I remember Psychotic Waltz Live

Psychotic Waltz was probably the best touring band in the nineties who kept on coming back to Holland and never stopped amazing us with their great shows. As this year we comemorate 25 years of a Social Grace and 24 years of their Dutch debut at Dynamo Open Air I went through my collection and played all their 4 albums again this week. It struck to me how good all these CD's still are and what a pity it is their new album still is not there. Regarding "A Social Grace" their debut I can be short. Anyone into progmetal simply can not afford not to have this genre defining album. The next three albums also are in my view must-haves with their until today last album Bleeding out of 1996 showing shorter songs, but including my possibly favorite Psychotic Waltz song "Morbid". Psychotic Waltz always stood for heavy double guitars, technical metal, great vocals, intelligent lyrics and emotion.

How good their CD's might have been Psychotic Waltz really was a band to see live. I Remember (pun intended) their first appearance in Holland. Dynamo Open Air 1991 being the opening band. The guy walking on stage with his backstage pass over a T-shirt turned out to be Buddy Lackey when he suddenly grapped the microphone and joined the band. The far to short set was received glorious and the band asking/begging to play one more song at the end which was brutally denied by the organization.  Luckily only few months later they came back and we saw them in Scum in Katwijk (a place they would return to many times) Given their time they just kept on playing and even with only one album they managed to go on for almost two hours. Covers would in the early days come from Black Sabbath in Disturbing the Priest or Ozzy's Diary of a Madman. From then one I believe they toured Europe twice or more after each album release, so loosing count I saw them many times between 1991-1997. Even my interrail holidays made me make a detour to a rockbar in a village near Heidelberg and some years later Vienna to see them abroad as well. They definitely were the live band of the nineties to me.

And the they were on the road again some 4 years ago. Touring with Sympony X and Nevermore I saw them in Amsterdam and their again too short set did show us that they still have it. A year later they played German festivals and Greek shows which I missed and then it got quiet. Following their webpages sometimes news on recording a new album comes up, but I do not know where and what they are at at the moment. So as I 'm laying Down I 'm wondering, Where are all the people now. Just come back for One Night of Calm through The Netherlands.

Thunder - Wonder Days

Thunder are back! This just puts a smile on any melodic rock fan's face, as Thunder always guarantee quality. Their Bluesy hardrock with the remarkable voice of Daniel Bowes stands for having a good time. Thunder don't have pretentions and just make music to enjoy themselves and their audience. This new album after their surprising come-back is basically the same we came to know from them, which is a good thing.

Wonder Days kicks off with the title track, where they look back with a smile to their youth with a nice melody doing so. Nostalgia hangs a bit around this album. The cover shows them in their youth in early seventies clothing, Vinyl days are celebrated in When the Music Played and overall this CD brings us 25 years back in time when Thunder came upon the scene and made quite an impact. My first live Thundering came at Donnington 92, when I saw them playing a thunderous set during their Laughing On Judgement Day tour. Thunder also is known for their quality ballads and in The Rain and Broken we get two for adding to the long list of the same. My favorite of the album comes in The Prophet, questioning religious TV programs packed in a nice galloping riff.

So Thunder are back at their usual high level on CD. Good news I just saw is that I will be able to see if live to also remain top of the pops as they do a double in Holland when they play Bospop in July and entertain de Boerderij the evening before. At least the last one I shall attend. Welcome back boys!

Saxon - Gebr. de Nobel Leiden, 5 April 2015

Gebr. de Nobel is to me a new Live place in nearby Leiden, where they had the brilliant idea of presenting us Saxon over Easter. Looking at the forthcoming months programming The Answer, Hell Vicious Rumours and Y&T, chances are I shall be back some times. Hidden in a small alley the building after entering seems surpisingly high. Actually the big hall is that high that it becomes higher than large or wide. Confusing? think two rows of balconies on top of each other under an even higher ceiling. After approving the place, going through support act Blackbone and having some warm-up drinks we were ready for Saxon.

Saxon: Warriors of the Road a tour commemorating 36 years of Saxon was a treat to any fan of good old Heavy Metal. At the same time making you realize how old we get as Saxon was one of the first NWOBHM bands I seriously got into in 1980. Having returned to Holland quite frequently over the years the setlist contains a number of obvious classics. However the change old, newer and some some surprising oldies, made this apart from a good show also one that changed between shouting along to oh yes that one. Biggest surprises from the past were Frozen Rainbow from their debut and Suzie Hold On from Wheels of Steel. Apart from these surprises some of my all time Saxon favorites like Princess of the Night, 747, Strong Arm of the Law and Crusader came by and rocked Leiden.

