|
THE ARCHIVES
|
Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
|
|
|
|
|
GAMMA RAY - NOCTURNAL RITES - POWERWOLF
|
Stadthalle - Langen (D)
October 15th, 2005
http://www.gamma-ray.com
http://www.nocturnalrites.com
http://www.powerwolf.net
Finally, one of my alltime fave bands Gamma Ray return to the stage after the ... well, not too great album "Majestic". They have two bands to support them. The first is the very well-known swedish power metal combo Nocturnal Rites, a superb live band, who haven't had the big breakthrough yet. The second supporting band is Powerwolf, and to be honest, I haven't heard of them yet. But what the hell, here we go!
POWERWOLF, who just released their debut "Return In Bloodred", play good power metal, only the singing is a bit strange, as well as the looks of the vocalist. He was dressed up as Dracula, fitting the themes of their songs ("Mr. Sinister", "Montecore" or "Lucifer In Starlight"). After about 30 or 45 minutes, the band played their last song "Kiss Of The Cobra King", which was appreciated very well, even sung by the crowd during the 2nd chorus and earned quite an applause, well done guys!!
Honestly, I expected a lot more of NOCTURNAL RITES; due to their reputation as an excellent live act. And they did really good, playing some great songs and always having a joke on their lips. The highlights in their setlist were "The Iron Force", "Shadowland", "Fools Never Die" or "Afterlife", but also the other songs ("The Flame Will Never Die", "When Fire Comes To Ice" or "Never Trust") were great as well. Vocalist Jonny Lindkvist was in great shape, and so was the whole band actually. The guitar-players Fredrik Mannberg and Nils Norberg as well as bass player Nils Eriksson and drummer Owe Lingwall. You are always worth watching a gig, guys, good job!
But it was really GAMMA RAY who I had been waiting for. Fighting myself into the second row, I really enjoyed their set. The mixture of old, middle and new songs was really OK, but of course one always wishes to hear this or that very song, his or her favourite. Of course, the Rays wanted to promote their new album, but in my opinion, they played the wrong songs ("Majesty", "Blood Religion"). "Condemned To Hell" or "Strange World" would have been way better than the two longer ones. And Kai Hansen (v/g) has had better days for sure, the high screams were too few, but after all, they all played a good concert. Guitarist Henjo Richter (who seems shy) and the bass-player Dirk Schlächter played solid, and rhythm-monster Dan Zimmermann, whose solo was just as impressive as his other solos are. Besides that, there were no real surprises regarding the setlist. One song from each one of the first three records ("The Silence" from "Heading For Tomorrow", "One With The World" from "Sigh No More", "Last Before The Storm" from "Insanity & Genius"), some of the "hits" from "Land Of The Free" ("Rebellion In Dreamland" and the titletrack), the usual stuff from "Somewhere Out In Space" (the titletrack, of course with the nice singalong-part, "Valley Of The Kings"), several songs from "Powerplant" ("Strangers In The Night", "Gardens Of The Sinner", the Manowar-like-"coversong" "Heavy Metal Universe", "Send Me A Sign" as the final encore) and unfortunately only one song from "No World 
Order", which was the titletrack "New World Order", and the "usual" Helloween-stuff (at that gig it was "I Want Out").
In the end, it was too much a Gamma Ray-gig like any other, nothing special to be honest, but not bad as well. But one thing I have to criticize, something that too many bands do: the price of the merchandising stuff! A normal shirt costs 20 euros, too bad that too many people pay that price, those way too high prices should be boycotted!!!
submitted by Paddy 23.11.2005
|
|
|
|
|
