It’s great to see sub genres of metal sticking together as was the case tonight. All too often nowadays, their seem to be a lot of tours where the support are not even in the same sub genre as the headline act, which makes you wonder what why they were chosen?! But it was good to see that Finnish doomers SWALLOW THE SUN were chosen, and they really did serve as the perfect warm up act.

The last time I saw SWALLOW THE SUN was a couple of years back at Bloodstock, and while their set may have lost a little of its gloomy atmosphere given it was outside and the sun was out, that was certainly put right tonight. With the heavy riffs and keyboards bringing a certain aura to the set, coupled with the rough style vocals of Mikko Kotamaki, they really did create a great atmosphere in the venue and songs like ‘Sleepless Swans’ and ‘Swallow’ went down extremely well with the crowd.

Back on UK soil after a successful tour supporting PARADISE LOST late last year, Swedes KATATONIA were back, albeit with two guest musicians filling in. It was pretty much guaranteed we would hear more material from their latest album ‘Night Is The New Day’, I just didn’t expect so much of it to be played given the number of gems in their extensive back catalogue.

The only new track that got a showing in their set last year, ‘Forsaker’, opened up tonight’s set closely followed by another new one, the sublime ‘Liberation’ which sounded as good live as it does on record. Other highlights from the new material on show tonight were the impressive duo of ‘Onward Into Battle’ and the heavier ‘Day And Then The Shade’, while the first single, ‘The Longest Year’ was also received well by the Wolverhampton faithful.

There were a few surprise omissions to the set in the fact that nothing off the brilliant ‘Brave Murder Day’ album was played , whilst other set regulars like ‘Soil’s Song’ and ‘Consternation’ were also A.W.O.L. in favour of some of the material not usually played by the band, most notably, ‘Saw You Drown’.

Even with two substitute members in the band, the material sounded as you would expect it to with the regular members and it just kept on coming and before you knew it, the set was coming to an end with the excellent renditions of ‘Dispossession’ and ‘Leaders’. Even with a few surprise omissions (well you’re not going to please everyone are you?!), KATATONIA played an impressive set which went down brilliantly with everyone. It’s just a shame there wasn’t a few more people to witness these majestic Swedes in action.

Ratings:

Photography By Alexander Shaw

(SWALLOW THE SUN Photos)

After managing to catch the last few songs of CRIPPER, I was eagerly awaiting to see the main support act tonight. Greek thrashers SUICIDAL ANGELS delivered an excellent performance with their set near enough entirely made up of tracks from latest album, ‘Sanctify the Darkness’. Songs like ‘Bloodthirsty’, ‘The Pestilence of Saints’ and ‘Apokathilosis’ all went down a treat with the crowd, as they blistered their way through their set.

25 years on since debut album ‘Feel The Fire’ was released and New Jersey thrash legends OVERKILL are still going strong, and with a brilliant new album from start to finish in the form of ‘Ironbound’, there’s no stopping these guys, and tonight’s gig was one to be remembered for a while for all concerned. Not only did they deliver a killer set of top quality thrash, the pit, besides being one fo the best I have seen for a while, was absolutely amazing showing their full appreciation for OVERKILL as it never relented for the entire set.

Opening up with ‘The Green And Black’ from latest album, this was one of three new tracks on offer tonight, with the others being title track ‘Ironbound’ and the sublime ‘Bring Me The Night’, all of which sounded awesome live. With such an extensive back catalogue under their belts, only handful of albums missed out on a showing, with cracking renditions of ‘Feel The Fire’, ‘Hello From The Gutter’, and ‘Wrecking Crew’ all going down well, while the crowd sang in union for the mellower style and aptly named ‘In Union We Stand’.

Thrash gigs don’t get any better than they do like tonight, and with OVERKILL on top of their game, classics like ‘Rotten To The Core’ and ‘Bare Bones’ were played to note perfection before the excellent ‘Elimination’ rounded the main set off. With a bit of a lengthy break before the encore, due to the fact that power seemed to have been lost on more than a few bits of equipment, they soldiered on to deliver a crushing encore which included ‘Necroshine’ and ‘Old School’ before ending with ‘Fuck You’ with ‘Sonic Reducer’ thrown into the middle for good measure.