Actually the band seemed to enjoy themselves, the crowd was happy and the sound was very clear and good, with Biff on great vocal performance. Downer on the evening came when one drunken bastard decided to throw a glass towards the stage during extra Wheels of Steel, hitting Biff. This pissed of Saxon enough to let go of Denim & Leather all together (which was on the many setlists passing after the show). Beats me why anyone would do such a thing, but understand Saxon being too old to take shit like that. So missing out on shouting along one of NWOBHM classic lines "Where were you in '79 when the dam began to burst?" we still had a great evening of almost two hours Classic Heavy Metal. Nothing to complain on all performances and welcoming Nigel Glocker back on drums, this turned out to be a very good way to spend Easter. 

Absolva, Rebelstar, Air Raid - Musicon Den Haag, 3 April 2015

As Musicon is probably the closest place to home where I can see live shows,I managed to miss Air Raid only seeing their last one and a half song, which sounded promising and metal. Rebelstar are locals so bringing some friends and relatives to the not overly packed Musicon. While the other two bands play music aligned to eighties heavy metal, Rebelstar comes closer to eighties hair metal bands. Sounding pretty good doing so a welcome band to see on forthcoming summer festivals in the area.

I came to see Absolva though. Last year they came with Savage Messiah to Tilburg and I intended to see them, but railway works and long delays made me stay home. Now playing around the corner a show I could and should not miss. And was I pleased to be there as Absolva turned out to be an extremely good live band. With the right attitude they managed to get the audience involved and just played on in a no-nonsense style that was much appreciated. On guitars they have Luke Appleton of Iced Earth fame, but the two covers came from other bands in "Fear of the Dark" and "Heaven and Hell". It is nice to have songs that everyone knows inbetween, but their own work stood strong enough by itself. We are Absolva and we play Heavy Metal, was the clear opning line and so they did. When seeing bands this good in such a small ambience makes you realize what the meaning of live shows is all about. You stand in front of the stage, seeing a great band working their asses off, have a beer, shout and jump along (without loosing my voice this time), get the CD bundle after the show and thank the band personally for their great entertainment. Thanks to The Hague Metal Alliance for bringing these shows to Den Haag, that many may follow. And as Absolva promised to be back touring in October November I recommend the home stayers to get of their lazy chairs and Rock and Roll. Cheers!

Marillion Weekend - Port Zelande 20-23 March, 2015

Get 3000 people out of 52 different countries, put them in a Centre Parcs bungalow, have this all organized by (one of) their favorite band(s) and you have the Marillion weekend setup. Three nights of Marillion live playing two full albums and one surprise set, plus the best atmosphere any music event can create. As most people who attended once feel like coming back this event was one year ago extremely fast sold out, but we were lucky enough to book on time and keep a 12 person bungalow which was even closely located to the centre. Still in the afterglow of this great event herewith some of the highlights:

The support acts:
The weekend was opened by the most popular Marillion member Steve Rothery with his solo band. As his last year's album The Ghosts of Pripyat, made it to my top 14 of 2014 I was very much enjoying the live versions. He is simply one of the best guitarists around and presentation in his usual modest sympathetic style. Second night opener was Ranestrane from Italy, playing Iatlian Prog sung in Italian. Having nice moments I was not so much overwhelmed that I would look for the CD afterwards. Last evening was opened by Lifesigns. I do have their debut album and really like it. But as it is mainly calm I did not know what to expect live. Also caused by tired last evenings I did not really get into their show, while enjoying the music. Maybe better to see fit in a smaller place.

Marillion live:
Three nights live means some 7 hours of songs to play. In order to help them decide on how to fill these hours they applied since 2013 weekend the habbit of starting the first two nights with one full album show.  The first evening was Anoraknophobia, one of my favorite Hogarth era albums. Great album perfect Friday night. While the encores started with a new (Gaza) and old (This Strange Engine) Epic my favorite of the evening came in a great version of Three Minute Boy.
Saturday night had Marbles as main part. I Liked that album at the time, although not all songs are that interesting to me, which is the risk of a double album. Again the encores were very good and the emotional clips behind Out of This World and King were beautiful.
The final evening was the only one where the setlist would be a surpise. Soon it became clear that we would be treated on an evening of Singles starting all the way back with Market Square Heroes. Knowing that Hogarth who had some issues over the weekend might not like it, always when the Fish songs are played the audience gets more excited. Playing 8 of them to open the evening means we just got the best hour of the Marillion weekends I attended. It was remarkable to see how singles died out after 2000 and the last songs were maybe released as single, but showing that only albums count nowadays. Ending with Hocus Pocus from Focus gave a double feeling. Great song, but they did that before and Market Square Heroes would really be the best closing song in my view. Still Sunday rocked and was very good indeed.

