I sure wish we could have more one day festivals here in Sweden too. But most of the tries end up in not enough people showing up or not an interesting enough line-up is presented to bother to go there. You know, it can take a good while to get from one side to the other in this long cold country. It was VICIOUS RUMORS that made me go to Holland this time and as always they rocked everyone's socks off. But more about that later...
German NEVERMORE rip-off COURAGEOUS opened the whole day. Or rip-off is wrong to say but they do have similarities with the aforementioned band.

But mostly because the music is dark, thrashy and melodic on the same time and features some really outstanding guitar playing. Also, Chris Staubach varies his voice from darkest of the dark to really melodic and of course there's a touch of Warrel Dane in it all. Still, the similarities with the Seattle bunch have faded the last years and COURAGEOUS have absolutely their own identity by now. It's actually wrong to refer just to one band because there are other elements of so much more in their music. Some Old School German Thrash can be traced together with much more modern styles from the same country. Previously, unreleased track Congenital Defect tells of a promising future with its brutal nature and frantic back tracks. I doubt this gig was planned, more like the organizers just letting them play since they weren't announced at all until a couple of days before the festival but putting COURAGEOUS first on the bill was a good move because they did a really good job getting the still quite small crowd started. I guess in one way COURAGEOUS is just another band out there; one that qualifies in the category of not getting enough credit and recognition for what they do.

Up until this tour I've sort of counted them out as nothing special too, but they sure proved that they have something to offer for the Metal scene. Normally, I think a cover-song is wasting valuable stage-time, unless it's something really spectacular I rather am without it. But from time to time it works, and when you slaughter (I guess the original composers would have felt that way at least) the song far beyond recognition it can actually be really cool. I never for my life could imagine Yellow Submarine as a Metal track, it had groove, attitude and it sure made everyone smile and brought on some sporadic headbanging here and there in the venue. That's not all that was to it, my thought was that all sound effects were on back tracks but that would have been throwing cred's in the wrong direction. Again Oliver Lohmann showed that he has full control over his guitar since everything was coming from him and nothing else.

After the complete mangling COURAGEOUS offered everyone present, US Metallers ARCTIC FLAME hit the stage. They were as true as it got with influences from RUNNING WILD, MANOWAR or any new band in the German True Metal school.

Their music was quite flat and boring to start with and after the excellence COURAGEOUS served I'm sorry to say it but ARCTIC FLAME had too big a pair of shoes to fill. But they were actually fun to watch, it's always something special about the naivety with new bands that's madly captivating and even if it's not musically perfect it's absolutely enjoyable to see them play.

On the second half of the concert something happened though. Singer Dave Lowe announced next song as Green Lady Of The Hill. The song included more folksy influences and somehow the band tossed and turned and raised a few steps and the music got really pleasurable to listen to too. But this young band still has a lot to learn and quite a long way to go to match the others on the bill but I'm really curious to see how they'll develop along the way.

One is not spoilt with British Metal bands. After the NWOBHM era the number of new bands showing off their skills has been very limited, at least compared with other countries in Europe.

SHADOW KEEP made some headlines in the music-press when the millennium was new and I truly love their first full length album Corruption Within. Even if the vocal performance by Rouge Marechel is very questionable from time to time on that album, it works. The songs are good enough and his oddity sort of brought soul to the music. There's no doubt that Richie Wicks is a way more stable singer than Rouge ever was but with that they lost some of their personality. Musically there's absolutely nothing to complain on with SHADOW KEEP. Their FATES WARNING smelling Prog_Power Metal sounds almost perfect but without Rouge's character the music got very plain, it didn't stand out as much as it used to. With less personality in the music the impression was left for the performance instead. I don't think SHADOW KEEP made any strong marks there, either. Ok, it's hard to move around on such a small stage but frankly, the other bands managed that a lot better than SHADOW KEEP.

Through an open minded perspective SHADOW KEEP sounded really good though and their new album The Hourglass Effect sounds really promising but if it is album of the yearas was claimed by a lot of people in the venue I don't know. I need to dig deeper into that before I say anything but the songs performed out of that album sure as hell was top quality. The balance between the instruments was close to perfect, guitar players Chris Allen and Nicki Robson did a really good job but Chris needs to get out of the shadows and show off at least half as much as Nicki did. These are really trifles to mark out but that I really noticed it all means something was missing. Can't really put my finger on what, could have been the competition and just that the other bands just made stronger impressions on me.

