got back from Germany's HOA yesterday but was too tired to write a short review, so here it is;
We drove up one day earlier today and that was a good move, we started the festival very relaxed and enjoyed the whole thing 100% !!
so here's a little band by band review in the order all played;
Thursday :
Steel Horse; Spanish classic metal outfir that started of the festival good. Not exeptional but a solid band that fired up some of the public already. The singer's accent was funny, he pronounced his own band as Steel Corse each time, haha !!
Killingmachine As even not enough bands already canceled (Jag Panzer, Wolf, Rock Goddess, Cirith Ungol) the bass player of Killing Machine left the band just for the gig and the replacement band got stuck in the terrible traffic jams in Germany this weekend. So, a good time to catch up stories with some international friends...
Grand Magus; Grand Magus replaced Wolf. Replacing Wolf is nearly impossible but Grand Magus did a great job. Although their uptempo and newer stuff is better than the early songs I loved the show. Best band of Friday !
Shock Paris; heard them from a distance and sounded very solid too. Good but more commercial classic metal !!!
Destruction; they closed the first day. As me and my friend don't like German thrash that much we watched a few songs and drove off before the crowd.
Friday:
Jameson Raid; kicked of the day. An obscure NWOBHM band that somehow was revived. Not that good though, just nice to watch for nostalgia sake
Stormzone; Irish band that plays very solid hard rock/metal. Never heard of them before, but they are really good, especially the vocalist is great !
Roxxcalibur; the famous German coverband was great as allways. They play some rather unknown, but great sounding NWOBMHM stuff. As a suprise the vocalist and singer of JJ Powerhouse joined them to play their 1980's single. Sounded awesome for guys that hadn't been on stage for 27 years or so !
Tygers of Pan Tang; Well, this was a real suprise for me. What a fucking solid gig this was! The vocals and guitars were HUGE !! I really enjoyed this one, the Tygers are back for sure !!
Amulance; cool oldschool thrash band that played a solid set. Great to see another 80's US thrashband to appear at HOA. They also released a special limited CD for HOA and their are a few killer songs on that!
Stormwarrior; Well, as the happy metal guys from Stormwarrior came on stage it was time for us to head to the car for some food. Heard them from there and sounded like very basic/average 1980's German happy metal...
Mekong Delta Heard them from the car too and they sounded quit good, but our German-Spanish-American-Dutch-Belgian conversation just was more interesting at that time (you need to miss some bands just to talk to some people now and than!)
Angel Dust; Looked at them for a while. But they didn't play stuff from the early harder albums, again average German metal ...
Demon; never been a huge Demon fan but hey, songs like "Don't break the Circle" are just awesome and the band played very well !!!
Culprit; One of my favorit 80's bands were up next. I wasn't very keen on the new line up as vocalist L'Heureux and drummer Burrill were replaced, two of the cornerstone members of Culprit. But they proved me completely wrong. They kicked ass in the best way you can imagine. The songs of the "Guilty as Charged" album were played in a much heavier way. The vocalist sounds awesome (although he lost his voice for a few songs) and the new drummer kills ! One of the better HOA gigs ever !
Saturday:
Trench Hell; heavy thrash to start with on Saturday. Not my kind of thrash, but enjoyable for the fans !!
Not Fragile; a very avarage German band that has a few CD's out already and still played 4 or 5 covers. Only present becouse they are signed at Hellion records I guess...
Battleaxe; great oldschool NWOBHM stuff, more towards the hard rock side of things but I enjoyed them.
Der Kaiser; French band that even in the 80's already released some stuff. Never heard of them before and that seemed to have a reason; one of the worst vocalists I ever heard !!
Blood Feast; although quit rough for my taste I could really appriciate the thrash from Blood Feast. Solid band that was enjoyed especially by the present thrash fans !
Omen; saw them many times past years so it was time to go and drink some beers with friends again. sounded very good from what I heard...
Anvil Chorus; US progressive metallers Anvil Chorus were up next. It took them almost 30 years to get over to Europe. Although they were the only band to play in the rain, the public stayed as this simply is a 500% underrated band that is THAT good you just don't walk away for some rain. Their new album kicks ass and they showed why they should be up there with the classic progressive metal bands like Heir Apparent, Culprit, Fates Warning etc... This is a band that easely would kick ass at something like a ProgPower USA festival too !!
Raven; next up were Raven. What's there to say; one of the best live bands ever !!! Rock untill you drop !!!!!
Solitude Aeturnus; Some doom never is bad. And solitude are one of the better doomers around for sure. Great vocals and very deep guitar sound. Food for doom fans only though !
Virgin Steele; Well , Virgin Steele never was one of my favorit bands, they sucked when I saw them last time at KIT, my back hurt like shit, and we wanted to get some sleep to leave early on Sunday to avoid the traffic jams. So we skipped VS and drove to the hotel.
To conclude; I enjoyed the festival alot again, although it would have been much better with all the bands that canceled. the bands that replaced them, often average German stuff, was not that great allways. But on the other hand we saw killer performances of Culprit and Anvil Chorus. Bands that I'll probably never be able to see again ! And also killer performances of Raven, Tygers, Grand Magus ... I'm happy
Will see if I can post some pics or vids later on !
