depended on it, real energetic performance which got the crowd going wild again. This was a true headliner for this edition of THF, which had a great true metal atmosphere, positive and friendly like it should be. Hopefully the following editions of THF will be just as good, or better, thanx to Mario and Marco for this! Keep up the good work… |
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SWORDBROTHERS FESTIVAL (16 September 2006)
Club Juz, Andernach, Germany Review by Mario van Dooren Swordbrothers, again an underground festival in (offcourse) Germany! This was the 4th edition of Swordbrothers but it was my personal debut on this festival. Well again I was positive surprised!! The festival is organised in a very nice club just outside the borders of Andernach, a small village nearby Koblenz. It's an one-day festival which is organised by Volker Raab (who also works for Blue Steel Agency, an European truemetal booking office) The weather is already great at the moment we arrive and a lot of people are enjoying this outside of the club. After a short conversation with organiser Volker, we hear the first notes of the opening band: PHENIX from France. I was curious about this band after listening to their latest album "Wings of Fire". Phenix plays powermetal and the band is blessed with a very good singer who easily hits the highest notes and thats for me the most important element in a good metalband! The band is also blessed with a good sound and thats remarkable for an opening band! Musically its not sounding all to original but who cares if its performed this way? Not me! Besides of their own repertoire the band also plays a Deep Purple cover "Speed King". Good show! INFLUENCE from my homeland The Netherlands was the next band on the bill and it was my first acquaintance with these guys on stage. They already delivered a few very nice albums (he guys, i'm still waiting for a copy of your latest album "House of Silhouettes")! According to the bands website it was also the last show with singer Bas Assenbroek. This is a pitty because this band has got everything to become great!! Great musicians, great songs (with a very high Iron Maiden level) and a very sympathic superb singer!! Prove for that was the superb coverversion of Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law". Guys, my advice: dont quit!!! Great show! STORMRIDER from Germany was the next band; musically it all sounded okay but because of the very moderate & boring singer I left the club for a diner break. Right on time I returned to see RAVAGE from the USA. Musically a lot better than Stormrider but the band also had the same problem as their predecessor on the bill; a very moderate singer. Pitty again because musically they reminded me to a lot of 80's US-metal bands. With this kind of metal you really need a singer with high pitching vocals and that was the only thing that failed with Ravage! My advice; drop the singer guys; you wont regret it!! RAM was the next band according the running order but they didnt arrive on time so SOLEMNITY took their place. I only knew the band by name. Because of a small diner/beer break I didnt see the whole show but what i saw & heard didnt disappoint me at all!! The band had a very nice show with nearly all the bandmembers dressed as monks and after a few songs a half-naked girl came on/off stage to perform a rite of communion. It was funny to see how the crowd reacted and showed up to take some photographs from the girls white boobies, hahaha. Offcourse; I was one of them :) The music of Solemnity has a lot of doom influences and I was positive surprised by these guys (and girls)..... Meanwhile RAM from Sweden arrived. To be honest; I didnt expect much from this band after their moderate shows at KIT & HOA. Both times they couldnt impress me at all. Well time changes (gladly) and I have to admit that musically/technically the band has grown a lot! I really liked Ram this time and i'm even looking out to see them again soon!! Great show & performance!! Most important band for me to travel to Germany was US-cultmetal band DEADLY BLESSING. From the first notes & screams I was blown away!! Frontman Ski is one of the best metalsingers in the world and its a joy to see/hear how easily he hits the extreme high notes! This is METAL!!! This is the kind of metal I live for! Superb performance and again (after their KIT show last year) I got in ecstasy! Hope to see these guys very, very soon again!! This was for me personally THE headliner of the festival! Deadly Blessing came, saw & conquered!! They didnt even need to play Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" to convince me...... ATTACKER (also from the USA) was the real headliner and its always a pleasure to see these guys live. This was already the 5th time I saw the band during the last 2 years and again it suited me well. Singer Bob's voice was a bit raw tonight and sometimes he (again) remembered me to Udo Dirkschneider (he's also sounding on some of their songs on the latest 2 albums). Nevertheless it was a great pleasure to see/hear & meet these spontaneous guys and i'm sure I will see them more the next years because the band is very popular in the undergound scene! Good show! After a day full of great metal, good beer/food & a great audience I left the club during the Attacker gig to have a nap outside in the grass border..... When my "friends" woke me up it was time to jump in the taxi and remember Swordbrothers as a very good organised & friendly festival. Special thanx to Volker Raab; you rule!! Next year we will be there again; thats for sure!! Already confirmed for the April 2007 edition: EMERALD (NL), DESPERATION (B), IGNITOR (USA) VALKYRIES CRY (KANADA), DÉJÀ VU (D), ARCTIC FLAME (USA) & POWERVICE (NL) |