OVERKILL showed tonight that even after 25 years, they haven’t lost any of their edge or sheer brilliance that make them one of the top thrash acts still going today. Along with bands like TESTAMENT, EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL amongst others, they are keeping the thrash genre going strong and showing the young and upcoming bands how it’s done. ‘Here’s To The Old School!’.

Ratings:

Photography By Alexander Shaw(Overkill Photo’s click here)

The relentless headbanging at near light speed didn’t let up as they continued with the likes of ‘Severed Reality’, ‘Living In A Whirlwind’ , ‘Jackal’ and ‘Prey For Death’ (all from latest album ‘Waking Into Nightmares’) showing their caliber to write extremely good and fast thrash songs. Lead singer John Kevill delivered a top notch performance and his trademark scream style vocals were in full force tonight, supplemented brilliantly by the dual axe attack of Adam Carroll and John Laux as they performed each riff with sheer perfection. As the set closed with the superb ‘Combat Shock’, WARBRINGER left the crowd definitely wanting more, and will be certain of a welcome return next time they appear on UK shores. Next time these guys are on tour in the UK, be sure to check these guys out. You won’t be disappointed!

With the venue near enough full now, UK thrashers ONSLAUGHT took the stage and delivered a tight and excellent performance from the off which the crowd duly lapped up form start to finish. Opening with the title track of their last studio album ‘Killing Peace’, which went down a storm as everyone went into headbanging mode. Despite only having a 30 minute set, ONSLAUGHT managed to get the majority of their best songs to date in the set.

The likes of earlier material such as ‘Let There Be Death’ and ‘Metal Forces’ went down extremely well with both the older thrash fans, who probably remembered hearing them for the first time back in the 80′s, as well as the younger ones too in the venue tonight. Unfortunately it was all over too soon as they closed with the title track of their first album, the awesome ‘Power From Hell’. All in all, for anyone who had never seen ONSLAUGHT before, this was a great insight into them and their material. Hopefully they will be back soon doing a few headline slots, and I’m sure they will have picked up a few more fans from this tour.

As the lights dimmed and Bay Area thrashers TESTAMENT took to the stage, the crowd didn’t need any encouragement during opening track, ‘The Preacher’ to get the pit going, and as they kicked into ‘The New Order’, the atmosphere in the venue just went from strength to strength. ‘Over The Wall’ made an early appearance in the set, but this did not stop anybody from crowd surfing to it.

With some great songs in their back catalogue, there is always a core group of them which will be played in any TESTAMENT set. The usual crowd pleasers like ‘Practice What You Preach’, ‘Burnt Offerings’, ‘Into the Pit’ and ‘Souls of Black’ were all present here. One surprise to the set was the inclusion of the more melodic track ‘The Legacy’, which seemed to break the rhythm of pace slightly, but did not deter the atmosphere at all as the crowd sang along. A surprise omission to tonights set was ‘Alone In The Dark’ seemingly going amiss. Still, when you have a back catalogue like TESTAMENT do, it’s always going to be difficult to satisfy everybody.

The dual guitars of Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson, undoubtedly two of the best in the thrash genre, were note perfect tonight as they ripped through a couple of tracks from their latest offering, ‘The Formation of Damnation’, in the crunching form of ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ and ‘The Persecuted Won’t Forget’, as well as set closer and title track, ‘The Formation of Damnation’. Chuck Billy sounded as great as ever as he growled his way through the brutal ‘D.N.R.’ and coupled with the ferocious drumming of Paul Bostaph and bass playing of Greg Christian made tonight a truly superb and rememberable performance that had everyone leaving with a huge grin on their face, as well as a few aches and pains. TESTAMENT showed tonight why they are still considered one of the best thrash acts out there, and as long as they continue write material and perform live, crowds like tonight will still show up and support them 20 plus years on.

