Eternal Storm - Marty Friedman - Riot V - Warlord

CD's I received over the last weeks that you should hear too.

Eternal Storm - A Giant Bound to Fail

Before you start, yes this album was released in February already. Point is that after ordering swiftly thereafter I only received my copy now. This with Eternal Storm were so friendly to send a new copy. Last year Transcending Obscurity set my PR in a 4 month wait for Ashen Horde, this time they came close. Point is that they do release my favourite extreme metal albums, as again I think Eternal Storm shall rank very high at the end of the year. The progressive melodeath metal that this band presents here is nothing short from sensational. What a great band they are and what great songs they give us here. Be it long epic tracks like opener An Abyss of Unreason, shorter instrumentals or there 5-7 minute songs all hit the bull here. The voice you might recognize from recent Persefone gigs. I can't recommend this band enough, as it should also open doors to those not all that open to grunts. Check it out and be amazed too.

Marty Friedman - Drama

I first heard of Marty Friedman with Hawai, but bought his first album when he formed Cacophony with Jason Becker. Speed Metal Symphony an all time classic. Than I saw him a few times with Megadeath through the nineties. His solo work started in 1988 with Dragon's Kiss and runs until today. I have many, but not all of these mostly instrumental albums. So yes I am a fanboy and when I read this would be a more ballad like album I knew I would get it again. Marty Friedman is one of my favourite guitarists, mainly caused by his great sense for melody while going heavy as easy. This album is filled again with lots of beautiful emotional guitar work and as he said fine ballad like work. Triumph is now called official version, as I had it on two previous releases already. Maybe one day I should rank what I own by him, but that shall be hard. This album is good on a Sunday morning, while some harder rocking releases fit better at a Monday night. No matter the day of week, Marty Froiedman always is a party.

Riot V - Mean Streets

Riot released their first album Rock City in 1977 already. Their classic is Fire Down Under from 1981 and I have a soft spot for Restless Breed (82) due to youth sentiment. The band faced lots of losses over time and what we have now is a continuation with no original members around. The last I saw of Riot was Riot Act, another spin-off with almost original guitarist Rick Ventura. This Mean Streets band even changed their name to Riot V some years ago. Long story short, if you like good old Heavy Metal you should get this album. Last month  they toured The Netherlands, but with both shows far from home I missed them. Pity as I would love to see and hear if  Todd Michael Hall's voice is as awesome live on stage as on this album. I shall be able to check that out at KIT next year. For now if you like Heavy Metal you can buy this in the blind. Songs, performances and sound all perfect even the seal man biker is a funny continuation of one of metal's weirdest mascottes around.

Warlord - Free Spirit Soar

Fourty years ago I bought the album And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun.... This live album, performed without an audience holds some of Warlords classic songs. Due to little success I guess the band broke up in the late eighties and only came back at the begin of this century. I have several of their CD's, but matters became confusing when often older songs would reappear. In 2021 William (Bill) J. Tsamis passed away and as he started the band with Mark Zonder and wrote most of the songs I thought that was the last we heard of Warlord. Sad I was as I never saw them live and they were high on my list of bands I really wanted to see once. Than came the news of this new album were old songs by Bill were used as basis. No surpise that this album sounds still very typical Warlord. Metal Archives calls them Heavy Power Metal, but I would add folky influences. Warlord never were extremely heavy or fast, but always building songs around melodies. New vocalist Giles Lavery fits well to the style of the band and the guitars also remain that typical Warlord sound. While name dropping Jimmy Waldo (Alcatrazz) plays keyboards here. And the best is yet to come. Never seeing them before I now shall see them twioce this summer. 25 August in Breda (!!) and 14 September at Pyrenean Warriors Open Air. Already heavily looking forward to both.

The Hague DeathFest - Musicon The Hague, 1 June 2024

Corona killed The Hague Metal  Fest, which was mainly a Death affair, so starting a new festival called The Hague Death Fest made sense. When the line-up became known with lots of big names it was no surprise that on the day some people who bought no ticket in advance had to be sent home upon arrival. Well we were better prepared and got our ticket in time, so a long day of Death Metal lay ahead of us.

