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MINNEAPOLIS
MAYHEM 3
- first day
August
25th 2006
Star
Central in Columbia Heights Minnesota
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photos ©
by Matthew Haumschild
reviews
by Matthew Haumschild
The public
use of these photos is strictly prohibited
without written
permission
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intro
Seven Witches (New York)
Omen (Texas)
Steel Attack (Sweden)
Gaia Epicas (Norway)
Imagika (California)
Division (Virginia)
Cold
Colours (Minnesota)
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intro
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I
haven’t been to a festival for a long time. The last festival I remember
going to I wasn’t even old enough to drink yet! I didn’t know quite what
to expect. I was hoping there would be a lot of people here, but
unfortunately there wasn’t. It wasn’t a total loss, about 150-200 showed
up. But I think the high ticket prices scared people away. Tickets at the
door were $25, which is reasonable if the show contained groups that more
people knew about like Nevermore, Children of Bodom, or Dragonforce.
Usually, Cold Colours alone brings in around 100 people but when they were
on, I counted 20 people in the front and another 20 or so hanging out at the
bar or near the soundboard.
I could understand the ticket prices.
Steel Attack and Gaia Epicas flew in from their prospective countries to
play this show. Division drove all the way from Virginia over night to play
the show as did the other bands. I thought it was so cool that they did
that, but I wish more people would have showed up.
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COLD COLOURS
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The
odd band of the festival was Minneapolis’s Cold Colours. Cold Colours is a
band that has been influenced by To/Die/For, Anathema, and Sentenced. So to
see this kind of a band open up for power metal acts is a little unusual.
The band does have a decent following for a local band. This was there first
show that I’ve seen where they didn’t have their keyboard player with
them. I didn’t know quite what to expect, to my surprise they sounded very
solid. They seemed better put together than ever before. I would also like
to point out that their sound has changed since the last time I saw them.
They featured a few new songs at this show that sounded more like Sentenced
than they had before. They went from this slower gothic rock sound to songs
that were a little faster and contained a little bit more attitude and it
worked. Even when the band played some of their older stuff and it sounded
better than ever. A funny part of the show happened at the end of the third
song, the drummer lost one of his sticks and he didn’t have another handy
and played the rest of the song with one stick. What I didn’t like so much
was the backing vocals. I didn’t feel that it blended well with the music,
I felt that the bass player’s singing was too high compared to the lead
singers and it didn’t sound quite right. Other than that, the band was
great. I’ve seen them several times and I’ll see them again more sooner
than later. Cold Colours are hands down one of the best local bands in town.
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DIVISION
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The
boys of Division were extremely cool on and off stage. I talked to the band
before and after their show. I could not have met a nicer group. The bands
sound was pretty unique. They had a combination of a power-metal blended in
with blues. The band was full of energy! I
couldn’t get the bass player to stand still to take a photo! The stage
presence was deffinatly their but I had a problem with their overall sound.
I don’t know whether to blame the band or blame the sound guy. The guitars
had way too much gain in the upper midrange and it didn’t sound pleasant
at all. I couldn’t tell what the guitar players were doing. It sounded
messy until there was a solo and that sounded great, but I couldn’t take
the sound quality. I do feel that if the guitars and bass were cleaned up
considerably and there was a larger crowd, the band would have rocked the
joint down to its foundation. The songs themselves were good, the backing
vocals blended perfectly with the lead vocals giving way to some great
harmonies. I was talking to the singer before the show and he told me that
the band recently bought their way out of their record contract, which is no
easy feat, I like this band and I think they deserve a closer look. Check
them out at http://www.division-usa.com
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IMAGIKA
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Imagika,
hands down, were the heaviest band of the night and most deffinatly the
loudest band too. This band sounds more like a cross between Nevermore and
Testament blended with power metal. I say that some of the guitar playing is
a cross between Testament and a typical power metal band and the singer has
the low end growl of Chuck Billy of Testament and the high end squeal of Rob
Halford. One part of the band I’d like to point out is their bass player.
They had a female bass player, this is unique to me since I can only think
of three bands in the history metal that have had female bass players: Drain
STH, White Zombie, and Kittie. She had attitude to boot! She didn’t take
any crap from any of the guys and she played as if there weren’t any
distinction. The crowd seemed to like the band, I had to run and get new
batteries for my camera during their set so I didn’t get to see more then
three or four songs. However, what I had seen sounded pretty good, worth
downloading a few mp3’s.
