Once again there was a warm-up show the evening prior to the actual festival as well, including the likes of DANTESCO (Puerto Rico), SEVEN WITCHES (U.S.A.), DRIFTER (Switzerland), ASSASSIN (Germany) & DEMON (U.K.). Click here to see a review and some pictures of the bands that performed during the Metal Knights warm-up show.

Back in late October 2005 I witnessed a new Tilburg based band live at the 6th Heavy Metal Maniacs festival in Hoorn. I was really impressed back then, knowing that that was only their third ever gig! And it was all sheer fortune, as they weren’t asked to open the bill until after SAD IRON had to cancel at the last instant. It just goes to show what a bit of good luck can do to a band, as their 3-song demo-CD Behold The Hand Of Glory has since been voted Demo Of The Month in Germany’s Rock Hard magazine. On the other hand I’m sure that POWERVICE would’ve made an impact anyhow, as they definitely have a lot to offer. Anyway, plenty of other gigs have followed ever since. And even more are scheduled for the near future … It’s amazing, compared to some other European underground bands. Opening with a killer tune such as Behold The Hand Of Glory is a risk, but it worked out fine, judging by the crowd response. Up next was another demo song, the equally great Nightstalker. I was wondering what the rest of their set was going to be like and, much to my surprise, they continued with more original stuff, four songs in total. I’m not 100% sure of the titles but I think they were along the lines of Ground Zero, One By One and the brandnew Into The Lights. It’s a pity that we didn’t get to hear BLACK SABBATH’s Die Young today, as I’m sure it would’ve gone down tremendously with this audience as well. The End Is Coming was the appropriate finishing touch to a compact yet convincing 42’ set. And, like I’ve said before : I’m sure that we’ll hear plenty more from POWERVICE in the future!

Apart from MAJESTY, Italy’s WOTAN were the first band to make a return visit to the K.I.T. festival. Indeed, I clearly remember WOTAN opening the The Dawn Of Battle warm up show for K.I.T. II, almost two years ago to today (April 9th 2004). A cold night it was too … A lot has happened ever since : the band’s Carmina Barbarica CD was released, I got to see the band once more (at the Ragnarock festival) and a new CD (to be entitled Epos) is on the way. Needless to say that I was looking forward to hearing some killer new true epic metal tunes on this occasion. After a rather long (some 5’) intro, Dream Of Maxen, the first in a series of new tunes, was unleashed. Only to be followed by ’oldies’ Ride Of Templars and Under The Sign Of Odin’s Ravens. All three of them made an equally convincing impression. Not just to me, but to the public in general. The fact that a lot of people were already familiar with WOTAN from previous German gigs definitely worked to their advantage. Drink In The Skull, a song that I was already familiar with but that didn’t make Carmina Barbarica, followed gently. Vae Victis, another new song was supposed to be next, but it was sacrified in the end. Reason being that the band invited Ross The Boss on stage, and together they delivered a scorching version of MANOWAR’s Revelation. Another new track, Ithaca (“dedicated to the guys from Greece“), followed and was another prime example of the band’s epic metal style. Crowd favourite Lord Of The Wind and Iron Shadows concluded 50’ of epic Italian heavy metal in the best possible way. A good sound and a great crowd response made sure that this turned out to be my finest encounter with Italy’s finest so far. And the new songs turned out to be convincing too. All the more reason to watch out for the early June release of Epos!

As a direct result of the American wave of thrash metal bands that started to pop up like crazy in the early 1980’s, Germany’s DARKNESS formed in December of 1984. They soon became known as the death squad from Essen. Three demos were released over the next two years, until they were snatched up by Gama Records. In 1987 Death Squad was released, followed by Defenders Of Justice the following year, and finally Conclusion And Revival in 1989. In 1993 DARKNESS came to an end. So far for a short history bit. Fastforward to 2001, when former DARKNESS members Arnd Klink (guitars) & Lacky (drums) started out with EURE ERBEN. Musically in the same vein as their previous band, but with German vocals this time around. Last year all three DARKNESS LP releases were re-issued on CD by Battle Cry Records, and afterwards it was decided to do a reunion show at the next K.I.T. festival. As I’m only familiar with Defenders Of Justice, I was wondering how many tunes I would recognize, as I was expecting some kind of best of set. Well, in the end it turned out that only Caligula and They Need A War rang a bell to my ears. The rest of their set included the entire Death Squad release (minus Tarsman Of Ghor) and no songs whatsoever from release # 3. Not that I really cared, as DARKNESS’ brand of German 1980’s thrash is not exactly what I’m looking forward to during any of the K.I.T. editions. The band sure was loud, well-rehearsed and tight, but their rather one-dimensional kind of thrash doesn’t manage to appeal to me. The true thrashers surely did enjoy their 43’ on stage, judging by the huge moshpit on some occasions, I rather enjoyed watching them from a distance. Waiting for better things to come …