When Marko passed by my house to pick me up, Josie asked if he first wanted a coffee. I said no we can't as the first band are from The Hague and we have to support our locals. Luckily we were not the only ones, so that even at 15:00 hours Mancuerda kicked of in a decently packed Musicon. Their Death Metal is of the doomy kind and more heavy than fast. A nice opener of the day they were, with their sinister soundclips introducing songs on death and violence. 

Next band were Funeral Whore. Unknown to me in advance. The stage was dark and the songs heavy. I thought the inbetween song banter could be more than thank you The Hague and then silence. On bass I recognized Maxime with her third or fourth different band on stage in Musicon. The last song was dedicated to Arian, but I did not know why that was. 

Melting Eyes are a monster and The Hague's leading OSDM band at the moment I guess. A long stage swap meant they lost a song, but what they brought to us sounded damn fine again. Pier has a mighty grunt and if you than add a strong rhythm section and good guitars it always is a joy to see Melting Eyes on stage. Expectations were high based upon past performances and they did not disappoint indeed.Next logical steps seems to me national and international death fests.

Wound Collector from Belgium came on next, but they had a false start. Swapping the whole drum set resulted in a shot in the foot. When the band were ready to kick off, the drums were not half ready yet. So they had to cut their set and now played some 25 minutes only. Wound Collector first came to Musicon during the all seated corona sessions. I missed that, but saw them later on giving a full set picking up CD and Tee at the time. Their main difference is the very prominent saxophone from Peter. This is an audience divider, but I like the differnce during the day. What I also liked is that their music came closest to Tech Death, which on a death fest was a bit under represented (if not absent). Pity they lost time as I did like what they gave us again.

Next on were The Monolith DeathCult. Marko and Ton saw them seated during Corona and were enthusiastic about their set.My frieed Andrew wrote a raving review on Ave Noctum on their latest album. This because he is British and not German, but that is a long story. It did not take long to get what they all meant as TMDC gave us one hell of a show. Strange soundbytes and clips blended through their set it was one great show. This band has no boundaries, but are having fun on stage while presenting their hectic music. I don't know how much came of tape next to the obvious bits, but I know I did enjoy their full set. The last song started liek Van Halen's Why Can't This be Love and included an Eddie like solo. Variation enough anyone?The sound was suddenly very good too. So I picked up the CD that was recommended to me and playing it now I hear it needs some more time to digest all of it.

When Rectal Smegma started their set we were in the snackbar nearby enjoying dinner. I saw the band before and their grind is just a bit too much to me. What I did see at the end is high energy they always bring and a Musicon jumping along. So definitely a success on the day, just musically too far from my comfort zone to really enjoy.

Bodyfarm are among the very top of The Netherlands Death Metal scene. The story of the band and the sad setbacks are known. Even more amazing how strong they are nowadays. What I like most about them is that their Death Metal is accesible. Lots of plain Heavy Metal is blended in their sound and the grunt is understandable too. 40 minutes for a top act like this means they have no time for bullshitting around and definitely among the highlights of the day again.

Stillbirth are from Germany and these brutal detah metallers brought a lot of merch. Anyone knowing my story understands that I won't be wearing a cap, bermuda or T-shirt with Stillbirt printed on it. When they hit the stage with surfboards and in colourfull bermudas, they first all took of their shirts. What followed was slam detah core or something, but not something that kept my attention spanned. Marko and I agreed that they suffered from the Ancient Rites syndrome. Meaning that band earlier this year closed a festival after Bodyfarm and could not follow them up. To us Stillbirth could neither and we decided to call it a long death metal day and cycle home. Great to see Musicon packed today with all generations in too. Hoping for a repeat next year ( TechDeath included pls) and so happy that this festival replaced Kaderock when I won't be around.

