RAGINPIT MAGAZINE

It is October and that means I have to undertake my yearly pilgrimage to the Octoberhallen in Wieze, Belgium, for the Metal Female Voices Fest. This year did not have the most original line up. Bands like Epica, Tarja, Doro and many others were present at the previous editions, but these bands are also fan favorites. Autumn, Darzamat and Midnattsol were supposed to be present at the 2007 and 2008 edition and this was their second chance. We had, of course, a lot of new bands and in the case of Pinky Doodle Poodle, the very first punk rock band at Metal Female Voices Fest.

About the festival itself - not much has changed since the last edition; the same venue, the same do’s and don’t(s), but there was a large video screen. The video screen was new this year. And the man behind the desk had the best view of all.

Usually I do not scoff at people with compact cameras, but there was one person I did not really understand. Remember, all kinds of cameras are allowed and there were people without photo passes with better gear than me, but this particular person kept taking photos from the video screen while the bands were busy just ten (10) meters away. Why he did this is beyond me.

Saturday 17.10.2009

Pinky Doodle Poodle

George - Guitar, Composition & Arrangement
Yuria - Vocal & Guitar, Words
Kayakki - Bass, Design

www.myspace.com/pinkydoodlepoodle
www.pinkydoodlepoodle.com/

The day started early with Pinky Doodle Poodle at 10:30 in the morning. This is a typical punk rock band from Japan. As far as I know this was the first time MFVF had booked a band in this genre. Imagine The Donnas (which would be a great band for the 2010 edition) dressed like Fook Mi and Fook Yu from Austin Powers: Goldmember. Singer and guitarist Yuria is a good, but typically Japanese singer for a punk rock band. Pinky Doodle Poodle is not really something the average Metal Female Voices Fest visitor is looking for. Personally I liked this gig, despite the fact that I am a cat person, but the name of the band? Well, I guess it is very cool to name your band Pinky Doodle Poodle in Japan, but the rest of the world might think different.

Whyzdom

Telya Melane - Singer
Vynce Leff - Guitar, Orchestration
Regis Morin - Guitar
Tristan Demurger - Bass
Marc Ruhlmann - Keyboards
Nico Chaumeaux - Drums

www.myspace.com/whyzdomproject
http://www.whyzdom.com

The Dark Whispers Choir

Stefanie Raffaello - Soprano
Segolene Lecoeur - Soprano
Elen Hervochon - Soprano
Linzzy Yeon - Soprano
Maud Fargetton - Mezzo-Soprano
Cyril Verna - Tenor
 

Whyzdom is a band I’ve interviewed this year and it is always very interesting to see an interviewed band live. They are after all more or less ‘my band.’ Whyzdom are from France and as usual with French bands, they bring their fan club with them ensuring an enthusiastic audience at the barrier, including Gaelle from Sad Siberia and Valkyre. Sad Siberia will appear at the Metal Female Contest at the Biebob, Vosselaar and Valkyre did a gig at MFVF in 2007.

What I like of Whyzdom is the fact that, despite being the second band and have to play at 11:30 in the morning, they do a set that would make most headliners proud today. Even Therion does not have a real choir onstage, despite the fact that Therion must have a larger budget than Whyzdom. Like other French bands, singer Telya Melane was dressed in some extravagant outfit that matched the ambitions of the band quite well. If there was a MFVF award for the most outrageous outfit, Telya would have won it with ease. Many bands forget the live show element these days. (Outrageous outfits seem also to be mandatory for French bands by the way. Last year the singers from Markize and Kells are a good example.) Music wise Whyzdom did a good and very entertaining gig.

Unsun

Aya - Vocals
Mauser - Guitars from Vader
Heinrich - Bass
Vaaver - Drums

www.myspace.com/unsunmusic
 

After Whyzdom it was time for Unsun from Poland. Two bands from Poland were booked this weekend and Unsun was clearly the weakest of the two. Why you might ask? Unsun did not have anything real special except for the guitarist with tattoos on his face. Unsun’s music was closer to rock than metal and this festival is called Metal Female Voices Fest and not Rock Female Voices Fest (which could also be an interesting festival to visit).

