Willemeen, Arnhem
06-05-2010

Review by: Frans

On a lame Thursday afternoon I received a call from a friend, asking me if I would like to visit a concert that evening, he would drive and Suicidal Angels and Enforcer and 2 more bands would be playing. When I saw Suicidal Angels in February, supporting Overkill, they impressed me fairly, and I love the heavy metal Enforcer brings on cd, so why the hell not. I arrived a little late at the crimescene, so I missed out on the first band, Cauldron.

Second off was Steelwing. Dressed in spandex, leather, lot’s of pins, let’s just say the traditional heavy metal clothing this band brings you a somewhat heavier Iron Maiden rip-off. They do this with class though, they show that they are here to rock and that’s exactly what they do with. The singer has a powerfull high pitched heavy metal scream, but on the “normal” singing part he lacks a bit of range in the upper pitched parts. It doesn’t bother much, the music is far from original, but it’s a lot of fun and looking at the group of headbangers (hell, I’m one of them) the audience has a great time.

Next up is Enforcer, I’m thrilled seeing them live, because I love their debut album. As well as Steelwing these guys are dressed up in old school heavy metal manner, I wasn’t around in the early eighties, but I think this might look like it whenever heavy metal concerts took place. The band is full of energy and have an intense performance. I would describe their music as a mix between early Megadeth and early Iron Maiden, and the audience loves it. This is heavy metal so there’s not much pitting, yet a lot of people are headbanging and some people take a dive off of the stage. Songs as On the Loose, Black Angel and Mistress from Hell are clearly known to the audience. The band has a “less talking = more playing” attitude and there’s not a lot said in between the songs, there’s no need to, because the songs rock like hell and it’s a damn fine party. The band plays a song or 2 from their upcoming album “Diamonds”. I’ll definitely be picking that one up, this is one of the most convincing live shows I’ve ever witnessed.

Headliner of the evening is the thrash metal band Suicidal Angels, hailing from Greece. The only band I’ve seen live before. Unfortunately they are not as convincing as last time I saw them, it may be because they are not playing in front of 600 people (I would say a person or 100 are still there), but the band does seem to play a bit on automatic pilot. It’s not a bad show though, but the band seems to be a little tame, especially when taking in account that Enforcer played right before them. A smaller part of the public is headbanging, but about 5 to 10 people start a pit, not much of the crowd seems to be willing to go into the pit, but at least these fellows entertain themselves. Suicidal Angels gave away a tight, yet tame show. When they asked what the audience wanted them to play a lot of people shout out “Enforcer, Enforcer”, so the band plays their encore and ends the show with that.

A very entertaining Thursday night if I may say so!