Oktoberhallen, Wieze, Belgium18th and 19th of October 2008
Metal Female Voices
Girlschool, Eths, Benedictum, Dylath-leen, White Skull, Chaoswave, Izegrim, Ethernity, Why She Kills
Today was the day of the heavy chicks. Apparently these are a lot less popular because there was just about a third of the audience of the first day. That didn’t affect the shows however because they rocked big time.
19th of October
Why She Kills
Their debut EP ‘Of Hope and Suffocation’ was released in 2006. So Why She Kills is a very young band. This year they have released their second EP ‘Daydreams of Obliteration’ and this band has not one but two leading ladies! The perfect band to open the day. http://www.whyshekills.com
Music & performance
Their stage was decorated with a great backdrop! Within Why She Kills Anita and Daan have a perfect balance between grunts and clean vocals. There is great interaction between these ladies, they have a powerful performance. The men of the band do come to the front of the stage but there is little contact with the audience. It is great that you can hear the words of the clean vocals, this way, even if you hear them for the first time, you can understand what the songs are about. At the end of the show one of the ladies told us “enjoy the rest of the show and buy our drummer a beer, he is the master of destruction’. Let’s hope someone did!
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total:7 (6,7)
Ethernity
The first four years of their existence Ethernity didn’t have a vocalist. Then they found Julie Colin and continued their musical road together. In November of 2007 this band won a spot at the festival of this year. I wonder if their band name is a misspelled version of eternity or that is has a special meaning, if so it is not explained on their website. http://www.ethernity.be
Music & performance
Julie has a good voice; it just doesn’t seem to fully come to its potential. At times she has a nice raw touch to her voice. As if the huge backdrop with their name on it weren’t enough, their bass player also wore a shirt of his own band. The guitarists of the band are a bit slow, hanging around the stage but not really performing. Their keyboard player is a great extra touch in two ways, his music adds extra depth to the music and vocally he can hit some high notes. It sounds good when Julie and Julien sing together.
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 5
Sound: 6
Light: 7
Total: 6 (5,8)
Izegrim
Izegrim changed their line-up several times but they have always found great leading ladies for this female fronted ‘thunder thrash’ band from Zutphen, the Netherlands. Their journey started in 1996 and today they were to rock the stage in Wieze and they did! http://www.izegrim.nl
Music & performance
While Jeroen (guitar) and Bart (guitar) were banging their heads and playing at the same time, Marloes stood fairly still. She had to play her bass and sing at the same time of course. When she does bang her head, it is a great sight with her long blond hair. While the guitarists were working up a sweat the drums keep on going like rolling thunder. There is little contact between the band members. Songs such as ‘Angel of Demise’, ‘Persona Non Grata’ and ‘Deliverance’ were being played. Marloes may look like a tough metal chick but when a member of the audience makes a heart with his hands, a smile comes to her face. The band members seem to more and more relaxed throughout the show. Their music has great changes in rhythm and the audience welcomes them with loud cheers!
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 7 (6,9)
Chaoswave
One of the Italian bands of today! They have released their demo in 2004 and in 2006 their album ‘The White Noise Within’. Their new album will ‘Dead Eye Dreaming’ which was recorded in 2007 will be released on the 25th of November in North America, the European release date hasn’t been announced yet. So keep your ears and eyes open if you like the sound of Chaoswave. http://www.chaoswave.it
Music & performance
The vocals were very soft, they were hardly audible. It seems as though the singers have to shout into their microphones to be heard. Giorgia and Fabio are all over the stage, they have a vey energetic presentation. Their voices are good together. Unfortunately there are some technical difficulties, Fabio’s microphone doesn’t seem to be working. The guitarists disappear into their guitars, playing very concentrated. There is little response from the audience. The show was chaotic, it suits their name but it didn’t do them justice.
Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 7
Sound: 5
Light: 6
Total: 6
White Skull
In 2007 White Skull had a very important line-up change. Their vocalist Gus Gabarro had to quit the band due to personal reasons. He was replaced by Elisa “Over” de Palma. This is the reason they could play at Metal Female Voices this year. It seems like they have been playing together forever instead of just one year.
http://www.whiteskull.it
http://www.whiteskull.it
Music & performance
The band started to play and then Elisa came running on to the stage while playing air guitar. Tony is constantly making faces, either to the audience or to the photographers in front of the stage. Elisa has great contact with the audience and with the other band members as well. The entire audience is part of the show, they are asked to sing along or clap along. It seems they have brought some fans because many people sing along. If you didn’t now the lyrics you would after one refrain so that made it easier to sing along. To promote their upcoming album small axes were thrown into the audience, the title of the album is ‘Heavy Metal Axes’. Great to sing along to! Their keyboard player is multi talented; he can play with one hand and open a beer with the other. This band is definitely having fun on stage. White Skull plays several songs from their latest album ‘The Ring of Ancients’ such as ‘After the Battle… (bottle)’ and ‘Headhunters’. The band is now recording their album, so be patient, it is coming.
