azal

zaboravih da postujem I taj kljucni detalj: on inace ide svake godine od pocetka festivala, tako da je vise tamo da bi se vidjao sa prijateljima. forgot to add that next year's lineup is a war crime. I don't know Skåld, but they look fun. Other than that, oof! Scheduling dinners will be easy. Hopefully a lot of these bands get their visas denied, or better yet: break up. It's sad that Hell's Heroes, a vastly inferior festival, scooped Glenn on Crimson Glory. I mean, maybe he's holding out to book them for the last year, but I'd say it's awfully optimistic to assume they'll still be a band that far in the future

evo ga ceo, Matt je world-class hater boldovao sam najbolje momente WEDNESDAY Darkwater: For some reason, went almost straight to the venue from the airport early enough to catch some of the first band, Darkwater. I had never even heard of them before, although someone told me they played PP before. Darkwater are a throwback to early 00s prog metal, especially of the neither-technical-nor-really-progressive variety, like Superior or Vanden Plas, but at least in 2024, not every Swedish prog metal vocalist sings out of his nose (see: Mayadome, Treasure Land, Timescape, etc.). No stage presence to speak of, but they at least came off as a genuine band making music to please themselves. Victorius: I only stuck my head into the venue briefly to see this band. Terrible, terrible power metal for children who have never heard of Helloween and don't like bands who don't play dress up. Is it a legacy of ProgPower that a heavy metal safe space was created for autistic nerds, who promptly reinvented the metal wheel in the image of an afterschool musical program? Dream Evil: I don't care what anyone says, the first Dream Evil album is a lot of fun. I always liked how sweet and soft the singer came across - that contrast was the only thing that could save the corn syrupy cloyingness of this kind of power metal. That singer is fronting the band these days, but I have to say: he is not as cuddly looking as he sounds. Definitely had some Fury Road sartorial vibes. He sounded great, and the band is solid as hell, and as long as they were playing old tunes, I was loving it. At the end, original drummer Snowy Shaw came out to drum a tune, then sing a duet of "Book of Heavy Metal" and he was an absolute blast to watch. I confronted him in the hall a day later and demanded he produce a new Memento Mori album, but he crushed my dreams and said it could never happen, because Messiah Marcolin is a giant baby and no one likes working with him. Bummer. Anyway, it was nice to finally see this band after their fourteen ProgPower cancellations. Would have been even better 10 years ago, but what are metal festivals for if not living in the past? Circus Maximus: Remember when this band came out? How stunningly amazing that debut album was? Good times. Sure, they peaked early, and really only ever released a single great album, but vocalist Jake Busey still sounds as much like Tony Harnell as ever, and while they played a lot of their garbage AOR, they played some of the classic tunes as well and for a moment, it was like 2007 again. Angra: It breaks my heart to think of what happened to this band, and watching them now brings me no joy. I suffered through two wonderful songs sung atrociously, then the third song amounted to a bass solo with vocals, and I bailed. Fabio, who looks like Gru from Despicable Me pretending to be Weird Al, never had the timbre or subtlety to effectively front Angra, but at least in the past he could be counted on to at least hit the high notes. Now, he cheaps out on half, and croaks the rest. I wish this band would just stop. THURSDAY: Nospūn: Another throwback prog metal band. These guys played light Magna Carta 2000 metal with some djenty flourishes. Good singer with terrible stage presence. He's basically what Joe would be like as a frontman. This band had negative charisma, but they probably have a lot of Cisco certifications among them. Nick suggested the band should be called Six Sigma Blackbelts. Also, the name is pronounced No Spoon, as in, "There is no spoon." FFS. At one point the singer had a very Libertarian shouting match with the voice of God on the PA, which was hilarious, although I think we were supposed to think it was edgy and cool. Temperence, Earthside, Twilight Force: Did not watch. I have seen Earthside's reverse karaoke show twice (thanks a lot, Ken) so I definitely didn't need the threepeat. Twilight Force are the metal band equivalent of a console RPG character selection screen. I don't know anything about Temperence, but I hope they're some kind of Puritan Metal band who accused the audience of being witches. Leprous: Although Malina is my favorite of their albums, everything since has been pretty bad, and I was even a bit letdown the last time I saw them live. But while the setlist was for sure heavy on their boringest newer albums, they played and sounded great, had an excellent light show, and all around reminded me why I love them. It's the drummer. The drummer is why I love them. Dark Tranquillity: Never need to see these guys again. Every song is the same tempo, has the same arrangement, and goes nowhere. Stanne is a great frontman for a death metal vocalist, but this band is just not very interesting anymore. There were more riffs in one song on The Gallery than on their entire latest album. But hey, next year will be the third consecutive appearance of Stanne. FRIDAY: Striker: Total cosplay overdose. Striker are not an original band by any means, so it's not surprising that they'd show up dressed as extras for Stranger Things, but I really wish they would grow up and calm down. Amazing singer, and the bass player sings the high harmonies (in tune, no less!), and all around they're a formidable live unit. I do like their songs, derivative as they may be, but enjoying Striker brings me no small amount of shame. Fifth Angel: The ProgPower nerds sure looked like they had never heard of this band before. Sad crowd reaction. But, the band was awesome and their leathery, bleached singer is fantastic. My favorite part was Ken Mary trying two giant stick throws and missing them both. I was sure he'd go for redemption before the end, but I guess he was