Beyond the mists of time 8 masterfull crafted epic heavy metal cuts sucks the listener into the snake cult tempel.
Highlights
1. "War at the Edge of the End" - "Deadly heavy metal killer riffage" 2. "Ravening Iron" - "Trve metal mastery" 3. "Worms of the Earth" - "Battering ram metal"
2.Stryper - Even the Devil Believes
The new Stryper album "Even The Devil Believes" is packed with singer Michael Sweet’s astonishing vocals.Oz gritty guitar riffs and tastefully flashy guitar solos and Strypers great rythmsection and awesome background vocals.The album mixes the best elements of the classic era, with the band's more modern, heavier side.
Highlights 1. "Blood From Above" - "Fast and majestic album opener" 2. "Do Unto Others" - "Heavy and bombastic with a stadium chorus" 3. "Invitation Only" - " Infectious melody".
3. Lamb of God - S/T
The Architects of New Wave of American Heavy Metal are back! New album is chock-full of hook powered, adrenaline-fueled groove!
Starting with the first track, “Memento Mori” there’s a feeling of new found power thats flowing through Lamb of God`s best album since Sacrament (2006) that leaves you in suspense for what comes next.
PWR UP Lit up billboard at 1# and the top spot on charts all over the world.
AC/DC are back with members of the classic “Back in Black” lineup except the late great
Malcom Young who´s spirit is present all trough the album.
PWR UP starts quite anonymously but from track 4 "Through the Mists of Time” and forward the ball starts rolling.
Highlights 1. "Money Shoot" - "(in a pornographic film) a sequence in which an actor ejaculates." 2. "Kick You When You Are Down" - "Killer riff that get your head bopping back and forth." 3. "Witch´s Spell" - "Classic AC/DC chugging rhythms and Johnson’s raw, wailing vocals"
5. H.E.A.T. - H.e.a.t. II
I tought H.E.A.T. was over and done with their 2017 release "Into The great Unknown" where the band experimented with their signature sound adding blip blop sounds and dance beats. But H.E.A.T. got up at the referee's count of 9 and delivered their best album ever H.e.a.t. II.
Highlights 1. "Adrenaline" - "Chockfull of earworm hooks!" 2. "Rise" - "Big arena choruses". 3. "Dangerous Ground" - " A V8 engine starts up and off we go"
6. Testament - Titans of Creation
Floored by the killer Testament song "Children of the Next Level" (about the American UFO religious cult Heavens Gate that coordinated series of ritual suicides, in order to reach what they believed was an extraterrestrial spacecraft following Comet Hale–Bopp.)
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Highlights 1. "Children of the Next Level" - "This is the mastery of true thrash metal veterans" 2. "Curse of Osiris" - "Razor-sharp guillotine riffs with black metal howls" 3. "Dream Deceiver" - "Aggressive yet melodic earworm".
7.L.A. Guns - Renegades
L.A. Guns (Steve Riley /Kelly Nickels) Delivers the sleaze of the classic L.A. Guns era. Great songwriting and good production. L.A. Guns (Lewis/Guns) latest album "The Devil You Know" (2019) have some good songs but lacks in the production department.
Highlights 1. "Renegades" - "Catchy with a driving through a desert feel and anthemic chorus" 2. "Well Oiled Machine" - ""Great driving song, fire up the engines". 3. "Crawl" - "Groovy and gothic"
8.Annihiator - Ballistic, Sadistic
Canadian guitar phantom Jeff Waters spits out the best Annihilator album in years.Infeasted with killer leads, riffs and face melting guitar solos. Jeff Waters is the Eddie Van Halen of Thrash metal.
Highlights 1. "Psycho Ward" - "Distant cousin to "Stonewall" from Never Neverland" 2. "Dressed Up for Evil" - "80´s Thrash with modern feel ". 3. "Armed To the Teeth" - "Thunderous and Edgy"
9.Unleash the Archers - Abyss
Canadian metal vanguards Unleash the Archers.released their strongest album to date. Singer Brittney (Slayes) Hayes is a mezzo-sopran with a four octave range.
Highlights 1. "Faster Than Light" - "Fast and furious" 2. "Soulbound" - "Full of intensity and majestic bombast" 3. "Through Stars" - " Truly mesmerizing"
10. Nightwish - Human :II: Nature
Human :II: Nature" is seriously adventurous in it's take on song structures, music and vocals. Main composer Toumas Holopainen got lost in Troy Donockley´s wonderland of celtic leprechaun rythms and strange instruments.
For fans of classic Nightwish:The Dark Element (former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon and former Sonata Arctica guitarist Jani Liimatainen) is highly recommended. Xandria - "Neverworld´s End" (with singer Manuella Kraller).
