Day 2

[Erika] The weather was still schizo when the clock struck gig-time the second day of the festival. Sure, it was warm and the sun was shining but around Brande-Hornerkirchen the leaded sky threatened the peaceful atmosphere and looking around, all tents couldn't take the pressure of the rain and looked more like piles of wet laundry.

LONEWOLF was the first band to hit the stage and I've heard so many different opinions about them, most of them fairly good. I can't say I agreed, especially with that listening to them for the first time about a year ago. Plain Power Metal without any real attitude but a lot of people seemed to like them so, they absolutely deserve a decent chance. And plain Metal can be really good live. Well, I'm still not fully convinced that LONEWOLF is a band to reckon with. They are very plain and quite boring but as it can be with bands, sometimes they're great to have in the background. The music is cheerful and tickles the beer-nerve and is easy to sing along to. They did a good job warming up the Headbanger's crowd that Friday morning. A cover of the old RUNNING WILD classic Under Jolly Roger was a genius move. That's a very safe card to play and a trick like that is bound to please a German crowd. It was fun to see people waking up and starting to sing along, follow all the hey's and playing air-guitar or drums over the solos and fills. That worked perfectly and LONEWOLF was right on spot. Interesting enough to drag people to the stage and joyful enough to get people started on the beer.

[Erika] Swedish Doomsters MEMORY GARDEN climbed the stage as second band. It was hilarious to see a band that normally owns the stage actually looking timid and insecure. Not at all as powerful and secure they normally do. Also the sound was a bit messed up, very unbalanced and annoyingly squeaky. That's absolutely not the way things normally are. Apparently some of their equipment, including the backtracks, didn't make it to the festival in time and they simply played without it. Then it's more understandable that MEMORY GARDEN didn't look as secure and comfortable as they normally are. No wonder if half the music is missing, then it doesn't matter how great the guitar player Simon Johansson really is and how well he and Ante Makela complement each other. And when you are used to extremely high standard it's hard to settle for less so, no, this wasn't the best MEMORY GARDEN gig I've seen but I'm still always amazed how damn high standard most Swedish bands hold even on a bad day. But the 30 minutes they had to show off on were well used. Some tastes from all their career but I still think the songs from Carnage Carnival are the ones that rock the hardest live, with our without backtracks.

[Greg] The ugly clan of PILEDRIVER was right on time thus we missed the first couple of songs (and an anthem like Sodomize The Dead is something not to be missed at all...), but as soon as things started rolling more hopeful in the band's sound it was time for some metallic manifesto the Canadian filthy way. Mixing immortal songs from their 80s days with stuff from the just-released Metal Manifesto CD, the quartet delivered a set of dirty Heavy Metal made in Canada that surely did not ring any bells to fans more into the 'polished' Metal sections - how many of those were there, anyway? - while the rest of us honoured some simple yet ample assault from a band killing at sight throughout the whole set. Yeap, one big let down was the absence of a second guitar and I mean PILEDRIVER's songs are so full of hammering riffing that surely require a second guitar in order to keep the volume straight. Else, can you have a bad time listening to cuts like Metal Inquisition, Witch Hunt or The Fire God? Not to forget: the new CD needs some more auditions than expected to stand in line, even if the songs performed at the fest brought some good impression.

01. Sodomize The Dead
02. The Piledriver
03. Metal Inquisition
04. Metal Manifesto
05. The Fire God
06. Sex With Satan
07. Witch Hunt
08. Unsuck My Cock
09. Alien Rape
10. The Executioner
11. Last Day Of The Weak

[Harry] When you have to play at 15:30 and before you a steamroller named PILEDRIVER is onstage, things are getting tough. So, after almost 20 minutes of resting and starting to have mental problems due to the weather, well it's not natural to have a sunny and warm day; in the next ten minutes rain, cold and strong winds appeared and then the sun was out again, so it was time to see what ENFORCER had to say.

Having released just one album, it was obvious what we were gonna listen to. The quintet from Sweden came on-stage ready to entertain their fans and win a few new ones. Even though, their young age with restless movement, their good performance, the good sound and also add the smile of Olof Wikstrand and their good compositions you will understand why everyone in the front rows was singing along with fists in the air. Just what happend during Scream Of The Savage or Black Angel. A solid appearance from those young lads that showed us that ENFORCER deserves a good route in this new wave of true Heavy Metal (if I can use that phrase) path.

01. Black Angel
02. Speed Queen
03. On The Loose
04. Roll The Dice
05. City Lights
06. Scream Of The Savage
07. Curse The Light
08. Mistress From Hell
09. Evil Attacker

[Harry] After a small break it was time to see EXXPLORER. Greg saw them performing at 'Keep It True' fest just some months ago and told me good words about their vibe. Nevertheless, seeing them live in Europe was something that I didn't expect, and even though I wasn't a big fan of the band, with this performance they won at least one new: myself!
Taking the place of WARBRINGER in the festival since the first ones canceled their appearance, they gave us a good professional show. Lennie Rizzo may have cut his hair but his voice remains in high standards and so does the rest of the band. Their fans were headbanging most of the time and they were stopping just to sing along (unfortunately there is no video of some well-known to me guys ripping their neck out by singing beside me and headbanging...). Since the schedule was quite tight, just after about an hour EXXPLORER left the stage looking as happy as their fans were.

