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Under the name of United Metalhead Festival the show in Wuppertal was announced. I got aware of it when I saw the flyer at Die Börse at an Overkill concert in July. Headliner of the festival wass Majesty, but due to the public transport, I had to leave early - after Rebellion. But I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of Majesty and so it was okay for me. Initially it wasn't planned to do a review about this event, but the German e-zine I write for wanted it, but I learnt that after that evening. So I had no notes - which means I can't go into detail - and have to thank the bands for providing the set lists. But it's never easy to talk about music you don't know... Coz beside Rebellion I don't know any of the bands.
Opening band was a local act called Atavism. I haven't heard of them before and unfortunately their website is down at the moment, so I can't tell you any more about them. Only that the band offered some true metal with keybaords. Something Manowar fans should like, even if they don't have the class... But for a newcomer band they did good. Sorry, perhaps there will be another chance.
Next in line were Ligeia, the name is inspired by Edgar Alan Poe. The band from Neu-Ulm was founded back in 1999 and is offering 80's heavy metal with female vocals. The band of singer Dani 'Mistress' Unglert opened their set with Walpurgis Night from their current release Gloria. And the quartet offered mainly songs from Gloria, but also gave a look out for the new one with 2 new songs. After Heaven And Hell they presented with Orleans the first new track. Blonde singer Dani reminded me a bit of Doro at Burning The Witches times... Not just because she's a blonde, too. Most of the tracks were mid-tempo, if memory serves... What I remember that after the show I had the feeling that the quartet played the best songs early in the set.... I think Heaven And Hell was one of the strongest songs... It seems that many others weren't familiar with their music too, but the response was good. And even if I can't tell much about Ligeia, I would go to see them again when they play somewhere around. To get a better idea check out: www.ligeia.info
Ligeia
Walpurghis Night (Gloria album)
Heaven is Hell (Gloria album)
Orleans (new)
Gloria (Gloria album)
Mistress of the night (Gloria album)
Nevermore (Gloria album
)
Beyond the sky (Gloria album)
Tunderstorm (new)
Children of the lost (Made Of Stone album)
Another female fronted band followed - The Mystery. The band is from the area and playing a lot live and it seemed that they brought their fans along. The band was founded back in 1996 and played a lot live - and that it obvious when you see them on stage. The four-piece mainly presented songs from their album Scars. Scars is the first album they release through a label, the 2 previous releases were self-financed - and so there are tracks which made it from the early releases to the new one Scars. Singer Denise soon drew the fans on her side - and made them sing along. Partly I missed a second guitar or a keyboard to fill in when guitarist Alex' playing solos, but okay. Personally I like the voice of Denise very much, she has a dark, warm voice. Mainly the songs are mid-tempo, but they vary the tempi. My personal highlight was the title track of their new album Scars, perhaps because I'm not familiar with the songs of The Mystery, but as a resumee I can say, it was fun to see and I'll check them out again. Perhaps next month... A list of coming shows you can find at the bands website www.the-mystery.de
The Mystery
Intro
Vengeance is mine (Scars)
Fading away (Scars)
1.000.000 light years away (Scars)
Restless heart (Scars)
Ignore the signs (Facing The Storm)
Scars (Scars)
Another day in hell (Scars)
Broken (Facing The Storm)
Facing the storm (Facing The Storm)
Running from the law
Revolution (...Where The Wind Blows Freedom)
Everytime (Facing The Storm)
Inside my heart (Facing The Storm)
Schizophrenia (Scars)
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Revenge (Scars)
Actually Rebellion were the co-headliner, but for me the last band of the night and the main reason to be at this show. First surprise for most fans was that guitarist Uwe Lulis was joined on the rhyhtm guitar by a dark haired woman. On their website they explained that guitarist Björn suffers some hearing problems and had to take a time out til the end of 2005. Simone Wenzel jumped in to support the Rebellions on stage. And the fans went crazy from the first played notes. Musically they got - in my opinion - closer to Grave Digger, but that's no surprise with 2 former Grave Diggers who founded the band. Guest guitarist Simone looked a little shy on stage, but did a great job. It was obvious that not everbody knew the new songs, coz singer Michael Seifert didn't got as much support during the Sagas Of Iceland songs as he got at older tracks. But when the band will do their tour in a few weeks this will have changed. Bassist Tomi Göttlich was always in action and encouraged the fans to party. Singer Michael's voice sounded a bit hoarse, but that's the singers fate - a voice is a more sensible instrument then any other. The band had a lot of fun on stage and guitarist Uwe was joking with his partners in crime. During the set Simone relaxed and lost her nervousness. The absolute highlight was the last song of the set - Rebellion. Okay, it's a Grave Digger tune, but Tomi and Uwe have the right to play this one and it's the song the band got there name from. The fans went crazy!!! Last, but not least they played Disdainind Fortune of their debut Macbeth. Then it was time for them to leave the stage for Majesty. And for me to catch my train...
Rebellion
Intro
Ynglinga Saga (Sagas Of Iceland)
Eric The Red (Sagas Of Iceland)
The Sons Of The Dragonslayer (Sagas Of Iceland)
The Prophecy (Macbeth)
Ragnhild’s Dream (Sagas Of Iceland)
Born A Rebel (Born A Rebel)
Through The Fire (Born A Rebel)
Dragons Fly (Born A Rebel)
Harald Hadrade (Sagas Of Iceland)
Canute The Great (Sagas Of Iceland)
Letters Of Blood (Macbeth)
Rebellion (Grave Digger - Tunes Of War)
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Disdaining Fortune (Macbeth)
The tickets were sold for 8 Euro - 6,50 Euro pre-sale - and so many fans came. Okay, Majesty drew most fans - and they had a fan club meeting earlier that day. The line-up was well chosen, not too mixed and still with some variety. Hopefully there will be more events like this one.
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