It doesn’t seem five minutes since the metal hordes descended on the Welsh coastal town of Prestatyn. It was back in December when HARD ROCK HELL III took place, and just 3 months later, it was time for the 2nd installment of HAMMERFEST. The line-ups for the latter are certainly more geared towards fans of the darker and heavier side of the metal genre.

Thursday

Arriving late on Thursday, the only band who caught the eye were the excellent BEHOLDER (4.6/5.0), who picked up where they left off at the Bloodstock festival last summer. Their meat and potato brand of British metal was lapped up by the early arrivals. Debut album ‘The Awakening’ was one of the finest releases of 2009, and live, the songs kicked just as much ass as they do through your hifi.

Friday

With TONY MARTIN’s HEADLESS CROSS absent without leave, the first major band to hit the main stage on Friday were Dutch symphonic metal masters EPICA (4.1/5.0). Vocalist Simone Simons leads the band with charisma, and a voice to rival any. The screams of Mark Jansen add a heavy twist to the sound, making EPICA a fiercer animal than the likes of NIGHTWISH, a band who could have done a lot worse than approach Simone Simons to be their new singer.

Managing to squeeze in a quick trip to the second stage where Reading based metallers MALEFICE (3.8/5.0) were tearing up the place, these guys have energy to burn and with a willing crowd at their mercy with mosh pits and headbanging literally everywhere you turned, they played an energetic set with the highlight being a dedication to the legendary Dimebag, with a cover of PANTERA’s ‘I’m Broken’.

After the bombastic nature of both EPICA’s and MALEFICE’s performance, the slow melancholic plod of KATATONIA (3.8/5.0) didn’t exactly keep spirits high, but for the crowd that had turned up to watch these doomers in action, they played a decent set, despite it being starved of older material, in favour of playing the more recent tracks like ‘My Twin’ and ‘Soil’s Song’, whilst the brilliant new album, ‘Night Is The New Day’ got a run out with the highlights being the imporessive duo of ‘Forsaker’ and ‘Liberation’. While they are not everyone’s cup of tea, this type of music in my opinion always tends to come across better in more intimate venues, where the die hard fans are in attendance.

Headline act DEVILDRIVER (4.5/5.0) have built up quite a reputation as a live band that every metal fan must see. On tonight’s evidence, it’s easy to see why. DEVILDRIVER’s full throttle brand of modern day thrash metal grabs you firmly by the throat, and doesn’t let you go – that is, ’till they leave the stage. The pummeling ‘End of the Line’ is a prime example of DEVILDRIVER’s power, with frontman Dez Fafara whipping the crowd into a mosh pit frenzy – certainly, not for the faint hearted.

Meanwhile, on the 2nd stage, CONQUEST OF STEEL (3.7/5.0) were doing their best MANOWAR impression. Holding swords to the wind, the British five piece ripped through an enjoyable set of classic heavy metal, which included a quick fire cover of DIO’s ‘Holy Diver’. This is a band who are never going to headline a show outside of a pub, and they’re never going to give a shit about that. This is a band that eat, breathe, and sleep metal, and being on stage for them is like a pig rolling round in a heap of muck. If you’re not into metal, leave the hall!

Left to clean up the scene of destruction on the main stage were FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH (4.4/5.0), a band who were quite a surprise choice so high up on the bill, given the relatively limited experience. However, with another ferocious performance, nobody gained a rest following the brutality of fellow American buddies DEVILDRIVER and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH showed exactly why they are getting talked about so much.

Although not quite as intense as DEVILDRIVER, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is still bloody heavy, combining the formula of popular nu-metal, with the guitar playing of classic metal. The excellent ‘Salvation’ was a stand out, while a unique cover of ‘Bad Company’ (originally by, yes you guessed it, BAD COMPANY) went down very well with the crowd. With FFDP returning to play the Download Festival in June, their popularity is only going to rise further and therefore, expect to hear a lot more from these boys in the future.

Closing the Friday night proceedings on the main stage were Brummie grind legends NAPALM DEATH (4.0/5.0). A surprisingly large crowd remained for their post midnight performance, and such fanatics were treated to a typical Napalm performance of pure, uncompromising, noise! Laced with the humour of frontman Barney Greenway, the set included songs spanning the entire 29 year history of the band. Blink, and you’d have missed some of them!

With Prestatyn still bleeding from a night of such intense metal, it was back to the chalet to recharge the batteries for more of the same.

Saturday

The first band of note on Saturday were FURY UK (4.4/5.0), featuring guitar wizzkid Chris Appelton. After impressing on tour with MICHAEL SCHENKER just before Christmas, the band were welcome by a healthy crowd, who lapped up the rifftastic set. FURY UK’s music is very much metal at it’s purest, with the fantastic ‘Death By Lightning’ giving their set a bombastic climax, with Appelton at the forefront with enough tricks on the guitar to make Yngwie Malmsteen look ordinary.

