BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR DAY TWO: Catton Hall, Derbyshire 10/8/13

Day two, then, and we begin on the RJD stage to have a look at Stormbringer. A riff machine from Northamptonshire, they include ex members of Viking Skull. Stormbringer have less of a party approach to rock than that band, though. They play a chugging brand of metal/rock and they are very good indeed. “Grinder” and “Traitor” are more than enough to entertain anyone who has ventured in early.

After Krusher has seen us relive our youth watching Raw Power on TV and got us saying “rock hard, rock heavy, rock animal” to our mate just like when we were at school (and if that means nothing to you, then tough!) it’s the turn of Beholder. The Midlands thrash band (and with new album “The Order Of Chaos” is so heavy the band easily suits that moniker) singer Simon Hall always cuts an imposing figure and today is no different, as he strides the stage of the festival he helps organise. “Toxic Nation” is typical of the group’s angrier sound and “Footprints” is a fine closing song.

Being Canadian it was perhaps inevitable that 3 Inches Of Blood might stick some Rush in their set, but apart from the burst of “Tom Sawyer” it is fists-in-the-air pumping metal all the way. There is a Dio impression from singer Cam Pipes and they are big, dumb fun throughout. The likes of “Metal Woman” and “Battles And Brotherhood” are just there to be enjoyed, not analysed.

Just occasionally, watching gigs can be a jaw dropping experience. So, with that in mind, we say welcome to Hell. Best known, perhaps, for having producer to the stars, Andy Sneap in their ranks, for 40 minutes Hell put on one of the most stunning performances we have ever seen. From opening track, “Let Battle Commence” to the ending brilliance of “Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us,” Hell are phenomenal. From the ashes of the original band in the 1980s, their “Hell Awaits” album is superb, but nothing prepares you for the dose of fire and brimstone you get – and did we mention at one point, singer David Bower wears a pair of stilts and a goats head? No? Well he does. “Can you smell that burning?” he asks. “That’s your souls, that is.” Proving beyond all doubt that the devil does have the best tunes, Hell are one of the bands of the weekend.

How do you follow that? The blunt answer is that you can’t. What you can do, though, is go and watch the end of Scarab in the Sophie Tent. Israel’s premier metal export, they are keen to tell us how happy they are to be here and how metal is a unifying force. They are ok too.

But the reason we are in the tent isn’t for Scarab with all due respect, but for Mael Mordha. One of RTM’s favourite doom bands for a couple of years, this is the first time we have seen them – and it is most certainly worth the wait. “Hello, we are here to clean English cocks” might be a strange greeting, but it is the only thing that doesn’t quite hit the spot. Mordha are an incongruous thing. Monstrously heavy, but also using a flute, they have a new album coming out and “Bloody Alice” hints it might be a bit of a cracker

Neonfly are our perennial favourites at RTM. This is our fifth time seeing the band and we like them. We like them a lot. They are power metal, they are melodic, they sound European and they have members from all over the place. They also have one of the best frontmen around in Willy Norton and tons of good songs, like “Morning Star.” They apparently have album number two in the bag and play a few today. “Misspent Dreams” sounds like what we have come to expect, but “Highways To Nowhere” is altogether different. A band that will – we hope – achieve good things.

Especially as Power Quest are giving up after tonight and leaving the way clear for somebody else to become the flag bearers for UK power metal. You either like songs like “Call To Love” or you don’t, and tonight – as they bring former members out for one last goodbye – the band are very much preaching to the converted. And doing so very well.

How do you explain a band like Avantasia to people? Frankly, the collective, led by Tobias Sammet, vocalist in Edguy, and supported by a cast of many, many others, notably tonight, Bob Catley of Magnum, Eric Martin of Mr Big (who brilliantly chirrups “hello Birmingham” when he strolls out onstage…..) and Ronnie Atkins of the Pretty Maids, are a power metal fans wet dream. Gloriously intricate and overblown songs, they are more rock opera than rock band. Clocking in a 90 minute show, they are able to let rip with songs from new album “The Mystery Of Time” and whilst not everyone totally buys into their brilliance, for RTM this was very special indeed.

