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Report: Skyclad + Support Acts – Thessaloniki, Greece

Manos Spanos
The day was Monday and the start of the week wasn’t the usual one. There aren’t many live gigs that take place on a weekday and this gig was really a special one. Skyclad would appear on Thessaloniki after 16 years from their latest gig in Greece. Back then I was a diehard fan of death metal and wouldn’t care much for a heavy metal gig, although I did appreciate the music of Skyclad. And of course all of my friends laughed at me because it was a great gig and as they said: “It was more a party than a live concert”. I did regret it, even the band themselves was in awe of that night as they have stated. So the time was right and I was about to witness the energy of a Skyclad’s live appearance. I arrived at the venue half an hour before the support acts appeared on stage. So I drunk a couple of beers before Riffobia take their positions. The band was from Trikala and as I have informed they were playing thrash metal. Indeed they deliver and they did it excellent. The four-piece thrash act with great sound was a great opening for the night. For almost 45 minutes the speakers blew their thrash attack and it was awesome. The binding of their music was beautiful for a local band and I enjoyed every second of them. The crowd was not more than 100 people but the warm up for our necks was perfect. The sound once more was flawless; the crew of Eightball Club does great job referring to sound of their live gigs. Dark Nightmare was the next act to perform. They appeared with a keyboard intro and immediately their epic heavy metal filled the venue. Consisting of five members, the Grevena’s pride played for us their set for about an hour. I confess I am not a fan of their genre, though I must say that the band seemed that they worked really hard to get to this level. And especially the riffs that were fired from both of the guitarists were excellent. At last their stage performance was absolutely magnificent and they received the love of the crowd generously. The clock was setting several minutes after ten and I found myself in agony to watch the folk/heavy metal gods called Skyclad. The attendance got to the maximum right before they appeared on stage and it must have been around 300 people. For the day – as I said weekdays are difficult for a concert – this number is satisfactory, but for the price you had to pay to see such an historical band it seemed we were few. Without any more delay the first riffs of “Spinning Jenny” filled the room and the crowd went frenzy. Immediately with a small introductory of the song, “Earth Mother, The Sun And The Furious Host” sounded from the speakers and the beautiful fiddle melodies were like a sweet wine for our ears. The beginning of the show was a sign that this could be a long and beautiful night. A precognition that would come true after the two hours concert came to an end. The third song, “Skyclad”, as Kevin Ridley said revealed the band’s name; if there was anyone that didn’t know it already. The continuation was as powerful and energetic as the start of the show. Mr. Ridley made some presentations of the members and then they played a couple of songs from their latest albums. Two of them came from the non-Martin Walkyier era. And as much as I missed his presence in the band, I didn’t notice his absence at all through the whole duration of the concert. “Cardboard City” began a small journey of six songs to the earliest albums of the band and everyone was having a great time. The band was enjoying every moment of the show as well as the crowd did too. From “T
05 min read

