Salem - Forgotten Dreams

Here is one of those again: NWOBHM revival works for me as follows. First I get an anthology for the bands I did not know if released on CD. Then I try to catch them live in Holland (and miss most of them) and buy their new CD when released. Exactly the road followed with Salem. I knew the name, not the music and got their anthology "In the Beginning". Then they came for the release of this CD last year to the east of Holland and I missed them and now I bought the last CD Forgotten Dreams, to find it is a show to see later this year.

The CD opens with the Title song which blends several NWOBHM bands (vocals towards Saxon, Whooo Def Leppard in their early days, Bassing break and a melodic solo in 80's style aiming at melody and not showing off). This song sets the standard and is followed by my favorite "High Stakes". Those who expected a hair metal ballad with a title like "When Love's in Your Heart" thought wrong Uptempo hallo Saxon. A power ballad follows in "This Heart is Mine" after which midtempo "Kazakafnu" let's the head slowly bang again. "The Answer" slowly builds up to a great chorus. "Reach to Eternity" is fast and furious. "The Best is Yet to Come" is first hard to believe after Side A and B much slower and acoustic, which is nice for a change. "X-Rated" is back to mixing up and mid tempo work again. With "Break the Chains" I thought fast metal and got surprised by the slow intro and power ballad it develops into. "Ask the Lonely"is not a Journey cover, but starts with a Neal Schon like riff.
Closer "Aftershock" starts epic with a bulldozering chorus leading to an uptempo ending.

All in all a very entertaining release. I missed them last year and at Eastern in the north when Fates Warning played the same day. But they come back with Jaguar (another band I missed 3 weeks ago) in September. Being one week before Progpower in the midst of many shows I shall make an effort to be there: Great band. Finally I also saw them on the shortlist for Hatfield's Power & Glory 2 festival, but that is far away still (and the ticket for P&G 1 is bought only recently).

Fates Warning & Kingcrow - De Bosuil Weert 19 April 2014

"I Know it's getting late, but I feel I need to explain" Fates Warning Rules !!! In Progmetal the talk has been about the Big Three, the Progmetal founders or whatever more. In a way this is defendable and logic, but inexplicable remains that the best of these three: Fates Warning never came close to the success of either Queensryche or Dream Theater. Last year they released after 9 years a new album and "Darkness in a Different Light" is yet again a great collection of songs, which ranges from fast and heavy to a short ballad and ending with an epic. For some reason this album got almost no great reviews, nor did it appear in year lists of specialized sites and magazins. So being a niche player in an already tiny niche market let me once more explain what those who did not show up in de Bosuil missed yet again.

First great news was that there was an opener after all and not the least. One week earlier I was sad that a worktrip made it impossible for me to reach Ittervoort in time for Threshold/Kingcrow and only one day later I saw announced that Threshold would be back at de Boerderij later this year after which one week later Kingcrow was added as surprise opening act to Fates Warning. Kingcrow released there very good In Crescendo album last year and in the 45 minutes they had concentrated mainly on that album. They played Progpower before and already convinced, but with an even better album to support they now turned into a very good band. As they toured with Redemption before it seemd that their vocalist took over some Ray Alder poses and looks, not looking much different from a younger cousin version of same. With voice and playing also at good level I see Kingcrow are now defintely in the leage of ones to follow. This show matching the In Crescendo album it was a pity they did not play for a full hour.

At 22:30 Fates Warning hit the stage in de Bosuil that was nicely packed due to the small build up. Fates Warning has been playing Holland frequently over the past years and they do not attract large crowds anymore. Coming back to my opening comment it still beats me why Dream Theater can sell out HMH (4000) and 013 (1500) within one year and Fates Warning has to do with a half full Bosuil. Anyway this results in the audience being all real music lovers and a large part of the crowd do visit Baarlo as well during each first weekend of October.

