GIG: Cloven Hoof (Nuneaton)

This really has been the ultimate year of 'seeing bands I never thought I'd get to see'. First there was Armored Saint, then Forbidden and now 40 years after I bought the debut vinyl 'Cloven Hoof'. I can't honestly claim to have been 'waiting' 40 years to see the band because I simply never even thought about it... I sort of knew they were still a functioning band, but such was the gap between the first few albums that unfortunately they kind of got left behind as Metal developed into faster and heavier realms.

That said, that debut was always an absolute stone cold classic and an absolutely iconic early landmark in my musical journey and I was so pleased when it finally got released on CD far too many years later.

Sadly there's only one original member left from the line-up that recorded that self-titled classic, bassist Lee Payne, but he's assembled a great bunch of musicians to keep the band's music alive and we were also blessed with phenomenal sound (not always the Queen's Hall's strong point). And just as well because vocalist Harry Conklin does love to hit those high notes (and hit them he indeed does - very impressive) and remembering how painful it was listening to John Gallagher's screams when I saw Raven last year, this could have gone very differently.

It's not everyday you see a Metal band with a Keytar-ist, but this worked great.... no idea who the guy is though as he's not credited on the Cloven Hoof website, but he added some excellent backing vocals to the proceedings.

Though I did make a concerted effort to listen to some of the later songs before the gig, obviously I was really mainly interested in the songs from that 1984 self-titled album, and of the 7 tracks we actually got 4. It should have been 5, but the band had to drop 'Laying Down the Law' due to the 11.30pm curfew.

The song I really wanted to hear above everything else was undoubtedly 'Return of the Passover' and while they kept it almost til the very end (in the process making me very nervous!) when they did play it it was absolutely brilliant. I can't believe after 40 years I got to hear that song live, unbelievable!

They also played 'Cloven Hoof', 'Gates of Gehenna' and 'Crack the Whip' from that release, the last one being played in a particularly entertaining manner as Harry engaged the crowd and encouraged them to sing the chorus.

Frankly this was so enjoyable and at £15, ridiculous value for money (Cloven Hoof played a full 90 mins), that I really can't see anything beating this to gig of the year. 

SETLIST: Redeemer / The Fugitive / Nova Battlestar / Inquisitor / The Gates of Gehenna / Last Man Standing / Cloven Hoof / Crack the Whip / Highlander / Kiss of Evil / Mistress of the Forest / Vendetta / Sabbat Stones / Astral Rider / Forgotten Heroes / Return of the Passover / Reach for the Sky

GIG: Ayria (Sheffield)

 

Allegedly this is Ayria's last UK tour, though she says she might play one off gigs here in future... so it was a must attend, despite the frantic week that preceded it. After the Resistanz headliner I hoped we might be in the big room with the air conditioning - but no it was another sweaty show in the back room (though not as bad as 2014 or 2016 - phew!).

The show started with 'Battle Cry', which is a cool 

song but for some reason it seemed to go on a bit... 

I enjoyed the show, but I can't help thinking that Jen's songwriting has improved greatly over the years and the songs from Plastic Makes Perfect, Paper Dolls and This is My Battle Cry make the older songs seem a little bit weak. I would dearly loved to have picked the setlist for the show myself, but the (possibly) longer standing fans in attendance seemed to like the older songs so I guess it's fair enough.

This was probably my second best gig of the year so far, but it was also mildly disappointing. Perhaps I was just a bit over driving/standing up all evening after a pretty hardcore week. My foot was hurting as well, perhaps no surprise... still it was a lot better than that Faderhead gig in London back in May.

GIG: Forbidden (Rebellion, Manchester)

Forbidden, a Bay Area thrash band that I never thought I would get to see, least of all in a club in the UK. And while I'm not as die hard a Forbidden fan as I am a Razor fan, I still like them quite a bit and I decided it was worth the trip to Manchester. Even though it was wedged slap bang in-between Armored Saint in Nottingham on Tuesday and Ayria in Sheffield on Friday!

As ever the trip to Manchester is a pain in the ass and unsure as to what time Forbidden might take the stage I ended up arriving in time to see 'Tortured Demon', which was.... tiresome, to say the least. I mean I've heard worse, but their demeanour seemed at odds with their very modern take on Thrash/Death.

