ICY STEEL, a pure epic heavy metal quartet from Italy, was the opening band for this edition of the Swordbrothers festival. The band has been around since early 2005 and they claim to be influenced by all 1980’s metal gods, such as early METALLICA, HEAVY LOAD, MANOWAR, GRAVE DIGGER, RUNNING WILD, RIOT, … In March 2007 Pure Steel Records released ICY STEEL’s selftitled debut CD. I wasn’t too impressed because it heavily lacks originality. Clearly in the MANOWAR vein, but nowhere near as interesting. Besides, vocalist Stefano couldn’t really hide his Italian accent. As a result my hopes for being convinced of ICY STEEL’s live performance weren’t too high. The band played their entire debut (minus Wind Of War), and no covers. Well, I for one was looking forward to hearing their version of HEAVY LOAD’s Heavy Metal Angels, yet it was not to be. ICY STEEL seemed to be rather successful with most of the audience, but they didn’t make an everlasting impression on me.

The first of three American bands today was KINGSCROSSING, a traditional heavy / power metal quintet hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the band has been around since 2002, it wasn’t until January 2007 that they released their selftitled debut CD. That was mainly due to replacing the original vocalist and adding a second guitarist in 2006. Apart from a gig in Berlin the day before, this was KINGSCROSSING’s maiden European gig. And they sure managed to convince quite a few people with their versatile form of medieval themed metal today. For all I know the band may well have played their debut CD in its entirety, and no new stuff at all. The songs that I remember for sure are Kingscrossing, Nightmares, Reflections, Angels In The Night, Stalker, Bed Of Nails and Rapid Fire. And whereas I had discovered a couple of ‘weaker’ songs on the CD, it all sounded so much better and heavier live. A very fine first encounter for sure, and I’m looking forward to more material and gigs in the future!

Also from the U.S.A. are SKELATOR, an epic metal quintet from Seattle. Founded in 1998 by vocalist Jason Conde, they proceeded to release two demos, Taste My Demon Seed and Behold, in 1999 and 2000 respectively. This was followed by the band’s debut full-length Give Me Metal Or Give Me Death in 2001. All of which I’m unfamiliar with. In 2005 the Swords mCD was released, and that’s how I got to know about SKELATOR. And although Swords isn’t 100% original, it made a good overall impression on me. The last sign of life was a split CD with death metallers GUTROT in 2006, entitled The Gore Of War. If memory serves me well, and not surprisingly at all, the emphasis today was on the band’s more recent material, including three songs off Swords (The Coming Of Chaos, Death To The False and The Wrath Of Odin’s Sons) and at least two off the split CD : The Dark Tower and The Siege Of Gondor. And as the band intends to re-record and re-release Give Me Metal Or Give Me Death properly in 2008, we got to hear the titletrack of that one as well. SKELATOR are clearly also influenced by early MANOWAR (lyrically as well as musically) but they came across way better than ICY STEEL. SKELATOR’s set was more energetic and overall more convincing, and the majority of the audience clearly seemed to agree.

SILVER FIST were the first Spanish band to ever grace the Swordbrothers stage. I had seen this sextet two times before already : at the Keep It True VI festival (April 2006) and even more recently during this year's Headbangers Open Air X festival. People had anticipated a mixture of both SILVER FIST and MURO songs, yet in the end only two from the latter’s legacy (Solo En La Oscuridad and Telon De Acero) were played today. A bit of a disappointment … So, once again, the emphasis was heavily on SILVER FIST’s own material, culled from both Ave Fénix (2004) and Lagrimas De Sangre (2006), and with vocals in Spanish only this time around. Resulting in 60’ of pure and energetic heavy metal the Spanish way. Having played those other festivals in Germany that I just mentioned made sure that most in attendance were already familiar with the band, which in turn resulted in the band being well-received once again.

WARRANT are a German speed / thrash metal trio that I never enjoyed in the mid 1980’s, for their music was too mediocre and one-dimensional. Having seen the band earlier in the year at the K.I.T. 8 festival and at the H.O.A. festival in 2005, I knew in advance that this would be the ideal time for our ‘supper recess’. Evenmoreso as the band refuses to play any new material, as the setlist consisted of the same 12 songs once again. Thus not exactly scoring high in my book, but I must say that they did deliver the most entertaining stageshow today, including an enforcer on stage during Satan and The Enforcer, two girls on stage during Scavenger’s Daughter and a Santa Claus armed with an axe during The Rack. All of which we could easily enjoy from the back of the hall … The fans sure didn’t seem to mind, judging by the arrival of the first stagedivers and crowdsurfers of the day.

MEMORY GARDEN must be one of Sweden’s best kept doom metal secrets. Having been around since late 1992 already, they released a couple of demos and singles, a mCD and 3 full-length CD’s up until 2000. The only sign of life after that was another 7” in 2004. Another full-length release has been recorded already, although it has yet to be released. Anyhow, I’ve always been fond of MEMORY GARDEN and I was more than just looking forward to their performance tonight. All I can say is that they didn’t let me down! Despite having to fit in a new bassist after Ken Johansson left last September, the band delivered quite a convincing gig, with songs ranging from Badlands (1994 7”) over Forever (1995 mCD) up to 1996’s Tides CD, by means of Genesis, Dream Horizons and Judgement Day. Strangely enough 1998’s Verdict Of Posterity was completely overlooked, but then again we were treated to two songs off 2000’s Mirage (Hallowed Soil and Navigate), plus Nameless (from the 2004 7”). And as if that wasn’t enough we also got to hear a preview of the upcoming new CD, by means of titletrack Carnage Carnival and The Bitter End, which was an appropriate closing tune. Having said that : it shouldn’t have been the end, as the band had 10 more minutes to their disposal. But other than that, no complaints here, as MEMORY GARDEN managed to intrigue me tremendously with their unique brand of true doom!

Tonight marked New York’s ZANDELLE’s European debut. Or almost, as they played at the Headbangers Ballroom in Hamburg yesterday already. The band has been around for well over a decade now, yet they only managed to release 3 full-length CD’s thus far. Both their selftitled mCD (1996) and Shadows Of Reality (1998) were kindly ignored tonight anyhow … The emphasis was indeed on 2002’s Twilight On Humanity (Warlords Of Steel, The Champion, Lord Of Thunder, …) and 2006’s Vengeance Rising (Blood Red Shores, The Final Hour, The Beowulf Trilogy, …). There was also room for at least one song (the titletrack) from the upcoming Flames Of Rage CD, which is scheduled to be released during the spring of 2008. The band (including former member Joey Bones on bass for this occasion, plus new guitarist Paul Duthil) proved to be rather energetic on stage and their brand of progressive / epic / power U.S. metal went down well. Although I must say that they could’ve been on stage for ten more minutes, as this turned out to be only a 60’ set. But at least it was a convincing one and let’s hope these guys will be able to return to Europe for more gigs once Flames Of Rage will have been released.

Italy’s epic Viking doom outfit DOOMSWORD is a band that the Swordbrothers organization had wanted to perform at their festival since its inception. Today was the day at last! Having seen the band a number of times before already, and being familiar with all four of their CD’s, I can only say that I’m really fond of this quintet. And as today’s set had been announced as a sort of best of one, hardly anything could go wrong in my book. Opening proceedings with Sacred Metal was very appropriate. Two more songs off the band’s 1999 selftitled debut (Warbringers & Swords Of Doom) were to follow later on. Three songs originated from Let Battle Commence (2003) as well : Heathen Assault, In The Battlefield and The Siege, while 2002’s Resound The Horn delivered Onward Into Battle, Shores Of Vinland, Odin’s Hail and The Doomsword. The band’s most recent (2007) release My Name Will Live On was represented best of all, by means of five tunes : Days Of High Adventure, Claidheamh Solais (Sword Of Light), Steel Of My Axe, Death Of Ferdia and Gergovia. Not that it really mattered, as I’m convinced that no matter what songs would’ve been played, they would’ve gone down well tonight. The fans adored the band once again, and the band was in optima forma as well. At the end of DOOMSWORD’s 100’ set fans were invited on stage, which they did en masse. And which always results in a nice sight : dozens of fans headbanging on stage, with the bandmembers somewhere in between. Only to emphasize that the atmosphere was great, and that DOOMSWORD well and truly did Veni, Vidi, Vici on this occasion!

In the end Swordbrothers 6 turned out to be a rather enjoyable edition, since most of the bands were able to convince. And for those that didn’t : I had anticipated that to a certain extent. Of course it was a pity that Holland’s ANGUS were forced to cancel, but then again we were able to witness MEMORY GARDEN in stead.
Furthermore the small 'extra' stage wasn’t a bad idea, and most bands took advantage of it. And due to the cold December weather, most people stayed inside most of the time, compared to previous editions anyhow, resulting in bigger crowds in front of the stage.
From now onwards the SWORDBROTHERS festival will only be held once a year, and as such # 7 will take place at the same venue on Saturday September 13th 2008. And what another blast it will turn out to be, knowing that the likes of CONQUEST OF STEEL, CROM, EXILED, HOLY MARTYR, METALHEAD, RAVENSTHORN, SALEM’S WYCH and STEEL PROPHET are set to perform on that occasion!


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