This festival was something I strongly believe wouldn't work for various reasons, the time of year, the day chosen (Monday is always hard as fuck for the working metalheads), the venue chosen (the festival changed location some days before the festival), the expensive ticket etc. I was there earlier because of a GOJIRA interview -you will be some time later able to read here at METAL TEMPLE- and to tell you the truth I was really optimistic. The new venue chosen was fully air-conditioned and a more than a decent place for a live show, the sound check was giving me the impression that the sound would be pretty good...

I managed to be in front of the stage - after grabbing a beer - just before the Greek metallers DESCENDING started their set. HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS! This was probably the second worst sound I have ever come across! You couldn't hear anything, neither could the band as I realized during their set. Their tight and well worked melodic Death Metal lost much due to the unbearable sound that also 'forced ' them to make a lot of mistakes on stage. It was the second time I was watching this band live and when I first saw them, with THE HAUNTED, I had expressed my opinion on them. Great stage show, tight band but their music is nothing amazing, just well played melodic Death Metal. One thing that made a negative impression to me was that the singer was constantly speaking to the audience in English, although he is Greek and he had to do with a Greek audience...

MENCEA entered the stage not much later after DESCENDING's set. I had the chance, or may I say pleasure, to listen to their debut album Dark Matter Energy Noir and I was amazed by the technical and composing skills these guy possess! This was the first time I saw them performing live; having a new singer and a session drummer since Nick is currently serving in the military. Their music is a modern mixture of Swedish Death Metal with US Metal and some Math touches, something like AT THE GATES meets LAMB OF GOD meets MESHUGGAH. The new singer is a real beast and I was amazed by his voice's power and brutality. The only bad things about them were the weak (yet slightly better than DESCENDING's) sound and their kind of static stage presence.

The Greek supporting acts had done their part and the French monsters were ready to hit the stage. That was the part were I realized something had gone wrong. GOJIRA were playing the one song after the other without even taking a breath! Hmmm, something's wrong with the schedule... Anyway, Oroborus, Vacuity, the totally MORBID ANGEL style The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe and more French Metal hymns flooded the Tae Kwon Do Arena. The sound was obviously better, clearer and heavier (at least where I was standing) and the first serious mosh-pits started to take place. GOJIRA was definitely that night's surprise if you'd ask me. It was one of the bands I really wanted to see and witness the great live performances I had heard about. And they really proved it with their energy on stage featuring a bassist that was one of the best on stage musicians I have ever seen! Thanks for everything guys! We hope to see you again soon!

The next band to hit the stage was my personal Thrash favorite! TESTAMENT, the Bay Area metallers got up to give us an overdose of pure US Thrash Metal. Not much to say about these guys since they are a guarantee for a great show, incredible musicianship and endless friendly violent fun. Over The Wall, Into The Pit (and what a pit!), More Than Meets The Eye, D.N.R., Practice What You Preach and more Thrash war tunes that not only made everyone bang his head off, but also tp create a 'wall of death' that almost left a huge pile of corpses, hehehe! Chuck Billy remains an incredible and imposing frontman, Peterson is the classic riff machine we know and love and Alex a musician that seems to have mastered his six string lover and feels so comfortable with her that can melt your face with his solos while having this glorious image on stage! One more great performance by the masters!

After my favorite Thrash band, here comes my favorite Power Metal one, the high and mighty BLIND GUARDIAN from Germany; a band I grew up listening to. War Of Wrath, the classic intro came out of the speakers and... what the fuck? Where is Into The Storm? Anyway, Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill) was the first song to drive the Greek fans crazy (who are obviously in love with the German act all these years) and others like Nightfall, The Script For My Requiem, Valhalla, Imaginations From The Other Side, the classic Lord Of The Rings and the all time favorite Bard's Song (In The Forest). The band also did the new song Sacred that sounded pretty tight and I believe made the whole venue to sing along. Just like everyone should do in a BLIND GUARDIAN show instead of taking photos all the time. You could see hands raised in the air everywhere you turned your head and everything was magical. Except for the fact that their show was kind of short as they said something like we've got to hurry a little bit. As I said, something probably went wrong with the schedule. Anyway, Mirror Mirror was there to end their show and make everyone bow before the glory of this band. One more beautiful and magical show by the hobbits!

Last, but not least of course, came the headliners of the festival dressed in black as always and with a beautiful stage decoration that fits their music and atmosphere. The one and only Ronnie James Dio, the riff master Tony Iommi, the mind wrecking bass lines of Geezer Butler and the pounding drums of Vinny Appice were on stage for the second time in Greece to show that the legendary band is not dead! I missed their show the last time so I was kind of impatient to see them performing live. E5150 and Mob Rules surrounded the venue with their wicked sounds and everyone was in the party mood! But something was missing. First of all, it was the awful sound that this band doesn't deserve for sure! There were times I couldn't even hear Iommi's dark riffs. The band performed professionally every single song though, but I really wanted this gig under different circumstances. Children Of The Sea, I and Bible Black (of the band's new album) made the crowd yell like an army of lunatics. Time Machine, a classic yet typical drum solo just for a break, Fear, Falling Off The Edge Of The World, Die Young (hell yeah!), Follow The Tears and Heaven & Hell with the classic jam finished us off (this was 19 minutes long jam). And just when everyone thought it was over... Nah, everyone knows that there is always a classic encore, H&H stepped on our corpses with a Country Girl / Neon Knights medley. Despite their age and the shitty sound, they managed to deliver a hell of a nice show and I thank them for just still being there and playing their music for us!