Fates Warning live does usually not hold many surprises in the setlist, as they visit several obligatory songs and change a few songs only. This time they had 4 songs of DIADL mixed in, amongst the usual highlights of their career. They also normally play 90 minutes, which was not much different today. Yet still this one stands to me as one of the better shows I saw the last years from them. Ray Alder was with a good voice, the sound was clear and musically we never can complain. Frank Anesti still not joining, but his not-introduced substitute took the honors well. Jim Matheos still remains (!) one of the great guitarists around, Joey Vera stands out in playing and haircuts, while barefoot Jarzombek on drums is a stable factor now in the post Mark Zonder years.

Any remarks on the setlist? Well with so many great songs out, there always remains a long list of favorites not played. I did miss "Nothing Left to Say", "APSOG 12", "Pieces of Me" and so many others. When upon arrival I saw at the tour shirts also having a No Exit T-shirt I did silently hope for a full "The Ivory Gate of Dreams", but that was not going to happen. On the T-shirt I could not pass. While most recent covers are real works of art that would in large format hang well on a wall the "No Exit" album knows their last ugly cover. Still with the old logo and square No Exit on the back this turned into a modern shirt after all.

So Fates Warning came again and blew all away with a set build upon their faster works. The Eleventh Hour played at the Eleventh hour and Another Perfect Day has ended. Fates Warning Rule!!!

Votum & Riverside - Boerderij Zoetermeer 15 April 2014

Some ten years ago Riverside played Progpower for their first show outside Poland. In my many years of Progpower I do not remember any band that was not headlining, which made such an impact to all present. I guess those who were there that day realized we were seeing a band that could and should be much bigger. Now we are 10 years down the road and Riverside are on a small headliner tour through Europe. The fact that they sold out de Boerderij on a Tuesday night within a week where we have among many others Threshold/Kingcrow, Gazpacho, Jaguar, Fates Warning and IQ also playing Holland proved that they have entered the major league of Prog bands. Let's face it, since apart from the real big names noone manages to attract such audiences on a weekday. This was their second tour in support of last year's  "Shrine of New Generation Slaves". Nicely depressive T-shirts and backdrop banner set the tone for a night of bleak atmospheric building up and breaking down prog epics.

But I came for the support band: Votum! The former metal major of Stroud is through DPRP radio and reviews plus blog "something for the weekend" getting me on track of many great bands (Need and Being 2014 highlights so far) His favorite of 2013 was Votum's Harvest Moon and I got that album as well after his raving review. Never giving it the full attention I  need to let an album sink in I considered it a good CD. Now I knew this show was coming up I gave it some headphone listens and indeed it should have made my top 10 of 2013 as well. In Riverside they found the perfect headliner to support, since apart from the obvious Polish link they also like to work with longer building songs and heavy/soft dynamics mostly clear vocals and the occasional grunt for bigger extremes in atmosphere.

Main question was if Votum could reproduce their CD's in a live setting after I believe some line-up changes as well. To make things clear this was the main question to me, since the audience did not seem overly familiar with the band. Well they did deliver and when they came close to the end of their show the majority  of the public was convinced about their strenght. To say they made the same impact on de Boerderij as Riverside on Progpower might be exagerated, but to me they had the same effect.
What a great band and what an easy performers. I do not know what is in the Polish water (wodka that is) but lately the number of bands with outstanding guitarists from Poland is well above average (Riverside, Disperse, Satellite, Osada Vida to name a few) As I only had their 3rd CD Harvest Moon I did recognize most songs, but not all. The new old songs came over very good as well after a first listen and the new (?) vocalist did bring a wide range from soft and clear to grunts nicely. I do hope that this tour served them well and they gained many new fans. I picked up their second CD Metafiction and see the back catalogue is of good quality as well. Typically a band that should go down well at Progpower also and I hope they return many times to Holland.

