PROGPOWER XII
Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
September 16-17, 2011
This year marked Jen’s and my 11th year attending the ProgPower
festival in Atlanta. Hard to imagine that it’s been so many years.
We always have a great time, at least as much for the friends that we’ve made
as for the bands that we’ve seen. Musically, things are generally around
50/50 for me with the billing, so I spend half of the festival viewing the
stage with rapt attention and the other half drinking beer, laughing, and
getting my photo taken with drunk Honduran strangers in the lobby. Let’s
focus on the musical side of it, shall we? Here’s what I saw this year:
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thanks to unanticipated rental car trouble that detained us in the armpit that
is central Alabama for three hours this morning, Jen and I dashed into the
Center Stage venue at 2:25 p.m., mere moments before the lights went down and
Creation’s End took the stage. Having witnessed these New Yorkers
on the Uniting the Powers of Metal Tour in Marietta, Georgia, last month, we
knew what to expect. Creation’s End put on a very similar show at
ProgPower (identical setlist, I think), with the primary differences today being
a heightened energy level on stage (particularly on the part of bassist Joe
Black) and a much clearer, fuller sound. Marco Sfogli again put on an
impressive display of lead guitarplaying. The improved sound meant that I
could hear vocalist Mike DiMeo clearly at ProgPower, which was a bit of a
double-edged sword. On the one hand, he sounded smooth and powerful in his
awesome mid-range, so that was a treat. On the other hand, DiMeo was
noticeably straining with the higher notes and often seemed to be rescued by
layers of prerecorded backing vocals. Those prerecorded bits were a bit of
a distraction, honestly. There were times when I would hear what sounded
like a choir of five DiMeos singing, but he wouldn’t even have his mouth open.
Bummer. Same goes for the flown-in keyboards, but then again I’ve
never been a fan of prominent backing recordings at metal shows. Still,
Creation’s End served as a fine kickoff to ProgPower XII, and definitely got
things started on a positive note. Setlist: Of Shadow and Flame,
World Holocaust, Relic, Forsaken, instrumental, Creation’s End.
Missed Darkwater’s set so that we could make a Publix run to stock our
hotel room with groceries and beer. So the next band for us was
Australia’s Voyager. The honest truth was that I didn’t plan to
watch more than a song or two. I wasn’t familiar with Voyager, but had
always assumed that they were lame prog. Errr, not so. Voyager
ended up being the pleasant surprise of the festival this year for me.
Sure, the music was proggy in places, and the singer wielded a red keytar for
crying out loud. But the songs were catchy and the band’s energy and
fun-loving approach to their craft were immensely infectious. Almost
immediately, Jen and I were drawn in, and spent the entirety of the Voyager set
with big grins on our faces. The singer cracked us up with his goofy
facial expressions and his between-song banter, which included things like “Oh
dear, I think I’ve spilled my wine,” and “We’re from really really fucking far
away.” The songs were so memorable that I’ve been walking around humming
them to myself this week, after only hearing them one time. But the part
of Voyager’s set that truly electrified the crowd and secured Voyager’s place in
ProgPower history was a medley (introduced with an exclamation, “Let’s get
fucking stupid!”) that strung together bits and pieces of everything from Van
Halen’s “Jump” to Harold Faltermayer’s “Axel F” (you know, the Beverly Hills
Cop theme music) to “Ghostbusters” to James Brown’s “I Feel Good” to AC/DC’s
“Highway to Hell” to Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of.”
It was inspired lunatic genius that none of us who witnessed Voyager’s
performance will soon forget. As improbable as it may seem (given my
true-metal-to-the-bone, intensely anti-prog tendencies), color me a fan, Aussie
accents and all. Setlist: Land of the Lies, Lost, Seize the Day,
To the Morning Light, Pulse 04, Solar, awesome medley, The Meaning of I, I Am
the Revolution, White Shadow.
Next up were Italy’s Eldritch. As most people know, these Italians
have two distinct phases: A highly proggy Dream Theaterish style with spacey
keyboards on their first few albums, and a far heavier prog/thrash direction on
their more recent output. I greatly enjoy the latter, but am far less
enthused with the former. Unfortunately, Eldritch elected to showcase the
“prog” side of their sound at ProgPower, resulting in a set that was far too
heavily weighted in favor of the earlier stuff (5 songs from 1998’s ‘El Nino,’
including the hidden bonus track, what the hell???) for my taste. If my
count’s right, there were only 2 songs aired from the last 3 records combined,
plus “Deviation” and the thrashy “Everything’s Burning” (a true highlight of
their performance) from the forthcoming ‘Gaia’s Legacy’ CD. Singer
Terence Holler was in fine form, with his very distinctive pipes booming
throughout the venue, but the energy level from the rest of the band seemed a
bit lower than I would have hoped. Or maybe it was just the Voyager
effect. It couldn’t have been easy for anyone to follow that band.
All in all, I thought Eldritch’s set was fine, but it didn’t particularly stick
out as a highwater mark for the weekend. Bassist gets extra points for
wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan “Bassist will play for beer.” Amen,
brother. Setlist: Deviation, Ghoulish Gift, No Direction Home,
Heretic Beholder, The World Apart, Everything’s Burning, Nebula Surface, Scar,
Silent Flame, From Dusk Til Dawn, Incurably Ill.
