My third time seeing the mighty Battle Beast but the first as headliner. Of course they were here to promote their fantastic new album, bringer of Pain. Sadly I missed them last time they came due to gig overload as I recall but I wasn't going to make that mistake again. Seeing the great Majesty listed as supported also proved another draw as if I needed one.
Initial support was provided by Japanese 3 piece Gyze. I hadn't really heard of them but new that they were described as a shreddy melodeath act. And yes they lived up to that billing. They were also the thinnest band I have ever seen. Each member had barely an extra ounce on them, You notice these things when you're trying to lose weight yourself!
Anyway these guys played neo-classical melodic shred with raspy high pitched vocals with a strong Japanese accent. The guitarist is a wiry little dude and played a mean solo or 6! They sounded like very early Bodom but with more neo-classical leanings. Vocals sounded like Alexi but even higher pitched. They were ok and the crowd seemed to enjoy them but all their songs sounded pretty them same. Once you've heard one you've heard them all basically. Might check their album out when it's finally released.
There was a 10pm curfew on the Underworld as it's a club night at 11 so everything was shifted forward an hour. The turn around between bands was some of the fastest I have seen. Barely 15 minutes between Gyze's 30 minute set and Majesty's 50 or so minutes.
Last time Majesty played here the gig was a bit of a shambles. Tarek was very sick, they arrived late and played to barely 30 people! This time around it was much better in every way. The Friday night crowd was filling up nicely past the 300 mark I would guess. The true metallers were out in force and it helped no end that Rebels is probably the best Majesty album every released. Tarek is a funny true metal front man. He may not have the best and most amazing voice ever but just like Joakim does with Sabaton, he knows how to lead a band and make them sound convincing. Majesty sounded epic and the new songs were mighty and glorious with huge sing along anthem after anthem bellowed back at Tarek by those at the front. They must've been genuinely happy after the disaster gig last time they played.
The new songs sound fantastic too and are blessed with majestic goose bump choruses galore. Special mention for the great Manowaresque ballad Across the Lightning. Sung perfectly by Tarek and everyone else. the galloping true metal parts were also fun as always. Special mention for Yolo HM, the funniest and by far cheesiest song of the night with mass singalong by near enough everyone. Manowar maybe dust but never fear we still have Majesty! Hail!
Path to Freedom
Die Like Kings
Hail to Majesty
The Final War
Yolo Hm
Across the Lightning
Metal Law
Heroes in the Night
Thunder Rider
Rebels of Our Time
Fighting Till the End
Finally at 8.30pm on the dot the Battle Beast crew took to their spots as the intro played and we awaited the Battle Bitch herself to lay waste. The crowd had reached it's maximum of probably around 350 and the excitement was obvious on the faces of many as the band launched fiercely into opener Straight to the Heart. Noora looked and sounded magnificent with her battle bitch make up and gear on. The chorus of that song is just superb and was sung back at Noora as loud as possible. You could see by the faces of the band that they were a bit shocked how fervent the support was from the floor.
They wasted no time in launching into the heavy title track Bringer of Pain and Noora once again was screaming her lungs out like a banshee. Her live vocals are something else. You think she's good on record? Well you ain't see nothing until you hear her live. She's truly one of the best powerhouse singers in all of metal today. The gal has a feisty attitude as well as she prowls the stage like a howling leather skinned temptress stalking her prey!
The rest of the band are also full of smiles and give the horns as they head bang away. The bassist is a funny guy and leads the cheerleading a fair bit on stage. Sometimes some Finnish based humour as well which maybe doesn't quite travel that well! He thanked the Brits for giving the world Maiden and Priest but then said we're also responsible for Asking Alexandria so fuck us!
The awesome Into The Heart of danger sounded fantastic as did the powerhouse Let It Roar with it's monster stomp. Black Ninja is a staple of their set as Noora did her best karate moves whilst singing flawlessly. The ballad far From heaven was sung flawlessly again and it really showed her magnificent live vocal abilities to perfection.
Bastard Son of Odin was another massive highlight from the new album before the main set ended with Out of Control. A great main set but more followed with the encore which featured a hilarious mass sing along to Last Xmas from Wham. The bassist instigated that one again and it was hilarious indeed. King for a Day again induced near hysteria from the floor with it's wonderful funky riffs and monster chorus. The set ended with the powerful Beyond the Burning Skies after which the crowd was truly pumped as was the band as they were cheered to the rafters.
As Noora said this was a proper heavy metal party and then some. Everyone had a smile on their face and was enjoying the bands on stage and singing along as much as they could. Noora proved that she is the Queen of true metal vocals and maybe one day someone will try and poach her to sing in a bigger band who knows. She can do literally any kind of metal vocals and sound amazing. If you get a chance to see Battle Beast one day, make sure you do it or you'll be missing out on a hell of a party!
