Once again there was a warm-up show the evening prior to the actual festival as well, including the likes of LANFEAR, MARTYR, ADRAMELCH & SHADOWKEEP. Click here to see a review and some pictures of the bands that performed during the Fist Held High warm-up show.

Please take notice of the fact that all black & white pictures on this page are courtesy of Pascal d'Hooghe! Thanks!!

Just like the previous edition, the opening band was to be a rather unknown thrash metal combo. Italy's INSANE to be exact. I couldn't find any information on this trio, but by the looks of it they are all still very young. And they had quite a few characteristics in common with REPENT (K.I.T. III openers) : they seriously lacked stage presence, there was hardly any interaction between the band and the audience, and, above all, their music is way too one-dimensional. Simply put : it's ordinary 1980's inspired thrash, influenced by early SLAYER, to say the least. But not quite as exciting ... The band performed their entire debut CD Wait And Pray (on Battle Cry Records), and that was it. Only 35' minutes of generic thrash, not in the best circumstances, and in front of very few people at this early hour. Considering these guys' young age, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Up next was a band that I know that always delivers the goods : PARAGON. Okay, I'd only seen them live once before (H.O.A. 2003), but all of their CD releases managed to convince me thus far. Although I wasn't familiar with the new one, Revenge, yet. Apart from two songs off that new release (Impaler & Traitor), the emphasis today was on their Law Of The Blade (3) and Steelbound (2) releases. But the band also performed The Legacy (from 2003's The Dark Legacy) and went as far back in time as 1999, by playing Dragon's Flight. A well-balanced set all in all, with the slower Across The Wastelands right in the middle. Other highlights included Abducted, Armies Of The Tyrants, Death Squad and Reign Of Fear. I guess you could say that PARAGON's performance was kind of a best-of selection, but 46' isn't enough to make it complete. The sound was excellent, the band's performance tight and energetic, and the ever growing audience was very enthusiastic, to say the least. I hope to see these guys on a (headline) European tour soon.

Canada's THUNDER RIDER was the more 'exotic' band on offer today. Not that Montreal is so exotic, but once you get used to seeing all these American bands (mind you, I'm not complaining!) year in year out, you're glad to see a Canadian one for a change as well. And THUNDER RIDER may well be Canada's best kept secret so far. I know that this band has some kind of cult status in Germany ever since their 1989 Tales Of Darkness & Light debut was released, but you can't really say that they are a household name yet. Maybe this performance (and the other four gigs they played on this German mini-tour) will have a positive influence on the band's career, resulting in more people knowing about them, and consequently more CD sales. Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of interaction, but the music alone should well be able to convince several souls. Their set was made up of songs from both of their CD's, with the emphasis on Tales Of Darkness & Light - Chapter II, by means of the likes of Satan's Wrath, New Born, Death Angel, Thy Kingdom Come, Heavy Metal Wizzard and Evil Slayer. Their debut was represented by For Christ's Sake, Blackwing and Death To Death. Most of these were presented in medley form, as it would've been impossible to cram all the entire versions in a 42' set. At least we got an idea of what THUNDER RIDER is like live, and I can only say that I really enjoyed their brand of melodic & epic heavy metal. No real surprise, since I was already familiar with both releases. The audience was appreciative as well, albeit not quite as enthusiastic as during 'locals' PARAGON. One thing that could be worked on is the band's stage presence, as they are very static. But other than that there's nothing to complain about; I hope to see them again soon.

I always had a soft spot for Sweden's TORCH. And I didn't think I would ever live to see the day that I could witness them live. But the K.I.T. festival proved me wrong. Or not? Only vocalist Dan Dark remained from the glory days, and the band was down to a quartet. Besides, the remaining three new members looked more like they were culled from your average nu metal outfit, so I was a bit sceptical to begin with. Furthermore Dan was dressed in a red leather outfit, and his once semi-long dark hair had now changed into short and blonde. And I had no clue as to which songs would be performed either ... All of my worries were over shortly after 3.20 P.M., when TORCH kicked off in excellent fashion with Warlock. Only to continue their set with six more tunes originating from their debut LP release : Beauty And The Beast, Beyond The Threshold Of Pain, Watcher Of The Night, Sweet Desire, Sinister Eyes and Battleaxe. Needless to say that you can't go wrong with any such song selection, in front of an ecstatic audience. People clearly hadn't forgotten about TORCH, and especially Dan was really into it, running and jumping around on stage, spitting water into the frontrows (and hitting the photographers by doing so on numerous occasions), ... Then it was time for stuff culled from follow-up Electrikiss, by means of Thunderstruck, Electrikiss and Bad Girls. Not necessarily my utmost fave TORCH songs, but you couldn't expect them to play the entire debut, now could you? The big finale followed in form of Fire Raiser. Nothing to add there, since it's one of the band's best songs! As far as I'm concerned they could've played Mercenary or Retribution as well, or Rage Age for that matter, especially as their show lasted only some 41'. Nevertheless, personal highlight # 1 for me! And from what Dan told me afterwards he would very much like to continue with TORCH, so let's hope that this highly appreciated performance won't turn out to have been a one-off affair!

