Author: Rok Klemše
Venue: Volkhaus Landskron / Villach / Austria
Concert date: 10.04.2007
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: 19€
A good ten days have passed since our first visit to Villach, and it was time to drop in on our metal buddies up north again. Our team’s last trip left a pretty bitter taste, and a bunch of things piled on top of each other: lousy weather, trouble finding the hall, a disastrous sound system, crap beer… Only the stubbornness and persistence of the rock-solid RockLine crew got us to return to the scene of the crime. This time with high hopes. The gorgeous, sunny weather filled Aleš and me with optimism and the hope that this gig would stay in our memory in a better light. And of course the two headliners, Savage Circus and Circle II Circle, promised a lot too.
After a good hour’s drive (some energy drink supposedly gives you wings, hehe) we found ourselves in sunny Villach, and to our surprise spotted another car with Slovenian plates in the parking lot. Metalheads from Novo Mesto! Take a leaf out of their book! Villach really isn’t far, and after a gig as good as the one we got, you really won’t regret the few euros for the toll and gas, a beer or two, and a relatively cheap ticket.
The Volkhaus Landskron hall was still empty, so the pub nearby was practically begging us in for a mug of cold beer (steer clear of the beer in the hall – sure, it’s a few cents cheaper, but that’s because it’s “spiced up” with water). The village “hillbillies” are best simply ignored…
Tempesta: 19:25 – 19:50
Around half past seven, the sound of shredding finally drifted out of the hall, and it was high time we moved over there ourselves to see what the Carinthian metal maniacs had cooked up for us this time. The thankless job of opening fell to the Swiss band Tempesta. This heavy metal/melodic thrash metal outfit seems to have caught their country’s neutrality, because they look pretty pitiful on stage. The guys still need some more miles on the road, and a bit more musical originality wouldn’t hurt either. A minus also goes to the “wimpy” frontman Ret, who lacks the “balls” to be a proper frontman. The Swiss played material from their first record Platinum and their second, Fulltime Joker. After barely half an hour it was time to say goodbye, and the next band was already taking the stage.
Madog: 20:00 – 20:25
Warming up an already summer-warm Villach was left to local heroes Madog. The crowd responded accordingly: in a completely empty hall, only a handful of enthusiasts were headbanging, even though Madog play pretty high-quality heavy/power metal in the vein of Rage. No wonder, since the band’s first release was the record Back in Time – A Tribute to Rage. This time, unfortunately (or maybe not), Madog forgot about their teachers and role models and delivered a half-hour set of tracks from their debut Dreamland and its follow-up Fairytales of Darkness. Granted, Madog aren’t exactly groundbreaking, but they burned through their half hour more than confidently and with quality, frontman Hansi and guitarist Alex traded some interesting twin-lead solos, and Hansi’s vocals aren’t half bad either.
Tomorrow’s Eve: 20:40 – 21:20
I admit that I’d never heard of the Germans Tomorrow’s Eve before, and sadly I hadn’t had time to dig through their discography either. All I knew about them going into the gig was that they play progressive metal. And I was really glad I didn’t know Tomorrow’s Eve, because their set was a real surprise. True, Tomorrow’s Eve aren’t reinventing the wheel; they play progressive metal you’ve heard before, leaning a bit toward Vanden Plas and at times Dream Theater, but what they do, they do very well and with quality. Many of you have surely rolled your eyes at the words Dream Theater and thought, here’s another bunch of technically polished-to-the-last-detail musicians who rely only on their own superiority. But what people often hold against the Dreams doesn’t apply to Tomorrow’s Eve; the only parallel with the champions of prog metal would be the keyboards, which recall early Dream Theater with the melodic keyboard lines of Kevin Moore or Derek Sherinian, and which thankfully don’t come anywhere near Rudess’s noodling (I still get chills remembering his ten-minute opening solo in Octavarium at Hala Tivoli in 2005. Yuck…). Don’t get me wrong, Tomorrow’s Eve are exceptional technical musicians too, but they know exactly where to draw the line. So they stick to excellent melodies, superbly complemented by a fantastic, killer rhythm section with drummer Tom Diener and bassist Chris Doerr, who plays with a pick and with his fingers without breaking a sweat and pulls off some enviable bass lines. Guitarist Rainer is excellent, but nothing really special, and sadly, thanks to the sound problems, he didn’t get to shine as much. The band could definitely use a rhythm guitarist, even though keyboardist Oliver fills the gap of the missing second guitar well. And the sweetest was saved for last – vocalist Martin LeMar. Martin joined the band before the record Mirror of Creation 2 – Genesis II (2006) and slotted into the band brilliantly. I haven’t heard the previous vocalist Peter Webl live, so it’s hard for me to judge, but going by the albums, Martin is a much better singer. Martin soars to heavenly heights, but at times he also seasons his lines with a really brutal, “Boltendahl-style” edge. With the two guest vocalists on the latest record, Jennie and Vivian, Martin fits in superbly, and it would have been truly fantastic to hear the trio live too, but this time it was sadly just a backing track. We’ll definitely be hearing more about Tomorrow’s Eve!
