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. 

I AM I, Primitai @Birmingham Academy 2 27/5/12

When ZP Theart planned the debut gig of his new venture I Am I, he probably didn’t plan it like this.

First, the Academy 2 is barely half full, despite a free t-shirt offer to all ticket holders and a reasonably cheap price, but then a Spinal Tap moment happened. The band starts up and Theart gallop on stage, opens his mouth and….nothing. Sound men below where RTM is sat get excitable and wave their arms about, but its not until he gets through the first verse and chorus that he remembers to turn his microphone on.

As starts go it is not the most auspicious.

Before all that, though, it’s the turn of Primitai to show their potential yet again. The Berkshire outfit have bubbling just under the surface for a while. RTM first clapped eyes on them a couple of years ago when they opened for White Wizzard and, although it is easy to see why they get lumped in with the current New New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (if you will) movement, they are not a retro sounding act.

They are currently recording the follow-up to superb second album “In The Line of Fire” and on the evidence of the one new track they air “Fortune Favours The Brave” it is going to be a fine affair.

It’s the songs from “….Fire” that continue to enthral most, however “Sin City” and a crowd participation heavy “Invading Hordes” sounding better than ever. If Primitai were Swedish or American then the magazines would fall over themselves to announce them as the “future of” something or other, but they aren’t, they are English, and as such, they survive on crumbs. However, their time could be now so let’s hope they can make it happen at long last.

Early sound problems notwithstanding this was always going to be a tricky sell for the Theart. I Am I’s debut album “Event Horizon” isn’t out yet (it isn’t even available here tonight) so essentially the only thing that anyone knows of the band are a couple of videos on Youtube and the singer’s career as the Dragonforce frontman.

Given that his acrimonious split from the ‘Force boys was apparently brought on by “musical differences” it is reasonable to assume that this was never going to be a Power Metal sword and sorcery romp. Even still, RTM wasn’t prepared for how mainstream this brand of hard rock was going to be. “Cross The Line” for example could have come straight of Bon Jovi’s 7800 Degrees Fahrenheit album from 1985.

As to re-enforce the 80s feel, the band are soon joined by a lady who plays piano on two real-lighters-in-the-air power ballad moments, which rather interrupts the flow of things, but a trio of more aggressive tracks “Wasted Wonders,” “Kiss of Judas” and “Dusk To Dusk”  brings the rock quota up again.

The encore sees Theart flounce his way through Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” before things end with the lead track from “…Horizon” “Silent Genocide,” which is definitely the bands stand out moment at this stage.

There is no doubt that the I Am I have potential, but equally that, right now, their trump card is Theart himself. He possesses a fine voice and the sort of effortlessly rude banter that marks him out as a sort of rock n roll Russell Brand.

What happened tonight, really, was that we all watched a band rehearse. It is a band with a future no doubt, but this was a promising rather than perfect debut. It will be interesting to see how they grow.