Climbing Olympus with the Gods of Metal

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Rok Klemše

Location: Milan / Idroscalo / Italy
Concert date: 06.06.2007
Attendance: 3000

In the eleven years since its first incarnation in 1997, Italy’s Gods of Metal festival has grown into one of the biggest summer music festivals in Europe. Every year Gods of Metal serves up the biggest names in metal and rock, and this year was no different, with the festival split into two parts. On June 2, Milan’s Idroscalo park turned into a proper paradise for glam fans and rockers, while the second day, June 3, was tailor-made for lovers of thrashier rhythms.

The gigs kicked off early on Sunday morning, and since we were busy hunting for the venue, we missed the first band on the bill, Italy’s Sinestia. Once the formalities were out of the way, we caught the last moments of a half-hour set by DGM, Italian hopefuls of progressive power metal. What we got to hear was a quality, confident show that, sadly, doesn’t stand out all that much from the flood of similar bands. DGM (by the way, if you’re wondering what the hell the name means – it’s the initials of the three founding members, Diego Gianfranco Maurizio) said a quick goodbye, and it was time for a fast look around the grounds, which, thanks to Saturday’s rain, brought back the worst moments of Rock Otočec. A proper mud pit, in other words. The Italian organization of Gods of Metal isn’t known as the best, quite the opposite, and this year’s festival only confirmed that. Despite the bad weather forecast, the organizers apparently didn’t think it worthwhile to protect at least the area right in front of the stage from turning into a muddy puddle. The sky-high prices for drinks and food deserve a scolding too, as does the fact that there wasn’t a single seat on the enormous grounds where you could catch your breath after a whole day on your feet. Ah well, if Gods of Metal didn’t book such huge bands, the scandalous organization alone would have sunk it into oblivion long ago.

Anathema: 12:30 – 13:05
Enough with the details, though – we went to Milan for the music, and that was served up in huge, high-quality portions. The first major band of the festival, Britain’s Anathema, took the stage around half past twelve. Anathema count as one of the first groups of the doom/death genre, but unfortunately (at least for me), much like their countrymen Paradise Lost, they’ve left the doom/death sound in the past and now play a sort of atmospheric rock that, to my ears at least, just doesn’t do it for me. Anathema did pull off their set more than excellently, the sound and the crowd were on their side too, but personally, slow, sleepy and rather static rock didn’t win me over. Then again, the sleepless night and the Iron Maiden show the day before are probably partly to blame. I missed some older stuff, anything from The Silent Enigma or Eternity, but sadly Anathema only gave us newer material. With how sleepy I was, I’d have welcomed a tune of the Bedanč variety, something like “Bolj na poskok!”

Symphony X: 13:30 – 14:20
Luckily, right after Anathema came the eagerly awaited champions of progressive metal, America’s Symphony X. Just these days the prog metal giants released their seventh studio album, the fantastic Paradise Lost, and they presented it on Sunday too. This incredible crew, led by the phenomenal vocalist Russell Allen, is simply breathtaking on stage. Allen sounds unbelievable live, he sang every song with so much feeling, shining on the high parts as well as the more aggressive vocals, and he built a real connection with the Gods of Metal crowd, for whom Symphony X are old acquaintances (this was their third time at the festival). I also bow to both of the “wire men”, the phenomenal guitarist Michael Romeo and bassist Mike LePond, who wowed us with a superb intro solo in the new song Domination. Symphony X impressed even the casual listeners, sent the fans into ecstasy anyway, and I’m already counting the days until the autumn shows with Dream Theater. The only downside of the Symphony X set? It was too short!

