Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Balingen / Messegelände / Germany
Concert date: July 15, 2016
Attendance: 12,000
Ticket price: €109.00 (advance) / €135.00 (day of the festival)
And so the second day of the twenty-first edition of the legendary Bang Your Head!! festival in Balingen, Germany, was upon us. The night was fresh and the morning downright cold, since a heavy downpour had been dumping buckets of rain until the early morning hours. Then it finally stopped. Thank god. Another outstanding lineup of top-tier bands, each with a unique artistic character, all belonging to the realms of metal and hard rock, with day two’s program happily centered on thrash metal.
Just what a trio format can do in music was more than clearly shown at the start of day two by American metallers Night Demon, who kicked off the day at half past eleven. The main stage heated up in no time under signature guitar riffs as the untamed trio of Jarvis Leatherby (bass, vocals), Brent Woodward (guitar) and Dusty Squiers (drums) rolled out their original songs. The band is superbly tight thanks to the pile of gigs they’ve already left behind them. Powerful and fired up, making full use of the stage. There was plenty of running back and forth from Jarvis and Brent. And as you know, the stage at Bang Your Head is huge, but for such a pumped, potent trio it’s just about the right size. Revivalists, but ones who put together a hell of an opening for a new festival day with pure heart.
Freedom Call are the well-known happy-go-lucky power metal crew. German power metal from head to toe. A German story. Who would have thought a band with such a clichéd approach would survive on the scene at all and last this many years. But the quintet has a totally different opinion, and with regular album releases and regular touring around the old continent, they’ve built up a nice bunch of home-grown fans standing behind the band’s name. Eight studio albums, with a ninth in the works. The quartet, in which guitarist Sascha Gerstner (Helloween) and drummer Daniel Zimmermann (ex-Gamma Ray) once played, is still driven forward by singer and guitarist Chris Bay and his buddy, bassist Ilker Ersin. In a compact, well-rehearsed and, as expected, more than confident performance, the band played Union of the Strong, Tears of Babylon, Freedom Call, Farewell, The Quest, Hammer of the Gods, Power & Glory and Warriors. Happy metal to the core!!!
Well, things soon got a lot more serious when the stage was taken over by big veterans of American metal, and really a band that, with its vision, unknowingly popularized elements of epicness and bombast in the compositions it created. Kansas-based Manilla Road are commanded by the indestructible Mark »The Shark« Shelton, who has for years been joined by bald-headed vocalist Bryan »Hellroadie« Patrick, with the generously proportioned Neudi Neuderth staying behind the drums, while the much younger Josh Castillo holds down the bass. The band delivered a hearty mix of classics, with standout performances of songs like Crystal Logic, the superb The Mask of Red Death and Death By The Hammer (the latter two from the album »Mystification«, 1987), followed by Necropolis, The Riddle Master and the opening Flaming Metal System. So, as you can gather from the previous sentence, most of the material came from the cult record »Crystal Logic« (1983). Manilla Road didn’t skip the current studio album »The Blessed Curse« either, cutting loose with The Truth in the Ash from it. The rest of the set was filled out with songs from the album »Open the Gates« (Witches Brew and the closing Heavy Metal to the World), while the excellent album »Deluge« was represented with Hammer of the Witches. As expected, Shelton also took on the vocals, which remain distinctive. Nasal, hollow, dark. It sounds weak, but it shakes you up like crazy. It’s precisely these quirks that give the songs their special flavor and help create an incredibly gloomy atmosphere. That’s why his place in the band’s sound is beyond reproach and indispensable. »Hellroadie« of course kept the crowd with him the whole time like the old pro he is, maintaining constant eye contact, even if it was through sunglasses. As expected, and as Manilla Road’s music demands, he also let out a few ear-piercing screams that soared up into the sky. No matter the years of service, rust just won’t stick to this band. Epic and raw, in other words. An excellent show from the legends. Let’s hope we catch them on some stage again soon.