Germany’s Mob Rules were one of the main attractions to me in this year’s
ProgPower lineup. While they’ve never an all-time favorite band of mine,
Mob Rules have been churning consistently high-quality symphonic (albeit a bit
lightweight) power metal for more than a decade, without a single poor album in
the bunch. What I expected was precisely what Mob Rules delivered: A
worthy performance marked by consummate professionalism and class.
Vocalist Klaus Dirks sounded good and proved a very talented frontman, working
the enthusiastic crowd masterfully from the word “go.” The set began with
three of the better songs from their latest album, ‘Radical peace,’ before
giving way to the somewhat unexpected, risky choice to perform the 20-minute
“Ethnolution” suite in its entirety. Yet it was not at all boring to hear
“Ethnolution” aired live because that song essentially consists of 4 strong
mini-songs, each of which could be freestanding in its own right. A trio
of “classics” (especially “Land of Wind and Rain” and “Hollowed be Thy Name”
rounded things out in fine form. Great show, guys, and one of the better
performances at this year’s festival. Setlist: Children of the
Flames, Trial by Fire, Astral Hand, Unholy War, Ashes to Ashes, Fuel to the
Fire, The Last Farewell, Land of Wind and Rain, Black Rain, Hollowed Be Thy Name.
Some people will tell you that Ihsahn was the best band of the weekend
and a transcendental experience of religious proportions. Not us.
We checked ‘em out for a song and a half, which was long enough to confirm that
this noisy, chaotic black metallish stuff simply isn’t our thing. But
hey, if other people dig Ihsahn, that’s cool. So back to the lobby we
went to rest our poor abused eardrums and slake our ever-growing thirst.
Tonight’s headliner was the reunited Sanctuary. I loved those
Sanctuary records back in the day, and look back on them now with great
fondness. One of the first metal shows I ever attended included Sanctuary
on the ‘Refuge Denied’ tour opening for Warlock and Megadeth. I also saw
Sanctuary headline a nearly-empty gig in Boston on the ‘Into the Mirror Black’
tour, right before the band split up. So yeah, I was there. But I
went into this gig with a healthy skepticism. Warrel Dane couldn’t
possibly sing like that anymore, could he? Guitarist Lenny Rutledge and
drummer Dave Budbill never did anything post-Sanctuary, did they, so would they
even have their chops? And isn’t this whole Sanctuary reunion thing just
an excuse to kill time while Dane and Jim Sheppard figure out what to do to
remedy the messy Nevermore implosion? From the opening strains of “Eden
Lies Obscured,” those questions and doubts were affirmatively and convincingly
answered. Sanctuary kicked ass. Everybody played great.
Budbill was a fireball of energy behind the kit, splintering one drumstick
after another with his muscular playing style. Rutledge looked
comfortable and happy to be back on stage. And fill-in guitarist Brad
Hull (who, coincidentally enough, was also filling in on guitar last time I saw
Sanctuary so many years ago) appeared to be having the time of his life.
As for Dane, aside from the hobo attire and occasional snide comment, he
acquitted himself far better than anyone reasonably could have expected.
No, he didn’t deliver every vocal line perfectly – how could he? But he
*did* hit those highs, even though he couldn’t sustain them for very long and
had to skip a few of them. I thought he sang great, and it was funny that
he commented after a couple of tracks (“Battle Angels” and “Veil of Disguise”)
how difficult and challenging they had been to relearn and sing properly.
Dane’s only obvious flub was in “Termination Force,” where he botched his vocal
lines so badly that he was left shaking his head and mouthing the words “I
fucked up.” Still, this was a triumphant gig from Sanctuary, with one
amazing song after another. Hell, I’d forgotten that those first two
records were so chockfull of incredible material. We didn’t hear any new
tracks tonight, but after experiencing bang-up renditions of stuff like “Die
for My Sins” and “One More Murder” and “Long Since Dark” I am absolutely, 100%
convinced that Sanctuary are back, and we’re all better off for it.
Impressive. Setlist: Eden Lies Obscured, Die for My Sins, Battle
Angels, Seasons of Destruction, White Rabbit, The Mirror Black, Sanctuary,
Future Tense, One More Murder, Soldiers of Steel, Animal Magnetism (ultra-doomy
Scorpions cover), Termination Force, Veil of Disguise. Encores:
Long Since Dark, Taste Revenge.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Had zero interest in Haken, and the little bit I heard on the lobby
monitors did nothing to convince me otherwise, so their set was devoted to
drinking beer and goofing off. The second band of today was Virginia’s
While Heaven Wept, in a rare U.S. live appearance. Obviously, given
the somber, atmospheric style, WHW’s performance was never going to be a
blow-the-roof-off-the-dump, fist-banging-maniacs kind of gig. But it was
beautiful, almost hypnotic even. The band did a marvelous job dishing out
Tom Phillips’ majestic, shimmering melodies with an aura of solemn
melancholy. There was plenty of guitar crunch, with enough heavy parts
that the lone longhairs (guitarist Phillips and bassist Jim Hunter) had
opportunities to go into full-on headbanging mode. Yet the layers of live
keyboards (delivered by not one but two keyboardists, one flanking each side of
the stage) washed over the whole thing to create a sense of grandeur and
bombast throughout. And singer Rain Irving delivered his lines with
intensity and passion, even as he reached out to high-five folks in the first
row periodically. The end result was a mesmerizing concert experience
unlike any I’ve ever seen before. While Heaven Wept brought emotion and
power, just not the kinds that normally exude from a metal gig.
