Ann Boleyn

AT WAR

DEATH SS

DESTRUCTOR

EXCITER

IMPALER

MORTAL SIN

PICTURE

PRAYING MANTIS

SWEET SAVAGE

WILD DOGS

Headbangers Open Air

Thurs 24th July to Sat 26th July 2008

Brande, Germany

Still think the 80s are over? Well, take a trip to Headbangers Open Air - the ultimate headbangers ball! Located in the farm country outside of Hamburg, it provided both an amazing find that other festivals could not match - and everyone was just so damn friendly!

HOA wasn’t actually billed as a festival but a garden party cos it was located in the farmyard of the promoter Thomas. Aside from his own house the stage was a barn cut in half with the campsite in the adjacent field - complete with mooing cows. This had to be the easiest festival to get into: u just parked in the field opposite, walked across the road and into the metal garden - complete with flower pots and trees (well, mebbe a few less as I saw one guy wrestling with one!). HOA has got to be a headbanger’s dream cos it’s literally like a family gathering, a community within the larger metal community (and that’s saying something given this is Wacken country) that specialises in bringing back some of the most forgotten and cult underground bands of the 80s, so if you missed any of these bands the first time then HOA is the place for you! There’s also a more subtle but even more important reason for HOA: it actually captures the true spirit of metal and provides a uniquely intense metal experience in the metal world.

Thurs 24th July

I arrived just in time for Benedictum’s classic heavy metal set and I’m glad I caught them cos they remind me of Znowhite, complete with a ‘coffee n cream’ team of a big black guitarist and white female vocalist, who’s equally physical not just in terms of her full figure but also her powerful, sexy voice! Together they worked the crowd well even inviting some guys onstage (how could anyone say no to her!) to sing along to a cover of Accept’s ‘Balls To The Wall’ and left to a rapturous response with a young headbanger (complete with 80s style denim jacket covered in patches and a bullet belt) telling me that they should have headlined.

Exodus should’ve taken a leaf out’ve Benedictum’s book but instead chose to soundcheck for 45 mins in front of the audience. These guys thought they were playing some US concert hall and here they were in a barn playing in someone’s back garden - wake up dude, just plug in and play!!! After a ridiculous biblical intro that would’ve befitted Manowar more, they finally started

and at once some guy started shouting “Bonded By Blood, I only want to hear fucking songs from Bonded By Blood!!”. Too bloody right, Exodus have never topped that album and for a hardcore show like this they should’ve played every goddamn song offa that ripping little album. Too be fair, they got the message and played ‘And Then There Were None’ and ‘Piranha’ but Rob Dukes will never have the deranged vocal style or persona for that matter of the late, great Paul Baloff. Instead, he tried to humour the crowd (many of whom don’t really get English humour) by telling them how he jerked off on the flight 15 times and then capped it off with a stupid diatribe against Muslims. The final straw for me came when he asked anyone if they knew the words to ‘Bonded...’ and when some guy stuck his hand up, Dukes shyed away from inviting him onstage. Pussy. Guess Benedictum should’ve headlined afterall like the kid said.

Fri 25th July

After a few beers I thought I was seeing double as Deadly Blessing - who reminded me of Nevemore - finished off their set - then someone told me they were playing for the second time after German metallers Paradox had cancelled. Ok, that seemed to make sense and make me feel better that I wasn’t already fucked up and it was just as well cos nothing could prepare me for the Mortal Sin riot!! Backstage (i.e. in the flower garden!) the band were already pumped and a big crowd (possibly everyone) had assembled to hear this 80s Aussie act who played technical thrash. With a mixture of new songs and old ones from the classic “Mayhemic Destruction” like ‘Power From Darkness’, ‘I Am Immortal’ and my personal fave ‘Lebanon’, these were the old days again with the crowd rabidly chanting ‘Mortal Sin! Mortal Sin!’ between the songs. When the band humbly asked if ‘a few people’ wanted to come up onstage they caused an onstage rush and were mobbed by nutters in blue spandex and WW2 helmets - good on ya!

Next up were another cult band - Ireland’s Sweet Savage. Despite there being only 2 Irish fans in the crowd (who sadly didn’t like SS all that much), the band didn’t seem too perturbed as they opened their fast aggressive hard rock style to ‘Ground Zero’, followed by ‘Queen’s Vengence’ (from the BBC Radio 1 Friday Rock Show sessions). Although original guitarist Vivian Campbell was not there the 2 guys playing instead were equally fast and ferocious as judged by a blistering cover of ‘Breadfan’ and the barnstorming closer (made famous by Metallica covering it on one of their B sides) ‘Killing Time’.

