Okay, so, after much delay, here it is.

Hammerfest II - The retrospective review. (And yes, I DID have to make that rhyme and sound like a movie title)

I'm going to do this in an odd way. I'm going to do it as a normal blog, but, when I talk about the bands I saw, I shall switch to review mode, be professional about it, then finish the review, and continue in blog mode with my own personal thoughts and feelings about what I saw.


Well then, onwards.

My flight to Liverpool airport was a stupidly early one, but, it was my choice to get there as early as possible. So, rushing through the airport, I got to the train station, wandered about aimlessly for a while until I found where I was going, and was amazed at how stupid I was. 21 years old, and I didn't know that Liverpool had an underground system. More fool me, but, I digress. I finally arrived in Prestatyn, and, not knowing where the Hell I was going, decided to follow some people who were obviously there for the Festival. This led me to a local shop, so I bought some supplies (Newcastle Brown Ale :B) then got talking to a couple of dudes in the line for the till, and we walked into Pontins talking about the bands we were here to see which occupied us until we'd checked in, upon which point I said bye for now, and went off to find where I'd be staying.

A while later, and after a brief but fun conversation with some of the Devildriver crew (oh, dude, look, they have rides and s**t! Awesome!) I managed to track my chalet down, and settled in for a bit of a relax before heading off to check out the bands later that evening. This was shortlived, however, when I found out that one of my friends was just across from me, so I went round there, and hung around with them and the friends they were with for a while, before I disappeared to get something signed by Iced Earth.

After meeting my favourite band, and getting to shake hands with Jon Schaffer and Matt Barlow, I met up with another friend, talked for a bit, then I dropped my stuff back off, and went off to enjoy the bands.

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Epica: Having not heard a lot of their work, and never seen them live, I was here just to enjoy the show, but I could see that there were fans here, and they were loving every second. The highlight of their set was Simone Simons' commanding performance, ensuring the fans of the band were singing along, and those not so familiar were at least cheering loudly. They perfomed a ten song set, and kept everything tight throughout, and it felt like they could have gone on longer, which I have no doubt they would have done, were they to be higher up the billing.

Devildriver: Another band I'd heard, but not enough to consider myself a fan of. They arrived ten minutes after Epica finished though, and boy how they arrived. They were great from start to finish, their unrelenting sound starting pits, and one that engulfed most of the entire floor at one point. Good show, good songs.

Five Finger Death Punch: While some people may have thought that frontman Ivan Moody came on a little strong (at points almost demanding people in the seats at back stand up and rock out, and in one instance calling out someone who was just standing at the back doing nothing) the show itself was a good one. They blazed through their set, with all their fans enjoying every minute. One such highlight was their cover of Bad Company's Bad Company, which could easily hold its own when compared to the original. They left the stage with the crowd chanting their name, before coming back on for one more song, The Bleeding, which went down very well, before finally leaving the stage for good.

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Now for my own personal take on those. I enjoyed Epica's set, and particularly the beautiful Simone Simons. My personal highlight of their set wasn't a song though, it was catching her water bottle she'd thrown into the crowd. :D

With Devildriver, if i'm honest, I only really knew one or two songs, both of which got played, and one of which I ventured forwards into the pit to fully appreciate, even though this was originally accidental, as I was actually trying to get across to another friend, but, when you get caught up, you can't help it, haha.

FFDP were one of the bands I was looking forward to, but not one of the reasons I was there, if that makes sense. I really enjoyed the set, and shouted myself almost hoarse trying to sing along, especially when they came out and closed with The Bleeding, which is my favourite song of theirs.


Saturday dawned, and I awoke remembering the promise of breakfast from one of my friends, so I headed off, and fuelled myself up for the (way too) long day I knew today would be. I managed to convince people to come see Fury UK, and we set off for the first of the two reasons I was there.

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Fury UK: Unfortunately I missed the first song of their set, but I arrived there just in time for the second song, and from there on was witness to a great set, full of classic metal anthems, including the crowd involving Brotherhood, and closing their set all too soon with the brilliant Death By Lightning.

