Germany's LANFEAR kicked off with a minor delay, for what was to be a 45' set. I was not really familiar with the band's repertoire, but they started out quite convincingly and aggressively with a couple of tunes from their recently released fourth CD, Another Golden Rage. Quite obviously most of tonight's set (5 out of 9 songs) was from that release. Three more songs were culled from 2003's The Art Effect, while Time's Dark Laughter dates back to 1997's Towers Of February. Unfortunately LANFEAR couldn't keep up the high level from the first couple of songs throughout their entire set, although it's fair to say that the new material is a step forward once again. Not likely to become one of my fave bands, due to the lack of original ideas, but a solid power metal influenced outfit nevertheless.

The band I was most looking forward to see today was Holland's MARTYR. Unfortunately I never had a chance to see them when they were actively around in the 1980's, so here was my chance to make up at long last. And with four out of five members (only drummer Wilfried Broekman was a new face) having been in the line-up during their prime already, this was more than just another ordinary reunion. Very credible indeed! The rather obscure yet killer Snow And Fire (which originates from 1983's Metal Torture demo, and was subsequently included on the When The Hammer Comes Down compilation tape & Dutch Steel compilation LP) set the tone for what was to follow : almost one hour of quality 1980's Dutch heavy metal. Darkness At Time's Edge and Invisible Touch followed. The audience, bigger than before, was very much into it, especially all the Greeks and Dutch fans. The band was in great shape, and it makes you wonder why these kind of reunions have to be one-off affairs. Well, I can see a million of reasons (work commitments, family life, ...), but I guess fans see things from a different point of view ... Crowd favourite Speed Of Samurai was up next, followed by The Third Kin-Slay and Into The Abyss. The finale was made up of The Awakening and the lengthy Unknown Forces. Yet the audience hadn't had enough, reason for the band to return one more time, with a re-arranged version of Follow Your Soul. As far as I'm concerned they could've added the likes of Black Sun or En Masse as well, yet that was not to be. MARTYR managed to convince all the way, and you could clearly see that the guys themselves had a wonderful time on stage as well. In my opinion MARTYR were the winners of the night, even before the likes of ADRAMELCH and SHADOWKEEP had played one single note. An opinion that I did not have to reconsider at all. And as such MARTYR deserved a higher place on this bill, or even a spot on the festival bill; I'm sure they wouldn't have been out of place! I can only hope that the negotiations with the Headbangers Open Air festival will come through, so that we'll be able to see MARTYR (at least) one more time!

Having seen Italy's ADRAMELCH less than a year ago, I didn't expect a whole lot of changes. Fact is that the line-up had changed once again, resulting in only vocalist Vittorio Ballerio and guitarist Gianluca Corona remaining from the good old days. The setlist was changed and expanded a bit too, resulting in a mixture of 4 oldies and six tunes off the forthcoming Broken History CD. Their opening anthem was followed by I'll Save The World and Cluny Calls, both of which are in the same vein as the band's early material. Zephirus was the first real highlight. Up next were four more songs from the upcoming CD : the titletrack, Beloved Jerusalem, Dethroned In Shame and Heap Of Bones. The audience enjoyed the band, although I must say that the atmosphere wasn't as great as during MARTYR's set. This may well be because ADRAMELCH is a rather static band, and their music is more suited for private listening at home. Furthermore Vittorio hardly has any stage presence and his English isn't the best either. Things that could be worked on ... The grand finale came by means of Dreams Of A Jester and Was Called Empire, much to the excitement of the audience. Like I've mentioned before the new songs are very much akin to the old stuff, so I guess that Broken History (a concept CD about crusades) might well be worth waiting for, although I think it was a capital mistake not to have it ready in time for this live appearance. Anyway, the release date (on Underground Symphony) is set for June 2005!

England's SHADOWKEEP were the headliners on this occasion. Or should I say 'worldly' SHADOWKEEP, as their nowadays line-up includes two Americans as well as a drummer from New Zealand, besides founding guitarists Nicki Robson and Chris Allen. Anyway, shortly before midnight it was their turn to try and entertain the audience. And I must say that there was still a reasonable audience, compared to the previous warm-up shows, when most people were gone by the time the 'headlining' band came on stage. I had seen SHADOWKEEP once before, a couple of years ago as support to DIO, just after their selftitled 6-song mCD had been released, and they made a solid impression back then. The band went on to release two more CD's in 2000 (Corruption Within) and 2002 (A Chaos Theory), both on LMP. Although line-up changes happened in between all of their releases, the major blow came when they parted ways with 'fantastic' vocalist Rogue M. Which leads us to the present, and the new line-up. Former DIVINE RUINS vocalist Ronnie Stixx proved to be a worthy successor to Rogue M., and the band was solid as a rock. I don't remember much from their setlist, apart from the fact that they played songs from all three of their releases (including the obvious ones : Dark Tower, The Silver Sword, Fear And Loathing, ...), as well as a couple of new ones. They surely managed to convince the greater majority of those in attendance, yet they couldn't quite match MARTYR. Not in my opinion anyhow ... And my lust was entirely over when a stagediver collided with the floor, rather than in people's hands, probably breaking his nose ... I felt sorry for the guy, but on the other hand : stagediving with only a few people to catch you isn't something you do when you're entirely sober and/or normal. Anyway, I was glad to see he survived his dive, as I saw him during AGENT STEEL's gig the next day.

This third warm-up show was overall really enjoyable, and the fact that more people are coming proves the credibility of such an event. The choice between an early night in or seeing four more bands live is really rather easy anyway ... And thus we'll be back at the Sporthalle in Dittigheim on November 4th, when the likes of STRIKELIGHT (Greece), EMERALD (Holland - final farewell show), Germany's POWERGOD (exclusive covers-only show) and Sweden's WOLF will grace the stage!