Black Crusade - NEC - 23 November 2007

Five well known rock bands on one bill for £25 quid... are they mad?! With my reputation...

Despite being billed as doors open at 4.30 they finally opened just gone 5.00 - then took 20 minutes to get in. Not the most auspicious start but at least we were waiting indoors as there were several worried brass monkeys outside!

Shadow's Fall got things underway. They seem to be a band who have passed me by despite their reputation and they were the only band on the bill I hadn't seen before. First band on surprise surprise: shocking sound. Despite only recognising the set closer "Redemption" really enjoyed them and will be buying their back catalogue in due course - shame they only had 25 minutes.

Arch Enemy. Saw them on the "UK Doomsday" tour in 2005 at the Wolverhampton Civic and was impressed, so interested to see if the mixed/lukewarm reviews to the new material were fair. Good set, very melodic and good to see the brothers Amott reunited. Angela's vocals were strangely low in the mix but she can still scream with the best of them. Had forgotten quite how huge Sharlee D'Angelo is too... Nemesis, Dead Eyes See No Future and naturally Ravenous were the standouts although the new stuff worked well too (must get round to getting the new album..). Half hour set about right although I would say they seemed far more at home in the smaller surroundings of the Civic - looking forward to seeing them with Opeth in April.

Dragonforce. 40 minutes of tedium. When they stop pissing about and actually start taking themselves seriously I may be interested, but until that time I will use their time on stage to mingle or get some beer in! Pity really, because they possess two truly gifted guitarists - shame they are such awful songwriters. All I heard for the rest of the evening (from anyone over 10) and on the train home, was what a waste of space they were. Concentrate on writing songs, get a drummer who doesn't lose any sense of tempo once he starts playing blast beats, ditch the pointless keyboard player and they may lose the one trick pony tag. Horrifyingly lacking in power which was always going to be a problem on this bill, blisteringly fast but pointless. I own their three albums and genuinely believe they have the ability to do much better; having seen them twice in just under 12 months and being mentally scarred on each occasion can't be good though. Please slow it down and concentrate on solid riffs if you are to retain any credibility whatsoever.

Trivium. Most people who know me know what I think about them - confident to the point of arrogance especially with their statement of intent "we will be bigger than Metallica" and I wasn't hugely impressed when they supported Maiden last year - although I could still have been in shock after witnessing Lauren (nepotism? nah!) Harris's truly woeful set. Strange then that I drifted closer to the stage than at any point during the evening - and was very pleasantly surprised. Vastly improved from last time they owned the stage and the audience from the off. Corey Beaulieu took on the majority of the vocals although Matt Heafy revelled in the frontman role surprising Mr B by whipping up a rousing Happy Birthday to celebrate yesterday's milestone. Genuinely good musicians their set was well crafted and a good mix of old and new - new single Becoming The Dragon and Anthem seemed to whip up the most frenzied pits, although the set closer Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr was the standout for me. Last time they toured I went to see Porcupine Tree at the Wulfrun rather than them at the Civic; if I had the same choice now there would be a lot of soul searching, high praise indeed as PT's gig was stunning.

I was fortunate to see Machine Head twice on the "Burn My Eyes" tour and have had a soft spot for them since. Complete and utter mayhem from the word go and the biggest circle pit I have seen in a long time, although there were circle and mosh pits throughout the sizeable standing section. Shame they only had an hour and a must see when they play a full Blackening tour in the UK - there really aren't enough superlatives to express quite how good they were. The set was well balanced with a good mix of old and new and they developed immense but effortless power throughout (unfortunately Dragonforce were probably already getting more pissed, otherwise they could have learned a thing or two..). The new material was stunningly executed with Aesthetics of Hate and Halo slipping into the set like tried and trusted favourites Davidian and Old. Imperium and Descend The Shades of Night from the "Ashes" album worked well too - glad I played this album hours before leaving for the show. Awesome is a word oft-used in reviews but they truly were - and a great way to complete a quality evening.

Even with Dragonforce's putrid efforts the other 4 acts more than compensated to catapult this to the top of the pile and claim the gig of the year award - so far!! - although High on Fire are going to have to be spectacularly good to top this.