I have been to all three installments of this great festival in Oslo and it has always been great. So here's a short recap and some ramblings about every band that played this year:
Procession
Opening the festival were chile's finest doom band Procession.
I've seen them a couple of times now and they never disappoint. It was like this in Oslo again. Very loud, probably the loudest gig of the festival, they celebrated their epic, slow hymns for somewhere around half an hour.
This of course meant that not more than a handful of songs could be played, but damn, they were great!
In Solitude
Replacing Solstice on very short notice were swedish Mercyful Fate disciples In Solitude. They were originally scheduled as co-headliners, but had to swap slots with Blizzard because of a delayed flight.
The show was very cool, with incenses burnt on stage for added atmosphere and a large dose of old-school heavy metal.
A very good gig, but in comparison with some of the other bands it somewhat paled.
Elixir
Elixir from England came to play their debut album "The Son of Odin" in its entirety and though I missed part of the performance due to some badly needed food, the parts I saw were very impressive.
Epic heavy metal with a healthy dose of Dio and NWoBHM was on the menu and the band played with admirable conviction. Especially the vocals were extremely well done, very impressive. This is a band I would very much like to see again.
Blizzard
Germany's Blizzard had the bad fortune of a delayed plane and so played as co-headliners. Unfortunately, the gig was very bad. The songs were mediocre to say the least, especially the vocals very somewhere between boring and annoying and the performance was very sloppy, without all the energy that kind of music needs to work.
I'm prepared to cut the band some slack in that department because of the circumstances, but I highly doubt if I had liked them more if they had played any better. Probably the biggest disappointment of the weekend.
Brocas Helm
And then it was time for the mighty Brocas Helm. The trio entered the stage without any ceremony and then kicked ass. It's plain and simple, they just blew any other band that day off the stage and fully justified their reputation as one of the legends of underground metal.
I can't wait to see them again at this year's Keep it True festival after this.
Convixion
I only saw part of the saturday opener's show, but what I saw of Greece's convixion was the perfect beginning for the day.
Melodic, yet raw, thrashy songs about metal and drinking, they sure managed to bring back the thirst for more beer and metal.
Gehenna
Swedish alcoholic thrashers Gehenna were next on the billing and we left after the first couple of songs. This doesn't mean they were especially bad, they were just uninspired thrash metal and we felt that our time was better spent in the pub next door, where the beer was cheaper and conversations were somewhat easier.
Devil
The band of two of the three organizers of the festival, Devil were very well received by the audience. But the response was well earned. Their doomy metal somewhere between old
Black Sabath and Pentagram was well-played and very good festival music to drink and party to.
Jaguar
Probably the biggest surprise for me were Jaguar from England. Another NWoBHM band I only heard about, but never listened to, they managed to absolutely kill on stage. Especially the frontman was an absolute animal on stage, pushing the crowd like no other frontman at the whole festival. They'll play this year's Headbanger's Open Air and I for one will surely be there again!
Nuclear Assault
The last band for the weekend, Nuclear Assault took no prisoners. Old school thrash was the motto and they played with power, but not finesse, just like it should be. The energy was way up and a great headbanging time was had, a perfect show to end a perfect festival.
Once again the Metal Merchants festival proved the best way to start a new metallic year, with its usual mix of surprising new discoveries and old favorites. If there is anothher one next year, I'll surely be there again.
