Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Balingen / Messegelände / Germany
Concert date: 13.07.2018
Attendance: 12,000
The second day of the big Bang Your Head!!! festival had arrived. On this day the headliner role went to the legendary Accept, who prepared something exclusive for the festival’s 20th anniversary and promised a spectacular show. A bunch of other seriously tasty treats made the bill too, including, among others, American metal veterans from Colorado Jag Panzer, increasingly hot speed/thrash metal revivalists from Canada Striker, »gently refreshed Gotthard« courtesy of CoreLeoni, the legendary Overkill, and the devil of the guitar himself, Jeff Waters, with his Annihilator. In short, another very fun festival day was on the cards.
The festival kicked off an hour later than the day before. At half past eleven, German metal revivalists Alpha Tiger broke the peace and quiet. They’re no strangers to this festival anymore, and they’ve already played Tolmin’s Metadays festival too. They were barely recognizable: the hairdos had lost some length after a run-in with the scissors, and the guys had also ditched the yellow-and-dark stripes from their outfits altogether. Smart move, since it’s a trick that had already been run into the ground on the scene. Just think of Stryper. Benjamin Jaino is the new vocalist who replaced his predecessor Stephan Dietrich in the lead-up to the release of the current »Alha Tiger« album. The new record is an ambitious piece of work spread over two whole CDs. The band presented it with real commitment and showed they’ve got no shortage of experience handling big stages. A pleasant opener to the second day, then.
Canadian Striker kicked up a lot more dust. They grew into a quintet a while back and truly “killed” the crowd with their venomously pissed-off approach, with not a moment of standing still on stage. All five of them were on the prowl and hit hard with massive vehemence. Singer Dean Cleary delivered an excellent vocal performance, and both guitarists, especially lead man Chris Segger, were incredibly bouncy and enchanted the crowd with outstanding solo treats, while spraying out a run of highly infectious, sharply dressed thrash/speed riffs. In a first-rate show full of fierce, untamed action, the band kept the crowd firmly in its grip and, in just under an hour, strung together a well-balanced set from all five albums. Striker didn’t forget to give the brand-new Heart of Lies its live premiere either. They played the following set: Former Glorym, Born to Lose, Pass Me By, Lethal Force, Crossroads, Too Late, Out for Blood, Heart of Lies, Full Speed or No Speed, Phoenix Lights and Fight for Your Life.
Next up, Monument brought the feel of an N.W.O.B.H.M. re-creation to the stage, particularly the life and work of Iron Maiden. Their singer is Peter Ellis, who also sings for White Wizard. He’s a screamer who has studied every stage trick and the whole style of Bruce Dickinson down to the dot, and that’s Dickinson in his best days, meaning the eighties. That’s not all. Monument write riffs that are at times so venomously close to those from Iron Maiden’s golden age that they’re dangerously poking their fingers into the copyright of metal’s legendary veterans. Spandex, hit-sounding hooks and the whole character of the stage act bring pure revivalism of the classic days of the heavy metal school once again. The band is superbly tight and, of course, proverbially infectious, precisely because of those charging escapades in which loads of harmonies in thirds interweave. This May the band released their fourth studio album, »Hellhound«, and played from it, besides the title track (the opener), Attila, The Chalice and Wheels of Steel (what lush imagination), added the older Carry On and Fatal Attack (from the album »Renegades«) and, from »Hair of the Dog«, Olympus and Imhotep (the Higher Priest) – where the use of Arabic scales once again pulled toward something that could have trickled in from the Maiden album »Powerslave«, and they closed their set with Lionheart. Iron Maiden fans were thrilled. Decent, but as I said: too similar to the originals and role models.
