Best Metal festival in the world up again and like always I didn’t have the time to check out the warm up show – for the first time taking place at the festival site. So I missed METAL LAW, VIRON, OVERDRIVE, BRIAN ROSS playing SATAN and MASTER. Even the trip to the H-O-A is quite nice for me (no Autobahn). I arrived just in time to watch the first band on Friday, IVORY TOWER. Relatively professional and nice guys but – like most German Prog / Power Metal bands - not really breathtaking. The first real highlight performing at the festival were POWERVICE from the Netherlands. I saw them at the Keep It True festival earlier this year already and liked them even better this time – if that’s possible. They come up with ancient Metal in the vein of early Iron Maiden and they’re completely mad on stage. Big fun to watch! Plus: they seem to have gathered quite a few fans already who went just as nuts as the band. In case POWERVICE play around your place these days: don’t you dare stay at home and watch Sesame Street instead! ORDER OF NINE had been partying excessively the previous day so, consequently, their first performance in Europe (at least I think so) suffered quite a bit from that. Plus a bad sound we neither had to suffer from before their showcase nor after it. So possibly it was also the bands fault, at least to some extend? Anyway, I like their CDs quite a bit: slightly complicated US Power Metal with a great raspy sounding singer. Not the best entertainer, though. Most of the time he stood there smoking a cigarette (guess where that voice comes from) singing or talking rather to himself than to the audience. As far as I remember, SHEAVY had been booked as a replacement for HOBBS ANGEL OF DEATH (who are trying to get on the bus next year). Maybe they were also some kind of a replacement for CANDLEMASS who had just split up. To be quite honest: I don’t like Stoner Rock at all but in the end the only thing that really prevented me from becoming interested in those Canadians was their singer’s voice, a rather poor attempt of copying Ozzy. Apart from that he did a magnificent job as an entertainer moving like a madman and never forgetting the fans. The next highlight was MARTYR from the Netherlands. Judging from their faces they have been around for quite some time already but they put up a great show and their singer simply personified a perfect front guy. Agile and always some sort of jokes on his mind. At a time he was convinced that his bass player was out of tune so he told the audience to give him the finger! I think somebody told me their second album is a must have for traditinal Metalheads, so I’ll definitely look out for that one. ICARUS WITCH couldn’t quite compete with so much spontaneity but instead put up a highly professional Metal show. Even though they don’t sound like ORDER OF NINE, one may try and compare the two bands: rather complicated US underground Power Metal. ICARUS WITCH are quite a bit more aggressive, though. That’s what describes their set best: a good amount of headbanging aggression. Hope to see these guys again one day. I had been quite happy when my fellow companions on this Metal crusade had made a request earlier that day: “Let’s go to bed early today, right after ICARUS WITCH, finish our beer and get going early tomorrow morning. Or rather: noon. Nobody needs a Maiden cover band (POWERSLAVE), HOLY MOSES or silly Humppa Metal (KORPIKLAANI)” and I had agreed happily. Unfortunately I suggested to watch the first 5 minutes of KORPIKLAANI in order to be able to say they suck whole-heartedly – biiig mistake! When I was ready to hate the Finnish trolls from the depths of my heart, 90% of the remaining crowd was happily hopping to fiddle and accordion – among them those filthy betrayers of Metal I had to wait for. Slay and kill! 