Symphony X setlist:
1. Intro (Oculus Ex Inferni)
2. Of Sins and Shadows
3. Domination
4. Inferno
5. Communion and the Oracle
6. Smoke and Mirrors
7. Set the World on Fire
8. The Serpent’s Kiss
9. Sea of Lies

Dark Tranquillity: 14:45 – 15:35
The Swedish forefathers and champions of melodic death metal are old friends of the festival too, having already played Gods of Metal back in 2000. This year the Swedes presented their excellent new album Fiction and thrilled the sizable crowd. Frontman Mikael Stanne was in great spirits, made full use of the stage, even climbed up on the side speakers, and kept praising the audience, who were eating out of his hand. Later on, Mikael even mixed in with the crowd and watched the rest of the festival from among them. Since Dark Tranquillity had just released Fiction, “sadly” most of the songs came from the current record. The album is great, but from The Gallery, next to the excellent Punish My Heaven that we did get, I’d have wanted at least the fantastic Lethe too. From the excellent Character we heard The New Build and My Negation, and if I’m being a bit picky, we could have had Lost to Apathy as well. All of that is small stuff, forgotten in the face of the band’s superb performance. The sound was a real surprise, because for Dark Tranquillity, just like for all the other acts, it was optimal, actually excellent. In previous years Gods of Metal wasn’t exactly known for the best sound.

Dark Tranquillity setlist:
1. Terminus (Where Death is Most Alive)
2. The Lesser Faith
3. The Treason Wall
4. The Wonders At Your Feet
5. Blind At Heart
6. Final Resistance
7. Punish My Heaven
8. Focus Shift
9. My Negation
10. The New Build

Dimmu Borgir: 16:00 – 17:00
Like many bands, the Norwegian black metal giants used the summer festivals to promote their new album In Sorte Diaboli, which even climbed to number one on the Norwegian national chart, becoming the first black metal record to pull that off. Dimmu Borgir aren’t exactly my cup of tea, so this time too I watched them from a bit of a distance. Honestly, I could barely hold back my laughter at the made-up little fellas in leather and spikes trying to look insanely evil and dangerous at four in the afternoon. They didn’t quite manage it – black metal simply belongs to the evening hours. Still, Dimmu Borgir delivered their set professionally and coldly, as black metallers should. Progenies of the Great Apocalypse, Spellbound (By the Devil) and the songs from the new album sounded pretty decent live, even though I’m far from a fan. What was truly funny was Dimmu Borgir at the meet and greet, where they stubbornly kept up their serious, gloomy faces, and bassist Vortex without the makeup looks like a good little mama’s boy…

Blind Guardian: 17:30 – 18:50
In just a few years, through persistence and excellent releases, Blind Guardian have grown into one of the biggest metal bands around. At their first visit to the festival in 1998 they were among the first acts on the bill, and this year they were not far from a headlining slot. Frontman Hansi was in unbelievably good spirits, addressing the crowd in their own language the whole time, and when he mentioned he’s partly of Italian descent himself, the Italians clearly melted. Sadly, Hansi’s vocal performance (again) faltered this time, because during the instrumental parts he kept running to the side of the stage, where a roadie was mixing him various concoctions. He swapped the highest notes for a hoarse vocal several times, but despite these shortcomings Hansi still remains one of the best metal vocalists. In an hour and a half, Blind Guardian strolled through the standard repertoire, which would be the bigger minus of their set. The only real surprise was This Will Never End from the current album, and it was lovely to hear the incredible epic about the Trojan war, And Then There Was Silence, again, although out of exhaustion I listened to it sitting down. During the extended “nananananana” part, it was truly something to hear a crowd of several thousand helping Hansi out. Blind Guardian said goodbye with the usual closer – The Bard’s Song, which still creates a magical atmosphere with the mass sing-along, and the excellent Mirror Mirror. The Blinds don’t lack much to headline festivals this big as well.

