Venue: World of Motorcycles, Balingen, Germany
Date: Friday 28th June 2002

Set lists:
Shadowkeep: A Distant Paradox, Seventeen, Altar of Madness, I Trust No One, Beware The Signs, Mark of the Usurper, The Silver Sword, Trial of Your Betrayal, A War of Principles, Chaosgenesis, Corruption Within, Fear And Loathing, Lucifer's Pastime.  Encore: Dark Tower

Falconer: Mindtraveller, Decadence of  Dignity, A Quest for The Crown, For Life and Liberty, Upon the Grave of Guilt, We Sold Our Homesteads (traditional tune in Swedish), Royal Galley, Portals of Light, Enter the Glade, The Clarion Call.  Encore: Dark Lady

Throughout the 'Bang Your Head' Festival in Balingen, late night parties were organised at the 'W.O.M' (World of Motorcycles) club which was situated a short walk from the Festival grounds.  Of the three nights organised, the most interesting to me, was a show featuring the UK's own Shadowkeep and the fantastic Viking Metal outfit from Sweden, Falconer.

On the first day of the festival, the main event had run a little behind schedule, so by the time Saxon had finished their show and I'd returned to the hotel room, it was already almost midnight.  While my friends suddenly felt very tired, I grabbed a quick shower and made my way to the club, where I found Shadowkeep already on stage. As it turned out they were only completing their first number, 'A Distant Paradox', a song taken from their upcoming album. The sound was very clear, if a little loud, which was a problem as one had to get quite close to the tiny stage in order to see the members of the band at all. My ears certainly took a pounding as a result!

Shadowkeep continued with a second new song 'Seventeen', and then an older piece 'Altars of Madness' which sounded so much more powerful than it had done on the band's debut EP. It's been some time since I last saw the band play live, and I am pleased to be able to say that the new lineup and new material sounded very good indeed.

Several points were of immediate interest: the new bassist Steve Kightley was doing a great job, drummer Scott Higham was pounding away perched on a platform to the back of the tiny stage and, perhaps most significantly, vocalist Rogue was singing in a much less high-pitched manner.  He was also full of energy, running around in what space was available on the stage while the guitar duo of Nicki Robson and Chris Allen drove the music fiercely onwards producing a sound which seemed much heavier, denser and more proggier than I'd heard from them before.

The following number 'I Trust No One' sounded a little ordinary, but 'Beware The Signs' was further confirmation of the strength of the new material. The band then returned to their first album for three songs with 'The Silver Sword' and 'Trial of Your Betrayal' sounding particularly fresh and, once again, much stronger than on their debut CD. The closing section of their set saw the title track of that disk 'Corruption Within', sandwiched in between a further four tracks from the upcoming album 'A Chaos Theory' - all of which came over very powerfully indeed.

A small contingent of fans from the UK who had been making a lot of noise in front of the stage throughout the set persuaded the band to return for a quick run through 'Dark Tower' bringing to a close a very powerful and promising set.

As the stage was cleared for Falconer, the English fans gradually moved away from the stage-front and were replaced by a German contingent, who were clearly very keen to see Falconer.  It was a shame that they were playing so late at night as myself and others were clearly having problems staying awake. However, from the moment that the band introduced themselves with "We're Falconer from Sweden", the place was wide awake.

Having taken to the stage, the band suddenly found that drummer Karsten Larsson had gone missing and invited the audience to see if he was hiding in the toilets. As they waited to begin, the crowd spontaneously began to sing 'The Clarion Call' - a tune that they would continue to sing at every break during the set until the band finally performed it themselves.

With Karsten finally in place behind his drum kit, the band began with 'Mindtraveller'. The volume seemed even louder than it had been for Shadowkeep and the band seemed slightly nervous on stage; singer Mathias Blad in particular, but maybe they were just taken aback by the crowd's enthusiasm - the audience were clearly delighted to be witnessing one of the band's first gigs.

Guitarist Stefan Weinerhall lists Jethro Tull amongst his favourite bands and it's impossible not to hear their influence on the band's sound at times, with their music sounding in parts like a mix of Tull and modern power metal. The folky melodies and the wonderful voice of Mathias, who spent three years studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, make for a very special sound indeed. They continued with 'Decadence of Dignity', then slowed things down for a short while with the softer 'A Quest for The Crown'.

They continued to mix tunes from their debut self-titled disk and the more recent 'Chapters From A Vale Forlorn', playing 'For Life and Liberty' and the very catchy 'Upon the Grave of Guilt'.

They then took the audience by surprise, by playing a little traditional Swedish folk tune, 'We Sold Our Homesteads', which features on their latest disk.  On this occasion they announced that they would sing it in their native tongue, (it is sung in English on the album) and in truth it sounded even more delightful, fitting Mathias's voice to a tee.  The second half of the set was perhaps not so strong, but the triumphant set closer of 'The Clarion Call', accompanied by a large portion of the audience as a makeshift choir, was simply wonderful.

The set had passed very quickly and, despite the late hour, the crowd clearly wanted to hear more. The band returned and rather nervously admitted that they were unprepared for an encore.  Nevertheless, they played 'Dark Lady' which satisfied the crowd before they left the stage to sign autographs and to talk with the fans.

Performances by both bands were very good indeed and showed a lot of promise. It was, however, unfortunate that they had to play so late on what had already been quite a long day for most of the festival goers meaning that the attendance was perhaps not as big as the organisers might have expected. Nevertheless, they are both very talented outfits and it would be great to see both of them feature on the main stage at next year's event...

Charlie