The fourth and, for this day, last band with the revival label were Night Demon. Since the organizer invited Accept to the festival, he got Night Demon in the package. They were on a big European tour with Accept this past winter. Night Demon are a trio. As expected, half the set came from the current album »The Darkness Remains«, with five songs from it: Black Widow, Dawn Rider, Life on the Run, Stranger in the Room and Welcome to the Night. The band quite surprised with a cover of The Scorpions’ In Trance. The middle of the set poured the most oil on the fire, when the somewhat grotesque-looking singer and bassist Jarvis Leatherby and guitarist Armand John Anthony went right to the very edge of the stage. Jarvis put his mic stand out there too. That way Night Demon intensified a good chunk of the show even further and very successfully capitalized on the hellish energy that marks their raw, stripped-down heavy metal presence, firmly leaning on the pioneering work of the likes of Thin Lizzy. The German crowd knows the band very well, and the chemistry with the band was right on the money. The band obviously played The Chalice, where the group’s mascot (death with a chalice in hand) appeared on stage, and built the set up through Black Widow, all the way to the closing Night Demon, which wrapped up in more than “elegant” fashion an otherwise fierce, extremely solid, confident and compact performance by the trio.
The arrival of Jag Panzer at the festival was especially attractive for lovers of classic-era metal. Not because they’re musically special beyond words. It’s simply hard to catch them on stage. They show up in Europe only sporadically. On top of that, lineup instability and the occasional break have plagued them in recent years. But the latest album, »The Deviant Chord«, is excellent again and fully justifies the long track record of this fine classic metal outfit, which, surprisingly, didn’t play a single song from its cult »Thane to the Throne« or from its follow-up »Mechanized Warfare«. They didn’t forget the album »Casting Stones«, though, as Achllles rang out somewhere around the middle. Anyway, a great show. The band weighted the set toward songs from the cult debut »Ample Destruction« (1984), playing Harder Than Steel, Generally Hostile and Warfare. Two must-play tracks from the unforgettable »The Age Of Mastery« (1999) poured oil on the fire: Chain Of Command early in the set and the epic, bombastic Iron Eagle tucked into the middle. Nor should we overlook the cult Black from the album »The Fourth Judgement«. The lineup? Obviously the boss and leader of the band, its guitarist and main composer Mark Briody! Sticking with him is his longtime buddy on bass, John Tetley. Then there’s Harry Conklin on vocals, who has lost a serious chunk of body weight lately, let his hair down and visibly gone gray. He’s also no longer surrounded by a ton of giant chains and other “jingly” props that used to hang off him. Simple as that. A faded short-sleeved shirt and jeans. Barely recognizable, Conklin hasn’t lost the vocal power and exceptional range he has always been famous for, and the band’s albums with it. The quintet is rounded out by drummer Rikard Stjernquist and guitarist of exceptional virtuoso talent Joey Taffola. The very same man has helped out Graham Bonnet and Hardline in his career, and lately he’s on hand for American metal veterans Leatherwolf. Briody always made sure to have a hell of a soloist on the team. Before Taffola that was, say, Chris Broderick. A concert full of nostalgia that delighted. Jag Panzer haven’t lost their dynamite, charm or swagger.
Time for a refresh of the legacy of Swiss hard rock champions Gotthard. That was taken care of by a new band from Gotthard boss and guitarist Leo Leoni, “simply” named CoreLeoni. That’s how Leoni would be spelled if he were a mafia boss in the movie »The Godfather«. Why Leoni decided on such a move, time will tell, since in principle he didn’t need it, unless he’s bored and the rest of his Gotthard buddies can’t be bothered to play for at least the next two years. But if you call on such an excellent new-generation singer as Ronnie Romero, who effortlessly revives the vocal reach of the late Steve Lee, and let’s not forget that this likeable and unbelievably charismatic Chilean sang with Blackmore’s Rainbow, it’s a perfectly justifiable reason. Romero kills with his power, authority and explosiveness. Leoni found his drummer in his Gotthard comrade Hena Habegger and “reactivated” two seemingly “retired” musicians. The first of them is the shaggy-haired, curly Igor Gianola, who played for U.D.O. for a long time and so once even performed in Ljubljana, much like Leoni did with Gotthard in 2005. If memory serves, that was 24.05.2004. The other, totally unknown name is bassist Mila Merker. Surely Leoni’s longtime buddy, who with his digging on the bass fully justified Leoni’s trust. The band’s show was pure fantasy and one of the best of the festival day. Alongside the only original the CoreLeoni had written to that day, Walk On Water, which is a “carved-out Gotthard song”, CoreLeoni flexibly lined up one Gotthard classic after another, including the opening Higher, then Stanidng in the Light, Downtown, Fist in Your Face, Firedance, In The Name, Tell No Lies, Make My Day, and in the closing stretch poured oil on the fire with a crescendo of the triple Mountain Mama, She Goes Down and the ultra-infectious hard rock shrapnel Here Comes The Heat. While Romero is, as mentioned, a downright fantastic vocalist, Leoni on stage looks like a little kid who just got a new toy. He was full of beans. He radiated incredible passion and fire. And so was the whole show. The question is where Leoni enjoys himself more these days. With CoreLeoni or with Gotthard? Time will tell. This show did deliver some Gotthard classics that they haven’t played live in a long time. It’s almost blasphemous to say, but Romero is considerably more charismatic than current Gotthard singer Nic Maeder. But Leoni could lynch me for those words. Anyway, a bomb of a show, and let’s hope the debut »The Greatest Hits Vol. 1« will soon be followed by a second part and more live shows. By the way, does anyone know of a date anywhere near Slovenia?