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I loved their set, and the songs they played, as I always do, and continue to be amazed every time I hear Death By Lightning live, even though it's probably my most listened to song of the past year. Afterward, I spoke to the guys and shared a drink with them, and got them to sign an A4 poster they had made for Hammerfest that I swiped earlier.

After that, a bunch of us retreated to watch the rugby, where, for me at least, it ended favourably. We then went to the pub and took in some of the bands on the third stage, one of which I liked the sound of enough to look more into them, but, other than saying they're a Southern Metal band. Their name is Huron, and there's not much to review, as they're like most other bands in the same genre. Good, but they need more work if they're going to get noticed.

We had a couple more drinks, then went to walk about for a while, before I wandered off and had a bit of a walk around the place, taking in the decidedly under average (and slightly undercooked) chips. This is where my favourite point of the entire weekend happened.

As I walked into the café I met up with some friends again, and sat down to finsih my chippy chips and talk with them, when one of them pointed out that Matt Barlow was sitting behind me, with a couple other guys from Iced Earth! It took me a good while before I could summon up my courage, and I managed to ask him for a photo. I got it, but, in hindsight, I should have asked the other guys if I could have taken a full band pic, instead I was caught up in a moment of being a complete fan, and had blinders on. Maybe next time. I went out to the main stage, where I managed to catch the last of Orange Goblin's set with the others, then I went to go sit down, as my aching feet were catching up to me. Unfortunately for my feet, my ears picked up Skindred's set next door to the café where I was resting, and I steeled myself for it, went back out, and...

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Skindred: Whilst I may have missed the start of their set, I went out three songs in, and what I caught was excellent. Their songs are an odd mesh of reggae, punk and metal, and strangely, it works. That and the comedy of frontman Benji in between songs had the entire crowd loving their stuff. When they finished the crowd wanted more, and, were this their own show, I've no doubts they would have got it.

Iced Earth: It's very hard to do this review from an unbiased point of view, but my best attempt follows.

The place was completely packed for Iced Earth, and for the most part, they didn't dissapoint. There were a few sound problems, as there had been for the entire day, oddly, and this did detract from what would have otherwise been an absolutely flawless set. Matt Barlow's vocals were on target all night, even when he was singing the songs written for Tim "Ripper" Owens, and Jon Schaffer's intense, rapid-fire riffing was just as quick, if not quicker than on record. The entire band was hitting all the right notes, and it was just such a shame that there were sound problems.

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... I really enjoyed Skindred's set. I'd not heard anything of them prior to Hammerfest, whether live or in studio, so hearing them I was a bit skeptical, as I'd already heard that they played a different style of music than what you normally get. Well, I felt an idiot for writing them off just because of that, and by the end of the show I was already making plans to get some of their stuff. Iced Earth..... Well, anyone who knows me knows how much I love them, so despite my feet begging me to stop and sleep, I stayed, and I loved it. Sound problems be damned, this was my favourite band, and I wasn't going to let that ruin seeing a band I've wanted to see for so many years. They played a great set, mainly "best of" stuff, but there were a few newer songs in there as well. My own personal highlight was hearing Matt tackle Ripper's Ten Thousand Strong, and knock it right out of the park.

Unfortunately, my feet were giving me tremendous pain at this point, so I couldn't stick around to see Suicidal Tendencies and Sabaton play, and because of this, I also missed out on meeting Jon Schaffer as well, which upset me a little, but, in the long run, my feet thanked me for calling it a night earlier than I'd planned originally.

I woke up early on the Sunday morning, and sat there for a while, examining just how bad the pain in my feet was, which was still pretty bad. Still, I had no choice but to get up and get dressed and packed and check out. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to wait TOO long for my taxi back to the airport, and, while the fare was a bit on the expensive side, the driver was a fun guy to talk to, and the time passed very quickly as we talked about bands from the past, records, sport and more. I was actually a bit annoyed to have to leave the car when I arrived at the airport, which, apart from mentioning an unnecessarily bumpy ride, is where I'll end this for now.