Soilwork
With Soilwork it`s almost the same story as with Rawhead Rexx. In Hardenberg, I was on time to see them during the last 5 songs, as where I missed them completely in Helmond. From what I saw and heard in the Podium, I think Soilwork surely has got a good songwriter in the band, because the compositions I heard were pretty interesting. Nice riffs, a lot of variation, powerful vocals and a very tight rhythm section. I hope to see them doing a complete set soon.

Nevermore
To me, with "Dead Heart In A Dead World", Nevermore have created their best piece of art so far. It`s at least as good as and yes, even better than their debut album from `95. Together with the famous producer Andy Sneap (Machine Head, Skinlab etc.), the guys managed to even further explore the possibilities of brutality and melody within their complex (as ever) songstructures. In the mean time, ex-Forbidden guitarist Tim Calvert had to leave the band and Curran Murphy joined forces. But, capturing two opposing elements in a powerful and very convincing way, that`s what Nevermore did on this record. Therefore, I was very curious to hear the material from this fantastic album live on stage. Well, Nevermore did not let me or any other fan down. They ruled the place, both in Hardenberg and Helmond! It would have been a better idea making them headlining this tour, really. What songs did the band play? Here we go: "Narcosynthesis", "We Disintegrate", "Inside Four Walls", "The Death Of Passion", "The Heart Collector", "Engines Of Hate", "Next In Line", "Beyond Within", "Dreaming Neon Black", "The Seven Tongues Of God", "Sound Of Silence", " Believe In Nothing", "The River Dragon Has Come" and "Dead Heart In A Dead World". Pretty interesting set, huh? Both in Hardenberg and Helmond, the musical performance was extremely tight, but it had some mistakes here and there. Frontman Dane told me after the show in Hardenberg that this has everything to do with the fact that this is only the beginning of the tour. They`re forgiven. I mean, if you play these kind of killer compositions with so much energy on stage, there`s nothing to complain about anymore. In Helmond, bassplayer Jim Sheppard even had to throw up on stage, due to the intense heat and his extremely energetic show. But, no rest for the wicked……..he threw up and played the next song. That`s that! Unfortunately, the guys didn`t perform any songs from the first 2 albums. Maybe they`ll do that during the upcoming gigs in the rest of Europe. Great show!

Annihilator
With ex-Overkill guitarist Joe Comeau as the new singer, Annihilator recently presented a very solid metal album. Pleasantly suprising, Joe turned out to be a very good vocalist on the record. I think I was not the only one being curious whether he would be able to also perform that well on stage. My answer has to be `yes`. Both gigs, his voice was great and also his act on stage looked more than okay. What to say about the rest of the band? I saw Jeff Waters and his men in various line-ups lots of times over the years, but I don`t think one of them ever sounded as tight and powerful as the current one does. Songs the band played were (a.o.): "Denied", "The Perfect Virus", "Battered", "Carnival Diablos", "Shallow Grave", "Time Bomb", "Insomniac", "Welcome To Your Death", "King Of The Kill", "Crystal Ann", "Alice In Hell", "Refresh The Demon", "Never, Neverland" and "Phantasmagoria". The reaction from the crowd (350 in Hardenberg and 300 in Helmond) was enthusiastic and the guys seemed to honestly enjoy themselves very much. But, the reason why I think Annihilator shouldn`t have headlined this tour is the following. Within 5 songs, it`s clear that Jeff Waters still has this late eighties and early nineties way of writing riffs and composing songs. Which is good for his band, sure. But, it`s not very innovative and this is the typical Nevermore quality. Their material has much more variation and different moods. It sounds like 2001, as where Annihilator sounded like 10 years ago.

(Review: Johan Godschalk
Pics: Marcia Gransbergen)