Highlights 1. "Music" - "After the aeons of new age "yoga" intro music there is a great song"
2. "How´s the Heart" - "Atmospheric and hook infeasted"
A high-octane "Death Alley Driver" firing on all cylinders started the show
"Power" followed and a great perfomance of "Street of Dreams" next "Deja Vu" from the criminally underrated Rising Force album Odyssey. Joe Lynn Turner played "King of Dreams" from the Deep Purple album Slaves and Masters. Highlight was the performance of "Rising Force" from the Odyssey album.
She Came, She Saw, She Conquered!
Intro song "Set Flame to the Night" summoned the masses, opening song "The World Is Yours" got the crowd going and the triplet "Ravenous", "Stolen Life","War Eternal" sent them into a frenzy. Alissas stage costume had batwings like Gene Simmons classic 74/75 KISS stage costume.
Arch Enemy runs like a well oiled metal machine, Alissa commanding the masses like a field marshal,guitar players Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis bashing out crushing riffs and delivering lighting speed solos backed by the tight rhythm section D’Angelo and Erlandsson.
A pleased singer when audience performed the “epic Viking rowing” ritual.
"Death in Fire" lighted upp the stage with fire and "Shield Wall" from the new album worked really well in the set. There was pints flowing and long hair windmilling when Amon Amarth exploded into their magnum opus “Cry of The Blackbirds”.
Def Leppard turned Sweden Rock Festival into Sweden Ballad Festival.
Def Leppard singer Joe Elliot perforned liked a programmed "Westworld" robot shouting to the audience - You are awesome, all the time. How would he know? when he didn´t wait for the audience to respond? and a big part of the audience was put to sleep by the Def Leppard ballad attack.
Believe it or not the cheap ass Def Leppard used the same background screens with horrific computers animations that they did when they headlined SRF 2015.
Spellbinding Burning Witches
Switzerlands all-female old-school metal onslaugh Burning Witches opened the friday at Sweden Rock Festival and what an opening, The audience got spellbound by the twin guitar attack of Romana and Sonia and the rythm section of Jay and Lala. Best song in the set was the ever haunting "Black Widow"
New singer Laura made her live debut with BURNING WITCHES at SRF
"Wings Of Steel", a new song from Swiss heavy metallers BURNING WITCHES,The track is the first BURNING WITCHES piece of music to feature new lead singer Laura Guldemond, Parts of the video footage are from Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden.
First time in Sweden for US Metal legends Jag Panzer
Opening the set with "Far Beyond All Fear" from their latest album the Deviant Chord. Vocalist Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin delivered awesome vocals, hand motions, and audience involvement. All in all a really good performce. We got classics songs from Ample Destructione.t.c. but there was no sign of guitar hero Joey Tafolla or songs from the great The Scourge of the Light album.
The show of shows KISS!!
A voice echoed out over Sweden Rock Festival biggest concert crowd ever
-All right Sweden Rock You wanted the best, you got the best, the hottest band in the world: KISS!
The big black KISS curtain dropped and the massive stage dramatically revealed itself revealing Stanley, Simmons and Thayer descending from above on three suspended, octagonal platforms countless pyrotechnics blazed forth from the silvery pyramid behind the drum riser as KISS blasted trough "Detroit Rock City, the explosive thrill ride countinued with the shamelessly overblown party rock and roll behemoth "Shout It Out Loud". Gene breathed fire after "Warmachine" and "100 000 Years" made a nice comeback in the setlist.
Gene spit blood before he levitated up to the lighting rig during the mighty "God of Thunder".For god sake KISS throw the dog a bone bring back "Hide Your Heart" in the setlist (never performed live in scandinavia) and diss "Say Yeah"(unfortunately performed in scandinava many times)
Lights up on stage revealed drummer Eric Singer seated at a star-studded piano playing “Beth.”
A blizzard of confetti engulfed the crowd during"Rock and Roll All Nite.",the flamethrowers went into overdrive and cascades of fireworks lighted up the sky.
KISS went out in a blaze of glory.
Extraordinary singer Yannis Papadopoulos
Beast In Black kicked off with "Cry Out For A Hero" a blast of energy and passion. Beast In Black delivered their branded power metal / eighties action movie theme infested tunes with a stage choreography to boot it.
Brothers of Metal
The Swedish eight piece power/folk metal band Brothers of Metal hit the stage with their viking lore inspired metal. Ylva Eriksson (Voice of the Valkyries) impressive vocals stands out as does the their anthemic, catchy and epic songs.
Ritchie Blackmore- The Man In Black
Rainbow opens with the amazing "Spotlight Kid" with Blackmore’s wife and music partner Candice Night on backing vocals. Rainbow delivers a no-holds barred nostalgic set-list.
Highlights are the adrenaline pumping rock-metal anthem "I Surrender" the mysterious and groovy "Perfect Strangers and of course a killer rendition of "Stargazer"
Swedish keyboard maestro Jens Johansson is outstanding (from Finnish power metal troupers Stratovarius) and Chilean-born singer Ronnie Romano (ex.Lords Of Black) does an impressive job covering the three original Rainbow singers.
