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THE ARCHIVES
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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
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ROCK HARD FESTIVAL 2006
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Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen (D)
June 2nd-4th 2006
http://www.rockhardfestival.de
Actually, even three days before the festival started, I still didn't know whether I was going or not. In the end I did go, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this report, obviously... So I went to Cora on friday morning, no camping this time for us. We rather drove 50 km one way from her place to the location in Gelsenkirchen. When I had arrived at Cora's place, she just told me that Marlies and Nico had been forced to cancel. Marlies had a bad migraine and Nico didn't want to go without his wife. Well, that would be only Cora and me then... (Paddy)
FRIDAY
We arrived at the amphitheatre when it was about 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and we first went around watching the food- and non-food-area. Unfortunately, the theatre wasn't already open that day. The stage for friday's bands was located in a smaller place near the entrance.
At 7 pm the Swedish band ENGEL started, who had won the Rock Hard talent competition I think. The band of guitarists Marcus Sunesson (ex-The Crown) and Niclas Engelin (Passenger, ex-Gardenian, In Flames) gave a good opener, playing their industrial death/thrash-whatever-metal.
After them the german power metal band CUSTARD started its gig, and they really were well-known to the fans, which is no wonder considering that their hometown Herne isn't too far away from the festival. My actual highlight on that night was MERCENARY from Denmark! (Paddy)
This show here was the first with the new man on bass that I got to see and I believe it was only MERCENARY's second show with René Pedersen on board. Well, well..it was a "wait and see"-thingy for me because Kral's departure certainly left big shoes to fill for the new guy. Naturally, René does not sound like Kral but he made a pretty good impression nonetheless! He's been very active on stage as well as interacting a lot with the crowd - the band definitely picked a likeable guy into their rows. Now Mercenary have been playing live a lot in support of their album "11 Dreams" but for those who haven't heard of it yet: the new album "The Hours That Remain" is going to be released in late August. As a teaser, Mercenary played a new track entitled "Soul Decision". Sounded pretty good with a mighty vocal arrangement. But as alwalys it's hard to really judge over a new song you are hearing live for the first time. BUT: I couldn't believe they were playing "Loneliness". I have never really dared to hope I'd ever get to hear that song live, so I was freaking happy! Again, thanks for that guys! :) During the set the crowd went pretty wild, some demands for Mercenary as headliners were to be heard and more and more stagedivers entered the stage - but that was just a taste of what was to come. (Cora)
setlist Mercenary:
ReDestructDead
Firesoul
World Hate Center
Soul Decision
Loneliness
11 Dreams
MORGANA LEFAY came to play and destroy! Known for their furious live shows, this is has been by far the wildest crowd I have ever been part of at a Morgana Lefay gig. I don't mind a stagediver and/or crowdsurfer here and there but this was a bit too much imho. At least half of the people don't seem to know how to behave too. It's not cool to stand or walk around on stage for ages because it's the band's place. And it is even less cool to jump onto only a handful of people with the expectation to be caught safely by them, especially when you turn a somersault or jump with your boots first.