Chris Impellitteri’s visit, or rather that of the band Impellitteri, was especially attractive. A band with one of the most “messed up” names on the planet, at least as far as typing it out goes. Chris is the guy considered one of the fastest guitarists in the galaxy, and he comes across as a neat combination of Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie J. Malmsteen. You could call it a blessing in disguise. That means he’s an elusive, hard-to-pin-down acrobat who, thanks to all the notes his ultrasonically fast bursts of fire sow, can eventually become tiring on the ear. Joining him on stage were the excellent Rob Rock (vocals), faithful round-faced bassist James Pulli and the freshly baked member of the band, drummer Ander Johansson, who has plenty of experience working with Yngwie J. Malmsteen and is also well known to HammerFall fans. In an hour on stage, Chris and his crew made their festival fans happy with a “pure” set list of their own. So he played his own songs. From his own albums. Rob Rock, who visibly gains a little kilo “around the middle” every year, once again floored us with an exceptionally polished performance: when you looked over at Chris, with all his wizardry, the question came to mind: »Why the hell do Impellitteri play so little around the old continent?« What’s more, they actually don’t play at all. Anywhere. Among other things, the band played two songs from the freshly released album »Venom« (We Own the Night, Time Machine), delivered the obligatory Stand in Line, the superior Answer to the Master, and also tracks like The King is Rising and Speed Demon, both from the album »Crunch«. Impellitteri opened the show with the hard-charging assault Warrior (album »Eye of the Hurricane«). In between, Chris entertained the crowd by playing evergreen riffs from famous songs like Heaven and Hell and Smoke on the Water, which wasn’t necessary at all, but the man obviously enjoys “provoking” his audience. Fast, faster, Impellitteri! An exclusive and unforgettable, if not one-of-a-kind, appearance!
For thrash metal connoisseurs, the performance by veterans Sacred Reich from scorching Phoenix, Arizona, was more than welcome. The band plays in its original quartet lineup: vocalist and bassist Phil Rind, lead guitarist Willey Arnett, rhythm guitarist Jason Rainey and drummer Greg Hall. A band with two sharp guitarists and a fat rhythm section! Sacred Reich were playing here for just the second time in their career, after their BYH appearance in 2009. They’re hard to catch on stage, and this year they’re also coming to Metaldays, so it’s definitely worth swinging by there too. Especially if you haven’t seen Sacred Reich live yet. Because they play incredibly well. A tight, compact team, Rind’s vocals still serve him decently, Arnett is an outstanding soloist, and the band delivered a bagful of classics without skipping tracks from the more experimental albums like »Independent« and »The American Way«. Of course, with the obligatory delivery of cult evergreens from the first two studio albums, »Surf Nicaragua« (1988) and the debut »Ignorance« (1987).
Metal Church, another set of big American heavy metal veterans, took the stage in the worst of the heat, much like two years ago in Tolmin, but this time the suffering was relieved by low cloud that suddenly crept over the festival grounds from the nearby hills. Bolstered by returnee Mike Howe, a man of unsuspected vocal heights, and in the standard format represented by boss and guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof along with drummer Jeff Plate (Savatage), Steve Unger (bass) and guitarist Rick Van Zandt, Metal Church delivered an excellent show, especially thanks to a colorful set list through which they covered every era of their career. Led by the superb mini-suite Watch the Children Pray, which was joined in the set by another classic from »The Dark«, Start the Fire. With Howe back in the lineup came the live return of tracks from the albums »Blessing in Disguise« (the opening Fake Healer, with Badlands later on) and »The Human Factor« (the title track, which closed the show, plus Date With Poverty and In Morning). The band also paid attention to the new (and excellent) album »XI« with the songs No Tomorrow and Killling Your Time, and fired off a little gem from the self-titled debut »Metal Church«, called Beyond. Metal Church also totally surprised with the inclusion of Gods of Second Chance, from the overlooked and (often unjustly) “hated” »Hanging In Balance«, as far as the fans are concerned. In short. Energetic, tightly knit, wild and untamed. Howe cast a spell with his vocals, every vein in his neck bulging, and of course his face went a deep red over the hour. Guitars strummed with incredible focus, and the rhythm line with cannon-like power and filigree precision. All in all. An outstanding stage performance by a legendary band that instantly blows classic heavy metal fans away into the metal heaven they crave.
Even before Canadian thrash metal heavyweights Annihilator went on, the neighboring Volksbankmesse hall was shaken by the sounds of violent Welsh glam metal. On the stage there, Tigertailz were “snarling” away. The rascals, who also played in Vrba in Carinthia at the end of this April, pulled a good 1,500 curious souls into the hall, who had plenty to see and hear. The band confidently justified its wild nature and flashy look with an excellent spectacle, cunning use of the stage and effective crowd-baiting, and the audience got properly mixed up in the action during the show. As expected, the quintet of Berty Burton (bass), Matthew Blakout (drums), the only original member of today’s lineup Jay Pepper (guitar, backing vocals) and frontman Rob Wylde leaned on their most successful album, »Bezerk«, which was consequently represented by about half of the repertoire. Scandalous and merciless. A pure cannonade of glam metal, straight to the forehead, goofy and proud!
