ProgPower Europe 2015, 2-4 October Baarlo

The annual pilgrimage to Baarlo this year represented a statement. I guess not on purpose, but many of the bands this year came from countries that if making our news this usually means bad news. ProgPower Europe showed that music transcends politics and the world would be a better place if we would live by Progpower rules. I loved to see bands from Russia, Greece, Tunesia, USA and Belarus, next to the usual Scandinavian/Polish/Dutch base with this year some focus on Spain to complete the line-up. Apart from the usual 75% of familiar faces this year some more people showed up it seemed, which was a pleasant surpise. On driving distance we had competition from EuroBlast Festival, Cynic in Limburg and Steve Hackett two nights in de Boerderij all fishing in the same pond.

Friday started with Danish band Vola. Earlier this year I asked them if their album Inmazes would be available on CD as well, to which they replied that the number of downloads sold would tell. A few weeks later their target was passed and I could order my copy. Nice album and great live performance. For me Vola showed that we can easily blend some djent into PPE.
Headliners on Friday were Myrath from Tunesia. Their power metal with some arabic melodies is not fully my thing, but they make more than a bit up by their enthusiastic presentation. Bringing a bellydancer along resulted at least in many extra pictures taken. Good atmosphere and a nice opening evening.

Saturday I arrived a bit later,so I missed half of Armed Cloud's show. As they are Dutch I shall catch them again on tour and they surprised me positively. No shocking new ways, but easily accesible melodic prog metal. Next up were Karma Rassa from Russia. They cranked up the volume a bit and gave me mixed feelings. When at parts their guitar wall sounded impressive enough, they did not have great melodies that would stick, nor a great voice. Still they did keep my attention and I had some sort of approving nodding going on for sixty minutes. Next up Exxasens deserves an apology from my side. First I missed their opening catching up with friends and when entering I was immediately distracted by the keyboardist appearance. Due to his similarity with a famous comedy show star from the seventies I was waiting for Basil Fawlty to join the stage and hit him on the head with a book. Hey, they are from Barcelona to make matters worse. In order to make up a bit I can say that what I saw was probably the second best band of the day. Nice instrumental cosmic stuff, which is better explained in this month's Prog magazine.

Dinner came upon us and as it followed beers I missed the next band fully. Luckily Schizoid Lloyd are Dutch, so I saw them before and shall see them again. The buzz was positive from what I heard. Then it was time for Soen to play Progpower and they impressed. It became clear that this is a band who are as headliner touring Europe. The stage presence, show and confidence were from a different level. Good songs to match and Andrew is trying to find out what the Black Flag waiving was about and shall let me know later.
Saturday was closed by Festival headliner Pagan's Mind. Looking at the T-shirts around a pretty popular act this year. I do like their music as such, but somewhere around the one hour mark I have had enough in general. This happened some years ago on the Friday night and happened again this year. Their Power Prog brought Ok-ish, but to me too little variation for a two hour show. Even now that they opened instrumentally for 15-20? minutes it still became more of the same after awhile. The different looks from their vocalist remains even arriving 20 minutes late a sight to be seen. Still not enough to keep me two hours on my feet at the end of a long day.

Sunday was the day I was looking forward to most when line-ups were decided. Even after the sad loss of Abnormal Thought Patterns of the program, the day promised lots of variation and most bands I knew in advance. Opening band Until Rain was unknown to me. I appreciated their Vandenplas like metal, but what drew most attention was the slightly uncomfortable feeling backup vocals dressed in white. And then came Serdce from Belarus. Usually I do leave some bands to surprise me on progpower, not checking out clips or streamngs. When Serdce was announced last year I did look them up and was sold immediately, with their album Timelessness making it into my top 14 of 2014. As this is complicated music it still could go several directions live on stage. This turned out to be for me the standout show of the festival. Memories of the impact of Riverside 2004 came up, with sheer class at display. Amazing domination of instruments, beautiful soft-heavy variation and a voice that was more present than on CD. Their tech Metal with grunts did split the audience into two parts. Those who hate grunts and want easier accesible metal and those who got it and absolutely loved this performance. I do not know if there is a metal scene in Belarus and they can play often, but they looked experienced on stage. Driving up for two days in a van, at least was made up by being my favorite band of the weekend and not just mine. Pity they did not bring merchandise, as I would like to hear their older albums or get a T-shirt with the last cover on it. After this impact the downstairs bar was the place to regain energy. This at the cost of Polish band Animations. The short bit I did see was very energetic and they became a typical case of unfortunate timing for me.