During the CoreLeoni show, thunder started rolling in the neighboring Volksbankmesse hall. That’s where they began summoning the little devil himself from the underground: Dutch death metal veterans seasoned with black metal leanings, God Dethroned, or what’s left of this charismatic band. Of the original members, only vocalist and guitarist Henri Sattler remains. The other three are practically greenhorns next to him, which goes for drummer Michael Van Der Plicht too, who has a bit more mileage. Guitarist Mike Ferguson has been on the team since 2015, bassist Jeroen Pomper a year longer. That year Sattler reactivated the band again. A band battered through its career by constant lineup changes and periods of silence finally got a new studio album out last year, titled »The World Ablaze« (2017). That’s also how the show opened. With the title track of the new album. The crowd that opted for extreme metal gloom over CoreLeoni’s hard rockers got to keep enjoying itself, as the band jumped to the classic »Ravenous« with Villa Vampiria. They didn’t dig any deeper into history. They stuck exclusively to post-millennium material and, alongside two new ones, Escape Across the ice (the White Army) and Annihilation Crusade, lined up Nihilism, No Man’s Land, Poison Fog, and in the closing stretch Boiling Blood and Storm of Steel. The charisma is still there, and so is Henri’s voice. Sinister and chilling. God Dethroned keep their poise, and the new album confirms creative maturity and freshness. It took its sweet time, but it rewarded fans for the wait.
As the God Dethroned show slid into its finale, the one and only took the main stage. Abbath, of course. Abbath especially wormed his way into the hearts of visitors to last year’s Metaldays festival in Tolmin. The Soča slope above the Tolmin festival grounds is now even named after him, “Abbath’s Hill”, where the almighty Norwegian mountain man from Bergen, after shaking hands with fans during his set, theatrically took a run-up, charged in a whirlwind stride into a molehill and unintentionally took a tumble. Well, we didn’t witness anything like that at Bang Your Head!!!. Abbath had been enjoying Balingen for a few days, as he’d already played here two days earlier with his Bombers. Then he was covering Motörhead, and now he had to cover Immortal, and in full Immortal gear at that! Abbath is a clown, and he comes across as if one of the Manowar guys had dressed up as a black metaller. The charisma and, to a degree, parodic grotesqueness he has picked up in recent years gratefully pull his shows upward. The signature grimaces, the contortions, the corpse paint you’d recognize from a mile away.. Tongue out the whole time whenever possible, bulging eyes no less so. Abbath opened with three songs from the debut studio album Abbath, namely To War!, Winterbane and Ashes of the Damned, and then seasoned almost the entire rest of the set with covers of the Immortal legacy. Next came Warriors, In My Kingdom Cold, Tyrants, Nebular Ravens Winter, The Rise of Darkness and One by One. The crowd would probably have lynched him if it had gone any other way. The show closed with the Abbath song Count the Dead. Perfectly decent and confident. Given the string of anecdotes, going to an Abbath show these days is a chance to laugh before your hair would ever stand on end at his “black metalness”.
