It’s remarkable that an underground metal festival like Horns Up (in Trikala, Greece) manages to impress us every year leaving all the attenders satisfied with the excellent organisation of the event and the general friendly atmosphere. On its eighth edition already, the festival was a blast that had many things beyond the two main music days like day trips in the area, warm up gigs, after parties etc So, it is not just a festival that someone from Athens or any other big city says “let’s travel to Trikala to see this or that band”.
The first main day was superb, SPARTAN WARRIOR from England gave one of the best ever show we have seen in Greece and the legendary ELIXIR followed with an amazing performance as well. But they were not alone, CULT OF ORPIST from Lamia played great thrash metal, LACHRYMOSE from Thessaloniki brought some goth metal tunes, FOVITRON were into symphonic black/death, OBDUKTION put in the blended death metal and lot of fun while at the end of the night K2 from Ioannina offered us some heavy rock.
It’s remarkable that an underground metal festival like Horns Up (in Trikala, Greece) manages to impress us every year leaving all the attenders satisfied with the excellent organisation of the event and the general friendly atmosphere. On its eighth edition already, the festival was a blast that had many things beyond the two main music days like day trips in the area, warm up gigs, after parties etc So, it is not just a festival that someone from Athens or any other big city says “let’s travel to Trikala to see this or that band”.
The first main day was superb, SPARTAN WARRIOR from England gave one of the best ever show we have seen in Greece and the legendary ELIXIR followed with an amazing performance as well. But they were not alone, CULT OF ORPIST from Lamia played great thrash metal, LACHRYMOSE from Thessaloniki brought some goth metal tunes, FOVITRON were into symphonic black/death, OBDUKTION put in the blended death metal and lot of fun while at the end of the night K2 from Ioannina offered us some heavy rock.
“intoxicating holocaust…”
The first band that opened the festival was Cult Of Orpist, a new band from Lamia that was formed in 2021 and recently released the first ep “Cult Of Orpist”. A small technical issue at first delayed them for some minutes but they didn’t seem to care and they took advantage of the little time they had in hand by playing with full energy. Their setlist was based on the four songs of the ep along with a brand new song from an upcoming release. Although they are a new band the members are experienced musicians from other bands so they were pretty comfortable and compact on stage with they groovery death/thrash n roll style satisfying the fans as the band blends some old classic tunes along with modern ideas. Many heads started to roll although at that time most people were still consuming caffeine and not alcohol which is funny considering the fact that the band’s lyrics are more into gore and drunk stories.
video Cult Of Orpist:
Cult Of Orpist setlist:
Wasted scum / dogs of war / intoxicated holocaust / trendkiller / attack of the zombie cans
“creeping shadows weep your name…”
At 18:15 Lachrymose got on stage and changed the mood as the band from Thessaloniki is more into goth metal tunes so they offered more variety to a festival that doesn’t want to be trapped behind some strictly metal genres. During their thirty minute long set they managed to pack compositions from their debut album Carpe Noctum (2015) but also from the The Unseen Ep (2018). They have lots of melodies in their songs but there is a nice balance with the metal guitar riffing while Hel (vocals) attracts the attention not only with her voice but also her mask that adds some theatricality to their image.
Video Lachrymose:
Lachrymose setlist:
Face of horror / this sickness / nepenthe / the unseen / salt / in a reverie
“his whispers rule the world…”
More fans were getting into the venue when the next band was ready to hit the stage. So right at seven o’ clock Fovitron from Athens started to play their symphonic black/death, a nice blend of extreme with lots of melodies that personally I enjoy more in the studio albums as it is hard to transfer it live in small venues. The sound didn’t help much too but the band was great and they had many interesting moments in their 35 minute long set that was based on the Altar Of Whispers album along with a new, yet unreleased track. If I had to choose one song thoug I would say Endless Whispers when they had Maya Kampaki as a special guest on vocals.