Bravo. Setlist (cribbed from elsewhere because I couldn’t think in
terms of songtitles as I tried to absorb the music and the vibe): Vast Oceans
Lachrymose, The Furthest Shore, Saturn and Sacrifice, Drowning Years, Of Empires
Forlorn, Voice in the Wind, Soulsadness, Vessel.
Only watched a little bit of Red Circuit, but it was enough to know they
wouldn’t really appeal to me, so I instead visited with friends. I also
logged some quality time during their performance hitting the awesome $8 sale
at the CD Inzane tables. Scooped up a few Massacre, Underground Symphony
and other expensive Euro import titles at bargain basement prices. The
guy even tossed an extra free new import CD into my bag (the Hungarian band
Wisdom) into my bag without telling me. Pretty cool, but I did feel sorry
for him for having to mark down his pricing so deeply to move inventory.
Most times I went into the vendor room over the weekend, it didn’t seem to be
humming with commercial activity. I hope I’m wrong about that, because
the vendors are all good dudes who are trying to make a living while supplying
metal to the masses in a medium that fewer and fewer of us seem to be demanding these days.
Labyrinth were easily the band of the festival for me. There, I
said it. Time was, back in the late 1990s, Labyrinth were seen as the
greatest hope for the burgeoning Italian power metal scene. ‘Return to
Heaven Denied’ exploded onto the metal public in 1998, and to this day remains
arguably the finest Italian melodic power metal album ever recorded. I
vividly remember my bitter disappointment at Wacken 1999 when Labyrinth never
appeared to perform at their appointed time and stage, all because the W:O:A
shuttle forgot to pick them up from their hotel. D’oh!!! I also
remember being blown away by their show at Wacken 2000. After that,
though, Labyrinth sort of lost their way, with a well-publicized fracas with
renowned producer Neil Kernon, the departure of guitarist Olaf Thorsen, and
some ill-conceived stylistic experimentation alienating their fanbase (me
included). Last year, the band reunited with Olaf and released ‘Return to
Heaven Denied pt. II’ but I was never fully convinced. It seemed like a
vain, hollow effort to catch a train that had already left the station.
Wrong. Labyrinth owned the ProgPower stage, delivering a killer set of
Italian power metal honed to razor-sharp perfection. Blessed with a
crystal clear sound, Labyrinth were in perfect equilibrium, with the powerful
guitars balanced against the thundering rhythm section, and Rob Tiranti’s
superlative vocals gliding effortlessly over the top. A word about
Tiranti: I’ve always liked him on CD, but he sounded better tonight than
on any Labyrinth recording I’ve ever heard. The man was flawless, and he
made it look easy, carrying himself with a laidback, easygoing smile and taking
photos of the crowd. Hell, the entire band was visibly chuffed.
Don’t think Thorsen ever quit smiling for the entire gig. And the
setlist? Well, it dragged just a bit in the middle with the unnecessary
“Freeman” and the ballad “Falling Rain,” but everything else was pure
gold. Not surprisingly, it was heavily oriented toward the two
crowd-pleasing Return to Heaven Denied albums, but Labyrinth had the presence of
mind to offer a divine rendition of old chestnut “In the Shade,” plus the
well-chosen “Chapter One” from ‘Sons of Thunder.’ (“Piece of Time” was on
the setlist, but not played.) My one moment of sadness was when Tiranti
learned they had time for just one more song, when they had planned on playing
two, so he asked the crowd to vote on whether they’d prefer “Moonlight” or
“Thunder.” “Moonlight” or “Thunder”? For the love of God, that’s like
asking if you’d rather have your left nut or your right nut. Ya want ‘em both,
dammit. In the end, the audience chose “Moonlight,” and I certainly can’t
complain, as that tune is among the greatest songs of the 1990s in my book, but
a tear wells in my eye to think we might have gotten “Thunder” too but for a few
extra minutes in the set. Overall, Labyrinth were simply fantastic.
When I bumped into Olaf in the hallway later, I thanked him profusely and told
him that Labyrinth were “the best band in the history of Italy.” He
laughed and said “that’s too much,” but he didn’t deny it. Wise man, that
Olaf. Setlist: Shooting Star, In the Shade, A Chance, Freeman,
Falling Rain, Lady Lost in Time, Chapter One, New Horizons, Sailors of Time, Moonlight.
Y’know, I never got to see Forbidden in their heyday. I bought (and
loved) ‘Forbidden Evil’ and ‘Twisted into Form’ as soon as they hit the shelves,
but the only time they came to Boston when I was in college, it was summer and I
was away. And though they’ve played out a good bit since their reunion a
couple of years ago, the opportunity to see them had never presented itself
until tonight. Man, it was great to witness a pure, old-school Bay Area
thrash gig done right. The three stringed instrumentalists (Craig Locicero
and Steve Smyth on guitar, and Matt Camacho on bass) were a veritable firestorm
of energy, heads banging uncontrollably from the first note to the last.