Abbath had just gotten properly going toward the middle of his set when German power metallers Mob Rules took the stage in the Volksbankmesse hall. A long-lived band that has been around since 1994, with only singer Klaus Dirks left from the original members, played one of its few summer shows at Bang Your Head!!!. A month before the release of the new studio album »Beast Reborn«. The band flirts heavily with pomp and bombast, and the choruses are like that too, easy to join in on. Klaus donned some baroque “frippery”, which turned up the theatrics a notch, and the band plays excellently. The group closed with Hollowed Be Thy Name from the album of the same name, which came out way back in 2002, and the set also made room for, among others: Children’s Crusade, the brand-new, premiered Ghost Of A Chance, and Children of the Flames.
An Overkill show is always a kind of attraction. Plain and simple. Their shows are that good. Overkill still bring a real storm gust to the stage, a genuine thrash metal tornado. They keep the stage vehemence, the wildness and the lack of restraint. Once again the unique Bobby Blitz took command, and while flipping the bird he didn’t forget to spit all over the stage. That’s not even the point, that’s just a fact, and part of the obligatory Overkill folklore. The mad singer stays mad in his late fifties. He screams and roars with undiminished power, and with his antics and hooliganism adds just the right, if not perfect, dose of fun. People were going nuts, and it was better to watch the show from a safe distance. Germany is the band’s second home. The quintet felt great and really delivered another top-notch show, proving it doesn’t know what rust is. Overkill won’t take their foot off the gas anytime soon. They show remarkable dedication and zeal. Naturally, most of the attention goes to Bobby and the other original member of the team, its “vampirologist” and bassist D.D. Verni. Rhythm guitarist Derek Tailer also has plenty of room for clowning on stage during the show, while the excellent soloist Dave Linsk keeps the most stage seriousness and groundedness in the band. The band chopped out song after song, showing exceptional tightness, incredible compactness and a hard-working chemistry in which Overkill seem to be in a trance. The opening new Mean, Green Killing Machine from the new »The Grinding Wheel«, joined in the middle by Goddamn Trouble, kept company with Electric Rattlesnake (»The Electric Age«, 2012) and Ironbound (»Ironbound«, 2010) among the newer numbers, while the rest was the golden eighties all the way, a walk through the songs: Rotten to the Core, There’s No Tomorrow (both from the debut »Feel the Fire«), then Coma, Infectious (both »Horrorscope«), Elimination (»Years of Decay«), In Union We Stand (»Taking Over«) and Hello From the Gutter (»Under the Influence«). The band ended its set as expected. With Fuck You!!! (originally by Subhumans), into which it wove a Dead Boys cover, Sonic Reducer, reminding everyone of its punk rock roots. Overkill remain, to put it mildly, devastating!
Anyone who wasn’t quite into all that could meanwhile storm off to the hall, where Swedish glam metal revivalists Crazy Lixx were playing. The hall was jam-packed, and the band even served up some pyro. In these new times Danny Rexon has shaved half his skull, and during the show he theatrically pulled a prison mask over his head. In tune with “Friday the thirteenth”, of course. Hence the new song XIII and the new album »Ruff Justice«, which was more strongly represented in the setlist. From it they also played Killer, Walk the Wire and Wild Child. But the material from the album »New Religion« took first place, as the band played Blame It on Love, Children of the Cross, Lock Up Your Daughter, Rock and a Hard Place and closed the show with 21 Til I Die. Crazy Lixx are a glam metal revival band, but they know how to boil over in a punkish, “ripped” way too, which reveals their inspiration from Motley Crue, Guns’N’ Roses, Skid Row, and Kiss as well. The band is perfect on stage. No mistake about it. No flaws. And they’ve become incredibly popular. In Germany, at least. You could barely walk around the hall during the show. There must have been some 2,000 heads in there. The band also played: Hell Raising Woman (»Crazy Lixx«), Riot Avenue and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (both from the album »Riot Avenue«), and early in the show they also pinned on Girls Of the Eighties. The eighties in revivalism with Swedish perfectionism can hardly work any better. And the stage confirmed that once again. A superb show, a superb party!
