Only our second visit to this small but cosy place, but well worth doing so, since this was to be the first Belgian ANGEL WITCH gig ever. They played quite a few times in Holland in the 1980's but they never made it over here, would you believe it? Anyway, since we had just returned from our Scandinavian trip, and the weather was really excellent, we decided to stay outside and have a (soft)drink during NATIVE INSTINCT's set. Needless to say that the emphasis was on their recently released First Born CD. They started late and thus had to cut their set short, since there is a curfew (midnight) at Mundo's. And thus there was no time for a cover version of ANGEL WITCH's anthem this time around. Or were they just not confident enough performing it in front of the master himself?

AFTER ALL took full advantage of their day off from their support tour with ANTHRAX to arrange this gig. Their 50' set for the most part comprised of songs from their recently released Mercury Rising CD/LP, which is by far their most cohesive and convincing release to date. As usual the band was in great shape, and it definitely shows that they have been on the road a lot lately, as they were very tight. Closing tune on this occasion was METALLICA's Metal Militia, which was a nice surprise, but it didn't really come close to the original, especially in the vocal department.

Like I mentioned earlier on already, this was ANGEL WITCH's first ever show in Belgium. Basically it was the final try-out before their appearance at the Bang Your Head festival in Germany the following week. ANGEL WITCH as of today consists of vocalist/guitarist Kevin Heybourne, guitarist Lee Altus (ex HEATHEN), bassist Jon Torres (WARNING S.F., etc.) and drummer Darren Minter (ex HEATHEN). Indeed, a completely different line-up once again, but still a quartet.

Right on time, 10.45 P.M., they kicked off with Flight Nineteen, which was the B-side of their first 7", Sweet Danger, from 1981. It had been previously announced that the band would only be playing stuff from their self-titled debut album, plus some other early stuff, culled from B-sides and compilations. In the end it turned out to be 90% of said debut (all except Free Man) plus Flight Nineteen, Extermination Day (from the Metal Explosion compilation) and Baphomet (from the Metal For Muthas compilation). Plus Twist Of The Knife, which is a more recent song, dating back to the late 1980's, early 1990's. An excellent setlist altogether, but I was kind of looking forward to hearing Free Man. And what about Hades Paradise? Besides, there were no songs from the Loser 7"EP, but I wasn't expecting those to begin with.

The bad thing was that the entire show only lasted some 55'. As a matter of fact, when Kevin announced 'This is the last song for tonight' after some 40', one guy in the audience shouted 'Loser'. Which could be interpreted in two different ways, you know ... The good thing though was that the band was in great shape. Which hasn't always been the case in the past, with different line-ups. And you never know in advance, as Kevin isn't the most reliable guy around. The only difficult moment was the beginning of The Sorceress, where Kevin obviously had a bit of problems singing the calm part. Other than that it was a great performance all around, with the band performing those old classics true to the old spirit; just the way it should be ... If only Kevin had made some more 'right' decisions at earlier points in his career, I'm sure that ANGEL WITCH's status would be way higher these days. Oh well, the audience obviously enjoyed the show, and that's the only thing that really matters!