It has been a long time without live concerts, indeed. We lived an exhausting experience of restrictions and quarantine, due to the global pandemic, which forced artists to stay away from the live stages all over the world. Fortunately, it seems that this Covid-19 situation is closing to an end now and we are ready to enter the venues for some really interesting live shows! So, day one of the Ladies of Metal vol. 4 Festival was the first show I attended, after almost two years, and it is true that I enjoyed it so much. Ladies of Metal Festival is an annual festival organized by Angels PR, the well-known Greek PR office, which is doing the best for its artists with great success and fine results. And it is a festival of female-fronted metal bands, dedicated to the metal queens, who sing elegantly and beautify the world of metal.
The first day of the event (on April 9th) would begin with Mute Tale. The Greek band plays in a symphonic metal style with some gothic elements and managed to warm us up. The venue wasn’t full during Mute Tale’s show, which started at 19:00, but that didn’t disappoint the band, which has a set of 40 minutes approximately. I really enjoyed the band’s compositions, which were performed with passion, and was excited to see that during the whole show, the two female background vocalists were standing in front of the band, next to the frontwoman. The festival’s kick off was satisfactory, with Mute Tale showing us that they have the talent and the musicianship to become a great act in the near future!
Then, Andy Rocks entered the stage. I was very curious to see this German band on stage, to see how the band’s positive energy and rock n’ roll groove would be delivered to the fans. Well, positive energy and groove are also the main trademarks of Andy Rocks on stage! Yes, Andy and the guys know how to rock and how to lift us up! The band needs to work more on its songs, however, these songs are transformed into nice hard rock tracks on stage, where Andy Rocks gets wild, without losing its sense of melody. The German quartet chose to cover AC/DC and “Whola Lotta Rosie” – oh, my God, how powerful this band is! I believe that if they focus on their hard rock side, Andy Rocks will be a successful musical unit!
It is Project Renegade’s turn! The Greek modern metal band continued and of course, shocked us with its energy and its freshness. If you listen to the band playing live, you can easily tell that Project Renegade is a mature, well-experienced band, which knows how to stand on the stage, how to perform, how to interact with the fans. Having opened for big groups, it wasn’t difficult for Project Renegade to win the applause of the fans that night. Their fantastic, Lacuna Coil-meets-Slipknot musical blend was reason enough for everybody to start screaming and headbanging. Especially the way Marianna was singing and at the same time running on stage was amazing! Project Renegade’s set showed everybody that this band is capable for even bigger things in the future!
Jaded Star took the baton and impressed everybody with their wonderful melodic modern metal! Maxi Nil and her band performed with passion, with soul and gave their everything on stage, in front of the excited crowd. It was a fascinating live show from a band, which took us by storm. Without a doubt, the protagonist was Maxi Nil, who proved again why she is considered one of the best Greek singers. Her voice was strong, her interaction with the fans ideal, her attitude so original. I liked every moment of Jaded Star’s live set and I understood how nice the new album of the band is. Jaded Star is a professional metal band, serious, confident and led by a true rock n’ roll persona.
The venue was almost full, when Enemy of Reality hit the stage. It was obvious that many fans had come to Holywood Live Stage to witness the Enemy of Reality live show. And they really got what they wanted – an incredible show from Enemy of Reality, who played some of their best songs. The live sound was heavy and clear, the band was tight and furious, the crazy guitars and the pounding drums shake everything up and down and Iliana Tsakiraki was the undeniable master of a magical live concert. It was the second time I experienced an Enemy of Reality live show and I think that the band has progressed a lot, sounding heavier, darker and more progressive than ever. Iliana’s voice was fantastic, so powerful and unpretentious, and Enemy of Reality’s live appearance was a blast!
The first day of the fourth Ladies of Metal Festival ended with an emotional cover of “Zombie” (The Cranberries) by the frontwomen of the night! What a nice epilogue! In general, the first episode of the festival was very interesting and gifted us with great moments of musical beauty. I would like to thank all the metal ladies of that Saturday night and first of all, Marian Nicolaou and Angels PR for organizing the whole event! To be continued!
Dimitris Zacharopoulos
