Performing: Stallion, Babylon A.D., Candlemass, Carcass, Dare, The Dead Daisies, Dragonforce, Equilibrium, Ektomorf, Slayer, Leartherwolf, Battle Beast, Debauchery vs. Blood God, Voodoo X
Location: Balingen / Messegelände / Germany
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2016
A year has rolled around and a new edition of the legendary Bang Your Head!!! festival has come knocking, held as always in the little German town of Balingen. You reach the venue heading southwest from Stuttgart, so we’re talking Black Forest country. The twenty-first Bang Your Head!!! overall served up, compared to last year’s lineup, quite a few names you only very rarely catch on stages across the old continent. Especially with acts like Impellitteri, Tyketto, Dare, Leatherwolf, Babylon A.D., Great White and Voodoo X thrown into the mix.
We got to the venue two days early, around noon. The afternoon hours slipped away sampling all sorts of German beer flavors, while in the neighboring Volksbankmesse hall a warm-up show went down that evening, this year featuring Sodom, Overkill, Rage, Pro-Pain and Nitrogods. That one we decided to skip this time. Partly because of the musical tastes of the RockLine tandem covering BYH!!! this year, and partly because they don’t hand out press accreditations for the warm-up show, tickets aren’t exactly cheap (€35.00), and it makes more sense to save your energy, which came in more than handy for the ordeal of the festival’s marathon three-day schedule.
So, day one. It’s half past eleven and the hot-blooded German heavy metal raiders Stallion come rolling onto the stage, devoted to reviving the look and work of the famous NWOBHM movement from the early eighties. As fits the first band opening the festival grounds, Stallion are practically locals, based in Hilden, in the Baden-Württemberg region. The band stood out with an incredibly tight, polished performance. Plenty of gigs in the past, including as support for the rising Canadians Striker and Sweden’s Bullet, have consolidated a crew led by charismatic singer Pauli, decked out in red-and-white striped spandex. Stallion proved an excellent choice, and in the early hours of the festival they more than decently kicked off everything that followed. The band showcased their studio debut »Rise and Ride« (2014) in the set.
Next up was one of the attractions of this year’s BYH. Right at the very start, no less. A set from the American speed heavy metal veterans Leatherwolf, formed in Huntington Beach way back in 1981. They played this festival for the first time exactly ten years ago, and for their second appearance they beefed up the lineup with a returning member, the original frontman, singer and guitarist Michael Olivieri, who at his age still has a seriously great vocal range. The band, also famous for pioneering the use of three guitars in the front line of a metal act, put on a great show and made brilliant use of the stage. In just under an hour they played the classics of their career, pulled from five studio albums, opened with the sharpened Spiter and closed an outstanding show with The Calling. Let’s hope for a new studio album, since the last one came out a long nine years ago.
While the dust of excitement over Leatherwolf’s visit hadn’t quite settled, the stage was taken over by the no less legendary Babylon A.D., back together since 2013. They’re playing, believe it or not, in their original lineup again. The San Francisco quintet unrolled the classics of their trade, hard rock crossed with primal heavy metal, stuffed with ridiculously catchy melodies. Derek Davis with his piercing vocals, the razor-sharp guitar duo of Danny De La Rosa and Rob Fresch, plus bassist Robb Reid and drummer James Pacheco, delivered one of the nicer surprises of this year’s festival, and with a great show they effectively kept up the top-notch vibe Leatherwolf left behind. During the set they tossed a few of their T-shirts into the crowd, along with a bunch of copies of the new live album »Live XXV«, which came out last year. Among other things, the band played the opener Back in Babylon, then Hammer Swings Down, Shot o’ Love, So Savage the Heart, Maryanne, Bad Blood, Sally Danced, Bang Go the Bells, The Kids Go Wild, Desperate, Slave Your Body, and closed the set with a cover of the UFO tune Lights Out.
For the next hour, the hot Finnish metallers Battle Beast raised hell at the festival. A rising attraction clawing its way into the bigger bands of the new generation, led on vocals by the imposing domina, or rather bejeweled singer, Noora, definitely didn’t disappoint. They opened their fiery show with Let it Roar and went on to mostly play material from the album »Battle Beast«, supplemented by songs from the debut »Steel« and the latest effort »Unholy Savior« (2015). These Helsinki power metallers do lean on worn-out clichés, but they still pulled off an incredibly focused, well-thought-out set, with a fired-up Noora ruling the stage with her distinctive, piercing vocals. This is a band that will probably climb high up the metal scene yet.
