So here we are, on the third year of Into Battle Festival. It’s a small underground festival that keeps the flame and covers everything between traditional and epic underground heavy metal, genres with lot of fans in Greece. What I like most in this festival is the fact that it offers live opportunities at new bands along with the veterans (this year the headliners were ANGEL WITCH on day 1 and SORTILEGE on day 2).
“At the point of no return / For a world without end …”
With only a short delay the kick off was at 17.15 with WITCHCRAWL. It’s a new band from Athens that plays traditional heavy metal and were excited through out their 30’ long set that was based on their EP «World Without End» and kept a cover song that took us back to 1984 when they played “Giving It All For Love” (Dark Heart).
setlist: The Doom of Hades / An Eye for an Eye / World Without End / Cydonia Rose / Giving it all for love (-Dark Heart)
“FIGHT! STRIKE! TONIGHT!”
Then it seems there was a change on the billing because we saw BLACK VIPER that were supposed to play the next day. The Norwegians started with “Hellions Of Fire” (like they do on their album), they were full of energy for the 30’ long set, Arild Myren Torp was great on guitar but Salvador Armijo seemed off balance sometimes on vocals (but we loved the screamings anyway)
setlist: Hellions Of Fire / Metal Blitzkrieg / Susperia / Storming With Vengeance / In For The Kill
“Welcome to your mission Herakles!”
More people started to get into the club when SKULLWINX got on stage and stayed there for 45’. The young german band was a nice surprise for me and every song they played (most of them mid tempo compositions) got the attention of the fans. They managed to play many songs from their two full albums, a superb new track (“the struggle”), a cover of “Thor” (Manowar) and great closing with their best track, the epic “The Relic Of An Angel”..
setlist: The Stymphalides / Carolus Magnus (Pater Europae) / A Tale of Unity (Arminius) / Hydra / “The Struggle” / Attila The Hun / Thor (The Powerhead) / The Relic Of An Angel
“Get ready and now it’s your turn…”
The Athenians DARKLON got on stage full of energy too and they played almost every track of their debut album (leaving out only one track). “Guilotine” along with the epic “The Serpent King” were my favorite moments while the new singer (Nick Migus A.) did it well (no big surprise because we know him already from Marauder and Omen). Old school US (a nice mix of Omen and old Savatage) that sent many fans to the Eat Metal Records merch stand…
setlist: Darklon / Arise Chariot / Sectarian of Blood / Guilotine / Behead / On the Ashes I Stand / The Serpent King
“Above us rises the endless sky…”
Although most people were in the club for the mighty Angel Witch it was no secret that many were also excited to see CHEVALIER from Finland. They released a great first album this year (one of the best underground 2019 releases actually) but unfortunately their show was a bit far from ideal. But we don’t bear a grudge for them as they had to surpass some unexpected obstacles. Their drummer got sick so one of their guitarists replaced him. They were obviously affected by this while the vocals of Emma were kind of wrong in many parts too. But people supported them and we will wait for them next time. They deserve a second chance.
setlist: Stormbringer / The Curse Of The Dead Star / The Messenger / Road Of Light / In The Grip Of The Night / A Warrior’s Lament / Chevalier
“Forced to enjoy tears and pain…”
It was just about 22:00 when MIRROR from Cyprus got on stage. For 45 minutes the band was unstoppable and the few technical sound problems were quickly forgotten by their great heavy/speed metal, especially the last part of the show when band and fans seemed to have great time (on and off the stage). Great riffing, enjoyable vocals by Mavromatis and ideal finale with “Hell Bent For Leather”.
Setlist: masters of the deep / curse of the gypsy / pyramid of terror / heavy king / galleon / madness and magic / mirror / running from the law / black magic tower / hell bent for leather
“The night is calling…”
So, the time had come to see the legendary ANGEL WITCH. It wasn’t the first time for me but you could see the sparkle in the eyes of the younger fans. The British band has just released a great new album so we had extra motive to see them. Unfortunately their performance wasn’t perfect, sound was kind of weird and Heybourne didn’t help much (the other members seemed more energetic), not that this is the most important factor. They have so many great songs that we really didn’t care much, old and new stuff were blended nicely in their set (personally I enjoyed every composition) but of course the majority of the fans were more active during classics like “Sorcerers” or “White Witch”. And then suddenly the atmosphere changed, a fan got up for stage diving, Will Palmer left his bass full of temper but at least everything was under control after some minutes and they continued their show. But the momentum was gone and although many great songs followed wasn’t the same. Of course we screamed all together the lyrics of the magical “Angel Witch” in the end.
Setlist: Death From Andromeda / Atlantis / We Are Damned / Dead Sea Scrolls / Sorcerers / White Witch / Angel Of Light / The Night Is Calling / Gorgon / Dr. Phibes / Angel Of Death / Baphomet / Angel Witch
® live report/photographs: Konstantinos Mindcrimek Vlachos
video ANGEL WITCH:
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video MIRROR:
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video SKULLWINX:
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