Saturday started with a local band called TALES OF HORROR which we missed. Up next were CHAIN REACTION who were on the billing because they had won a contest at the Headbangers Ballroom in Hamburg. Rather boring stuff. I wasn’t the only one to bet that if these guys didn’t have a rather good looking female singer, nobody would care about them at all. Up next were TRINAKRIUS from Italy. Somewhere between Power and Doom Metal, the band seemed quite introverted and somehow couldn’t quite compete with bands of their style from the previous years like ALL SOULS DAY or FORSAKEN. But definitely a good start for a wonderful festival’s Saturday. Up next were MILES BEYOND, a young American band sounding quite a bit like Iron Maiden in their heydays, just a little more straight forward. Good (memorable) songs and a performance that made quite clear: we’re happy to be here and play for you! Definitely a band worth checking out. After that, the Danish-US melting pot PYRAMAZE hit the stage. Their Progressive Metal didn’t suffer from those sometimes too sweet keyboards on their CDs when playing live so I rather enjoyed the show, especially as their charismatic singer’s voice had quite an impressive range. As I had seen METAL INQUISITOR quite a few times already I thought I’d take a break because I wanted to see all the other upcoming bands. Obviously a mistake: some told me they were the best band of the festival. Well, I’ll go see ‘em play in Wacken then, in case MINISTRY start getting on my nerves too much. I came across ULYSSES SIREN only when their demos were re-released on CD one or two years ago. What a phantastic Thrash band! They don’t just have a couple of great songs but they’re also maniacs on stage! This was dirty and brutal – the way Thrash was supposed to be: a decent beating! And, once again, the crowd went absolutely wild! Interesting detail: Carl Albert’s son (R.I.P.; ex - Vicious Rumors) played the second guitar and although he is considerably younger than his bandmates and looked like the typical Nu Metal kid, he did a great job. Seems as if  ULYSSES SYREN are back. Who knows, maybe they even come up with a good new album? A propós Wacken: a couple of years ago I had managed to see PRAYING MANTIS in Wacken even though it was hard to turn my back on ARMORED SAINT. At the H-O-A the MANTIS didn’t have Dennis Stratton (ex - Iron Maiden) with them who used to be a part of the band for ages. Another change in the line-up was their new singer. Never heard of him before but as this was his first show with the band, he seemed a little nervous. In the end, the new line-up worked out just fine. My only problem was that I have about 3 MANTIS CDs and the band didn’t play many of those songs. That also means they didn’t play much from their legendary debut album, "Time Tells No Lies". The fun band leader Tino Troy seemed to have on stage easily spread among the audience though, and their music isn’t exactly inaccessible, either, so thumbs up! What I also liked a lot about Tino Troy’s down-to-earth attitude was that he stayed after his set for watching the following bands standing next to the stage. The next band he (and everybody else, of course) experiecned was METAL CHURCH. They definitely returned to their old strength and force. I always preferred Mike Howe to David Wayne but their new singer, Ronny Munroe, somehow incorporates the best aspects of his predecessors’ voices: Wayne’s aggression and Howe’s abilities. Actually, Munroe’s voice reminds me a little of Kevin Goocher, the “new” singer in Omen. Another point that counts for Ronny Munroe is his stage presence: you simply can’t ignore him! Fabulous! The CHURCH played quite a few really old tunes like ‘Ton Of Bricks’ or ‘The Dark’ and of course we ‘Watch(ed) The Children Pray’ but the new songs fit in nicely as well. The last time I saw such a big and fanatic crowd at the H-O-A was when BLITZKRIEG played there for the first time a couple of years ago! Hell Yeah! I guess I’m not old enough for GIRLSCHOOL and their style but somehow they’re always a pleasure to watch: lots of humor and very down-to-earth (“Duffy the drum slayer”): those ladies still know how to put up a good show even if I only recognised their ‘999 – Emergency’ song. After their set parts of the band joyned Tino Troy watching BLITZKRIEG. Just like the considerably shrunken audience, Brian Ross (like always in leather and chains) seemed a little tired in the middle of the night at first but after just a few classics he and his pretty young backing band easily managed to make everybody get to their feet again. He didn’t have any problems with his voice like last time I saw the band, either, and once again I was surprised they have a new album out again. If you love their classics you’ll probably like their new stuff as well. No nasty surprises like from their once biggest fans Metalli’pukin’ca. Once again, a great festival is over – the biggest Metal barbecue in the world. Great weather, peace ’n beer ’n Metal! Hope to finally make it to the warm up show next year! See you there! www.headbangers-open-air.de

Ramon Claassen
Pics: Ramon Claassen, Ingo Stührenberg (MARTYR)

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