HARD ROCK HELL has to be the most innovate idea in the UK's recent metal history. Hire out a massive seaside resort, put on two days of live music, and provide accommodation for all of the guests. Sounds good doesn't it? The resort of Butlins Minehead may be geared more towards a family summer holiday, but the facilities were perfect for the metal festival and considering this was a first time, things seemed to go very smoothly indeed. There were 2 main arenas, one holding around 1,500 (the Reds Arena) and one holding around 3,000 (the Centre Stage). Both were well laid out with plenty of good places to view the performances, and both having large bars at each side for everyone's drink requirements.

 

After a monstrous 200 mile drive, I arrived in Minehead, Somerset mid-afternoon on Friday - and this was in plenty of time to catch Taiwanese superstars CTHONIC who were the playing The Reds Arena, where activities today were under the banner of 'Defenders of the Faith'. CTHONIC are a black metal band, with full make-up to rival CRADLE OF FILTH, and a sound that's also not too dissimilar from tonight's headline act. The set was a little marred by the PA system cutting out, but as things were just getting going, this could be excused - plus, I doubt too many metal bands had played in Butlins Reds Arena before!!!

 

Next up Defending the Faith were Swedish doom metallers TIAMAT, lead by bald eagle Johan Edlund. This is a band who have been going since 1990, and that vast experience showed through tonight with a tight display. With very few UK appearances behind them, this show will be good exposure for TIAMAT who have released a best of CD 'Commandments' earlier this year. No doubt those who enjoyed their set tonight would have been making a swift visit to the merchandise stand after the show!

 

It was now time for some home-grown talent to take to the stage with British goth kings MY DYING BRIDE set to perform. For me, the MY DYING BRIDE music is just too slow and too depressing. If you thought you felt like slitting your wrists after listening to COLDPLAY or THE VERVE, then don't go near this band! However, over the years, MY DYING BRIDE have built up a very loyal following, and some of those disturbed souls had managed to navigate their way to Minehead tonight. Songs like 'The Dreadful Hours' and 'The Forever People' would have had those fans in their element, but for everyone else, this was hardly the sort of music to get you fired up ready for a headline performance!

 

So then, headlining the 'Defenders of the Faith' festivities were the mighty CRADLE OF FILTH. Over the years Cradle have been accustomed to playing their shows to a young crowd, and in particular, hoardes of screaming female goths. Tonight though, this was a much older audience, providing a different challenge to the band, whilst also providing an opportunity to crush their reputation as being a bit of a slap stick horror act. I was a little afraid that CRADLE would have taken this show very lightly (I mean CRADLE OF FILTH at Butlins?? Come on!!)) but from the moment Dani Filth burst on to the stage shouting "hi-di-hi campers!" - you could tell that the Cradle lads (and ladettes) were well up for it.

 

The set was a good mix of CRADLE material with plenty old and new songs thrown in the ring. In the old corner there was the likes of set opener 'Ebony Dressed For Sunset', the excellent 'Dusk and Her Embrace' and the title track of their debut album 'The Principle of Evil Made Flesh'. Newer songs included the ferocious 'Gilded Cunt' and 'Dirge Inferno', the more melodic 'Tonight in Flames' along with 'Nymphetamine' and 'Mannequin'. Also in there somewhere was the classic 'Her Ghost in the Fog'. All songs were performed with great conviction and Dani was in fine vocal form, as well as having a great rapport with the crowd between the tracks. Unfortunately, the PA once again cut out during Cradle's set, but this was only a brief interruption. It was a shame that there wasn't quite time to play usual set closer 'From The Cradle To Enslave' - but by the end of the performance CRADLE OF FILTH had done enough to earn a big thumbs up from the crowd for what was a professional metal display.

 

While all of the Darkness was going on in the Reds Arena, other bands were playing the larger Centre Stage taking part in a night called 'Angels and Demons'. After CRADLE OF FILTH, I made it over to that stage in time to see the late performance by Los Angeles female 4-piece VIXEN. This is a band who've had more line-up changes than any other band I know, but founder member and guitarist Jan Kuehnemund has managed to assemble a very talented band to perform VIXEN's classic songs, as well as a few impressive numbers from new album, 2006's 'Live and Learn'. VIXEN's material is very sleek classic rock, with catchy, harmonised choruses. Overall, this was an enjoyable set and a nice way to round off day one of HARD ROCK HELL.