This was Morgana Lefay's first show with Pelle Åkerlind on drums who replaced recently departed Robin Engström. He seemed to have fun and was even trying to interact with the crowd from behind his kit. The German band Mindcrime who have been playing together with Morgana Lefay on their last tour in Germany were in the first row to revive their relation with the Swedes by shouting things like "Peter, you smell" and stuff like that. Insights we didn't want to know about, hehe ;) At some point the electrical power broke down, so frontman Chulle said they had to do something about it. Well, he and Peter went for a stagedive themselves. (Cora)
setlist Morgana Lefay:
My Funeral Is Calling
Blind
I Roam
End Of Living
Master Of The Masquerade
SOS
When Gorgoyles Fly
In The Court Of The Crimson King
Another Dawn
Hollow
Angels Deceit
The Source Of Pain
Maleficium
The Boon He Gives
SATURDAY
We were slightly late on saturday morning and arrived at the festival area when Dutch
LEGION OF THE DAMNED were already playing. The band seemed to be a highlight for many because a rather big crowd of moshing and headbanging fans gathered in front of the stage. I didn't know the band and I think they played solid thrash/deathmetal, often reminding me of Slayer. But I fail to see what's so special about them that justifies all the praise they seem to get everywhere. (Cora)
I've seen PRIMORDIAL performing before but I just cannot get into their music at all. It sounds plain boring to my ears and I can't say that the performance was interesting either. Only frontman Nemtheanga managed to draw attention, mainly because he was the only one wearing corpse paint. I was hanging around here and there while they were playing and it was only for the announcement of the third song I really pricked my ears because the title "Sons Of Morrigan" somehow reminded me of the name for our zine ;) Next song was "The Coffin Ship" which was introduced with a short story about what the song is about and the following "The Song Of The Tomb" was dedicaded to Bathory or deceased Quorthon to be more precise.(Cora)
CALIBAN promised at least more action on stage although I didn't expect to like their metalcore much either. And indeed I cannot say much about them, the show simply left me untouched. Among the tracks they played were "Moment Of Clarity", "My Little Secret" and "The Beloved And The Hatred" all of which I have heard here for the very first time. (Cora)
Here I want to thank Cora for giving me the chance to write about BRAINSTORM who are one of her favourite bands I guess... The German power metallers opened up with "Worlds Are Comin’ Through", the opener of their current output "Liquid Monster", and the band played a great gig, believe me! That's nothing new though, I haven't seen a bad Brainstorm gig yet, thanks to singer Andy, who as the frontman always is responsible for how the whole band is judged. By the way, he wore one of the new baseball-like Brainstorm shirts – please throw them away immediately!!! Another remarkable thing is the vocal performance: in songs such as "The Leading", Andy reaches the high tunes just as good as on cd, stunning indeed! Some other highlights were "Blind Sufferung", "Invisible Enemy" and "Highs Without Lows" which were played with the usual coolness, the neckbreakers "Hollow Hideaway" and "Doorway To Survive" as well. And not only Andy was crowdsurfing and headbanging, the crowd was obviously enjoying the gig. Just the proposal from a guy to his girlfriend kind of interrupted the set, and the band was a bit surprised as well... And maybe that's the reason why we missed "Amarillo" because the last song was the hitsingle "All Those Words" which contains that "ooohooo"-part,  that was sung by the fans minutes after the band had finished the gig. (Paddy)
setlist Brainstorm:
Worlds Are Comin' Through
Blind Suffering
The Leading
Invisible Enemy
Highs Without Lows
Shadowland
Shiva's Tears
Painside
Hollow Hideaway
Doorway To Survive
All Those Words