The Dead Daisies are a band that at first glance don’t even seem to belong at a festival like this. But once you look at the names that make up the group, the doubts are pointless. Richard Fortus, who has gone back to Guns N’Roses, has been replaced in the band by none other than the phenomenal Douglas Aldrich (ex-Whitesnake, ex-Dio, ex-Hurricane, Burning Rain). He fits the crew much better, not just visually but in playing style too. Doug also goes way back with drummer Brian Tichy and bassist Marco Mendoza. On vocals, former Motley Crue singer John Corabi was in command, while the other guitar slot was filled by bandleader David Lowy. The band presented the new album »Make Some Nosie« (2016), which followed its predecessor »Revolucion« after just a year. Besides the new songs, namely the title track Make Some Nosie and Long Way To Go, the band seasoned the gig with three covers: a hugely entertaining version of Midnight Moses, originally by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a Free classic, All Right Now, slicing through their own material in the middle, and, pretty much as expected, they closed with a souped-up take on The Beatles classic Helter Skelter. Up to that point, The Dead Daisies were by far the band that made the best use of the stage, and with a cheeky show full of wisecracking mischief they brought a seriously positive energy. Raw, melodic, street-punk hard rock, ragged and chipped around the edges, full of superb Douglas Aldrich solos, the incredible rhythmic drive of the rock-solid Mendoza/Tichy tandem, and fronted by the ever-slick, bouncing little pipsqueak Corabi. An attraction and a half! Full of experience, routine and confidence.
The following hour belonged to Dragonforce. The ultra-sonic Brits, the guys who turned power metal into so-called “Nintendo metal” thanks to their insanely fast playing, rolled out a repertoire of their best classics. In other words, a best of. That’s because of the upcoming “best of” compilation »Killer Elite: The Hits, The Highs, The Vids«, out July 22, 2016. Just looking at them makes your mouth stretch into a long, slow grin all by itself. Raised on fast food and “fizzy drinks” (Coca Cola, Fanta, Sprite), Dragonforce wielded their instruments mercilessly. As expected, a fair share of little slip-ups crept into the performance, in the form of missed notes or sloppy endings (especially with the tremolo), but that didn’t dampen the great energy those cheerful, happy-go-lucky guys beamed into the crowd through their jolly little music.
Next came the set from the Swedish doom veterans Candlemass, which we only caught in passing, since it was time to recharge our batteries. The band brought the required dose of gloomy outlooks to the festival, wrapping the whole place in a completely different mood as Mirror, Mirror, A Cry From the Crypt, Dying Illusion, Demons Gate, Emperor of the Void, The Well of Souls, At The Gallows End, the expected Crystal Ball and the closing Solitude rang out. Fronted by singer Mats Leven, Candlemass are enjoying a true renaissance, as the freshly released EP »Death Thy Lover« proves. Howling at the sun turned into howling at the downpour. With their presence and massive riffs, Candlemass summoned a proper deluge over Balingen. Before this gig, the band played the festival’s warm-up show in 2013, as the headliner.
Carcass are definitely one of the most attractive acts in the realm of extreme metal. The gruesome dismemberers are masters of the technical precision that stands behind the band’s brutalized presence. They’re always a pleasure to watch. A year after we caught them at Metaldays, their show in Balingen only reinforced that. Jeff Walker remains an outstanding captain, the charismatic boss of the band with a superb growl. Without breaking a sweat he led the crowd into the kingdom of scalpels and other surgical tools, which sliced and tore through guts across the band’s excellent hour-long set. Walker, whom we saw a few days ago in Kranj, where he played with Brujeria, didn’t forget to warmly thank the crowd that came to cheer the band on at the end, while we enjoyed, among others, the opener Exhumed to Consume, then Incarnated Solvent Abuse, Captive Bolt Pistol, Reek of Putrefaction, Corporal Jigsaw Quandary and Heartwork. A one-hour human anatomy class like only you could dream of. After the gig you pat yourself down to check that all your organs are still in place, especially both kidneys and your liver.
