On other stages: CHARTA 77 / CRYSTAL CARAVAN / MIMIKRY / H.E.A.T / FATAL SMILE / MOOSTERS / SHOUSHAKE EXPRESS / AMMOTRACK / IRON MADE'EM / SABBATH THE COVERBAND / TRIBUTALLICA / CECILIA & THE HAPPY HAPPIES

Another 24 hour boat cruise then! Ok, 'July Morning' was one of the first to arrange these types of boats, I think only Z-TV (Swedish version of MTV) was doing this before them. What differentiate 'July Morning' from 'Sweden Rock' and all other organizer of these trips is that they're clearly focused on a different target group. The crowd of people's average age on this boat was about 10 years older to start with. But if you want and have the energy you can sign up for a 48 hour party check in on the 'Rock At Sea' and continue with the '50-60's Rock Cruise'. Suck on that one!
Viking Cinderella is an 11 floor boat with a lot more possibilities than the Silja ones (that not saying Viking is better than Silja). Viking offered 3 different stages so all the festival anxiety popped up when I realized I was going to miss a lot of bands. The relief was realizing it was most cover-bands playing on the second stage so making the choice of what bands to see wasn't going to be that hard. And then of course the record fair which I only had time to visit when picking up my photo-pass.

After a too big dinner, one round at the tax-free shop me, my camera and my pint of red wine made it to the main stage just before GRAND MAGUS hit it. This schedule made me miss LILLASYSTER, nothing that I mourn since they didn't impress me much at 'Monsters Of Mora'. That there's a great deal of awesome bands coming out of Sweden is far known.

Doom crew GRAND MAGUS had perhaps set their mark in the Metal world before the release of Iron Will. But that the album earned the title 'album of the month' in most major European magazines came as a big surprise to me, at least before I listened to it. Half way through the album was clear to me as well, all those high grades were well deserved. There are still elements of Doom in GRAND MAGUS's music but I doubt any one hearing them for the first time nowadays will draw that reference.
The nature of the music on Iron Will is a lot more speedy and more towards classic Metal than their earlier releases. Frankly, the competition between bands at the event was already finished at the end of the opening song Like The Ores Strikes The Water. My firm belief was that no band on the bill was going to be able to top that.
Of course, one song doesn't make a whole concert but GRAND MAGUS kept the good spirit up, the biggest part of the gig came from Iron Will. And with that came headbaning, screaming and a lot of air-guitar duels. This is to all that think the forest are a playground Janne ''JB'' Christoffersson (guitars_vocals) says introducing Wolf's Return. Well, I guess a hurting neck and a soar throat says it all about how good GRAND MAGUS really was.

I've always had a little hard of getting DREAM EVIL. The first few tracks I heard was just too cheesy for my taste and the first time I saw them the only attraction of the show was drummer Snowy Shaw. Now when Snowy is not with the band anymore there wasn't much at all to look at.

It's not that DREAM EVIL were bad, not at all. Musically it sounded great but there's something about them that makes them so hard to take for real, it doesn't feel like they mean it. More like a bunch of great musicians and songwriters working together and writing potential hit-songs to sell to bands that can't write themselves.
And then that didn't happen and to not let it go to waste they put a band together. And since it has been working for them for a few years now they've just kept going. I'm not saying this is how it is but that's exactly what I feel when watching DREAM EVIL. But looking at the situation DREAM EVIL was the right band for the event, the songs are catchy and even I couldn't help myself from time to time. I mean, you got to love a song like The Book Of Heavy Metal. The crowd was happy all the time though and I guess that was the important thing.

The arrangement didn't offer much rest, just a quick trip to the bar for a refill and then it was time for the next band. BLACKFOOT entered the stage just after midnight and the floor was surprisingly empty.

Ok, these trips people normally pass out a lot earlier than they do at home since most need to have a pre-party before the 24 hour party, and the free beer and wine in the buffet do the rest but this was even worse than normal. Just 3-4 lines at the fence, I really thought BLACKFOOT should draw a bigger crowd than this. Unfortunately, I started to understand why people didn't bother to stay awake for this.
BLACKFOOT's quite lazy Rock'n'Roll didn't really boost the partymood. I was just about to leave, to explore if this was really all when BLACKFOOT actually started to sound really good. Sure, Sunshine Again isn't really a party-song but damn good one but it didn't really boost the festivities so I stuck with my decision to explore the rest of the boat. About time really since I've missed everything was happening on other places but the 'Fun Club' stage.

At 'Club Seven' there were a massive party and a thick wall of people singing along to TRIBUTALLICA. Even out in the hall outside the little rock bar the headbanging and air-guitar duels were in full order.

Ok, the stage and venue was a lot smaller but I'm sure it was a lot more people here compared to 'Fun Club'. Sure, some METALLICA songs in the middle of the night will boost the party and they sure have put out some immortal songs. TRIBUTALLICA do the songs justice too, one of the best tribute_cover bands I've seen doing just this. A good selection of songs too, all from old-school to really new songs and that's not common for these bands. But still, I found it quite strange that a slight overweight METALLICA tribute band drew a bigger crowd than BLACKFOOT.
Also THE RAMONAS managed to attract more people than their predecessors at the 'Fun Club' stage. Even if BLACKFOOT was quite dull to watch most of the time they still shone over THE RAMONAS. And I can't for my life understand the fascination over these tribute bands, why the hell do they attract more people than the real bands.

There's only one band that can kick start the party again at 3:30 am and that is BULLET. Most people were just barely awake at this time and it can feel a little unfair to make a band play this time of the hour.

Time doesn't matter if the band is named BULLET though. And no, people hadn't passed out, they've just been hiding in their cabins or in one of the many bars waiting for the real thing. A lot of people were really ready to see BULLET. Their simple straight forward Rock'n'Roll seemed to attract most people on the boat. I bet BULLET woke up ever sailor haunting the Nordic Sea as well as the ones that actually had passed out at this time because they rocked the boat because it didn't take long until the crowd doubled and tripled at the fence and every one was eager to support BULLET.
That's fascinating with BULLET, that they can dig up every odd 80's clichι and get away with it. The new edition to their show was a backdrop made of light-bulbs spelling out the band's name. BULLET usually perform with a lot of energy but this was something else. Keep in mind that it was way past midnight when they played. They managed not only to keep people awake, they made everyone rock and continue to party. Guess the breakfast buffet wasn't too crowded the morning after...

So, with the key in my hands I do prefer the Silja-boats. First because the stages are better and then because the parties are more hysteric. Ok, the crowd was actually more interesting on this cruise, more spread out over all ages but still very much Rock'n'Roll. The Bar service was also better and faster here compared to Silja but nothing beats Siljas Pepper Steak and their variety of food is much better than Viking. And the schedule was impossible to fit in with the party, the only solution would have been to be running on and off between the stages but that wouldn't have been fun either. Of course I missed some bands I wanted to see, FATAL SMILE and CRYSTAL CARAVAN for example. No band on the bill after GRAND MAGUS could match them. They completely ruled this cruise and face it, there's nothing cooler than an 8-string Rickenbacker Bass, Lemmy is just half as cool as Fox.
(photos by metal cruise Erika)

GRAND MAGUS

DREAM EVIL

BLACKFOOT

TRIBUTALLICA

BULLET