NEVERMORE were announced as the "probably best metal band in the world". Well, at least they belong to the best and so it was not surprising that many gathered to watch the band around vocalist Warrel. Due to some serious health issues of second guitarist Steve Smyth (he had to start undergoing dialysis the past week before the festival or so) Nevermore had to perform as a four-piece. I think it's safe to say that Steve was missed by many if not everybody and I'd like to take the opportunity to send a huge "get well" to him. Hope you're doing better soon! Warrel dedicated "Engines Of Hate" to him. Other than that he seemed to be in a pretty good mood and demanded more than once "let me see a pit, this is a fucking metal show" or "I want chaos!". The crowd sang along to "Enemies Of Reality" and especially considering how well the sing-along went for that song I can only regretfully report that "The Heart Collector" was missing on the setlist. Since it's one of my favourite Nevermore tracks I of course did not only miss that song for this reason but well...you can't have everything. And the guys simply didn't have the playing time to include all of their hits. Either way,  under the given circumstances the show was a sucess. "Thank you from the bottom of our fucking dead hearts" were Warrel's final words. (Cora)
setlist Nevermore:
Final Product
Engines Of Hate
I, Voyager
The River Dragon Has Come
The Seven Tongues Of God
Enemies Of Reality
Narcosynthesis
This Godless Endeavour
Born
Then it was SODOM's turn. The trio around Tom Angelripper celebrates its 20 years anniversary since their first full-length-CD "Obsessed By Cruelty", so they decided to make a big party at the Rock Hard Festival, riight around the corner of where they grew up! And there truly were some pyros during the one hour show, and the fans went insane!! Unfortunately, there was way too little time to play all the hits, but the guys had quite a good selection in the setlist! "Outbreak Of Evil", "The Saw Is The Law", "Sodomized" or the mid-tempo-breaker "Remember The Fallen", the show was simply great! The highlights were – of course "Ausgebombt" (partly sung in German) and "Bombenhagel" in a shorter version as the final song. (Paddy)
The announced surprise was noone else than RANDALICA, the maybe well-known band consisting of editors of the Rock Hard magazine only - with the exception of the drummer (Bobby from Sodom). Some of you might know their album "Knast, Tod oder Rock'n'Roll" (translates to "jail, death or rock'n'roll) from 1995, and they played three songs: "Tote Auffe Tanzfläche" (The Dead On The Dancefloor), "Nach Uns Die Sintflut" (meaning "devil-may-care") and "Potent, Willig Und Solo" (potent, willing and single). The mostly German crowd was either drunk and enjoying the show or laughing their asses off. In a way a nice surprise but I was a little afraid that the next band couldn't play as long as they should, due to the straight curfew. (Paddy)
After Sodom respectively Randalica, the weather-god had to give us something refreshing... about 20 or 30 minutes of rain, quite a heavy cloudburst. But what the hell, only the strong survive ;-)
BOLT THROWER startet about 15 or 20 minutes too late but they almost caused the amphitheatre to collapse, giving a best-of show at its best! Vocalist Karl Willetts and his bandmates played "No Guts, No Glory", "Inside The Wire" and the titletrack of their superb current output "Those Once Loyal", just to mention a few. A song that was truly cheered for was "Warmaster", and something really strange happened after their last song (and first and only encore) "...For Victory": the band left the stage and Rock Hard editor-in-chief Götz Kühnemund asked them to come back and play some more if they wanted to. But they didn't. (Paddy)
Then CELTIC FROST were supposed to play, but Götz didn't leave the stage for them. Martin from Celtic Frost joined him and they both had to make the sad announcement that vocalist Tom wasn't able to perform the gig due to a kidney stone. Only a few minutes before he had been brought to the Gelsenkirchen hospital by the emergency, being in great pain and getting morphine to handle the pain a bit. Their first gig in 15 years had to be cancelled.
Now that there was some time left, some bands luckily agreed to play some more songs, and so Nevermore, Soilwork, Brainstorm and Sodom did just that.
It was just a rather cold comfort for the Celtic Frost fans, but better than nothing!
Götz and Martin apologized many times, and I think Celtic Frost will play at the Rock Hard Festival next year instead! (Paddy)
While Paddy went off to the metal market for the 23rd time this day I started watching the replacement show for Celtic Frost, NEVERMORE being the first of the four bands. Cool! In addition to the show earlier today the guys performed "Inside Four Walls" in support of Soilwork's Björn "Speed" Strid, "Never Purify" as well as "Dead Heart In A Dead World".