TESTAMENT Setlist: The Preacher / The New Order / Over The Wall / Practice What You Preach / More Than Meets The Eye / The Persecuted Won’t Forget / Burnt Offerings / The Legacy / Into The Pit / Souls of Black / Disciples of The Watch / D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate) / 3 Days In Darkness / The Formation of Damnation

Review By Adam Fredericks

This sold out gig – wonderfully supported by the magnificent DORO – is an awesome spectacle and a true definition of metal defined (in a word, SAXON). DORO was the perfect fit in terms of a support act for SAXON. The German blonde bombshell delivered a powerful 45 minute set, packed with classic heavy metal from her days with crout stalwarts WARLOCK (‘Burning The Witches’ and ‘All We Are’), and a few choice numbers from a solo career that has kept her popularity high, especially in her homeland. A re-worked cover of ‘Breaking The Law’ also did wanders to warm up the Wolverhampton faithful.

So on to SAXON, coming on stage with the bombastic ‘Battalions of Steel’ (first track from new album ‘Into The Labrynith’), it sets the scene for a set that no true metal fan should miss. Laden with a whole host of trademark SAXON classics (‘Crusader’, ‘Wheels Of Steel’, ’747 Strangers In the Night’, ‘Strong Arm Of The Law’ etc.). SAXON vary their set every night, and they always ask their fans what they want to hear. Also, SAXON have such an array of heavyweight ‘newer’ material from the last decade or so that you don’t actually miss the odd vintage or two.

In regard to ‘Into The Labryinth’ material live, its a stunning thumbs up. ‘Hellcat’ bristles with angst and metal adolesance, while new single ‘Live To Rock’ follows on from the storming ‘I’ve Got To Rock To Stay Alive’ as another of hard rocks greatest tracks of the last ten years. But that’s not all – ‘Demon Sweeny Todd’ features a face melting riff and trademark Biff ‘screamer’ Byford vocals, while ‘Valley Of The Kings’ features a wonderfully Euro-rock chorus that SAXON pull off magnificiantly, fortunately with 90% less pomposity than a lot of bands who make these kind of tracks their forte. A different one stylistically for SAXON, but a success story nevertheless. The other big highlight of the night was hearing ‘Ride Like The Wind’ – a long lost SAXON gem from the 80′s that the band hasn’t played since the bands late 80′s fall into meer obscurity.

Biff Byford is an absolute powerhouse – as both frontman and vocalist. Outside of his obvious power and range, Biff has an amazingly mellow tone to his voice which, coupled with his heavy metal thunder, really has to be experienced to be believed. Like his band, he doesn’t drop a note. SAXON deserve respect for been such a tight metal outfit, who give their 100% all – if you asked me what band I wanted to see tomorrow – in spite of the fact they aren’t my favourite band – I would still answer SAXON. By all accounts, SAXON deserve to be superstars. But for a few 80′s musical misomeaners, they probably would have been, too…

Ratings:

Review by Andy Law

Photography by Alexander Shaw(click here)

They opened up with ‘Degenerated’ off their self titled latest album. With catchy riffs and some Axl Rose style vocals courtesy of Nicke Borg it set the stage for the rest of their set. After a few stand up sleazy rock songs came the hilariously titled ‘Fuck Off And Die’ (well I thought it was funny). About mid set you do get the feeling your watching a one trick pony and some of the songs lack the depth to keep your attention, but enough of being a sour puss!

Hearing Dregen’s guitar work in ‘Minusu Celcius’ you understand why it was picked for guitar hero III. An awesome song that quickly had everyone singing along. You have to hand it to them for never letting the tempo drop, which in the case of Dregen needing to take his top off during the sweat dripping performance. Rolling out the WILDHEARTS-esque ‘Dysfunctional Professional’ and ‘People Like People Like People Like Us’ to leave the Wulfrun on a high note.

After an exhausting set by the BACKYARD BABIES a longer than normal change over was welcome, but after nearly 30 minutes the crowd was ready for more. With my knowledge of THE RASMUS being even more feeble than my knowledge of the babies I wasn’t holding out much hope for them to top their stellar performance.

Stage left their appeared to be a cluster of Finnish flags, possibly the Finnish appreciation society? The pace at which they were waving Finnish national flags went to new heights as THE RASMUS hit the stage! They opened with the introspective ‘Livin In A World Without You’ off the Black Roses album. Followed by the punchy feel good ‘In My Life’ this was turning out to be totally different from my memories of the unbelievably wet ‘In The Shadows’ being played endlessly on Kerrang.

