I had actually been looking forward to this session with some impatience, curious to see how commercially successful GRIMFAITH guitarist Igor Cherepanov's organisational venture would prove. I think he can be satisfied with the work he put in! (People did show up, after all.) This time no one got particularly creative with the choice of venue — cheap and cheerful — Torba, which has never delighted us with crystal-clear sound, but which nonetheless draws a crowd time and again...
SUNRISE So then. 18.09.2005, 19:00! Start time. And yes, precisely on time — at last our organisers are becoming punctual. First to rip our heads off were the Kyiv power metallers SUNRISE. Without beating around the bush, I will say to the band: guys, start writing your own music. It is understandable, of course — we pay homage to HELLOWEEN, greet MANOWAR, shake hands with STRATOVARIUS and SONATA ARCTICA — but where is SUNRISE? Somewhere in the corner. So why bother? Playing music does not mean simply picking up an instrument, looking at a tab written years ago by some "cool" person, and playing it. Music is above all a creative act — your own, unique and irreplaceable. I will even set aside the fact that their guitars were out of tune in several songs, and how painfully obvious this was when the guys played their solos — it cut the ear horribly. In general, draw your conclusions, gentlemen.
KHARON The already fairly well-known Kyiv band KHARON decided to please their fans with another performance. The band plays classic hard 'n' heavy. The clean voice of vocalist Andriy combined with the band's fairly professional stage conduct kept the audience in the hall entertained (particularly the female portion of the audience, when Andriy began removing his shirt). The cover of "Breaking The Law" was performed with Morton, who suddenly appeared from the crowd. The guys played their set without a hitch, professionally and hard — leaving only positive impressions in the minds of the audience.
GRIMFAITH As for Cherepanov and company (that company being GRIMFAITH, for those not yet aware), things went as expected — the same songs rang out, but in considerably more solid sound. This was their first performance after changing tuning; it genuinely added weight and richness to their sound. Here is their setlist, directly from Igor's own lips before the show: 1. Intro 2. Spinalonga 3. Gutierra 4. Drunk Messiah 5. POISON BLACK cover 6. Sex In Heaven 7. For me personally, the track at number 5 held genuine interest — I had not yet had the chance to hear it, though I had known of its existence for some time. How rapturously the gothic girls received that composition... At times one finds oneself thinking — perhaps what Kyiv lacks is commercial gothic rock... it is so beloved here, or perhaps only because no one plays it... :) I nearly forgot: it was not just the girls who gasped — the guys too were struck when they saw Natalia, the keyboardist, in latex. She may forgive me, but that figure... why had I not noticed this before?
STORMHOLD I had been waiting for them most of all — precisely them, because I am a passionate devotee of anything new, which appears among us infrequently; I speak of the music and of the fact that seeing the same people is pleasant, but new ones even more so. This Homel band, still very young — in existence for a year and a half at most — had in that brief time managed to build up considerable momentum. This was their second performance to delight us; the first was sometime before, forgive me, I don't recall exactly when, at Sputnik. This time Torba and all who had come there awaited them with open arms. Their portion of melodic death metal the guys unleashed upon the crowd with enormous force and a desire to demonstrate that Belarus too has excellent bands. And they succeeded. They presented fresh material still being developed; particularly pleasing was a reworked piece from the Braveheart soundtrack and a GODS TOWER song they played as an encore. From a personal conversation I understood that they were simply thrilled by their reception in Kyiv, by our audience and by our attitude toward music... we will be waiting for them again and again here, in our homeland...
CONQUEST Closing the evening were the (by now) Kyiv band CONQUEST. They began their set by searching for musicians and attempting to call them to the stage (one wonders where they had been to miss their set slot). After the requisite ten minutes of tuneup the musicians finally set about the actual business of making sound (it should be noted that they never actually managed to set up the sound properly). From the speakers came only the voice of the unchanging vocalist Vasyl, against a backdrop of some incomprehensible noise. After the first song the guys evened things out to some degree, but not by much. The guitarist's rather loose behaviour immediately caught the eye; after the second song it became obvious he had arrived on stage fairly drunk (well done — the hallmark of a true professional). Even the vocalist could not smooth over the sloppiness of the playing and the sound. For some reason the CONQUEST complaints about poor sound at the Smashed Ground Fest came to mind... one can only say: come on stage sober — and the sound will tune up considerably better, and the guitar will stay in tune too... but anyway, I have gotten a little sidetracked... back to the matter at hand... both older songs and songs from the new album were presented... against the general backdrop the band sounded acceptable, but measured against the old-good CONQUEST the set was simply appalling...