Manic Movement

Virginia - Singer
Fre - Lead Guitar
Jeremie - Guitar
Filip - Keyboards
Ollie - Drums, Composer

www.myspace.com/manicmovement
www.manicmovement.com
 

Manic Movement from Belgium (the only Belgium band this weekend) was not much better either. Not bad, but also not really special. There are many mid tempo female fronted bands in Europe and bands like Autumn and Stream of Passion have much better songs to offer.

It is 14:30 and to my surprise no bands have cancelled this weekend. Even better, the time schedule still reigns supreme.

Kivimetsän Druidi

Leeni-Maria Hovila - Vocals
Joni Koskinen - Guitar & Vocals
Antti Koskinen - Keyboards
Antti Rinkinen - Guitar
Simo Lehtonen - Bass Guitar
Atte Marttinen - Drums

www.myspace.com/kivimetsandruidi
http://www.kivimetsandruidi.com

Kivimetsän Druidi hails from Finland and together with Amberian Dawn they offered a Finnish intermezzo of two hours. Kivimetsän Druidi was part of the Finnish Fire tour last year and together with Battlelore and Korpiklaani and singer Leeni-Maria were very impressive as front women. In fact, I almost forgot to shoot the other members of Kivimetsän that day, but the awfully bad light at the Melkweg venue did not really help either.

Unlike gothic metal bands, Folk, Battle, Pagan, etc. singers do not dominate the band. Nobody will worship Kaisa from Battlelore as goddess like people do with Sharon den Adel or Simone Simons. However, Leeni-Maria is not a sweet elven maiden. Like Karen Gilligan from Cruachan, Leeni-Maria looks as if she can handle a band of savage Vikings all by herself. Kivimetsän’s battle metal was by far the loudest band onstage Saturday, maybe a bit too loud for some of the audience. For me it was a relief after the soft work from Unsun and Manic Movement.

Amberian Dawn

Heidi Parviainen - Vocals
Tuomas Seppala - Keyboards & Guitar
Kasperi Heikkinen - Guitar
Tommi Kuri - Bass
Emil Pohjalainen - Guitar
Joonas Pykala-Aho - Drums

www.myspace.com/amberiandawn
www.amberiandawn.com

The second part of the Finnish intermezzo was Amberian Dawn. They were supposed to do a gig at the Escape in the city of Veenendaal (one of my favorite venues), but the band had to cancel this gig due to Heidi's crow throat. I had never seen them before, despite the fact that Amberian Dawn has been more or less Epica’s tour buddy since 2008 (but only at the gigs outside The Netherlands). Amberian Dawn did show up at Voices Fest. Like the band Edenbridge last year, I would describe their performance as safe. I still had the impression that Heidi could not give the full 100%. It was not the best gig today, but also not the worst.

Autumn

Marjan Welman - Vocals
Douwe Kelderman - Guitar
Erik Rademakers - Bass
Harm-Jan klein Gunnewiek - Drums

www.autumn-band.com
www.myspace.com/autumnband

Autumn is a band that was supposed to be at MFVF in 2007, this time with Marjan Wellman who is a completely different person on stage. Autumn does not rely on visual effects and lets the music speak for itself. Personally, I prefer to see Autumn at smaller venues. The Octoberhallen is a bit too large to create the typical Autumn vibe, but it was a nice gig.

Flowing Tears

Helen Vogt - Vocals
Benjamin Buss - Guitars
David Vogt - Bass
Stefan Gemballa - Drums

www.myspace.com/flowingtearsofficial
www.flowingtears.de

Like many other bands Flowing Tears was again at MFVF, but they have not broken Epica’s record. The band had some trouble with their label and as a result Flowing Tears are angry. And this reflects in the gig I saw. Helen Vogt is still the person we saw in 2007, but the other Flowing Tears behave as if they are in a death metal band. Well, each to their own. I liked the Flowing Tears gig from 2007 better than this one, but then the band had the masterpiece album Razorbliss as the source for songs.