The crowd is pretty diverse in age and gender and of course we got the grey-haired old-schools that squeezed themselves into a classic Deep Purple T-shirt that tries to hide a lifetime of beers and fast food, some of them are so old that they look liked the just walked out from a zombie casting for the Walking Dead tv-series. Nothin wrong with that I hope I get that old, then I´m going to squeeze myself into a classic KISS or King Diamond t-shirt and spook you all at Sweden Rock Festival 2050.
Unknown band with belly dancer caught our eye after the Rainbow set.
Walking through the crowd after the Rainbow set there was an unknown band performing with a belly dancer that caught our eye. We came for the belly dancing stayed for the music. It turns out that polish band Behemoth that was supposed to perform on Rock Stage was stuck at a airport and couldn´t make it and the tunisian band Myrath (means "legacy" in Arabic) that performed earlier the same day on a small stage got Behemoths spot on Rock Stage.
Behemoths bad luck became Myraths big break in Sweden as the crowd grew bigger and bigger spellbounded by Myraths progressive melodic metal with middle eastern folk influences.
Footnote:all images are taken by meunder the influencein the audiencewith a mobil phone.
Judas Priest was down for the count after the disaster "Reedemer of Souls". Judas Priest enlisted the classic Judas Priest producer Tom Allom together with Andy Sneap. Firepower is an album that is still grows with every listening and new favorite songs are slowly crystallizing.
Highlights 1. "Firepower" - The title track open the album fast, heavy and majestically! The Priest is Back! 2. "Lighting Strike" - "I'll bring you the head of the demon I'm peeling the skin from his face". 3. "No Surrender" - Catchy chorus with blistering riffs and pounding rhythms.
2.Amorphis - Queen of Time
This unique band was born in the land of thousands of lakes. The music strikes a string in within the soul with its particular blend of progressive rock / metal, nordic folk music.
Highlights: 1. "Bee" - Monumental and captivating with is haunting melody and invigorating growls. 2. "Wrong Direction" - Atmospheric, intoxicating and addictive. 3. "Amongst Stars" (featuring Anneke van Giersbergen ex. The Gathering) - A beautiful melodic and melancholic duet.
3.Warkings - Reborn
Warkings is this year's "Dark Horse"! resurrected as a viking, a spartan, a crusader and a tribunal.
Highlights: 1. "Holy Storm" - Chorus-ridden with contagious catchiness 2. "Battle Cry" - Bold and anthemic. 3. "Sparta" - Roars into the energetic choruses with a anthem fused glory.
4.U.D.O. - Steelfactory
Steel Factory is a new offering from the land of sauerkraut ."Steelfactory" is the best U.D.O. album in the U.D.O. katalog the after the amazing "Faceless World" album.
Highlights: 1. "One Heart One Soul" - Makes me want to run up the stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art like Sylvester Stallone in Rocky! 2. "Make the Move" - Dirkschneider’s raspy, grated vocal style suits the meaty riffing perfectly 3. "Rising High" - Fast-paced guitar attack
5.Ghost - Prequelle
5.Ghost - Prequelle
The albums creepy opening track "Ashes" has children chanting "Ring Around the Rosie," the english nursery rhyme that originated from the Great Plague (1665-1666) that wiped out a quarter of London's citizens.
A bit sceptical to the "new" singer Cardinal Copia. Papa Emeritus II is dearly missed.
Time for the mighty Papa Emeritus II to be resurrected from the dead and with his evil elegance and brutal appearance to dominate the world.
Highlights: 1. "Rats" - Serves as an explosive opener with incredibly delicious "Jake E Lee" Ozzy Riffage. 2. "Dance Macabre" - Great Scorpion's "Big City Nights" vibes. 3. "Faith" - Neoclassical riff opens this dark, slower cadence.
R.I.P. Papa Emeritus II (forever in our hearts)
6.Kamelot - Shadow Theory
The Shadow Theory concept its futuristic outlook to society a “dystopian glimpse at the complexity of the human mind and its place in an oppressive society—an obvious parallel to all of us, in the here and now.” the album is packed with "Symphonic Progressive Metal" and stunning guest vocals from Beyond The Black’s Jennifer Haben and Once Human’s Lauren Hart,
Highlights: 1. "Phantom Divine" (Shadow Empire) - Emotional and epic with an futuristic feel. 2. "Kevlar Skin" - Fast paced song with a steaming guitar vs. keyboard solo trade of. 3. "Amnesiac" - Heavy with a uplifting grandiouse chorus.
7.Riot - Armour of Light
Riot´s history goes back to 1975 and has gone through many musical shifts and band members. When the band's founder died, the other members asked the founder's family for permission to continue the band Riot. Permission was given and the band added a V at the end of the band name as it is the fifth band set. The album Armor of Light is a continuation of the musical style that began at the masterpiece Thundersteel.The album is adorned by Riots mascot "Johnny" who has scared away record buyers for years including myself.
