PARADISE LOST, Lacuna Coil, Katatonia, @Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton 30/10/13

Out of all the fantastic value for money bills that are criss-crossing the UK at the moment – and we are blessed right now, with the likes of Volbeat and Iced Earth, Tracer and The Answer welded together – this evening might have seen the best there is on offer this autumn.

Paradise Lost are in the building to celebrate their 25 years as a band, and they have bought along some mates for the evening. Lacuna Coil are phenomenal support act, but when you add Katatonia to the mix as openers – and by the way all bands are playing over an hour each, this really is quite spectacular.

The Swedes are on this tour with an anniversary of their own to mark. It is ten years since they released their “Viva Emptiness” record, which  as far as they see it, is as good a reason as any to play it all the way through. It is an excellent album and one which deserves hearing, however, if we are being honest we would rather see a proper show than an album one. That said, it is a treat to watch a couple of songs that have never been played live before and the likes of “Sleeper” which comes near the end is prime doom of the highest order and “Ghost of the Sun” ends things in a swirl of anger. 

Lacuna Coil are often dismissed as Cristina Scabbia and some other people. That does them a tremendous disservice. Big enough to headline this venue in their own right last year, they are a formidable live act. They are also back up to full strength. Last year’s tour saw them missing a rhythm section, tonight sees them all present and correct.

Their set is heavy on tracks from the “Dark Adrenaline” record from last year, including the opening one-two of “I Don’t Believe In Tomorrow” and “Kill The Light” both rock harder than you think, but perhaps where Coil excel is on the massive chorus which sees them in full stadium bothering mode “Heaven’s A Lie” is huge sounding and “Spellbound” ends things in epic fashion. 

So…25 years, then? 25 years. How it happened that Paradise Lost became veterans, who knows. Whilst RTM cannot claim that we were there since the start, we will claim PL worship since 1994 when Raw Magazine put a sampler of “Draconian Times” on the front cover, so tonight is as special for the fans as it is for the band. 

And my, what a setlist they have put together to celebrate this fact. It begins with “Mortals Watch The Day” from the “Shades of God” record – the track hasn’t been played live, apparently, for nearly 20 years. We are not in Greatest Hits territory, it seems.  So it continues, with “So Much Is Lost” from the drastically underrated and undervalued “Host” album and the death metal stylings of “Gothic.” 

There are some recent songs too – “Faith Divides Us, Death Unites”  and “Tragic Idol” for example – but this is an hour and half that really takes all your expectations, toys with them and surpasses them, and any set that includes “Say Just Words” must be one of the highlights of the musical year.

Notoriously miserable frontman Nick Holmes jokes (no really!) near the end, saying “imagine if you didn’t know us and turned up tonight, there’s been pop, rock, death metal, doom, you would wonder what was going on!” 

He’s spot on, but that is the charm of Paradise Lost, you never know what they are going to, except whatever they damn well please. What a joy it was to celebrate their 25 years of music with them here tonight. 

KADAVAR, Buffalo Summer @Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton 24/10/13

Welsh band Buffalo Summer have apparently never played Wolverhampton before, but they are not strangers to the Midlands. RTM had seen them in Leamington, opening for Skid Row back in March. We liked them then, we like them now.

Back in the spring we wrote: “This is hard rock with a bluesy tinge that has no pretensions to be anything else” and at the risk of tooting our own horn in a quite self-regarding way, we were bang on. The only thing we can add to that tonight is that since then, this type of retro rock is bang in vogue and Buffalo Summer could find themselves getting in on the whole Temperance Movement bandwagon.

They aren’t too dissimilar to TM and singer Andrew Hunt looks the part dressed in his flares. The fella can sing too, and there is a real Black Crowes type charm to songs like “A Horse Called Freedom” and new single ”Down To The River.” Look out for Summer, as their sun is shining brightly.

What can you say about Kadavar? The German three piece are perhaps the hairiest band this side of ZZ Top and if a band that that sounds like Led Zeppelin jamming on a Black Sabbath song while a pencil thin drummer beats the crap out of his kit sounds like it might be for you, then ladies and gentlemen, welcome along to your new favourite band.

The group stuck out album number two earlier in the year. Fantastically titled “Abra Kadavar” it is nine songs of sheer 70s sounding brilliance. However, they are slightly more contrary than you might expect, they only play four songs from it in their 75 minute set, choosing instead to showcase nearly all of their self-titled debut record.