SF Giants jersey-clad vocalist Russ Anderson is a seriously large man, but
damned if his voice isn’t very close to how it sounded in the 1980s. Oh,
and did I mention that drum god Gene Hoglan was filling in behind the kit?
I don’t often notice or pay attention to drummers, but I kept a close eye on
Hoglan all night long. The guy is a human tornado back there. It was
cool to see how obviously pleased Forbidden were to be performing at ProgPower
(or ThrashPower, as Anderson humorously renamed it at one point), even though
there were no other thrash acts on the bill and many of the proggers were
strangely quiet throughout their set. Instead of taking offense at the
relatively quiet crowd and the folks sitting politely in their seats, Forbidden
took an “it’s all good” approach and seemed genuinely thrilled that people were
checking them out, regardless of musical persuasion or seated status.
Impressive attitude. I had a great time during their set, and tracks like
“Infinite,” “On the Edge,” “Forsaken at the Gates” and “Eyes of Glass” had me
headbanging furiously and singing along at the top of my lungs. I did wish
that Forbidden played more ‘Forbidden Evil’ (we only got three tunes) and less
‘Twisted’ (of which we got six), and I could have lived without a ‘Distortion’
song (“Hypnotized by the Rhythm”), but what can you do? Also, weren’t they
doing a Dio “Children of the Sea” tribute on the festival circuit this
summer? That would have been awesome, but it didn’t happen here.
Still, I was quite pleased to finally have the opportunity to see Forbidden, and
more than satisfied with the ass-kicking Bay Area beatdown they laid down in
Atlanta on this night. Setlist: Infinite, Step by Step, Off the
Edge, Tossed Away, Adapt or Die, Omega Wave, Twisted into Form, Hypnotized by
the Rhythm, R.I.P., One Foot in Hell, Forsaken at the Gates, Eyes of Glass,
Chalice of Blood.
Honestly, by the time Therion took the stage, I didn’t have much left in
the tank. It had been kind of an exhausting weekend, and it was after
midnight when Therion kicked into “Sitra Ahra” on what was billed as a 2-hour
headlining set. I’m not the world’s biggest Therion fan, but it didn’t
take long at all before my fatigue was forgotten. Christofer Johnsson’s
troupe put on a highly theatrical show drawing on more than 15 years of Therion
music and celebrating all eras of the band save the early death metal
stuff. They took the stage as an 8-piece (two guitarists, bassist,
drummer, two male vocalists, two female vocalists), with the 4 singers being
the constant visual focus. They were elaborately costumed and made-up,
and it seemed their every move was choreographed beautifully. For the
most part, guitarist Christian Vidal (who had been seriously injured in a fall
off the stage during soundcheck earlier that day, jeopardizing the gig) and
bassist Nalley Pahlsson stayed out of the way so that the front of the stage
could be dominated by the four singers plus the now short-haired Johnsson, who
was decked out in top hat, coat and shades to start with. All of the
vocalists did a fine job, although I will confess to missing the departed Mats
Leven terribly. Thomas Vikstrom is a fine singer in his own right, but it
didn’t sound right to hear him belting out Leven’s lines on stuff like “Blood
of Kingu,” where Leven’s grit was sorely lacking. And the band should
never ever perform “Lemuria” without Leven – that was HIS showcase song,
dammit. It’d be like KISS singing “Shock Me” without Ace. Oh, wait,
they do that, never mind …. The only singer who didn’t fully convince me
was the new member, 18-year old Linnae Vikstrom (yup, Thomas’s daughter – might
as well keep it in the family). Her voice was okay and all, but it wasn’t
as strong as the others’. And she was wearing a pink tutu. Can’t
say I’ve ever seen someone wear a pink tutu at a metal show before. Can’t
say I ever want to see it again, but that’s just the crotchety old-schooler in
me talking. All in all, I was very pleased with Therion’s
performance. I still prefer the Leven / Niemann brothers era of the band,
but this was quite good in its own right. Well done, chaps.
Setlist (again, culled from elsewhere, as there’s no way I could remember
all this crap): Sitra Ahra, Wine of Aluqah, Typhon, Perennial Sophia, Hellequin
(awesome!), Niefelheim, Clavicula Nox, Voyage of Gurdjieff, Ljusalfheim, Dies
Irae, Ginnungagap, Kali Yuga III, Call of Dagon, Siren of the Woods, The Wild
Hunt, Blood of Kingu, Lemura, Abraxas. Encores: Rise of Sodom &
Gomorrah, To Mega Therion, Quetzalcoatl.
So ProgPower XIII will feature the likes of Sinbreed, Mystic Prophecy, Symphony
X, Pretty Maids, Serenity, Redemption, Amaranthe, Epica, and so on. Yep,
Jen and I will be there. We always have too much fun at ProgPower, and
it’d be a shame to break the streak now anyway.
