GRAND MAGUS, Primitai @Wolves Slade Rooms 28/2/13

Here at RTM we like Primitai a lot. In fact, our glowing praise of the band from last years I Am I show is still on their website. This is the fourth time we have seen the group since  a couple of years ago when they opened – in this very room – for White Wizard.

Happily on each occasion they have improved and tonight is no exception. “Sin City” and “Nocturnal Hordes” from last album “In The Line Of Fire” still sound thrilling, but that album has been around since 2010 and the group need some new stuff if they are to move forward.

Good news then that they air a couple of new songs, “Pound For Pound” packs an immediate punch, while “Scream When You See Us” has a driving riff and is slightly more sprawling. Both, however, hint that album number three, when it hits, might be a bit good. And any band that performs a Manowar-esque human pyramid onstage is alright with us.

As are Grand Magus. The three piece are a band who is superb on record, but really excels in the live arena. If their set in support of Amon Amarth last year was good, then their mid-afternoon slot at Bloodstock last year was a phenomenal affair, so hopes are high for this headliner.

And – boy, they don’t disappoint. For 75 minutes tonight, we watched metal at its most thrilling. Last year’s fine “The Hunt” album – which more or less is a continuation of the previous “Hammer of the North” record – is well represented, with four songs played. These include the majestic pair of “Sword of the Ocean” and “Starlight Slaughter,” while if there is a more majestic slice of power metal than “The Oar Strikes The Water” from 2008s “Iron Will” could someone please send it to us?

Here is a band for whom headlining the Black Country, evidently holds a special place. Singer, JB tells us he “can feel it in the walls” and it says much for how blasé we are about our heritage that someone shouts back “that will be the damp, pal….”

No matter, though, as Magus do understand their history. Their songs, rather like the aforementioned Amarth, rely heavily on, and draw heavily from, the Norse mythology, with “Valhalla Rising” sounding suitably epic.

Unlike other bands who sing about this type of thing, though, Magus eschew the death metal sound in favour of something that sounds not unlike Sabaton playing a Judas Priest track. With Fox’s expert bass and Ludwig’s pounding drums complimenting JB’s guitar, Magus are superb. “Hammer of the North” which is played as an encore, turns into a sing-a-long to end a very special set.

Throughout history there have been some exceptional three piece bands, from Rush to Motorhead, to Hendrix the triumvirate just seems to work. To that list, lets add Grand Magus. Their website says they are “Scandinavian Riff Lords” and that description will do for us too. 

BLOODSTOCK - Day One @Catton Hall 10/8/12

Sometimes you just know you will feel at home.

Walking into Catton Hall for the first time, it is clear that it is exactly the sort of place we should always have been at. Not least of the reasons why is the crowd. There is a refreshing lack of people who attend festivals but who don’t actually like music – the sort of people who you might get a V or Reading, say.

But walk into the Bloodstock arena and it’s hard to tell who is in a band and who is in the crowd, and that’s how it should be when dealing with Britain’s premier metal festival.

And that’s why Malefice immediately look perfect to kick things off. One of the very best British bands, they just continue to impress. “Delirium” and “Omega” were designed to be played at these types of events, thrash on a massive scale; they continue to deserve their success.

From thrash to power and another of RTM’s faves, Freedom Call. By rights they should be awful. They are entirely ludicrous and pompous, but they are also superb and for Germans, they keep their tongues firmly in cheeks. They are here, they say, to start the “Heavy Metal Party” and are tremendous fun.

Another of RTM’s favourites Grand Magus are up next, the Swedes a touch lower down the bill than might have been expected, but they are no less entertaining than you would have hoped. No one can argue with songs of the quality of “The Oar Strikes the Water,” “Valhalla Rising” and set closer “Hammer of the North. Perhaps a place in the upper echelons of metals elite still awaits.

Up until the moment Moonsorrow walked onstage Catton Hall had been bathed in glorious sunshine all day. Perhaps fittingly the sun goes behind a cloud in time for some Portuguese Doomy Black Metal. Despite having two superb new albums out they are the first slight let down. Perhaps they would be better in a little club, where the darker atmosphere they create might come over better, but on a festival stage in mid afternoon their songs don’t quite resonate.

Iced Earth, though were born to make a big sound. Now including former Fury UK man Luke Appleton, they seem on a mission to bring the denim quota up. Far more overtly heavy metal than Freedom Call, Iced Earth’s set is a magnificent and joyous affair. Main man Jon Schaffer grins his way through, while new singer Stu Block looks steeped in the role. They knock out the day’s first ballad “Watching Over Me” as well an astonishingly good “Anthem.” Older tracks like “Damien” and ending number “Iced Earth” also manage to sound fresh. As always Earth are a triumph.

