Who the hell are DANTESCO, I hear you wonder? An epic doom metal quintet from Puerto Rico, of all places. I’ll admit : I wasn’t even aware of a metal scene over there until recently, when I found out that DANTESCO were to perform on this occasion. In turn I bought their one and only CD, De La Mano De La Muerte, and was quite pleasantly impressed with their brand of epic meets doom metal. And the exotic (Spanish) vocals only added a special touch to my enjoyment, for they make a welcome change from time to time. Shortly after 7 pm five Puerto Ricans, dressed in religious fashion, enterred the stage, for what was to be a short yet intense set of epic doom metal. Needless to say the emphasis tonight was on De La Mano De La Muerte, but they squeezed in at least one new tune as well. It made quite an impact, just as the likes of Pavor Nocturnus, Oda Al Fin Del Mundo, Traidor or Mi Venganza. The band definitely enjoyed themselves, and most of those already in attendance had a great time too, judging by the cheers and support. DANTESCO were definitely capable of reproducing their studio sound unto stage, and were the ideal opening band. And it just goes to show that doom metal is widely accepted with the Keep It True audience.

SEVEN WITCHES is one of Jack Frost’s babies, and they’ve been releasing several (6) CD’s since 1999, with a variety of line-ups. The only constant factor over the years has been Jack himself, but he always managed to attract quality vocalists : Bobby Lucas, Wade Black & James Rivera. And for the latest release, Amped, he managed to acquire the services of former HADES, NON-FICTION & WATCHTOWER vocalist Alan Tecchio. The current line-up being rounded out by Kevin Bolembach (bass) and Jeff Curenton (drums). Bearing in mind this new line-up, and the fact of a limited playing time, I was expecting a whole bunch of Amped songs, plus a small selection of earlier tunes. And maybe one or other cover version lumped in here or there as well. Well, it turned out that I was slightly wrong in the end … Although they managed to sneak 10 songs into a 45’ set, only three originated from Amped : opener GP Fix, Dishonor Killings and Sunnydale High. A marvellous version of JUDAS PRIEST’s Victim Of Changes marked the end of SEVEN WITCHES’ set, while the remaining six tunes were culled from the band’s earlier releases, apart from 2004’s Year Of The Witch. For those that consider Amped to be a bit too ‘modern’, the likes of Mental Messiah, Second War In Heaven, Xiled To Infinity And One, The Answer, Apocalyptic Dreams and Metal Tyrant were welcomed with open arms. In my opinion their set had no flaws, and Alan proved to be still able to sing ‘high’ with ease. I think that Rob Halford would wish that he was still this good! Jack ‘pulling funny faces is my second profession’ Frost once again showed what an excellent guitarist he is, and the rhythm section left nothing to be desired either. In short : a blistering performance by one of the U.S.A.’s leading pure heavy metal bands!

The origins of Swiss band DRIFTER go back to 1981, but it would last until 1983 before they decided to change their moniker to DRIFTER. 1985 marked the release of the band’s first demo, followed by another one in 1987. Two albums (1988’s Reality Turns To Dust & Nowhere To Hide a year later) were released, and tours with EXODUS and MOTÖRHEAD followed. But due to internal band problems the band calls it quits in 1991. In the spring of 2005 they are approached to play this reunion show, and as a result they decide to reunite permanently, with three original members; only the rhythm section is different, compared to the old days. So far DRIFTER’s history in a nutshell. I must admit : I don’t own any of the band’s material, and I wasn’t really familiar with it either. Reason being that I remember plenty of negative LP reviews, and as a result I never checked them out. The band was obviously pleased to have another go at it, some 15 years later. They even announced that they plan to record a new (old-style) CD. Nevertheless their set consisted of songs from both of their late 1980’s releases only, including such tunes as Highlander, Senseless Death, Burning Circles and Reality Turns To Dust from their debut, plus the likes of opener So Much Blood, Strontium Dog and Principle Of Speed from follow-up Nowhere To Hide. And their version of ROSE TATTOO’s We Can’t Be Beaten of course. A big part of the audience seemed to welcome DRIFTER with open arms, but they did very little to attract my attention throughout their performance. Not that their songs are so bad, but they aren’t original at all. Besides, there were way better bands around during their ‘heydays’, and there definitely are way better bands around these days! The band’s overall performance was okay, which is a merit in its own right, it’s just that the music isn’t really what I’m looking for myself.