It took some Swedish Metal to give COURAGEOUS a match; WOLF hit the stage as second to last of the second edition of 'Mario's Metal Meeting'. To my surprise Nicke Viper Stelvind sounded more like the old days; his voice was a little meaner and whinier than it has been for a while. More like the old days that is. And yes, that is a good thing. Perhaps not for every singer but for WOLF it's absolutely something really good.

The energy coming out from stage was contagious. At least so I thought and a few joined in with me but most of the crowd was still sleeping (or hanging in one of the many bars perhaps). This is something that I don't get; the place was getting quite full by now but WOLF still had problems getting response from the crowd, I've never seen that before. Normally, they only need to get up on stage and start rocking and things start happening on the floor too. Sure, a few were right on but most were still just hanging out little laid back around the walls of the venue. Not even when Anders Tornado Modd jumped off stage, into the crowd made any bigger impact.

Sure, the ones in the front were thrilled but his way back to the stage didn't make any effect on anyone in his way. Musically, WOLF were as good as they always are, or in fact even better. I certainly prefer Richard Holmgren behind the drums instead of Tobias Kjellgren who didn't have the drive and attitude required for WOLF's music. Else everything was as good as always, Johannes Yxan Losbock and Anders dueled in posing behind Nicke. It was a hard match but Yxan won in the end. I can't think something that WOLF did different this time and why the crowd never woke up.

To me it's completely out of mind how VICIOUS RUMORS aren't bigger than they are today. 'Underrated' doesn't describe it one bit. Consistency and harmony though might not be two common words in the VICIOUS RUMORS camp since it more than once has been hard words on forums and news sites from former members of the band. Still, Geoff Thorpe's persistence is admirable, that he once more managed to put the band together after the 'Warball-tour''s quite rough ending. I must admit I was quite disappointed finding that out since I ranked Warball as one of the absolute best albums of 2006 and the concerts were nothing but killer, all of them. So, could VICIOUS RUMORS live up to their own reputation with this new line up? That Geoff, Larry Howe (drums) and Stephen Goodwin (bass) were going to go was no real surprise. They form a stable ground and they stuck to their standards. One difference this time was that Stephen really took on his position, he's a super talented musician but the way he acted on stage and with the attitude he was playing there's no doubt he's into this to more than 100%. Right beside him new guitar player Kiyoshi Morgan shone. Perhaps his tone is a little bit too aggressive sometimes but I don't mind at all that he put his own touches to the songs. That always boosts the live feeling, when it's the same base but a little coloring to make it feel more live.

No matter how much I love James Rivera as a singer but there are no doubts that Ronnie Stixx's vocal range suites VICIOUS RUMORS better. He can do the delicate parts extraordinary and he still manages the heavier tunes from Warball. With Ronnie in the lineup VICIOUS RUMORS can dig deep into the treasure chest of the back-catalogue and add another 30 minutes to their set.

Six Stepsisters and On The Edge are both super and I truly enjoyed every second of them. But what if Dust To Dust or Worlds And Machines could pop up on the set list next time, that would be awesome. Of course together with a couple of new tracks because the rumors say that Geoff and his crew have a new album in the making that hopefully will see light of day in a not too distant future. I dare to say that this is the best line up of VICIOUS RUMORS to date, at least since the version with Carl Albert at the microphone. It feels bad to slam the Warball-lineup that I've praised so many times but the fact is that today's version of VICIOUS RUMORS pretty much started where the last one ended when it comes to connection, co-operation and overall band feeling. At least from a beholders position but that is what counts when it comes to the whole experience. So it's going to be really exciting to see where they are at the next tour, how much they've grown since it was hard to believe that VICIOUS RUMORS should be back once more, at least as strong as they were but they sure are and I'm absolutely psyched to see what will happen next.

So, another night of Metal passed by, way too fast; I guess that's the way it is when there's great music on stage and nice people in the crowd. 013 Kline Zaal offered a pleasant atmosphere even if it was really hard to find the way to the 'Bat Cave' where the merchandise were supposed to be. With some direction from the locals an even smaller club inside the club appeared and I surely hope I'll get to hang out here more times even if my overall experiences of Tilburg weren't all good. Who was the best band of the day then? It's pretty clear that the title should go to VICIOUS RUMORS but not this time. They were great as always, even a little better but that wasn't such a big surprise after all. The band that stood out, that completely blew me away and managed to convince me with a great margin that they're great and can blow most every other band of the stage both musically and visually deserves to win, so band of the festival was COURAGEOUS.

(photos by warball Erika)

COURAGEOUS

ARCTIC FLAME

SHADOW KEEP

WOLF

VICIOUS RUMORS