Caligula's Horse, The Hirsch Effekt & Four Stroke Baron - Boerderij Zoetermeer, 24 May 2024

In a year when de Boerderij puts on more and more cover and tribute bands it seemed right to return when they program three bands playing different kinds of progmetal of their own. Caligula's Horse came all the way from Australia for a European tour and Four Stroke Baron I saw before too. So when my neighbour Rob asked a few weeks ago if I would attend too, I realized the only answer could be yes. Rain forced me to skip a bicycle ride and take a direct randstadrail to de Boerderij hopeful of a good evening. Given the line-up I knew many ProgPower regulars would be walking around too. I must admit that given their three shows in The Netherlands I was kind of worried about turn-out this evening. Well I worried for nothing as after a calm beginning in the end de Boerderij almost filled up completely.

First band on were Four Stroke Baron. I saw them at Complexity Fest before and liked their mix of heavy music and eighties new wave on vocals. What I remembered was a bassist with long hair and an even longer beard, well he had a haircut orr jumped ship. The vocalist to me seemed much older too, than from what I remembered. The music itself did not change all that much really. The vocals now sounded like The Cure and the basis was heavy bass and drums. Drummer was to me the highight of the set, as he was tight and with drums positioned sideways you had a good look at his feets working fast. Overall tonight the set missed variation for me. So while after seeing them last time I did pick up their album I now was not tempted to do so really. Nice enough opener still.

The Hirsch Effekt are from Germany and by what I saw going around on FB they did impress some friends before. I never saw them, nor heard any music by them so stepping in in the blind it was. Well they were an energetic trio to start with. While guitarist and bassist both ran around and sang, the drummer turned out to be another beast. Initially I liked their songs, but it sounded a bit samy to me. That changed over time and they became the surprise of the evening to me. Their songs are sung in German, so they thought we had no clue what they were singing about. This was true, but not because of the language I guess. I got their latest album and shall check it out with care today. After  a slow start I did understand the hype after all.

And then we waited for Caligula's Horse. They headlined Progpower 2018, which was when I saw them before. At the time I had only one CD by them and entering, they overwhelmed that evening.  Fast forward six years and I still have only one CD by them and wondering if they could convince live again. The answer was yes they could. Caligula's Horse are to me a great live band, while on CD I find them a bit lightweight especially on the vocal front. Live vocals do not turn harsh, but Jim Grey is a great frontman and brings the songs to live. Star of the evening was without a doubt Sam Vallen on guitar. Whether it was melodic soloing, or  boosting up the songs riffing away he was among the very best on six strings (or was it seven to be prog?). So basically the experience was pretty similar to me as in 2018. Caligula's Horse are a great live band. One final comment was on their set build up. They kept on talking about time travelling and took us all the way back to 2015 (?). That is not time-travelling in my musical world. in 2015 I was old and bold and in 2024 I still am. But this minor point should not stop anyone going to see them in Amsterdam or Masstricht this weekend.

Disgrace and Terror & Rages of Sin - Lazarus Leiden, 19 May 2024

Talking about last minute shows, this is among them way up there. Only confirmed on Wednesday I passed by this show when Rages of Sin posted on ther page. For me a very welcome gig with three reasons to go. First Rages of Sin who are The Hague's finest in metal released a new album with a hometown show early December. That evening I spent in hospital with Josie being pretty bad and their next show I missed too. So finally saw them promoting Saligia 2.1, Further Disgrace and Terror are from Brazil and so are Josie and Tiago 50%. Over the past years I saw several Brazilian bands playing Musicon and I like their raw underground sound most of the times.  Finally the show was in Leiden Tiago's current hometown. So our Pentacosta family dinner was in Leiden, after which Josie took a train home and Tiago joined me to Lazarus for a while.

The weather was nice, so people were drinking outside until at 20:30 Rages of Sin would kick of the evening. Being a 4 piece band the stage is rather small in Lazarus, so they walked often off stage too. Their set was fine and sound was OK in spite of old skool setup over guitar amps. They visited their EP The Gospel of.. and both full lenghts Divergence and Saligia 2.1. Rages of Sin do play a sort of melodic death metal, but they move away too. So we did get a hardrock song halfway. Closer tonight was the opener last time I saw them J'accuse. A song with a French title and Dutch lyrics. One last chance for the younger generation in to bang their heads somewhere between the entrance door and the stage.  Tiago liked the atmosphere and to see this and told me he would join again (timing allowing) if I head for Nobel or Lazarus and while at it bring some friends. He felt not top fit and left before his fellow countrymen would enter Lazarus.