Savage Circus: 21:50 – 22:45
A little before ten the lights went down, and to the sound of an epic intro the first “stars” of the evening marched onto the stage. The younger brother of Blind Guardian, or, for the cynics, a “tribute to Blind Guardian” (you know who you are :), Savage Circus. The band was founded after his departure from Blind Guardian by drummer Thomen Stauch, out of a desire to play metal close to the Blind Guardian of the nineties. A Blind Guardian copy for some, a great band leaning on the sound of the legendary Guardians for others, call it what you like, but Savage Circus burned damn well live! If you’re among those who aren’t into the complexity of today’s Blind Guardian, Savage Circus are the perfect fix for you. Savage Circus came out swinging with Tomorrowland and immediately showed their aces, especially the excellent vocalist Jens Carlsson (Persuader), who strongly recalls Hansi from Blind Guardian, and the fantastic lead guitarist Piet Sielck, who helped Jens out with backing vocals. And it was great to see Thomen Stauch behind the drums again (he came back to the band after an absence of almost half a year due to personal problems). Savage Circus currently have only one record out, Dreamland Manor (2005), so they play more or less all of it; this time only Born Again By The Night was left out because of time constraints. But the rest of the songs made the pleasure that much greater – from the excellent, punchy opener Evil Eyes, through It – The Gathering, with which Savage Circus summoned the embodiment of evil from King’s novel It, the clown Pennywise, right into our midst, to the fantastic ballad Beyond Reality, which created an unbelievable fairy-tale atmosphere. Finally, big props to a band that created a real atmosphere despite the small crowd; frontman Jens in particular had plenty of contact with the audience, and Savage Circus gave everything they had, even though Piet was visibly angry a few times at the incompetence of the sound techs. Good thing he didn’t play ten days ago at Metal Mania, where the sound was truly awful; this time it was drastically better. For me, my first Savage Circus show will go down as a happy memory, though it’s true that with better conditions and a crowd that wasn’t so wooden, it would have left an even deeper mark. Still, they managed to wake up hell!
Savage Circus setlist:
1. Tomorrowland
2. Evil Eyes
3. Waltz of the Demon
4. It – The Gathering
5. Between the Devil and the Seas
6. Beyond Reality
7. Ghost Story
8. When Hell Awakes
Circle II Circle: 23:00 – 00:15
After Jon Oliva’s Pain at Metalcamp 2006, this time I got another piece of the Savatage mosaic and the legacy of one of the greater metal bands. And I could hardly wait! Zak won me over with his penetrating vocals back in the legendary Savatage, and after leaving the band he rebuilt his reputation with his new band Circle II Circle. Let me say right off the bat that I hadn’t seen a frontman as good as Zak Stevens in quite a while. I can’t remember another bandleader working so hard for so few people. Hats off to Zak and his boys! Zak kept some 50 people clapping and chanting the whole time, and we were more than happy to oblige. He naturally paid special attention to the gentler half of the audience, who were more than obviously melting under Zak’s attention and could barely stand on their trembling knees. Yes, Zak is without a doubt the living definition of charisma! The same goes for his band, who have been working with Zak for only a good two years. After the first record Watching in Silence, the whole lineup emigrated to Jon Oliva and Zak was left alone… But maybe this time he even has a stronger lineup than Jon does. The whole crew is unbelievable! From the dynamic bassist Paul Michael, who handles keyboards on top of bass, to the precise drummer Tom and the indescribable guitar duo, ruled by lead guitarist Andy Lee. The precision and commitment he played with… And how uncompromisingly he tackled the demanding solos of the sadly early-departed Criss Oliva! I drop to my knees and scream in the style of Wayne (Wayne’s World)… “We’re not worthy!!!” The only minus of the Circle II Circle show, at least for me personally, is that they didn’t play the excellent title ballad of the record Watching in Silence. But in return we got a proper gourmet meal in the form of rare Savatage songs that even Savatage themselves rarely played. From Live As One, Conversation Piece, the magical twin Labyrinths/Follow Me, to Taunting Cobra and Handful of Rain!!! YES!!! Magical and dreamy, the goosebumps crept up all by themselves. And Zak is still so strong vocally that I started doubting the proverbially impossible-to-sing Savatage classic He Carves His Stone. So as not to neglect the Circle II Circle material, they mostly played songs from their current record Burden of Truth (2006), on which Zak proved his chops as a songwriter too, without the help of his former Savatage colleagues. After what I saw, I’m just waiting for the next chance to see Circle II Circle again!
Circle II Circle setlist:
1. Instrumental
2. All That Remains
3. Open Season
4. Who Am I
5. Matter of Time
6. Heal You
7. Your Reality
8. Revelation
9. Evermore
10. Burden of Truth
11. Live As One
12. Conversation Piece
13. Labyriths/Follow Me
14. Taunting Cobras
15. Handful of Rain
16. Edge of Thorns
All the doubts and reservations from the Morgana Lefay/Disbelief gig last month are gone! We got a fantastic show, and you’ll be kicking yourselves if you weren’t there. But the Austrians still have a few aces up their sleeve, so you can make up for it.
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