Fifteen minutes past six in the afternoon, the famous Jeff Waters took the stage. One of the most interesting and special guitarists of the metal era and, of course, the mastermind of Canadian thrash metal legends Annihilator. Right from the start the sight of the man was a surprise, since Jeff didn’t begin his set strapped into his famous (red or black) Flyin’ V guitar, but had a replica Gibson SG at his side. A gorgeous one, in metallic cinnabar (red). Venomous! Jeff has completely changed the lineup again. Countless times by now. Alongside Jeff, Annihilator now also include rhythm guitarist Aaron Homma, who joined the crew last year, and the two absolute newcomers of this year, Fabio Alessandrini, with a head-top arrangement that would fit any glam metal band, and the curly-maned bassist with “particularly bulging little eyes”, Rich Hinks. As expected, Jeff took over the vocal duties and opened the show, much like a good year ago in Ljubljana, with the classic King of the Kill. Later it was joined by Second to None from the album of the same name. The guys certainly didn’t skip the classic W.T.Y.D., the obligatory Set the World on Fire rang out too, along with the more recent Creeping Death from the current »Suicide Solution«. Of course Annihilator also didn’t forget to play Never Neverland and Phantasmagoria, while Jeff saved his ultra-classic Alison Hell for the very end of the set, which hit its emotional peak right at the finish. Waters remains an outstanding wizard, and his playing is of course unique poetry from the six-string bible. Annihilator remain, in many ways, a uniquely eclectic doctrine on the scene, driven by their own artistic mission. Hats off to a legend like Jeff Waters!
If Impellitteri were the exclusive appearance of day two of the festival, then the performance peak of the day was conjured up on the famous Balingen stage by the one and only Testament. Great masters of the craft of playing thrash metal. The famous guitar duo of Eric Peterson / Alex Skolnick remains the fear and trembling of stages all over the world and a huge inspiration to many guitarists! Leading the band, as ever, is the indestructible Native American chief Chuck Billy, while the band is bolstered by the Death to All Tour tandem on the rhythm section. That’s the outstanding Gene Hoglan on drums and one of the best bassists in the world of metal, the bearded Steve DiGiorgio. An exceptional lineup, an exceptional fortress. Testament destroy live. Flames of razor-sharp riffs swallowed the festival grounds relentlessly, several times even stealing the spotlight from Chuck’s gigantic ego, but above all, as expected, the main concert experience of pure bliss came from the superb solos of both guitarists, especially the moments of shared solo duels. Peterson and Skolnick are today considered a cult guitar duo, much like K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton once were in Judas Priest. Although a new studio album is on the horizon, announced for this October (a tour has also been announced already, on which Testament open the evenings before, hmmm…. Amon Amarth), the band fired off as many as three songs from the still-current »Dark Roots of Earth«, with which they also visited Tolmin in 2012 (Testament are coming to Tolmin this year too, so be there). The core of the repertoire was made up of cult classics Into the Pit, The Preacher, The New Order and Disciples of the Watch (all from the album »The New Order«). The only »Legacy« classic, Over the Wall, landed in the set list right at the start of the show and so effectively catapulted the crowd into the air at once. Practice What You Preach was of course not missing, and Testament also spiced up their set with two tracks from one of the most aggressive albums of their career, »The Gathering« (D.N.R., Three Days in Darkness). Testament kill. Top-notch execution and performance brilliance from a squad of top-notch musicians! And as said! The consequent peak of the second festival day.
At the same time as Testament were playing, an interesting show was going on in the Volksbankmesse hall. It was actually supposed to start almost half an hour before Testament, but the band dragged its feet. Insanely dragged its feet. Once you work out who this band is, the dragging seems almost a given. Especially when you remember all the heavenly, rolling drunkenness of that same band on the stage of Ljubljana’s Križanke, way back on September 20, 2012. Ladies and gentlemen! Scottish hard rock veterans Nazareth. Now bolstered by singer Carl Sentance, who inherited the giant boots of the retired Dan McCafferty in the band. Finally a singer who has at last “taken hold” in the band since McCafferty’s departure. Carl Sentance was in fact the focal point of the show. How would his voice come across, since nobody can really imagine who, under this godless sky, could replace the unique vocal figure of Dan McCafferty. Starting with Razamanaz, then on to This Flight Tonight (orig. Joni Mitchell), the excellent ballad Dream On, the mischievous Hair of the Dog, the expected and demanded Love Hurts (orig. The Everly Brothers), which had the older “ladies” in the crowd melting, and in the encore with Broken Down Angel, Nazareth showed that perseverance more than pays off. Sentance isn’t as throatily screaming as McCafferty (who is still considered the true male version of the late icon Janis Joplin), but it’s amazing to realize how nicely his tone of voice suits the band’s classics . A surprise. Nazareth defy the odds and haven’t said their last word yet.
