STEEL MEETS STEEL 7 (Report)

Wow!

Great night yesterday at Crescendo "cave"-house! "Steel meets Steel #7", organized & sponsored by MASTERMIND. The band itself is already a trademark of quality here, but for the occasion it has put together a bunch of very talented people. I'm talking about LONGINUS, UNTRAD, ARGUMENT SOUL and SCREAMING SYMPHONY. All fellas from around here...
For those of you that have been following these pages, it will be no news Cpt. passion for Mastermind and Longinus. And as a matter of fact it is for them that I signed yesterday. Nonetheless all the others - that I virtually ignored before yesterday - turned out to be three aces in the game (clicking their names will get you to the relative home-pages).

UNTRAD: horns up! Quartet from Tokyo(?), which plays fu*king good heavy metal! Great rythm, great sound, great tunes, plus a Halford-like singer with Cpt.'s dreams voice! I really like their stuff and want more of it! Such a pity that their next concert is scheduled close to summer.

ARGUMENT SOUL: horns up! A quintet originating from Nagoya delivering a fast, precise and powerful metallic assault a-la Dragonforce (but without that senseless cheese). The singer, young Toshinori Kamiya, is a monstrous spitfire machine! Really impressive the resemblance of his high pitch screems with Loudness's Minoru Niihara! Or was I drunk? Yes, because on usual singing he doesn't sound like that...
By the way, interesting to know (doing some more homework) that axeman Yoshiyasu Maruyama played live with DUNGEON too, back on May 2005 in Sydney!

SCREAMING SYMPHONY: hell yeah! Another quintet from... uhm... Fukuoka (?) [Myspace says "western island of Kyushu"] it should be this time. They play a thundering heavy/power metal, but with some more modern and groovy influences. Nasty enough, but not too much! Shortly: hot stuff! Pics were so-so...

LONGINUS: outstanding performance, as usual, but with a novelty. Masaki-san laser-precision axe grinding has been replaced on the occasion by... a new look Masaki-san! Precision grinding was unchanged!

MASTERMIND: a very long time no see for the Cpt.! But always a great pleasure: they delivered a hell of a power/speed metal show with the kick-ass singing of Noriyo-san... that you should remember from Hellhound. I love these guys! On the guitar, temporary guest - I guess - in place of Yoshiyuki Watarai - recovering from an injury - Inspire axeman Tsutomu Aruga (thanks Noriyo!). Very skilled dude! Anyway, as you can see from the pics, Yoshiyuki-san joined the party at the end too, just for a couple of song.　Set list as follows:

1.Phoenix Rising
2.Loud And Proud
3.Fight To Survive
4.Note Of Glory
5.Heroes
6.Eye Of The Riot
7.Departure〜Say Your Prayer
8.Never Say Never
9.The Way I Go
10.Run For Your Life
-encore-
11.Never Die(カバー）

I'll tell you: it was a long time since I last went home tired and neck-broken from a gig, waking up in the morning as if I went working out! But it's an hell of a good sensation! Oh... almost forgot it: they got us a special posing... only for PORT ROYAL fans! You know, they won't be concerting for a while...

(Naoyuki, Yushiya, Noriyo, Tsutomu, Yoshiyuki, Shinichi)

«Come! Get some!» [Duke Nukem]

Here you are!
While German singing ABROGATION are still raging on Cpt.'s iPod and work-out Shuffle, somebody left unattended on Port's dock two very precious jewels: a most unexpected HERMAN FRANK album and a MANOWAR video exerience I was still missing. Both forced me back to homework...! Serious stuff!

HERMAN FRANK-Loyal to None (2009)

While many of you - as it was for myself - may be quite familiar with titles such as Restless and Wild, Instinct, Temples of Gold, Balls to The Wall, it may happen that you missed his presence and his name. Indeed he is that Herman Frank, the guitar virtuoso known from bands such as ACCEPT, VICTORY and MOON’DOC and others. This most unexpected solo performance is an awesome album! One of the most lively and pleasant things to listen I've come across lately! It’s a 10 track injection of pure Heavy Metal from the heart, traditional, classic, '80s sounding... a blow away. Heavy riffing and all-time-classic vocal lines by the voice of Jiotis Parachidis, a Ted Bullet-ized (Thunderhead) Minoru Niihara (Loudness) for a breathless 47 minutes rush! Telling the truth, there is nothing really new in it. Yet you don’t have always to go searching for break outs and novelties: sometimes it is better just enjoying the tunes with pure transport and feelings. And that’s exactly what this album is. Production is top-notch, guaranted by Herman himself, who apparently worked as a producer and engineer for Saxon, Molly Hatchet, Rose Tatto, Victory and others. Guest musicians also enhance the listening pleasure and the value of this disc: scream-machine - as said - is Parachidis (Victory, Human Fortress); Peter Pichl on bass (Running Wild) and on drum Stefan Schwarzmann... well, if you don't know him, you'd better suicide. Cover also is nasty, don't you think? Running Wilde-like... Fasten seat belts and enjoy!

