| LOST HORIZON & PIORNO ROCK 2003 |
March 29, 2003 |
PINOS PUENTE |
Despite the bus accident they suffered en route to a gig some days ago, our intrepid Swedish heroes finally conquered Spain during the last week of March. Although drummer Christian Nyquist wasn't able to play due to injuries sustained from the accident, the band found a replacement three days before the beginning of the tour in Mats Karlsson, who handled the drums on these gigs (nevertheless, Christian joined the band on this tour as an "observer"). Their show at the Piorno Rock Festival was the last date on their Spain tour. I will admit that Lost Horizon, along with Saratoga, were the main reason I attended this festival, so in this review I'll focus more on both bands (I'll give only a few comments on the rest of the acts). So here are my thoughts on the festival:
This festival already exists a few years and this is the first I was there. It was a mix of newcomers as Estigia and Talesien and more well-known bands as Cradle Of Filth, Anthrax... There was also a mix of styles, from Power Metal and Heavy Metal to Death-Black. From 13:20pm till 3:30am it was a metal marathon of 12 bands in 15 hours. When the bus arrived at the venue at 14:30pm, ESTIGIA were just finishing their set. So I missed them, sorry guys... Next on the bill was VHÄLDEMAR, a young Spanish band who played mainly tunes off their debut album "Fight To The End". Their music is classic heavy metal and they sound like a cross between Manowar and Gamma Ray. The songs were very well played, especially "Fight To The End" and "Energy", and the guys had good interaction with the audience. Overall Vhäldemar were competent and with practice and experience they will get even better. Next up were IMMOLATION, a Death Metal band from New York. No comments really, don't really care for them... I'll just say that the bad sound in the place made their music sound as a big noise bombardment.
LOST HORIZON f***ing rocked! Wojtek, Daniel, Attila, Fredrik, Mats and Martin came on stage at 17:00pm and played fast and furious through a quick 50 minute set. Their sound was far from good but they still managed to pull off a great set. They started with the intro from the new album, and then launched into "Pure". Next was "Denial Of Fate" from the debut album. After the keyboard instrumental "The Song Of Air", the set continued with the same fantastic performance for the next couple of songs, "World Through My Fateless Eyes", on which Daniel's vocals were simply great, and "Perfect Warrior". "Welcome Back" was simply a fantastic number that I think will always have a place in a LH set. Following that was the second song taken from the new album, "Again Will The Fire Burn". Closing out with "Sworn In The Metal Wind", the band came back to finish off the set with a cover of an old song from Crimson Glory called "Red Sharks". For every second during the set, Lost Horizon put in 110% percent energy, enjoyment and enthusiasm and by the end, the fans were absolutely won-over by this unit of sheer metallic brilliance. Overall, a stunning performance from one of the best true heavy metal bands in the world today!! Over the last two years the band has made their name, and the path is now clear for them to earn a place in the Olympus of Metal Gods. True Power, True Force, True Metal!!!!! I'm really looking forward to see them again with a better sound in the near future. Next came TRAIL OF TEARS. Watched two songs and left to walk around a bit. Not my cup of tea, really. After Trail Of Tears left the stage, it was time for IN EXTREMO to appear for the first time to the Spanish audience. I'm not a big In Extremo fan but I must admit, they put on a really good show, playing pretty original music that features harps, horns and bag-pipes. The seven band members looked like a bunch of extras in a medieval film, wearing kilts and capes. Everyone agreed: the show was spectacular. ANTHRAX came next on stage. Their music really made many heads go up and down and fans moshed with great enthusiasm through classics such as "I Am The Law", "Antisocial", "Metal Thrashing Mad"... Also there was some crazy guy dancing around which was just hilarious to watch, hehe.
CRADLE OF FILTH had a large, rabid fan-base at the show. This was my third time seeing them, the first being at the Barbarian Festival like 5 years ago. They kept us waiting far too long for my liking (about 35 minutes), and at about 11:00pm the show finally started with an intro tape that exploded into "The Promise Of Fever" off their new album "Damnation And A Day", with a huge backdrop of the cover of their new CD backing them. Other songs included in the set were "Thank God For The Suffering", "Cruelty Brought The Orchids", "Chtulu Dawn", "Dusk And Her Embrace", "Her Ghost In The Fog", "Born In A Burial Gown"... COF sounded very extreme and aggressive, but unfortunately the sound was very bad and the songs ended up very chaotic with almost no vocals hearing. The band displayed its evil, dark and unique style throughout a 55-minute set and despite his stature, Dani had a large presence on stage. The soundman cut the band off before their set was over, due to allegeded time restraints and this seemed to piss them off quite a bit. COF left the stage to the sound of the "Imperial March" theme from Star Wars. By the time Avalanch were ready to play a lot of the audience had already left. The venue seemed rather empty compared with when the other bands were playing.
Anyway, AVALANCH were the biggest disappoinment of the evening. Their lack of energy turned away many people, myself included. They were quite "static" on stage, all band members had little to no interaction with the crowd, they were just playing their songs. Too bad, because they used to be one of my favorite live bands but they seem to have lost something. The band had various line-up changes in the months before the gig... maybe they need to do more live shows with the new members... so I hope to see a better performance next time. Tonight their set included the following songs: "Cien Veces", "El Ángel Caido", "Delirios De Grandeza", "Viejo Torreón", "Corazón Negro", "Niño" & "Lucero". Anyway, their latest album "Los Poetas Han Muerto" is pretty good and I urge you to give it a listen. SARATOGA, Spain's best heavy metal band nowadays, came on stage at about 2:30am and performed for about an hour (I think) and their superb musicianship and enthusiasm won over the crowd big time. Their energy was pretty unbelievable. Great Saratoga classics as "Mi Ciudad", were perfectly mixed with the songs from the latest album "Agotaras", such as "Con Mano Izquierda", "Parte De Mí", "Las Puertas Del Cielo"... Highlights of the set for me were "Heavy Metal", "Vientos De Guerra" and "A Morir". Simply put these songs are awesome. Not only are the songs themselves great but the way in which they were played was out of this world. Fabulous guitar and bass playing, tremendous vocals and high-quality drumming are the main ingredients for this energetic band. A fantastic appearance by an even more fantastic band!!!
By the time the festival was over, I was tired as hell so I soon came back to the bus and immediately fell asleep, even with the music turned up loud (some merciless bastard kept playing Iron Maiden, Children Of Bodom & Yngwie Malmsteen cd's all night ;))))) We arrived early on Sunday morning and I went straight to bed and slept all day...
In conclusion, although more than 4,000 people showed up and it was a big metal party, it had some negatives to it: the sound quality was disappointing for most of the night, at times everything turned out to be one big musical chaos. It had nothing to do with the bands, but was a result of the poor venue. -Review & photos by Marina-
| Pics with the guys from Lost Horizon... |
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