Highlights: 1. "Victory" - A thunderous beginning with Todd Michael Hall´s great high-pitched vocals 2.“Angel’s Thunder, Devil’s Reign” - The mighty US power metal magic flows.
3."Messiah" - Fast and fierce.
8.Dimmu Borgir - Eonian
Eonians music is magnificent and has a sense of cinematic grandeur.
Highlights: 1. "Interdimensional Summit" - Glommy, epic and cinematic 2. "Council of Wolves and Snakes" - Dark and murky and the tribal vocals and drums are spell-binding. 3. "Lightbringer" - classic “Dimmu Borgir” sounding track
9.Saxon - Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt is a stellar album but doesn¨t have that "killer" song like "Battalions of Steel "or "Conquistador".
Highlights: 1. "The Secret of Flight" - Traditional british NWOBM metal were Byford weaves the history of flight. 2. "Thunderbolt" - Heavy and merciless with the great vocal prowess of Biff Byford. 3. "Sons of Odin" - Massive riffs of raw grit and power.
10.Five Finger Death Punch - And Justice For None
The Las Vegas quintet Five Finger Death Punch are one of metal’s biggest upcoming bands.5FDP needs a stronger album with less ballads like their classic albums "War Is The Answer" and "American Capitalist".
Highlights: 1. "Fake" - The recognition factor of all the fake's one encountered is skyhigh. 2. "Sham Pain" - Moody reflects on his troubled past, rehab, walking out of the band, legal hassles with their old label 3. "Top of the World" - Crushing riffs, mob-like choruses
Caught a glimpse of Swedish "hillbilly" hard rockers Bullet!
They got some mighty fine tunes on their latest album "Dust To Gold"
Stumble by Hardcore Superstar their stage banter were horrible and cringeworthy.
Luckily for them their upcoming album seems to be a return to former glory and their 5 dollar music video "Baboon" which is a Beastie Boys "Sabotage" rip of is pretty funny and works really well. Juan Berlito is a true champion.
Swedish Sleaze/Glamsters Crazy Lixx did the theme song for "Friday 13Th -The Game" called XIII
We would loved to hear more of Crazy Lixx swedish sleaze/glam but the Finnish Queen of Steel Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast) was calling with her killer voice from Sweden Stage.
Battle Beast went "Straight For The Heart" and grabbed the audience by the troath!
Battle Beast were firing on all cylinders with amazing singer Noora (the female incarnate of Rob Halford) taking control of the stage in a Xena Warrior Princess like regalia.
"Black Ninja" shows the the blistering power and range of vocalist Noora Louhimo´s voice.
Strong opening for Avatarium with Into the Fire/Into The Storm
Impressive performance by Jennie-Ann Smith "Girl With The Raven Mask" was the highlight of the show
With the intro soundscape of “Salvation” Maria Brink entered the stage
In her her classic “Mother Maria” outfit the crowd was in a hypnotic rapture and with a mere flick of her wrist, front woman Maria Brink took complete control of the audience and In This Moment launched into the intense and driving tune “Blood”
In This Moment music has a unique combination of metal, industrial and gothic and they deliver a visually epic show.
Maria Brink’s stage presence multiplies everytime she enters from behind the curtains to reveal a new stage costume.The band wore a Mad Max post-apocalyptic look, original member Chris Howorth lead guitar and Randy Weitzel on rhythm guitar look like twins as they both sport some dreadlocks in their hair and have similar face paint styles.Midway through the set, Brink takes her leave while the guys kick out a monster jam of some classic covers including Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” weaved into “Creeping Death". Several fans are dressed up in outfits that resemble lead singer Maria Brink and some are wearing devil horns, bunny ears, corsets and dark makeup, emulating the gothic-horror fashion Maria exuded from stage.
In This Moment closed their set with their mammoth hit "Whore"
Maria Brink´s voice was stunning, as her entire presence is, wearing an over-the-top costume or a simple see-through outfit. She is beautiful and attention-demanding a force to be reckoned in the highly dramatized set executing a powerful and sexually charged performance.
The Dark Element first live performance ever
The Dark Element is fronted by the former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon together Finnish guitarist and songwriter Jani Liimatainen (ex. Sonata Arctica).The performance was exactly what I had hoped for; over a dozen beautifully-executed anthems that straddled the line between symphonic metal and melodic metal.
I wish they played some Nightwish songs during the set from Anette´s era in Nightwish the crowd would have gone wild. Anette Olzon is a fine looking woman but she should fire her stylist and get the same stylist that Tarja or Maria Brink (In This Moment) has.The infamous "Death Stare" drummer from The Dark Element music videos was sadly a no show.