forced to recognize his limits. They played "Fallout" second and "Time Will Tell" third, which was a bold choice and one that I applaud. This band was not afraid to dole out the hits early, but nothing they could do could engage the snoozy crowd. Elegy: I saw Elegy in 2004 at the second BWBK fest, but it was the degraded late band, with only one guitarist (and a french one at that) and only one original member. They were fine, but it was not the Elegy I wanted. THIS is the Elegy I wanted, with Henk and Gilbert on guitar. They only played tunes from the first five albums, and most of them were from the first three, which featured singer Eduard Hovinga (another Tony Harnell clone). I was curious to hear how Parry (who is not a young man) handled that older stuff, and he utterly slayed! I can't even believe how good a singer that guy is. The guitarists were wonderful and played tons of those fast runs that were a hallmark of their early work, and now, they even play them together! As far as I'm concerned, this was a LEGENDARY ProgPower set that would have been exactly as exciting had they played it at ProgPower 2. I talked to Henk after the show and he was so excited for the reaction they got, and promised a new album next year. Can't wait! Soen: Did not watch. I have nothing against Soen, although they don't do a lot for me. I just had to eat! Also, it was kind of driving Roman crazy that I didn't care about this band, and I told him that one of the songs sounded like Nickelback just to give him the business, which is probably as much fun as I can reasonably expect to get out of Soen. Lovebites: I watched the last 25 minutes of their set, mainly because I thought when I started that there was only 5 minutes left of their set. What a horrible band! Exceedingly boring power metal for horny anime fans. The guitarists (especially the dark haired one) looked like hostages. The bass player learned her moves from Ian Hill, although at least she smiled more. The singer has an annoying voice and her melodies are not good. The drummer was kinda fun, at least. Total animal. If this band were dudes, they would have a bandcamp page with 27 downloads. Amorphis: Did not watch. I recognize that since they gave up on their real artistic ambitions that they make reasonably good melodic death metal that's basically in line with Tales if it were a modern album. Good for anyone who is into that. I just don't need it. I saw them plenty back in the day, so I don't need anymore. SATURDAY: Frozen Crown: More bad power metal tolerated by the tasteless for tits. Singer is truly awful. They had three guitarists, which was kinda fun, and at least one riff where they used them all. Is Underground Symphony still a label? This is Underground Symphony shit. Disillusion: Highlight of the fest for me. One of the best death metal bands ever, and they're on a real tear since they got back together. They sounded great, had excellent stage presence, and played a fantastic set heavy on their last couple albums, but they hit Back to Times of Splendor a couple times and even played a Gloria tune if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure I'll never get another chance to see these guys, so this felt like a real treat. They got a good reaction from the crowd, too, which was nice, especially so early in the day. Overall, I'm really impressed by how full the venue feels even early in the morning. Some of those early bands a decade ago sometimes played to fairly empty rooms, but these days, even the 2:00 bands play to at least 70%, with tons of people on the floor. ProgPower really is an unreasonably great festival. Illumishade, Damian Wilson: Did not watch. It's hard to think of a worse band name than Illumishade. I have never been a fan of Damian Wilson, although the couple other times I saw him at PP he was always surprisingly good on stage. I'm just not that into his tunes, and I opted to eat expensive meat with friends at that time instead. Winger: The Winger debut was one of the first tapes I bought after I started working at McDonald's as a 14 year old in 1988. I had literally just gotten interested in metal because all the other kids had started to form musical identities for themselves, and the dudes I hung out with at lunch were metal guys, so... Anyway, I saw Madeleine on Headbangers Ball and loved it, and honestly, I still think that album is pretty damned good. I ended up owning a Hurricane tape and a Bulletboys tape (yikes!) before I discovered thrash and by the end of the year I was buying Coroner and Bolt Thrower albums. But yeah, Winger. One of my only hair metal interests. I didn't like their second album and didn't even bother with Pull until probably five or six years after it was released, because people on the original Perpetual Motion board raved about it. Probably Glenn!!! It's okay - it's not a hairy embarrassment like the second album, but even though the songs are heavier and maybe a little proggy, they're just not as catchy as the ones on the debut. But it was still cool to see them play the whole thing! Kip himself seemed like he was very stoned or something - low energy, distracted-seeming, but he played and sang well, and his great banter is the obvious product of thousands of shows. I'm super impressed that all four original guys are still in the band, plus two more guys, one of whom was Kip's older, infinitely less glamorous brother, with whom he was evidently in a band before Alice Cooper. Everyone in this band is a musical beast - Reb was a lot of fun to watch, and I appreciate the Suhr guitars the band used. Rod Morgenstein is still impressive in his 70s. And then they played Madeleine (I would also have accepted Hungry) and DIDN'T play Seventeen, so win-win! I'm glad to have seen them, it was a fun show, and now I think I can be done with Winger. I did expect some ballet kicks or jumps or anything from Kip, though, and got bupkis, so there's that. Pagan's Mind: Didn't watch. I've watched them before, and they made me furious with boredom, so I wasn't about to subject myself to that again. I don't understand the appeal of this band. They're so unextraordinary! I guess the singer is okay sometimes, although generally he's worst in this band. Anyway, I don't feel like I missed anything.

