Once again there was a warm-up show the evening prior to the actual festival as well, including the likes of STRIKELIGHT (Greece), EMERALD (Holland), POWERGOD (Germany) & Canada's finest ANVIL. Click here to see a review and some pictures of the bands that performed during the Night Of The Blade warm-up show.

I had first found out about IGNITOR just over a year ago, when Rainer Krukenberg introduced me to their debut mCD, at the Heavy Metal Maniacs 5 festival. And I bought a copy the next week … at the Keep It True III festival. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised with Take To The Sky. It’s been a long time since I last heard such a powerful female-fronted heavy metal band. Erika Swinnich simply rules! Besides, the other attraction point is guitarist Beverly Barrington, and the band also includes former AGONY COLUMN guitarist Stuart Laurence. I was really looking forward to hearing some new material today, especially since the entire mCD wouldn’t be enough to fill their 45’ slot. I, and many others along with me, had already witnessed the band’s soundcheck prior to their actual gig, and was convinced from the start. Maybe opening with highlight Demon Slayer was a bit risky, but it set the tone for other good things to come. Two new tunes (Scarlet Enigma and Road Of Bones) were up next, and they tied in perfectly with the band’s other strong material. The rest of the set was made up of songs from the mCD : The Last King Tiger, The Gray Ghost, Execution and the titletrack. And as a special treat for the German crowd they played a brandnew tune as well : Reinheitsgebot, which is partly sung in German. Of course the crowd went apeshit once again, as they had done throughout IGNITOR’s entire 48’ on stage. Cries for an encore were denied, but I’m sure that we’ll hear plenty more of this quality quintet very soon! Their overall excellent performance made sure that they were the best opening band of all five K.I.T. festivals so far, and no doubt we’ll be able to witness the band live again in Europe soon. I can hardly wait!

And now for something completely different : high-quality doom metal from Malta, provided by FORSAKEN. We had seen them last year, at the Headbangers Open Air festival, already, and they confirmed all the positive things that I heard on CD before. Easily. It was not to be any different this time around. The band had been busy completing a new CD in recent months, yet it wasn’t available at the festival. A case of bad timing, as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure they could’ve sold quite a few units, based on today’s performance alone. Anyway, the band started out with two new tunes : Dominaeon (the titletrack of the new CD) and Daylight Dies. Both totally along the lines of predecessor Anima Mundi. Of course there was to be a cover again as well; not CANDLEMASS’ Dark Reflections this time, but an even older doom classic : BLACK SABBATH’s Symptom Of The Universe. Still the best was yet to come; while All Is Accomplished suffered from bass problems, the absolute highlights were kept for the very end : both Carpe Diem and Via Crucis (The Way Of The Cross) were received with open arms. Needless to say that vocalist Leo Stivala had a great time on stage, running around, greeting the frontrows and smiling all of the time. FORSAKEN’s set was another proof that a true doom outfit really deserves a spot on the K.I.T. line-up. And believe you me, it won’t be different next time, when Texas’ finest doom ensemble SOLITUDE AETURNUS will rip the Tauberfrankenhalle to pieces!

Hamburg’s STORMWARRIOR were no strangers to us either, having seen them at the 2003 edition of the Headbangers Open Air festival already. I enjoyed them pretty much back then, just like I enjoyed their 2002 self-titled debut CD. But I have to say that the band hasn’t really moved on from there onwards. Don’t get me wrong : their later releases are still excellent, it’s just that there’s hardly any progression. And of course they’re still heavily influenced by old HELLOWEEN as well … As a result, and due to the fact that I considered this edition’s festival line-up to be the overall best so far, I was expecting STORMWARRIOR to be one of my least favourable bands today. In the end there were a couple really worse though. The band’s set was an almost perfect mixture of all of their releases so far, including Sign Of The Warlorde, The Axewielder, Thunderer and Iron Prayers (all from their debut), oldie Heavy Metal Fire, as well as a couple of tracks from last year’s Northern Rage (Lindisfarne, Odinn’s Warriors). The band was heavy and energetic, and easily managed to convince most of their home audience. Make that ‘German’audience … By no means bad, even from my point of view, but I was expecting way better things later on today. And yes, I was really looking forward to hearing the band’s live version of OZ’s Turn The Cross Upside Down today, but of course that wasn’t meant to be. A missed opportunity!