Krypteria

Ji-In Cho - Vocals / Piano
Chriss Siemons - Guitars
Frank Stumvoll - Bass Guitar
S.C. Kuschnerus - Drums

www.myspace.com/krypteria
www.krypteria.de

And then it was time for Krypteria. A long time ago, at the Summer Darkness festival, I saw Krypteria for the first time on stage. They were the second band that day, before Epica and Krypteria did a very good gig. It also helped that Epica was doing their thing on the automatic pilot and even Simone’s charisma could not save the day.

Ji-In Cho did not wear her usual red leather corset, but started in a wedding dress and the way she performs, it was closer to the fierceness of Uma Thurman from Kill Bill, despite the fact that Ji-In looks more like O-Ren Ishii, than the sweet Emily from Corpse Bride. Krypteria’s music works great live and Ji-In is a good performer, leaving the other members of Krypteria in her shadow. And it was a nice strip tease.

Midnattsol

Carmen Elise - Vocals
Birgit Ollbrunner - Bass
Daniel Fischer - Keys
Christopher Merzinsky - Drums
Daniel Droste - Guitars
Fabian Pospiech - Guitars

www.myspace.com/midnattsolfolk
www.midnattsol.com

Midnattsol was supposed to be at Metal Female Voices Fest last year, but got stuck in the traffic between Holland and Antwerp (for many other visitors this day, it has become a yearly tradition). Together with Krypteria and Kivimetsän Druidi, Midnattsol was a band I absolutely wanted to see live. I even travelled to the wild lands of southern Limburg for a Midnattsol gig this year.

The band did a good gig, but the girls got all the attention leaving the boys more or less in the shadows. Carmen and her band might not be as big as Leaves’ Eyes, but music wise I think that the latest Midnattsol work is just a little bit better than the most recent Leaves’ Eyes work.

Delain

Charlotte Wessels - Vocals
Martijn Westerholt - Songwriter & Synths
Ronald Landa - Guitar / Backup Vocals
Rob van der Loo - Bass
Sander Zoer - Drums

www.delain.nl
www.myspace.com/delainmusic
http://www.myspace.com/charlottewessels
http://www.myspace.com/robvanderloo
http://www.myspace.com/sanderzoer

We did not know it this day, but it was, for most of us, the last time we would see Ronald onstage. He has decided to leave the band because he wanted to do something different music wise and Delain costs a lot of time. Personally, I think he choose this moment to quit with the band because Delain will do a huge tour with Sonata Artica this year and in 2010 Delain will go to the USA. Ronald’s decision to leave the band is a sad one.

Not that Delain did a good gig today. Despite the fireworks loaned from Epica, it was a bit average and certainly did not beat the gig at Waldrock. Perhaps Delain was saving the best for their gig in a church in Zwolle. We photographers got only two songs in the photopit - headliner Epica gave us the full three songs.

Epica

Simone Simons - Vocals
Mark Jansen - Grunts, Screams, Guitars
Isaac Delahaye – Guitars
Yves Huts - Bass Guitars
Coen Janssen - Synths and Piano
Arien van Weesenbeek - Drums
Guest for today: Ad Sluijter - Guitars

www.myspace.com/epica
www.epica.nl

I had seen an amazing Epica gig at the Paradiso last week so this time I decided to sit back and enjoy the show after my three songs in the photopit.

In short:
Flamethrowers – present
Fireworks – present
Medusa’s firedance – present

And the duet with Floor Jansen. Follow the Cry is my all time favorite After Forever song and a long time ago (in 2004 or so) this song was also on the Epica setlist - a hightlight today.

So you can see this for yourself. Floor was also present backstage and would appear (just read the Sunday part because I am not going to spoil the suprise). Back in the VIP room, flyers to promote Floor’s new band ReVamp were all over the place. I hope this band will do a gig at the 2010 edition. Five minutes of Floor today and four tomorrow are not enough to my taste.

Click here for Day 2 coverage and the MFVF Awards winners.