As time always seems to fly in Baarlo the last evening was there faster than expected, but the closing trio promised good things. First up were second Barcelona band Obsidian Kingdom and they were the next big surprise. I have their debut album, but did not recall so much metal. This was one show with band members jumping all over the place playing a tight metal, with mainly extreme bits broken with Anathemic quiet bits and surprisingly good clean vocals. Sunday already gave more than I hoped for and then the two famous names were still to come. Enchant were a bit of the light band on this metal Sunday. This did not disturb them too much and they played an entertaining show passing through their career. Their music is carried by the great voice of Ted leonard. I wondered if his T-shirt was a message to the former vocalist of his other band, but even with a cold he sounded great. Instrumentally there is also nothing to moan about so we had a professional good show. One moan I can make is that they did not play their best song Break, but these things happen with bands of so many albums.
Closing the festival this year were Leprous. Five years ago they played on the Friday and I absolutely loved them. At the time their album Bilateral was just released and this has been my favorite. Their last two albums are not as good in my view and their Coal tour was somewhat disappointing after what I saw of them before. As I was unsure what to expect I counted on a possible early run for a bit of fresh air. This did not happen as I quite liked the show from start to finish. In the beginning there was some alarming overdose on the harmony ahahaha they like to add to their songs, but the balance light/dark or heavy/soft was in good order and their show with 4 screens was entertaining enough. A good closer of another great ProgPower festival.

So then it is over. This year the Festival shirts were sold out faster than usual in XXL, taking me by surprise. Further the food options increased with the arrival of Pois Chic falafels by Debbie and the former metal mayor of Stroud. Thanks to the organization for giving us PPE 2015, already looking forward to further announcements for 2016.

Praying Mantis - Legacy

Releasing their debut album in NWOBHM days Praying Mantis always edged to the more melodic rock side than the dark and metal. Being big in Japan, they kept on recording new albums and here we have their latest album Legacy. For fans of melodic rock definitely one to check out. My main interest was raised when last year I saw Deo in concert. Both vocalist Jaycee Cuijpers and drummer Hans in't Zandt joined Praying Mantis. Being partially Dutch did not change their music though as it still is accessible melodic rock build around the guitar tandem Tino Troy / Andy Burgess.

Legacy basically gives us what we expect. There is faster work in "Fight For the Honour"/ "The Runner", midtempo epical songs "Against The World"/ "Eyes of a Child" and a ballad "Better Man". Those needing more references think of fellow British bands Magnum and the melodic side of Rainbow. As JC sings in Deo, a Dio cover band, there is no issue with the vocals really: powerful and with lots of variation.

Earlier this year I missed them live in Little Devil. Now I hope for some more partially home country shows as this should sound very good live. Epic cover artand logo should also result in interesting Tees.