The second day was also special for having the highest attendance of all three days of the festival. In the role of the day’s headliner, Twisted Sister took the stage, who are (finally) saying farewell after 40 years. The original lineup, except for the drummer’s position, filled by former Dream Theater drummer, or rather the gentleman by the name of »If Dream Theater don’t want me anymore, everyone else in the Milky Way does« Mike Portnoy, was given a whole hour and fifty minutes of showtime. With a modest discography, the band as expected stretched the show out like old pros, so that the band’s silver-tongued doctor, Dee Snider of course, told amusing stories from the world of rock’n’roll between breaks, while part of the running time was also taken up by a totally unnecessary rendition of the Rolling Stones standard It’s Only Rock’N’Roll and a considerably stretched-out version of the mega-hit We’re Not Gonna Take It. The band also served up pyrotechnic seasoning for the show, much like two years ago, when they last played here. Twisted Sister also allowed all the photographers to shoot the whole concert from up close, that is, from the so-called photo pit. From the first second to the last. Otherwise it was played and sung with distinction. No complaints there. The audience was thrilled, moved, visibly enchanted, and that was also the band’s main and chief goal. To deliver a superior rock’n’roll spectacle. We’ll see whether the promise really holds and whether Twisted Sister, thanks to the announced retirement, really won’t be seen on the world’s stages anymore.
For all of us who got a little bored during Twisted Sister’s predictable set and Snider’s verbal braiding, comfort was on offer with the show by Swedish death metal gloom-mongers Grave, taking place at the same time in the Volksbankmesse hall. Destructively occult gloom-mongers and the proverbial Swedish performance perfectionism »par excellence« more than excellently countered, for the decimated crop of visitors, the superficial glam metal manner of the famous American »show off« approach raging at the festival’s main stage, barely a hundred meters away.
After Twisted Sister, or rather some 20 minutes after Grave, British NWOBHM veterans Satan followed in the hall. As far as this name goes, you’d wish to meet even more bands with pioneering credentials at festivals like this in the future. That is, ones who are the actual derivative of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. The band used the show to give a flinty presentation of its excellent new studio album »Atom by Atom«, from which the first-rate mini epic suite The Fall of Persephone rang out, along with Ruination, My Own God and Fallen Saviour before it, and the title track Atom By Atom. Brian Ross remains the epitome of an exceptionally charismatic vocalist. Last year he also played the stages of Tolmin’s Metaldays festival, as part of the lineup of yet another set of NWOBHM veterans, Blitzkrieg. Brian once again thrilled with exceptional vocal power and high screams on the verge of madness, with which he impresses at his shows even in his mature years. The vocalist of course seasoned his show with famous reflections of black British humor. Steve Ramsey, an original member and leader of Satan, is now joined by excellent young guitarist Russ Tippins, who played the bulk of the toughest guitar parts, especially the solos. Today’s Satan lineup is rounded out by original bassist Graeme English and drummer Sean Taylor. Of course the band also devoted attention to playing classics from the first two albums, »Court in the Act« and »Suspended Sentence«, whereupon, after the song Opression, Ross suffered an extremely unpleasant and unusual mishap in the first verse of the closing Time to Die. He forgot the lyrics, and was visibly fuming on stage. Satan are a must for all fans of old-school metal pioneering! You can catch them at this year’s edition of Metaldays, in Slovenia’s Tolmin!
When Satan finished their set, only those festival-goers who just couldn’t go to sleep yet were left in the Volksbankmesse hall. There were fewer than two hundred of them. All drunk. Or at least 95% of those present were. So Killcode took the stage. A band that’s a neat crossbreed of several genres. They’re a relatively young, or new, band, but with a polished artistry and stage presence. A band with mileage, in other words. You could feel it in the homogeneous, compact performance. The band combines elements of raw rock’n’roll, crossed with elements of punk, often pulling the whole thing toward Guns N’ Roses, adding the dark look of something like The Cult, with everything, especially sonically, aimed at modern approaches and creating a fat groove. Excellent soloing is not missing either. The quintet had an hour at its disposal. After that, festival organizer Horst unexpectedly walked onstage and handed the guys beers. After leaving the stage he said they could play until two in the morning, or as long as the audience let them. Fired up and emboldened, Killcode headed back on stage and played one more song. An excellent show for the late night of day two, which was slowly but steadily tilting into a new morning! The third and final day of the festival was appearing on the horizon.
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