Spain’s SILVER FIST have only been around since late 2002 and released their debut CD Ave Fénix in April of 2004. As far as I could figure out from their homepage, as my Spanish isn’t exactly elaborate. SILVER FIST are primarily known due to the inclusion of vocalist Silverio Solorzano, a.k.a. Silver. Silver of course being MURO’s former frontman. MURO are considered to be one of the greatest Spanish bands that never really made it. They released several LP’s from the mid 1980’s up until the late 1990’s, although I’m only familiar with their 1986 debut, Acero Y Sangre. And that’s only due to the fact that these releases are so damn hard to find over here! And despite SILVER FIST being the band announced to play here today, it was to be a special MURO set for this occasion. Although they sure did include a couple of SILVER FIST songs, the emphasis indeed was on the old MURO stuff. For some 45’ Silver & co. would capture a great part of the audience’s attention with their native-sung pure heavy metal. No wonder, considering the large amount of Spanish and Greek guys present, known for their undying support towards cult metal acts. But no doubt quite of few people of other nationalities were impressed by SILVER FIST’s performance today, including myself. I was sort of hoping to hear ACCEPT’s Fast As A Shark on this occasion, which would’ve been an appropriate thing to do, but it wasn’t to be. Not today, anyhow … In turn we were treated to the likes of Traidor, Solo En La Oscuridad, Telon De Acero and absolute crowd favourite Mirada Asesina, which marked the end of SILVER FIST’s convincing set. It sure inspired me to go out on a search for more MURO material from now on, and I just can’t help but wonder why they don’t just continue as MURO. After all, those couple of new SILVER FIST tunes sounded pretty much along the same lines as the old stuff to my ears …

Formed in April of 1982, U.S.A.’s AXEHAMMER never received the appreciation they deserved on the evidence of their music. They never managed to get a proper deal back then, and it wasn’t until Sentinel Steel released Lord Of The Realm (a compilation of songs from 1984-87) in 1998 (and soon to be re-released, as the initial copies have long since gone) that their name got more known around the metal community. The biggest surprise came late last year, when a new AXEHAMMER CD saw the light of day, once again through Sentinel Steel : Windrider. And what a scorching release full of traditional heavy metal it turned out to be. Easily one of the best of last year in its genre! And what made matters even better is that three of the original members were back on board : Jerry Watt (guitars), Bill Ramp (vocals) and Joe Aghassi (drums). Bassplayer Colin Sauers, who played on Windrider, was replaced by NEW EDEN’s Horacio Colmenares in January. And with vinyl versions of both Windrider and Lord Of The Realm on the way, it was finally time for AXEHAMMER to make their European debut. 4.18 pm was the time, and the tone was set by Dancing With Demons, the first of no less than seven songs off Windrider that were on the menu today. Oldie Princess was up next, only to be followed by more recent stuff in form of Power, Stand Up And Fight and Rise Up. By then it was clear that the monitors on stage didn’t work as they should, resulting in Bill having trouble hitting all of the notes right. The monitor problem would be solved along the way, resulting in a way more convincing second half of AXEHAMMER’s show. The remaining new tracks were up next : Back For Vengeance, Stand And Deliver and Windrider. All showcases of excellent U.S. metal the old-fashioned way. Indeed, the way it should be, or as Bill said at the end of their set : ‘Fucking America doesn’t get this kind of music.’ After this bunch of recent tunes it was more than time to conclude the band’s 45’ slot with a bang. And what better way than to do it by means of excellent performances of both Lord Of The Realm and Axehammer? I rest my case. Despite the monitor problems I mentioned earlier on, AXEHAMMER’s performance was more than worth waiting for all these years, and I would be surprised if we wouldn’t see them surface on one or other (European) festival bill in the (near) future to come!

