Sinner (Kaufbeueren - Zeppelinhalle - 08.02.03)
Written by: Ale¹ Podbre¾nik
After three years Sinner decided to do three gigs and promote their new album There Will Be Execution as a support act on Hammerfall's third world's crusade. It was Saturday. A perfect day and a perfect place were chosen. But some other problem occurred. Weather. Weather conditions were awful. After we reached Villach, the snow swallowed us. And the conditions got worse and worse, so we thought: "O.K. If we'll be lucky somehow to roll over Katschberg area and reach Salzburg, we'll go for Kaufbeueren!" And so it happened. After eight hours we entered lovely little town Kaufbeueren, completely covered with snow. The first thing was to find Zeppelinhalle. I think it was 6 p.m.; the whole Sinner band just arrived. They were in a hurry, but crazy as we are, we jumped the band to get autographs. Henny remembered us from Primal Fear gig in Vienna last year and we talk for quite a long time. Meanwhile, the rest of the band entered the backstage.
At 7p.m. Zeppelinhalle's working staff unchained the main entrance and we could finally warm our frozen bones. This time the first act that opened this happening were Dream Evil. Snowy Shaw, who worked with King Diamond and Mercyful Fate in the past, cheered the crowd, put metronome on his hand and got prepared behind interesting set of his drum kit. He uses only double bas drums, a snare drum and a bunch of cymbals that surround him. No "bridge" drums at all. The band splashed with real metal hymn "Made Of Metal" from their brand new (second) release "Evilized". They immediately succeeded to warm up the crowd. Experienced musicians that are full of creative energy. Chemistry on stage simply worked. They sounded phenomenal as a support act. Communication between the band and the audience was fantastic. Well, Zeppelinhalle has one weakness. The stage is set to high. O.K. It is fine, you can take shots with a photo camera from the second row and have a clear view, but for the band it is quite hard to achieve that important "eye to eye" contact with the audience. I never liked such stages. It is very similar to our Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana. Dream Evil used their minutes in a best possible way. They did their job without any compromise, just blasting out full power with pure self-confidence and went over my expectations. Brilliant!
After Dream Evil "left the building", one man found himself alone on stage. He was very busy with setting his drum kit. I'm talking about Sinner's drummer Fritz Randow (also with Saxon). So here they are. Sinner. Legends on the German metal scene. A band with very long tradition (like The Scorpions). We were entering a gig that we were dying for since I began to identify myself with heavy metal music. I saw Dream Evil for the first time and I was about to see Sinner for the first time. Feelings were completely different. I was really on fire. And my friends also. Sinner is one of those bands that can be put among real endemic species, relics that survived all, good and bad, since the beginning of the heavy metal scene. Dressed in a very common wear (tightened old jeans) they fired with "When Silence Falls" from their 1995's Bottom Line album. Let us take a look at the line-up. The guitar twin had changed during three-year period. Beyrodt out, Naumann in. Naumann as a Primal Fear founding member rejoined Primal Fear also. Nevertheless that Primal Fear and Sinner are playing ping-pong with their guitarists (I mean constant changes in line-ups between both bands), Henny Wolter (ex-Primal Fear) and Tom Naumann didn't get an opportunity to play together in a band until now. And I was astonished by how fantastically they were tuned in on stage. Sinner guys must know Zeppelinhalle very well. Why am I guessing that? Because of the sound! The sound was really phenomenal. All guitar twin harmonies, all solo breaks of both axeman sounded clear, riffing was balanced with Mat's (pushed in front) vocals. So everything was set for the band to fire the stage. Both guitarists were equipped with Les Paul Gibsons, Mat was holding his ESP bass and they were just ripping the air. Leaded by Mat's venomous singing the Sinner was really devastating the hall. Henny went wild. And after third piece "Born To Rock" the audience was screaming: "Sinner, Sinner!" The band bursted out three quick strikers from There Will be Execution album: "Higher Level Of Violence", "Requiem For A Sinner" and "Finalizer". It was more than obvious that the band really enjoyed being on stage again after such a long time. And if your time is limited on 40 minutes, the best thing to do is just to play on a pure pleasure card. The last song confirmed that. A great cover song from Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell". But here comes a rhetorical question. Why did they add an Idol's classic on the set list? O.K. First reason is very simple. They love that song. And the other? Mat's first band is Primal Fear. And Primal Fear are really shaking the metal universe right now. Sinner have therefore become more or less Mat's side project. And I think that the band didn't have enough time to refresh their knowledge with some quick exercises for performance of phenomenal songs, as for example "Nature Of Evil" or "Question Of Honour". Set list consisted of songs that boys have in their veins. Beside that Fritz Randow was touring with Saxon in previous month. To avoid the troubles on stage, some real smart professional strokes (adapted set list) were taken by the experienced bandleader and Sinner offered a real phenomenal first class show, done with no mistakes. A pure manifestation of traditional heavy metal at it’s best. Every single inch of our journey through the rain and snow was worth it. In my opinion Sinner were the highlight of that evening. They should be headliners. But they were just happy with their position. The crowd showed signs of real satisfaction. And I hope that Sinner opened eyes to some metalheads who are convinced that everything begins with mid-nineties heavy metal revival. We got convincible and aggressive storming by this legendary band right in our faces. They never changed much, they stick to the point. Their own unique "sinnerized" point. My deepest respect! Thank you, guys.