So I came for the support band, but not due to lack of appreciation of Riverside. I had to get a very early plane the next morning so I decided to stay only fifty minutes Riverside as well (to make it a Polish draw seemed fair to me). What I saw of Riverside was again good, but time-pressure did hinder me somewhat in fully entering into the mood, which is needed when watching moody shows. They looked very convinced of themselves and rightly so though. Fact remains that after the PP impact they never can top that show for me and when picking up a CD of them I usually go back to their debut. Still a band deserving to be where they managed to get already and who knows they can attract similar audiences as Porcupine Tree with not that different music in the end. So Dziekuje to the Poles who presented a pleasant Tuesday night for a luckily appreciative full house.

Progdreams (Day 2) 5 April 2014 - de Boerderij Zoetermeer

Progdreams back in a two day event form. I could not make it on Friday evening so for me still a one-dayer with the slightly long dinner break. First buzz I heard was that on Friday X-Panda was a great success. Good for them to justify the long trip from Estonia. On Saturday we had two support acts both playing an hour before the dinner break and two headliners in the evening. I won't go into much detail on the openers since both Eclipse-Sol-Air (German French theatrical too hard trying) and Harvest (Spanish neo-prog with Dutch female vocalist) were not to my taste and halfway directed me to the bar and a talk in the sun.

First headliner in the evening which attracted the younger and more metal part of the crowd were Haken. I did see them pretty often over the last years and always liked their shows. On CD after more listens I now know for sure that their last album The Mountain is the least one to me (less metal) Last year they played the Boerderij on a Wednesday night when the new album was being released and they played the perfect mix of three albums and for a crowd not much smaller than today. This time the first part was only Mountain climbing and this with a new bass player whose name I forgot, but he was American and doing fine. So did the show around their last CD disappoint? well no. Haken to me are a great live band and they seem to enjoy themselves while playing their breaks and solo's as if nothing could be easier. They did get great response from the hall and I wondered if they could be headliner status already for a next Progpower. Probably they are a bit too off-centre for that (the humpa bits), but quality is definitely not what is lacking. Highlights to me did come in the end when the Shapeshifter passed by followed by Celestial Elixer. When they came back for one more song which took over 20 minutes in Visions again I saw a convincing Haken show.

Talking about convincing, I was convinced that Clepsydra could never top this. My history with Clepsydra is very recent as I missed them in the nineties. Years ago I heard a song, on Prog Archives I believe, which I liked and when they asked Mark Wilkinson to pack the re-release of albums in one LP shaped box I ordered in the spirit of supporting special editions and the artwork of my favorite cover artist. I did receive the box some weeks ago and this means I never got the time to really get into all their music. What I heard on CD was a bit similar as what I saw live. They play very good, the guitar is amongst the better ones and old Marillion is an inspiration. The vocalist is not that fluent in English, but has a good voice. Main problem to me is that (maybe by not knowing the songs) nothing really stands out and the further I got within the five quarters I stayed the more similar the songs started to sound. But this was only my impression. I did see many people though who obviously were very much looking forward to the return of Clepsydra on a live stage after being away for 14 years. So they did make an impact on a big part of their fans. To my surprise also de Boerderij was not a lot emptier from when Haken played. The audience somehow gained some 15 years on average closer to the stage, but I believe this was a succesfull show. If not at the end of a long day I probably would have seen them until the end. Now I caught the Randstadrail in time and have to thank organizers for yet another great day at the farm.

Lee Abraham - Distant Days

Some 4 years ago I saw Lee Abraham live at the legendary Winter's End festival in Stroud. He and his band at Black & White times were one of the main reasons for crossing the Noordzee and we arrived just in time to see the band kick off. Sean Filkins was at the time vocalist in his band and later released an album in similar vein. While Lee has a band around him, he also counts on many guests form the UK prog scene to spice things up. The same formula is applied on his new album Distant Days, which after a few spins might even be a bit better than previous release.

