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They used to say
all roads lead to Rome, but in my case all roads now lead to Bradford,
well in a gig context Bradford Rio at least.
The power-metal fans were once again out
in force at Rio’s tonight for three bands who I must admit were all new to
me.
First up tonight were Elis who from the
off set out to impress with petite singer Sabine being the focus of most
of the male audience. She set about her task with great German
efficiency as the band opened up the set with 'Die Zeit' off the bands
‘Dark Clouds In A Perfect Sky’ album, and immediately the band won the
crowd over with their mix of heavy guitars and soulful harmonies from
Sabine.
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The band upped the tempo with ‘Lost
Soul’, a song that saw a twin guitar assault by Pete and new boy
Christian, with Sabine dueting with the gruff voice of bassist Tom Saxer
to great effect.
The crowd were just putty in Sabine’s
hands and would do anything for her, when she asked them to shout 'Hey!
Hey!', they did right on cue. As the set continued with ‘Devil
Inside You’, a great track were Sabine gave us a sample of the real power
that her voice can produce when needed.
The band were mainly concentrating on songs of
their current album 'Dark Clouds', although they did also throw in a new track ‘Show Me The Way’,
which is a
song taken off the bands forthcoming new album that I believe is due for release in June.
By the reaction from the crowd I think a good proportion will probably go
out and buy it on the
strength of this song alone.
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Sabine then asked the crowd if they are
ready for another fast one, to which they all cried out in unison
'YES!!!!'. The band
then went into the speed fest that was ‘Do You Believe’, with the bassist
Tom once again providing additional vocals.
Then it was back to the Dark Clouds album
for the album opener ‘Der Letzte Tag’, a real powerhouse song that is
completely sang in German and sounded great with Sabine head banging
and really going for it in between verses.
The band then left the stage for a few
moments before returning to thunderous applause and finished of their
impressive set with ‘Such A Long Time’. I for one hope it's not too long time
before Elis return to these shores again. Marvellous!
Next up were Atrocity, a band that is
mainly Leaves Eyes without Liv Kristine on lead vocals, although she does
provide some backing vocals.
Instead of Liv on vocals it’s her husband
Alex who is the driving force behind Atrocity.
Atrocity is a band at the other end of
the power-metal spectrum to Elis and Leave Eyes as they bring a much
heavier sound to the stage tonight.
The band open up with the ‘Reich Of
Phenomena’ and straight away the metal heads in the crowd raise the horns
as a sign of approval to the heavy sound and gruff vocals of Alex, with
the diminutive figure of wife Liv providing the backing vocals to the
song.
The set continues in similar vein with a
track off the bands latest release Atlantis with the massive ‘Gods Of
Nations’ which is for me one of the highlights of the bands set.
Liv again returns to the stage to provide
backing vocals for ‘Enigma’ another heavy bass ridden song with Alex
stalking the stage with his long hair trailing behind him.
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Not only were the metal heads raising the
horns in appreciation but by now half the crowd were getting to grips with
the heavier sound and were starting to warm to Alex and the rest of the
band as they went into ‘Clash of the Titans’.
Alex announced that they are a crazy band
and the Rio’s crowd was a crazy crown and the fitted well together and
dedicated the next song ‘’The Great Commandment’ to all his crazy friends
in the crowd tonight.
Alex then asked the crowd are the
creatures of the night as they went into the dark metal soundings of
‘B.L.U.T.', a song where guitarist Mathias really came into his own as he
spewed out some monstrous dark riffs.
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The set was rounded off with another
metal assault with ‘Apocalypse’ which saw Liv return to the stage once
again to lend some operatic backing vocals.
The band returned to the stage after a
short break to give one of the performances of the night with ‘Cold Black
Days’ and strangely the Tears For Fears song ‘Shout’, a song that saw the
whole crowd unite as one to sing along with Liv and Alex. Perhaps something that
most of them wouldn't want to admit to their friends the next day, but
which
ended a very impressive set by Atrocity who very much came, saw, and conquered.
Now for the main event of the night
Leaves Eyes, a band who have been hailed as the new Nightwish. Something
I don't mind admitting really gets me annoyed. Just because they have a female vocalist
they are billed as the new Nightwish. However, I suppose
at least it persuades those who weren’t sure about coming tonight to check them
out and this is can only be good for the band.
The band comes on to the stage to the
intro 'Vinland Saga' and although the majority of the band have already been on stage
as Atrocity, Leaves Eyes are very much a different band completely.
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Opening up the set with ‘Farewell Proud
Men’, the petite figure of Liv Kristine stands at the front of the stage a
vision in red as the rest of the band seem to tower over her, but this
diminutive figure stands tall as she lets her majestic vocals take you on
a journey of light through the darkness.
Her husband Alex joins the rest of the
band on stage as they go into the majestic ‘Oceans Way’ a song that soon
has the crowd jumping.
This is the bands second appearance at Rio’s and
hopefully won't be their last. The set continues with the bands first singe
‘Into Your Light’, a song that switches tempo to a more haunting mood.
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The next song is introduced by Alex as he
rejoins the band and quickly has the crowd chanting their version of the
football chant 'Oley!, Oley!, Oley!' and replacing it with 'Oh Leaves Eyes!, Oh
Leaves Eyes!' much to the delight of both the audience and the rest of the
band.
The set continued with the gentle
melodies of 'The Thorn', the gentler songs continue with the immaculate
ballad 'For Amilie'. Alex then introduces the next song as the
fastest track Leaves Eyes do, a song called ‘Temptation’, which isn’t what I
would call fast, but perhaps more along the lines of brutal.
It was now the turn of Liv to introduce a
song that is close to her heart and is a song about her native land Norway,
‘Norwegian Love Song’, a really beautiful song that is followed by another
equally beautiful song the spellbinding ‘Leaves Eyes’.
The band finishes off the set before
leaving the stage with the Alex rejoining Liv on stage for ‘Solemn Sea’.
With the crowd baying for more it was more they got with the band returning
to the stage to rapturous applause to continue with a three song encore.
Starting off with a new song ‘Lyset’ that will be on an EP set for a June
release, they continued with the excellent ‘Legend Land’, before saving
the best till last and rounding off their magnificent set with the wondrous
sounding of ‘Elegy’.
As gigs go this one has to rate as
one of the top ten gigs of the year so far. If any of these three bands tours
in this country again, and your into power-metal in any shape or form,
then I'd highly
recommend you check them out, I'm sure if you don’t you’ll be sorry. |