And now the great Accept. Accept play constantly. And they record almost as much. Last year another studio album came out. This time they titled it »The Rise of Chaos«. As the second day’s headliners, they made maximum use of the stage. A »The Rise Of Chaos« backdrop gleamed on it, modeled after the album cover. Apocalypse! For this year’s edition of the festival the band prepared an exclusive show, somewhat longer than the group’s usual summer festival setlists. At the official merch table you could even buy an official band shirt for just 15.00€. It read: »Special price, only for the 20th anniversary of the BYH!!! festival« But you had to be careful. The back had the dates of the 2017/2018 autumn-winter tour printed on it. If you’d caught one of the Accept shows on it, the kitschy shirt was definitely worth picking up. Accept are an extremely well-oiled machine that approaches things not just with routine but with honed professionalism, laced with a sense of perfectionism and an innate German craving for flawlessness, if not downright relentlessness. The legends keep on going, and on stage there’s no sign the years have caught up with them. Accept were incredibly lively and mischievous. They showed far less apparent routine than they did a week later at Tolmin’s Metaldays festival. Let nobody argue with the golden rule that German bands are best watched primarily in Germany! Wolf Hoffmann, who always demands the most room and spotlight for his ego, already invited Uwe Lulis over to him for the third song (and the first surprise in the setlist), Starlight. Together they marched all the way to the edge of the catwalk. Lulis in general was allowed to step over to Hoffmann’s left side several times, where they rode classic Accept riffs shoulder to shoulder. No blunders. The confident Tornillo also didn’t hide his great routine and experience. He deftly dodged the highest notes and cunningly adapted or simplified them in places, and the crowd did the rest in his place, singing the choruses as if in a trance. We’ll certainly never again witness the birth of magic that would be possible only with Dirkschneider on vocals, but that’s another story. Tornillo is quite a different singer. Just different enough and still similar enough. His voice fits the core characteristics of Accept’s music wonderfully. Old and new.
Accept delighted longtime fans with a truly excellent setlist. So »Restless And Wild« standards Fast As A Shark and Princess Of the Dawn were this time joined by Ahead Of the Pack and Demon’s Night (the latter closing the regular set), while, interestingly, the title track of that cult album dropped out of the set (they played it, for instance, later at the Tolmin show). Two »Objection Overruled« classics also exclusively found their way onto the setlist, namely the title track and Slaves To Metal. Then T.V. War from »Russian Roulette« too! The rest was iron-clad standards, led by the »Metal Heart« songs Up to the Limit and Metal Heart, the famous »Balls to the Wall«, plus the already mentioned Starlight and the closing rock’n’roll firestarter Burning (both from »Breaker«), then I’m A Rebel (»I’m A Rebel«). The current album »The Rise Of Chaos« was represented by Die By The Sword (the show opener), the immensely fun Koolaid, then No Regrets and, for all of you who still don’t want “smart” phones, Analog Man. The two best moments of the album »Blood of the Nations«, Pandemic and especially Teutonic Terror, have obviously become part of the band’s mandatory iron repertoire as well.
We had to miss part of the show because it “unfortunately” overlapped with Canadian Annihilator, who were billed in the neighboring hall. In recent years Annihilator have been operating as a quartet again. The unique Jeff Waters, the man who stunned everyone with his genius at the end of the eighties, when the band released the unforgettable studio debut »Alice In Hell«, has taken the vocals back onto his own shoulders. Jeff was bursting with good cheer right from the start. In his own style, in his signature “devilish” dance, often hopping on one leg, he never stopped “zigzagging” around the stage. Now on the right, now on the left, then back at the mic and in the middle! The years don’t stick to him. He acts like a rascal. And a “pumped-up” rascal with a short mohawk at that. Though Jeff really ought to have one more member on the team, a guy who would do nothing but sing, scream and howl. He doesn’t just hiccup after Randy Rampage, but also after Joe Comeau. Jeff just isn’t a singer, but he’s stubborn and self-assured enough to believe he’s vocally good enough and can handle the lead vocals. Fine. Let him have it. The opener was a new song from the current »For the Demented« called One for the Kill, continuing with the title track of the album »King of the Kill« (the band later also played Fiasco from that album). Surprisingly, the band stuck No Way Out from »Feast« in the