In common with most of the crowd we suspect, RTM isn’t too familiar with the older stuff (albeit it only came out last year) but no matter, it is quite majestic, indeed it always amazes how a band with three members – whether it be Motorhead or Rush, or indeed Kadavar -  can sound so huge. The seemingly impromptu jam in “Eyes Of The Storm” is just massive, the band cutting loose and having fun in a mass of hair and riffery.

The tunes from “…Kadavar” are even better than you would have hoped. “Doomsday Machine” and “Come Back Life” are particularly majestic, while the other stuff sees plenty of vinyl being sold at the end.

The group are not particularly demonstrative and apart from the odd “thank you” they barely speak, whether this is because of a lack of confidence is unclear, but really you wouldn’t want them any other way.

There is no encore, all three just waving as they exit the stage, before Bon Jovi’s “Runaway” plays us out. That unexpected track proves if nothing else that these German’s do things with tongues in cheeks on occasion, what happened before proved that they are very special indeed. 

THE CULT @ Civic Hall, Wolverhampton 23/10/13

We have seen The Cult a couple of times and tonight, we really don’t know what to expect.

The first occasion was at Sonisphere in 2010. The band were high up on the second stage and they absolutely killed it, a brilliant show where you saw how good a band Duffy/Astbury and the boys were.

Then the following year they headlined The Civic and they were – and we are being kind here – dreadful. A truly awful gig, in which Astbury was dressed in jogging bottoms and looking like he would rather be anywhere else. The show was bad enough, even before it was augmented with some awful videos.

That said, we like to give people a second chance around here – and tonight The Cult are playing the “Electric” record all the way through. We liked this album as a kid, from the day we first heard “Lil Devil” on the Chart Show 26 years ago, we had been fans.

So just after 9pm (we had given the support band a miss) they stride out on stage and happily they look like they mean business tonight. Astbury is wearing jeans and a jacket for a start off and he looks like he’s enjoying himself, which is a great improvement.

The show is in two parts, the first is “Electric” played from “Wild Flower” to “Memphis Hip Shake” (although “Born To Be Wild” is missing). And it sounds fresh and briefly we are transported back to being 12 again, so far so good.

There is an arty farty video in the break, before we are back for part two. This is where you might have been full of trepidation. Tonight, though you need not be concerned. The next 50 minutes are quite excellent; beginning with “Rain” there is a detour to “She Sells Sanctuary” and “Honey From A Knife” – the pick of the most recent record “Choice Of Weapon” and the greatest hits set is only missing “Fire Woman”, and when “Sun King” ends things you remember how good The Cult were.

Astbury’s voice is greatly improved from a couple of years ago, and its Jim Morrison like qualities are to the fore, while Billy Duffy is busily looking cool stage right, playing riff after riff, looking every inch the guitar god he always wanted to be. The two are backed by a superb rhythm section, Chris Wyse has played with Ozzy and John Tempesta was once in White Zombie. In short these boys know what they are doing.

This has been an evening to enjoy, and one to enjoy to the full. Maybe the show a couple of years was just an aberration, because tonight was suitably electric.

STEVE HACKETT @Symphony Hall, Birmingham 22/10/13

When is a tribute band not a tribute band? It’s a question that begs answering this evening. RTM has written on numerous occasions about our dislike of bands called Iron On Maiden, Tin Lizzy or whatever. Never been our thing.

Except…..

Tonight we are here to see Steve Hackett play songs made famous by Genesis. Now, let’s be honest, there is a key difference here. Between 1971 to 76 Hackett was the guitarist in Genesis, so if anyone is entitled to play them, you would suspect it’s him.

So it is in fact that he is in this room for the second time in six months – and close to full it is too. RTM heard rave reviews of the first concert, so when the second leg got announced, starting at Symphony Hall, where the last leg ended, we had to get down there.

Tonight’s gig is unashamedly Genesis, with more or less the same setlist as back in May. Last year Hackett released the “…Revisted II” record, a second volume of re-interpretations of songs from his past, and stunning it is too.

A weighty show, clocking in at two and a half hours, begins with “Watcher Of The Skies” before continuing with “Dancing With The Moonlit Knight” – our absolute favourite Genesis song - and the band do it justice with a brilliant rendition.

Music like this needs a fabulous band, and luckily it has one. The musicianship is exemplary, not least from Hackett himself, who is a superb guitarist, routinely playing majestic solo’s, with arguably the pick of these is “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe).

