So begins the final part of what might be, if things turn out really badly in the future, my last European festival experience - even though I really don't intend it to be. The fourth day of Brutal Assault is reviewed here, along with the interesting parts of the journey home, and some Awards that Father Jack wouldn't want.

( Saturday: Marching through the fog )

In part two of this year's utterly enthralling festival review, I've packed in three of the four days - mainly because I find that despite making as many detailed notes on each band as I could at the time, I have surprisingly little to say. I suppose this goes with the territory when the same bands are the ones calling my attention year after year ( Read more... )

"Hey, you kids! Get off my lawn!" - every grumpy old man ever, from about 1800-and-something to the present

This is the tale, which may be shorter than in previous years (you should all be so lucky) of my 20th consecutive year crossing the continent to seek better living through loud noises, which is also my 12th year of successive road trips, my ( Read more... )

Continued from part three...Well, here it is... the tale that brings us to the end of an epic adventure, along 1,553 miles of anything from the most pristine roads to the most decrepit. It's not all driving, though, because inevitably there's a second bout of touristing to be done, in which I reach the parts that others - i.e. those who only ever ( Read more... )

Continued from part two...

I said before, this would take only a day, but... no matter how hard I try to keep these reviews short, it never works out that way. With this part it's already the length of last year's Brutal Assault review, and I still have to cover the journey home, in which I make a stop somewhere nobody would be expecting. Anyway, ( Read more... )

Continued from part one...

Here we get to the festival itself, three days of it! Well, two and a half, really, but it's still more than Wacken used to give us when I first went there.

( Thursday: the festival of Grandpa's guitars )

It's here... in a way. It's a month since I set off on a trip spanning seven countries to get to Kilkim Žaibu. I know it usually takes me ages to get these reviews finished, but I had an excuse in that fixing the last bits of the house took priority. I've split this one into parts according to what I was doing at the time - so part one will be me ( Read more... )

And so we reach the fourth day of the festival, my sixth day away from home, where my steadily-declining body is getting less able to deal with the rigours of such a trip with every passing year, and there's the even more appealing prospect of an 800-mile drive across continental Europe just to get back to the ferry, with the drive home from Dover ( Read more... )

"If I had to pick one person who I genuinely regard as a musical idol, it would be Vegard Sverre Teitan, also known as Ihsahn, the brains behind Emperor, the band who created arguably the most majestic, incredible album of the 90s in the form of In The Nightside Eclipse. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he's barely put a foot wrong in his entire ( Read more... )

"I'm going on an adventure!" - Bilbo Baggins, T.A. 2941 ( Read more... )