Blind Guardian setlist:
1. War of Wrath
2. Into the Storm
3. Born in a Mourning Hall
4. Nightfall
5. The Script For My Requiem
6. Fly
7. Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)
8. Valhalla
9. This Will Never End
10. And Then There Was Silence
11. Imaginations From the Other Side
— encore —
12. The Bard’s Song (In the Forest)
13. Mirror Mirror

Dream Theater: 19:20 – 20:50
Like Symphony X, Dream Theater just released one of the best albums of their career, Systematic Chaos. I was really looking forward to hearing one of the great tracks from the new record live, but the guys “disappointed” me. Dream Theater greeted us with the punchy, eternal classic Pull Me Under. After a few minutes of shredding, LaBrie announced that one of their albums turns fifteen next month, so they’d pay tribute to it by playing it in full, from A to Z… YES!!!! We heard the whole of Images & Words, the band’s groundbreaking record, which is also my personal favorite album of theirs. I was left speechless. With the incredible Another Day, Dream Theater took us on a magical hour of an unbelievable show that will be etched in my memory forever. LaBrie’s voice sounded indescribable on Sunday, he sang perfectly and put soul and heart into every single second! As for the band’s musical perfection, there’s no point wasting words anyway. A Dream Theater show is something unrepeatable, something you have to experience live. There’s no doubting the greatness of Images & Words either, and I finally got to hear the amazing Metropolis, which I missed so much in Ljubljana in 2005, and the gorgeous, almost never played ballad Wait For Sleep. Magical! Fantasy come to life… After thunderous applause and cheering from the crowd, Dream Theater said goodbye after playing the entire record, but of course came back and played Home and As I Am too. Sadly the set was a bit too short; they could easily have squeezed in a new song or two, but with Dream Theater you always want more and more anyway.

Dream Theater setlist:
1. Pull Me Under
2. Another Day
3. Take the Time
4. Surrounded
5. Metropolis Pt.1, The Miracle and the Sleeper
6. Under a Glass Moon
7. Wait For Sleep
8. Learning to Live
— encore —
9. Home
10. As I Am

Heaven & Hell: 21:30 – 23:30
A little after nine, the techs finally took over the stage and started setting up for the band we’d all been waiting for. Heaven & Hell, a.k.a. Black Sabbath, with the little giant of rock Ronnie James Dio up front and Appice behind the kit. Without them, the bands that played before them wouldn’t exist! We were in for a show by living legends! The stage for Heaven & Hell looked bombastic – Vinnie’s drum kit stood in the middle of the stage, with an iron railing on each side, in front of which stood Geezer and Iommi. Above Vinnie’s kit, three windows were raised up with various images projected onto them, mostly album covers featuring Dio. Minimalist, but still very effective. At half past nine, with the instrumental E5150, the gate between hell and heaven finally opened. The crowd exploded and gave a thunderous welcome to the giants Dio, Iommi, Butler and Appice, who immediately hit us with the title track of the second album with Dio, The Mob Rules. Let me say right away that only superlatives and praise follow – there’s no other way. At 65 (!!!) years old, Dio is simply incredible (actually, the 1942 birth year isn’t certain, and some say Ronnie is even older). He sang so convincingly, so brilliantly, with so much feeling, that all the younger generations can only shine his boots. Be it Halford, Dickinson, Tate and the like! And not only that, Dio ran back and forth for an hour and a half of show without a break! Show me another guy in his sixties who can pull that off. Iommi came across as the refined gentleman that he is, and Geezer took our breath away with his excellent bass groove. The setlist was great, hardly a single classic of the band was missing, and personally I only missed Lady Evil, Lonely is the Word and Turn Up the Night. If anyone missed Ward on drums, they quickly “forgot” about him when Appice’s drum solo came up (“We’re not worthy!”). There’s no point listing individual songs, since they were one great, perfectly played tune after another, and the new song Shadow of the Wind sounds incredible live too. With a solo that slid into Die Young, Iommi proved why he’s one of the best guitarists ever, and why later generations learned from him and “copied” him. The great foursome said goodbye with Dio’s words: “The next song is about you. You’re all Neon Knights!”. It was an honor and a privilege to see Heaven & Hell live, and I urge you to catch them while there’s still a chance. I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Heaven & Hell setlist:
1. E5150
2. Mob Rules
3. Children of the Sea
4. I
5. The Sign of the Southern Cross
6. Voodoo
7. Vinnie Appice solo
8. Computer God
9. Falling Off the Edge of the World
10. Shadow of the Wind
11. Tony Iommi solo/Die Young
12. Heaven and Hell
— encore —
13. Neon Knights