The power metal supreme force Helloween strikes at Sweden Rock Festival
"Pumpkins United'" features the current Helloween band members with the addition of singer Michael Kiske and singer/guitarist Kai Hansen.The band kicked off with "Halloween".with Deris and Kiske sharing vocals, complimenting each other perfectly and a triple guitar attack of Hansen, Weikath and Sascha Gerstner. Kai Hansen took to the microphone to provide the vocals for the pre-Kiske era with ‘Starlight’, ‘Ride the Sky’, ‘Judas’ and ‘Heavy Metal (Is the Law’)
After Churchill's Speech a spitfire airplane hits the stage
In the opening seconds of "Aces High", bedlam erupts in the audience a fantastic "Where Eagles Dare" set the pace before "2 Minutes to Midnight" in the Blaze era "The Clansman" dance man Janick Gers is dancing his cringeworthy leprechaun dance.
Bruce Dickinson got sliced during "The Trooper"
Iron Maidens Legacy Of The Beast tour is a History/Hits tour concentrated on material from the "Magic" years 80-88 with some later deep cuts and songs thrown in. Just like KISS in 2013 Iron Maiden brough the whole stageshow to Sweden Rock Festival (no watered down "festival season" stage show as many other cheap ass headliners has) and what a marvelous stage show Iron Maiden brought.
"Flight of Icarus" (first live performance since September 17, 1986)
The demonic green strobes and the Burton-esque delivery of “Woe to you, oh Earth and Sea” signalled the arrival of ‘The Number of the Beast.
A triple encore The Evil That Men Do, Hallowed Be Thy Name and Run To The Hills
German Thrash behemots Kreator attacked the stage with "Phantom Antichrist"
Miland Petrozza orchestrated the midnights madness with the great guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö.
The stageset was incorporating powerful lighting rigs into their heavily backlit performance.
Live, Kreator are a model of German efficiency.
The Ozzy headlining concert could have been a great event But it felt more like a quick cash grab almost a non existing stage show? no photographers allowed in the pit or in the audience? the stage security were haunting people with cameras in the frontrows. Ozzy placed himself in the middle of stage and hardly left the place during the concert? something was fishy with Ozzy´s vocals? was he using hidden singers again like he did in Stockholm with Robert Mason (Lynch Mob, Warrant)? "It looked like a big black tent. Offstage right and behind the bass bin speakers in a Stockholm arena, Ozzy Osbourne’s crew had set up a portable vocal booth. Inside the booth’s black curtained exterior was a microphone and stand, floor wedge monitor, and an intercom to communicate directly with the sound engineer. The booth also contained a video monitor scrolling lyrics — to Osbourne’s metallic solo hits like “Crazy Train” and Black Sabbath classics like “War Pigs” — from the bottom of the screen to the top. says Robert Mason"
Highlight of the show when the great Zakk Wylde came to the frontrow for the guitarsolo
Setlist had a strong start with "Bark at the Moon", "Mr. Crowley", "I Don´t Know" but suddenly came to a halt with the dreadful Black Sabbath song "Fairies Where Boots" "Suicide Solution" and "No More Tears" picked it up before the mundane "Road To Nowhere" and a humdrum version of Black Sabbaths "War Pigs" then a Instrumental medley with a Zakk Wylde guitar solo were he teased us with licks from the fantastic "Miracle Man" and "Perry Mason" the terrible "I Don't Want to Change the World" followed thankfully we got "Shoot In The Dark" and "Crazy Train" before the horrible "Mama, I'm Coming Home"
Musically Lugnet brought the 70´s rockage in full force
The crushing blows from Z’s bass, the soar of Matti´s guitar, accompanied with the wails from Mackan´s guitar and the driving beats provided by Jansson laid the ground work for Johan Fahlberg´s great vocals to shine.
MESHUGGAH pulverized Sweden Rock Festival piece by piece!
Meshuggah mesmerized the audience both sonically and visually with their complex "Tech" metal and stunning stage and lighting show.
Stratovarius has achieved legendary status in power/neo-classical/symphonic metal
and have a great arsenal of power/neo-classical/symphonic hits in their catalog. The audience was shouting for "Father Time" and other classic Stratovarius songs but the short set-list was concentrated on their later material thats unfortunate when Stratovarius once every blue moon play at Sweden Rock Festival
A roar went through the audience when they heard opening riffs to the classic "Black Diamond" and when Mr. Johansson flawlessly soloed on the keyboards.
Tarja neo-classic symphonic metal queen
A classical music intro provides a epic, dramatic fanfare for the former original Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen. Tarja´s haunting beauty andvocal majesty shines in a Nightwish medley of Tutankhamen, Ever Dream, The Riddler and Slaying The Dreamer.
Judas Priest start the show with the title track from amazing album Firepower!
Judas Priest is no. 1# on the swedish album chart for the first time ever with the album "Firepower" that packs more Firepower than an atomic bomb! Title track and No Surrender are pure metal perfection.
There were high expectations would Judas Priest give Iron Maiden a run for the money after relasing one of the best Judas Priest albums in ages. The stageshow was far from the glory Judas Priest stagesets of the eighties.