~ Review by Kit Ekman ~
Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
September 16-17, 2011
This year marked Jen’s and my 11th year attending the ProgPower
festival in Atlanta. Hard to imagine that it’s been so many years.
We always have a great time, at least as much for the friends that we’ve made
as for the bands that we’ve seen. Musically, things are generally around
50/50 for me with the billing, so I spend half of the festival viewing the
stage with rapt attention and the other half drinking beer, laughing, and
getting my photo taken with drunk Honduran strangers in the lobby. Let’s
focus on the musical side of it, shall we? Here’s what I saw this year:
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thanks to unanticipated rental car trouble that detained us in the armpit that
is central Alabama for three hours this morning, Jen and I dashed into the
Center Stage venue at 2:25 p.m., mere moments before the lights went down and
Creation’s End took the stage. Having witnessed these New Yorkers
on the Uniting the Powers of Metal Tour in Marietta, Georgia, last month, we
knew what to expect. Creation’s End put on a very similar show at
ProgPower (identical setlist, I think), with the primary differences today being
a heightened energy level on stage (particularly on the part of bassist Joe
Black) and a much clearer, fuller sound. Marco Sfogli again put on an
impressive display of lead guitarplaying. The improved sound meant that I
could hear vocalist Mike DiMeo clearly at ProgPower, which was a bit of a
double-edged sword. On the one hand, he sounded smooth and powerful in his
awesome mid-range, so that was a treat. On the other hand, DiMeo was
noticeably straining with the higher notes and often seemed to be rescued by
layers of prerecorded backing vocals. Those prerecorded bits were a bit of
a distraction, honestly. There were times when I would hear what sounded
like a choir of five DiMeos singing, but he wouldn’t even have his mouth open.
Bummer. Same goes for the flown-in keyboards, but then again I’ve
never been a fan of prominent backing recordings at metal shows. Still,
Creation’s End served as a fine kickoff to ProgPower XII, and definitely got
things started on a positive note. Setlist: Of Shadow and Flame,
World Holocaust, Relic, Forsaken, instrumental, Creation’s End.
Missed Darkwater’s set so that we could make a Publix run to stock our
hotel room with groceries and beer. So the next band for us was
Australia’s Voyager. The honest truth was that I didn’t plan to
watch more than a song or two. I wasn’t familiar with Voyager, but had
always assumed that they were lame prog. Errr, not so. Voyager
ended up being the pleasant surprise of the festival this year for me.
Sure, the music was proggy in places, and the singer wielded a red keytar for
crying out loud. But the songs were catchy and the band’s energy and
fun-loving approach to their craft were immensely infectious. Almost
immediately, Jen and I were drawn in, and spent the entirety of the Voyager set
with big grins on our faces. The singer cracked us up with his goofy
facial expressions and his between-song banter, which included things like “Oh
dear, I think I’ve spilled my wine,” and “We’re from really really fucking far
away.” The songs were so memorable that I’ve been walking around humming
them to myself this week, after only hearing them one time. But the part
of Voyager’s set that truly electrified the crowd and secured Voyager’s place in
ProgPower history was a medley (introduced with an exclamation, “Let’s get
fucking stupid!”) that strung together bits and pieces of everything from Van
Halen’s “Jump” to Harold Faltermayer’s “Axel F” (you know, the Beverly Hills
Cop theme music) to “Ghostbusters” to James Brown’s “I Feel Good” to AC/DC’s
“Highway to Hell” to Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of.”
It was inspired lunatic genius that none of us who witnessed Voyager’s
performance will soon forget. As improbable as it may seem (given my
true-metal-to-the-bone, intensely anti-prog tendencies), color me a fan, Aussie
accents and all. Setlist: Land of the Lies, Lost, Seize the Day,
To the Morning Light, Pulse 04, Solar, awesome medley, The Meaning of I, I Am
the Revolution, White Shadow.
Next up were Italy’s Eldritch. As most people know, these Italians
have two distinct phases: A highly proggy Dream Theaterish style with spacey
keyboards on their first few albums, and a far heavier prog/thrash direction on
their more recent output. I greatly enjoy the latter, but am far less
enthused with the former. Unfortunately, Eldritch elected to showcase the
“prog” side of their sound at ProgPower, resulting in a set that was far too
heavily weighted in favor of the earlier stuff (5 songs from 1998’s ‘El Nino,’
including the hidden bonus track, what the hell???) for my taste. If my
count’s right, there were only 2 songs aired from the last 3 records combined,
plus “Deviation” and the thrashy “Everything’s Burning” (a true highlight of
their performance) from the forthcoming ‘Gaia’s Legacy’ CD. Singer
Terence Holler was in fine form, with his very distinctive pipes booming
throughout the venue, but the energy level from the rest of the band seemed a
bit lower than I would have hoped. Or maybe it was just the Voyager
effect. It couldn’t have been easy for anyone to follow that band.
All in all, I thought Eldritch’s set was fine, but it didn’t particularly stick
out as a highwater mark for the weekend. Bassist gets extra points for
wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan “Bassist will play for beer.” Amen,
brother. Setlist: Deviation, Ghoulish Gift, No Direction Home,
Heretic Beholder, The World Apart, Everything’s Burning, Nebula Surface, Scar,
Silent Flame, From Dusk Til Dawn, Incurably Ill.