 

After a good sleep in a nice warm bed (so much better than a tent I have to say!) - it was time to get Saturday under way by heading back to the Reds Arena for what was a day known as 'Porshamar'. Finnish nutters TURISAS have built up quite a following in the UK over the past couple of years and it was surprising that they were given the job of opening up. Still they rose to the task with a fantastic performance in front of what was easily the biggest audience of the weekend in the Reds Arena. Of course, all the great songs like 'Battle Metal' and 'One More' were highlights, but what made this show very special was the fact that TURISAS had personalised the show for Hard Rock Hell. One of the band members had dressed up as Dee Snider (lead singer of the festivals main headliner TWISTED SISTER) and this was a great bit of banter, and there was even a quick blast of TURISAS playing the TWISTED SISTER anthem 'We're Not Gonna Take It'.

 

I was then looking forward to seeing Canada's true metal warriors 3 INCHES OF BLOOD - but having spoken to the band at breakfast, I discovered the terrible news that the drummer has broken his arm at 4am on the morning of the show. This accident came too late for the band to find a replacement which meant that 3 INCHES OF BLOOD pulled out, and British thrash metallers SABBAT moved up the bill to fill their slot. In the words of SABBAT frontman Martin Walkyier, the "band are playing a few shows to give the old bastards one final chance to see us, and to give the youngsters an opportunity to experience the band". Back in the late 1980s, SABBAT produced what are still arguably the best 2 British thash metal albums ever recorded. This afternoons set was a selection of the best songs from those two albums, all performed with stunning accuracy (especially consdiering the band's hiatus) - with mega metal producer Andy Sneap enjoying himself being on stage again with a guitar. This was a terrific set from SABBAT with the only downside being my extremely saw neck after 50 minutes of constant headbanging!

 

It was now time to leave the Reds Arena for the weekend, and head for the first, and only time to the Crazy Horse Saloon, a much smaller venue which had hosted a ton of up and coming bands on the Friday - but had the classic rock royalty of G.M.T and RAVEN performing on the Saturday. It was the latter which I was going to see, and fortunately they didn't disappoint. RAVEN are a NWOBHM institution, and have continued to pump out album after album over the past 25 plus years. This set was very much a best of, which to be honest was exactly what I was hoping for. One of the two brothers in the band, frontman/guitarist John Gallagher has a piercing high voice, perfect for the pacey, old school metal songs which RAVEN play, such as 'Break the Chains' and 'Rock Until You Drop'. The highlight of the performance though had to be the band's only hit, the excellent 'On and On'.

 

With my ears bleeding, it was now time to give my eyes a treat with young British female rockers MCQUEEN opening up the weekends main event, the 'Classic Rock Legends' evening on the Centre Stage. Wow! These girls are a pretty bunch, and actually, their music isn't too bad either - it was a shame though that not many people had turned up in time to watch them. Next up were FASTWAY, a band who had impressed at the Download festival earlier in the year. FASTWAY is of course the project set up by former MOTORHEAD guitarist 'Fast' Eddie Clarke after his departure form the band in 1983. Their music is blues influenced classic rock, and it went down very well tonight.

   

After FASTWAY, the Centre Stage very quickly filled up to its capacity with a good 3,000 plus people squeezing into to the arena - this was because the time had come for the real heavyweight bands to take to the stage with the tripple attack of the bonafide rock legends SAXON, TWISTED SISTER and UFO. First up it was patriotic Britsh metal stalwarts SAXON who have recently been enjoying a resurgence in popularity in the UK after the release of some very strong albums, and of course the Channel 4 TV programme they were involved in with PR guru Harvey Goldsmith.

 

SAXON have always been a great live band and they still very much live up to this reputation. Biff Byford is an awesome frontman, always enjoying a good laugh with the audience, but first and foremost he's an amazing metal singer with a voice as powerful today as it was through the band's early 1980s hay day. Opening the set with 'Motorcycle Man' the crowd went into a frenzy, and things didn't clam down until the band left the stage 80 minutes later. Even the new songs went down well, particularly the brand new single 'I Wanna Rock To Stay Alive' - which had the entire Minehead audience singing along. The set was brought to a close with a rousing finale of a hat trick of SAXON's finest songs, 'Wheels of Steel', 'Princess of the Night' and of course, the number 1 heavy metal anthem, 'Denim and Leather'. This was an absolutely fantastic performance from SAXON, and one well worthy of the rousing applause and cheers that followed it.

 

So on to the 'official' headliners. Playing their only UK show of 2007, it was America's biggest bad boys - the one and only TWISTED SISTER. Traditional set opener 'What You Don't Know Sure Can't Hurt You' got things going, quickly followed by the fist pumping 'The Kids Are Back'. This is the original 5 members of TWISTED SISTER, but with only a handful of performances under their belt this year, the odd note sounded a little rusty, particularly at the start of 'The Price' where guitarist Eddie Ojeda missed his lead part. This was only a slight blip though on what was otherwise a top-drawer headlining set.