GRIM REAPER are one of the more known bands that arose out of the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement. And one of the more successful ones too, especially in the U.S.A. I never got a chance to see them in their prime, but I did witness their rather miserable performance at the 2000 Wacken Open Air festival. Well, miserable maybe isn’t the right description, but when you are allowed to be on stage for 45’ and you only use 36’, you’re bound not to be taken all too seriously. Especially since that 36’ set included Rock You To Hell … twice. A sign that the band wasn’t really well-prepared back then. And thus I was wondering if there was to be a change for the better, almost six years later. Besides, I was wondering who was going to be in the line-up today … By the looks of it vocalist Steve Grimmett was the sole surviving original member once again, and I have no clue as to who the other guys were. It doesn’t really matter anyhow. Quite obviously no new songs were supposed to make their way into the setlist. Instead we were treated to a selection of songs (10) culled from all three of the band’s 1980’s releases. Bearing the brunt of the battle was Rock You To Hell, so I was hoping that they would not have to do a reprise of it at the end of their set on this occasion. More of that same titled third release came later on in the set, in form of Lust For Freedom, Rock Me ‘Till I Die and Waysted Love. As far as I’m concerned they could’ve easily replaced one of those by either All Hell Let Loose or Fight To The Last. Just me splitting hairs again … A Matter Of Time and Fear No Evil were representative for their second release, while the earliest stuff originated by means of the likes of Dead On Arrival, Now Or Never and closer See You In Hell. And no, there was no need to do any kind of reprise, as GRIM REAPER took full advantage of their 45’ slot this time. And, I must say that their overall performance was way better compared to Wacken 2000 too. Much to the relief and enjoyment of the audience. I’m almost certain that a permanent reunion is out of the question, or a reunion CD release for that matter, but I could live with a GRIM REAPER reunion gig every now and again!

I remember Würzburg’s PARADOX open the 1988 edition of Holland’s Dynamo Open Air festival as if it were yesterday. One thing that I will never forget is that they played METALLICA’s Whiplash as a soundcheck. That was after the band’s debut, Product Of Imagination (1987), had been released, but prior to follow-up Heresy (1989). Both released on Roadrunner, by the way. Plenty of line-up changes and trouble with the record company forced the band to split up in early 1990. In 1999 vocalist/guitarist Charly Steinhauer and guitarist Kai Pasemann decide to resurrect PARADOX, the line-up then being completed by Oliver (bass) and Alex (drums) Holzwarth, of SIEGES EVEN fame. An appearance at the 1999 Wacken Open Air festival resulted in a deal with AFM and as a result comeback CD Collision Course saw the light of day in August of 2000. Despite positive reviews, a tour wasn’t to follow, although the band were able to perform at the Bang Your Head festival in 2001. Frontman Charly then went through a rough time personally, forcing him to put PARADOX on hold once again. By September 2005 everything related to Charly returned to normal again, and together with Kai and three new members he decided to reform PARADOX once more. Even better : a new, fourth CD will be released later this year, marking two decades of PARADOX. The band had announced their set as being a best of show of all three albums, with a focus on the 1980’s songs. And that’s just what we got, as Overshadowed and the titletrack were the only two tunes from Collision Course that we were treated to tonight. The emphasis was definitely on their debut (Paradox, Death, Screaming And Pain & Pray To The Godz Of Wrath) and follow-up Heresy (Search For Perfection, Crusaders Revenge & the titletrack), and Whiplash was conveniently forgotten this time around. In stead we got a rendition of JUDAS PRIEST’s Hell Bent For Leather. Although PARADOX were never (nor will ever be) one of my favourite bands back in the late 1980’s, they didn’t bore me now. Although I must say that we spent most of their set in the back of the hall; indeed, one has to eat sooner or later, and now was as good a time as any other. In fact, it was the perfect time, despite a long waiting queue, as we really didn’t want to miss out on any of the final four bands.

I first found out about this Texas based doom metal outfit called SOLITUDE back in the late 1980’s, when the tapetrader circuit was still very active. Which only goes to show that SOLITUDE AETURNUS and I go way back. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure that I was the only one in attendance today that had seen them back in 1991 already, in a shithole disco place called Reflexions, somewhere in Texas. I got to see them a couple more times over the years, the last time being at the 2001 Bang Your Head festival. Which is indicative of how long it was ago that Texas’ finest were over here in Europe … Reason enough not wanting to miss this festival appearance, even moreso since a new CD is said to be on the way. Well, it’s about time, as Adagio dates back to 1998 already! One week prior to today, the band was forced to perform at the Doom Shall Rise festival without vocalist Rob Lowe. It was with great relief that I found out that Rob would 100% sure be present today. SOLITUDE AETURNUS without Rob is similar to pubs without alcohol … With five full-length releases to pick from, I was more than curious to know what the setlist would be like today. Kicking off with Haunting The Obscure was an excellent move, by the looks of it. Two more Through The Darkest Hour (1994) tunes (including The 9th Day : Awakening) were to follow later on, making their third release their most represented one tonight. Phantoms was the only song culled from follow-up Downfall (1996), while Adagio delivered Days Of Prayer and the ultra doomy Lament. Beyond The Crimson Horizon (1992) wasn’t represented at all on this occasion, but luckily we were treated to two songs from their 1991 Into The Depths Of Sorrow debut : Destiny Falls To Ruin and Opaque Divinity. Both killer! Two new tracks were introduced as well : Sightless and Scent Of Death. Both had already been posted on the band’s website before, and these live versions only affirmed my initial idea : two great tunes that are totally along the lines of the band’s previous material, and both will be no doubt be included on release # 6, whenever it will see the light of day. Or the dark of night … The band’s ’hitsingle’ was announced by guitarist John Perez as ’The Eagle Has Landed’ and thus Falling marked the end of a highly entertaining hour of classic doom. Which, of course, isn’t enough to satisfy the real fans, so let’s hope for a return visit (tour) to Europe after album # 6 will be out. After all, there’s plenty of other SOLITUDE AETURNUS songs that the die-hard doom fanatics would like to experience in the flesh as well!!