Lethal initially I thought the 80s hardcore band but then realising this was a pure heavy metal festival these guys turned out looking like an AOR band but thankfully sounded a lot like Maiden with tinges of Judas Priest although they were certainly heavier than both and had a vocalist who could’ve given Bruce Bruce a run fer his money. Again, they proved popular with the crowd.

Next up were at band I’d waited a long time to see: At War. Complete with flakjackets and the Blackwater ‘merc’ look this US trio literally went to war with their heavy brutal thrash and songs like ‘Retaliatory Strike’, ‘One Shot, One Kill’ and their classic ‘Isla, She Wolf Of The SS’. Halfway thru the set, which included a cover of ‘The Hammer’, the band were belting it out so hard the PA gave way!! Later, hooking up over a beer with guitarist Shaun Helsel (who turned out to be real nice guy and anything but a warmonger) he said “look, even if we’re not making money from the show cos of the plane tickets it’s still great to play in front of these fans and give ‘em a chance to see us at last and hopefully we’ll be back..”. He was interrupted by the beaming drummer who said “wasn’t that great?! I just went to war on someone else’s drumkit ha ha!!”.

“Hi, my name is Bill - are you guys ready to get fucked up?” Uh oh, it was Impaler time i.e. horror theatrics (disembowelling an attractive nurse - his girlfriend), wrestling (Bill smashing a chair over his head), and 80s metal as the band launched into ‘It Won’t Die’. It seemed almost surreal cos not 10 minutes earlier I’d been watching these monstrosities from the Mid West pleasantly strolling around the flower garden complete with their dead goth look and make up. Blood, sweat, guts and songs like ‘King Of The Freaks’ were rolled out until Bill waved us goodbye with a head on a pole saying ‘Germany, we love you’. Yeah, we love you too Bill.

Is that really Anne Boleyn?! Everyone seemed to be asking each other that but it was definitely her minus the 80s puff hair look (that prize went to Dan Beehler’s wife!) now in favour of flailing corn dreads! It was truely monumental to see the famed Hellion vocalist now in one of the 80s most classic matchups with the original line-up of Detente. There are few ladies who could hold a candle to the late Dawn Crosby but Anne Boleyn is one of those with the heritage to do so. Opening with ‘It’s Your Fate’ Anne was like a firecracker moving in motion to Detente’s driving metal and when she finally brought the hammer down to ‘Life Is Pain’ I thought I was in a fuckin time warp - until harsh reality arrived by some drunk dude trying to kiss me cos he thought I looked like Blaze Bayley (as if) and ‘loved my Oxford English’ - yuuuukk!!

Sat 26th July

From Cleveland, Ohio - Destructor! Wow, today’s weather was starting to heat up and it could only get hotter as Dave Overkill screamed so hard I thought his larynx was gonna fall out. He’s actually a pretty funny guy swigging a beer and saying to the crowd “..is this shit any good? Ok, this is a song about me getting really fucked up a few years back (yup, he was after BYH 03)..” before launching into ‘Overdosed’. As the band piled into ‘Maximum Destruction’ the wood barn was now like a sweatbox and during ‘Pounding Evil’ bassist Jamie Boulder jumps into the pit and says “alright, you guys wanna headbang?”, then grabs some guys heads and violently shakes them - perfect!

Praying Mantis were a band who surprised me cos they were so popular with the crowd, and even more so cos they only played a short set cos guitarist Tino Troy had sustained a shoulder injury. However, these NWOBHM veterans did the right thing and played all their best songs from ‘Flirting With Suicide’ to ‘Captive City’ to my personal fave, the timeless ‘Children Of The Earth’. Apologising at the end, it didn’t matter cos they left to a huge roar of appreciation clearly showing the crowd’s pedigree that it appreciated both the hardness but also the melody of 80s metal - another feather in the cap of HOA.

A lot’ve people wanted to see Destructor in Axehammer’s slot and clearly they showed it cos there was only about 6 people at the front (well, they did start early) - “hey, more time for us” grinned the nose boned kilt wearing vocalist as they launched into ‘Princess’. But these guys from Cally didn’t do it for me so I opted for more beer - and with the cheap prices it seemed way more tempting than listening to ‘Demon Killer’.