Disgrace and Terror are on a long trip through Europe and nearing the end. This last minute inclusion was welcome to them, but originally they had to drive back to Brussles after the show as Aldyr told me. They had met a Brazilian lady who invited them to stay at her place and when he introduced us, it turned out she knew Josie. Something about a small world and Brazilian hospitality I guess. Anyway after the break Disgrace and Terror hit the stage and the young metalkids took the floor in front of it. This resulted in a fine show with lots of audience participation. Advantages of a small venue. I quite liked the Death/Thrash  that DaT gave us. I did not know of them before this evening, but they formed in 2000 and have 6 full lenghts already. I picked their last The True Will Of Evil after the show and shall follow them from now on. 

So this was one fine evening in Lazarus organized by Metal Experience and the recently formed Stormram Bookings. If they will put on more evenings like this I am pretty sure that frequent returns to Lazarus shall be on the menu.The amateur antropologist in me also studied the students entering and I found three types. First there are the open minded ones like the young couple and the four girls standing next to me. Obviously not attending metal shows on a weekly basis, interested, appreciative and enjoying something completely different. Than there are the (always boys) who enter act popular and piss off after one or two songs. I saw the same during Martyr in de Zwarte Ruiter and now it was Lazarus' turn. Finally there are those who open the door, wait maximum two seconds and decide this is not for them. Well as long as there are open minded ones in the mix there is still hope. The future of metal was already secured by the group of young fans in jeans with patches by the way.

Morvigor, Miasmes, Celesterre & Räum - Musicon The Hague, 17 May 2024

Loud & Heavy presents brought us another night of true underground with four bands somewhere linked to Black Metal, but all completely different. After last week's sold out house it was a pity not that many found there way to Musicon this night. Were the homestayers wrong? I think so. As a bonus I would also reopen my Heavy Metal B&B for part of the openng band. So lots to like on a Friday night where even Happy Birthday Marko entered shortly after the start to celebrate with metal, what better way there is really.

Räum opened the evening early at 18:55. This band from Liege plays Black Metal according to Metal Archives, but I heard a strong Post rock influence too, with their long songs meandering over the stage. A stage that was mainly lit by white spots and lots of smoke. I quite liked their set with a highlight on stage for Olivier on vocals. Two guitars and no bass did bring long repetitive moods, with the highlight saved for lastm when also teh light turned to red halfway. Good opener.

Next on were local band Celesterre. They stepped in last moment as Germans Wesenwille had to cancel. If Celesterre are anything, this must be different. There are notches of Black in some screams, but mostly they play just metal I guess. Introductions to songs are poetic and they are obviously concerned with the state of the earth. If they were different to start with, their cover song also is not a typical metal evening one, when Meat is Murder by the Smiths was played. Hard to pinpoint in style their being differnt is appreciated.

And then all went sonically violent with Miasmes. This French trio mainly bulldozered the room to pulp. A loud and high energy set was presented to us and they went down well. Maybe they were musically the least interesting band of the night to me, but that was compensated by an overdose of energy coming of the stage. While driving all the way up from French I understood them leaving no prisoners. Interesting live band they are.

Morvigor woudl close the evening and they played a Loud & Heavy evening before. At the time I was pretty impressed and tonight would not be different. Talking about hard to pinpoint if you see them you would not expect a metal band on stage. Looks deceive as they brought us long melodic black metallish songs with progressive hints blended in. Last time I saw them I tipped the Progpower organizers that they could be a good Dutch day opener as is tradition at that festival. Than again we all know what happened when PPE went Blackish before with Voices resulting in the emptiest hall ever at the end of their set. Still Morvigor would do well in my ears as they are a very fine band entertaining and diverse enough for a prog festival. Their last EP is sung in Dutch, but you can't tell really. I guess the best band closed the evening down and again thanks to Ralf and Loud & Heavy for putting this together. I was supposed to host Räum, but than they started receiving news and images about bad weather hitting their hometown Liege resulting in floodings. So they preferred returning to their families and help out if stuff neede to be moved up or out. Good luck to them and maybe a next time.