Halford sadly spent a lot of time crouched over the teleprompter/autocue while singing and barely moving. Something Iron Maidens Bruce Dickson has commented on "I never realized that people were using Autocues. What the f--- is that all about? People pay good money and you can't even remember the sodding words. The daftest one I ever saw was [Judas Priest's] 'Breaking the Law.' It's on the f---ing Autocue. 'Breaking the law, breaking the law / Breaking the law, breaking the law / – guess what? – 'breaking the law.' It's ludicrous."
My complaints about the setlist there are better and more interesting deep cuts than "Grinder", "Bloodstone" and "Tyrant" and its a mistake to replace the absolutely beautiful "Angel". The highlights were Turbo Lover and You´ve Got Another Thing Comin` where Halford left the teleprompter/autocue to connect with audience and the new songs from Firepower "Lighting Strike" and the chilling "Rising from Ruins" worked perfectly in the Sweden Rock Festival night.
Footnote: all images with the name of the blog are taken by me under the influence in the audience with a bad camera
The eerie laughter from the intro to "Radioactive" spread over Sweden's oldest amusement park
"Deuce" exploded out of the speakers as Gene Simmons Band took the stage. The three guitarist attack started the party anthem "Shout It Out Loud" and a thundering "Parasite" followed.Simmons invited fans to come up on stage and chant "I Love It Loud" first verse of "Unholy" was played and the audience wanted more but got "Love Theme From KISS" instead
Monsterous and heavy "Warmachine" sent the crowd into a frenzy
A pumping "She´s So European" got the audience in a perfect party mood in the hot Stockholm night.
To hot for some so they had to call "Dr. Love" that got us in to the magical "Charisma"
"I" believe in something moreThan you can understand Yes, "I" believe in me
"Cold Gin" time again Gene invited girls from the crowd up to the stage to sing the chorus to
"Do You Love Me" Wendy O` Willams song "It´s My Life" (written by Gene) made an impact.
from Gene Simmons Vault box set we got "Are You Ready"
A super heavy three guitar attack "Watchin´You" "Fits Like A Glove"
"Let Me Go, Rock N Roll" got audience on the stage for "Rock and Roll All Nite"
We got "Christeen Sixteen" for encore. A truly magical night in Stockholm!
42 years after the legendary KISS concert at Gröna Lund.
70´s classic hard rock act Lugnet is releasing “Begging” a brand new music video and single on video and music streaming services together with a cover of Sweet´s “Cockroach”. “Begging” is the first Lugnet song featuring new bandmembers singer Johan Fahlberg and guitarist Matti Norlin.
Lugnet will play at Sweden Rock Festival “Rockklassiker Stage”, Friday 8 June, 23:15
From Sweden Rock Festivals Website:
“Sweden's Lugnet (pronounced "loong-net", meaning "the calm" in Swedish) deliver the tough, gritty sounds of '70s hard rock. Their eponymous debut was released in 2016 to great praise for its solid grooves and powerful songwriting reminiscent of Rival Sons and Blues Pills.”
Out of Frankenmuth, Michigan population 4,944 comes the future of classic hardrock!
Greta Van Fleet (namned after an eldelry citizen of Frankenmuth) its the band of 21 year old twin brothers Josh (vocals), Jake (Guitar) 18 year old brother Samuel (Bass/Keyboards) and drummer Daniel the same age.
The three Kiszkas in the band grew up in a creative, artistic, free environment with music all around them and Jake started the band when he was 16 years old. The first song they ever wrote, "Highway Tune" hit Number One on mainstream rock radio. Greta Van Fleet have to finish their first album to follow up to their eight-song EP "From the Fires" (containing 6 originals and two covers) The upcoming album will contain all-new songs.
1. Iced Earth - Incorruptible Iced Earth released one of their best albums in the career, Incorruptible grows with each listening.Schaffer and new guitarist Jake Dreyer from Progressive Metal band Witherfall meshes extremely well throughout the album.The opening track the "Viking" (tv-series inspired) "Great Heathen Army" sets the tone with with crunchy guitar work and delectable riffs "Seven Headed Whore" is the best track along with "Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)" a 9.5-minute epic about the Battle of Fredderickson (the American Civil War) that will give you goosebumps.
2. Arch Enemy - Will To Power
Will To Power opens with "The Race" a bombardment of teeth gritting riffs with edgy and dark soloing. The great empowerment anthem "The World Is Yours" truly shines . Arch Enemy jumps the shark with “Reason to Believe" the worst song in the AE catalog a dreadfull (EMO cut your wrists song) I would love to hear more clean singing from Alissa White-Gluz in AE but not in the"Reason to Belive" songwriting style. Killer and stellar guitar work all trough the abum from Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott.
