When I was assigned with the review of “The Last King” by Ragenheart, and “stuck” for many years with doom-stoner-classic rock-blues music, I had my reservations. Of course I love and still listen to Heavy Metal (once a metalhead always a metalhead), but I will rarely find myself in the way of new bands and material to spend time and hearings. “The Last King” put me back on the track, or rather on the straight road, remembering my teenage years and appreciating the quality and basis that are respective of great heavy albums from the golden 80s. Top notch level.

The traffic on Kifissias  made me temporarily worried about whether I will be on time, but finally the lucky parking spot at the moment that I arrived, allowed me to be consistent. Deified performed on stage, well set and with solid sound to present their epic heavy power / metal in a full packed Crow Club. “Eyes of fire” from their EP of 2015, their first track, and it is really impressing how firm they are (with a new bassist) and the Kiske like tone of the voice of Dimitris Giannakopoulos. Great players, good sound, with compositions that reminded me of barbarian Omen combined with Stratovarius (I have not been following the scene over the last few years, so my references go way back), in any case pure powerful heavy metal. I easily distinguished “Phobos” from their upcoming first album, but also the eponymous epic “Chaos, blood and war” of the same/titled EP. They made an ideal opening and were applauded by their friends and also by those whom they won, like myself.

Defiled

For some reason Snowblind could not be appear at the Crow Club  (they were applauded at the end, and at some point a similar appearance will be announced), so after one hour of Deified, Ragenheart appeared after 7 whole years (!), on stage.

The crowd was fanatic as Giannis Koroneos (vocals), Angel Priest (guitars), Nikos Michalakakos (bass), Nick Speedy (drums) and Takis Koroneos (guitars), with the help of Dimitris Marinis on the keys, made an ideal start with “Blind Alley” from their new album, for which they released their second video clip. Outstanding sound, Yannis’ voice in excellent condition, and a beautiful heavy metal climate was created (or rather peaked since Deifeid had already done a great job), between the band and the audience. Beer, headbanging, metal, positive energy everywhere. With two more songs from “The Last King” (dedicating to Panagiotis their youngest fan, on the also full balcony), it was time to travel to Greek mythology for “Talos” from the album Ragenheart of 2010. With great enthousiasm, the time had come for the eponymous “The Last King”, an epic huge track, with a great riff and a wartime chorus, as the bass line does a great job. The club was vibrating and after a short pause and before we could calm down, they played a great cover of “Between the hammer and the anvil” by Judas Priest. The band continued vigorously until we reached “Spartan” their big hit from the first album and an ideal closing with “Metal rules the night (The 80s outcast)” that could also be the title of the night. Something missing? Could anyone complain? Of course not! Just the request of Giorgos Prezas, the organizer and fanatical fan (great moments at the end where he got Giannis on his shoulders!) was nothing more than to listen to “The Last King” and “Spartan” once again. And so it became true, a double delight!
Ragenheart is a group that made even people who do not listen to metal, appreciate it (as Yiannis told me at the end), they certainly brought me back, and on Saturday night they entertained their audience and they were absolutely satisfying!

See you again, and by general request the next time must be really soon!

Kostas Voulgarelis

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