And yet another band that we had seen live before was up next, even though this was SKULLVIEW’s first ever European gig. The lucky few, including us, had seen the band at the second Classic Metal festival in Cleveland, Ohio already, back in 2002. In the meantime the band’s line-up underwent one big change : vocalist Quimby 'Earthquake’ Lewis was replaced by Eric ‘The Power’ Flowers. That new line-up had recorded a new three song demo last year already, but I wasn’t familiar with that release at this moment, thus I had no clue of Eric’s abilities. In the end it would turn out that he’s okay, but not quite as entertaining as his predecessor. And he definitely lacks stage presence. The band’s overall performance wasn’t the best either. Besides suffering from technical difficulties, there wasn’t a lot of cohesion either. I even had trouble recognizing some of the songs, even though I’m pretty familiar with the band’s entire CD legacy so far. It was also kinda strange that the band played four songs from their debut (The Night Of Metal Kill, Undesired Hateful Ways, Watching Below From My Moonlight Throne and Stone Of A Thousand Spells), and only one each from both follow-up releases (Kings Of The Universe and Skullview (Warrior)). That only goes to say that the band obviously still regards their debut as their ultimate best offering, and I can relate to that, to a certain extent. Only one new song was displayed : Legions Of The Star Scroll. Another one (The Bruise) was on the setlist, but the band skipped it. All the more surprising, as they sure as hell had time for one more. Well, an encore wasn’t possible anymore anyhow, after guitarist Dave Hillegonds had smashed his guitar towards the end of Skullview (Warrior). Only then the audience started to shout for more, but earlier on they were pretty lame. Which says a lot about SKULLVIEW’s overall performance … Another missed opportunity!

Having been not impressed at all by SLOUGH FEG’s performance a couple of days earlier in Belgium, I was hoping for a turn for the better today. Fortunately the band seemed to be in a better mood, most likely driven by the audience. Today’s set was similar to the one at Den Auwel for the most part, but there were a couple more goodies this time. The opening trio, consisting of High Passage/Low Passage, Warriors Dawn and Eumaeus The Swineherd (dedicated to the attending Greeks), was identical to last Wednesday. Sky Chariots, which was dedicated to Rich Walker, was a welcome surprise though! More classics followed in The Wickerman and Traders And Gunboats. Plus Hiberno-Latin Invasion, which is a classic to be. The Red Branch concluded SLOUGH FEG’s set on an alltime high. Obviously the crowd wanted more, and they wouldn’t take no for an answer. And thus Gene-ocide became their one and only encore. I can only say that this performance was way better and more inspired than the one I witnessed a couple of days earlier, but still not quite on the same level as their studio releases. But at least more convincing than SKULLVIEW and STORMWARRIOR, due to both a better performance and more exciting material.

Nashville, Tennessee’s thrashers INTRUDER were the first band to have a full hour at their disposal, and they more than took advantage of it. Having seen the band no less than four times in recent years already, I pretty much knew what was to come. Although they still managed to surprise me by playing no songs off their Live To Die debut this time. As a result, the set was almost totally focused on both of their later releases; equally spread by playing four songs of both A Higher Form Of Killing (The Martyr, Second Chance, Killing Winds and Mr. Death) and Psycho Savant (Traitor To The Living, Invisible, Geri’s Lament (When) and N.G.R.I.). There was even room for a brandnew tune, Under The Evil, or something of that nature. Cool. The only minor setback was that they played way too loud. Some will claim it’s never too loud. Or that I’m too old … But I’m convinced that a slightly lower volume would’ve been in favour of the band. Then again, the crowd was heavily into INTRUDER’s technically skilled speed meets thrash metal. Living proof that a pure thrash outfit isn’t out of line at this festival either. I know, we’ve had REPENT and INSANE opening both previous editions, but believe me, INTRUDER are quite a few divisions higher. The premier league of classic thrash indeed, and far away from relegation! And now that almost all of the band’s early legacy has been re-issued, it’s more than time to create another thrash opus! Followed by another European trip, of course.