ko nije gledao ovu acoustic svirku, treba to uciniti trenutno mi ovo omiljena pesma na albumu, ali se menja svakog dana realno

uvek cemo imati prva tri albuma

juce sam citao ProgPower recenziju Matta iz Pharoaha, i njegov opis Nospuna je savrsen opis za sve ove nu-prog, Haken bendove "This band had negative charisma, but they probably have a lot of Cisco certifications among them." 😄

samo da ne mora na merchu da pise "Isis the Band"

pergament sam gledao jednu, nije delovalo dobro. power surge imaju izgled i zvuk ali su mi pesme tanke, 80s fazon, dokken, ratt, itd, ali slabe mi pesme bile iskreno. super sto ovi ljudi dovode ove oldschool bendova, ali bedak sto ne dovode sve sto slicna ekipa dovodi u ZG, Satan, Jag Panzer, Riot, itd.

isto su pricali za Steel Panther da se cekalo pola sata za pivo jer je jedan klinac radio, stvarno beda

degradacija svakako, ali bar nije Evergrey nivo

nista ne fali originalnom snimku sto se mene tice, savrsen zvuk.

ufuf mada ne mogu mnogo da se zalim jer sam gledao ovu https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/symphony-x/2001/heavy-metal-sound-north-plainfield-nj-6bdece6e.html

apsolutno, pratio bih ovu turneju kao grateful dead 😄 Orion - The Hunter, Pharaoh, Witching Hour, Savage Curtain, A Fool's Paradise samo deep cuts. Jasno mi je sto nikad nisu svirali mnogo sa Damnation Game jer sam prilicno siguran da nisu ni krenuli sa turnejama i svirkama pre nego sto je Twilight izasao. A kad izdas albume kao Divine, Twilight, V u nizu, tesko je da se vracas na Damnation Game.

sasvim kul svirka bila. Fifth Angel, odlicni, hitovi sevali, vrlo malo smarali sa novim stvarima. FA su pravi primer onog, ako vecnisi mnogo originalan, bar napisi dobru pesmu. Prva dva albuma hit do hita, cujes pesmu jednom, zapamtis je. Takva je i svirka bila. dobra zurka sve vreme. samo mi Seven Hours falila od omiljenih pesama.

jbt gledam na setlist.com da vidim koje pesme nisu nikad svirali, ima bas mnogo apsolutnih bengera. Dragons Den svirali 8 puta, Edge of Forever jednom, damnation game dvaput, Fallen 15 puta, a nekako su uspeli Masquerade da sviraju 50 puta

bedak za food truck, bas je delovao kao da se nasao u tome

Russ je, ocekivano, postao zvezda u Trans-Siberian Orchestru. Tako da on radi to pola godina, verovatno jako fino zaradjuje, i nema mnogo potrebe da radi nesto drugo sto ce da ga odvaja po kuce i porodice jos vise. a Rullo se preselio u new mexico i ima svoj food truck 😄

radio on to dosta cesto. skapirao sam da su SX mozda najveci bol u kurcu bend na planeti. idu na turneje stalno bez da izdaju nesto novo, gledam sad setlist, bukvalno nista ne menjaju, od starih inferno, evolution, pa sea of lies I of sins za bis, to je to. i novije jedva da rotiraju. sta ih boli kurac kad se fanovi ne bune 😄

Day and Age mi bas bio veliki letdown nakon 3 savrsenih albuma, ali izgleda da se vracaju u velikom stilu sa novim albumom. oba singla su jebanje mame

Satan kad god izbace album:

nece ovo uskoro stati. popularniji su nego ikad, u nama je problem.

cekao sam kisu da pustim. mislim da im je ovo najbolji do sad. zamisli slusas pallbearer kad ovo postoji

kapiram, ja sam potegao kombi bas iz razloga sto sledeceg dana moram ujutru da letim negde javite se privatnom porukom ako ste iz fazona. nisam dugo isao kombijem tako da ne znam kakve su cene, ako nas bude 7-8 raspitacu se.

ima li nas dovoljno za kombi varijantu za Zagreb?

dobar opis, svi su mu takvi. genijalan lik

RIP