Category Gig/Festival Reviews

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OK lets start off with the problem and get it out of the way….the sound volume was far too low. Its been said for every other band, but its especially true for Judas Priest even if they do seem a bit louder than the earlier bands. Judas Priest play music best listened to at face-meltingly loud volume when seeing them live – the subdued sound tonight really does depress the atmosphere.

Despite this, Judas Priest put on a fantastic show. The band, currently on their farewell ”Epitaph” tour (although many fans expect them to be back before too long) recently parted ways with long-time guitarist KK Downing, but his replacement, Richie Faulkner has more than stepped up to the mark and plays superbly.

The show started with Epitaph being displayed on the screens as Black Sabbath classic, War Pi...

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A few years ago, Thin Lizzy weren’t at the top of their game. The new lineup however, with Ricky Warwick as their frontman is back on form and today they make things look easy as they put in an excellent performance packed with classic hits including ”Jailbreak”, ”Whiskey in the jar”, ”The Boys are back in town” and ”Waiting for an alibi”. For ”Jailbreak”, Michael Monroe joined Thin Lizzy on stage to accompany them on saxophone. Ricky Warwick is a superb frontman and while some old diehards will never accept any version of the band that doesnt include Phil Lynott, most fans are happy with the current lineup. A nice touch was dedicating one of the songs to Phil Lynott and Gary Moore – two former (and deceased) Thin Lizzy legends.
The large crowd certainly looked to enjoy the set with ple...

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On Saturday evening after Thin Lizzy it was the turn of the guitar legend that is Slash ! This is the man who just over 12 months ago pulled in a crowd at Download for his early afternoon slot that rivalled any of the headliners crowds. Today the crowd is far smaller – a decent size but not as big as I’d expected – possibly a sign of the poor turnout generally.

Slash’s choice of setlist was a short history of his career, including four tracks from his time with Guns’n’Roses (Nightrain, Rocket Queen, Sweet Child O’ Mine & Paradise City), three Slash’s snakepit songs (Been there lately, Mean Bone & Speed parade), one Velvet revolver song (Slither), and just two songs from his new album (Ghost & Doctor alibi)...

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Michael Monroe opened this years High Voltage festival in nice sunshine (something we didnt see much of for the rest of the day). Despite being the first band on and it still being early he managed to attract a sizeable crowd. 
As always Michael put in a highly athletic performance, running around the stage and then coming out past the tv cameras to get closer to the crowd (and causing the cameramen a few headaches as his microphone cable trailed across the rails the cameras were mounted on).

Michael Monroe is an expert at working a crowd and as always went down well with the crowd. After abandoning a brief attempt to climb up the stage scaffolding he jumped down into the photo pit before climbing on top of the crowd barrier where he stood and sang while the crowd helped support him. 
Th...

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Shortly after 2pm the silence around the Metal Hammer stage was broken by the sound of roaring motorbike engines – yes it was the intro tape for Scottish Rockers, Attica Rage. They’d drawn a decent size crowd even before they hit stage, and managed to pull a bigger crowd in the end than most of the bands who played higher up the bill – a suggestion perhaps that they deserve a higher spot on the bill next time.
Kicking off with ”36 Insane”, a track from their new album, Road Dog. In fact the entire set today comes from their new album (and why not when the tracks sound this good), with one exception.
Singer Johnny Parr introduces the last song as being in memory of a great rocker who passed away recently – former Motorhead guitarist Wurzel, before the band played a cover of the Motorhead ...

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När klockan närmar sig tolv passar det ypperligt att ställa sig längst fram i Gasklockan och lyssna på norska Enslaved vars musik skapar känslan av att stå invirad i högkvalitativ sammet. Det är mjukt och flytande följsamt men samtidigt hantverksmässigt tungt och bestämt. Enslaved tillhör veteranerna inom genren och från tionde fullängdaren, ”Axioma Ethica Odini”, 2010, hämtas inledande ”Ethica Odini” och ”Raidho”. De åstadkommer en massiv ljudbild där Herbrand Larsen på keyboard också sjunger rent medan Grutle Kjellson, bas, står för förnämlig kräk-och brölsång. Överlag låter de mäktigt samspelta och alla snygga tempoväxlingar gör att publiken bara böljar fram och tillbaka med stora ögon...

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Nu har Viscious Art existerat i snart tio år men ännu inte fått det genombrott de förtjänar. Konstigt! De levererar döds med fabulös rytmik och skitcoola vändningar i kombination med ypperlig instrumenthantering och vansinnigt bra growl av Jocke Widfeldt och Jörgen Sandström, bas. Alla är välrenommerade musiker, Gitarristen Matti Mäkelä och Robert Lundin på trummor har tidigare verkat i Dark Funeral och Tobbe Sillman, gitarr, i bland annat Guidance of Sin. Att de endast fått ur sig två fullängdare och en EP är enligt mig en petitess. På Gasklockans scen är Jocke Widfeltd skrämmande. Han ser ut och beter sig som ett psykfall då han spänner sin galna blick i någon enskild i publiken samtidigt som han i ”The poet Must Die” väser fram texten ”remember tomorrow the promise to kill me”...

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Det är lite svårt att vara kritisk mot Nifelheim. De är självklara, egentligen väldigt folkliga och så totalt befriade från det mysticism och svårmod som präglar många band inom black. När de inleder med ”Black Evil” följd av ”Demonic Evil” och sedan ”Satanic Sacrifice” känns det som tre käpprapp på raken och budskapet är ”dra åt helvete, eller lämna lokalen”. Atmosfären i Gasklockan ger en försmak om vad som väntar i skärselden och till tonerna av ”Infernal Flame of Destruction” köper jag enkelbiljett till Nifelheims alldeles egna plats i Hades. Nifelheims okomplicerade black är egentligen inte enkel men det direkta tilltalet i såväl scenframträdande som tonkonst är lätt att omfamna och älska...

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My second year in Kvinesdal, in the South of Norway, has been one of the most amazing festival experiences one can ever have. I believe I managed to meet the best photo crew that can share the same tent and press area for some days and make each second go away with an incredible amount of laughter. Therefore my good musicwise experience at the festival is highly increased by the mood around me. Norway Rock festival used to be known, until 2008 as Kvinesdal Rock festival and is currently arranged by the foundation Norway Rock Kvinesdal, and, according to its website, it is mainly arranged by volunteers who think it is cool to have world stars play in a field in Kvinedsdal. There is no age limit for the weekdays of the festival, Wednesday and Thursday...

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Jag tycker nästan lite synd om The Darkness som fått utstå gliringar och halvspydiga kommentarer från andra band under festivalen. En bokning som det buats åt från flera håll och de flesta som samlats framför Monster stage verkar nyfiket skeptiska. Men de gör sitt absolut bästa enligt mig som aldrig sett dem tidigare eller lyssnat speciellt mycket på deras musik. Debutalbumet ”Permission to Land” från 2003 blev en monstersuccé som sålde fyra miljoner ex och flera låtar från den hamnade på Storbritanniens top-tio singellista. Jag betraktade då deras 1970-talsinfluerade glamrock som en kul grej och var övertygad om att de var ett one-hit wonderband vars lyckokast aldrig skulle upprepas...