Already during Carcass, anyone not used to the extreme spheres of metal would have done well to move over to the Volksbankmesse hall, where the venue had long since come alive with the show from the extreme metallers Debauchery Vs. Blood God, who were then followed by Voodoo X. A band that hadn’t been seen anywhere for 26 years and reunited exclusively. Just for the Balingen gig. Melodic rock, in other words. On vocals the dark-skinned Jean Beavoir (Crown of Thorns, ex-Plasmatics), on guitar original member Tommy Lafferty, and the really attractive name of Uwe Fahrenkrog-Peterson, who made millions as keyboardist for the immortal Germans Nena. Voodoo X released the album »Vol 1. – The Awakening« in 1989, and when songs from it rang out, including I’m On Fire and Voodoo Queen, it became clear that over all these years the album hasn’t lost one bit of its evergreen quality and compositional sparkle. Short and sweet. We’d all have survived without the Led Zeppelin chestnut Rock And Roll, too. The Voodoo X set counted as one of the bigger exclusives at this year’s Bang Your Head!!! festival.
No less attractive was the arrival of the British melodic rockers Dare. They play extremely rarely, and this year’s Bang Your Head show was pretty much their first of the year. The band played just two days before the release of their new studio effort, which Dare titled »Sacred Ground«. The band is led, still charismatic today, by Darrel Wharton, who founded the group in 1985 after Thin Lizzy broke up. Wharton was previously Thin Lizzy’s keyboardist and recorded their last album »Renegade« with them. No wonder, then, that Dare worked a Thin Lizzy cover, Emerald, into their set. The band also exclusively presented new material, with Wharton half-jokingly saying he was apologizing in advance in case Dare hit a wrong note or a wrong verse got sung. The band simply hadn’t had the chance to play these songs live yet. But with the support of the excellent guitarist Vinnie Burns, whom we managed to catch in 2014 at Frontiers Rock festival, where he played with Three Lions, Wharton has nothing to fear. On Wharton’s left Burns, on his right Nigel Cutterbuck, another bassist with serious years in the crew! A superb show. Wharton in great spirits. Vocally and performance-wise. We got Sea of Roses, Storm Wind and We Don’t Need A Reason, and of course the long-awaited classics from the debut »Out of the Silence« (1988), led by the excellent Abandon, followed by Into the Fire, The Raindance and King of Spades.
Of course, the bulk of the first day was focused on the main stage, where a little before half past nine in the evening everything was ready for the legendary thrash metal titans Slayer to take over. The quartet of Kerry King (guitar), Tom Araya (bass, vocals), Paul Bostaph (drums) and Gary Holt (guitar) stormed onto the stage at the end of the recorded intro Delusions of Saviour, which, as expected, flowed into the new song Repentless. Slayer in their standard pose. Kerry almost like a petrified figure with his trademark jerky little neck movements, the standard Araya lazily shuffling now to the catwalk, now to the left or right side of the stage, and, besides Bostaph, who had no other choice, the other most fired-up member of the band, Gary Holt, who as a replacement for the late Hanneman has by now fit into the crew more than superbly. Slayer more than satisfied their fans’ tastes, as the setlist, besides the expected obligatory picks from the albums »Seasons in the Abyss«, »Reign in Blood« and »South of Heaven«, was loaded with even older songs, namely cuts from the debut »Show No Mercy« (1983), led by Black Magic, Die by the Sword, Fight Till Death and Antichrist. However much Slayer have lately been the target of criticism for running out of steam and stage “laziness”, the show was graced by superb sound, superb execution, and Araya sang the whole gig at the required quality level. Clearly you go to Slayer shows in Germany, because that experience from Zagreb, where they played with Anthrax just under two months ago, casts a slight stain on the band’s name, especially given the combination with the awful sound that accompanied the band’s set in Zagreb. Well, that experience was forgotten in an instant. An hour and a half of pure thrash metal slaughterhouse. The crowd came to around 8000 heads, which is somewhat less than expected, but the gig definitely carried the most fired-up heads off to Slayer heaven. A solid set, no minuses this time. You eventually get used to all the solos being the same. Even if they’re played by Gary Holt, who is just carrying out orders from above here. Maybe his pinch of showboating is a bit off, since posing doesn’t belong in a band like Slayer at all. Anyway, those are minor remarks. In short! Devastation all around, and the band thus justified its role as headliner of the festival’s first day.
So the first day wrapped up on the main stage, while the most unshakable could keep banging their heads to sets from Equilibrium and Ektomorf in the neighboring Volksbankmesse hall. We happily survived the opening day also because it saw just a single downpour, as the sky was mostly sullen and full of heavy clouds that crawled threateningly across it all day long.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
