Is Italy prime growing ground for power metal? I don’t know, but I do know that the country was exceptionally well represented at this year’s Epic Fest, with no less than three of the 12 bands we saw hailing from there.

“Dwarves are good at two things, fighting and what..? Who said sex?! It’s not time for that… yet!”
- Francesco Cavalieri (vocals)

With the implementation of the new stage for the festival, and the way that it was decorated, I can honestly say that I can’t imagine a band it was better suited for than Wind Rose. If you don’t know, Wind Rose has built their career on being the niche dwarf band, kinda like Alestorm are the drunken pirates, Powerwolf are the religious werewolves, and so on, and what surrounding could better befit a band of dwarves than rock walls with mystical runes carved into them? Honestly, if they wanted to take this stage with them after they left, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I haven’t followed Wind Rose closely, but that hasn’t been necessary to get why they were the designated headliner of the day. For a band that’s only been actively around since 2009-10, they’ve quickly risen to the top of billing posters for tours and festivals alike, and even here, the large hall felt well packed and highly anticipant leading up to the show.
Of Ice And Blood, opening instrumental of the still highly fresh album Trollslayer was used as an intro for the show, and the band followed it up with Dance Of The Axes, just like they do on said album. Loud cheers greeted the band, and the crowd was jumping, crowdsurfing, and all over the place I could see inflated pickaxes and swords being brandished high in the air.

“I want to ask you, Denmark, are you drunk enough for the next song?!”
- Cavalieri (vocals)

The band had done a lot to look the part, a definite win especially for the cosplaying and LARP section of the fans, and Cavalieri was as good at keeping the energy up during the songs as he was in sweet talking the fans between them.
Claudio Falconcini (guitar) and Cristiano Bertocchi (bass) on the other hand didn’t contribute with much in the way of performance in the beginning of the show, but as time moved on, so they began to come alive and take a more active part in the show with moving about more, headbanging and seeking contact with the crowd. The two Federicos, Miranda (keyboard) and Gatti (drums), played well but didn’t make a memorable contribution to the show as such.

Even so, there was a huge party going on in the hall. Already in the second song, Fellows Of The Hammer, people were singing along, and for the still new song Rock And Stone, the crowd got to do the chorus on their own. Admittedly, it’s not the most advanced lyrics ever penned, and there’s absolutely no melody to it, but still.
The most memorable part was when a goblin crowdsurfed all the way to the front with a cutlass in hand, chopping down unicorns on his way!

While Wind Rose did impress in many ways, they failed me in that one important aspect that’s called music. Oh, they played their tracks well and tight enough, but this is what I would consider modern power metal, super polished and as mentioned before, often worrying more about intricate costumes than intricate song building. Super friendly sing along songs, but where are the memorable riffs? The band performed well enough, but they had one song at the most that stuck in my mind after the show was over, and that was a cover - and, I’m sad to say, not one I wished to have stuck in my head.
Out of the Italian contributions to the festival, Wind Rose placed squarely in the middle of the three however, with Fabio Lione's Dawn Of Victory at the top and Nanowar Of Steel at the bottom.

Setlist:

Of Ice And Blood
Dance Of The Axes
Fellows Of The Hammer
Drunken Dwarves
Gates Of Ekrund
Mine Mine Mine!
The Battle Of The Five Armies
Rock And Stone
Together We Rise
Diggy Diggy Hole (The Yogscast cover)
I Am The Mountain