Next up were some absolute stunners, listening to ‘Falling’ might have to be another of my guilty pleasures, while the macabre lyrics and sound to ‘Immortal’ lent some edge to the performance. Hats off to Lauri Ylönen who barley stands still throughout the entire set, although their were some minor sound problems Lauri kept the audience entertained with some Biff Byford style “do you want a fast song, or a slow song?” banter and to my surprise the answer from the crowd was for a slow song, that would never happen at a SAXON show! Each to their own, even my pet hate for ‘In The Shadows’ is now in doubt having heard it live.

Rating:

BACKYARD BABIES 4.5/5.0
THE RASMUS 4.2/5.0

Review and Photography by Alexander Shaw(Photo Gallery)

The next band up reconfirmed my belief in seeing the support bands. It is tempting to find your favourite watering hole and get pleasantly plastered only to bowl (or roll) into the venue for 21:30 but then you’d have missed out on a quality band such as SERENITY who were next on the bill. The first thing that struck me about the band was lead vocalist Georg Neuhauser’s vocal sound was similar to Klaus Meine of the SCORPIONS although that might have something to do with the fact that I can’t tell the difference between an Austrian and a German accent but I still had to resist the urge to shout ‘Blackout’ or ‘Big City Nights’.

With the urge to make a tit out of myself well under control (sometimes it’s good not to drink), it’s been a while since I’ve been so impressed with a band straight off the bat. They have a distinctly power metal sound with symphonic influences ‘Rust of Coming Ages’ is a perfect example of this symphonic keyboard laden sound, driven by the fast tempo guitar melodies of Thomas Buchberger. Another stand out song was ‘Velatum’ off their latest album Fallen Sanctuary, Neuhauser’s range and power as a vocalist really came through. With such a positive response from the crowd, to the obvious delight of the band, they would have stayed on stage all night if it had been possible.

To my mind SERENITY had raised the bar for the KAMELOT set. After some very loud applause they broke straight into ‘Rule the World’ off their latest album Ghost Opera. A solid song with a dark and more sinister sound than a lot of KAMELOT’s back catalogue. Then back to the unmistakable ‘When the Lights Are Down’ with soaring guitar work of Thomas Youngblood complimenting Roy Khan’s emotive singing. The only thing I can’t seem to get my head around with their sound is the occasional and in my opinion fairly wet vocal appearance’s by female vocalist Anne-Catrin Marzke, too infrequent and so quiet that it seems fairly pointless as it wouldn’t change the song to leave it out completely, especially after having your ear drums blasted out by the power of Khan’s vocal’s. I imagine their is supposed to be some kind of contrast between the two but it ends up being more of a let down. Other than that minor irritation the rest of the set would get the thumbs up from the KAMELOT faithful with old classic’s ‘Karma’ and ‘Forever’ both with superb solos from Youngblood. The set ends with ‘March of Mephisto’ with its epic atmospheric sound bringing the show to a satisfying close.

Rating:

Review and Photography by Alexander Shaw(Photo Gallery)

The show opened with a montage of You Tube video tributes uploaded by numerous fans displayed on the giant white curtain that covered the front of the stage. As Gillespie-Sells ripped down the curtain the band burst into ‘Thought It Was Over’, their first single release from the second album released early this year and their loyal audience sprang to life to join in with every second of the 105 minute show. The style of their stage presence differs quite significantly from the soft rock/pop studio recordings that are so widely given national radio air play, since it has a much edgier rock feel whilst still retaining the catchy melodies and harmonies. Gillespie-Sells soon has his fans eating out of his hands as they play along with him in ‘Fill My Little World’ and singing the counter-melody at the end of ‘Never Be Lonely’. In fact his stage presence has very much the feel of Freddie Mercury or Phil Lynott in the way in which he engages the crowd throughout the gig. ‘Without You’ follows the sing-a-long, a moving number documenting their reaction to the Virginia Tech massacre, the band were touring stateside at that time.