Having had the pleasure of seeing them live twice before, there was no way in hell that OVERLORDE's debut European gig could go wrong. Some will say that they built upon the crowd excitement that TORCH had created, but I know that they could just as well do it on their own merits. After all, their Return Of The Snow Giant debut CD is a scorcher and has been very well-received all over Europe. And as the band performed the entire CD (minus My Disease) nothing could go wrong. Furthermore all four members were in excellent shape, the sound was super, the interaction with the crowd was present, ... And OVERLORDE was another prime example of an energetic live band; nothing like the static bands we saw earlier on today. And most importantly, the band delivered one classic after the other. Be it the opening Snow Giant, Hell Hath No Fury, the slower When He Comes or Starcastle, they all were accepted with open arms. The long and epic Mark Of The Wolf was followed by Metallic Madness, Blackness, Ogre Wizard and Trapped By Magic. It's still beyond my knowledge why these guys never quite 'made' it back in the late 1980's, as their versatile brand of U.S. metal is so exciting, even still to this day. Just bear in mind that all of these songs were written in those days already, and it can't have been anything else than a case of 'being around at the wrong time'. Doesn't matter, as the songs are readily available now, and in a live environment they are stronger than ever. Living proof were the band's final two songs : Colossus (Island Of The Cyclops) and their anthem, thus ending an overall excellent one hour show. And that's the only minor setback : it had been announced that OVERLORDE, DEADLY BLESSING and COUNT RAVEN would be allowed to add 10 extra minutes to their set, yet OVERLORDE didn't take advantage of that opportunity. I'm sure that My Disease or a quality cover version of one or other metal classic would've gone down as well. Nevertheless, personal highlight # 2! Hopefully another CD with all new material will follow soon, as well as some kind of European tour?

MAJESTY and the Keep It True festival are like brother and sister, but performing three times out of a possible four opportunities is way too many. Especially since the band had no new release to promote ... Of course this was, once again, the ideal timeslot for us to grab some food and go upstairs to sit back and relax a bit. And obviously we weren't the only ones with that idea, as there were remarkably less people upfront compared to their previous appearances. Those that were present of course had a ball by witnessing the same bunch of songs as ever : Reign In Glory, Hail To Majesty, Heavy Metal Battlecry, Into The Stadiums, Epic War, Troopers Of Steel, Sword & Sorcery, Fields Of War, Keep It True and Metal To The Metalheads. The only 'new' song was Metal Law. To make matters worse they even exceeded their 60' set by 5' ... I know, there's nothing bad to be said about the band, as their performance was okay once again, but I just don't see any progression, let alone a move into a more original direction. Therefore I think it's better to have another band play instead, at least for the upcoming editions of the festival. Maybe they shouldn't return until after a new full CD has been released. I'm sure plenty of people agree with me on this ... Something to think about.

Another band that I was looking forward to seeing live at last was New Jersey's cult metal outfit DEADLY BLESSING. And what made things even more interesting is the fact that the line-up included all five original members that recorded their sole claim to fame, 1988's Ascend From The Cauldron. Easily one of the best, if not the best, releases on New Renaissance Records, alongside OLIVER MAGNUM's selftitled release. DEADLY BLESSING's trademarks were powerful and variable songs and an awesome, very high-pitched vocalist. I had my doubts whether Ski (aka Norm Kiersznowski) would actually be able to reproduce his vocals from days of yore accurately, but that wasn't really necessary : Ski did a marvellous job, not just for a couple of songs, but throughout the band's entire 60' set. That set consisted of the entire Ascend From The Cauldron LP/CD songs, plus three old demo songs : Demise Of Faust, Queen Of Sin and Immortal. All of them along the lines of the know material, albeit a bit slower perhaps. All three of these songs, together with 8 more demo tunes, have recently been released by Hellion Records as the An Eye To The Past CD. Whether there will ever be a completely new CD release is doubtful, even moreso since all five members are involved with other bands these days, but the band's performance was outstanding : the perfect mixture of power, progressive and melodic elements. Once more the public was very enthusiastic, especially during the likes of Search And Destroy, Salem's Lot, Silent Madness and Deadly Blessing. It would be a pity that this was to be the last that we'd ever hear from this quintet, as this was too good to be true. Needless to say that DEADLY BLESSING was another of my personal highlights!

