HammerfallMN

26.02.2003

HAMMERFALL + MASTERPLAN + NOSTRADAMEUS

at Z 7 - Pratteln (CH) - 22/01/2003

review by Dalia "gryphon_spirit"Di Giacomo- photos © by Stefan "absolut-evidence" Vogelaar

The public use of these fotos is strictly prohibited without written permission.

NOSTRADAMEUS Sony Music Entertainment www.nostradameus.com

This evening must be quite lucky for the Z7 cause the venue is really very crowded, as if the "templars " of the whole Switzerland and sorroundings would have fixed a kind of general meeting. Templars or not, there are a lot of Power and Heavy fans, who are not only attracted by the name HammerFall, but by the so called supporters too. I bet a lot are here cause are interested in Masterplan too.

And at 20:00 the performance begins. A kind of melodic epic intro resounds. Nostradameus ' drummer takes the stage supported by a lot of applauses and soon afterwards appears the rest of the band . My first impression is positive, cause Nostradameus seem to be already a well amalgamated group , from the optical point of view too. And for sure Nostradameus don't disappoint this impression with their music , cause every member of the band harmonizes with the rest of the line up. i underline this concept, firstly cause Nostradameus are relatively newcomers , so it 's always a pleasure to see a kind of new band so well come together and secondly cause , on the contrary, Masterplan will give to me the exact opposite impression. But let's proceed with order. It is still not time to think about Masterplan cause the up- tempo The Vision is capturing all the attention of the good mooded crowd. I don't know if it's the spirit of the Power, but tonight we are in presence of a totally different kind of Swiss audience: not the usual severe and a little bit cold one, but an extremely happy, joyful and nice . A crowd very easy to be cheered on and that is supporting this first band enormously . For the record ,and the honesty, i must say that for me (maybe with the exception of the new tracks HammerFall will present) this evening will be truly a torture. I generally don't like the Power oriented music , but job is job, and an interesting band like Nostradameus well deserves some suffering. The more i listen to them , the more i understand that they can offer something innovative to this genre both with their music and stage acting. The blond singer Freddy Persson has a very good voice, and he could really compete with Tobias Sammet, being Freddy's voice much more agreeable in my opinion. Their hammering and heavy music well supports their being likeable. After The Vision is the turn of Far too strong form The third Prophecy. Obviously singer Freddy doesn't forget to present Nostradameus new album! People is clapping their hands , while the energetic voice is successfull instanding up to the instruments. The thing that really annoys me is that i don't understand very well the lyrics , maybe it's my fault , maybe it's that i'm in the very front of the powerful boxes and everything echoes a little bit. The omnipresent "Thank you so much " resounds as expected, but the band doesnt waste time in ceremonies and presents at once Murder from their The prophet of Evil. The rhythm is really galloping and heavy, again another song in which the bravely involved crowd can offer support . Solos and vigorous notes are not missed and the 5 -string bass, played by the impressive Thomas Antonsson, is doing a great hell of work. Warm applauses. Again the rhythm remains high with the energetic but melodic, a little bit anthemic, Those Things you did which offers moments of heavy crunchy relentless guitars too, making the joy of the Heavy Metal faction. Attractive but not too much, entertainers but not too much, Nostradameus with their good calibrated metal outfit, give even a touch of deep black (meant as colour, this goes without saying ) to this cool atmosphere. The kind of hymn One for all, all for one closes a really good gig which has basically only the defect of being too short. Though all this is not my cup of blood , i saw and listened to Nostradameus gladly, though i think that they should be also more easy-going: still they covertly betray the emotion of the impact with a big crowd, but all in all the Swedish Nostradameus are really a good band which can propose something fresh to the kackneyed Power/heavy scene. The bursts of applauses and the greetings of all Nostradameus lads in group to the audience sign the end of the first part of an evening that promises to be elated.

setlist:

The Vision

Far too strong

Murder

Those things you did

One for all, all for one.

MASTERPLAN

www.master-plan.net our review (Italian)