Germany’s Mob Rules were one of the main attractions to me in this year’s
ProgPower lineup. While they’ve never an all-time favorite band of mine,
Mob Rules have been churning consistently high-quality symphonic (albeit a bit
lightweight) power metal for more than a decade, without a single poor album in
the bunch. What I expected was precisely what Mob Rules delivered: A
worthy performance marked by consummate professionalism and class.
Vocalist Klaus Dirks sounded good and proved a very talented frontman, working
the enthusiastic crowd masterfully from the word “go.” The set began with
three of the better songs from their latest album, ‘Radical peace,’ before
giving way to the somewhat unexpected, risky choice to perform the 20-minute
“Ethnolution” suite in its entirety. Yet it was not at all boring to hear
“Ethnolution” aired live because that song essentially consists of 4 strong
mini-songs, each of which could be freestanding in its own right. A trio
of “classics” (especially “Land of Wind and Rain” and “Hollowed be Thy Name”
rounded things out in fine form. Great show, guys, and one of the better
performances at this year’s festival. Setlist: Children of the
Flames, Trial by Fire, Astral Hand, Unholy War, Ashes to Ashes, Fuel to the
Fire, The Last Farewell, Land of Wind and Rain, Black Rain, Hollowed Be Thy Name.
Some people will tell you that Ihsahn was the best band of the weekend
and a transcendental experience of religious proportions. Not us.
We checked ‘em out for a song and a half, which was long enough to confirm that
this noisy, chaotic black metallish stuff simply isn’t our thing. But
hey, if other people dig Ihsahn, that’s cool. So back to the lobby we
went to rest our poor abused eardrums and slake our ever-growing thirst.
Tonight’s headliner was the reunited Sanctuary. I loved those
Sanctuary records back in the day, and look back on them now with great
fondness. One of the first metal shows I ever attended included Sanctuary
on the ‘Refuge Denied’ tour opening for Warlock and Megadeth. I also saw
Sanctuary headline a nearly-empty gig in Boston on the ‘Into the Mirror Black’
tour, right before the band split up. So yeah, I was there. But I
went into this gig with a healthy skepticism. Warrel Dane couldn’t
possibly sing like that anymore, could he? Guitarist Lenny Rutledge and
drummer Dave Budbill never did anything post-Sanctuary, did they, so would they
even have their chops? And isn’t this whole Sanctuary reunion thing just
an excuse to kill time while Dane and Jim Sheppard figure out what to do to
remedy the messy Nevermore implosion? From the opening strains of “Eden
Lies Obscured,” those questions and doubts were affirmatively and convincingly
answered. Sanctuary kicked ass. Everybody played great.
Budbill was a fireball of energy behind the kit, splintering one drumstick
after another with his muscular playing style. Rutledge looked
comfortable and happy to be back on stage. And fill-in guitarist Brad
Hull (who, coincidentally enough, was also filling in on guitar last time I saw
Sanctuary so many years ago) appeared to be having the time of his life.
As for Dane, aside from the hobo attire and occasional snide comment, he
acquitted himself far better than anyone reasonably could have expected.
No, he didn’t deliver every vocal line perfectly – how could he? But he
*did* hit those highs, even though he couldn’t sustain them for very long and
had to skip a few of them. I thought he sang great, and it was funny that
he commented after a couple of tracks (“Battle Angels” and “Veil of Disguise”)
how difficult and challenging they had been to relearn and sing properly.
Dane’s only obvious flub was in “Termination Force,” where he botched his vocal
lines so badly that he was left shaking his head and mouthing the words “I
fucked up.” Still, this was a triumphant gig from Sanctuary, with one
amazing song after another. Hell, I’d forgotten that those first two
records were so chockfull of incredible material. We didn’t hear any new
tracks tonight, but after experiencing bang-up renditions of stuff like “Die
for My Sins” and “One More Murder” and “Long Since Dark” I am absolutely, 100%
convinced that Sanctuary are back, and we’re all better off for it.
Impressive. Setlist: Eden Lies Obscured, Die for My Sins, Battle
Angels, Seasons of Destruction, White Rabbit, The Mirror Black, Sanctuary,
Future Tense, One More Murder, Soldiers of Steel, Animal Magnetism (ultra-doomy
Scorpions cover), Termination Force, Veil of Disguise. Encores:
Long Since Dark, Taste Revenge.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Had zero interest in Haken, and the little bit I heard on the lobby
monitors did nothing to convince me otherwise, so their set was devoted to
drinking beer and goofing off. The second band of today was Virginia’s
While Heaven Wept, in a rare U.S. live appearance. Obviously, given
the somber, atmospheric style, WHW’s performance was never going to be a
blow-the-roof-off-the-dump, fist-banging-maniacs kind of gig. But it was
beautiful, almost hypnotic even. The band did a marvelous job dishing out
Tom Phillips’ majestic, shimmering melodies with an aura of solemn
melancholy. There was plenty of guitar crunch, with enough heavy parts
that the lone longhairs (guitarist Phillips and bassist Jim Hunter) had
opportunities to go into full-on headbanging mode. Yet the layers of live
keyboards (delivered by not one but two keyboardists, one flanking each side of
the stage) washed over the whole thing to create a sense of grandeur and
bombast throughout. And singer Rain Irving delivered his lines with
intensity and passion, even as he reached out to high-five folks in the first
row periodically. The end result was a mesmerizing concert experience
unlike any I’ve ever seen before. While Heaven Wept brought emotion and
power, just not the kinds that normally exude from a metal gig.