Sweden's doom metal trio COUNT RAVEN were up next. It's not the easiest task to follow in the footsteps of a high-energy performance as delivered by DEADLY BLESSING, but this quality band won't be able of being accused of a job not well-done. These three hippies by nature displayed some kind of best of, with songs being culled from all four of their releases, including the likes of Lost World, Leaving The Warzone, Inam Naudemina, Children's Holocaust, Let The Dead Bury The Dead and The Divided World. In between we were treated to Scream (from 2001's I Am Vengeance compilation CD) and a new tune (A Lifetime) as well. The latter immediately being accepted by the audience. The only setback was the final tune, Cosmos, as I think there were better options to leave the public (i.e. How Can It Be or Social Warfare). Furthermore the band was very static, and I think I only noticed 4 or 5 guitar solos during the entire 70' set. But it's all part of COUNT RAVEN's unique sound. And hey, I've heard that a mega selling metal outfit didn't include guitar solos on their most recent release either, so you could say that COUNT RAVEN are trendsetters, for a change. In all honesty, they're not the most original band around, but they delivered the goods nevertheless. Not as impressive as the likes of TORCH, OVERLORDE or DEADLY BLESSING, but way above average!

Due to the cancellation of SATAN it was time for headliners AGENT STEEL already. When the band kicked off with Unstoppable Force we were sitting on one of the tables in the back of the hall, to sort of relieve our feet a bit. The sound over there was really awful, but we intended to move forward by the time they started playing the entire Skeptics Apocalypse release anyhow. Which was after the band had raged through Rager & Illuminati Is Machine. Luckily the sound was way better up front. As we had seen the band twice before the previous weekend already, we knew what was in store. And I'm sure that most of the audience was aware of the fact that the band was about to play their 1985 debut in its entirety today, judging by their euphoric reception. After all, Skeptics Apocalypse is a timeless masterpiece of speed metal, and the way it was presented during this tour was just as intricate as way back in time, when it was initially released, two decades ago. Bruce Hall easily manages to equal, or even surpass, John Cyriis, and the rest of the band was tight and cohesive as ever. The rest of the show was pretty much similar to their performance at the 1st Raise Your Fist festival, including the likes of Avenger, Ten Fists Of Nations and Mad Locust Rising. Worthy headliners, no more no less, despite a slightly inferior sound! Not that it seemed to matter, judging by the hordes of super enthusiastic fans ...

Some of you may remember that Belgians AFTER ALL were initially scheduled to be part of this edition's festival warm-up show. An offer they had to pass up on since they had to play as openers for AGENT STEEL on Friday. They were however promised that they would be able to play if any of the other bands backed out at the last minute. Which was the case with SATAN, and as such AFTER ALL hit the stage right after AGENT STEEL had played its final note. An I mean immediately after, as they were playing less than a minute after L.A.'s finest left the stage. It was to be only a very short set, consisting of The Shadow Wall, two songs off their new The Vermin Breed release, and a cover version of EXODUS' Piranha to conclude. Sure, maybe half of the audience that was watching AGENT STEEL had left right away, but at least Belgium's finest thrash metal outfit was able to convert some new souls with their energetic short set.

Holland's VORTEX were chosen to close down this fourth edition of the Keep It True festival. I still think that it ain't the greatest idea to have another band play after the headliners have finished, but at least a band such as VORTEX is way more exciting than the likes of DESTINATIONS CALLING (K.I.T. III) or even SOLEMNITY (K.I.T. I). VORTEX are known for their party meets metal attitude, and it worked out well. Of course there was the usual facial paint, the battleaxe, Martjo's disguise, ... but above all there was the music : true 1980's N.W.O.B.H.M. influenced, indeed. The set, as always, was a mixture of old and new songs, including the likes of Gotta Get Away, King, Hammer Of The North, Riptor, Land Of The Late, Open The Gate and a rendition of JUDAS PRIEST's The Hellion / Electric Eye, amongst others. Proof for the fact that everybody was really enjoying things were the fact that the band was at least 15' longer on stage than originally intended, and that a bunch of friends jumped on stage to sing along. At the very end the audience was even asked to shout songtitles of tunes they wanted to hear, resulting in The Curse and finally Metal Bats. Definitely my best encounter with VORTEX so far!

As was the case for all previous editions as well, there's hardly anything to complain about. The sound was actually way better than last November. In general the line-up was more exciting as well. The Metal Market is always a pleasure (not for my wallet though). The only thing I feel sorry for is the attendance, as I had the impression that there weren't a helluva lot more people than during the previous editions. It's a shame, but hopefully things will change for the better next time. Speaking of which : the Keep It True V warm up show (04/11/2005) is set to include Holland's EMERALD (their final farewell show), Germany's POWERGOD (exclusive cover only show), Greece's STRIKELIGHT and Sweden's WOLF. The festival itself will present : FORSAKEN (Malta), IGNITOR (USA), INTRUDER (USA), RAVEN (UK, or rather USA these days), RUFFIANS (USA), SKULLVIEW (USA), SOLITUDE AETURNUS (USA), STORMWARRIOR (Germany), THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG (USA) + an as of yet unknown headliner. Seems like we're in for a US invasion, and no doubt we'll be there!!