Having seen RUFFIANS just a couple of days prior to today already, I knew that the upcoming 60’ would be something to cherish. Come to think of it : apart from openers IGNITOR I had seen all bands on this line-up at least once before, and in some cases quite a few times. Indeed, this was my fourth encounter with RUFFIANS. And they had never let me down! The setlist was almost identical to the one on Wednesday, meaning a mixture of songs from their one and only mLP (all, minus ballad You’re All I Need), previously properly unreleased 1980’s tunes (4) and two brandnew songs. With new bassist Tony Sisco (ex VICIOUS RUMORS) in the band now (having replaced last year’s hired hand Eric Wong), RUFFIANS kicked off with Run For Your Life. And right from the start the audience was well and truly behind the Californian quintet. Never mind the inclusion of the likes of Running Blind, I Believe or Soldiers Fate that hardly anybody was familiar with : they all went down excellently. And they sure set high standards for a possible new RUFFIANS release! Of course people were more familiar with Wasteland, Do Or Die, Desert Of Tears and even Darkest Of Light, but the ultimate best had yet to come. The final countdown started with Bad Boys Cut Loose, followed by Run For Cover and eventually Eyes Of Fire. No complaints here, and neither from a very supportive audience. It’s only fair to say that RUFFIANS had the best crowd response so far today, which may seem strange, since they probably were the most melodic band on display too. Besides, they had the best sound so far as well, which is a necessity for this kind of stuff. Clearly my first highlight today! A new CD, followed by another European tour, will make me an even happier man than I’ve been ever since RUFFIANS decided to reunite!

Destined to be another of my personal highlights was JAG PANZER’s performance. Announced was a special Ample Destruction show, which would be recorded and possibly released on DVD. Something I wouldn’t mind, as Ample Destruction still is the band’s absolute masterpiece. At least in my humble opinion … As soon as the band started with Fate’s Triumph, we headed for the food booth though. There had been long lines before, but now that most people were watching the beginning of JAG PANZER’s set, it didn’t take all too long before we managed to lay our hands on a steak and a bunch of fries. Which we ate at ease in the back of the hall, where there was plenty of space, now that most of the metal market dealers had called it quits. The band proceeded with a selection of songs from releases they recorded since their comeback, such as Iron Eagle, King At A Price, Black, Chain Of Command, Take To The Sky and Feast And Famine. Then came the flashback to the early 1980’s, in form of Battle Zones, the only tune off their EP on offer today. Reason enough to enthuse the crowd even more, and building up nicely towards the Ample Destruction segment. Only a segment indeed, as it had become obvious that they wouldn’t be playing the entire release in the end. Bummer! Nevertheless we were in for the likes of Generally Hostile, Licensed To Kill and Symphony Of Terror. Man, if only you knew how I had been looking forward to the likes of Warfare, Harder Than Steel and Cardiac Arrest as well … But fortunately they ended on an alltime high with The Crucifix! The band was tight and professional as ever, the audience went bezerk plenty of times, and the sound was okay too. And as a result JAG PANZER were highlight # 2 for me, slightly behind RUFFIANS though, due to their setlist being more appealing overall.

