Chania Rock Festival // Chania, Crete, Greece // 15-17.07.2016
3 days of beautiful rock music on the beautiful island of Crete. I’m talking about the incredibly strong Chania Rock Festival taking place for the past decade at the old port of the city of Chania. The location itself is so beautiful, that the view takes your breath away! Probably one of the best places for a festival. The wind’s direction was the only problem for the crowd, with dust getting into peoples’ eyes the whole time. But that wasn’t something big compared to the perfect organization of the festival and the killer names from the Greek scene and abroad. But let’s gather up our memories and present them to you so that you can get a basic idea of what took place in that crazy weekend.
FRIDAY 15/7 – PRE-FESTIVAL DAY
The pre-festival day, had a local band contest that was held for the first time, and is dedicated to the memory of the late George Manouselis. George Manouselis, was one of the founders of the Chania Rock Festival and a very important figure for the city of Chania in terms of music and concerts. This is the moment where we take a second and say a big “thank you” to this guy. The winning band of this competition was given the George Manouselis award. The interesting part of the competition was that the audience was asked to scream for the band that they liked the most, and the committee had a decibel-meter indicating the number of decibels for every band participating. And the band with the most decibels, won the competition. The contestants were SORDEM (progressive/alternative/grunge that took the crowd by storm with their sense of humour and jam feeling) , IRON FLAMES (heavy/power metal, very good approach to the sound and very good stage presence), HIDE N SEEK (an alternative band in the vein of System Of A Down with a killer bassist) and LEGACY (NWOBHM-styled band, that showed up less prepared than the rest of the contestants) and then there was the band that stood well-ahead of the rest (even though they were all decent sounding). DEMENTIA was that band, a melodic death/djent group that took the stage and left lots to be promised with its professionalism, balanced sound on stage and good songwriting skills. Rightfully so, they won and got to be the opening act of day 1! All the best to the bands that participated. YPOGEIA REVMATA (Underground Flows in Greek), a rock band with Greek lyrics followed to end the pre-fest day with a one-hour set.
SATURDAY 16/7 – DAY 1
So, day one of the festival and here we are again! Dementia starting the day and killed it, just like the day before. Up next, our dose of heavy metal the Greek way: DIVINER. Formed by members of INNERWISH they got on the stage and played to their absolute best despite the sun and the sound issues. “Fallen Empires”, “Kingdom Come”, “Evilizer”, “Riders From the East”, “Come Into My Glory” and “The Shadow and the Dark” off their killer debut “Fallen Empires” got the crowd moving for the first time in the day. And one thing I have to notice is that the crowd every day was a lot bigger than last year, let alone 2-3 years back. Which means this event will keep on getting bigger and better every year. Speaking of heavy metal, lets get to the originators of the craft: The United Kingdom.
PRAYING MANTIS, the legendary NWOBHM band took the stage and shook us all for good. I’m always impressed when old and underground bands, don’t back down and keep on rocking the stages when given the chance, and that’s what those guys did. “Fight for Your Honour”, “Panic in the Streets”, “Praying Mantis”, “Highway”, “Believable”, “Dream On”, “Children of the Earth” and “Captured City” took us back in the 80s and the times when heavy metal had just been invented as a heavier version of hard rock.
Up next, the pop/rock act of the day, CUTTING CREW. A sign of how open-minded this fest could be, 80s pop/rock with lots of beautiful melodies by one of the best guitarists of the day, making his guitar sing! The songs we heard in that set were “One For The Mockingbird”, “Till The Money Run$ Out”, “Living for the City (Stevie Wonder cover)”, “I’ve Been In Love Before”, “No Problem Child”, “(I Just) Died In Your Arms” (mega 80s hit, that EVERYONE knew by heart), “The One I Love (R.E.M. cover)”, “Play with Fire (Rolling Stones cover)”. They were that bit of different note that festival needed, and a really nice contrast right before the heaviest band of the day, which was ROTTING CHRIST.
The Greek legends, with a very limited set that left out “Non Serviam”, yet mostly promoted the “Rituals” record, managed to get the people of Chania to mosh with them and sing along till they’ve had no voice left. We heard songs from “Rituals” (“Ze Nigmar”, “For A Voice Like Thunder”, “Elthe Kyrie”, “Apage Satana”) “Kata Ton Daimona Eautou” (“In Yumen Xibalba”, “Kata Ton Daimona Eautou”, “Grandis Spiritus Diavolos”), “Theogonia” (“Nemecic”), “Sanctus Diavolos” (“Athanatoi Este”), “Thy Mighty Contract” (“The Sign Of Evil Existence”), “Passage To Arcturo” (“The Forest Of N’Gai”) and the trademark Thou Art Lord cover of “Societas Satanas”. It seemed though as it had ended way too soon, without some classics like “King Of A Stellar War” for instance. That didn’t stop them from ruling the stage with all their longtime experience.