More special, unfortunately, than Lamb of God. The sense of anticipation that greeted the band’s first show on these shores since what Randy Blythe terms “our legal difficulties” wasn’t quite matched by what happened. Songs like “Ghost Walking” and “Set To Fail” of course are excellent, but their set is dogged by problems with the barrier and result in big gaps and lost momentum. Never mind, though, as we are seeing them do it all again on Tuesday in Wolverhampton…..

SONATA ARCTICA, Pythia, Neonfly @Birmingham Institute Library 16/4/13

RTM makes no secret of our love for Neonfly. Over the years the band just keeps on getting better and better. Last year they released the “Outshine The Sun” record, which was immediately one of our favourites of the year. Being on tours like this can only help raise their profile. The band appear to know it too, as they have broken off the recording of album number two to be here tonight. Songs such as “The Enemy,” “Ship With No Sail” and set closer “Morning Star” surely cannot fail to win over an audience such as this and happily the one new song they play “The Heart Of The Sun” gives notice that the sophomore effort might be just as good as the debut. Ones – we very much hope – to watch.

About a year ago we saw Dragonforce make their comeback in this very building. The support band they chose for the evening, which was in the smaller room upstairs, was Pythia. The Londoners came out dressed in armour and featured Emily Ovenden, trained opera singer, as vocalist. We weren’t overly keen on the group then and we still aren’t. They lack the class and guile of bands like Nightwish and while tracks like “The Heartless” are ok, there seems to us, to be something missing.

Melodic Power Metal is perhaps one of rocks oddest genres. One that never seems to cross over into the mainstream, but one that gets the punters in. The Library is full by the time Finlands Sonata Arctica take the stage.

Perhaps surprisingly they have been doing this for getting on for twenty years and there is an easy confidence about the group – led by vocalist Tommy Kakko - throughout. Other things we weren’t expecting from the band were just how much heavier they were live than on record and also how much fun they appeared to be having. You might expect if you just listened to the CD’s the whole thing to be a little po-faced, but not a bit of it! Kakko has clearly been to the Chuck Billy school of playing air guitar with his mic, doing so throughout, while the whole good-fun vibe of the evening is topped off by a spot of Russian dancing during “Cinderblox.”

Of course, it doesn’t matter how much fun the band are having if the songs don’t cut it, thankfully Arctica have good and interesting tunes in abundance. Roughly half of the set comes from latest album “The Stones Grow In Her Name” including opener “Only The Broken Hearts Make You Beautiful” and the superb  “I Have A Right” which features some fine harmony vocals.

It just wouldn’t be Power Metal though, if there wasn’t some epic balladry, and Sonata have a couple of these, pianos get used liberally in “In The Day” while towards the end they give “Tallulah” an airing, a massive lighters-in-the-air thing, which sees Kakko joking that the men in the crowd might want to go and something else for a while.

“Don’t Say A Word” brings the evening to a close, completely with a slightly daft outro, involving Vodka, which for our money is the only thing that didn’t quite work all night. Supremely talented musicians - Elias Viljanen on lead guitar perhaps the pick of the bunch – Sonata Arctica don’t need gimmicks. They were excellent this evening. One of those nights where you go in to a gig quite liking a band and come out a fan.

THE MORNING AFTER, Neonfly, A Thousand Enemies @The Roadhouse 20/3/12

We have never come across A Thousand Enemies before, but the Midlands Mob certainly get things going with a bang.

Formed in summer 2011, they have been gigging since, and ploughing a similar furrow to bands like Soil they are an entertaining way to spend half an hour. Man mountain singer Bane has a nice line in jokey patter. He tells the crowd their new video will be “shit” and says they are playing a song called “Forever and a Day” and adds “or fucking ages as we like to call it.” He then tells audience members off for talking when he is.

A band, you surmise, that just wants to play metal because they like it, they are back in Brum this July. Try and give them your support.

