HELSTAR / LETHAL SAINT / CRIMSON FIRE

Date: 03rd September, 2011
Venue: 7Sins Club
Ticket: € 22/25 ($30/34)
Promoter: Xigas Productions
Photos: Giorgos Karagiannis

That was basically the beginning of the live Metal 2011-12 season in Greece and what a start that was! That Heavy Metal package featured the mighty HELSTAR, the promising Heavy Metal heroes of Cyprus LETHAL SAINT and the Greek Metal ambassadors CRIMSON FIRE. Due to a lot of bullshit that goes on around the Greek metal community I was really worried about the outcome of this live gig but in the end everyone was satisfied. Arriving at the concert venue, I found almost 20 (!) metalheads and I feared that my worries would become reality. Imagine how the first band of the night, CRIMSON FIRE, felt when they had to play for such a few people.

CRIMSON FIRE is a Greek Metal band that reminds me a lot of the old school ways of traditional Heavy / Power / Speed Metal, well just put RIOT on your mind and you’ll get the picture. Their first achievement received a very positive response from the Greek scene and the band has their own fan base. Clearly when you watch them playing live it is obvious that the band is very tight and can produce a very entertaining show. Having watched them the previous night at a smaller club in front of their fan base where the band was spitting fire, I think this performance was a bit inferior. They played six songs, including the hits “Midnight Strike” and “Metal Is Back”, and at the end they did win the applause of the crowd. If you know their debut “Metal Is Back” well you can’t imagine how much better the voice of Johny B sounds live and how many of its capabilities are not shown on the record. After a 30 minute set they left the stage and I advise you to watch them live as soon as possible.

CRIMSON FIRE

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By the time the Cypriots LETHAL SAINT went on stage, things were a little bit better as the crowd reached the number of 60. LETHAL SAINT are considered by many Heavy Metal fanatics a cult band. The reactions of the fans during their show were rather warm and the band gave a hell of a performance! I was so surprised watching them giving such a show since the band members live far away from each other and most of the time it’s difficult for them to work together. They played the entire new single “Saints Strike Back” and the best moments of their first album “Lethal Saint”.  Songs like “Hung By Your Balls”, “Saints Strike Back”, “Chains Of The Devil”, “Midnight Warriors” and “Heavy Metal Knights” made the club move and after an hour they left while the crowd was chanting their name. The fans had a great time and also the band that didn’t forget to make some jokes with the people at the first row! I shouldn’t forget to mention that they have a beast for a drummer. That guy was insane! Hahaha...

LETHAL SAINT

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It was ten minutes after ten when the lights went down and the small intro prepared the 120 HELSTAR maniacs that the time had come. Many consider that HELSTAR should never have returned since their music after the reunion has nothing to do with the old days. I don’t support all these. Why should a band return to do the same shit as 20 years before? Why should a musician be so enslaved to the past and don’t expand his boundaries? All of those that accuse the band for such a thing should watch them live and shut the fuck up!

For the next 100 minutes the club was a burning star... James Rivera and his crew did their best to spread some real pandemonium! This guy is singing live for 30 years now and it’s the real thing. Don’t compare him with guys like Bruce Dickinson. No fucking connection, baby! That guy still acts like a rebel on stage, drinks his ass out like a teenager and doesn’t have a masseur after the show! THIS IS THE REAL THING!

The band was delivering the goods, Rivera’s voice was in marvellous shape (fuck! those high tones!) and the sound was perfect! Congratulations to the club for hiring at last a good engineer to do his job well! Rivera was hugging each and every one of us in the front rows and the reactions were wild. All hell broke loose in track like “The King Is Dead”, “Burning Star”, “Baptized In Blood” and of course “Run With The Pack”. It was great that the fans were familiar with the newer tunes like “Pandemonium” or “The King Of Hell”. Rivera took a chance to talk a bit about why they have changed their sound, saying that was obvious that those times back in 20 years were different and now you find guys each day that piss you off! Also talked about his “poison” in Greece, which is our traditional drink here, ouzo. The guy was drinking beer with ouzo at ease that if I did that I would be at the hospital right now!

Yes, that was more of a true Metal experience than just a show. The band left everyone more than pleased and I still wonder why the most of you were sitting there asses home on facebook. Metal is not a soap opera, don’t bullshiting with who does “this” and who does “that”.  Don’t pretend to be a metalhead, just BE one.

HELSTAR setlist:

01. Angels Fall to Hell
02. Pandemonium
03. The Plague Called Man
04. The King is Dead
05. Evil Reign
06. Burning Star
07. Summer of Hate
08. Bitter End
09. Monarch Of Bloodshed
10. Dracula’s Castle
11. Baptized in Blood
12. The King of Hell
13. Run with the Pack
14. Angel of Death
15. Alma Negra

HELSTAR

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Written by Giorgos Karagiannis Saturday, 10 September 2011 13:37