“Beyond the light of the sun / Beyond the edge of forever…”
The 9th Horns Up Festival was more powerful than ever, with three full days of music and 19 (!) bands that covered many different hard rock and metal genres. For one more time, the organizers did a great job and the smile upon the faces of every fan left no doubt that we had great time attending this unique underground metal festival.
The first main day of the festival was superb as it included the impressive performance by the dutch power/prog metallers ELEGY, the great performance by the veterans GLACIER, the nostalgic set of Wade Black’s Astronomica but also all the other bands before, the Athenians power metallers THE SILENT RAGE, the Canadians IRON KINGDOM and the heavy rock band from Larissa BURNDROPS.
So, here we are again, on March 2024 and Souita Art Cafe is the epicenter of Horns Up Festival, the venue where all the live performances took place except from the acoustic sets during the warm day the night before. Getting inside we noticed many familiar faces (a sign that the festival has some dedicated fans) while the merch corner had stuff from the bands of the day but also t-shirts and other merch about the festival.
“roam with me in the night…”
Burndrops had the graceless role of the opening act. It is a band from Larissa and tried to warm the few people that decided to be in the venue early in the afternoon. They are a new band that play heavy rock, with lots of catchy melodies and a good singer (Vangelis Kotsios) that suits their sound. Although they were a bit static on stage, they played great six compositions (four from the debut ep plus two more) covering nicely the short time slot they had in hand although most fans were still holding coffee in their hands.
video Burndrops
Burndrops setlist:
Reborn / Darkness / Doomed To Live / Red Light / Danger / Burndrops
“magic stirs at the hill…”
Quick baton change and the stage was ready at 18:45 for Iron Kingdom, the band from Canada that has been around from more than ten years now and has released five full lengths so they have the necessary experience and this was obvious during their performance, they seemed pretty relaxed but also great players. I enjoyed the compositions from the latest album but of course they added many from the older stuff, Megan Merrick was great on the guitar while Chris Osterman seemed to believe in the lyrics as he was telling epic stories about battles and steel. Raw traditional metal that led many of us to drink the first beers of the night.
Video Iron Kingdom:
Iron Kingdom setlist:
Tides of Desolation / Sheathe the Sword / Paragon / Road Warriors / Queen of the Crystal Throne / drum solo / In the Grip of Nightmares / White Wolf / Voodoo Queen / Victim of Fate
“scarecrows fly like shadows in the sky…”
The venue was much busier when The Silent Rage came on stage on 19:45. Although they don’t have an extend discography (two albums and many singles) they are fully professional so they easily impress even those that are not familiar with their stuff. A few days ago they opened for Angra in Athens when they played with their first singer but during Horns Up Michalis Rinakakis was back and he was great. For forty minutes the performed their power metal which includes lots of epic moments, focusing mainly on their recent album (Nuances Of Life) with small shots from their debut.
Video The Silent Rage:
The Silent Rage setlist:
The Serpent Lord / Code of Destruction / Sin of a Pilgrim / Nuances of Life / Stormwarrior / Crows Fly Back / Leading the Legions / Ghost of a Wayward God
“if we could only touch the sun…”
During the twenty minute long break we eagerly awaited for Astronomica, the new project by Wade Black, the singer of Crimson Glory back in 1999 when they recorded their fourth album. So, it was 25 years since that album, the same year that we saw him with Crimson Glory in Greece. So it was no surprise most fans didn’t really care much about the album of Astronomica (the band) but we were more than exited to listen songs from Astronomica (the album). He had some great musicians along his side although there were some bad moments here and there. Personally, I would preferred a different setlist, closer to the one they played in Athens some days ago but ΟΚ, these are small details.
Video Astronomica:
Astronomica setlist:
War of the Worlds / Touch the Sun / Destiny / Protectors of the Realm / Cydonia / Lonely / Darkness Falls / Astronomica / Deceiver / Monster / Red Sharks
“Restless we wait in the night…”
We had to wait until 21:55 when GLACIER, the cult metal from Colorado started to play. Most of us know them as a cult 80s band as their most famous work is the Ep from 1985. After the reunion in 2018 they gave some great shows (they also played in Greece that year) they released a great new album so they are not just another nostalgic touring band. They try to catch up with what they lost all these years and their frontman, Michael Podrybau who is the only member from the past gives all his energy for the band. They played for 65 minutes and they were really great on stage, covering new and old songs but of course we screamed from the bottom of our lungs “Nowhere to run / nowhere to hide” because Vendetta is a true classic.
Glacier video:
Glacier setlist:
Ready for Battle / Live for the Whip / Devil in Disguise / The Word and the Will / Speak No Evil / Raise the Fist / Eastern Guns / Infidel / When Heaven’s at Hand / As the Giants Play / Sands of Time / Into the Night / Vendetta
“Shadow dancer in the dark…”
Then, there was another 25 minute long break that seemed to last forever since it was getting late and it was really tiring for those who were in the venue from the start (the only disadvantage is that there are no corners where you can sit down for a while and take a rest). But of course we didn’t care that much, we were there to see Elegy again, 27 years after that legendary night in Rodon club when they played with Stratovarius in Athens. Of course this reunion was kind of strange since these dutch dudes had been vanished after 2002 when they released their last album and all of us were wondering how good they are now.
We didn’t have to wait too long to get our answers, after the intro (Equinox) they kicked off with Trust and we were amazed! The first thing I noticed was the great sound, something important through out the festival but especially when for their music style.
They were all perfect as players and it was a joy to enjoy live one great song after the other and hopefully they were picking composition from all the different eras of the band. Henk Van Der Laars is their natural leader and he was impressive on one guitar but it was great to see by his side another great guitar player from their past, Gilbert Pot. We felt like we were traveling with a time machine and personally I got emotional during Anouk and Circles In The Sand that were performed back to back. They brought back sweet memories from an era that we didn’t have many problems to think about and our hair wasn’t grey yet.
Last but not least, worth to mention Ian Parry, the man behind the microphone, the man that thirty years after was unbelievably good, with great vocal range and tireless by all means, no matter which song they were performing.
Elegy setlist:
Equinox / Trust / The Grand Change / Visual Vortex / Take My Love / 1998 / Spirits / Loser’s Game / All Systems Go / Anouk / Circles in the Sand / Frenzy / Manifestation of Fear / I’m no Fool / State of Mind
® live report/photos/video: Konstantinos Mindcrimek Vlachos
video Elegy:
