[Yiannis Z.]: Here we are in the middle of the hot Greek summer that would become even hotter by the attack from hell in the name of VENOM who were headlining the Rock 'Em All festival. At first, this festival was going to be held on Lycabettus Theater, a cool breeze place upon a green hill (with 40 degrees temperature it would be nice to be there), but due to some bureaucracy issues the venue changed and we found ourselves at Technopolis, in the middle of Athens that was burning up under a hot summer sun. Technopolis is not designed to host Heavy Metal concerts for sure; everybody was trying to find a shadow and some water to overcome the extreme heat. We had many questions and doubts about the billing for this festival that included bands from different Metal styles. It's hard to combine bands like LACUNA COIL and PAIN OF SALVATION with ICED EARTH and VENOM. Either way, many beautiful female figures, slightly dressed, made the wait for VENOM a lot easier and even hotter...'hotter than hell', I might add. It was 5 o'clock and about 500 people had already gathered to watch PAIN OF SALVATION.

[Yiannis D.]: The Swedish Prog metallers were the ones that took on the role of opening the show and warming up the crowd.

The love that the Greek metalheads have towards this band is known and PAIN OF SALVATION didn't have to do much in order to make people singing along and headbanging. I was one of them, since songs like Ashes, America and many other well known PAIN OF SALVATION tunes were more than welcome to my ears. The band was really energetic and was in constant communication with the crowd. We all know that Daniel can be a hell of a great frontman when he wants to (and he is always willing to drive the crowd crazy)! Except for the more than nice setlist, which contained most of the band's best songs, Daniel was also joking all the time with the other members following his craziness! All in all, the band satisfied me for one more time, even though such bands are 'made' to play when the sun goes down and not under a fucking hot sun that tore both us and the band apart.

PS: I don't know your opinion on Disco Queen, but I still 'dance' every time I listen to this song!

[Harry]: It's really awkward for a band like MOONSPELL to play live that early in the afternoon.

After almost 40 minutes of sound checking, something that I can extenuate since the band arrived just two hours - if I am correct - before their show, the 'Goth' metallers hit the stage. The sound in front of the scene was almost amazingly good. The band, despite their fatigue, gave everything they got. They have a big number of fans here in Greece and I think that, with this performance, more people are going to deal with them. My only complaint is the very short setlist. The crowd had a good time with old songs like Alma Mater and Opium. Their appearance on stage was one of the best we saw that night and, for one more time, Rebeiro proved what a big performer he is!

Of course MOONSPELL wouldn't leave the stage without playing their hit from their last album, and one of my least favorite songs, Scorpion Flower, where Rebeiro called a female Greek singer. I heard that her band is ready to release their debut album. She has a nice voice, so I hope the album is going to be nice, too. But all the good things don't last forever. MOONSPELL's time was up and I hope that I'm going to see them again having a longer setlist and not at daylight.

Here I would like to say something to those that were throwing bottles of water on stage. If you don't like a band just go back, drink a beer, sleep, talk to your friends, do something else! Us guys that are trying to take a picture and, of course, the band themselves didn't do anything to provoke an action like this one. Metal doesn't need those mindless fans, so do us all a favor and stay home.

[Yiannis D.]: After another long and tiring soundhceck, the Mathcore titans got on stage to play their first ever Greek show: MESHUGGAH, a band that I doubted if they could do as good as they do in their albums. Could they 'transmit' the energy they put out on every album? Yeah, there was some moshpits going on and many people have only the best words to say about the Swedish metallers. But why wasn't I satisfied at all?

You see, when you have a great success as a band you have to hit the road to make your music known and your status even bigger. But my honest opinion is that I got incredibly bored during their set. I can't say that they are the most energetic band I have seen on stage, since except for some headbanging, MESHUGGAH were kind of static. Playing songs from their latest release, ObZen, as well as hymns like Rational Gaze, they gave me the impression that they only earned their fans and no new people - unaware of this band - were attracted by their sound. That's only my opinion and nothing more...

[Harry]: Since MESSHUGAH was not my cup of tea, I preferred to sit back and drink a beer or two (or three) and wait for LACUNA COIL's turn. The sun was down by then, (at last!) and the band from Italy came out while their fans were cheering.

Anyone that waited just to see Scabia with a genuine female outfit is still waiting... Who knew that she would wear a shirt and a tie in a, let's say, Angus Young dressing style? Despite some minor problems with the mix of the two voices, the overall sound was good (as in the whole festival). Their fans had a good time, listening to old songs like Heaven's A Lie, Swamped and some from their newest album like Fragile, To The End, Our Truth and the cover to DEPECHE MODE's Enjoy The Silence; a cover that, to tell you the truth, I don't like much.

A good live performance, but I don't think that they managed to attract new fans. The bad moment of LACUNA COIL's performance is that some Metal fans started shouting ...ICED EARTH...ICED EARTH...!!! before they finished their set.

[Yiannis D.]: It was MY time. It was time for the Florida metallers to hit the stage and show some pure and unadulterated Metal to the Greek audience. The fact that Matt Barlow is back in ICED EARTH was definitely the main reason for thousands of metalheads to pay a visit to Technopolis and witness a Heavy Metal manifesto!

The first notes of Dark Saga came out of the speakers and I got into the crowd for a headbanging experience and everything was almost as magical as it should be.

Barlow was a bit 'tighter' since he hasn't got the ease he once had on stage, but he is still the one and only ICED EARTH frontman. His voice is still as amazing as it was and he proved that with his incredible performance on songs like Pure Evil (fucking Metal hymn!), My Own Savior and Travel In Stygian. What was slightly disappointing was his performance on two Ripper-era songs. His choice (or Schaffer's choice) to sing Declaration Day and Ten Thousand Strong was not such a successful one. I prefer Ripper's vocals on these songs.

So, the band was pretty good and passionate on stage, though they have definitely seen better days. The fact is I cannot be totally objective since this was the first time I saw ICED EARTH performing live and I can say that I was completely satisfied by their show. For people that have seen them in the past, the show was probably just OK.

[Grigoris]: A change of seasons, obviously...by the time the technicians were trying to set everything in order for VENOM to hit the stage, many many fans were already in the process of leaving the venue. Kinda reasonable (on one hand), since the British legends are really 'rust' news for metalheads(?) aged between e.g. 17-24. On the other hand, would any 'minded' fan say no to watch the gig of a band partially responsible for the existence of the whole 'extreme' Metal circuit? MOONSPELL's Fernando Ribeiro stood on the side of the stage banging to VENOMs music, while e.g. the Portuguese band's fans chose the other way round, omitting the chance to watch out for some living history of Metal.

If Jeff Mantas Dunn_Tony Abaddon Bray were also on the trek, we'd be talking 'bout a hell yeah! event, but - facts proved - between to cases it was obviously for our benefit to have Cronos in the center of the stage. Along him, his brother Antony Antton did appear behind the drum kit with newly-recruited Rage handling the six-string-goddess. The front pit was not fully-packed - o tempora, o mores... - when VENOM did burst out with Black Metal. Total chaos in the front rows, with enough of moshing and 'crowd surfing'(kinda weird in my eyes, since I 'receive' VENOM's music more as a 'ritual personal-banging' ceremony and less as a 'Bay Area moshpit' event), while the mid_back rows were attending (most of them, not all) with a certain scope of curiosity, I'd say.

Anyway, in a little-bit-less-than-proper VENOM sound (meaning total chaos, but with Rages guitar quite clean for the songs' standards) Cronos and Co. delivered a string of classics like Black Metal, Bloodlust, Warhead, Seven Gates Of Hell, Don't Burn The Witch, Live Like An Angel (Die Like A Devil) and Countess Bathory, along with current pieces like Straight To Hell (from their 2008 release, Hell) and Antechrist (from 2006's album, Metal Black). The band seemed to enjoy it, even if there was a certain aura, at times, possibly having to do with what occurred next on: they were told that they had ten minutes to wrap up their set, I imagined they were kinda 'let down' they would not perform their setlist in its entirety (maybe that was my idea, again...who knows?). So, Warhead and (encore) Witching Hour topped off and (with sporadic fireworks explosions throughout their less-than-an-hour show) VENOM left the stage quite fast, then to comeback just to applaud (what was left from) the spectators.

Summary: VENOM's setlist (what they managed to perform, at least) was ideal, the sound was - in general - as needed, Cronos was a huge figure in front of us with only a couple of words to confirm what a demon he is (...we love yaaaaaaaaa...), his compatriots stood proud (but nothing more), and - most of all - I think VENOM was the only band in this fest bringing 'evil' Metal (the way 'evil' was brewed 30 years ago in Newcastle upon Tyne, England). What a pity, now thinking: were they too loud for the Athenian crowd?

[Yiannis Z.]: 30 minutes after midnight and what can anybody say after the satanic attack that VENOM unleashed upon us? The ritual had ended and we drag our corpses away from Technopolis, with Cronos still in our ears mumbling some demonic curses while true 'venom' did flow in our veins. I confess, the main reason I came to 'Rock 'Em All' Festival was VENOM.

As said in the beginning, the complexity of the festival's billing made many of e.g. the younger LACUNA COIL and ICED EARTH fans to leave before VENOM hit the stage. Of course the fact that the time schedule of this festival went really bad made the bands to play shorter setlists, a thing that really sucks. I know that the people that organized this festival made their best, but the venue itself was a weird choice. The sound was somehow awkward, with the ICED EARTH set as an exception; nothing new to the Greek metalheads. Three thousand people witnessed 'Rock 'Em All' Festival and i dunno if they'll have many things to remember, except of the ultimate 'evil' form of Cronos (and his boots from hell, of course!) and the beautiful Metal girls that made us feel great during this hot sweaty day..I think we need some vacations!

(Photos by Nikolas Dolkas and the Temple Legions)

PAIN OF SALVATION

MOONSPELL

MESHUGGAH

LACUNA COIL

ICED EARTH

VENOM