Dead Lord & Dead City Ruins - Gebr. de Nobel Leiden, 3 September 2015

For those who know which Tour this is the question "where are Audrey Horne?"might raise, so let me go for the long intro. After last Friday's succesful night of Belgian Metal in Musicon, I sent an email around on Monday if anyone wanted to join me to Don Airey in de Boerderij. After receiving several underwhelming replies, I looked for alternatives and proposed one night earlier the tour of Audrey Horne / Dead Lord / Dead City Ruins in Leiden. As much as I might like all the songs Don Airey would play (Rainbow, Sabbath, Purple or Gary Moore) it would still feel like a coverband. Apart from that I would be seeing great vocalist Carl Sentence playing covers and not sing any Persian Risk songs. Problem was that although the descriptions of the three bands playing Leiden looked good, I did not really know them. In comes internet and after some streaming it turned out that all three bands might be very good live. So as I was going alone the choice was up to me and I choose originals. Then there was another issue as there was serious competition on the Thursday from the football front. Holland was playing a crucial qualification match against Iceland (?!?) and needed a win. Admitted I was in doubt, especially since Friday morning I had some rather serious calls and meetings at work waiting for me. In my mind also a recent occassion was bothering me. For work I travel crazy places and some weeks ago I was sitting on Dubai airport when someone asked if I would reply a questionnaire on my experience in the Emirates. Not bothered to tell the locals some truths I agreed and when the question came up which religion I had, I let out the obligatory none. This while I was reading at that very moment the biography of Dee Snider "Shut up and give me the Mic". Maybe my fever and 45 degrees did not make me react fast and adequate, but the only correct answer to what my religion is can be : I Believe in Rock and Roll!!\m/ As the choice looked hard, in the end I followed the golden rule  Music always beats football. Hardly ever before was this rule being proven so right. Gebr. de Nobel it was, but only the two opening bands. So sorry Audrey Horne, the streaming sounded nice and the muppet clips looked great, but responsibility is a bitch so an early departure it was.

Arriving at the still closed Gebr. I feared a rather quiet evening (football?), as some 15 people gathered before the doors opened. Luckily that improved well over the next 45 minutes. After entering a sense of panic caught me and many others as there was a problem with the beer taps. Ten minutes late crates came to the rescue and when the first show started the taps started flowing as well. On came Dead City Ruins. This Australian band moved to Europe in March, trying to pick up as many shows as possible and live at peoples homes and in bars. A band which such attitude one can only support and promote. This was made easy by their show and music. Seventies hard rock, double guitars, groove, a vocalist that looked like Bruce Dickinson with evil eyes, lots of hair and great songs. Australian bands  already showed Progpower how to build a show (Voyager, Alarum, Aeons of Horus, Alchemist) and these guys were not different. As I got my hand full of beer I did not picture the vocalist singing from the bar, nor the guitarist jumping through the hall. A very good show and I do wish them luck in making it at the old continent. Playing their Tour Edition CD now I can only say check  them out when you can.

Next on were co-headliner Dead Lord. Starting of with the line "This is Farewell" one might fear a short set, but they played over an hour. Their reference is pretty obvious from the first twin guitar melodies. There is nothing wrong in following the style of the best band ever coming out of Ireland (no, that is not U2) when it is done with such class. Vocalist Hakim has a warm deep voice as well and the constant guitar solo battles packed in songs that seem classics to be, guaranteed a show to remember. The hour flew by as I saw only highlights. Getting both ther CD's after the show I could see they played a mix of both albums. I just can not see these Swedes not going very far with this mentality and songs. The guitar solo's, the banging, the smoking amp, the spontanity coming off stage and mainly the songs should bring them on the radar of everyone into Classic Hard Rock. The next song is about tools and organs showed some dry humor to close the set with fast rocker Hammer To The Heart.

I found myself two new bands to follow and renewed proof that Metal should rule Football always. While I had a great time banging my neck, Holland lost to Iceland. Playing without a defense and substituting one crappy coach by another obviously did not work. I even learned something on Nuclear waste deposits in Onkalo on the night. Apologies to Audrey Horne for leaving early, see you next time.

Fireforce, Guilty as Charged, Drakkar - Musicon Den Haag 28 August 2015

A Friday evening and THHMA brings us three Belgian Heavy Metal bands in Musicon. Opener was Drakkar. A band coming from the eighties but unknown to me. Their Heavy Metal sounded nice and the biggest atraction came from their pretty energetic vocalist. He decided to leave the stage for what it was and performed the full show on the floor, behind the bar and around visitors  necks. I thought this was just the right thing to do as it brought smiles (or frowned eyebrows at some) and good atmosphere. The music was traditional Heavy Metal and sounding fine.

