Live 4 Metal - ProgPower 2006

ProgPower UK 2006 Cheltenham The Centaur 25th March 2006 Review and Photos by Sam and Steve Green First of all, I must say what an absolutely brilliant venue Cheltenham was for this festival. The Centaur was amazing (especially the non-smoking policy!) and the bands on the bill were a superb choice, borne out by the fact that every band seemed to have brought their own group of devotees along. The organisation was incredibly streamlined, the only slight let down being in the catering department, but even that was down to promises not being fulfilled rather than a lack of foresight on the part of the organisers. And all the venue staff (bar one) were so polite and helpful. Which includes the lady who asked me and Steve “Can I help you ladies?” (Sam)
Walking into the auditorium, we were overwhelmed at how big the place was and how clean it looked. This venue was perfect for a festival and the decision to hold it here rather than in one of London's well known shitholes was a wise choice. As was selecting Firewind as the opening band. It may have only been 1.30 in the afternoon, but Firewind approached this performance like they were the headliners. The opening onslaught of Steal Them Blind, I Am The Anger and Beware The Beast tore the place apart. Marry that with the big stage, perfect sound and dazzling light show and you couldn't have asked for a better opening act. New vocalist Apollo was having a great time and in keeping with everything else around him, was spot on with his performance. He introduced a new song, Falling To Pieces and at last the pace dropped and gave us time to catch our breath. I may not have thought much of Mark Cross' drum solo (not the best idea for an opening band) but the duel between guitarist Gus G and keyboard player Bob Katsionis was out of this world. Whilst I was blinded by the musical talent, Sam was more interested in the dexterity of Bobs fingers. The woman is sex mad. With such an amazing start to the day, it would take a big band to follow them and that task was down to Italians Secret Sphere.

An operatic intro tape boomed from the PA. And as the band had a female backing singer on stage, my expectations were high. Unfortunately the music was traditional Power Metal with a good smattering of cheese. And the female singer... well she was basically eye candy and her backing vocals had little or no impact. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with Secret Sphere's performance. They were smooth and polished, which kind of took the wind out of singing about being Loud N Raw. They did their thing extremely well and vocalist Ramon had a good voice and he communicated well with the audience. It's just they simply couldn't follow Firewind and couldn't match Gus G and co in terms of stage presence. By the 4th number we'd seen enough and headed for the Metal Market. The layout of the Centaur had the Metal Market in another building. The market was excellent and catered for most tastes, from the extremity of the Kolobos stall to the Century Media stall manned by an increasingly hairier Adam. Elsewhere you had Gothic clothing, t-shirts and musical instruments. If you come next year, bring plenty of spare cash for this Aladdin's Cave.

Third band on the bill were Orphaned Land. Having seen their softer side the night before with an exquisite acoustic set at The Hub in Cheltenham, it was time to see them at their most ferocious. Even though I love Mabool, I was shocked at the transformation of the songs in a live setting. As the Arabic tones of Ocean Land snaked it's way into our senses, amiable frontman Kobi proved a completely different proposition on stage as he growled with deafening authority. And like a snake he recoiled before hitting us with the sweet venom of his clean singing voice. A quick trip back in time took us to El Moed Na'Ala before the more familiar grounds of Mabool were revisited with glorious anthems, The Kiss of Babylon and A Call To Awake. By now bassist Uri was in a trance like state and guitarist Yossi was, as the night before sporting the biggest smile possible. If he was happy, the crowd were delirious. I wasn't sure how Orphaned Land would be received today, but they were welcomed with open arms and the crowd loved it. Kobi was working them for all he was worth, but he needn't have bothered as the next two songs were the highlight of my 25 years of going to concerts. I have never felt such a connection from a band as I did from Birth of Three and Halo Dies. I cannot put into words what these two songs did to me. But I am going to be thankful for this performance for years to come. Simply unbelievable. The next song wasn't known to me, but that changed with the infectious stamp, clap and sing-a-long Norra El Norra. As the crowd jumped on command and sang along to quite possibly the most happy song in Metal history, I was thinking this was the most perfect way to end the set. They didn't quite blow it, but they segued into the doomier Ornaments of Gold which
brought a slightly subdued end to the set. Reversing the two songs would have worked a lot better. But after a set of such magnitude, who am I to complain? I'm not sure a band who mix Progressive Metal, Clean and Death Metal vocals and Middle Eastern music will be everyone's cup of tea. But they converted a hell of a lot of people here today, including Sam. They are definitely one of the best live bands around too. Catch them wherever you can. You will not be disappointed. (Steve)


Freedom Call bounced onto the stage looking every bit the part. I always feel cheated if a power metal band doesn’t include at least one member with long blond hair, but that wasn’t a problem here. They produced a storming set of absolutely definitive power metal cheese, including all the requisite poses and moves, which went down a treat with those of us that hadn’t yet retired to the seats for a rest.