Some may remember ROSS THE BOSS from his days in THE DICTATORS or even SHAKIN’ STREET, but his biggest claim to fame undoubtedly was that he formed MANOWAR with Joey DeMaio, and would stay with them up until late 1988, releasing six albums : Battle Hymns, Into Glory Ride, Hail To England, Sign Of The Hammer, Fighting The World and Kings Of Metal. Backed by German MANOWAR coverband MEN OF WAR for this occasion, Ross intended to perform a night of early MANOWAR songs, including a bunch of songs that MANOWAR haven’t played in years. It had been announced that they would play stuff from the first four albums only. I, for one, was especially looking forward to stuff from the first three releases, as those are still my faves today. Come 9.15 pm, it was time for Ross The Boss to enter the stage for a second time today, and this time for good. After an epic intro Manowar, Death Tone and Shell Shock followed. All from the band’s 1982 Battle Hymns debut release, they were reason enough to convince the major part of the audience. And I must say, the rest of the band wasn’t really out of league. The singer may indeed have had some problems hitting the notes right on a couple of the songs, but for the most part he was doing an admirable job. Of course the likes of Eric Adams can’t be replaced, so that’s not what we were expecting … More old MANOWAR tunes followed, one more appealing than the other : Gloves Of Metal, Secret Of Steel, Thor (The Power Head), Mountains, Army Of The Immortals, Kill With Power, Hail To England and eventually Bridge Of Death. Hardly anyone complained. Not surprisingly, as the setlist could hardly have been any better. From an old fan’s point of view, anyhow … The band returned with Hail And Kill (from 1988’s Kings Of Metal!) and, last but not least, Battle Hymn!! The MANOWAR tune, if any! Thus concluding an 80’ set with an absolute highlight!

Last time I saw Ottawa's EXCITER was at last year’s Bang Your Head festival. Luckily they were programmed on Friday, and as such their set was not affected by the bad weather that was to come … That 40’ set was a mixture of old classics and more recent, late 1990’s stuff, plus one brandnew tune. And as they had a 75’ slot here, I was hoping to hear both more new tunes, as well as classics. In hindsight I can only say that my prayers were answered. Apart from Immortal Fear (which I was already familiar with) two more new songs were presented, one being called Evil Omen. The other was Massacre … something … Only three tunes from their late 1990’s releases were performed tonight : The Dark Command, Aggressor and Violator. The biggest surprise for me was Rain Of Terror, from 1992’s Kill After Kill. And the rest, to my and the greater part of the audience’s sheert excitement, were all classics from EXCITER’s first three stellar releases : Victims Of Sacrifice and Long Live The Loud (both from the latter’s sametitled 1985 release), Violence & Force and Pounding Metal (from 1984’s Violence & Force) and even three from the band’s milestone 1983 debut : Heavy Metal Maniac, Blackwitch and Rising Of The Dead. How could you possibly go wrong with any crowd by playing this selection? The feedback was, not surprisingly, overwhelming. To say the least … Bassist Clammy has settled in perfectly ever since he joined in 2004, and the rest of the nowadays line-up have been together for so long already that they could slowly but surely be considered to have become the classic EXCITER line-up. Having said that, I just can’t help but repeating what I mentioned last year already : “The one thing that I would love to see once before I die is Dan Beehler to return to EXCITER. Not to say that Jacques Bélanger is a bad vocalist; it's just that I never got to see the 'original' EXCITER in their prime.” I know this will probably never become true, but you can’t blame me for dreaming … But hey, EXCITER’s performance here tonight was excellent, including no flaws and blessed by a good sound, and as such most likely the best EXCITER show I ever witnessed! Can’t wait to hear the new CD, to be released in the near future!