Report: The Vision Bleak, Caelestia – Athens, Greece

Manos Spanos
It is a great week for the Athenian metal fans, as The Vision Bleak are visiting our country for the very first time, being part of the large number of great bands who include Greece in their tour destinations. The band is about to perform in Kyttaro, supported by the Greek melodic metal band Caelestia. The Vision Bleak, as well as Caelestia, have released their latest records in the past year, and are about to present them in front of the fans this Saturday night. Let’s take a look at what happened last night, the night we partied hard with the living dead… The show started on time, as planned, with only about the half of the fans showing up early to watch the support band (a usual behavior for the fans and a negative one too). Caelestia walked on stage and began the set of their show. For those who are not familiar with Caelestia, the band (previously named ‘Me and Myself’) is a band characterized as a melodic metal one, including gothic metal elements in their sound. The band is mostly female-fronted, but male vocals (mostly brutal) are included in their songs too. ‘Last Wish’ is the title of the debut record of the band, released in 2013, with a few important guest musicians to participate in. Caelestia performed songs off ‘Last Wish’, as well as new ones. With a forty minutes setlist, the band performed with energy and a great mood. The members were well coordinated and tied perfectly together. At first, there was a major problem in the sound; I wasn’t able to hear the lead guitar. The problem got solved and the sound became better after a couple of songs, as the performance progressed. The ideas, which Caelestia present as a band are great, however the great minus in the live performance of the songs is, in my opinion, the large number of pre-recorded vocals. The guest musicians in the records are great, however, on stage, I feel that the lead vocals should be sang by a member of the band. That would be better for the fans and it will hopefully help the band with their live performance. Caelestia ended their set powerfully and the time for The Vision Bleak to perform has come. Konstanz, Schwadorf and their on stage musicians walked on stage, beginning their set with Hexenmeister. We had the chance to hear a lot of songs off ‘Witching Hour’, as well as of their past releases. ‘Night of the living Dead’, ‘Wolfmoon’, ‘The Deathship Symphony’ and ‘Kutulu’ are only some of the songs we had the chance to hear yesterday. The sound was great, except the fact that Schwadorf’s microphone should be a little louder, so as to be able to sing better the secondary vocals. The Vision Bleak are great performers. They totally surprised us with the great energy of Konstanz on stage. He can act like an actor as far as his facial expression is concerned and as a great singer as far as his voice is concerned. The band was perfectly bonded, totally shaking the stage while performing fast and groovy, as well as in the slower, doom metal parts. The fans sang along in most of the show, with ‘Kutulu’ and ‘The Deathship Symphony’ to be the best moments of their large live set. The show ended and I felt the need that The Vision Bleak needed to perform more, despite the one hour and a half of their show. Usually, only a few bands of the specific music genre manage to deliver a perfectly version of their songs, because of the pre-recorded keyboard parts and the orchestra. However, The Vision Bleak was prepared for everything, having worked on every detail for a live performance. Closing the report, I would like to congratulate both bands about the amazing night and wish the greatest wishes for the future!
04 min read

Report: Red Fang + Support Acts – Athens, Greece

Manos Spanos
It seems to me that these days stoner rock/sludge metal is going up. Bands like Clutch, Kyuss, Orange Goblin are gaining more and more fans each and every day. And many of us didn’t see it coming, but there you have it! Friday night was going to be another stoner party for the Athenians! Red Fang, after only eight months since their last appearance in Athens with Cancer Bats, decided to do another gig along with fellow Americans The Shrine and Lord Dying. I showed up at the venue a bit early. The doors opened on time at about 8:30 and the few of us that were there chose our spots and got comfortable. The fact that by the time Lord Dying were about to start the number of people hadn’t increased had me a bit worried. Thankfully though, I was proven wrong later on. And cue for the first band of the night! Lord Dying took the stage and without wasting time begun their set. I must admit that I wasn’t familiar with them before the live, and I’m guessing that this goes for many attendants, but they did quite a decent job, warning up the few of us. Even though the sound wasn’t on their side, their interesting mix of sludge/doom with kind of thrash vocals kept us going for forty minutes, with songs from their debut album “Summon The Faithless”. Fifteen minutes break and I was ready for The Shrine. Rock n roll with punk rhythms, the trio from California was certainly a blast! With better sound and bigger crowd below them, The Shrine rocked us well with songs from the debut album “Primitive Blast” as well as from the upcoming “Bless Off”. Singer/guitarist Josh Landau even started joking about their previous show in Athens, when they ended up in a police department. Eventually we found out that the police officers didn’t like Judas Priest (the horror!), but they did like Manowar, and Landau dedicated to them “Bless Off”. Forty minutes later, they closed their set with the new “Nothing Forever”, with pits forming in the crowd and with the impressions and expectations for the future. The hour had finally come. With a brand new album released, Red Fang paid a visit to Greece for the fourth time, for those unlucky ones who were unable to see them in June. And once again they caused havoc! Yelling, crowd-surfing, mosh pits, broken cymbals, the show had it all! The start was powerful with “Hank Is Dead”, “Voices Of The Dead” and “DOEN” triggering the enthusiasm. And the band showed why their live shows have the impact they do. They gave their best self (even though the sound was a bit off in the beginning and I couldn’t hear the vocals most of the time from the spot where I was standing), headbanging like crazy, guiding the crowd when needed, joking around about their songs of sharks, birds, dogs and other beings of the animal kingdom. “Number Thirteen”, “Dirt Wizard”, “Shark”, “Crows In Swine”, “Blood Like Cream” and “Wires” were a few of the songs that were played that night. Around half an hour past midnight the show was about to end with nothing else but “Good To Die” and “Prehistoric Dog”, among the cheering and applauding of approximately 600 fans.
04 min read