As the final day of music at Metaldays arrived, the gates of hell opened for us! Or, was it us that opened the gates for Hell? I’m confused…

“God evening Slovenia! We are Hell from England, formerly of Europe!”
- David Bower (vocals)

The weather was, fittingly when you think about it, scorching, and it didn’t take long for the theatrical make-up to run in rivers of sweat from the Englishmen’s faces. This could of course be a testimony to the energy they were putting into the show. It could also be a testimony to the fact that wearing heavy velvet frock coats and leather pants in this type of weather is doomed to fail. Whatever suits your fancy, I suppose. Whichever you choose, I can’t stress enough the fact that the band was putting a lot of energy into the show. David Bower was as over the top theatrical in his performance as we’ve come to expect of him, and while it would fall through in other circumstances, in this band it’s a perfect fit.
The rest of the band did what they could to provide their own mark on the show, but it was visible that especially Tony Speakman (bass) and Tim Bowler (drums) suffered from the heat.

Now that I mention the theatrics of the band, I wondered at the fact that they didn’t use their stylish backdrop. This was soon addressed by the band itself however, as Bower mentioned that all of the band’s gear (except clothing, obviously) had been lost at the Manchester airport, and they gave graceful thanks to the Swedish band Katana, for lending them their (Katana’s) equipment, so that Hell could deliver a show for the metal hungry Slovenians (and the rest of us.)

“It’s very hot for Englishmen in Slovenia. As you can see, we’re not a sunshine band.”
- David Bower (vocals)

With or without their own gear though, Hell delivered a good and entertaining show in the blazing summer heat. David Bower even took the time to whip himself up good (that was apparently another part of their equipment that hadn’t got lost. Unless of course, they also borrowed that from Katana, which is a slightly disturbing thought), and in Blasphemy And The Master he went down into the security pit, to exorcise the front line of fans from demons.
In general, Bower kept the show going, chatting with the audience between songs,, and the only problem here, was that his vocal volume was pretty low compared to the rest of the instruments, so he was a bit hard to hear at times.

All of Hell delivered a competent and solid show, and while the insides of the gates didn’t prove as wild and mind shattering as I had expected, this was still a good way to start the day off. If we could keep it going like this, we were in for a fine ending of Metaldays 2017.

Setlist:

The Age Of Nefarious
Let Battle Commence
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Blasphemy And The Master
The Quest
End Ov Days
On Earth As It Is in Hell