Opening track Closing the Door is build around Dec Burke on vocals and guitar. As I am a major fan of everything Dec Burke participates this is the liviest and best song of the album sounding close to Progmetal, also caused by Karl Groom (Threshold) adding some solo's here. Hereafter the title song comes, which is the only song where Lee sings himself. The song is a bit too slow and his voice is not that good compared with his guests, so title song or not, no highlight to me. On The Flame and later Walk Away we get John Young on vocals and after last year's great Lifesigns debut we know how good that can sound. Misguided is a welcome instrumental power intermezzo and on Epic Corridors of Power we get Marc Atkinson of Riversea fame, guiding that song. Closer and long one Tomorrow will be Yesterday has Steve Thorne singing and ends the album in style.

The album is very much impacted by the line-up of guest appearances on vocals. Since these are all known names, from bands in the same genre I can perfectly live with that variety. Having 6 vocalists on an album, always shall mean a live show complication, but this album deserves to be heard in a live setting as well. Going back to Stroud I remember the one vocalist was no impossible hurdle, so Lee get your band out and come to de Boerderij (Supporting Pendragon might gain him some fans and fit well to the bill).

HRH Prog/AOR - Hafan y Mor - Pwllheli - 20-22 March 2014

From which country is Fish? Well I knew that one and sent an entry to the draw forgetting about it the next day. So five weeks later I got this email from Fleur HRH that I won runners up 6 tickets for this year's HRH Prog festival. I had 4 days to supply the names of people joining me. When I informed that it was too hard to get 6 people in Holland willing to commit to a long weekend Wales half a year later, HRH showed their flexibility while informing that by renting accomodation at the park we would also be allowed at the AOR and Blues festivals taking place the same weekend. This meant increasing the bands of interest and after Josie told me she wanted to join to see Wales, Hans and Mary plus Yvon and Rene informed they would like to join too and the caravan was booked. my first ever HRH festival in Wales so holiday feelings all around. Having three festivals going on for three days, means many bands and many choices. So instead of going chronological through the weekend I just pass by several impressions of this beautifull weekend in stone cold Wales.

The diversity:
What made this weekend so interesting to me is the wide variety of bands. As I like both Prog in its mellow to its loudest forms as well as AOR I had many options to go for. Unfortunately next year both events are seperated and one music form shall prevail during two seperate weekends. I think that shall result in more less interesting shows to watch and certainly less diversity. Although there might exist some Rivalry between the genres (Love/Hate: "so you are not in the Prog building, you  all choose the Music building") For me the opposites attract as usual. For something completely different there was also a slightly longer (and thus colder) walk to the Blues stage good for one beer breaks.

The atmosphere:
Going in the Uk to a show is definitely different from shows in Holland, since there is more interaction with the audience. Come the opening evening we noticed that half the crowd used the festival also for a weekend out to dress different. from Hawaian shirts, the Corona crowd, to Latex Police women who just made getting arrested an option or not. In the AOR crowd there were many eighties alike posers as well, who should 30 years ago just not dressed like that attend a Manowar or Thrash concert. I never understood the enemy search in such paralel music sorts and highly enjoyed the wide range of slightly off cliche dressed people. The audience was basically made up by people ranging 30-75 years old, so everyone could easily enjoy a warmish pint, or served ice cold in the optimistic positioned outside bar. The Halls were an adventure as such, since while the AOR stage was a proper concert hall the prog stage was improvised, which resulted in a lot of lights at the back and during the day rays of sunligh entering the hall. The Blues stage was mainly a seated experience with pooltables shovelled away.

The choices:
Many bands means you can not see all. As we also needed to eat something somewhere in the day also food was a contender. Josie prepared us two great meals, which on Friday cost us Chimp Spanner (Prog) and Pink Cream 69 (AOR) on Saturday we ate during Kee Marcello and Hawklords so those went out to start with. Further main choices were about supporting bands until Friday night came and we choose wrong. We is Josie and I, as we saw the Flower Kings 16 years ago in Rio, shortly after we met each other. In our memories that was a great show and I do have several FK CD's as well, which always show great musicianship. After a long sound check they started and went on and on without much happening. Their playing is of great level, but boring it looked and after a too long while we left. When Josie went to pick her coat in the AOR hall Tyketto was about to start their biggest hit. The roof came down, with the whole place jumping up and down and from a distance I could see Hans (who became 50 a week earlier) shouting along with Forever Young. Sorry wrong choice as Hans could confirm for him the best show of the weekend. At the end of the festival I missed Solstice playing against UFO.

