General Chat Thread: waves hello

OMG: what a hellfire set from Primal Fear!!:headbang: back at the townhouse feet and body throbbing, got some great pics with the guys after the set. 16.6, Killbound, Metal is Forever, Seven Seals, and many more I just can't name now. Had a total blast tonight!! See ya'll later!:kickass:
 
Man the last 2 days have been in-fucking-credible! Here comes a mega update from day 2 of 4:

First off, almost immediately after flying in, my buddy gets a call outside the venue (after a 40 minute walk from the hotel!) that a family member died and he had to fly back home. So that leaves me by myself, but I can handle it. Sucks, but PPUSA is family enough.:kickass:

Got to meet some really kick ass people. Staying at a gorgeous hotel whose only flaw is being 3 miles away from the venue, though I recently discovered a Subway station right nearby.

On to the bands: Every band has just been amazing. Circus Maximus did a mostly-covers set (Living on a Prayer, Africa and Hold the Line by Toto, Screaming in Digital, Final Countdown, and some rarities from the first Circus disc).

Mindcrime, well, are a better ryche than ryche these days. If you close your eyes you hear Tate 20 years ago singing the classics. They were amazing. And afterward Krucible did a short set, followed by a dozen ryche tunes with many guest singers including Urban Breed, The singer from: Circus Maximus, Katagory V (who did a perfect rendition of Queen of the Reich), Lance King, Suspyre, etc.)

Day 2 which just finished (for me) was amazing. Future's end are upcoming prog-metal stars. Suspyre slayed - they're about on par with the musicianship of Dream Theater - and no I'm not making that up. Enchant blew me away. They were more melodic and not all that heavy but they were a welcomed change of pace. Primal Fear was the priest concert I never got to see this year. My only complaint is they only did 1 song from Devil's Ground and none from Black Sun.

I've met a number of the band members. Just some from memory: Chris Salinas and most of Mindcrime, Lance King, Circus Maximus Singer, Most of Enchant, Most of Suspyre, The drummer of Into Eternity, Sean from Cage and several others I'm blanking on.

The people at this festival are amazing too. Very friendly, no bullshit moshing where people get hurt. It's a very relaxed and mature atmosphere. Thus far, Well done Glenn for putting this on!!!!!:kickass:

Wyvern said:
I made it!, and I'm surviving the crazy bunch so far :D Still haven't found Brandon or JW
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Yeah dude I totally couldn't find any of y'all. I'll be wearing a Final Stage shirt tomorrow so if you see one, come say hi!!

Well, it's 5 am, I need sleep! This starts at 4:30 tomorrow!
 
Brandon, sorry I couldn't spot you on Thursday. I need to met you finally and get the FS t-shirt :D, I'll be around either in Iron Maiden long sleeve or my Salem's Wych shirt. Besides I'm the only short guy, bald with a bandana a some handcuff hanging from the pants :lol:
 
Super Huge-Mega-Extreme-Ultra Update #2:
Got home from my flight about an hour ago. Still in recovery mode and half-awake. I feel very groggy and very tired. 5 days and little sleep. But I digress.

The festival was fucking AWESOME! On Friday and Sat I got to meet probably about 7-8 regulars on the forum (rocked out with Wyvern for most of Saturday). We managed to get a picture with a number of UMOS'ers as well.

By the time Friday came around I was already dead from partying and rocking all Wed and Thurs so I ended up missing half of the show. Caught Cage who absolutely SLAYED. Just like PFear, they're the best Judas Priest running. Sean's got a killer set of pipes and the band was tight as well. They also played a cover of Dungeons are Calling (I can see Ryan [TSOutcast] weeping as he reads this).

Missed virtually all of Mindflow and Diablo Swing. Caught 1 song from Sabaton - ironically the only song I knew from them: Ghost Divison (? I think that's the title). I heard they were great and they sounded kick ass from the song I heard.

While Sabaton and the first part of Royal Hunt were on stage, I waited in line to get autographs from Fates Warning. Managed to pick up a copy of Inside Out and got it signed by all 5 members (more on them soon).

Royal Hunt were killer. Mark Boals.... what more can you say? The man's a vocal legend for a reason. They were great and I'd love to see them again.

Crimson Glory: The main event on Friday. They kicked serious ass! Wade Black started off the show and did about 4-5 songs off of Astronomica. After that they started bringing out a slew of guest singers: Nils, Andy (BStorm), Lance King, The singer from Suspye, Rob Rock (!!!), Mike from Circus M (who did Lonely), Mark Boals, Urban Breed (I think) and many more. They did most of the songs off of Transcendence, About half of the S/T album and I believe nothing off of Strange and Beautiful.

Friday Night was also the announcement of next year's line up. Here are a few I remember: Nocturnal Rites, Hammerfall, Kamelot, Seventh Wonder, Illusion Sweet, Stormwitch, DGM and about 4-5 others I can't remember right now.

Saturday: Bought a ton of CDs when I first got to the venue. Most I talked to on this board spent upwards of $150 on merch Friday and Sat. The shopping for CDs was INSANE. Laser's Edge, Century, Nightmare, Ned's, Sentinel Steel, etc. I really wanted a Fates Shirt but they only had one, and I hate to say it was ugly. And nothing was written on the back.