Bravo. Setlist (cribbed from elsewhere because I couldn’t think in
terms of songtitles as I tried to absorb the music and the vibe): Vast Oceans
Lachrymose, The Furthest Shore, Saturn and Sacrifice, Drowning Years, Of Empires
Forlorn, Voice in the Wind, Soulsadness, Vessel.
Only watched a little bit of Red Circuit, but it was enough to know they
wouldn’t really appeal to me, so I instead visited with friends. I also
logged some quality time during their performance hitting the awesome $8 sale
at the CD Inzane tables. Scooped up a few Massacre, Underground Symphony
and other expensive Euro import titles at bargain basement prices. The
guy even tossed an extra free new import CD into my bag (the Hungarian band
Wisdom) into my bag without telling me. Pretty cool, but I did feel sorry
for him for having to mark down his pricing so deeply to move inventory.
Most times I went into the vendor room over the weekend, it didn’t seem to be
humming with commercial activity. I hope I’m wrong about that, because
the vendors are all good dudes who are trying to make a living while supplying
metal to the masses in a medium that fewer and fewer of us seem to be demanding these days.
Labyrinth were easily the band of the festival for me. There, I
said it. Time was, back in the late 1990s, Labyrinth were seen as the
greatest hope for the burgeoning Italian power metal scene. ‘Return to
Heaven Denied’ exploded onto the metal public in 1998, and to this day remains
arguably the finest Italian melodic power metal album ever recorded. I
vividly remember my bitter disappointment at Wacken 1999 when Labyrinth never
appeared to perform at their appointed time and stage, all because the W:O:A
shuttle forgot to pick them up from their hotel. D’oh!!! I also
remember being blown away by their show at Wacken 2000. After that,
though, Labyrinth sort of lost their way, with a well-publicized fracas with
renowned producer Neil Kernon, the departure of guitarist Olaf Thorsen, and
some ill-conceived stylistic experimentation alienating their fanbase (me
included). Last year, the band reunited with Olaf and released ‘Return to
Heaven Denied pt. II’ but I was never fully convinced. It seemed like a
vain, hollow effort to catch a train that had already left the station.
Wrong. Labyrinth owned the ProgPower stage, delivering a killer set of
Italian power metal honed to razor-sharp perfection. Blessed with a
crystal clear sound, Labyrinth were in perfect equilibrium, with the powerful
guitars balanced against the thundering rhythm section, and Rob Tiranti’s
superlative vocals gliding effortlessly over the top. A word about
Tiranti: I’ve always liked him on CD, but he sounded better tonight than
on any Labyrinth recording I’ve ever heard. The man was flawless, and he
made it look easy, carrying himself with a laidback, easygoing smile and taking
photos of the crowd. Hell, the entire band was visibly chuffed.
Don’t think Thorsen ever quit smiling for the entire gig. And the
setlist? Well, it dragged just a bit in the middle with the unnecessary
“Freeman” and the ballad “Falling Rain,” but everything else was pure
gold. Not surprisingly, it was heavily oriented toward the two
crowd-pleasing Return to Heaven Denied albums, but Labyrinth had the presence of
mind to offer a divine rendition of old chestnut “In the Shade,” plus the
well-chosen “Chapter One” from ‘Sons of Thunder.’ (“Piece of Time” was on
the setlist, but not played.) My one moment of sadness was when Tiranti
learned they had time for just one more song, when they had planned on playing
two, so he asked the crowd to vote on whether they’d prefer “Moonlight” or
“Thunder.” “Moonlight” or “Thunder”? For the love of God, that’s like
asking if you’d rather have your left nut or your right nut. Ya want ‘em both,
dammit. In the end, the audience chose “Moonlight,” and I certainly can’t
complain, as that tune is among the greatest songs of the 1990s in my book, but
a tear wells in my eye to think we might have gotten “Thunder” too but for a few
extra minutes in the set. Overall, Labyrinth were simply fantastic.
When I bumped into Olaf in the hallway later, I thanked him profusely and told
him that Labyrinth were “the best band in the history of Italy.” He
laughed and said “that’s too much,” but he didn’t deny it. Wise man, that
Olaf. Setlist: Shooting Star, In the Shade, A Chance, Freeman,
Falling Rain, Lady Lost in Time, Chapter One, New Horizons, Sailors of Time, Moonlight.
Y’know, I never got to see Forbidden in their heyday. I bought (and
loved) ‘Forbidden Evil’ and ‘Twisted into Form’ as soon as they hit the shelves,
but the only time they came to Boston when I was in college, it was summer and I
was away. And though they’ve played out a good bit since their reunion a
couple of years ago, the opportunity to see them had never presented itself
until tonight. Man, it was great to witness a pure, old-school Bay Area
thrash gig done right. The three stringed instrumentalists (Craig Locicero
and Steve Smyth on guitar, and Matt Camacho on bass) were a veritable firestorm
of energy, heads banging uncontrollably from the first note to the last.
