Quick Day 3 Thoughts (Setlist spoilers for Sons of Apollo)

[Fixxer315]

Damn that Vendor room, which seduced me when I first came in, so that I missed part of Manimal's set. Still, I caught the second half, and their Judas Priest (Painkiller era) meets early Queensryche vibe worked really well.

I also missed part of Persefone's set due to the Eclipse signing starting late. I could appreciate the musicianship, but it really wasn't my style, particularly the harsh vocals, which I tend to prefer in smaller doses (like Amaranthe last year).

Bloodbound gave a pretty entertaining set, although one that didn't exactly stick in my memory. They came across as fairly generic (if well done) European Power Metal, which is not a bad thing, but one that didn't leave a lasting impression.

Labyrinth gave a very solid performance of Return to Heaven Denied, and they brought some genuine emotion to their songs, particularly Falling Rain and their instrumental. However, there was something missing, and I can't quite define what it was--perhaps a sense of energy that you got from all the other bands on Friday.

I didn't know much about Redemption going into the show. I bought a special edition of This Mortal Coil at least year's festival, but rarely listened to it. That is going to change, since they delivered a stellar set. Tom fit in quite nicely, even if he was somewhat self-conscious about the idea of screwing up. Plus an added bonus of Ray Adler coming on to do a song, as well as Chris Poland to do a pair of songs--one of them being Peace Sells--with the album cover as the backdrop, but with Redemption in the Megadeth logo. I immediately picked up their two most recent albums at the merch room and ordered a few more on Amazon this morning, such was the impression they made.

And to round out the evening Sons of Appollo brought it home. It was getting late, especially as they ran 40 minutes late, but they still did a full two hour headlining set. And it was easy to see how much fun everyone was having. Granted, it was pretty much the same set they've been doing on the tour, but why mess with something that clearly works. I didn't see them when they played Atlanta in February, so it was a new experience for me. They were clearly a unified group, with the experience of several months on touring as they music was impeccable. But they had fun with it, such as including the Pink Panther Theme leading into their ten minute instrumental Opius Maximus. They played tribute to some of the band's influences such as Queen and Van Halen--and JSS did a spot-on Freddie Mercury. Derek managed to pull off VH's Eruption on the keys. And they brought out a few FII songs, doing an excellent job on Just Let me Breathe and Lines in the Sand.

What a day. It's going to be hard for Saturday to top Friday, but we'll see in a few hours.

And to cap it all off, someone turned in the package of CD booklets that I had lost, so thanks to whomever did so. That shows what a great community this is, since at most other festivals, that would have been lost for good.

 

[KingsGene]

Manimal was one of my most anticipated bands of the fest, and I was right on the rail for their set. Very powerful, energetic and tight performance, lived up to my expectations. They also played some tunes from the new album Purgatorio which was released that day, and they sounded good, looking forward to spinning that soon.

Persefone was a band that I tried to like on CD, but couldn't get past the growlies. I hung out in the seats for the whole set, was able to ignore the growls enough to respect their intensity overall, and was standing in appreciation by the end. They brought the brutal in a big way, and were very gracious for the opportunity.

Bloodbound was another band I was really anxious to see, but was slightly disappointed. Fairly pedestrian stage presence for a band that is striving to be the next Sabaton; they still have a ways to go in that regard. Sound was big, vocals were decent. Not bad, just not blown away like I wanted to be.

Labyrinth was going to be the band that I was just going to rest to while waiting for Redemption as I had only finally had a chance to bone up on "Return To Heaven Denied" recently However, they were firing on all cylinders and I was thoroughly entertained by their performance. Vocalist Roberto Tiranti was insane, and it was great to see Olaf back in the band.....he is a monster player. Add John Macaluso on drums and....whoa....that's power metal defined.

Redemption is a long time favorite of mine, so expectations were very high for this set. The band musically did not disappoint with new players Simone Mularoni from DGM on guitar and Vikram Shankar on keyboards. However, everyone was wondering how it was going to go with new vocalist Tom Englund. I love Tom's voice and have no problem with it here, but I must say that his stage presence bugged the heck out of me; it was as if he really was just up there to goof around, which is totally not what I expect from a Redemption vocalist. He had a year to learn the words to the songs, yet had to read them from a tablet on the mic stand. That's just not cool in my book, especially when they're filming for a DVD. I wish he would've brought the same intensity he did when Evergrey did "In Search Of Truth" at PPUSA years back. Seeing Ray was a great surprise, along with Chris Poland.

What can you say about Sons of Apollo? This is a supergroup of the highest caliber when it comes to this type of stuff, and we are lucky Glenn was able to get them. Sound was massive, yet clear. I could've done without all the individual solos, but what can you do. JSS was in fine form, and everyone else is just amazing and still entertaining while doing it. A great way to cap one of the most talent packed PPUSA days I can remember...