Paddy returned and we were waiting for Soilwork's set. As we were slightly wet and freezing, the preparation of stage and sound seemed to take forever and we were discussing the pros and cons of leaving the festival or staying. We left. Although to this day I have a bad conscience about that, especially because I was missing Brainstorm. But we somehow just had enough at this point. (Cora)
SUNDAY
Neither Paddy nor I was particularly interested in seeing Crucified Barbara and so we didn't even hurry to be at the festival in time. When we arrived, the Danes of VOLBEAT were on stage. Those guys were quite a nice surprise I must say. They were definitely putting people into good humour with their mix of punk, metal and rock'n'roll. Frontman Michael Poulsen was wearing an Elvis shirt, the other guitarist one of Pantera, they were playing a teaser of Slayer's "Raining Blood", the cover "I Only Want To Be With You" (Dusty Springfield) and a couple of their own songs as well of course. Among the latter were "Another Day, Another Way", "Always Wu" and "Say Your Number". Pretty impressive vocally and overall quite excellent. We'll hopefully hear and see more of them soon! My personal discovery of the festival. (Cora)
GOJIRA was announced as "probably the best France has to offer". I had never heard of these guys and although it wasn't totally my cup of tea (on first listen at least) I must say that their technical death metal was still rather impressive. According to the band it was their first show in Germany and there were quite a few who were obviously very happy to see Gojira on stage. Among the tracks they played were "Love", "Wisdom Comes" and "The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe". (Cora)
Then it was time for BEYOND FEAR and I was really looking forward to that gig! The band played almost the whole self-titled debut album. And The Ripper really has such a huge voice!! And not only Beyond Fear songs were played, some Iced Earth and Judas Priest was within the setlist as well: "Born In Hell" and "Blood Stained" from the "Jugulator" album (I would have loved to hear "Bullet Train" as well) and "Red Baron/Blue Max" from Iced Earth's "The Glorious Burden". Then they played the Fleetwood Mac cover "The Green Manalishi" (played live by Priest as well) but the most stunning song was the final one: "Scream Machine", and that's what Tim Owens is! His voice live is really just as good as in the studio! Great gig indeed! (Paddy)
Much have I been looking forward to see EVERGREY again. Since I didn't make it to the release show of their current album "Monday Morning Apocalypse" a couple of weeks ago I was curious as to how the new songs would turn out live. But the jet-laged band (the guys had just come back to Europe from the US) started off with a bunch of older tracks before they played a new song ("Still In The Water"). Drummer Jonas encountered some problems with the pedals of the bass drums which forced Evergrey to improvise. No problem if you have one hell of a singer as frontman. Tom simply sang "Words Mean Nothing", only in support of Rikard on keyboard. I'm usually getting goosebumps when they're pulling off any of their piano tracks but I somehow believed I'd need the more intimate atmosphere in a dark club. But no way, Gelsenkirchen was no exception of the rule: it just came over me.
Apart from the drum problem the sound was surprisingly good and it was sooo great to see how well the Swedes were received  (e.g. "Evergrey"-chants in between the songs). It's about damn time that Evergrey get the recognition they deserve here in Germany as well. The crowd also turned into a rather great choir for the chorus of "I'm Sorry". This set was once again a reassurement of my love for this band. (Cora)
setlist Evergrey:
Blinded
More Than Ever
She Speaks To The Dead
Still In The Water
Monday Morning Apocalypse
Words Mean Nothing
Mark Of The Triangle
Obedience
I'm Sorry
Recreation Day
Touch Of Blessing
FINNTROLL seem to be permanent guests on summer festivals across Europe - or why did I see them on stage again? They are somewhat fun but I'm not really a fan of them and I believe their new singer still needs some more time to grow into his role as a frontman. The fans in front of the stage were partying along nonetheless and even started a polonaise, hehe. Songs I recognized were classics like "Jaktens Tid", "Nattfödd" and of course "Trollhammeren". Crazy band (in a good way) but I doubt I'll ever become a dedicated fan of them. (Cora)
After Finntroll, the Swedish band SOILWORK entered the stage, and they powered from the beginning on. Moshpits were formed in front of the stage, and many crowdsurfers were on their way to the front! Remarkable in my opinion was the neck of a girl with really long hair, who almost headbaged all the way through the Soilwork setlist – stunning! Actually, I am not very familiar with their latest release, they must have played many songs from "Stabbing The Drama". "Rejection Role" from "Figure Number Five" was on the setlist, and my favourite album "Natural Born Chaos" was considered three times ("The Bringer", "Follow The Hollow" and "As We Speak"). Again no "Black Star Deceiver" for me. :-( (Paddy)