setlist, and former Annihilator drummer Randy Black came to drum on it especially for the occasion. That evening Randy Black sorted out the last details with his future employer Schmier regarding joining Destruction. We naturally ran into Schmier again that evening at the festival grounds. He’s a regular festival visitor. Then came the totally expected classic Set the World On Fire, and as always we were impatiently waiting for the songs from the first two albums. Especially the first. Allison Hell is a standard that always gives you goosebumps, and keeping it company from the debut were W.T.Y.D. (Welcome to Your Death) and the closing shrapnel Human Insecticide. The second album »Never Neverland« was, as usual, represented by the fantasmagorical Phantasmagoria. The closing stretch in the order Phantasmagoria, Allison Hell and Human Insecticide brought the show to its final crescendo. What was interesting was that, despite the overlap with Accept, Annihilator did not get an empty hall. Quite the opposite. It was boiling in there. That reflects the fact that Germans have seen Accept many times in recent years, which isn’t always and everywhere true of Annihilator. And there was plenty to see and hear. Never mind the grumbling over Jeff’s vocal limitations, he’s surrounded by an excellent company of three musicians, namely Aaron Homma (guitar), Rich Hinks (bass) and Fabio Alessandrini (drums). Interestingly, Homma, at first glance, quickly reminds you of the young Waters (from Annihilator’s early era). Waters remains a total one-off. When you watch him effortlessly do everything on stage, and the technical complexity and polish that constantly surround his solo wizardry, you hold your breath. The untamed guitarist once again sweated through everything True, most people were watching Accept at the time, as they thundered spectacularly on the main stage, but there wasn’t a single second you could regret spending with Annihilator in the Volksbankmesse hall. An outstanding show.
Accept and Annihilator finished their sets at the same time. At 23:00. Half an hour later, one more show was billed. In the hall. Stuttgart’s Primal Fear. Defenders of the honor and glory of German power metal, represented by a quintet of extremely experienced and excellent individuals. Although Primal Fear had an hour and a half at their disposal, they played considerably less. After an hour and ten minutes they said goodbye. The Volksbankmesse was jam-packed, and the band, as expected, gave a slight lead to songs from the album »Rulebreaker« (Angels Of Mercy, The End Is Near, In Metal We Trust). The magnificent Ralf Scheepers, who is (still) roaring with full vehemence at Primal Fear, was in considerably better form this evening than two years ago, when we saw the band in Vienna. Once again he demolished everything in front of him and stunned with his vocal charisma and unsuspected range. The guitar duo of Tom Naumann and Alex Beyrodt remains brilliant, if not downright superb, while the rhythm section, led by chieftain Mat Sinner, who was once again busily scraping and rattling his bass, and Francesco Jovino behind the drums, gives a sense of impenetrability. With a fairly predictable selection, where the classics once again included Nuclear Fire (»Nuclear Fire«), Metal is Forever (»Devil’s Ground«), Final Embrace (the show opener, from the album »Jaws Of Death«) and the thunderous power metal slaps taken from the debut «Primal Fear« (1998), Chainbreaker and Running in the Dust, Primal Fear fairly comfortably played themselves a winning poker hand of aces and threw them in the air, lifting not just the crowd but the very roof of the hall. The band really couldn’t commit a single noteworthy blunder or miss. The August release of the new album was heralded by the excellent Hounds of Justice (»Apocalypse«, 2018). Then a jump to »Seven Seals« with Rollercoaster, while among the newer ones, When Death Comes Knocking (»Delivering the Black«) rang out as well.
So the band had more time to play, but someone should have slipped Horst Sinner and company a few more porcini euros so the band could extend its time with the overjoyed, fired-up crowd. Primal Fear dug, tore, demolished and raged, as proven. They remain one of the finest power metal fortresses around right now, with an enviably long track record. A German school of experienced masters who long ago carefully crossed their honed sense for brilliantly appealing heavy metal with complete professionalism.
So the second day was long and full of great music. It offered something for everyone. That leaves the third day. It’ll be more old-school, with performances lined up by, among others, Americans Hexx, N.W.O.B.H.M. contemporaries Tygers Of Pan Tang and Cloven Hoof, Japanese legends Loudness and Danish Pretty Maids, who played their cult album »Future World« in its entirety. To be continued.
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