MANOWAR-Magic Circle Festival (DVDx2) [Audio rip]

Manowar are always to be experienced live! But when you don't have the chance - as it happens - a good DVD can supply that feeling quite sufficiently. And Manowar got real expert in the business! In the past I introduced you an audio rip of The Day The Earth Shook - The Absolute Power 3 DVD box set: a real pearl; a must-have for any serious banger and one of my all-time favorite metal DVD (very few indeed)! This one also follows on the same trail. Recorded on the occasion of Magic Circle Festival on the 6th and 7th of July 2007, it reproposes the magic of the 2005 bombastic production: bands and fans gathered in Bad Arolsen (Germany) were witness of a spectacle that solicited openly for a place in the Guinness Book of Records: a stage 40 meters wide and 16 meters deep, thousands of watts for sound and lighting and besides Manowar, some bands chosen by Manowar themeselves to perform (Magic Circle is indeed the label of Joey De Maio). Furthere words are useless: it's a Manowar live and it's awesome! But, yes... just one thing: here you have a very rare selection of oldies not often played by them at other shows. And for people like me, used to enjoy them mostly from "Fighting the World" onward, it is a chance not to be missed! [Note that the two covers stand for "DVD 1" and "DVD 2"]

VENI VIDI VICI

Howdy, salilors!
Smoky night, yesterday at Crescendo Live House...
Yeah, you bastard smokers got me well-gassed again, uh!

Anyway, HAEVY METAL CONFERENCE #9.
Band list was as follows: GUILTYS LAW, AFTER ZERO, SATANICA, HELLHOUND, YOUTHQUAKE.
A quite enjoyable music party, indeed. That's why I decided not to indulge to picture taking to much (just a couple and very accurate shots to the infernal dog...) and to enjoy the tunes only.

Guiltys Law, self-produced band, born in 1994, with one EP at their back, that plays Melodic Power Metal and tunes looks neat and catchy, with a fair singing (flat points here and there...). But choruses were great and perfeclty fit!
After Zero got me moving!! Awesome as usual, dudes: pure fun and energy! I already reviewed them in the past here, so I wont spend much more words here. Great MDM style cover of ultra-famous "Live Wire"!



Satanica were impressive for their Black Metal style appearance and make-up (masks, face-paint, nails, armours...), but the music they played was... well, pretty different! Speed/Heavy Metal, with a very traditional imprint. Guitar riffing and a-la-King Diamond screaming are the highlights. The singing in particular, a bit retrò and with little explosions of screams, reminded me Cauldron Born-like or early epic metal bands. A very enjoyable performance.



Hellhound: kick-ass performance as usual! Little more to say! They are metal and fun! Wanted to meet the guys, but had to rosh out...!

Youthquake were the flag carrier of the night. They are a well-established presence here: Tokyo based and born in 1990 they, with six full-lenght at their back plus a new one forthcoming, they play a very nasty thrash/death. Their subtle melody and the laser-precision shredding are very catchy for the Cpt., but on the long run the not really various singing get me scrathing my belly. Great show, anyway!

Nice come-back-to-life... Had to breath less smoke, I certainly would have enjoyed it more.

ACTION AGAIN

Yes, dudes! Cpt. is still busy... Sorry!
You will have to be patient for some new posts.
But this week you're lucky. Indeed I got my ticket reserved for tomorrow's gig of HELLHOUND at Crescendo "cave". Long time no live... Or better Live after (a long) Death.
Of course will try to collect some visual proof of their METAL mayhem.
On the stage ther will be also AFTER ZERO (thrashy dudes you should already be acquainted with), GULTYS LAW , SATANICA and YOUTHQUAKE. Last three are completely new to me, but CROSSFIRE guarated me they kick-ass too! So stay tuned!