Now with a band that the writer had no connection to whatsoever, but were warmly welcomed: THERAPY? from Ireland. That alternative punk rock power-trio came as another contrast right after Rotting Christ, which pretty much left the hardcore fans of the band at the front row. But no one left, yet stayed to see the last band perform. We heard songs from their albums “Troublegum” (“Die Laughing” “Knives” “Nowhere” “Screamager” “Trigger Inside”, “Turn”, “Unbeliever”), “Disquiet” (“Deathstimate”, “Still Hurts”), “Infernal Love” (“Misery”, “Stories”), “Nurse” (“Nausea”, “Teethgrinder”), two covers (“Diane” by Hüsker Dü, “Isolation” by Joy Division), “Never Apologise Never Explain” (“This Ship Is Sinking”) and “Pleasure Death” (Potato Junkie). One of the songs (can’t recall the song), was dedicated to Lemmy Kilmister, as a token of appreciation for everything he had offered to the scene. Thus ended the first day of the fest, with people dancing and smiling to the sounds of those happy Irish people!
SUNDAY 17/7 – DAY 2
The final day of the fest began with one of the best live bands of the Athenian thrash metal scene: EXARSIS. With songs off the latest release “The Human Project” (“False Flag Attack”, “Skull And Bones”), “The Brutal State” (“Under Destruction”, “Toxic Terror”, “Surveillance Society”) and “Under Destruction” (“Dying Earth” on which their bassist moshed with the early birds in the crowd), they delivered the goods like they were supposed to. Can’t wait to hear new stuff from that line up of the band, they absolutely kill it on stage.
Time for a change of pace with CRAZY LIXX, a hard rock outfit from Sweden. Rocking out mood, good songwriting and killer riffs are the key to a bands’ success in the genre, and CRAZY LIXX know that all too well. Their set consisted of the following tracks: “Rock and a Hard Place”, “Hell Raising Women”, “Riot Avenue”, “Sound of the Loud Minority”, “Blame It on Love”, “Heroes Are Forever”, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”, “Girls of the 80’s” and “21 Til I Die”. The band seemed to enjoy the sun and the heat and the audience positively responded to that. Crazy Lixx are pretty much how US hard rock should be before the posers of the glam scene killed it with their sappyness. Balls-out and all-killer-no-filler!
Time to go a bit faster with MYSTIC PROPHECY, the hard working power metal 4-piece from Germany. With a set containing songs off “Killhammer” (“Killhammer”, “Kill The Beast”), “Savage Souls” (“Savage Souls”, “Evil Empires”), “War Brigade” (“Metal Brigade”, “The Crucifix”), “Ravenlord” (“Ravenlord”) and the ultimate Black Sabbath classic cover of “Paranoid”, they shook our voices and necks for good! RD Liapakis is probably one of the best voices I’ve ever witnessed live in terms of power metal. He’s got that rock n roll feel in his voice that really makes him stand out among his high-pitched counterparts. “Metal Brigade”‘s chorus was sung twice before ending the set, giving every one in the crowd a good reason to smile widely.
The last hard rock band of the fest, are TYKETTO from US. Celebrating 25 years of their debut “Don’t Come Easy” they played it in its entirety, but with a twist: they played it backwards. Something Metallica did with “Black Album” some years ago. Interesting approach I’d say. On the bands anthemic song “Forever Young” San Salvatore simply shook to its very foundations from the singing voices during the chorus! The bands’ original frontman was in the best mood possible, making jokes with the rest of his bandmates and overall having a blast on stage, leaving promises for a new Tyketto album soon. I’d just hope they come again for a gig, cause I truly enjoyed them.
Time for the headliner and one band that’s in the writers’ personal top 5: KREATOR. Do the German thrash gods need any introduction whatsoever? One of the most beloved thrash bands in Greece. Showing their appreciation towards the 30th anniversary of “Pleasure To Kill”, they began their show with “Choir Of The Damned”, before kicking in with “Enemy Of God” and setting San Salvatore on fire, since a flare was lit in the mosh pit!
That night we heard songs off “Phantom Antichrist” (“Mars Mantra/Phantom Antichrist”, “From Flood Into Fire”, “Civilization Collapse” and “Until Our Paths Cross Again” as an outro for the gig) “Hordes Of Chaos” (“Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue For The Elite)”, “Warcurse”), “Enemy Of God” (“Suicide Terrorist”), “Violent Revolution” (“The Patriarch/Violent Revolution”), “Outcast” (“Phobia”), “Extreme Aggression” (“Extreme Aggressions”, “Betrayer”) “Flag Of Hate” EP (“Awakening Of The Gods”), “Pleasure To Kill” (“Pleasure To Kill”), “Endless Pain” (“Flag Of Hate”, “Endless Pain”).
Everybody in KREATOR simply killed it as usual, Mille thanked us once more for being around and having a great time with Kreator, and said that Kreator are currently in Sweden recording their brand new album, due to be released 27th January 2017 (write down the date thrashers!). Apart from all that though, there’s something that we need to point out: bands like Kreator, who have been in the scene for 30+ years, have so much experience on stage that not only do they know how to play, but also what to play to keep everyone happy. The connection of “Awakening Of The Gods”, “Endless Pain” and “Warcurse” should be included in a “how to kill on stage” seminar. Or the connection of “Violent Revolution” and “Pleasure To Kill”, “Flag Of Hate” and “Betrayer”. This is something that separates the greats from everyone else. Kreator will always be great, and every time they step on any given stage, they prove it like it’s the easiest thing in the world. In Mille Petrozza we trust!
Bottom line, exceptional organization, killer bands and apart from the bass being really loud, the sound was way better than any of the festivals I’ve attended over the years. So till next time, KEEP ROCKING CHANIA!
In memory of George Manouselis (R.I.P.)
Photos: George Koukoulakis (Rock Hard)