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HEADBANGERS OPEN AIR FESTIVAL (14 & 15 July 2006)
Brande-Hörnerkirchen, Germany Review by Mario van Dooren HOA, finally!!!!! I was looking out for this garden festival already when last years edition wasnt even finished!! This was the third time for me to visit this superb festival which is organised for real heavy metal fans BY real heavy metal fans!! The intention of the festival is quite unique. Even if there are playing more than 20 bands from all over the world, the festival is always breathing an underground feeling that I never felt on any festival before! Pity we had to miss the warm-up show on thursday with MASTER, VIRON, SATAN, OVERDRIVE & METAL LAW. On Friday Pim (www.digital-steel.com) and I drove to Brande Hornerkirchen (nearby Hamburg) to join the most enjoyable metal audience in the world. As always Belgium metal-cop Rico (www.hellspawn.be) & his lovely wife Peggy visited the festival. This year they where joined by stand-up comedian Jorith (a.k.a. Tiger) who entertained us a lot during these days!! DAY 1 Because we had to search a while for our hotel, we missed a part of the first band IVORY TOWER. The few songs we heard from this German band sounded good and the band left a professional impression to me. I already knew that the band had some good musicians in their ranks because some of them played on the live album of Josh Kramer (of Saint) and that album also kicks some serious ass!! Nice band! Next band was our national Dutch pride; POWERVICE!! The band played, again, an incredible show with a leading part for singer Stockie! This guy has an un-dutch throat of which a lot of bands in Holland (and also outside of Holland) will be jealous! Their maiden-a-like metal suited the audience very well. Powervice was blessed with a great sound and played a great set with songs like; 'Behold the hand of Glory', 'The end is coming', 'Nightstalker' and a lot of other songs. I'm curious how long this band will survive into the metal scene because a few of the bandmembers have an extreme way of living (you know who you are guys!). ORDER OF NINE was one of the bands I was really looking out for. Their progressive kind of US-metal suited me well on their debut album "Season of Reign". The only complain I had about the album was their moderate singer. Well, on stage the band had the same problem. The singer was performing very modest and the band couldnt enthrall me for the whole set. Also on sunday, when the band was playing the afterparty in Hamburg; I was bored by the singers voice. Musically it all sounds okay, so guys; you know what to do!! SHEAVY from Canada played a kind of stoner rock. I dont like this kind of metal at all so its impossible for me to review this kind of bands. The band was blessed with a great sound and thats the only positive thing I have to say about them. Next on the bill was, again, a band from my homeland; MARTYR. I did see the band a while ago during their KIT warm up show and they impressed me a lot that time! This time the band was also playing very well and fanatic! Martyr had another singer this time than they had during their KIT performance. Someone told me that this was their original singer but I cant confirm this because I only knew the band by name before their KIT show. The band wasnt playing that good as they did at KIT but I still had a hell of a time!! Because i'm fully addicted to US-metal; ICARUS WITCH was on my wish-list too. Their latest album disappointed me a bit, especially after their superb EP. Live the band was great and especially the singer was awesome! Rob (Metal Gay) Halford should have got a spontaneous erection when he had heard the coverversion of "The Ripper". Great band; US-metal at its best!!! Everybody knows that when you drink a lot of alcohol; you also have to eat regularly. Well, KORPIKLAANI was the perfekt band for me to visit the hot dog & steak stand……. After the diner break we went back to see German cult lady Sabina Classen and her band HOLY MOSES. It suited me to see how popular this band still is in Germany. The band played as tight as a chicken's (Sabina's ???) ass and had a great sound. I tried to get nearby the stage to take some pictures but I couldnt manage it to enter the "mosh"pit! Good show! As "headliner" for the first day, the organisation booked an Iron Maiden coverband named POWERSLAVE. After the Ross the Boss/ Manowar farce at last years KIT I was curious about this coverband. Well, they didnt disappoint me at all. Their singer even reminded me several times to Bruce Dickinson (and thats a compliment). The band played Iron Maiden songs from all their albums and did it damn good! Good idea to book a band like these on festivals as curfew! Every drunken headbanger still can sing all the Iron Maiden classic songs. < |