Wild Dogs were a band I’d waited all my life to see. I’d gotten their classic debut album (and to pioneering Shrapnel manager Mike Varney I will be eternally grateful for picking this band up) and loved their straight US metal cunningly laced with catchy melody - who the hell would ever believe their then drummer Dean Castronovo is today Journey’s drummer!! Still fronted by black leather maniac Matt McCourt they whacked out ‘Life Is Just A Game’, ‘The Evil In Me’, ‘Two Wrongs...’ and it became clear that these songs were timeless and still sounded so good even after 30 years, especially when they’re played with the conviction of the highly strung McCourt - he may look like your grandpappy (in leather) but he can sure shake it still! New guitarist Robert did the right thing by sticking to original guitarist Jeff Mark’s sound whilst proving he was a guitarist in his own right and that made for an excellent show. “..will you still like me if I get skinny and I’m not fat..?” said McCourt as a parting comment to the crowd’s applause. I think we will Matt.

Next up were a coupla bands I wasn’t familiar with but I thought I’d check ‘em out anyway. Rebellion had a female guitarist and played melodic power metal with operatic vocals, but were heavy enough not to disappoint especially during the furious double bass drumming of ‘Taste Of Steel’, as well as entertaining during ‘Rebellion Of The Night’ where the singer brought out bagpipes. New Eden were a Chicago instro metal band also with wailing operatic vocals and equally matched guitar histrionics. Technically outstanding (although they were delayed 30 mins by sampler problems), I got the impression they were a little too sophistocated meat n potatoes HOA and would’ve been better off at another fest: there was hardly enough there at the end of their set which wasn’t helped by the cheesy game show host rapport of the vocalist.

The previous day I’d met a Dutch guy who’d brought his son to see Picture, a band who he’d waited 25 years to see and certainly I too was intrigued by this band that I’d heard briefly in the 80s but then forgot. There was a small but dedicated crowd of mixed ages assembled for their 70s hard rock metal as the band played ‘Diamond Dreamer’, ‘The Plate’, ‘Message From Hell’, ‘Eternal Dark’ and ‘Bombers’. Arguably the oldest band at HOA, they seemed to have the eternal rock star for a vocalist, complete with a massive curly blond barnet, this guy was smooching the chicks as he had me wondering what he did for a day job!

Exciter were one of the pioneers of the 80s thrash metal scene when they laid down one of the cornerstone albums - ‘Heavy Metal Maniac’ - to define that genre. To me, they never topped that debut and also fizzled out as thrash did. 20 years later I was part of a promotion that featured Exciter (only with John Ricci mind) and thought, along with the crowd that night, that it was a monumental show. Now 10 years on, I had mixed thoughts of what I would make of Beehler, featuring Exciter bassist Allan Johnson and vocalist / drummer Dan Beehler. I need not have asked: wisely basing their set on early Exciter material including the aforementioned ‘HMM’, Dan & Allan were on a mission to prove they were the real Exciter. I used to think that it was John Ricci’s guitar that defined Exciter but I was wrong, it’s Dan Beehler’s voice that gives meaning to songs like ‘Iron Dogs’, ‘Evil Sinner’ and ‘World War 3’. I still continue to be amazed at how he manages to sing and drum together and as he worked up a furious sweat and hollered to HOA to do the same during ‘Violence and Force’, they did by chanting whilst Dan provided the screams! Beehler are Exciter in all but name.

This was to be Death SS’s farewell show and it certainly seemed that way as a lot’ve Italian fans had turned up specially for them. However, talking to Steve Sylvester (if ever the showman, he was even game enough to pose for a foto just before walking onstage) it was not the end of Italy’s most famous metal band but rather a special one off show that would showcase their 80s look and songs. With so many flashbombs going off that the security had to clear the fotopit and the barn adorned with so manu props i.e. gravestones, crosses etc that I wondered how the band would fit on. Death SS had arrived! With a mixture of different looks ranging from a mummy bassist, to zombie guitarists to the vampire of Steve Sylvester these guys were clearly more theatrical than heavy metal, more catchy metallized rock judging by ‘Kings Of Evil’, ‘Horrible Eyes’, ‘Baphomet’ and ‘Vampire’ carried on by the likes of Lordi today. But I guess in the 80s this would’ve worked a treat passing for ‘evil’ though it’s never really been cool to such in catholic Italy. Steve Sylvester was clearly the man to watch as he worked the crowd effortlessly whilst cavorting and posing for the photographers - he clearly lives for the show and he’s been at it for 30 years! From topless dominas to bible bashing midget monks, I couldn’t see anyone getting bored at a Death SS show cos they are definitely entertaining and as they brought their set to a close, they capped a festival worthy of those halcyon metal days and a true successor making it an absolute pilgrimage for anyone into 80s metal.

Headbangers Open Air - for hardcore headbangers only!!!

-Shan Siva