I always liked FATES WARNING but the last time I saw the band live was over 10 years ago  when they were supporting Dream Theater here in Europe. Having said that, I am starting to feel a bit old ;) Anyway, I can't say the band made a big impression on me with their performance at this festival. I always like watching bassist Joey Vera play for he's such an active element on stage but singer Ray (who I only recognized at second glance due to his now short hair) seemed a tad uninspired. The setlist was a good mix and mainly covered songs from the albums released since 1991 (the "Parallels" album). Opening track was "One" followed by tracks like "Simple Human", "Life In Still Water", "The Eleventh Hour", "Point Of View" and "Monument". Final song was surprisingly a Scorpions cover (!), "He's A Woman, She's A Man" which actually was well-received, perhaps even better than the band's own material. (Cora)
Then it was a band's turn which didn't really fit into that billing I think. At least the spot between the legend-like Fates Warning and Dio was a bit weird but fronter Tobi and his band EDGUY managed that setting quite well! They opened up with the second single of "Hellfire Club", named "Lavatory Love Machine", and please don't ask me about the lyrics! "Babylon", the highlight from "Theater Of Salvation" was song number two and the band presented itself very tight. The only annoying thing is Tobi's stupid talking in between the songs, this time mostly about the regional German soccer championship. The next song was even below the level of the opener: "Fucking With Fire (Hair Force One)" isn't really intelligent, but hey; it's Edguy! Another song from "Rocket Ride", their latest cd, was "Sacrifice", the album's opener, followed by the slightly thrashy "Fairytale" from the breakthrough record "Vain Glory Opera". "Mandrake" from the album with the same name from 2001 was followed by the usual ballad in their setlist: "Save Me". And, no matter how cheesy that song is, it really is impressing to hear thousands of people bawling the chorus! The rest of the set were only highlights (see setlist). A good gig from the young germans,  I have seen better but also worse from them. (Paddy)
setlist Edguy:
Lavatory Love Machine
Babylon
Fucking With Fire (Hair Force One)
Sacrifice
Fairytale
Mandrake
Save Me
Out Of Control
Superheroes
Mysteria
Vain Glory Opera
King Of Fools
Then it was time for the little man with the huge voice: Ronnie James DIO and his band entered the stage, and I was really excited about that moment! I saw him in Wacken in 2004, and he really entirely convinced me! The opener was "Children Of The Sea" followed by "I Speed At Night", a faster song, and it became groovier with "One Night In The City". Well, what shall I say? Dio was and still is one of the greatest voices in metal, maybe the greatest of all! "Stand Up And Shout" should be well known to everybody, and the next song might be Dio's most famous song of his solo career: the "Holy Diver" drowned at the RHF, goosebumps, not only on my skin I am sure!! Again some more grooves came into the set with "Gypsy" and then drummer Simon Wright played a solo. Don't get me wrong again, he might be a good drummer, but who wants to see Dio's drummer if the great voice is there?? NOBODY!!! Besides from that – solos at festivals SUCK BIG TIME. Another great piece in metal history was given to us, "Don't Talk To Strangers" has got everything a great song takes, and afterwards the "Rainbow In The Dark" enlightened the theatre. I was enjoying the show pretty much until guitarist Craig Goldie told us how good he is... Sorry, all thumbs down again!! The midtempo song "I" from Sabbath was played then, impressive voice by Ronnie James Dio again, and the quiet "All The Fools Sailed Away" was the end of the regular set. The simple structured "Man On The Silver Mountain" was the first part of the one and only encore, "Long Live Rock'n'Roll" (thank you for playing this) and an awesome great version of "Heaven And Hell" which was the last song they played. On the regular mini-tour they have been playing "We Rock" and "The Last In Line" and if they had left out the unnecessary solos... well, you know what I mean.
Another bad thing about festival's headliners are the prices for the shirts: 30 (THIRTY!!!) Euros for a simple shirt, what the fuck?!? Sorry, but I am not a millionaire!!! (Paddy)
setlist Dio:
Children Of The Sea
I Speed At Night
One Night In The City
Stand Up And Shout
Holy Diver
Gypsy
Drum Solo – Simon Wright
Don't Talk To Strangers
Rainbow In The Dark
Guitar Solo – Craig Goldie
I
All The Fools Sailed Away
The Man On The Silver Mountain
Long Live Rock And Roll
Heaven And Hell
submitted by Cora 22.06.2006
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