3. The Dark Element - S / T This year's "Dark Horse" in all categories goes to The Dark Element where former Nightwish singer Anette Olzon joins former Sonata Arctica guitarist Jani Liimatainen. Together they create a powerful symphonic / melodic hardrock album with interesting and thoughtful lyrics. "Here's To You" is the song that gets stuck in your head, and you will will be humming it, a lot. "My Sweet Mystery" and "Ghost And The Reaper" are the are other stand-out tracks.
4. Kreator - Gods of Violence The teutonic thrash metal legends Kreator release Gods of Violence the title-track is a true high-octane thrashing work-of-art with Mille and Sami Yli-Sirniö blasting their infuriated riffs like whirlwinds. Powerful, melodic thrash metal with devastating speed and soaring melodies all throughout the album.
5. Beast In Black - Berseker After being fired from his own band Battle Beast, Anton Kabanen created Beast In Black and drafted talented Greek singer Yannis Papadopoulos. The title track drives aggressively full steam ahead before the mega choruses of "Blind and Frozen".
6.Europe - Walk This Earth The grandiose title track with a seventies feel is one of Europe's best songs of all time. The mighty"Kingdom United" with "GTO" a speeding up-tempo rocker with heavy Norum riffs and catchy hooks are highlights.
7.Inglorious - II Heavy classic 70s hard rock with superb vocals. The album contains high peaks like "I Do not Need Your Lovin" with is arena-rock vibe and the fantastic "High Class Woman".
8.Battle Beast - Bringer of Pain After they fired their band leader, Battle Beast has gone more towards a melodic sound than the previous more metal sounding albums. I prefer the more metal sounding style of songs on Bringer of Pain like "Straight For The Heart" that will truly rattle your spine, the fast bombastic title track and the bonus song "God of War" Noora Louhimo is a outstanding singer with great vocal range.Halford comes to mind when she belts out her powerful vocals.
9.Crazy Lixx - Ruff Justice The "Poor Man's Steel Panther" has delivered a truly hilarious sleaze / eightes metal album. Best tracks are "Hunter of the Heart" with its attractive, low-budget 80's music video. "XIII" and "Killer" are also really good.
10. Alice Cooper - Paranormal The haunting sinister title track is phenomenal! I would love a Alice Cooper album in the style of the title track .The voice/song effect on the excellent "Fireball" is just terrible almost destroys the song.
Opening Gefle Metal Festival is Canada’s Kobra and the the Lotus
Ripping through cuts like “Gotham”, “Soldier” and their hit song “You Don´t Know” with true passion. Kobra´s vocal qualities are outstanding with soaring power and a delightful vibrato.
Fleshgod Apocalypse walked on to the stage in victorian era clothes
to the orchestral intro "March Royale" a flashback to a eighteenth-century night at the opera.Fleshgod Apocalypse mesmerized the crowd with intricate hybrid metal/symphonic music.Masked soprano Veronica Bordacchini’s operatic delivery was amazing.
Sancturary for first time ever live in Sweden!
The show starts of with "Arise and Purify" (from their reunion album) the classic "Die For My Sins" sends the crowd into a frenzy. Mighty "Future Tense" roars "War in the name of God, or a playground killing spree, Politicians promise you the world, and a preacher cries, All he ever wanted was your money, and a bitch on the side What went wrong? Did society twist him? Public outrage no "Battle Angels" was performed?
Amon Amarth bring melodic death and viking brutality.
With a drumriser made of large replica of a battle worn viking helmet with illuminating eyes. "Death in Fire" lights upp the stage with fire. Pints flowing and long hair windmilling when Amon Amarth explode into their magnum opus“Cry of The Blackbirds”.
American Thrash Metal behemoths Testament was highly anticipated!
Testament hit the stage amid a bevy of red lights, strobes, and billows of smoke playing title track to last years Brotherhood of the Snake. Singer Chuck Billy and guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick excel with with the awesome rhythm section of Steve Di Giorgio and Gene Hoglan.Testament steamrolled the audience with “D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)”
Brazilian Thrash Metal band Nervosa impressed with raw classic in-your-face thrash
between the songs the ever growning audience chanted Nervosa, Nervosa,Nervosa the band looked a bit shocked of the great audience response.
From the motherland of Black Metal Nekrodelirium
Classical nordic melodic black metal with cold sweeping riffs and melancholy.
Finnish thrash group Lost Society hit the stage with verve and infectious passion.
Lead singer/guitarist Samy Elbanna tore up the stage in full throttle mode and the band gave a killer energetic performance and sent the crowd into sheer euphoria. Elbanna and guitar-slinger Arttu does awesome trade-off guitar leads.The atmosphere was absolutely electric throughout their performance. Lost Society are on their way to become one of Europe’s premiere metal acts.
After the "80´s Horror movie music" inspired piano intro theme of "Enemy Within"
Alissa White-Gluz captured the crowd’s attention and keept it throughout the concert. A mosh pit erupted as soon as ‘ "War Eternal" started and the song got biggest audience response of the night.