Circus started things off at 4:30 and tore shit up. They did Wither, The Abyss, Sin, Glory to the Empire and virtually the rest of Isolate + 4-5 tracks off the first one.

Completely missed Orphaned Land (I think me and Rolando were eating then). By that point I was too exhausted and needed to reserve strength for what was to follow: Pagan's Mind. They were really good. This band has never really struck a chord with me but I like them a lot better live than on CD. Plus Nils can't seem to capture the METAL GOD in him on CD that he can live. They missed my favorite PM track: Embracing Fear.

Now onto Brainstorm, one of the main reasons I spent all this time and money! They blew me away. Fire Walk With Me went over very well live and they did a number of my favorites. I was very pleased with their set. Got to meet Andy and their bassist and I think I have pictures with them (along with about 1/2 of the musicians who played @ Prog Power this year!)

....and of the main event: FATES FUCKING WARNING! Been waiting over a decade to see these guys live and they did not disappoint. Ray sounded pretty good (not as good as Still Life, much better than Live in Athens) and the band was as tight as can be. Bobby J from Riot/Bach/Halford/Iced Earth/Spastic was on drums and he proved why he's such a sought after name in metal. Frank Aresti was Fates' second guitarist and with them as always was Joey Vera. Here's a partial set list from memory: One, Still Water, Another Perfect Day, Pleasant Shade Pt. 3, Still Remains (with Nick of Redemption), Eleventh Hour, Point of View, Through Different Eyes, Pleasant Shade Pt. 11, Monument + several others. AND, as an encore they did The Ivory Gate of Dreams in it's entirety. Pure magic. Needless to say, the 10+ year was well worth it. I just hope I don't have to wait another 10 to see them again. Oh, and I got a Fates pick too that Jim threw out (thanks Sergio).

All in all, this was a great festival. Great line up, great people and all the bands and fans hang out together. Glenn does one helluva job with the festival and I hope I get to do it again soon.
 
poundingmetal74 said:
So I just saw Cheech and Chong. Both original members. Not too shabby.
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What do you mean, like live? You saw them live? Or did you saw them in a movie? Could you tell me more?

I remember seeing their movies here in Holland in a theater filled with hippies, this was in 1978, and all of them smoking pot. :) The theater was filled with pot smoke and I was stoned when I got out. :lol:

I laughed my head off watching 'up in smoke'. Damn good memories! :headbang:
 
Yeah, should have elaborated more. It was 2 AM and I was half awake. Saw them live in concert. They were on for about an hour and a half and I only recognized one or two sketches they did, most of it was either songs or really strange sketches.

I'm not sure if they did the "Dave's not here sketch" though they did mention it in passing. Been a long time since I've heard that one. They didn't do the Christmas Song or (my favorite sketch) the drive in movie.
 
So I'm checking out Cage's new album, it's pretty good, but, this is probably the loudest album in existence. Seriously.

I can't make it through an entire song at anything resembling a decent volume because it just breaks up and sounds like utter ass. It kills my ears, and this coming from a guy who spends a lot of time standing next to drum set! Look, I know I've bitched about this time and again, but I can't understand why bands destroy their music like this. I refuse to buy this album until they remaster it (or "demaster" it if you will).

Here's the levels on the new Cage:
cage.gif


zoomed in - notice how much it hits the zero line? That's bad because that means it distorts forever ruining the signal of that album. This only sounds good at low-medium volumes:
cage2.JPG


Now here's Hell Patrol by Priest 20 years ago (not remastered). If you have the original master of painkiller, notice you can get it to go really LOUD and the album "opens up"?
cage3-hellrider.gif


Notice how frigging loud CDs have gotten in 20 years?
 
poundingmetal74 said:
Notice how frigging loud CDs have gotten in 20 years?
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Yes and you have too much time on your hands :lol:. I'm grateful I'm not a sound freak (I say this with respect like my friend Jorge and his pro system too much an audiophile) I just play the album and enjoy the music.

Nevertheless I had been caught in the net of loudness. When I go to record on tape an old album and I have to turn the input knob to 7 I found myself mumbling why it can be like a modern CD were I turn it to 4?
 
poundingmetal74 said:
Hard to believe Dream Evil covered this! Makes me think we should cover a Britney Spears song or something. :lol:
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Well I'm not gonna bother listening to the original but I do like the Dream Evil cover.

Now as for Final Stage covering BS I wouldn't advice it. A band called Crystal Ball has an album called "Time Walker", I have to admit that as cheesy and oversweetened as can be I like the music...except for the bonus track 'Crazy'. As much as the band can be called flowery that song cross the line to :puke:. Then I found why, is a cover of a BS song!

So my point is the music she performs (not compose of course) is so bad and purposely written for her (inexistent) talents that not even you guys can save it. Better pick some 80's pop and make a cover, it's a safer bet IMO.
 
poundingmetal74 said:
We'd need to get Jon Lord if we're going to do Freeze Frame because either Jon Lord plays keyboards on our album, or nobody does.
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I beg forgiveness for my ignorance but, did Jon Lord played the keys in the original 'Freeze Frame' recording? I didn't know, it's one of my favorite songs from my highschool days.

Also you can do a metal cover of ' Jeopardy' (Greg Kihn Band) :cool:
 
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