Almost half an hour later, around 0.40 am (and with only 20’ delay, compared to the initial schedule) it was finally time for today’s headliners : New York’s RIOT. If memory serves me well, last time I saw RIOT live was in January of 2000, when they toured through Europe in support of AGENT STEEL & ANVIL, with DOMINE and MAGIC KINGDOM also being on the bill. Another CD (Through The Storm) was released in 2002, but no more tour. Vocalist Mike Dimeo left to persue other musical interests, and has been replaced by Mike Tirelli. Drummer Bobby Rondinelli followed Mike to THE LIZARDS, and now VIRGIN STEELE sticksman Frank Gilchriest is to be found behind the RIOT drumkit. The rest of the line-up still being comprised of guitarists Mark Reale, Mike Flyntz and bassist Pete Perez. Only God knows how much I’d love to have seen RIOT live with Guy Speranza behind the mike, but we all know that won’t be possible anymore. I was just hoping that Mike Tirelli would be able to let us relive the good old RIOT days today. And by good old I mean everything up until 1988’s Thundersteel, with an emphasis on the very first couple of releases. Anyone with this in mind will have had a great time as the only songs performed today that didn’t fit into this category were Twist Of Fate (1999), Angel Eyes & The Man (both from 1998) and Glory Calling (1996). That’s right : nothing off their most recent release! They also included a version of DEEP PURPLE’s Burn, but the remaining 12 songs were all simply to be categorized as classics. Out of those 12, three songs each originated from Rock City (Warrior, Tokyo Rose & the titletrack), Fire Down Under (Swords And Tequila, Outlaw & Altar Of The King) as well as Thundersteel (the titletrack, Flight Of The Warrior & Johnny’s Back). Toyko Rose was kind of a surprise (and dedicated to a female Japanese fan that travelled along with the band on this tour), but I was surprised to find out that they didn’t perform Fire Down Under! A crying shame … Especially knowing that they included an extra long version of Road Racin’ (including a lot of guitar extravaganza), a short drum solo and the aforementioned Burn. I would’ve gone for a couple more songs in stead : Overdrive, 49er, Fire Down Under, Loanshark or Born In America … none of them would’ve been rejected by this audience, I’m sure. Or what was left of the initial amount of people anyway, as quite a few seemed to have disappeared after the end of EXCITER’s set. Maybe they just got tired, or they weren’t RIOT fans to begin with, but in my opinion they were wrong anyhow. Anyhow, Narita was the ideal opening tune and Hard Lovin’ Man wasn’t forgotten either. On the other hand not one single song from either Born In America or The Privilege Of Power made their way onto the setlist. Oh well, I sure do realise that it can’t be easy to compile a setlist, bearing in mind that you have so many releases, and thus a multitude of songs, to pick from. The last thing that I want is to sound negative, as RIOT’s set was excellent just as it was. The band was in good shape, Mike fits in perfectly and even the sound was good. And in the end the band turned out to have been on stage for some 100’ … I guess that this extra 10’ delay didn’t bother anyone still standing, and it just goes to show that the band was eager to play their complete set. All for the best, or otherwise we would’ve missed out on Thundersteel and Warrior, who marked the end of a successful headlining performance!

There’s hardly anything negative I could say about this edition of K.I.T. I enjoyed most of the bands, and to those I didn’t … it’s just a matter of personal taste, don’t take it too personally! The sound during the entire day was probably the best ever, and the delays were kept to a real minimum. Of course the lines for the food & drink stands were a bit too long at certain moments, but that’s something you have to live with. Although a couple of extra stands outside the hall perhaps wouldn’t be a bad idea, knowing how many people tend to hang out outside … And for those interested : my personal faves today (in no particular order) included above all POWERVICE, SOLITUDE AETURNUS, EXCITER and RIOT. The next episode (labelled as Keepers Of The Reign) is set for November 4th 2006, and it will the first ’smaller’ edition, to be held at the Sporthalle in Dittigheim. Due to the fact that the ticket sales for that particular day were limited to just 500, it came as no surprise to find out that K.I.T. VII sold out after just a couple of days already. Of course we bought our tickets immediately, and thus we’ll be able to enjoy the likes of ARCTIC FLAME, FLOTSAM & JETSAM, HEIR APPARENT, MESSENGER, ONSLAUGHT, WARHAMMER and WOLF. But still I’d say that this is a setback for the festival, as I’m sure a lot of people that didn’t get their tickets in time will be heavily disappointed. Although I can understand the reasoning of the organisers as well. Still, I’d like to ask them to reconsider at last : just add three or four more bands and switch back to the Tauberfrankenhalle, and you’ll make plenty of more people happy! I know this is not likely to happen, but who can blame me for trying?