Norwegians Pagan’s Mind by contrast sidled onto the stage in a very low-key kind of way, looking amazingly uncharismatic for the genre. In fact, they didn’t really have a cohesive image at all, but seemed to be more of a disparate collection of individuals. But all doubts as to what they were doing there were dispelled as soon as they began to play. They produced a technically brilliant, note-perfect set: beautiful keyboards, lovely widdly guitar, loads of solos, amazingly heavy drums and gorgeous chuggy bass. Interestingly, the music was pure prog, whilst the vocals were undiluted power metal. But it worked! We discovered later that Nils K Rue, the vocalist had been suffering badly from a cold, which made his performance all the more remarkable. Almost as remarkable as the fact that he had managed to shoehorn himself into such amazingly tight leather trousers! (Sam) This festival was not just about music, it was also about the brotherhood of Metal. Something I think is lacking in today's fractured scene. There were signing sessions by all the bands. Members of some bands mingled happily with the crowd, posed for pictures, signed autographs and generally enjoyed the laidback vibe. Orphaned Land gladly gave up their time to anyone that approached them and I was amazed by their generous nature. And I thank them for the time they spent chatting with Sam and myself. But that summed up the day perfectly. This was a nice festival in superb surroundings. The security were also very friendly and up for a laugh and it created the perfect atmosphere. We were even sold on the idea that Threshold were a UK band we could be proud of. Surely not.... (Steve)

Before tonight, the only things that I knew about Threshold were: Steve had downloaded some tracks, but I hadn’t had time to listen to them, they’d been described as “kind of like a heavy Pink Floyd” and that their followers seemed to be amongst the older brigade. I could not believe, five minutes into the set, that there was a UK band that I knew so little about that were so good. Mac, the kilted singer (who was a complete nightmare to photograph because he kept tearing around the stage) was immediately reminiscent of Biff Byford As he launched into opener “Mission Profile” I had the most weird experience of deja-entendu – then I realised that a group of lads had been singing these lyrics, admittedly rather out of tune, outside the venue whilst we waited for the doors to open. It was at about this time that I got my best laugh of the show, when one of my fellow-photographers recoiled in horror as he realised he was about to take a photo right up Mac’s kilt! Threshold were really heavy, and by the time that they’d started on “Pressure” I was torn between listening and buying their latest CD. Given that I’d failed to buy Firewinds earlier (sold out) it wasn’t too tough a choice. Luckily, everyone else stayed to listen, so I managed to be out of the hall for under two minutes. By the
time “Long Way Home” was played I was desperate for them not to finish so soon, but by my reckoning we got another three tracks of superb enjoyment. The amount of passion generated by this performance was stunning, everyone seemed to be so involved with what was being played. I adored the whole set, and was left thinking what a perfect addition to the bill Threshold were, and wondering when I might see them again. (Sam)

Having been very good the night before at the pre-show party, we only consumed 4 pints each, our behaviour today was impeccable as we drank nothing but water for the first 6 hours of this Metal marathon. By the time Pagan's Mind were in full flow, we could wait no longer and the beers went down rather smoothly. The beer only added to fuel my anticipation for Therion. And my long wait was rewarded with a perfect headlining performance.
Fuck, Therion were good. A blur of pent up energy, they let loose as The Rise Of Sodom And Gomorrah set the scene for a most memorable performance. You knew this was a special night for Christopher Johnsson as he was playing as if his life depended on it. From my vantage point in the photo-pit I couldn't believe how many shapes and how much energy the man expended. It wasn't just the main man that was catching the eye. Visually stunning, the multitude gathered in front of us complement the large stage perfectly. The 4 core members were joined by a 4 piece backing choir, the 2 main lead singers and 2 rather delightful young ladies who 1st appeared as belly dancers and later in the set with Egyptian themed wings. Musically I was in... well as heaven doesn't exist, I guess I can't use 7th heaven as a description: I was in a little world of my own. Ginnungagap from my favourite Therion album Secret Of The Runes was quickly followed by Blood Of Kingu from Sirius B. Whilst their voices were both a joy to hear, Mats Levén and Karin Fjellander couldn't have been more different in their approaches to their respective roles. Karin looked quite non-plussed and moody as she headed the operatic side of the proceedings, whilst Mats
was very much the enigmatic rockstar.

Midway through their set, the band stripped down to a four piece for Christopher's last performance as a live vocalist. She who must be obeyed, told me to put my notepad away and to enjoy the rest of the show. (Actually she was more explicit than that, but some things are best left unsaid) And that's exactly what I did. With Choir in tow, the main set was finished by late 90s trio of The Siren Of The Woods, Black Sun and Wine Of Aluqah. The Theli era was also the theme for the finale of Cults Of The Shadow and To Mega Therion. Rather than disappear into the night, the band were introduced individually and you had the feeling this was more than just the end of a tour, more the end of an era. Whatever the occasion, I for one was privileged to have witnessed it. As an epilogue, I'd like to thank both Jon Hoare and Sean Hetherington and the many people involved in putting this festival together and making it such a success. Myself and Sam had a brilliant couple of days in Cheltenham, as did every other person we spoke to. I don't think there was a single disappointed person in the couple of thousand strong crowd. I hope this becomes a regular on the festival circuit as, bar the catering, it was an almost perfect event. (Steve) Here's a couple of suggestions for next years shindig: Amorphis - Grave Digger - Stream Of Passion or Ayreon - Riverside - Haggard - Waterclime. Sam wants to see Dark Suns. Send any suggestions to Live4metalsteve@aol.com and I'll pass the emails on to the promoters.