Straight to the Heart
Bringer of Pain
Familiar Hell
Into the Heart of Danger
We Will Fight
Let It Roar
Black Ninja
Far from Heaven
Lost in Wars
Iron Hand
Touch in the Night
Bastard Son of Odin
Enter the Metal World
Out of Control
Encore:
Last Christmas
(Wham! cover) (Eero and audience on vocals)
King for a Day
Beyond the Burning Skies
Top Gun Anthem
(Harold Faltermeyer song)
Showing posts with label Majesty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Majesty. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 March 2017
Friday, 3 April 2015
Majesty Live at the Underworld
A night of true power metal in the good old Underworld is hard to beat and so it proved but this gig nearly didn't happen. As I arrived at the Underworld for the 7pm door time there was a notice saying due to technical difficulties the door time was increased to 7.30pm. OK then I thought. Then I was chatting to a guy I know outside the Underworld and then slowly 7.30 came and went still no sign of us being let in until finally it turns out that the bands missed their ferry over from Belgium and were on a later one and had not even made it to the venue in time to set up the gear and sound check. So it was gone 8.15pm before they let us in which set times would unfortunately have to be cut short as there was an 11 o'clock curfew.
As I walked in Evil Invaders were already playing the first song. I must admit I enjoyed their new album quite a bit. Not anything super amazing of course but if you're after an Iron Maiden on acid trip then Evil Invaders is your first port of call. In the live setting the energy of the band was unquestionable as they roared through their speed fixated, heleter skelter, Maiden metal. The front man's high screams were the same as on the album and the band were really pretty cool. Keep an eye on these guys. The crowd was at it's highest at this point I must say and would have numbered somewhere below a 100 which would slowly thin further by the time Majesty came on. In fact the attendance for this gig was piss poor which is a damn shame. Power metal gigs are not badly attended when Hammerfall or Helloween or other quite big bands come to town. Sabaton draws a 1000 and more and yet these well established true metal warriors can't draw even a 100 on a pleasant and not too cold midweek evening.
Anyhow on to Bloodbound who I had been dying to see for a good while now. They came on with no keyboardist which was a shame so that part of their sound was piped in. They also had two members of Twilight Force standing in for those absent so to call the band Bloodbound without 3 members of the band there was rather weird but I'll forgive'm this time. I was just happy to hear and see them for the first time and I was hoping for some great songs and of course hoping and praying for Nosferatu their best song. The guys played with smiles on their faces but I could tell from singer Patrik's face that he was slightly disappointed to be playing to about 50-60 people although we were very enthusiastic and made up enough noise for double that amount. The band played a mix of tunes from their albums but unfortunately their set was cut to just 40 minutes from the original hour long set billed. The band sounded good and singer Patrik is an engaging front man for sure although his vocals were a little quiet in the mix and he kept pleading with the sound man to turn up his volume more than once which he did do eventually after being told a few times. I definitely wanted to see Bloodbound more than Majesty in this 3 band bill and to get only 40 minutes was a shame but what they played was great and had the diehards at the front fist pumping and headbanging like there's no tomorrow. To my utter relief the last song of the night started and it was the familiar first bars of Nosferatu and I had a big smile on my face. OK so he's not as good as Urban Breed doing this song but Urban's not in the band and Patrik did an amazing job on the song. I sang that song as loud as I could whilst recording it for posterity. A great end to an understandably short set.
This was the quickest I've seen Underworld staff work in getting the stage ready for Majesty. It must have been around 10.15 or so before Majesty took to the stage, all dressed in warrior padded outfits which is a typical look for a true metal band. Unfortunately after Bloodbound the crowd had thinned further. I really don't know where every one went. Maybe they all had trains to catch but it wasn't that late. I mean the turn out was piss poor to begin with ok but when Majesty came on there were about 30 or 40 people at the front with about a further 20-30 standing on the raised section at the back. I think the disappointment on Tarek's face was there for all to see. As he explained in between the songs they had gone to hell trying to get to the gig and to top it all off he had a terrible throat infection which the doctors have warned him not to sing and his voice whilst ok didn't sound it's best admittedly.
However being true metal warriors he and the band didn't let a lack of attendance spoil their night and they turned in a great performance it must be said. Their true metal Manowar worship is more Manowar than Manowar even as song after song they played and sang their hearts to a very small but appreciative crowd. Their best songs were Into the Stadiums which is a huge true metal anthem although very ironic when you play it to 50 people in a club, new song Generation Steel, another massive anthem, Thunder Rider with it's epic sing along and plenty more. I saw the set list and about 6-7 songs were crossed out due to lack of time and they even played past the curfew for the encore. The constant loud chants of "Hail! Hail! To Majesty!" went up often and long and Tarek was geeing us up to shout even louder!
