Pedal to the Metal. I started this tradition in 2019, when my bicycle brouht me to Little Devil, Effenaar and Merleyn. That felt good, so a new plan was made for PttM 2, flying to Toulouse and cycle via the southern Pyrenees, attend Pyrenean Warriors Open Air. That line up was brilliant with Liege Lord, Fifth Angel, Saracen and Atlantean Kodex among more fine bands. Well we all know what killed all good plans in 2020. So this year when the opportunity arose I made new plans. First tricker was the Toxik Heathen double package in Uden. Looking for options the night before all were either not my taste or to far from Uden. Until suddenly Flotsam and Jetsam was announced for the night before in nearby Helmond. Now originally I was planning to start by train as fairly untrained, but when friends reported long distance by bicycle the weeks before, I decided to split my drive to Helmond in two and leave from home. And yes I know the term Pedal to the Metal has to do with hitting full gas by putting your pedal to te metal. I use the freely translated Flemish, which would mean Pedaleren naar de metalen. Or cycling to metal.
The Cycling
My bicycle turned 30 years old this summer and state of both bike and myself can best be described as rusty. Now I did have some short training trips in Portugal, where I mainly put my climbing tactics back in shape. Turned out that in The Netherlands I used one gear for the whole trip, only going one lower on long bridges. Similar to PttM1 my main destination was Noord Brabant. This because of the good combination of provence with closest density of potential metal venues, near and far enough from home, plus a nice area for cycling around alltogether. So the first day all went a bit harder than expected. I really needed to get used again to that saddle and the curved seating. Also I needed to re-accustome to driving through cities. Rotterdam entering north-west and having to leave sout-east crossing the river was a pain. So only as from Baroeg my real easy going trip started. Turned out that I got stronger through the days and I easily did the trips as from day two. Of course I was like van Gaal would call it, having luck attached to my arse again. The weather was sensational for cycling all the time, no flat tires and what's not unimportant nice food and drinks along the road. I really did see a side of Holland I hardly know again. Amazing how all those small villages have churches of enormous size. Hope the child abusing is no longer in practice, but won't count on that for 100%. Further the good weather brought out many elderly couples on bicycles as well. So I spotted flower dresses for the ladies and sometimes grey socks in sandals for the men. All in all the experience was so good and relaxing that PttM 3 is in early stages of planning for next year. Wait for next year's show announements and maybe I should ask Robert's help for creatng a commemorative Tee again as well.
Flotsam and Jetsam & Sphinx - De Cacaofabriek Helmond 15 June
The first show of the trip was Flotsam and Jetsam for me. On my way to finding my hotel I spotted the band almost in front of my hotel and broke my rule of leaving people having lunch at peace. Well that was one fine foto memory for the trip. In the evening the weather turned hot and outside de Cacaofabriek I was enjoying a Hefeweizen, when André and Annemiek spotted me. Nice side effect of ths trip was, that I also saw some people I did not see since Covid, as the shows are now more south east of Holland where I had not attended any shows yet this year. Inside the nice venue Sphinx had already started. These Germans play speedmetal with some blackened hints. They reminded me a bit of Sodomizer, but did not convince me to get any merch of them. The only downside of travelling by bicycle I was already fully packed, so space for purchases was very limited. Sphinx did contradict the known fact that Germans have no sense of humor. After announcing and singing in such a way that I had no clue what they were on about, they suddenly stated that the next song would be hard to understand for us as it was in German. Well Lustmord was the frst and only songtitle I got and Scheisse can be picked up even if sung speedmetalish.
After a short break we got treated on Flotsam and Jetsam. When I say treated I mean treatd as what a great band they are. Even with their last minute substitute Dutch drummer Marco Prij (Cryptosis) they sounded awesome. Now I am going in repeat modus, from my earlier reviews on Flotsam and Jetsam. Their first two albums are absolute classics, but their last albums are all very good as well. So where bigger names might disappoint on CD and only can live on their past, Flotsam can mix old and new and keep the high level throughout. Early in the set they also played their ode to Iron Maiden. If only Maiden would release one album with such great fast sons with all the Maiden treats, duelling solos, galloping riffs and fast whohoowhoahoo the world would be a better and happier place. Throughout the show it turned out that Eric A.K. was suffering from a sore throat. If that was the reason I saw Flotsam, but did not hear Doomsday we shall never know. Now they ended with No Place for Disgrace, nothing shabby either. So Flots till Death it was and what a great band they are. Not sure why Esther and Michel were hiding from us though?
Toxik & Heathen - De Pul Uden, 16 June
While the previous night had one great band plus support, for me tonight was two bands to really look out for. Toxik I followed from their start and saw several times live over the past years. Heathen I came late to the party with the Evolution of Chaos and than walking back in time. Oh those pre-internet days when you still could miss bands that you would have loved from teh start as well.
Toxik were on first and after bumping into Ron and Eric in the afternoon I knew one new song was going to be played. That turend out to be the title track of Dis Morta. Sounding fine, 5 August has been noted as need to get new Toxik album. Similar to Flotsam, Toxik also released two classic albums at their start. The rest of the set was a mix of both Wolrd Circus and Think This, with the titlle track of the latter closing their set. During the previous tour Toxik already moved to five-piece with Dutch guitaris Eric van Druten helping out. Together with the very energetic presentation and great voice of Ron Iglesias, made them possibly better than ever before. Even some sound issues at the start did not stop them from giving us a perfect set, filled with highlights for the slightly older audience. Only question I had was, who was playing bass this time?
During a short break I could wait for an empty beer tank and catch up with a now bigger group of PPE veterans. Annemiek and André were present again and so were Esther and Michel. Further I had dinner with Christian before the gig. With so many PPE early day attendants, you would wonder why ProgPower does not include a technical thrash metal band more often at their festival. I guess many would like that and for those who don't, you can't win them all.
After the break it was time for Heathen. My first time to see them live, so looking forward. Not disturbed by an Abba intro song they came with the double start of their last album Empire of the Blind. That sounded damn fine, but I missed Lee Altus on stage. Not to worry as also here the substitute from Canada (forgot his name) fired lots of fast and crazy solos as well. Heathen hereafter went through their four album discography, but the focus remained on their last one. That album holds a song I totally love, which was played. Some times bands have songs so catchy, that it makes you almost dance (the horror of me dancing is not a sight many like) Examples: Armored Saint: Last Train Home. Fates Warning: Another Perfect Day. Well to me Heathen's song is called Sun In My Hand. What a killer song that is. The set moved fast through old and new and halfway David White already commented on the future of metal, pointing to the two children standing front row. A new highlight of the evening came, when he invited the two on stage to shout Death in the microphone during their classic Death by Hanging. At the end matters got better when the girl was given drumsticks to close the song with a bang. her brother meanwhile had a guitar around his neck. While earlier on he was more shy than his metal sister he now felt the need to show his skills, so we got treated on a doomy Smoke on the Water riff. Just great fun to watch this and daddy must have been one happy man. At the same time it did show the spirit of the evening. Two great bands, treating us on a powerful set played for the real metal lovers around. Tonight it seems that Metallica is playing Pinkpop. Well give me more Toxik & Heathen anytime over a mass of followers seeing Metallica only playing songs of their past (plus probably some obligatory newer ones that noone wants to hear). Now my only remaining issue was still at the merch table, having space for max one shirt only. With me owing several Toxik shirts already I ended up with Victims of Deception. Also as the back print "The Virus Never Dies" (from Opiate of the Masses another highight this evening) will look fine on my next flight to Portugal.
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