Video Fovitron:
Fovitron setlist:
Inner demons / Lands forlorn / Distorted legacy (νεο κομμάτι) / Endless whispers / Rememberance
“pain of chronicles…”
During the twenty-minute long break I went out for some fresh air but five minute to 20:00 we were all back to our spot in front of the stage to see Obduktion that was the next band on the billing of Horns Up. Their style is close to old Celtic Frost and Bolt Thrower so they made all the deathsters getting closer to the stage to enjoy a full 30 minute long set of a band that seemed to have lot of passion and made everyone headbang with them while they are also super funny guys, especially when they started to throw Haribo candies the fans during their song Ha.R.I.Bo. (the lyrics have nothing to do with the soft sweets).
Video Obduktion:
Obduktion setlist:
Morbid Curse / Murderous Sanity / Devour the soul / Pain Chronicles / HA.R.I.BO. (Have rot in bones) / Summon the ghastly demons / Incantation of chaos / King of terrors / Panic
“don’ wanna be a loser…”
The time has come to see SPARTAN WARRIOR, a band that I was expected to be good but their show was really beyond amazing in Trikala. The band from England carries four decades of experience (most of us know them for their early 80s work of course) but they had the appetite of a new band. They played with passion and transferred their energy to the fans so for 75 minutes they gave a great metal party. Of course they were suffering from the heat “I wonder how you copy with the heat, we are from England of course“ but one great song followed another great song and their catchy classic nwobhm style was the best thing to hear, driven by the guitar riffing of Neil Wilkinson but also the vocals of Dave Wilkinson. As expected the fans were asking for more songs while beers were consumed in fast pace. Great performance!
Spartan Warrior video:
Spartan Warrior setlist:
Intro: Vae Victus / In Memoriam / Bad Attitude / Assassin / Loud n Proud / Never Take Me Alive / Hunted / Easy Prey / Hell Hath No Mercy / It’s Alright / Steel n Chains / Breakin Sweat / Don’t Wanna Be A Loser / Witchfinder / Stormer / Cold Hearted
“hold high the flame…”
Took me awhile to recover from the show of Spartan Warrior but at 22:25 another legendary band was ready to play back to back. Elixir from London were the headliners of the night, a great band that also carries four decades on music paths. At first the sound was kind of muddy and one guitar was almost absent so I couldn’t really enjoy them to the maximum but the band was fully energetic and took the fans along a great show. Their set had many songs from their debut The Son Of Odin (1986) but also from other releases, including the recent single Drink To The Devil, a 7’’ single that we could also buy at the merch corner of the festival. When they finally played the anthemic Threachery all fists were held high and we could leave happy as this was supposed to be the last song on their set. But no, the band asked if we wanted more, fans and organizers (we were as one at that point) screamed “hell yeah!” and the mighty Elixir played three more songs closing emphatically their great show.
video Elixir:
Elixir setlist:
All Hallows Eve / The Star Of Beshaan / Pandora’s Box / Trial By Fire / Drink To The Devil / Press Ganged / Evermore / Don’t Trust The Preacher / Son Of Odin / Hold High The Flame / Deal With The Devil / Treachery / Encore: Sovereign Remedy / Llagaeran / Knocking On The Gates Of Hell
“tear down the walls…”
The time was thirty minutes after midnight so yes, you could see we were tired and our feet started to complain. But there was one more band left, K2 from Ioannina. Although some fans decided to leave (but not as many as they did last year during Eldritch) the quartet gave a great heavy rock gig that forced us to drink some more beers. Some fans knew the lyrics singing along with the band and I must admit although it was the first time I was catching these dudes live they were great and the morning after I was listening their album again. Dirty guitar riffing in compositions that have lot of groove, ideal material for a live show, ideal closing for the first day of the festival that left us all happy.
Video Κ2:
K2 setlist:
Chain of Command / Southern Storm / Narcotraficante / Bad Luck Attitude / Se7en Seas / Bad Times
® κείμενο/φωτογραφίες/video: Konstantinos Mindcrimek Vlachos