The middle segment with ‘Kettles On’ and ‘Helicopter’ demonstrate both the melodious structure of the bands song writing, their love of an edgey rock crescendo and their tight live performance based on Kevin Jeremiah’s guitar breaks to Richard Jones’ bass through to the excellent Paul Stewart on drums. Ciaran Jeremiah adds plenty of glitz and sparkle with his keyboard playing, whilst relishing his moment on lead vocal in the ‘Fight for Your Right’ encore.

Dan Gillespie-Sells exuberance and interaction with his audience escalated during the high octane end to ‘Helicopter’, he dived and crowd-surfed his way to the back of the hall reappearing on the balcony to wow amongst the masses with his solo acoustic version of ‘Strange’. The use of ‘Miss You’ and ‘Strange’ further demonstrated the QUEEN influences mimicking the way in which the ballads can be used to break up a long set and showcase raw talent. Although I did find the use of ‘Popcorn’ a little odd, but the crowd seemed to lap it up along with everything else that was served up.

‘Turn it Up’ gets the set back in the rocking groove, ‘Sewn’ affords Dan yet another opportunity to engage the audience in another sing-along and ‘Love It When You Call’ brought the show to a natural high energy conclusion. The audience were treated to one final piece of THE FEELING showmanship when the band appeared drum-playing through the auditorium for their first encore of ‘We Can Dance’ dressed in full Sergeant Pepper style regalia.

All in all an extremely enjoyable, entertaining night. Okay there are plenty in the mainstream music press that want to slate THE FEELING as being bland pop with their songs containing little new material just merely mimicking the late 70s/early 80s of ELO, QUEEN, SUPERTRAMP, 10CC and PINK FLOYD. However, I would counter that this is a proper rock band that write their own music, are accomplished musicians that give a very high quality live performance.

Set List
Thought It Was Over / Fill My Little World / Never Be Lonely / Without You / Don’t Make Me Sad / Rose / When The Truth Comes Out / Take On Me / Kettle On / Miss You / Helicopter / Strange / Popcorn / Turn It Up / Sewn / Join With Us / Love It When You Call / We Can Dance (Greatest Show on Earth) / Fight For Your Right.

Rating: 4.8/5.0
Tim Statham

Next up were MASTODON, a band whose techincal, progressive, yet heavy-as-fuck metal, isn’t exactly the easiest to get in to. Live, their musicianship is spot on, but with so much going on in their music, the live sound has to be perfect to do it justice, and tonight, it wasn’t. This resulted in the band sounding like a mish-mash of riffs and intellible vocals, with only the odd melody standing out amongst the racket. The fact that the band had zero interaction with the crowd also didn’t help matters and other than those who were into MASTODON before tonight, I can’t imagine anyone being impressed by this sadly forgettable set.

The sound may have been bad for MASTODON, but the sound for TRIVIUM could only be described as truly awful. It was far too loud, with the loss of all clarity, making it almost painful to watch the show. TRIVIUM’s new album ‘Shogun’ is a little better than the bland ‘Crusade’ record, but still doesn’t come close to matching the excellent ‘Ascendancy’ record that broke the band into the big time. 18 months ago, TRIVIUM were headlining this venue on their own, and sold it out. Tonight, there seemed like a distinct lack of TRIVIUM fans about, thus proving that their dip in song quality has resulted in a corresponding dip in popularity.

Frontman Matt Heafy did at least have a go at interacting with the crowd, but his over-used line of ‘move your bodies you pussys’ (or very similar variants) got a bit tiresome when it was said during every song. After withstanding the dreadful sound for as many songs as I could handle, it was time to seek sanctuary at the bar. If TRIVIUM are to get back to their best, they need to get a new live sound engineer, and they need to write some better songs. Anyone who thought TRIVIUM could give SLAYER a run for their money was sadly mistaken.

Just before SLAYER took to the stage, I noticed the sound engineer had changed, and fortunately this guy knew exactly what he was doing. It’s hard to understand how SLAYER could sound so good when the previous bands sounded so bad. After all, it’s the same venue, same mixing desk and same PA! SLAYER were on outstanding form tonight and within seconds of the opening blast of ‘Flesh Storm’, the Civic Hall stalls turned into a brutal mosh pit, and one that didn’t subside until the very last note of encore closer ‘Angel of Death’.