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 8 (7,7)
Dylath-leen
Dylath-leen was formed in 1999 by a group of young musicians. Each brought their own influence into the music. All these influences became their own style. Their front lady Kathy can sound both as sweet as honey and as dark as hell. That is if you can hear her… http://www.dylath-leen.net
Music & performance
It seemed very hard for the sound engineer to get the right balance of sound for Kathy. One minute she is singing soft and fragile, the other she is spitting out a dark sound. Because of this her clean vocals were almost impossible to hear. This did their music great injustice. The grunts from Igor are so incredibly low they get lost in the music. On stage their grunts don’t seem to match. Dylath-leen has a heavy and intense sound. Even though the sound is not good you can hear that musically they are good. The light show is adapted to their sound, dark. It would have been nice to see a bit more of the band. I sure hope to see them again in a venue that does them justice.
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 4
Light: 7
Total: 6 (6,2)
Benedictum
Benedictum has released a new album this year: ‘Seasons of Tragedy’. On their website you can find all the lyrics and even a song by song description. Their former drummer Blackie Sanchez accompanied them on this tour with Girlschool. Their recent drummer Paul Courtois couldn’t make it because of personal obligations.
http://www.benedictum.net
Music & performance
Veronica sure is a leading lady. When you look at the stage for the first time, all you see is: Veronica. With feathers in her hair, an incredibly short dress, a head full of curls and long lace up vinyl boots you can’t miss her. But that is not all, she has a very powerful voice. Tony Diaz (keyboard) is placed at the back of the stage, in a corner where it is dark most of the time, which was a pity. Songs were played from their new album such as ‘Shell Shock’, ‘Bare Bones’ and the title song ‘Seasons of Tragedy’. They also treated us to songs from the ‘Uncreation’ album such as ‘#4’. Veronica is thoroughly enjoying herself on stage, telling the audience what to do like a true dominatrix, as she said herself “I should have brought my whip”. Everything she said was followed by loud laughter. Even some technical difficulties can’t stop Benedictum. Everybody had a smile on his or her face after this show!
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total:7 (7,4)
Eths
Eths has just released their first international album ‘Tétatologie’. The band was formed out of three other bands in 1999. These other bands were Melting Point, Shockwave and X-Krutia. Now these musicians from Marseille have formed a new and even stronger alliance. Beware, Eths is here. Don’t be fooled by outer appearances! http://www.eths.net
Music & performance
The stage of Eths was decorated with what seemed like blowfish on sticks. Usually French is known as the language of love, well not today. Even though the a large part of the audience did not understand the lyrics, the emotions were clear. Canice has a very strong voice, grunting as if her life depends on it. She also sings clean vocals. She sat on the monitors, addressing the audience with her singing. That was about the only time she sat still. The rest of the show she was bouncing across the stage with incredible power. She was not the only one; Shob (bass) was banging his long dreads. And the other guitarists were also moving across the stage. Never a dull moment in their presentation!
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 8 (7,7)
Girlschool
This year Girlschool is celebrating their 30th anniversary. They are the longest running female rock band in the world! This festival has their name written all over it and they deserved more than anyone to be the headliner of this festival on Sunday. The members of the audience have never been happier to go to school on Sunday. They have released their album ‘Legacy’ with guest such as Lemmy, Ronnie James Dio and many more. http://www.girlschool.co.uk
Music & performance
At the front of the stage were Jax, Kim and Enid, blond, dark and red. At the back of the stage there was Denise hidden behind her drums. Their voices sound great together. Enid (bass) has a wonderful voice, with a nice raw touch to it. These ladies still know how to rock, guitars high up in the air and hair swinging around. Kim wanted to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Denise but her birthday was the day before, causing Denise to swear and laugh at the same time. More beer was delivered to the stage by Filthy, the organizer of the festival, to heighten the fun. Kim told us she had especially put on new pants for this show. To which Jax replied “so now you’ll wear these for the rest of the tour?”, “of course” was the answer. They have fun together on stage. Songs were played from many albums, and they have made a lot of them throughout the years, they started with ‘Take It All Away’, their first single in 1978. Today that was their final song. A lot of the songs are easy to sing along to and many did! They stopped 20 minutes earlier than the schedule said. That was a shame; we would have loved to hear many, many more Girlschool songs!
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8 (8,2)
At the front of the stage were Jax, Kim and Enid, blond, dark and red. At the back of the stage there was Denise hidden behind her drums. Their voices sound great together. Enid (bass) has a wonderful voice, with a nice raw touch to it. These ladies still know how to rock, guitars high up in the air and hair swinging around. Kim wanted to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Denise but her birthday was the day before, causing Denise to swear and laugh at the same time. More beer was delivered to the stage by Filthy, the organizer of the festival, to heighten the fun. Kim told us she had especially put on new pants for this show. To which Jax replied “so now you’ll wear these for the rest of the tour?”, “of course” was the answer. They have fun together on stage. Songs were played from many albums, and they have made a lot of them throughout the years, they started with ‘Take It All Away’, their first single in 1978. Today that was their final song. A lot of the songs are easy to sing along to and many did! They stopped 20 minutes earlier than the schedule said. That was a shame; we would have loved to hear many, many more Girlschool songs!
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8 (8,2)
All pictures by Stéphane "Stepix" Odent (www.stepix.be)
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