A night of winter with temperature around 20°C, one day before the match between Brazil and Germany Soccer teams in FIFA's World Cup was the night for two legends of U.S. Metal take by force the city of Rio de Janeiro: OMEN and MANILLA ROAD were coming here for the first time, and bringing along the Sao Paulo band FIRE STRIKE, another band to come here for their first time.
 

The quintet FIRE STRIKE is an Old School Heavy Metal band, sounding like a mix between NWOBHM and German Metal from the 80's, a young band, but with tons of experience, for playing live show in many cities on Sao Paulo. And they came to Rio de Janeiro for the first time on this night, but gained lots of new fans.
 

Aline Nunes is a great vocalist, with very good attitude on the stage and having a similar style of singing to Doro Pesch and Leather Leone sometimes, but with her on personality. Henrique Schuindt and Helywild, the guitarists, are fine players, showing intimacy in guitar duets and duels of solos. Edivan Diamond on bass guitar and Jean Praelii on the drums form a strong and heavy rhythmic basis, but with good technique. And with a strong set of songs, like "Night Fever" and "Streets of Fire", both from "Tiger and Lion" (their first EP) gained the public. Hope to see them again on the future, and the band can grow a lot!

So, after FIRE STRIKE left the stage, it was time for OMEN to come, but it took a bit long, but they never disappoint. A legend amongst Metal fans, OMEN came to conquer, and surely they did!
 

Kevin Goocher on vocals is a fine vocalist, and had the public in his hands, showing a good attitude on the stage, with lots of sympathy. Kenny Powell on guitars was happy like a child on the stage, with good attitude and his playing, his technique and attitude was the very same from the eighties, and we could see that he was happy to be here, and the same goes for Andy Hass on bass guitar, having always a great attitude on stage and a smile in his face. And Steve Wittig has the same strength and playing from the 80,'s keeping the rhythm strong and heavy.
 

The setlist was made only of classics: opening the night, the anthemic "Death Rider", with everyone singing along the band, followed by "Dragon's Breath", "Ruby Eyes (of the Serpent)" and "The Axeman".  "Warning of Danger" was a great moment, and "Be My Wench" was politely dedicated to the women on the venue. But when classics as "Termination", "Battle Cry" and "Teeth of the Hydra" were played, the house almost fell down. But after the goodbye, they got back for the encore, with another classic: "Dye By the Blade", where Kenny came to play in the middle of the public, as Kevin and Andy stayed wild on the stage, as Steve was a powerhouse. After the end, Kenny gave a stage dive, and this ended the show, with the band greeting all.

Setlist:
1. Death Rider
2. Dragon's Breath
3. Ruby Eyes (of the Serpent)
4. The Axeman
5. 1000 Years Reign
6. Last Rites
7. Warning of Danger
8. Be My Wench
9. Don't Fear the Night
10. In the Arena
11. Termination
12. Battle Cry
13. Teeth of the Hydra
14. Die by the Blade
 

And end of the night, the quartet MANILLA ROAD came to the stage.

Well known on underground, Mark Shelton (guitars, vocals), Bryan "Hellroadie" Patrick (vocals), Josh Castillo (bass guitar) and Andreas Neuderth (drums) came and conquered lots of new fans as well.

The band came to the stage, playing a handful of great classics of all their albums (maybe some was out, due their vast discography), but the greater part of them. But strangely, only one song from their latest album, "Mysterium", was played, "Only the Brave".
 

But of course the public wanted old classics like "Hammer of the Witches", the anthemic "Open the Gates" and "The Nineth Wave", and it good to see how Bryan sings very well and Mark still's a great master of riffs. But when they played songs like "Necropolis", and closed the night with "Heavy Metal to the World", the public became insane.

A great night, indeed, but was a pity the public was not so good. Personally your Ol' Big Daddy here thinks it was due the soccer match from another day. But if thinking about that, many would gather on Teatro Odisseia if knew the score…

Setlist:
1. Flaming Metal Systems
2. Masque of the Red Death
3. Death by the Hammer
4. Hammer of the Witches
5. Witches Brew
6. Open the Gates
7. Only the Brave
8. Road of Kings
9. Divine Victim
10. The Ninth Wave
11. Cage of Mirrors
12. The Ram
13. The Riddle Master
14. Crystal Logic
15. Necropolis
16. Up From the Crypt
17. Heavy Metal to the World

*Photography of Omen & Manilla Road by Daniel Croce