SF Giants jersey-clad vocalist Russ Anderson is a seriously large man, but
damned if his voice isn’t very close to how it sounded in the 1980s. Oh,
and did I mention that drum god Gene Hoglan was filling in behind the kit?
I don’t often notice or pay attention to drummers, but I kept a close eye on
Hoglan all night long. The guy is a human tornado back there. It was
cool to see how obviously pleased Forbidden were to be performing at ProgPower
(or ThrashPower, as Anderson humorously renamed it at one point), even though
there were no other thrash acts on the bill and many of the proggers were
strangely quiet throughout their set. Instead of taking offense at the
relatively quiet crowd and the folks sitting politely in their seats, Forbidden
took an “it’s all good” approach and seemed genuinely thrilled that people were
checking them out, regardless of musical persuasion or seated status.
Impressive attitude. I had a great time during their set, and tracks like
“Infinite,” “On the Edge,” “Forsaken at the Gates” and “Eyes of Glass” had me
headbanging furiously and singing along at the top of my lungs. I did wish
that Forbidden played more ‘Forbidden Evil’ (we only got three tunes) and less
‘Twisted’ (of which we got six), and I could have lived without a ‘Distortion’
song (“Hypnotized by the Rhythm”), but what can you do? Also, weren’t they
doing a Dio “Children of the Sea” tribute on the festival circuit this
summer? That would have been awesome, but it didn’t happen here.
Still, I was quite pleased to finally have the opportunity to see Forbidden, and
more than satisfied with the ass-kicking Bay Area beatdown they laid down in
Atlanta on this night. Setlist: Infinite, Step by Step, Off the
Edge, Tossed Away, Adapt or Die, Omega Wave, Twisted into Form, Hypnotized by
the Rhythm, R.I.P., One Foot in Hell, Forsaken at the Gates, Eyes of Glass,
Chalice of Blood.
Honestly, by the time Therion took the stage, I didn’t have much left in
the tank. It had been kind of an exhausting weekend, and it was after
midnight when Therion kicked into “Sitra Ahra” on what was billed as a 2-hour
headlining set. I’m not the world’s biggest Therion fan, but it didn’t
take long at all before my fatigue was forgotten. Christofer Johnsson’s
troupe put on a highly theatrical show drawing on more than 15 years of Therion
music and celebrating all eras of the band save the early death metal
stuff. They took the stage as an 8-piece (two guitarists, bassist,
drummer, two male vocalists, two female vocalists), with the 4 singers being
the constant visual focus. They were elaborately costumed and made-up,
and it seemed their every move was choreographed beautifully. For the
most part, guitarist Christian Vidal (who had been seriously injured in a fall
off the stage during soundcheck earlier that day, jeopardizing the gig) and
bassist Nalley Pahlsson stayed out of the way so that the front of the stage
could be dominated by the four singers plus the now short-haired Johnsson, who
was decked out in top hat, coat and shades to start with. All of the
vocalists did a fine job, although I will confess to missing the departed Mats
Leven terribly. Thomas Vikstrom is a fine singer in his own right, but it
didn’t sound right to hear him belting out Leven’s lines on stuff like “Blood
of Kingu,” where Leven’s grit was sorely lacking. And the band should
never ever perform “Lemuria” without Leven – that was HIS showcase song,
dammit. It’d be like KISS singing “Shock Me” without Ace. Oh, wait,
they do that, never mind …. The only singer who didn’t fully convince me
was the new member, 18-year old Linnae Vikstrom (yup, Thomas’s daughter – might
as well keep it in the family). Her voice was okay and all, but it wasn’t
as strong as the others’. And she was wearing a pink tutu. Can’t
say I’ve ever seen someone wear a pink tutu at a metal show before. Can’t
say I ever want to see it again, but that’s just the crotchety old-schooler in
me talking. All in all, I was very pleased with Therion’s
performance. I still prefer the Leven / Niemann brothers era of the band,
but this was quite good in its own right. Well done, chaps.
Setlist (again, culled from elsewhere, as there’s no way I could remember
all this crap): Sitra Ahra, Wine of Aluqah, Typhon, Perennial Sophia, Hellequin
(awesome!), Niefelheim, Clavicula Nox, Voyage of Gurdjieff, Ljusalfheim, Dies
Irae, Ginnungagap, Kali Yuga III, Call of Dagon, Siren of the Woods, The Wild
Hunt, Blood of Kingu, Lemura, Abraxas. Encores: Rise of Sodom &
Gomorrah, To Mega Therion, Quetzalcoatl.
So ProgPower XIII will feature the likes of Sinbreed, Mystic Prophecy, Symphony
X, Pretty Maids, Serenity, Redemption, Amaranthe, Epica, and so on. Yep,
Jen and I will be there. We always have too much fun at ProgPower, and
it’d be a shame to break the streak now anyway.
~ Review by Kit Ekman ~