I didn't know for sure, but I kind of assumed that the set would be largely drawn from the first two albums and so it transpired. It probably would have been a good idea for me to listen to those two albums before the gig, but even though I haven't listened to them for a long time I figured I knew them well enough.

Maybe so, but with a somewhat over loud and muddy sound I did struggle early on with some of the less well remember tracks. New vocalist Norman Skinner (I can't think of one other person in Metal called Norman, honestly - I thought they introduced him as Morgan!) did a great job, but he did drop a couple of the insanely high vocal parts (can't say I blame him, would have killed our ears through these speakers anyway).

He does have a slightly odd sound to his voice that takes a bit of getting used to as well, but I guess it's partly that we're just so used to Russ singing these songs his way.

Daniel Mongrain (on loan from Voivod) was superb as always, nailing all the solos to perfection and as the set wore on and they started to string together all the more memorable tunes the gig came into its own. Climax of the set was the immense 'Chalice of Blood', into which was added a minute or so off Motorhead's 'Overkill'... causing a nice little mosh pit to break out in the centre of the floor.

VIDEO: TWISTED INTO FORM (Live in Manchester 2024)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTQFKmgIOUw

VIDEO: PARTING OF THE WAYS / INFINITE / OUT OF BODY, OUT OF MIND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CYRP6HSoJU

GIG: Armored Saint (Rescue Rooms, Nottingham)

Armored Saint, a band that I never thought I would see live... so when I saw they were playing the Rescue Rooms just an hour from home it was a no-brainer. Of course, being August it was 25 degrees during the day, so we were expecting a really shitty, sweaty gig... but thankfully due to Rescue Rooms aircon it didn't turn out like that at all.

Armored Saint are a curious band, that don't really sound much like anyone else. 20 years after our last encounter with Mr Bush it's good to find his voice every bit as good as we remembered it when he was fronting Anthrax back in the late 90s / early 00s. Funnily enough we had also seen bassist Joey Vera filling in for Frank Bello around the same time.

The set was decent, I mean obviously I would have been happiest if they had just played 'March of the Saint' start to finish ('March of the Saint' was easily my standout track tonight, and shows just how good that album could have been if it wasn't so overproduced and flat sounding). We had got an idea of what they would play from Setlist.com, but they deviated a bit, bringing in 'Last Train Home' (yay) and 'Over the Edge' (boo).

I have to single out 'Aftermath' also as I feared since they had introduced 'Over the Edge' (also from 'Delirious Nomad') that they might not play it. Thankfully, they did. And John Bush sang the track from the balcony right over our heads, which was pretty cool. 

 

All in all it was a pretty solid gig, though I don't know if I'd rush to see them again...

SETLIST: End of the Attention Span / Raising Fear / Tribal Dance / The Pillar / Last Train Home / March of the Saint / Over the Edge / Left Hook from Right Field / Standing on the Shoulders of Giants / Aftermath / Win Hands Down / Can U Deliver /Reign of Fire / Chemical Euphoria / Madhouse

ESCAPE ROOM: Reanimation (Trapp'd Corby)

 

It had been a few months since we'd done an escape room and we'd never been to a Trapp'd room, so it was interesting to see what was different here. It was supposed to be very warm, but thankfully inside the rooms were cool - a bit of a relief that since I don't think adding the stress of unbearable heat would have enhanced the experience any!

It was quite different to our previous escape room experiences, being quite a bit more 'high tech' with doors opening on the other side of the room when you solved a puzzle and the like. The basic setup was to 'reanimate' the Frankenstein's Monster in the glass case in the centre of the room.

This involved solving various puzzles and finding combinations for various padlocks to progress in the game. Our GamesMaster Jane was great, very friendly and helpful in the game... and we got out just in the nick of time at 58m 25s! 

The only thing I would say is that it was a bit dark in there. I mean, sure it adds to the atmosphere but for those of us of advancing years and not so great anymore eyesight, it added an unnecessary layer of frustration. In future I think I will take a small torch when we go to these things.

It was very good though, and I would definitely go to another 'Trapp'd' room, albeit this one was rated 'easy' so I'm not sure how far we'd get!