Guitar phantoms Mike Amott and Jeff Loomis melting faces.
Alissa virile ferocity whipping the pit into a frenzy during "My Apocalypse" earthshaking riffs
Footnote: all images with the name of the blog are taken by me under the influence in the audience with a bad camera
View from our Hotel room in Goth(ia) Towers in the background you see Skandinavium Arena (sold out)
Goth(ia) Towers King Size Shrimp Sandwich containing 200 grams of hand-peeled shrimps, mayonnaise, egg and a light salad.Probably the world´s greatest shrimp sandwich!
For the first time in 18 years the cry of - Alright Gothenburg.. You wanted the best, you got the best, the hottest band in the world, KISS! echoes in Gothenburg. You could feel the adrenaline rush in the sold-out crowd. The Arena lights went off, the sirens sounded, and the giant banner with the KISS logo dropped,KISS emerges in a fusillade of pyro and blinding flashes desending from a the roof on a huge hydralic platform blasting "Deuce" a high octane "Shout It Out Loud" followed.
Bursts of flames shot into the air behind KISS. the heat from the fireballs could be felt in the audience.
In the middle of "Lick It Up" there was laser-infested rendition of The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” a fire breathing demon ended "Firehouse" and kicked in a heavy "I Love It Loud"
Guitarist Tommy Thayer took lead vocals on “Shock Me" that followed by an explosive guitar solo with his rocket firing guitar. The amazing "Flaming Youth" was performed with the led screens showing the history of KISS, a goosebump moment.
Stage was left in darkness, smoke and green light. Gene Simmons emerged from the shadows for his spewing blood bass solo and levitated to perform “Warmachine” up in the rafters. Paul Stanley teased the audience by playng first verse anda bit of the chorus of "Shandi" before he went into a "Crazy, Crazy Nights" and it´s "Cold Gin" time again to "Say Yeah"
Paul Stanley soared like an eagle across the arena on a zip-line during “Psycho Circus” to a rotating saucer stage in the middle of Skandinavium Arena and to return to the stage for "Black Diamond"
Thunderous explosions and flames while Paul is smashing his guitar during "Rock and Roll All Nite"!
The explosions that soared on either side of Singer’s drum riser and sent a blast wave of heat through the arena.
Gene Simmons and Tommy Thayer standing on swinging platforms that rotated over the audience
Ground-shaking firebombs and pyro infernos to annex a small country!
Closing the show with "I Was Made For Loving You" and a thunderous "Detroit Rock City".
Footnote:all images withthe name of the blogare taken by meunder the influencein the audiencewith a badcamera.
PA blasted out the last bars of Led Zeppelins ‘Rock n Roll’ and the lights went out..
- Alright Stockholm.. You wanted the best, you got the best, the hottest band in the world, KISS!!!
Loud explosions on the smoke infested stage, Paul, Gene and Tommy appeared on a huge hydraulic plattform from above, slowly decending to the stage as bursts of flames shot into the air behind them playing "Deuce" with the classic synchronised head bob from the three guitarists. The party anthem "Shout It Out Loud" took over and Tele2 Arena crowd got wild.
Paul Stanley wordlessly dividing the crowd in two and pitting the sides against each other in a scream battle.
Paul Stanley asked the ladies if the like to be licked and burst into"Lick It Up" (with a snippet of "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who) Paul Stanley addresses the audience indicating that the band has been coming to Stockholm, Sweden since 1976 (Gröna Lund with a record-setting crowd)
In a wall of flames Gene got the audience chanting "I Love It Loud"
You pull the trigger of my..."Love Gun" followed.
Gene Simmons’ notorious fire-spitting for Firehouse
No rockets were shoot from the guitar during "Shock Me" the highlight of the show the fantastic hidden gem on the Destroyer album "Flaming Youth" sent chills down the spine. Gene did a haunting blood ritual before blasting out a bass solo and flying to the top of the lighting rig and bursting in to heavy"Warmachine" before the sleek, streamlined pop-metal missile "Crazy Crazy Nights" hit the audience. It´s "Gold Gin" time again Gene declared. Paul Stanley got the audience to "Say Yeah". Simmons sounded great vocally and was on fire stalking the stage and flick his famous, freakishly long tongue and shined on his four-stringed runs on “Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll,” frequently willing to stray away from the song’s root-note territory.
During "Psycho Circus" Paul Stanley flyed on a harness out to a moving platform in the middle of Tele2 arena.
Black Diamond sets of a myriad of pyrotechnics and fireworks
The demon are watching you!
"Rock and Roll All Night" Simmons and Thayer rode over the audience on hydraulic lifts.
Streamers and confetti showered the crowd "I Was Made For Loving You" and a pulverising Detroit Rock City unleashes a final shock-and-awe blast of pyrotechnics
The Swedish Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel and Princess Estelle attended the show.
Footnote:all images withthe name of the blogare taken by meunder the influencein the audiencewith a badcamera.