Neonfly are positive veterans in these parts, having made their way here three times in the last 10 months or so. And you can only say that the group just gets better and better each time.

Singer Willy Norton is a charismatic and energetic presence and he his ably backed up by twin guitar men Pat Harrington and Frederick Thunder and the five piece have added confidence to their obvious talents and great songs.

Higher up the bill this time, they are afforded a longer stage time and they use it superbly, despite Norton batting tonsillitis and microphone issues. Nearly every song is from debut album “Outshine The Sun” (Norton helpfully points out “they have to be, we only have one.”) but with the road-testing they have undergone over the years, the tracks sound even better than they did just a few short months ago.

“The Messenger” for example sounds even more epic, while “The Enemy” is perhaps their most metal moment. And while “The Ship With No Sails” rattles along like Maiden at their proggiest, they are all eclipsed by superb set closer “Morning Star” – a song which is designed with venues far more epic than The Roadhouse in mind.

By rights, Neonfly should be headlining. But instead that honour falls to The Morning After.” The young Londoners are trying to invigorate the AOR scene of the 1980s, all harmony vocals and posing. Opener “Into The Fire” isn’t bad, but for RTM’s money (and we aren’t great fans of this particular) its downhill from there.

There’s a cover of “Get Your Hands Of My Woman” by The Darkness, which perhaps best sums up TMA’s ethos. This is party music, and as they invite the whole audience onstage to headbang to “Bohemian Rhapsody” it is clear that most enjoy it.

Good luck to them, but we won’t be rushing back to see what they do in the future. This night belonged to Neonfly, who continue to deserve much better than this.

FREEDOM CALL, Arthemis, Neonfly @ The Roadhouse 23/11/11

It is always with a sense of trepidation that you approach the Roadhouse.

Not because it’s not a good venue, because it is. Not because they don’t have good gigs on there, because they do. But because the crowds tend to be rather sparse.

So it is a pleasant surprise when it turns out there is about 70 there for this evening of Power Metal, including one fella who is brandishing a wooden sword. Battle Metal indeed.

Openers Neonfly deserve a crowd. Since they were last in this very place supporting Pagan’s Mind on a rather ill-fated evening when the sound – and headliners – did them no favours, the London melodic power metal five piece have released the outstanding “Outshine The Sun” album and, brim full of the confidence that brings with it they are an entirely different proposition this time round. “Reality Shift” sounds superb, so does “The Enemy” and whilst the whole band plays with consummate skill it really is frontman Willy Norton who takes the eye, by turns a hip shaking classic rock singer and whirling dervish who is delivering songs from the Merch stand, he clearly believes his band is destined for bigger things.

They end with a reprise of “I think I Saw A UFO” and can be well pleased with their half hours work.

Italy’s Arthemis are up next and they have evidently enjoyed their first jaunt to the UK. Their brand of Maiden-esque metal goes down well too and with vocalist Fabio being superbly backed up by former Power Quest man Andrea Martongelli on lead guitar the selection of tracks they play from recent album “Heroes” is a fine one – opener “Scars on Scars” an obvious highlight. They also play a cover, Deep Purple’s “Burn” and lets face it any band that plays Purple can’t be bad.

So it’s left to Freedom Call to close the evening off and they do it in rather epic fashion. They take the brave step of starting their hour and three quarter long set with “66 Warriors” a song from their upcoming album, due to land in 2012.

There is no need to worry, though as they know the German Power metal stalwarts know how to pace a show, singer/guitarist Chris Bay cuts a happy figure and, whilst the “you can be louder than that” antics would antics would usually grate, this is a type of music that you expect to be over the top (although we are louder than Wakefield and scream louder than Grimsby, so that’s a relief).

And gloriously over the top it is. The likes of “Thunder God” “Metal Invasion” and “Mr Evil” sound exactly like you want them too – superbly pompous heavy metal. This is the last night of the tour and, appropriately it ends with the bands signature tune “Freedom Call” before we head out into the night – dodging the bloke with sword, obviously.

An unexpectedly brilliant night.