I still regret that I never got to see RAVEN live in their 1980’s heydays, but fortunately I did witness them at the POWERMAD festival in Baltimore a couple of years ago. It was a convincing performance back then, and since tonight’s line-up was the same, I had great hope of another scorching RAVEN set. Especially knowing that they were supposed to be on stage for 75’. There was a delay of some 20’ by then, but that didn’t really matter. Of course we weren’t expecting an entirely old classics set, and just to prove that, the band started with Seven Shades, the opening tune from One For All, the band’s latest release so far, which dates back to 1999 already! Other surprises included Gimme A Break and The King (both from 1988’s Nothing Exceeds Like Excess), On And On (from 1985’s Stay Hard) and the killer Speed Of The Reflex. Although these songs weren’t inferior, it was quite obvious that the people were there to enjoy the old RAVEN classics more than anything else. And the rest of the set was just that : Live At The Inferno, All For One, Hell Patrol, Rock Until You Drop, Mind Over Metal, Faster Than The Speed Of Light and even Inquisitor! The kind of setlist that no real fan can argue with! The finale consisted of Don’t Need Your Money and a long version of Break The Chain, including bits ‘n’ pieces of Dog Eat Dog and Symptom Of The Universe. No complaints here either. The only thing that I could’ve done without was Mark Gallagher’s guitar solo; not because it was bad, simply because I always feel that an extra song would make more sense. Actually, the band had to skip White Hot Anger and Run Silent, Run Deep as it was, in order not to exceed their allowed time on stage. In my opinion RAVEN could as well have been the headliner today, as their performance was almost perfect : enthusiastic, energetic, heavy, … Athletic rock, indeed! These guys aren’t getting any younger, nor slimmer, but at least they still deliver the goods! Did I already mention that the crowd was super during RAVEN's performance? And rightfully so! Clearly another highlight, and not just in my book!! If only they would manage to record a follow-up to One For All … It’s about time!!!

Headliners VIRGIN STEELE started out shortly after midnight, with a 35 minute delay. And thus we were in for another night session, as the band was planning to be on stage for quite a while. Well over two hours, as it would turn out. We had seen the band headlining the Ragnarock festival in Holland earlier in the year, and pretty much knew what to expect. Quite a few people had left after RAVEN’s set already, a trend that would only get worse as the band’s set continued. Still, there were always a multiple of the amount of fans compared to during their Ragnarock performance. Back then, VIRGIN STEELE was in great shape and had a great sound. I wish I could say the same for this occasion, but I simply can’t. The sound was awful throughout, no matter where you stood. Well, during the first three songs, while being in the photolane, it was still okay. At least I could easily recognize the songs then … Which wasn’t always the case later on. Would you believe that I hardly recognized The Angel Of Light? Obviously the band had brought along their own soundman, and things didn’t work out as expected. Not from the audience’s point of view anyhow. Just one of the reasons why more and more people were leaving way before the end of the set. Besides, it seemed like the band’s performance was routine more than anything else. Did anyone see Edward Pursino smile at any given moment? Hardly! One more thing : the song selection. I know, it can’t be easy to compile a setlist that would satisfy each and everyone, but no songs from either their debut, nor it’s follow-up, is simply not done! A couple of years ago both 1980's albums were re-released on CD, which must’ve brought in some money, and in return we never get to hear any of those (killer) songs again. That’s not the way to treat your longtime, die-hard fans!!! Anyway, the set did include songs from almost all of the band’s later releases, and my best moments were The Voice As Weapon, Invictus, A Symphony Of Steele, Noble Savage and Mind Body Spirit. Rather than having a guitar and drum solo (what, no bass solo?!?) next time, please play some early material, in order not to forget how VIRGIN STEELE once started out to begin with! VIRGIN STEELE had all the aces up their sleeves to make this a great headlining performance, yet they made it a rather disastrous experience altogether. Not quite the end, of an otherwise quality festival, that I had envisioned. Too bad …

Maybe I was a bit harsh as far as VIRGIN STEELE is concerned, but that’s just the way I felt at the time. Nothing against the band itself, as I consider myself to be one of those overlooked longtime die-hard fans. Together with SKULLVIEW they were the only downers of this edition. FORSAKEN, STORMWARRIOR, SLOUGH FEG and INTRUDER lived up to their reputation, while IGNITOR more than just confirmed their studio reputation in the flesh! The podium today though looked as follows, as far as yours truly goes anyway : 3. JAG PANZER 2. RUFFIANS 1. RAVEN. Apart from the music, one more remark : please try and have more food and drink facilities next time, as it’s no fun having to queue for half an hour. Then again, that only goes to show how successful this event has become, as more people (around 1200, I believe) inevitably result in longer queues. And despite what I just mentioned, I’d still say that this was one of the best K.I.T. editions overall so far, if not the best! Rest assured, comes next April, we’ll be back to witness the likes of AXEHAMMER, POWERVICE, RIOT, SOLITUDE AETURNUS, WOTAN and plenty more! Wouldn’t wanna miss it for the world!!