It was great to see SLAYER back in a slightly smaller venue. For me, they just don’t have the same intensity in the large arenas and on festival stages. Tonight it was in-your-face and the intensity of the music was as fierce as it gets. The combined sound of the ferocious drums of Dave Lombardo, the irate vocals of Tom Araya, and the dual lead guitar wizardry of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King is unmistakably SLAYER - and as a live unit, very few metal bands come close to matching the sheer ferocity of this band.

Although AMON AMARTH were enjoyable, ultimately SLAYER’s terrific performance had saved the ‘Unholy Alliance’ from being a disappointment. It would be great to see SLAYER do their own tour playing some of the larger club venues and universities – it is in these more intimate venues that the band are undoubtedly at their best, and hopefully tonight’s show will go a long way to helping them realise that surely that’s what most of their fans would rather see.

SLAYER Setlist: Flesh Storm / War Ensemble / Chemical Warfare / Ghosts of War / Jihad / Cult / Disciple / Seasons in the Abyss / Dittohead / Live Undead / Dead Skin Mask / Raining Blood / South of Heaven / Angel of Death

Ratings:

AMON AMARTH Photos

Vocally, ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN singer Mark Boals teams up superbly well with female vocalist Liz Vandall, with the two complementing each other with beautiful synchronicity. To make absolutely sure the crowd was won over, the set was rounded off by two 70′s SCORPIONS classics ‘We’ll Burn The Sky’ and ‘Pictured Life’. Although not everyone will be rushing off to check out the ULI JON ROTH back catalogue, there was more than a polite applause for a set that had kept the SCORPIONS well entertained as they waited for their heroes arrival.

For those people reading this who associate SCORPIONS with their 90′s mega-hit ‘Wind of Change’ - you have seriously got the wrong impression of this band. SCORPIONS are a heavy metal band, and they are heavier and louder than ever when they play live – this really is where SCORPIONS come into their own. The crunching riff of new album opener ‘Hour 1′ launched things into action, before fierce renditions of ‘Coming Home’ and headbanger ‘Bad Boys Running Wild’ showed immediately that SCORPIONS have lost none of their awesome live power. As he always has done, the now 60 year old Rudolph Schenker ruled the stage like a crazed mad man, throwing all kinds of shapes as he crashed through riff after riff. Matthias Jabs was also in sparkling form as he took centre stage during ‘The Zoo’ with his usual talk-box antics. Rudolph’s younger brother, legendary ex-UFO axe man Michael Schenker was also in town tonight, and it was pleasing to see him back on form as he joined another of his formed band’s for ‘Coast to Coast’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Lovedrive’ and ‘Another Piece of Meat’. For SCORPIONS fans, this was like a wet dream.

The SCORPIONS love to have plenty of fun on stage, and this was personified when the whole band got up to join powerhouse drummer James Kottak, with his ‘Kottak Attack’ drum solo. Nobody does rock humour like the Germans. As ‘Big City Nights’ concluded the main set, the huge video screens at the back of the stage urged the crowd to ‘SCREAM!’ to get the band back out for an encore and, of course, the Wolverhampton faithful duly obliged… and boy were they rewarded! First Ulrich Roth returned for ‘He’s a Woman, She’s a Man’ - before the Schenker brothers teamed up again, this time performing the UFO classic ‘Doctor, Doctor’ - truly a special moment. With no ‘Wind of Change’ in sight, ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’ finished off what was an absolutely tremendous show. One thing is for sure, tonight was ultimate proof that there’s plenty of venom left in the sting of the SCORPIONS.

SCORPIONS Setlist: Hour 1 / Coming Home / Bad Boys Running Wild / The Zoo / No Pain No Game / Coast to Coast / Holiday / Lovedrive / Another Piece of Meat / Loving You Sunday Morning / 321 / Dynamite / Blackout / Big City Nights / Still Loving You / No One Like You / He’s A Woman, She’s A Man / Doctor, Doctor / Rock You Like a Hurricane