I'm not sure if they'll be back again though but Tarek said they would although he might have just been saying that flippantly who knows. He did say that he hoped next time there would 10 times as many people there but Tarek mate don't hold your breath. Our legions of true metal fans are very fickle and choosy. They just don't turn out to support small bands. It's always Sabaton, Helloween, Hammerfall and Blind Guardian. In fact BG plays in a few weeks and there will be close to a 1000 there. This night was rescued from being a damp squib in the end by the resilience of the true metal warriors on stage. They may be cheesy as hell but when your heart bleeds for metal you play as if it's your last and even when you're sick as a dog that's true fighting spirit. Hail! Hail! To Majesty!
As I walked in Evil Invaders were already playing the first song. I must admit I enjoyed their new album quite a bit. Not anything super amazing of course but if you're after an Iron Maiden on acid trip then Evil Invaders is your first port of call. In the live setting the energy of the band was unquestionable as they roared through their speed fixated, heleter skelter, Maiden metal. The front man's high screams were the same as on the album and the band were really pretty cool. Keep an eye on these guys. The crowd was at it's highest at this point I must say and would have numbered somewhere below a 100 which would slowly thin further by the time Majesty came on. In fact the attendance for this gig was piss poor which is a damn shame. Power metal gigs are not badly attended when Hammerfall or Helloween or other quite big bands come to town. Sabaton draws a 1000 and more and yet these well established true metal warriors can't draw even a 100 on a pleasant and not too cold midweek evening.
Anyhow on to Bloodbound who I had been dying to see for a good while now. They came on with no keyboardist which was a shame so that part of their sound was piped in. They also had two members of Twilight Force standing in for those absent so to call the band Bloodbound without 3 members of the band there was rather weird but I'll forgive'm this time. I was just happy to hear and see them for the first time and I was hoping for some great songs and of course hoping and praying for Nosferatu their best song. The guys played with smiles on their faces but I could tell from singer Patrik's face that he was slightly disappointed to be playing to about 50-60 people although we were very enthusiastic and made up enough noise for double that amount. The band played a mix of tunes from their albums but unfortunately their set was cut to just 40 minutes from the original hour long set billed. The band sounded good and singer Patrik is an engaging front man for sure although his vocals were a little quiet in the mix and he kept pleading with the sound man to turn up his volume more than once which he did do eventually after being told a few times. I definitely wanted to see Bloodbound more than Majesty in this 3 band bill and to get only 40 minutes was a shame but what they played was great and had the diehards at the front fist pumping and headbanging like there's no tomorrow. To my utter relief the last song of the night started and it was the familiar first bars of Nosferatu and I had a big smile on my face. OK so he's not as good as Urban Breed doing this song but Urban's not in the band and Patrik did an amazing job on the song. I sang that song as loud as I could whilst recording it for posterity. A great end to an understandably short set.
This was the quickest I've seen Underworld staff work in getting the stage ready for Majesty. It must have been around 10.15 or so before Majesty took to the stage, all dressed in warrior padded outfits which is a typical look for a true metal band. Unfortunately after Bloodbound the crowd had thinned further. I really don't know where every one went. Maybe they all had trains to catch but it wasn't that late. I mean the turn out was piss poor to begin with ok but when Majesty came on there were about 30 or 40 people at the front with about a further 20-30 standing on the raised section at the back. I think the disappointment on Tarek's face was there for all to see. As he explained in between the songs they had gone to hell trying to get to the gig and to top it all off he had a terrible throat infection which the doctors have warned him not to sing and his voice whilst ok didn't sound it's best admittedly.
However being true metal warriors he and the band didn't let a lack of attendance spoil their night and they turned in a great performance it must be said. Their true metal Manowar worship is more Manowar than Manowar even as song after song they played and sang their hearts to a very small but appreciative crowd. Their best songs were Into the Stadiums which is a huge true metal anthem although very ironic when you play it to 50 people in a club, new song Generation Steel, another massive anthem, Thunder Rider with it's epic sing along and plenty more. I saw the set list and about 6-7 songs were crossed out due to lack of time and they even played past the curfew for the encore. The constant loud chants of "Hail! Hail! To Majesty!" went up often and long and Tarek was geeing us up to shout even louder!
I'm not sure if they'll be back again though but Tarek said they would although he might have just been saying that flippantly who knows. He did say that he hoped next time there would 10 times as many people there but Tarek mate don't hold your breath. Our legions of true metal fans are very fickle and choosy. They just don't turn out to support small bands. It's always Sabaton, Helloween, Hammerfall and Blind Guardian. In fact BG plays in a few weeks and there will be close to a 1000 there. This night was rescued from being a damp squib in the end by the resilience of the true metal warriors on stage. They may be cheesy as hell but when your heart bleeds for metal you play as if it's your last and even when you're sick as a dog that's true fighting spirit. Hail! Hail! To Majesty!
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