Soon after FURY UK, a band by the name of THE SHINING (0.1/5.0) took to the stage, and proceeded to play one of the worst sets I have ever seen. I can’t even begin to call it music, because whatever the hell they were playing sounded like a bunch of crazy school kids let loose in a music shop.

American old school metalheads WHITE WIZZARD (4.5/5.0) were up next, and had to be one of the surpirse packages of the weekend. Their retro metal music reminds very much of ‘Number of the Beast’ era IRON MAIDEN, complete with dual guitars, wailing vocals, and that all important galloping bass. The awesome ‘Iron Goddess of Vengeance’ was one of the musical highlights of the whole weekend.

The evergreen PANIC CELL (4.0/5.0) were up next, delivering a typical solid set, for which they have been relied upon by many a festival organiser. This is a band who are happy to play anywhere, anytime, and always look like they’re enjoying their metal. Although they don’t quite have what it takes to take the next step to metal stardom, PANIC CELL are an enjoyable band, and in the world filled with bullshit like The X Factor, it’s great to see a band who’re still willing to knuckle down, and earn musical respect the hard way.

With only one more band to go on Stage Two, it was over to the main stage to see Scot rockers ATTICA RAGE (4.0/5.0) rip through a few of their choice cuts. Vocalist Jonny Parr limited vocal range means that ATTICA RAGE’s music never goes over the top, and their stripped down, yet spirited blend of classic metal works very well in the live environment. An ambitious cover of IRON MAIDEN’s ‘Fear of the Dark‘ was unsurprinsgly the most popular moment of their set, but lets hope the crowd remember ATTICA RAGE for more than that!

Next on stage were British doom stalwarts ORANGE GOBLIN (4.3/5.0), complete with new look frontman Ben Ward, now free of the extremely long hair he was waving around at HAMMERFEST I a year ago. Ward’s look might have changed, but his sound, and that of his band, is exactly the same, and why would you want it any other way? The likes of ‘Blue Snow’, and set closer ‘Scorpionica’ are doom metal classics, and no band could give them songs the sludge groove that ORANGE GOBLIN do. As last year, ORANGE GOBLIN were terrific, and remain one of the great forbidden fruits of the metal underground.

It was now time for all metal purists to leave the room. The reggae infused music played by SKINDRED will always divide metal fans. For me, whereas I certainly wouldn’t enjoy playing a SKINDRED CD in my car, I do always enjoy their live shows. Excitable frontman Benji Webbe is a real pleasure to watch, and somehow, he manages to get the crowd to put in as much energy to a SKINDRED show as he does himself. Pontins was absolutely bouncing for the whole show, and I have to admit that by the end of it, I may be a converted disciple.

Having been spotted on site as early as Friday afternoon, ICED EARTH (4.8/5.0) must have been chomping at the bit to get on stage for their Saturday night headline slot. The sound for ICED EARTH was crystal clear, and this helped enhance what was an immaculate performance, choreographed to perfection.

An hour set is never going to be long enough for a band of ICED EARTH’s stature, but they did use the time to good effect, with minimal breaks between songs. The highlight of the show was a rare performance of the majestic ‘Watching Over Me’ – a song with emotional feeling, unrivalled by any other metal song. Signature track ‘Iced Earth’ closed what was a fantastic performance by the band of the weekend. Guitarist and band leader Jon Schaffer promised the band would be back for their first ‘proper’ UK tour in the near future. That will be simply unmissable!

Following the ICED EARTH opus, the stage was ambushed by thrash crossover titans SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, lead by charismatic frontman Mike Muir. With ‘You Can’t Bring Me Down’, SUICIDAL made a ferocious entry into the arena, and the intensity of their show never fizzled out.

Over on the 2nd stage, Swedish Black metal band DARK FUNERAL (3.6/5.0) were doing the best to try to scare the couple of hundred fans who considered them more appealing than SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. The music of DARK FUNERAL is about as typical as black metal gets, with hyper speed distorted melodies, constant blast beatdrums, and completely intellible vocals. Frontman Emperos Magus Caligula is dressed up like something out of He-Man (I’m thinking skeletor), although he’s one huge geezer, so I’ll leave the piss taking at that.

Given the late night closing slot on the main stage were power metal band SABATON (4.1/5.0), following up on their well received performance at the Bloodstock festival last summer, as well as several UK dates with genre trail blazers DRAGONFORCE. With the crowd obviously well stocked on caffeine, SABATON’s Swedish blend of power metal once again went down very well with the UK metalheads. An excellent band to bring down the curtain on another excellent weekend in Prestatyn.

With plenty of summer festivals on the horizon, December may seem a million miles away at the moment. However, tickets are selling like hot cakes for the next Prestatyn show down, HARD ROCK HELL IV. If you fancy a beer soaked weekend of metal madness, don’t hesitate to buy a ticket. Prestatyn might not be the be all and end all, but it sure knows how to put on one hell of a metal party!

Festival Rating : 4.8/5.0

Photography by Alexander Shaw

(Hammerfest II Friday)

(Hammerfest II Saturday)