Masterplan sounded much worse in comparison with their gig in Graz 10 days earlier. I wasn't able to feel again that chemistry flow between guys on stage. Roland was hiding in the distance. O.K., it is true that the band had less space on stage than in Graz, but anyway. They just couldn't relax. Except for Jorn. Lande's performance was again in the center of attention. Without his soulful approach they would have surely lost their battle. But Jorn saved them this time. He was working real hard all the time, even though band had serious problems with sound and that the right monitor simply "died" for a while during the gig. The band also left out one song from the set list. In Graz they played eight songs. Now they left out "Heroes". I think that’s because of their time restrictions.
This time Hammerfall showed a completely different face than in Graz. Sound was far better. It was superb until "Let The Hammer Fall", when the left monitor began to cause some problems again. But this was a far better gig. Professional and correct approach of the band. A real candy was "Stonecold" that was magnificently done. Also shouter Joacim contributed much more energy into the whole performance. Anders' drumming was also tuned in. And the band was a real compact act from the beginning to the end of the show. The whole performance was basically the same as in Graz. But with one huge difference. This time the band was really alive on stage. Bass solo gave a complete different impression. Magnus was looking relaxed. And his interesting "darkened" bass theme made a great contrast to the overall happy atmosphere that this band is capturing on stage. People in front went completely crazy. And the communication with the audience was also on a higher level, when comparing with the gig in Graz. The band also added the second encore that included "The Metal Age". As if they heard my wish to play more stuff from their first record. But the overall impression was that Hammerfall didn't use all their energy supplies on stage. This was a good gig but it wasn't what I call phenomenal, devastating, boneshaking etc. This band is surely capable of that but... they've done it with too official approach. Are they a bit sick and tired of everything? Maybe the climax between band's members isn't the same anymore? They just couldn't fully convince me as they succeeded when I saw their show two years ago. As I said, not phenomenal but very good, worth of seeing. Fans got what they've came for!
Set list: Dream Evil:
1. Made Of Metal
2. The Prophecy
3. Children Of The Night
4. Fight You 'Till The End
5. Heavy Metal In The Night
6. The Chosen Ones
Set list: Sinner:
1. When Silence Falls
2. Higher Level Of Violence
3. Born To Rock
4. Knife In My Heart
5. Requiem For A Sinner
6. Judgment Day
7. Finalizer
8. Rebel Yell
Set list: Masterplan:
1. Spirit Never Die
2. Enlighten Me
3. Crystal Night
4. Soulburn
5. Kind Hearted Light
6. Bleeding Eyes
7. Crawling From Hell
Set list: HammerFall:
1. Lord Of The Arcane
-------------------------------------- intro
2. Riders Of The Storm
3. Heading The Call
4. Stonecold
5. On The Edge Of Honour
6. Legacy Of Kings
7. Magnus Rosen bass solo
8. At The End Of The Rainbow
9. The Way Of The Warrior
10. The Unforgiving Blade
11. Glory To The Brave
12. Stefan Elmgren guitar solo
13. Let The Hammer Fall
14. Renegade
15. Crimson Thunder
--------------------------------------------- first encore
16. Templars Of Steel
17. Hearts On Fire
18. Hammerfall
--------------------------------------------- second encore
19. The Metal Age
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