Next up were Guilty as Charged. I immediately think of Culprit when hearing that name, but unfortunately that great band from 30 years ago was not covered or set as an example. This band played more Thrashy metal and at times the vocalist came awfully close to James Hatfield. This brings me to my main impression and tip for the band. As they came after the extremely participative Drakkar show, they were not going to top that live performance. Still their music sounded great, but lacked for me points of recognition. With a voice like that in the band for me the obvious would be to add a cover from Metallica early in the set and the attention will be grasped better. If they need further tips "The Four Horsemen" would in my view blend in nicely in their set.

Fireforce were headlining and had a nicely decorated stage set up. A large Deathbringer banner on the back and some huge logo's before the amplifiers, with sandbags and military outfits they made their point. That point is that Fireforce play Combat Power Metal. Well whatever the name they played a nice set of metal anthems. Two years ago I saw them playing at R-Mine festival and already liked their set. As I do not know their CD's I liked at the time their cover of Battle Hymns. After the show we spoke with the vocalist and understood that at the time they had only one album, so a cover was needed to fill the show. Still for me a good cover works with slightly lesser known bands. (earlier this year Absolva took Musicon by a storm, but when they played Fear of the Dark the roof came off) Even without a cover Fireforce convinced and played this straight forward metal style that goes down so well over a beer.

So another entertaining evening in Musicon and THHMA keeps bringing us good bands. Of course the evening deserved more people showing up, but that is old news. Only by showing up chances of more bands interested to play The Hague or returning during next tour shall increase. I keep on trying to do my part and had a great time doing so.

Frank Dimino - Old Habits Die Hard

Frank Dimino was vocalist of Angel, one of the best rockbands in the seventies. I remember playing for a Long Time cards with  Hans and Magchiel listening to their Classic "Live Without a Net" Over and Over (both not so great puns intended). This live recording can stand next to great live albums of that time by UFO, Thin Lizzy or Scorpions. In opener The Tower it also contained one of the best Rock songs written ever. Frank Dimino had a remarkable voice which gave Angel this easy recognizable sound (well next to some Keys from a certain Mr. Giuffria). The band dismantled in the early eighties and returned late nineties to release "In the Beginning". Actually I was still hoping to see Angel one day live. Last time they played within 2000 km from my home was at Bang Your Head I believe some ten years ago. That show was with Steve Blaze of Lillian Axe taking the honors on guitar, but I missed it. Now I still did not give up, as almost all great bands from the past reform and tour. Unfortunately rare news on Angel (AOR magazine) told me they are all busy on other careers and chances for a tour are slim at the most and visiting Europe somewhere below zero.

And then Aardschok suddenly had an interview with Frank Dimino about his new (and first) solo album. The interview started with an obligatory introduction for anyone under 45 years, but the fact that a solo album was released through Frontiers got my interest. After reading about guest participations of amongst others Punky Meadows, Oz Fox, Eddie Ojeda and Jeff Duncan I placed an order in the blind. Pleased to inform that my gut feeling was right as I can say that this is one of the best albums in the melodic rock genre (to be) released this year. The CD contains exactly what we could hope for. Some midtempo melodic songs, some ballads and some (for Angel standards) very fast rockers. Frank's voice is still very strong (which makes sense for the vocal coaching classes he gives nowadays) My favorite songs are in the fast area with Mad as Hell and The Quest. Next to these fast rockers the one song that sounds most like old Angel is very good as well: I Can't Stop Loving You.

Anyone into Melodic Rock should get this album. It has the variation needed, great perfromances and well getting a surprise release from a hero of the past basically deserves a purchase at all times. Being released by Frontiers who knows they get him over for the Frontiers festival. A get together of old bands I did not manage to visit yet, but might as well if Frank Dimino makes it. Until then Old Habits Never Die shall do.

