27-10-2012 Heavy Metal Maniacs

Venue: Manifesto, Hoorn (Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren

Heave Metal Maniacs is a festival in the north The Netherlands. It unites those who have a love for heavy metal and with a nice line up on the poster it promises to be an interesting evening.

First band to play is Attic. Attic is a rather young formation, having its start in 2011. They filled the stage with candles which creates a bit mystic atmosphere right away but that does not mean we get into a gothic/doom atmosphere as the band has still plenty vehemence to offer. Though the attributes on stage do not cover for the fact that the band seems a little static somehow. They could use some more of the space they have on the stage but prefer to keep it all quite calm. With their music it causes the effect that it looks like they don’t live their own sound. Too bad, they could have gotten more out of it.

The Danish formation Witch Cross is next. It seems like the guys are ready to perform in a more visible way, but musically they are less present here. The greatest guitar riffs are not having the effect that the band was hoping for in the audience, but fair enough their show was growing through their set. Perhaps just a false start. Looking back in what they have brought we find a whole bunch of demo’s and then they split up having just one full length on their name. Anno 2011 the guys reunited and released a compilation album. Whether the guys are up for releasing new material remains unknown, but for the fans they played a show that brought the whole story back alive.

Sad Iron is a Dutch formation that played a reunion gig here today. They have not released anything new since 1985 so the material that the band brought tonight was known for the fans. The band played tracks like “You Are Obsessed” and “Demon’s Night” which warmed up the audience for them easily. Performance of the guys was interesting, they set each individual up with its own time to shine and yet make the show come out as good shows without having one of the ego’s take it over. When the band closes their set with “Powerthrash” it is obvious that the band still has plenty fans around that love to see more of them.

Mournblade is one band that makes the whole venue packed up. It is their first show in 24 years and that has obviously brought some curious minds towards this place. The band has the horror theme within their show, think The Other but then more Heavy Metal. Front man ‘Dunken F Mullett’ is playing a lot with the audience and participates them in the show, basically showing all others how you can entertain people not only with music or show but make it one. Not only the audience, but also the band self, seem to have a good time here and there is a documentary made about the band’s reunion, so for those who did not make it to the show this time can enjoy it later on.

Ostrogoth is a Belgian formation that has a bit of a different approach when it comes to music. Sometimes getting closer with Power Metal they guys have a different sort of music and bring it in a different way. While the guitarists are often step forward to enjoy the spotlights on them the rest of the band stands back a little more. What is a little disappointing is that the vocals tend to fall a bit behind in the mix while they could have been more upfront to make a larger impact. Overall the guys give a good show, but maybe does not stand out as much as you may have expected.

While Halloween is only a few days away it is always interesting to have a band named like that on the bill. The guys exist for almost 30 years and released their album “Terrortory” (review: https://tempelores.com/?p=5921) earlier this year. The band is king of the night in putting variance to their show, in the tracks they play, the set list and also in their show. They play a rather long set so it has to be this way. It has a bit of breakable elements, the vocals are a bit raw sometimes, but it seem to fit the atmosphere of tonight. The element of expectance is what works out most for them as they know how to surprise their audience time after time. It took them a while to get ready for it, the show started about half an hour later but after all the party was complete. A great headliner for this festival that brought so many bands back on the stage that could not be seen elsewhere for a long time. A truly cool night for the Heavy Metal Maniacs.