01. City Streets
02. Xtermination
03. Metal Detectors
04. Exxplorer
05. Guilty As Charged
06. Phantasmagoria
07. Bible Black
08. Just A Dream
09. WW3
10. Run For Tomorrow
11. Beg, Borrow And Steel

[Greg] Sorry to mention this, but I think the Neil Turbin-fronted band was something of a disappointment. I really respect the original ANTHRAX singer's early days but the man nearly spend half of the hour preaching on the holiness of true Heavy Metal music and the genuine faith of Metal fans etc etc. In terms of music, the band was not that solid and -apart from the ANTHRAX stuff they performed (Deathrider, Metal Thrashing Mad, Panic, Soldiers Of Metal) -I cannot recall any other memorable moments offered. Neil's voice can still be convincing and passionate, even if he did not seem to have a throat willing for more that day...DEATHRIDERS, in my humble opinion, had more time than needed for their piece.

[Greg] The king is dead; long live HELSTAR! Why the hell did not this outfit climb up to the highest ranks in the Metal climax, is still an unsolved mystery. Finished off early enough from the pre-recorded intro, the Texas quintet stormed out with a couple of songs off their brilliant King Of Hell latest creation, and then it was time -mainly- for some lessons in dominant American Power_Heavy Metal. Two critical points are to be mentioned in specific: a) James Rivera's voice still remains and untouched miracle; holly hell, the man rolled the complete setlist in comfort and left us all speechless...again... b) Mikey Lewis, the drummer, (as said, was an instant decision to step in replacing Russel DeLeon) was a non-stop hammering machine with no mistakes and some metallic groove rarely seen in today's hardhittin' music; sorry I cannot recall his name...

HELSTAR's appearance was one of the strongest ones during the whole fest. The band was a killing machine, their sound was professional and brilliant, the setlist was ideal (cannot resist to the myth of Suicidal Nightmare and Run with The Pack...never...). The metalheads gathered at the front rows really enjoyed the set while the whole crowd applauded HELSTAR's honest appearance and vibe. So long, you burning stars!

01. King Of Hell
02. The Plague Called Man
03. The King Is Dead
04. Evil Reign
05. Burning Star
06. Suicidal Nightmare
07. Winds Of War
08. Pain Will Be Thy Name
09. Angel Of Death
10. Dracula's Castle
11. Baptized In Blood
12. Run With The Pack

[Maria] Around 22:30 it was time for PRETTY MAIDS to hit the stage. Honestly, I was really curious about the appearance of this band from Denmark. I wanted to hear the sound, to see the stage appearance to pay attention in everything; well it was not that easy. Without pompous introduction the band hit the stage with Snakes In Eden. The sound was OK to my ears, taking into consideration that I was quite in front of the stage, and Ronnie Atkins was paying a satisfactory effort on vocals. Probably, the sound in general would be better for people who were a bit further back. Songs like Another Shot Of Your Love,Savage Heart, Yellow Rain, Please Don't Leave Me, Love Games, Lethal Heroes, Walk Away and Sin Decade followed. In the sound of Back To Back the crowd went wild. Last song was Love Games and PRETTY MAIDS left the stage... no way... Would they leave without playing Future World? No way... The absolute panic, it is impossible to describe the energy that went over the crowd. Red Hot And Heavy ended this amazing show.

[Erika] Not that 'Headbangers Open Air' has the most famous bands on its billing (that it holds extremely high standards is another thing) but if you ask any mainstream Metal fan I doubt they've even heard of half the bands on the bill and MANILLA ROAD is surely one of them. They've been a well kept secret for over three decades now. Sure, I understand that they don't appeal to certain parts of the Metal society since there are some flosses in the performance of the songs, it's not perfect but what matter does that make when they have a whole arsenal of great songs. And no, MANILLA ROAD isn't or will never be the greatest Metal band in the world but damn they can rock. They're truly a proof that musical perfection isn't necessary to deliver music in a grand way, nor is a spectacular live show. To be true to yourself and deliver from the heart will generate another type of success. Even if the music is quite laid back or even fuzzy sometimes it has really crazy intensity. It cuts straight through both mind and heart. A little more action on stage could have been good though.

MANILLA ROAD was supposed to go on at midnight and OK, I admit I didn't keep track of time at that moment but it was a little delayed. It couldn't have been that much, at least that's what I thought, but arriving at the tent after the concert the time was about a quarter to three in the morning and no I wasn't crawling, but even if I had the tent was still just 5 minutes away. Even if they didn't start on time their set was way over the time and really no one could be blamed for yawning. I don't think anyone was complaining about getting a lot of music but 13 hours of Metal is exhausting even for devotees. Perhaps some more onstage action could have boosted the crowd a little, kept a few more rockin' out in the night. But for what they are, it was absolutely great and it's always so nice to watch a band when kind of feel bad for the people missing it, the ones who do not realize how damn good MANILLA ROAD are.

01. Riddle Of Steel
02. Haunted Palace
03. Astronomica
04. Divine Victim
05. Road Of Kings
06. Cage Of Mirrors
07. Voyager
08. Mystification
09. Blood Eagle
10. Masque Of The Red Death
11. Death By The Hammer
12. Hammer Of The Witches
13. Witches Brew
14. Necropolis
15. Flaming Metal Systems
16. Crystal Logic
17. The Riddle Master
18. Up From The Crypt

P.S.: We feel really sorry we had to take a break during the JACOBS DREAM set...

(photos by the voyager Erika)

LONEWOLF

ENFORCER

EXXPLORER

DEATHRIDERS

HELSTAR