20:47 Masterplan are on the stage. The audience is very curious at the idea to see this group , that , in the scene, has done such a sensation. I'm still simply trying to understand why and maybe this evening i will have some revelation. the spark will fall upon me , making comprehensible to me the Masterplan success formula...we should not forget that this is the first tour of the band , which had its first live debut ever as Masterplan in Osnabrück. So we too at Z7 are very lucky to see above the first ones Masterplan acting live. The first thing hitting me, (but could it be otherwise?) is the fish-bone shaped bass guitar , shark maybe?, whatever. Able to lighten in the darkness and hopefully to let out effective sounds. And let's go with another session of Power-heavy! , though one can at once understand that there are lots of differences with Nostradameus' fresh music. Masterplan are generally less fast than Nostradameus and the vocals sound lower though very agreeable. The songs proposed alternate galloping rhythm with more mid-tempo oriented songs. Among the first group of songs proposed we can mention Spirit never dies; Heroes; Kind hearted Light; Crystal Night , played in an enthralling way with heavy end; the melodic Soulburn proudly presented together with the album by bass player Jan who has better entertaining talent than singer Jorn Lande, providing backingvocals very often ; and Bleeding Eyes, a little bit hypnotic and anomalous for the genre, atmospheric with some oriental echo.

the band plays good and many members are putting in this gig a lot of evident personal enthusiasm. They are all good musicians many of them with a lot of experience on their shoulders, but yes this, really this seems to be the problem of the band as well, at least to me. The more they play the more i have the impression to have in front of me 5 persons who have hardly something in common , music aside. More than a coherent line up, it seems to me a group of 5 persons put together due some strange alchemy: Roland Grapow (ex Helloween no further explanation needed) this evening seems to me like run directly away from Europe (yes the final countdown band..remember?); the keyboarder , really happy and smiling , with his red trousers and the general outfit seems on the contrary directly taken from the Backstreet Boys ; drummer Uli Kusch (another ex Helloween) the other enthusiast one, is doing a good work with pure sports attitude; bass player Jan Eckert (who used to play with Iron Savior) energetic entertainer with his original bass. Finally the singer: Jorn Lande, sophisticated in manners and clothes and not really very good mooded tonight. Well we will see if this band, besides its style of music, will find a bigger presence homogeneity.

Some nice digressions are when bassist Jan, during the break moments, beats his bass making it pull out crunchy notes and intermittent light , or when Grapow asks the audience whether people would be happy in listening something from his musical past. And indeed a medley of old songs is proposed : among them the beautiful Sun is going down (Helloween). Towards the end of the show, at the classical question "do you want more?", the audience simply electrified, gets the song Crawling from Hell, followed by the presentation of the members of the band.

HAMMERFALL www.hammerfall.net

our CD review

Templars of Pratteln ! Switzerland ! this is one of the venue where we played more cause it's one of the best in all f**king world! - well more or less with these words Joacim Cans has expressed his deep enthusiasm for crowd and venue duringh the show . Methinks that the " templars " of Switzerland should be extremely satisfied and proud. What then the true heirs of the true templars , if they ever still exist, could think about all this we don't know.

After the Masterplan show , the stage was completely cleared and a huge free space was created. Here and there some impaled skulls. At the very end of the stage which was now appearing in all its vastness, a kind of mobile lift structure was supporting HammerFall drums. once elevated this structure created a kind of door through which finally the well known band- mascot Hector enters the stage while the teutonic chorus of Lore of the Arcane spreads its notes . Ovations. the crowd is simply ecstatic. Hector lets its hammer fall and a nice pyrotechnical effect introduces the band (no seriously... all HammerFall fans will forgive my open ignorance about these templars' terrible weapons... but what the hell is that thing? a) a not better identified megahammer b) Thor's hammer c) a tool which makes you laugh to death) . Anyway all in all it was a really enjoyable introduction. Already from the first song proposed, Riders of the Storm, (with pyro effects too) HammerFall's performance seems super. The more i try to find a loud defect , the more i remain surprised to see an enthralling , positive -mooded show. Well ,to be honest , the drummer is not always up to the task, making some clearly remarkable mistakes , but ehy it's live! after all the show runs wonderfully among applauses, headbangings, Joacim's entertaining moments, and catchy heavy songs. The band is extremely lively and mobile, bassist Magnus Rosén simply a savage force of nature, guitarist Elmgren is very energetic, while i would have appreciated more aggressivity from the tall Oscar Dronjak who only gives to me a delicate almost gothic impression. The audience is simply at seventh heaven: people jump when Legacy of Kings is proposed , is quite impressed by the falling snow effect during Glory to the Brave when so often Joacim lets the crowd sing. Legacy of Kings was followed by an impressive bass solo, while after Glory to the Brave it was Elmgren's solo turn. Crimson Thunder , the title track of the new album, is an apotheosis crowned by the enthusiastic request of the encore, which comes triumphally with pyroeffects which underline Templars of Steel, Hearts on Fire (super enthralling) and HammerFall. And now final pyros and group -greetings of the band to all Swiss templars! Cool Heavy-Power music, impeccable vocals: in few words all a brilliant band that knows perfectly its job and how to sell itself. The impression i got reviewing their new album was right...