The Headliners:
The bigger names I could not see all, since they would all play at the end of the evening. On Thursday Credo closed the Prog stage and I was too tired to make the full set, going to the AOR preparty the same happened with La Paz. On Friday I saw a bit of The Pineapple Thief, who did not impress me, missed Focus (a huge success according to Yvon and Rene) and already mentioned the lame Flower Kings performance. In AOR the main names were cliched Bonfire showing their German Rock, House of Lords who were great although lacking some old uptempo classics. Tyketto were brilliant as Hans told, but missed by me. By coincidence we did enter AOR when Robin Beck played her hit, but not my cuppa. On Saturday Prog gave us The Enid (strange and different, but no time) and Fish. Well Fish filled the Prog hall well and always dominates his crowd. Shorter version of the show I saw in Paradiso a usual highlight. In the AOR hall we had some veterans. Semi headliners Love/Hate got good reaction from the hall and in the evening I saw Graham Bonnet for the first time. As I was in doubt to stay full show or go to Fish I guess his performance made me move to Prog after half an hour, not very impressive how good the songs might be. UFO closed the festival and in spite of some debate on how long they were allowed to play they did so in style. Apart from several obligatory classics they also gave us several oldies who did not appear on Strangers in the Night or came shortly after that.

The winners:
Every festival shows some negative and positive surprises. I shall skip the disappointments and concentrate on the highlights. Some unknown bands to me made an impact like Tax the Heat, Arcane Roots, September Code (from Greece) and Welsh band Sankara. The Custodian played there first show ever and I was there. The absolute highlights, because they were new to me and very good or as good ads I hoped for were:
Lawless: Every yin has its yang and to me every complicated Cynic deserves a balls out straight forward Lawless. Original titles like Metal Time, Rock N Roll City, S.O.S., Heavy Metal Heaven and what a great band. In Black Widow Ladies they had the catchiest song of the weekend.
Logan: Unknown to me sympathetic band from Glasgow reminding me of Gun. No attitude just great songs and a band enjoying themselves so why did they not bring any CD's? Ordering one now.
Shattered Skies: Similar as on Progpower 2012 Shattered Skies were a highlight of the festival. It still is all about the energy Andrew. They even promised to release a CD later this year, now got a Tee as support for this great band.

Thanks to Fleur for the runners up, the organization and the friendly people all around from the car rental in Liverpool up to the Hafan Spar Hope to be back one day.

Vengeance - De Boerderij Zoetermeer 15 March 2014

For those who don't know Vengeance. In the Eighties Holland had two much touring bands fronted by slightly mad vocalists and consisting of great musicians: Jewel and Vengeance. I still remember the stage dive trampoline at Jewel shows or the bottles of water and Ms. Haverkamp strip during Vengeance shows. So basically you could go and see them always, being sure of great entertainment. I don't know if at a certain time Vengeance called it quits, but for several years they are back releasing albums and touring. As the musicians have changed over time, vocalist Leon Goewie is still there and  able to entertain slightly more than the average Dutch vocalist. I had not seen them for some years, so I did enjoy hearing their old classics passing by.

While writing several of the best hard rock albums ever made in Holland Vengeance live was also always about humor. When Leon came up duck walking with his grin on the face we knew it was still about entertaining. Starting with some new songs I could hear that the music is still very much OK. Their classic line-up also had a certain Arjan Lucassen later worldwide known for Ayreon fame. These line-up did release several songs that upon hearing again rang that Oh yeah that one bell. "May Heaven Strike me Down", "She is the woman", "Take it or Leave it" and "Rock and Roll Shower" still stand strong and in "Arabia" they even honored my trip earlier this week to Saudi. So Vengeance are still going strong and with their party-creating abilities should be called for by summer festival organizers on a large scale.