What it also needs is a fair measure of theatrics, and extrovert singer Nad Sylvan provides it in spades, elevating this from mere concert to performance, as does the brilliant video show that plays behind the music throughout.

The great thing about the Symphony Hall is that it is a venue that although large, is somewhere with a real intimate feel, and really, you could be watching brilliance in your living room at points, despite the fact there are well over a thousand people crammed inside.

The early Genesis classics keep coming – and “Suppers Ready” is particularly good – and Hackett is really the only person that is mining this stuff for our enjoyment. So to answer the first question we posed: A tribute band is not a tribute band when it contains an original member who is playing music he help create and doing so in a quite marvellous way.

Hackett was spellbinding tonight, and if he wants to sell England by the pound again we will buying.

BARONESS @Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton, 19/10/13

In many ways we should celebrate the fact that any of us here at all. In August last year, on their last European tour, the Coach that Baroness were travelling in was involved in a terrible crash, near Bath. 

By all accounts they were lucky to be alive, and as a result of events that night, it is a much different Baroness line up that greets us tonight.  Drummer Allen Blickle and bass man Matt Maggioni both felt unable to carry on and have been replaced by Sebastian Thomson and Nick Jost respectively, but the creative core of singer John Baizley and guitarist Pete Adams remain.

The crowds have come out too. The Slade Rooms – which is about double the size to the place we saw them in last July – is jam packed full by the time that they arrive onstage with “Ogeechee Hymnal.” In typically understated fashion there is no fanfare, just a smile and a wave, strap guitars in and away we go.

Away we go, in fact, with pretty much the same stunning set they treated us to last year. “Take My Bones Away” comes next with its opening riff coming out fighting before Baizley sings: “You lead the way, I’ll follow.” Who on earth knows that that song is about, but it is surely ironic that one of the most innovative bands in metal should open their show with that lyric.

“Take My…..” is one of 10 songs they play from the “Yellow and Green” album, which came out last year. A brave, sprawling, almost proggy double album, it is quite magnificent. Yet even here, Baroness seemed unsure of their move, explaining in interviews they might lose fans. They need not have worried.

For an hour and three quarters Baroness treat us to what ordinarily would just be a fantastic concert, but in the context of what happened, it amounts to giant victory lap and a great big one fingered salute to the world.

In addition to all the tracks from “Green and Yellow” there are plenty from “The Blue Record” which preceded it – helpfully, like last year the lights in the venue change colour depending on which album it comes from – and “Swollen and Halo” together with “A Horse Called Golgotha” still sound incredible.

There are small elements of showmanship from the band, and the new rhythm section have slotted in superbly, but perhaps the most surprising is the usually painfully shy Baizley playing the guitar behind his head during the encore of “Jake Leg.”

“Isak” from debut LP “The Red Album” plays us out and brings to a close what has been a quite incredible evening on so many levels. 

THE ANSWER, Tracer, @Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton 18/10/13

It’s an odd one, this.

Tracer played this venue a year or so back. RTM was here. It was full, and it was excellent. So it must be a touch of a comedown for them to be the opening for The Answer at the same venue.

There is mitigation. Of course, in the current fiscal climate such package tours are not unusual and the value for money should be applauded, and it should have been at the bigger Wulfrun Hall around the corner, before Doctor And The Medics cancelled it got switched here.

That said, if Tracer are disillusioned, they don’t show it. Since they were last in these parts they have stuck out the excellent “El Pistolero” record and its title track is so good it rivals the brilliant “Too Much” for song of their set. They also have a freak out in “Voice In The Rain” and they show just why they are so popular. You would guess that bigger venues than this await them.

Last month’s Classic Rock Magazine contained an interview with The Answer ahead of the release of their new album “New Horizon.” During that feature they spoke about their belief that they hadn’t fulfilled their potential. Not for nothing does “….Horizon’s” first single contain the lyric “we could be spectacular….” Theirs is a career that has seen them support everyone, release excellent records and gain support, but not quite enough. We saw them a decade ago at the old Academy 2 – a venue that is about the same size as this, but if their audience has stagnated, the albums have not.

Tonight kicks off with the title track from “…Horizon” they play for an hour and a half, and it does not dip once, and if you had forgotten how good the band are, now might be a good time re-acquaint yourself with them.