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GAIA EPICAS
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The surprise
band of the night from my perspective and from the crowd perspective has got
to be Gaia Epicas. That band flew in directly from Norway to play this show.
The band opened up with this fast as hell song blowing me away! The singer
was singing some cheesy high-pitched lyrics but seemed to go real well with
the music. The band was really solid; some of the best drumming of the night
came from this band. Gaia had a lot of stage presence and the crowd could
tell too, everyone was getting into them. After the first song, one of the
guitar players was having problems with is guitar, I couldn’t tell what
the problem was, but I think he had problems tuning it. Him and the other
guitar player (who was also singing) went off stage for what seemed like
five minutes, and during that five minutes, we got to listen a bass solo.
Their bass player was amazing! After
he was done, the band just rocked the house. Playing extremely fast and
sounding very professional. This is a band to watch out for. I’d put these
guys in the same category as Jag Panzer, Stratovarious, and Sonata Arctica.
Gaia Epicas is a brilliant band, check them out asap!
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STEEL ATTACK
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I
think Gaia Epicas would have been a hard act to follow by most bands so when
Steel Attack came on, they would have had to really impress me.
Unfortunately they were the disappointment of the night. Visibly they were
harsher in tone, but their guitar sound was just awful. They encountered the
same problem Division did only much worse. It was just noise and for the
first time all night the drums sounded like shit. One thing that hadn’t
changed throughout the night was the drum kit so there would be no reason
why the drums sounded the way they did. The singing was a bit out of
control, it was higher pitched than normal and I didn’t understand a word
he was saying. The one thing they did have going for them were the backing
vocals, they blended perfectly with the lead vocals. As their set went on,
they got slightly better but they didn’t excite me. After they were done,
many of the people where raving over how good they were, but I didn’t
think so, bands like this make me wish I brought earplugs.
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OMEN
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I was amused
when the singer for Omen ran on the stage. This old, flabby and very white
male ran on stage with his band which looked really horrible! But luckily
for us, the fans, the band didn't sound too bad! Omen reminds me of a Motorhead
version of a power metal band. The singer had a rasp to his voice that is
reminiscent of Brian Johnson of AC/DC only with vibrato. The drumming was
really fast and the solos were really long but it worked because the Omen
were the most popular band of the night. After the first song, people were
chanting their name. Omen had lots of energy and it rubbed off on the crowd
because the crowd was really getting into it. The bass was very clear for I
could hear every note as were the guitars and drums, the band was perfectly
mixed. I would say Omen is above average for bands. They’ve been together
for a long time and are considered legends in the power metal field.
Throughout their set, fans kept shouting out song names. My final thought
about the band is that they weren’t very exciting to me but they weren’t
boring by any means and if they’d play a shorter set, I might go see them
again.
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SEVEN WITCHES
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Before
the show, I was talking with Jack Frost, who is the guitar player for Seven
Witches. He also has several of his own projects however, I would like to
note him for playing in Savatage and Bronx Casket Company (see my review).
And he was a very nice person, very approachable not to mention very
knowledgeable on guitar. He had mentioned to me that sometime next year, BCC
will try to get to Europe and tour. Seven Witches fucking rocked. It’s a
shame because after Omen was done, half the place left. It’s a shame
because Seven Witches played extremely well. Frost’s guitar sounded
completely different from the other bands, it sound absolutely perfect. It
sounded like a guitar that I would hear from Soilwork or In Flames. The band
sounded like a power metal version of In Flames. Solos galore filled with
melody with commanding vocals and vicious drumming. I left during half the
set because my legs were killing me. From what I saw I was most impressed.
Since writing this review, I’ve ordered a Seven Witches CD via the
internet.
I had fun at this event, although I do wish there would have been
more variety instead of all power metal, it would have been nice to have a
melodic death metal band there or an industrial band, or something that
would kill the monotony. Sure, power metal doesn’t get enough recognition,
but still. Best surprise of the night was Gaia Epicas best stage presence
went to Division, best sounding guitar goes to Seven Witches, and best
singing goes to Cold Colours. I suggest listening to all these bands; anyone
is bound to like one of them. And remember, this is the new underground
music in America, horns up and show support!
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