Still half asleep this morning, but here's a short PP Europe review...Sorry, no pics, I will have a new camera next week so you'll see more pics in future..
Hawk already was there on Saturday, but besides headliner Mercenary there wasn't any real good band. Mostly the kind of Progressive metal with growling vocals, also stuff I can't get into mostly..
Saturday I arrived in the beautiful old town of Baarlo in Holland, the location is really superb if you want to go out and walk around a bit in between bands...
-Sphere of Souls (replaced Pantommind) ; Great Dutch band with Andre Vuurboom (ex-sun Caged) on vocals. Sound was very clear (throughout the whole day) and this band had deserved to play a little higher on the bill. Very proffesional band , I can recommend them for PP USA !!
-Nova Art ; This year there were bands from allover the world. Nova Art is a band from Moscow, Russia. A VERY young band, and lots of talent there. the vocalist needs some time to get used on, but he's okay, I sometimes hear some old Fish (Marillion) vibes there. Also great oldschool keyboards. We talked a bit with some of the guys later on , funny russian accent there, and they were thrilled to be there. We probably will hear more of these guys later on.
-Voyager is an Australian band, that played for the first time outside Australia. The have a female bass and guitar player, especially the 21 year old lady on the guitars did a good job. I didn't like the vocals though. Very powerfull on mid range but that was it, a bit higher and he started CoF- type screetching, and that kills stuff for me. I think the second (male) guitar player had a much better voice...
-Dark Suns from Germany can be described very quickly : boring !!!
-Communic was the band a lot of people came for. And they delivered the goods !! Very modern Thrash, not too many bands beside Nevermore and Communic are able to play some decent modern Thrash I think... Complicated music but enough "mosh" parts for the headbangers !! The guys are very down to earth, nice to talk with !! They told us it's not that easy to get along professionally in the scene, they all have jobs and lives besides the band and it's hard to combine that with touring...Hopefully a band for PP USA next year..
-Last band was Riverside from Poland. We were pretty tired and sat outside the venue, drinking some beers, having fun with some of Hawks old friends (one of them visited PP USA already 4 times !!). Was pretty fun, singing kids songs of our youth !! Oh yes, and Riverside; we could hear them well out there and their set seemed very good. More the kind of music you need a chair for, relax and enjoy. Maybe I need to take more care of them at another time...
All together very nice festival, very good relaxed atmosphere...Hey, and there you pass a tall guy, saying hi and than realising..wasn't that Arjen Lucassen!! He just walked around in the public and talked to fans...Also had a little chat with Marcel Coenen (Sun Caged) , one of the better guitar players on this globe..
Also announced were some bands for next year; Jon Oliva's Pain, Circus Maximus, Dreamscape and Heaven's Cry; a damn good reason to already buy tickets !!
Hawk already was there on Saturday, but besides headliner Mercenary there wasn't any real good band. Mostly the kind of Progressive metal with growling vocals, also stuff I can't get into mostly..
Saturday I arrived in the beautiful old town of Baarlo in Holland, the location is really superb if you want to go out and walk around a bit in between bands...
-Sphere of Souls (replaced Pantommind) ; Great Dutch band with Andre Vuurboom (ex-sun Caged) on vocals. Sound was very clear (throughout the whole day) and this band had deserved to play a little higher on the bill. Very proffesional band , I can recommend them for PP USA !!
-Nova Art ; This year there were bands from allover the world. Nova Art is a band from Moscow, Russia. A VERY young band, and lots of talent there. the vocalist needs some time to get used on, but he's okay, I sometimes hear some old Fish (Marillion) vibes there. Also great oldschool keyboards. We talked a bit with some of the guys later on , funny russian accent there, and they were thrilled to be there. We probably will hear more of these guys later on.
-Voyager is an Australian band, that played for the first time outside Australia. The have a female bass and guitar player, especially the 21 year old lady on the guitars did a good job. I didn't like the vocals though. Very powerfull on mid range but that was it, a bit higher and he started CoF- type screetching, and that kills stuff for me. I think the second (male) guitar player had a much better voice...
-Dark Suns from Germany can be described very quickly : boring !!!
-Communic was the band a lot of people came for. And they delivered the goods !! Very modern Thrash, not too many bands beside Nevermore and Communic are able to play some decent modern Thrash I think... Complicated music but enough "mosh" parts for the headbangers !! The guys are very down to earth, nice to talk with !! They told us it's not that easy to get along professionally in the scene, they all have jobs and lives besides the band and it's hard to combine that with touring...Hopefully a band for PP USA next year..
-Last band was Riverside from Poland. We were pretty tired and sat outside the venue, drinking some beers, having fun with some of Hawks old friends (one of them visited PP USA already 4 times !!). Was pretty fun, singing kids songs of our youth !! Oh yes, and Riverside; we could hear them well out there and their set seemed very good. More the kind of music you need a chair for, relax and enjoy. Maybe I need to take more care of them at another time...
All together very nice festival, very good relaxed atmosphere...Hey, and there you pass a tall guy, saying hi and than realising..wasn't that Arjen Lucassen!! He just walked around in the public and talked to fans...Also had a little chat with Marcel Coenen (Sun Caged) , one of the better guitar players on this globe..
Also announced were some bands for next year; Jon Oliva's Pain, Circus Maximus, Dreamscape and Heaven's Cry; a damn good reason to already buy tickets !!
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