Although the whole band are in top form, Cormac Neeson is very much its heart. Neeson has always been an excellent frontman and now possesses a naturally gregarious nature and charm to go with it. He has a formidable voice too, similar to Robert Plant of course, but The Answer are too often tagged as almost entirely retro. This isn’t fair, and they have enough originality to be seen as an important group in modern rock, not some mere copyists.

As well as their new stuff, they are not afraid to dip into their past and Demon Eyes remains as catchy as anything they have, while “Under The Sky” still kicks and screams like it always did.

After their set ends with “Preachin’” and Neeson has jumped into the crowd before shaking hands with the front few rows with a beaming smile, you are left to reflect that perhaps this is what The Answer need to be in 2013. Perhaps, they need to stop thinking about what they could have won and instead focus on what they have got, which is a decent following, some excellent records and a history of great shows – a fact they themselves acknowledge in the track “Leave With Nothin’” which about the joys of being in a touring band.

As live bands go, to paraphrase their own song, they are spectacular and whilst they might never headline Wembley, they have proved yet again that they are quite superb. 

STEVEN WILSON @Wolves Civic Hall 17/10/13

 There are about 2000 fans in the Wolverhampton Civic Hall tonight, and yet when RTM walks towards the venue a fella strolls up to me and says “who’s on tonight, mate?” We reply, and your man says: “never heard of him” and carries on about his day.

This exchange proves a few things: First that the general public is basically ill-informed when it comes to great music. Second, that mainstream radio is basically irrelevant, but thirdly it proves – perhaps most important – that great music does not need support, because somehow it gets heard. The rest of us are in the Civic Hall tonight to watch perhaps Britain’s greatest modern proggist.

Steven Wilson has had quite a career, in bands and solo – and of course as a producer and prog records restorer, he gives the impression that he lives for music. This year he released an album called “The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)” which is a quite stunning affair. It will appear highly on the end of year award lists of the great and good (and RTM). It is the finest prog record of the year in a year of cracking ones.

He is evidently proud of it too, playing five its tracks during the course of his two and a bit hours on stage. He begins, though, with “Trains” from his Porcupine Tree days, which is played acoustically.

He is soon joined by his magnificent band, which is topped off by a projection and lightshow that would be the envy of a many an arena rock act, and having a go at “Luminol” “…Raven’s….” first track.

Given the level of musicianship on show this evening – and the skills are quite jaw-dropping – the songs are not mere facsimiles of the ones that appear on the albums, rather interpretations. This is perhaps best shown on “Drive Home” during which Wilson jokes with his guitarist that he might try and play the same solo twice in two shows.

Wilson is a lot more gregarious than you might expect, and chats amiably between songs, letting fans record the show, but requesting that the devices are turned off for the new song that he plays, an untitled and unfinished tune which is introduced as “Break It (And It's Yours).” In actuality the fact that he has the courage to do this tells you all you need to know about Wilson, he is a musician that gets a thrill from challenging people and trusts his audience to come along for the ride. And it is a thrilling ride too, one that ends with a brilliant encore of “Radioactive Toy” and has been superlative throughout.  

So whilst the mainstream might not be aware, the prog enthusiast might have had the night of the year. 

VOLBEAT, Iced Earth, The Howling @Academy, Birmingham 16/10/13

A few years ago there was a band of glam chancers called Towers Of London. RTM saw them and thought them to be totally fake. A few years ago there was a band called the Red Star Rebels, RTM saw them and actually quite liked them in a sleazy type way. The reason for mentioning this is that members of both bands are in The Howling. A quick look at their website shows you they have serious trendy backing, sharing a producer with Enter Shakiri for example, and they actually appear to have the chops to pull the hype off. RTM doesn’t see much of their set, but they aren’t bad at all – certainly better than the dreadful ToL, and they are ones to keep an eye on.

When we read the news that Iced Earth were the support for this gig, we admit to doing a cartoon style double take. One of our very favourite bands, one of the greatest power metal bands in the world and moreover one which is big enough to headline the room next door. In short, whoever put this bill together is a stonewall genius, and the value for money should be applauded.

As might be expected, Earth’s 45 minutes is predictably majestic, although is anything but predictable, given that they start with the title track from new album “Plagues Of Babylon” one of a couple of songs they play from the eagerly awaited opus. The second “If I See You” is a more balladic affair, but fabulous nonetheless. By the end of things – with “Iced Earth” as ever closing the set, you simply cannot wait for the 12^th January 2014 when they will be doing a full show.