It’s hard for Sepultura, you would guess. Once metal’s big hopes, they are now firmly in stalwart mode. Their best days are behind them perhaps but they remain a fine live draw. Frontman Derrick Green gives it everything he’s got and if you can’t enjoy songs like “Refuse/Resist” and an incendiary “Roots” then Bloodstock ain’t for you. They even fetch Ripper Owens out on “Territory” and are very good indeed.

The aforementioned Owens is here as frontman for Dio Disciples, who fittingly perhaps are on the stage named after the man who’s like they celebrate. Ronnie James Dio remains one of the iconic voices in metal, and hearing “Holy Diver” is always a thrill, but RTM opts to head to the Jagermeister stage to check Absolva. Ex Fury UK men Chris Appleton and Martin McNee’s new venture, while there is Midlands interest too as former Point Blank Fury bass man Dan Bate is in the group.

Happily despite being only five gigs old – and with Iced Earth’s Luke watching on -  Absolva might be the real deal. The addition of a second guitarist as foil to Appleton has beefed up the sound and there is an instant appeal to songs like “Code Red” and “Breathe. “ Ones to watch.

Like Moonsorrow, Alcest are another band to suffer from a festival setting. With Watain due on the main stage, the crowd in the Sophie Lancaster tent is a little more sparse than might have been expected. While “Autre Temps” might be a damn fine song on record, here it lacks spectacle.

Spectacle on the other hand, is what Watain do. Surrounded by corpse paint and flames, theirs is a set that is surprisingly good. Part gig and part Ritual it is a captivating performance of a quality that RTM didn’t expect. “Reaping Death” and “Waters Of Ain” are black metal with a modern bent and even the sceptics are won over.

All that is left is for Behemoth to close things off. And it is a task they perform with aplomb. In many ways the feelgood story of the day, just the fact that front man Nergal has beaten leukaemia to even be here is great news. That they are excellent is merely a bonus, but the from the minute they kick of with “Ov Fire And The Void” to the ending of “Lucifer” they deliever a black metal masterclass.

Beat that, day two!

AMON AMARTH, Grand Magus, In Solitude

We know In Solitude are young, but surely they don’t need to go to bed so early that their set starts at 7.15? It is not an early curfew show and is something that venue as a whole (not just this one) need to look at. As a result RTM only manages to catch the last four songs of their set. A tremendous shame because their “The World, The Flesh The Devil” album has much to commend it (and was one of RTM’s top 20 of last year.)

A thrilling mix of the occult of Ghost and the twin guitar attack of Maiden, it is to be hoped we see the Swedes back on these shores soon.

Fellow Swedes Grand Magus follow, formerly on the mark of quality that is Lee Dorian’s Rise Above Label (home to the aforementioned Ghost and Gentleman’s Pistols amongst many, many others) before moving to Roadrunner to put out the phenomenal “Hammer of the North” in 2010, they have long been a name to drop.

Despite being a fan for years, this is RTM’s first time seeing the three-piece live. And they are a revelation. Simply put, if you have any metal in your veins then Grand Magus are a band you need in your life. “The Oar Strikes The Water” tips its hat to Priest and the Irons, while “Hammer of the North” has echoes of Saxon. Front man Janne "JB" Christoffersson shreds and and sings and is more than ably backed up by drummer Fox and bassist Seb Sippola. Their 45 minutes flies by and is right up there with any set we have seen this year.

The question is therefore, how can Amon Amarth follow that? The answer, of course, is by being Amon Amarth. The band have been taking their melodic death metal songs about Vikings and Odin around the world for years, and they know what they are doing and how to do it for perfection.

The first time we clapped eyes on them was three and a half years ago when they opened for Slayer at the Civic Hall next door and they are just the same tonight as they were then. Songs built around a combination of thunderous riffs and singer Johan Hegg’s frankly gargantuan stage presence.

This tour is on the back of the “Sutur Rising” album which was released last year and “destroyer of the Universe” – an oddly catchy track with a fabulous chorus – is perhaps the best song they play, but this is a band you just know is doing exactly what it wants to. There was an interview with Hegg last year where he said he would rather go back to his former job of a carpenter than play songs he didn’t believe in. It is perhaps this attitude that allows him extol the crowd for a sing-song with the words “it doesn’t matter if you know the words, its metal – no one will know the difference!”

After 80 punishing, brutal, yet strangely tuneful minutes, they are back for an encore of the exemplary “Twighlight of the Thunder God” and “Guardian of Asgaard” before, with horns and fists raised its over.

A fine night, showcasing all that’s best in Scandinavian metal. However they keep churning out such fine bands over there, you can only hope that it continues for years.