We drove up one day earlier today and that was a good move, we started the festival very relaxed and enjoyed the whole thing 100% !!
so here's a little band by band review in the order all played;
Thursday :
Steel Horse; Spanish classic metal outfir that started of the festival good. Not exeptional but a solid band that fired up some of the public already. The singer's accent was funny, he pronounced his own band as Steel Corse each time, haha !!
Killingmachine As even not enough bands already canceled (Jag Panzer, Wolf, Rock Goddess, Cirith Ungol) the bass player of Killing Machine left the band just for the gig and the replacement band got stuck in the terrible traffic jams in Germany this weekend. So, a good time to catch up stories with some international friends...
Grand Magus; Grand Magus replaced Wolf. Replacing Wolf is nearly impossible but Grand Magus did a great job. Although their uptempo and newer stuff is better than the early songs I loved the show. Best band of Friday !
Shock Paris; heard them from a distance and sounded very solid too. Good but more commercial classic metal !!!
Destruction; they closed the first day. As me and my friend don't like German thrash that much we watched a few songs and drove off before the crowd.
Friday:
Jameson Raid; kicked of the day. An obscure NWOBHM band that somehow was revived. Not that good though, just nice to watch for nostalgia sake
Stormzone; Irish band that plays very solid hard rock/metal. Never heard of them before, but they are really good, especially the vocalist is great !
Roxxcalibur; the famous German coverband was great as allways. They play some rather unknown, but great sounding NWOBMHM stuff. As a suprise the vocalist and singer of JJ Powerhouse joined them to play their 1980's single. Sounded awesome for guys that hadn't been on stage for 27 years or so !
Tygers of Pan Tang; Well, this was a real suprise for me. What a fucking solid gig this was! The vocals and guitars were HUGE !! I really enjoyed this one, the Tygers are back for sure !!
Amulance; cool oldschool thrash band that played a solid set. Great to see another 80's US thrashband to appear at HOA. They also released a special limited CD for HOA and their are a few killer songs on that!
Stormwarrior; Well, as the happy metal guys from Stormwarrior came on stage it was time for us to head to the car for some food. Heard them from there and sounded like very basic/average 1980's German happy metal...
Mekong Delta Heard them from the car too and they sounded quit good, but our German-Spanish-American-Dutch-Belgian conversation just was more interesting at that time (you need to miss some bands just to talk to some people now and than!)
Angel Dust; Looked at them for a while. But they didn't play stuff from the early harder albums, again average German metal ...
Demon; never been a huge Demon fan but hey, songs like "Don't break the Circle" are just awesome and the band played very well !!!
Culprit; One of my favorit 80's bands were up next. I wasn't very keen on the new line up as vocalist L'Heureux and drummer Burrill were replaced, two of the cornerstone members of Culprit. But they proved me completely wrong. They kicked ass in the best way you can imagine. The songs of the "Guilty as Charged" album were played in a much heavier way. The vocalist sounds awesome (although he lost his voice for a few songs) and the new drummer kills ! One of the better HOA gigs ever !
Saturday:
Trench Hell; heavy thrash to start with on Saturday. Not my kind of thrash, but enjoyable for the fans !!
Not Fragile; a very avarage German band that has a few CD's out already and still played 4 or 5 covers. Only present becouse they are signed at Hellion records I guess...
Battleaxe; great oldschool NWOBHM stuff, more towards the hard rock side of things but I enjoyed them.
Der Kaiser; French band that even in the 80's already released some stuff. Never heard of them before and that seemed to have a reason; one of the worst vocalists I ever heard !!
Blood Feast; although quit rough for my taste I could really appriciate the thrash from Blood Feast. Solid band that was enjoyed especially by the present thrash fans !
Omen; saw them many times past years so it was time to go and drink some beers with friends again. sounded very good from what I heard...
Anvil Chorus; US progressive metallers Anvil Chorus were up next. It took them almost 30 years to get over to Europe. Although they were the only band to play in the rain, the public stayed as this simply is a 500% underrated band that is THAT good you just don't walk away for some rain. Their new album kicks ass and they showed why they should be up there with the classic progressive metal bands like Heir Apparent, Culprit, Fates Warning etc... This is a band that easely would kick ass at something like a ProgPower USA festival too !!
Raven; next up were Raven. What's there to say; one of the best live bands ever !!! Rock untill you drop !!!!!
Solitude Aeturnus; Some doom never is bad. And solitude are one of the better doomers around for sure. Great vocals and very deep guitar sound. Food for doom fans only though !
Virgin Steele; Well , Virgin Steele never was one of my favorit bands, they sucked when I saw them last time at KIT, my back hurt like shit, and we wanted to get some sleep to leave early on Sunday to avoid the traffic jams. So we skipped VS and drove to the hotel.
To conclude; I enjoyed the festival alot again, although it would have been much better with all the bands that canceled. the bands that replaced them, often average German stuff, was not that great allways. But on the other hand we saw killer performances of Culprit and Anvil Chorus. Bands that I'll probably never be able to see again ! And also killer performances of Raven, Tygers, Grand Magus ... I'm happy
Will see if I can post some pics or vids later on !