Trial - Vessel

One of the advantages of being a commuter and frequent traveller is that I always keep an eye open for finding interesting books or magazines, as I have many hours to kill waiting. Some time ago I ran into a cover in black and white of a Thin Lizzy picture with logos of old Whitesnake, Girlschool plus names of Tygers of Pan Tang, Anathema, Europe and Thor. Going through this issue of Iron Fist magazine I found inside also more new bands and plenty of CD reviews. One of the bands inside that was new to me and drew my interest was Trial. With the help of some internet research and sounds the CD was quickly bought and it is a grower of an album by a band that THHMA should get to play here soonest.

Trial are a Swedish Heavy Metal band and play an epic type of Heavy Metal. I have read some reviews and Mercyful Fate is mentioned (production/recording by Andy La Rocque) as well as occult metal. My main comparisons are with some of the early US Heavy Metal bands like Liege Lord, Exxplorer and the likes. During doomy rocker Ecstacy Waltz I can even hear bits of Psychotic Waltz' debut album. Well it is not about which bands these guys remind me of, but the beauty of their album. This is just good old fashioned Heavy Metal played with incredible skill. Apart from the short title song we get six more songs in a total of 51 minutes so time enough to work on build-ups and atmospheres. It is interesting how many of my favorite 2015 albums were actually released end 2014. I shall probably bend the rules by the end of the year as this is top 10 material again. Very curious how this band would be live. As it turns out they had a debut album in 2011 (missed by me) which is sold out on their website.
To make the package complete the artwork is arty, the lyrics are dark and the album ends with a 13 minute epic "Restless Blood". Try this out, you might be as positively surprised as I am.

Queensryche / Armored Saint - Melkweg Amsterdam, 3 August 2015

Monday evening in Amsterdam, tropical temperatues and mid summer school holidays. Not the ideal conditions for a Heavy Metal show, but the double Queensryche/Armored Saint attracted a decent crowd to the Melkweg anyway. Both having their career high some 30-25 years ago it showed in the crowd as well. When you compare modern metal bands with the quality on stage tonight it is sad that very few people in their teens/twenties were present, but I do not see a way to reverse this. For the older people that did show up we got two amazingly good shows and just an evening of Heavy Metal at its best. Warm up band Beyond the Black I missed, so soon after arrival the real work started.

Armored Saint opened with Win Hands Down, title song of their last album released some months ago. This was a good choice as it showed that the new album is as good as previous work also in a live setting. Actually to me the Armored Saint show was one trip through time amd space as they are not a band that I did see a lot, but I have most of their music. The only time I saw them playing before was at Dynamo Open Air in 1991. I believe that in their CD review I already called their music dance music, as it is heavy with a tremendous groove all the time. Live it simply is not possible to stand frozen and watch. Highlights all around in The March of the Saint, through Raising Fear, Pay Dirt, Reign of Fire to Madhouse. Special mention deserved by their best song ever Last Train Home in a killer version and the next generation joining on guitar/vocals during Can U Deliver. This show just passed with a smile on your face and so many good songs to keep the atmosphere at high for the full time. Probably one of the best shows I shall see this year and the question even became would Queensryche be able to follow this one up?

Opening with Anarchy-X and the Nightrider we were immediately remembered that with Todd La Torre at the helm the highlights of the eighties are possible live again. On it went with Breaking the Silence. OK, the surprise was not as big as last time when we saw the old songs perfromed brilliantly again for the first time in some 20 years. Still the setlist could not disappoint, but something was hindering the show. So when Todd la Torre mentioned that a cold and fever was really making things hard for him we realized that we were right in hearing a lack of power, as well as relieved that there was a reason for this. Stilll he fought himself well through the remainder of the set, while unfortunately same set was drastically cut short. As we have to appreciate the fight, what we got was really good and Arrow of Time did make me look forward to the new album. The split now defintely resulted in one great Queensryche and one Operation Mindcrime. While we saw confirmed that we can expect lots of good to come from the first one, the latter still has to convince us which might happen soon on CD.