One thing that ASSASSIN and WARLOCK had in common is the fact that they both hailed from Düsseldorf. But the latter was a pure heavy metal outfit back then, as opposed to the former, who were more in the speed & thrash mould. Two LP’s were released on Steamhammer in the late 1980’s (The Upcoming Terror – 1986 & Interstellar Experience – 1988) before the band disappeared from view. Until they decided to reunite in 2002, that is. In the meantime a new CD (The Club) has been unleashed as well. I myself am only familiar with the band’s debut, which I bought second hands several years after its initial release. Which only goes to show that I shouldn’t be considered as an ASSASSIN fan. Their brand of thrash is just too plain and simple for me, and in a typical German 1980’s fashion. Besides, I don’t really enjoy their vocals, and most of their material sounds the same to my ears; not a lot of variety on offer here, just ultra fast speed/thrash all the way. Generic, to say the least. And the likes of Bullets, Abstract War, Baka, Junkfood or Bushwackers couldn’t really make me reconsider on this occasion. We stayed in the back for most of ASSASSIN’s set, as we missed the first couple of songs, since we had gone outside for a breath of fresh air. Upon our arrival it was almost impossible to get upfront (hence no pictures!). Indeed, the ASSASSIN maniacs had a ball, but from my point of view they were the least favourable band tonight.

I never saw DEMON in their glorious 1980’s days, but I sure tried to make up ever since I first saw them at the Wacken Open Air festival in 2000, when their one hour set made quite an impression on me. The best had yet to come though : their 115’ set at the 2003 Sweden Rock festival was absolutely stunning, and the same can be said about last year’s Ragnarock festival performance. One week later I saw DEMON for the last time, at the ill-fated second day of the Bang Your Head festival. What better way to forget about that experience than to witness the band play a 70’ headline set tonight? The first thing that I noticed was the fact that the band had a new guitarist : Karl Finney being replaced by Tim Read. A change for the better, as far as I’m concerned. Of course this set was going to be sort of a best of once again, but that’s due to popular demand. As such it came as no surprise that Standing On The Edge turned out to be the only song from last year’s Better The Devil You Know CD. An excellent release, by the way! Nevertheless the band did incorporate a couple surprises too – more about this later. Opening with the inevitable Night Of The Demon, the tone was set right from the start. More classics followed in form of Into The Nightmare, The Plague, Blackheath, Sign Of A Madman and Wonderland. Needless to say they all went down extremely well with the over-enthusiastic audience. The first surprise was Hurricane, which I never saw them perform live. Cool! Life On The Wire was up next, only to be followed by the second surprise. A song they hadn’t played in some 23 years : The Spell. Even cooler! The unfortunate thing was that the band was running out of time, due to previous delays, and had to cut their set short by one tune. And thus No More Hell On Earth was sacrificed. But the finale, consisting of Don’t Break The Circle and One Helluva Night sure made up for that. This being my fifth live encounter with DEMON, I can truly say that they have never let me down. Some will argue that vocalist Dave Hill is the only surviving member of the band, but they should realize that without Dave there would be no more DEMON to enjoy. And since this gig was only the first of a short European tour, I would soon be able to witness DEMON once more at Biebob (review elsewhere)!

DEMON & SEVEN WITCHES were outstanding on this occasion, while DANTESCO made an excellent impression as well. DRIFTER & ASSASSIN were less interesting, but that was anticipated in advance. Once again the atmosphere was great, and the sound was really okay. Even the safety issue that I mentioned last time had been solved : the stairs were nowhere to be found, and I'm sure that none of the handful of stagedivers got hurt. Way to go! Of course this warm up show was sold out weeks in advance already. And thus, come November 3rd 2006, it will be strange arriving, knowing there's no warm up show for K.I.T. # 7. On the other hand, after a good night of sleep we'll be totally ready for the festival itself!