Volbeat have long been a curious one. Massive all over Europe, genuine arena botherers, they have bolstered their ranks in a quite amazing way. Rob Caggiano was their producer, but now he’s left Anthrax to play guitar for the Danes. Frontman Michael Poulsen still seems aghast at this: “Hello Birmingham, we are Anthrax with four new members…” he says by way of an intro.

Such self-deprecation is to be expected, given that Volbeat are just damn good fun, with very few pretensions to be anything else. AC/DCs “Born To Raise Hell” blasts out before an hour and a half of prime Volbeat flies by.

There are songs from new record “Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies,” there are songs from “Beyond Hell/Above Heaven” and all their other albums with great titles, but it matters little, because they all sound Metallica playing a Johnny Cash number. Listen to “The Nameless One” for example and it is more or less impossible to do so without a smile on your face, and the same is true for essentially anything else they knock out.

Barney from Napalm Death appears for “Evelyn” – and a run through of “You Suffer” (all one second of it) and they have a go at “South of Heaven” while they are at it.

For an encore “Doc Holliday” is followed by “I Only Wanna Be With You” and the Dusty Springfield song has never sounded quite good. It is a fitting ending to a night that was there to be enjoyed. Volbeat have finally crossed over into the rock mainstream in the UK. Their time is now, and they seem to know it. 

DEEP PURPLE @NIA, Birmingham 15/10/13

Why bands never learn is beyond me. Why they still put dreadful supports on before gigs who knows?. After Rock Box and their dreadful covers (really if that’s the best you can do, don’t have a support band at all) the stage is cleared for Deep Purple.

Last time we saw them Deep Purple had a German Orchestra with them and the whole thing was quite marvellous, this time it’s just the band, with the classical overtones stripped away.

There have, though been two significant events in the Purple camp since a couple of years ago. First they have, this year, stuck out the quite superb “Now What?!” record – from which five songs come from this evening, while the second saw the tragic death of Jon Lord, who’s shadow is cast long over the set. They dedicate a song from that new record “Above And Beyond” to Lord this evening, with his image being projected onto the big screen.

He would have been proud of the groups evolution currently, and “…What?” is a truly excellent record. They kick off with “Apres Vous” from it (which is a change from “Highway Star” that they had played elsewhere). Elsewhere highlights from the new record include “Vincent Price” – which sees singer Ian Gillan wearing a mask, and the bluesy licks of “Lazy,” all of which are good enough to be played in this company, and if some of the crowd are bemused by all this new stuff then that’s their loss.

This isn’t an evening where the classics are totally eschewed, though and they are soon into “Hard Lovin’ Man” and “Strange Kind Of Woman” and Purple are very much in the pink.

Steve Morse’s guitar playing remains a key draw in this edition of the group and he plays fantastic solos throughout, as does Don Airey on Keyboards and Ian Paice on the drums – which as entertaining as it is, is done you suspect to help Gillan hide his voice, he is clearly struggling at points and it is a shame.

The ending of the gig is full of stonewall classics, “Space Truckin’” gives way to the unmistakable riff of “Smoke On The Water” takes us home, or more accurately to the encore of “Hush” and “Black Knight.”

During the course of the 90 minutes they are onstage, Purple prove just why they are such an important band in British musical history, and if Ian Gillan cant quite manage to get his pipes around these songs quite like he used to then it matters little, because Deep Purple remain a must see.

BLACK SPIDERS, Hawk Eyes, Baby Godzilla @Academy 3, Birmingham 8/10/13

Around 18 months ago RTM saw Baby Godzilla open for Ginger just up the road at The Asylum. As part of the show the drummer hung upside down from a beam and they were a genuinely terrifying experience.

The Nottingham mob are back again doing this for the Black Spiders and in that time not much has changed. One guitarist is on the venue floor, the singer/guitarist is on the bar and the drummer, although he remain upright this time, removes his drums from the stage on one occasion. You may have spotted a pattern here. When you talk about Godzilla you don’t talk about the music, you talk about the antics, and that, perhaps is why they do it. Musically, they are rather forgettable hardcore, but mix the whole thing together and it becomes rather unsettling. See them live once, but leave it at that.

Hawk Eyes were last in these parts supporting Therapy? And then – as now – the Leeds mob seem to lack something that will elevate them from support band status. There is nothing wrong with
them but at the same time there is nothing you want to shout about either. Once known as Chickenhawk, they had a couple of catchy songs, not too dissimilar from tonight’s headliners, called “I Hate This, Do You Like It?” and “Serpico” disappointingly they play neither track this evening, but they do seem to go down reasonably. Again, if we are being honest, they are not a band that is ever going to be one of our favourites.

That cannot be said for Black Spiders. Right from the moment when we saw them support The Wildhearts next door four years ago, we have bored everyone we possibly could with them. Their early EP’s were quite brilliant, the “Sons of the North” record that followed it was quite outstanding and they have followed it with This Savage Land, which gratifyingly still sounds like Motorhead fighting the Wildhearts in a drunken brawl.

Lead track from this “Knock You Out” kicks us off this evening like a boot to the face, before a fabulous “Stay Down” follows. Thus the pattern is set, the next 75 minutes is largely split half and half between classic old material and soon-to-be classic new stuff, so “Kiss Tried To Kill Me” is still simultaneously dumb, stupid and insanely catchy, mixes with “Balls” from the “…Land” opus, which is simultaneously dumb, stupid and….well you get the picture.

A glorious hour or so is brought to a close by “What Good’s A Rock Without A Roll” which means 250 people get to scream “Eat thunder, shit lightning” at the top of their voices, and whichever way you look at it, that is pretty cool.

The band might have dreams of playing Wembley, but are realistic enough to still have other jobs, and the fact that, to be honest, they are doing this for fun shines through. A few years ago Black Spiders were voted the best underground metal band in Britain. No longer (totally) underground, they are now just one of Britain’s best bands. Full stop.

DIAMOND HEAD, ULI JON ROTH @Academy 2 4/10/13

You certainly cannot accuse Uli Jon Roth of not being active. This show is part of an almost constant effort to play the Midlands it seems, and not glitzy venues either. Have guitar will travel appears to be the motto of this former Scorpion.

The question though, is he any good, it is after all not about how many times you play, but how much skill you have. The answer to that question is a guarded yes. Roth is quite clearly a brilliant guitar player and there is a proggy, almost mystical quality to his metal. There are two vocalists, depending on the type of track that is being played and the music is largely tremendous, but if there is a criticism it is that too many of the songs become drawn out jams.

Diamond Head, since they reformed a few years back, have themselves been frequent in the gig circuit. Perhaps it is this familiarity, then that has led to the crowd being down on what you might expect for this co-headline gig, and bluntly, there is a bit of a deflated atmosphere throughout, which is odd considering it amounts to more or less a hometown show.

The set is something similar to that which they have played for a couple of years, with the bulk of it coming from their best regarded album, 1980’s “Lightning to the Nations.” They tour all around the world doing this sort of stuff – and when they leave us they are jetting for a major run to the US and they know exactly what they are doing.

Often still seen as a new boy, singer Nick Tart has been in the band for nine years now and he is very much at home behind the mic, but he does though encapsulate the overriding problem with this evening.

Perhaps he does so unwittingly, but as the final song of the main set approaches, the Brummie frontman says “I know you’ve been waiting for one song all night, are you waiting?” There is not much response. “Are you evil?” he sneers. And with that the band are off and their mother is a witch, who is burned alive. “Am I Evil?” is a truly fantastic song, one of the iconic moments in British Metal, but it is not the only song the band have – just ask Metallica, who still worship them – but they do seem to want to make their career all about those glorious seven minutes.

RTM has seen Diamond Head before and will see them again, but we have seen them be much better than this, as for whatever reason, tonight was just a touch flat.

GLORYHAMMER, Darkest Era, Dendera @Robin 2, Bilston 2/10/13

RTM owes Dendera an apology. We arrive too late to catch all their set, but the 15 minutes or so we do see leaves us hoping to catch them again. Hotly tipped by the likes of Terroriser Magazine, and having supported many metal bands in their native south. Now out on a proper bone fide UK tour, they look in the mood to enjoy themselves. An uproarious cover of “Run To The Hills” is as good a way as any to get the sparse, but enthusiastic crowd on side – especially as it is done with Gloryhammer’s Thomas Winkler, while “Bridges Will Burn” is bombastic metal fun. More please.

Irish metal mob Darkest Era are a little bit at odds with the slightly light hearted air of the main band, as there are not a lot of grins in their set. That doesn’t make them any less entertaining, and the Irish do this sort of thing very well  - think of Primordial and Mael Mordha. Era are in a similar vein, but arguably there more of a British doom quality about songs “Seasons End” and “Serpent And The Shadow” while closing number “The Last Caress Of Light Before The Dark” is as epic as it sounds.

If you have heard Gloryhammer’s album – the most ridiculously brilliant, OTT power metal album of the year – then you might expect this not to be the most po-faced set you have ever seen. We are dealing after all, with a group that will play a song called “The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee” during the course of the evening.

You might not, however, be expecting the unscheduled appearance of a band called Bummerlingus in the change over between bands. They play a song which appears to be called “Hungry For Shit” in a death metal style. If we explain that Bummerlingus are an amalgam of the bands of this evening and include Christopher Bowes on vocals, then that might give you a clue.

Alestorm mainman Bowes will be in twenty minutes or so – indeed after Tay FM has blasted out songs like MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” – be behind the keyboards in Gloryhammer, dressed as an evil wizard with an invading army, and if that sounds ludicrous it is, if it sounds like you wouldn’t enjoy it , then fine, Gloryhammer aren’t for you.

Those that like their Power Metal so gloriously daft that people dress as knights and in armour to sing their songs – and there aren’t many of us judging by the crowd – are in for a treat. The aforementioned record “Tales From The Kingdom Of Fife” is one of RTM’s absolute favourites of the year. They play most of it. During the course of the set, Winkler (aka Angus McFife) molests an invisible princess, crushes an invisible pineapple, calls us warriors repeatedly and has a fight with the “filthy scumbag” wizard in the closing song. If it helps he does all this while playing excellent versions of the finest power metal around.

The evening ends with members of the bands on stage having their photos taken. This is the last night of a tour that all have clearly enjoyed. And well might they have too, because if it was all as good as this, then it was very special indeed.

Bluntly, you either like this sort of stuff or you don’t. If you do, then tonight was as marvellous as it gets.

WHITE WIZZARD, Monument, Vandaliers @Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton 29/09/13

Local boys The Vandaliers are a new one on us at RTM, but as first impressions go it was a bit of a cracker. Dealing in the same type of music that latter day Orange Goblin knock out with consummate ease, there is absolutely nothing not to be enjoyed about their set. Songs like “Swamp Thing” and Sweet Temptation tick all the right boxes and, really are the sort of music is impossible to get wrong. The band are supporting RTM favourites Kadavar next month and are well worth getting their early for. Here is one bunch of vandals you are happy to see again and again.

On their Facebook page Monument list their first two influences as “Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.” There are other listed, but really they are superfluous as that is exactly what the band sound like. When last White Wizzard were in these parts, it was Monument singer Peter Ellis who was behind the mic stand. His act was the same then as it is now. Think Bruce Dickinson but even more posh. There is nothing remotely original about the band, but that doesn’t matter. This is metal to be played while you are in your studded leather jacket and to be enjoyed with a smile on your face. Nothing else.  The song titles betray their secrets. “Fatal Attack” “Crusaders” (which couldn’t be more Iron Maiden if it tried) and closing track “Rock The Night” are as big, dumb and fun as it gets.

If Monument were made to support any band, it is White Wizzard, the Americans plough almost exactly the same furrow. There are two things that have catrogorised the band since their formation. One is an almost constantly revolving door of band members and two is superb music.

The “Flying Tigers” album from a couple of years ago saw main man Jon Leon exploring his proggier side, while this years “The Devil’s Cut” (from where the majority of tonight’s set comes) is back to straight ahead balls to the wall metal. All of it is excellent, and Englishman Will Wallmer is exemplary on guitar. The hour they spend on stage is as enjoyable as it gets, and concludes with their first ever song “High Speed GTO.”

Nothing is simple, though, in the world of White Wizzard, and in the time since this gig took place the band have virtually disbanded again. Singer Joseph Michael was sacked about three days after this show (claiming he left after Jon Leon stole from him) and guitarist Wallner and drummer Giovanni Durst followed him out of the door. Faced with this turmoil (this is the sixth vocalist they have sacked) Earache records have finally had enough and dropped the band.

Where this leaves them is anyone’s guess, but if this is the end, then tonight at least provided a decent memory. What happened since is a shame, but taken as just a rock n roll show, this was a damn fine affair.