 

As usual, main man Dee Snider (dressed in his drag queen attire) was in fine form and it seemed like he had a great time playing the show. The classic hit 'We're Not Goin' To Take It' was played early in the set, Snider commenting that this was done to "get rid of anyone in the audience who just wanted to hear that song, just leaving the real fans who wanted to see the full TWISTED SISTER show". I like the logic, but can't see too many other bands following suit! The other monster hit 'I Wanna Rock' was indeed left to the encore - and the Butilins floor was literally shaking as all those at the front bounced up and down like kids on a bouncy castle at the Butlins fun fair!

 

TWISTED SISTER's latest release was their infamous heavy metal Christmas album 'A Twisted Christmas' and despite it only being the start of November, a couple of songs were played from the record. It sure is strange to see a metal band performing 'Silver Bells' and 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' - but it was all in good spirit and the Butlins crowd lapped up every minute. One song I really enjoyed in the set though was 'The Beast' - a song rarely appearing in the band's setlist over the years. So, after 90 minutes of high octane rock 'n' roll, it was time for the end of the show, and 'S.M.F' was the song chosen to be the final act. A brilliant show from TWISTED SISTER and a performance worthy of headlining any festival.

 

The unfortunate souls given the almost impossible job of following such great performances from SAXON and TWISTED SISTER were UFO. As per usual Phil Mogg and Pete Way looked like they were on a different planet, but considering the late time of their show, they were surprisingly spot on with their performance. Also, on great form as ever was American guitraist Vinnie Moore, who is more than capable of playing the Michael Schenker material, adding his own touch of smoothness to every song. Speaking of smooth, the ballads 'Love to Love' and 'Baby Blue' were a nice change from the thundering metal that had drained almost every last drop of energy out of the audience.

 

The UFO set was roughly an hour and included classics such as 'Rock Bottom' and 'Doctor Doctor' - alongside impressive newer tracks like 'Watching The Daylight Go To Town'. However, a very disappointing exclusion was 'Lights Out' - usually a staple classic in UFO's set, but strangely not played tonight - perhaps Mogg and Way wrote the setlist together and forgot that the song even existed? After UFO it was indeed lights out for a fair proportion of the crowd who headed back to their apartments, but those that did would have missed an excellent display by TESLA.

 

TESLA are a very underrated band, who very much went against the grain of hair metal when they arrived during the genre's high point in the mid 1980's. They ignored all of the razzmatazz that went with hair metal, instead opting for a jeans and t-shirts approach. Their music is also less glossy, and less commercial, using the influences of LED ZEPPELIN and LYNYRD SKYNYRD to create a great Southern tinged hard rock sound. Bursting on to the stage with 'Cumin' Atcha Live' - TESLA were quickly into their mould, and by the time classics like 'Hang Tough' and 'Modern Day Cowboy' were played, the remaining crowd had somehow mustered up a last surge of energy. 'Edison's Medicine' was to be the last song of an impressive performance, and TESLA did enough to tempt me into seeing them on their next headline tour, should the UK be so lucky to host them again.

 

After TESLA, there was still time for one more band, but DIAMOND HEAD would have been on stage well after 3am. I decided I couldn't take any more at this stage of the night and headed to bed. As I was walking out, it seemed that just about everyone else had the same thing on their mind. DIAMOND HEAD are a great band, but this was just too late for me. Maybe next year I should drink Red Bulls, Coffee or Lucozade instead of beer!

   

So there we go - that was the end of two days of superb music. HARD ROCK HELL was a terrific festival, and whoever had the initial idea of such a festival should be very proud of themselves - they pulled it off! Not one of the 5,000 sell out crowd could go home disappointed. Providing, metalheads are welcome at Butlins again, I can't see why there would be any reason not to hold more festivals like this in the future. I for one am certainly looking forward to a potential HARD ROCK HELL II in 2008. Rock on campers!

  

 

Major Band Ratings:

 

CRADLE OF FILTH: 4.4/5.0

 

SAXON: 4.8/5.0

 

TWISTED SISTER: 4.8/5.0

 

UFO 4.3/5.0

 

Review by James Allman

 

Photography by Alexander Shaw

 

PHOTOS:

FRIDAY:

MY DYING BRIDE:

 

 

CRADLE OF FILTH:

 

 

VIXEN: 

 

 

SATURDAY:

TURISAS:

 

SABBAT:

MCQUEEN:

SAXON:

TWISTED SISTER:

UFO:

TESLA: