The Tilburg Headbangers fest is one of the newer and smaller festivals around these days. It took place in the back of Café Extase in the middle of Tilburg, Holland. And by the time we arrived (around 3.45 pm on a Saturday) the town was crowded by people. Of course it was hard to find a nearby parking place, and I guess I’ve never ever seen so many bikes together in such a limited environment. We had deliberately chosen to arrive late, as opening bands CEREMONY OF OPPOSITES (melodic death metal), CHAINSAW (thrash & roll metal) and FORETOLD (old school death metal) didn’t exactly match our musical taste. Although we managed to witness FORETOLD’s final tune …

Up next was the first band that we really wanted to see, METHUSALEM. I had heard and read nothing but good things about this quintet from the north of Holland. Of course I wanted to check this firsthand. It turned out that all the positive feedback was justified on this occasion. METHUSALEM is a pure heavy metal band, with clear references to the good old 1980’s. And including plenty of long instrumental passages. Apart from some drum problems that popped up at the beginning of Armed With Axes, their set was convincing throughout. Of course I was totally unfamiliar with the band’s repertoire, but the likes of Feel The Fire, Frisian Metal Warriors and Sentenced To Rock did stick to mind nevertheless. Promising gig from I band that I should investigate more in the near future!

Another Dutch band was to be on next : RED DRAGON. As a matter of fact this was a one-off reunion show, as the band hadn’t played together for almost 20 years. Back then RED DRAGON’s line-up included three brothers, on guitar, bass and keyboards. For this reunion they were unable to get hold of the original drummer, thus another brother filled in for this occasion. The vocalist is not related whatsoever, I believe … Of course no new material was to be expected from this band, but they did a kind of best of set instead. Bearing in mind that all of these songs were written some 25 years ago, they came across convincing at times, and less interesting on other occasions. Highlights were Take Hold Of Your Life, Mountain Queen, Streetfighter and encore Overheated. The crowd reaction was excellent too. Not really surprising, as RED DRAGON hails from Tilburg … And I guess their entire families were present as well … Anyhow, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the band has meanwhile decided to do more of these reunion gigs, as they clearly enjoyed themselves on stage. By the way : their guitarist is excellent!

After a dinner break it was time for MARTYR, another Dutch band that was already around in the 1980’s. Ever since they reunited to do this kind of reunion shows I managed to see them twice already. They never let me down on those occasions, and I was hoping for another stunning performance tonight. Once again the band’s original vocalist Rob Van Haren was fronting the band and he sure hasn’t lost any of his crazy stage antics since last July. A bucket of water (?) is always a handy stage prop … Although I must say that Rob was rather quiet overall. Most likely due to the fact that the stage wasn’t big enough, and the roof not high enough. Anyway, MARTYR played most of their classics tonight : opening with Snow And Fire and Darkness At Time’s Edge, only to continue with the likes of Invisible Touch, Black Sun and Into The Abyss. And to come to a highlight with Speed Of Samurai. Four Walls and the equally brilliant English Forces concluded yet another marvelous 50’ MARTYR set. No surprise for me, and the rest of the audience more than seemed to enjoy themselves. Unfortunately MARTYR started out five minutes late, and as a result there was no time for (encore) The Awakening.

The only band from outside of Holland today was France’s MYSTERY BLUE. Another band that I was already familiar with, and that I had seen live once before. Despite some technical problems they easily managed to convince me back then. The line-up has been reduced to a quartet (again) since, and a new CD (Claws Of Steel) has been recorded. Unfortunately the release (on Mausoleum) has been postponed to November, and as such nobody in the audience was familiar with any of the new tunes. And as it turned out, the emphasis tonight was on the upcoming release, as well as 2003’s Metal Slaves effort. Said release was represented by Slave To Blood, Angel, Metal Dream and S.T.A.G.E. The rest of the set was made up of all new songs, including Electric Power, Destructive Instinct, Shades Of Death, Psycho City, Queen Of The Damned and Fuego. And a couple more … My first impression is that these new tunes are clearly in the same vein as what was already displayed on Metal Slaves. No complaints here … Due to starting out late and some technical problems during their time on stage, MYSTERY BLUE had to cut their set short, but they convinced me once again nevertheless. Too bad plenty of people opted to stay outside, resulting in less people up front. Oh well, it’s their loss …

We decided to leave shortly after MYSTERY BLUE had finished their 50’ set, as we weren’t looking forward to having to endure headliners (old school death thrashers) PENTACLE. We did, however, enjoy the bands that we came for, the sound was okay, and the atmosphere was very friendly. And despite the fact that this festival has a very diverse line-up that doesn’t appeal to us entirely, we might well be back next year!