Crypta & Nakkeknaeker & Plaguemace - Musicon The Hague, 10 May 2024

Returning home from a week holiday in the afternoon, just in time to head for a sold out Musicon in the evening to see some death metal from Brasil and Denmark. I did not know any of the three bands in advance, but some Youtube checking got me interested.I was somewhat surprised that this package sold out. comparing with other packages passing Musicon over time, but good to see metal being alive.

Plaguemace opened the evening and did so very energetic. Their vocalist had the scandinavian understated sense of humor and got smiles on most faces. At times I was afraid he crossed the line and we would go eurovision gimmick alike, but he knew just where to stop. When two guitarists are wearing shirts of Archspire and LefttoDie hopes for techdeath rise, but we stayed more in pure death metal with good guitars though. This band knew how to open the evening well and jumping around in bermuda's they seemed to be enjoying themselves too. Talking about shirts in the end after every song another member took of his shirt resulting in lots of beer bellies on display. Nice live band they were.

Nekkeknaeker (what's in a name?) are also from Denmark. They are young as in secondary school age young, but they were very tight too. The only thing I knew about them was that they are also playing Dynamo Metal Fest this year. Seeing them metalling away I can see why they got invited. Nakkeknaeker are definitely among the furture of metal. A very solid band and in spite of their age a very comfortable performance too. The vocalist looked (not sounded) to me like a very young John Bush. He asked for circle pits and a wal lof death and got same. Interesting to see how the guys from Plaguemace led the party here. This band will go the distance I guess since they only just started and already impressed massively.

Then it was up to Crypta to wrap up the evening. These four ladies are from Sao Paulo, so I did not need to ask them about favourite football teams. In 2024 I can't imagine that the fact that they are women resulted in a sold out show. The music spoke loud enough for itself. Crypta was born when Nervosa fell apart. Fernanda and Luana started Crypta and now they seem to have found a solid line-up. It did not need much to get the party started and now both support bands were active in the pit. I Liked the grim faces Fernanda showed throughout the set and the band was enjoying their full house it seemed. In the end the two supports were invited on stage to close their last evening of the tour in style. A great closure of one fine evening in my favourite venue. Hope that among the many to me unknown faces walking around some will find their way to Musicon more often. 1 June The Hague Death Fest has a line-up that should please most walking around last night as well. 

Keep of Kalessin & Hate - Musicon The Hague, 29 April 2024

Musicon Metal Mondays gotta love them. This evening two bands I knew of name and not of music. Still both rather big in the underground I was going to check them out for sure. This Monday fell afer a double closing party at Baroeg and Kingsday weekend. Still many people found their way to Musicon and it was pleasantly filled up.

Keep of Kalessin were the first band on and in metal archives they are said to be playing melodic black/death metal. That might be true, but I mainly was impressed with the epicness of it all. Heavy choirs over double guitars and keyboards of tape. These Norwegians brought a German drummer along who was pretty damn fast and tight. As I did not know any songs no point of recognition for me, but when they played a song of Armada I did understand why that album got great reviews at the time. I would have liked to correct that blank in my CD collection, but their offer of the CD collection (7 albums) for 30 euros only was sold out unfortunately. 

Than something happened I never saw before at Musicon, Hate put on a Metalish curtain to change the stage for their blackened death metal set. Admitted the stage looked great when the curtain came down with lots of skulls and horns. The band played impressive too.This was more purish Black metal which also means less interaction with the public. Again unaware of their albums I was easily drawn into their show and performances were top. So even if not knowing much in advance I did get two bands of headliner status in a busy Musicon. What better way to spend your Monday nights? you tell me.