The After Parties:
Apart from the great shows, the after parties are the major treat during Marillion weekends. While in the past the DJ always showed he had two Classic Rock Best Of double CD's by playing always the same songs, this year we were in for a great surprise. On Saturday and Sunday we got a Rockeoke. A brilliant live band had a list of many many songs and people could sing along. I was very sorry to have lost my voice the Friday night already, so really unable to produce any sound. We got some very decent singers and some horrible performers and voices. Interesting to see that the majority of the fans picked the heavier songs of the list. Great fun and what a band. Surpise on the last evening came when Hogarth joined in for Led Zep and two Beatles songs. This showed that a good vocalist cannot sing everything as Rock and Roll did not really Rock, but the roof came off anyway.

And when it is over  there is a sad feeling of ending, completely overruled by the great memories of a weekend one shall always remember. As I did not even mention the outside warm wild water pool with benches, or the volleyball, or the Swap the Band (which I missed due to the two before mentioned activities) I can only hope that I can attend again in two years time. A Great thanks to all who organized this perfect weekend.

Northlands - Steven Wilson - Born of Fire - Alkaloid

Inspired by DPRP's Something for the Weekend, this week 4 different CD's in all different styles. Unlike SFTW not by different authors, but more displaying the very open minded range of musical genres I appreciate. As my normal reviews are kind off short already, I now really stay with a minimum of information. Going from soft to loud, my recommendations are:

Tony Patterson & Brendan Eyre - Northlands
This is what I like to call Sunday morning prog. There is no rush to get up and the musical background is reassuring. Painting the North East of England with a very nice calm form of very British Prog Rock. Known from Re-Genesis (Tony) and Riversea (Brendan) this sets a benchmark they manage to live up to. You can't wake up more pleasant really.

Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.
The Internet is full of extensive reviews of this album. My favorite CD's where Steven Wilson appeared were: The Sky Moves Sideways, Stupid Dream and The Raven that Refused to Sing. This one might be even better than all three as only time shall tell. Superb album by extremely talented and still underrated Mr. Wilson. Simply Beautiful this is Steven Wilson's answer to Marillion's Brave.

Born of Fire - Dead Winter Sun
If Aardschok is very positive and mentions references like Savatage, Nevermore, Iced Earth and Queensryche I am interested. US Metal at its best and that never disapppoints. Dark lyrics, American Flag on the cover, moody intro's fast guitars and some screams. Great band all out and some good songs to match. Not Earthquakingly orignal, but very good.

Alkaloid - The Malkuth Grimoire
Crowdfunding at Indiegogo and I joined due to Obscura members participation. Well this album shall need a lot of listening sessions still, but what I heard so far it can reach very high on my 2015 end of year list. Extreme Prog Metal, so one must accept grunts, although some songs are mostly or fully clean vocals. Many different styles passing giving us great variety. I might fully appreciate this one only in six months (or understand the album title), but very promising to say the least.

Lonely Robot - Please Come Home

John Mitchell is a frequent visitor to de Boerderij. On stage that is, as he plays in many bands that typically would pass Zoetermeer on any European tour. Most famous names being Arena, Frost*, It Bites and Kino. Lonely Robot is his solo project and with help of some friends (Steve Hogarth, Heather Findlay, Jem Godfrey amongst others) he released this very pleasant sounding Please Come Home album.

John Mitchel has a raspy voice which fits the songs well. He also is one of the world's most underrated guitarists and again amazes with his heavy riffs and great melodic soloing on this album. I remember seeing him live with PB2 some years ago. He played one guest solo and immediately that song stood out by a mile and then some during the show. He also gave twice in a short period a keyboard only version of Peter Gabriel's Here Comes the Flood, where his voice showed great range. So I knew I liked most if not all of his work and this CD is an easy goal to make in that respect. I read that not being in a band he could go wherever he liked and be more open. First song I heard however, came with Prog Magazine and Construct/Obstruct to me sounded nothing different from the last two albums of It Bites. Hearing the full album there is more variety indeed. Still all has this easily acceptable melodic rock overflow which makes this an album that could be big, if only getting some exposure. As this is not going to happen Lonely Robot shall remain one of the many secrets for the happy few.

John Mitchell shall be back in de Boerderij in April with Arena. I do not know if this project shall ever tour as well, but don't let that stop you from buying Please Come Home. You get what you expect and in this case that is just fine.