Headbanger’s Ball was a MTV metal music show from the Eighties and Nineties that seems to not be forgotten yet in Belgium. Inspired by their love for the music that was played in that show,  Headbanger’s Balls Fest came to live (read our interview with the organisation here). This year the event took place at the new location De Leest in Izegem. When scouting the terrain we came to the conlusion that the room itself was definitely a nice upgrade. Outside you could find a big terrace with tables and in the big entrance hall there were cd’s and merch, signing sessions and there was even a barbershop present. Barber Calli didn’t hold back for customer and the crowd watching: the show and quality that he brought to the table was topnotch. When actually getting into the venue one thing immediately caught our eyes: the stage was almost as big as the area in front of it. Definitely a promising thing for the coming shows…

Immanent Distance kicked off the day and was definitely a good opener. The band from Kuurne pleased the already well-filled venue with their melodic metal with progressive influences. “The set is rather short, so we’re not going to chitchat too much” was what vocalist Mike Slembrouck pointed out to us. Thus Immanent Distance immediately threw themselves completely in their show to bring us as much as possible of their music. One big letdown was their apparent struggles with feedback on the monitors and sadly enough the sound of the microphone got a bit lost as well. But despite the technical problems it definitely was a good gig.

Then it was At The Front‘s turn, that immediately cranked up the tempo with their thrash metal. It was very clear that this is a damn heavy band. Which translated itself into a higher amount of “heavy” people standing on the frontline. The feedback that haunted the first band was gone and everything sounded already way better, which resulted in a flawless show. They hid a little surprise  for us in their setlist when they played a cover of Roots from Sepultura, a song that raised the energy in the room quite a bit.

Third band of the day was Fields of Troy. from Torhout. They bring melodic metal/rock somewhat in the lines of Tremonti, Mastodon and Alice in Chains. This band was so good at last year’s edition of Headbanger’s Balls Fest that they booked them again this time. That the outfit isn’t unknown, was obvious when part of the crowd were shouting along to quite a few of their songs.

Next in line was the (in Belgium) well-known and kind of legendary band Thurisaz. This band brought us yet again their masterfully crafted atmospheric avantgarde metal with its roots in black, death and doom metal. Very heavy music that was carried oh so well by the mix of harsh and clean vocals. As always a very pleasant band to listen to and see a show of and the 3 voices just work perfectly together. It’s not a surprise that this band was booked for this year’s Graspop Metal Meeting as well.

With the band from Brugge, Cowboys and Aliens and their groove/stoner rock, the music style at Headbanger’s Balls Fest made a turn of 180 degrees. They were well-received by the crowd though and the venue filled up bit by bit the longer they were playing. The clean vocals of the singer made it also sound that just a bit better than the average stoner outfit.

And then back to the more “classic metal” with the German Freedom Call. These guys brought power metal of the highest level. Also the cover song Hallelujah from Jeff Buckley was much appreciated by the crowd. This show became an early little party with a great interaction with the crowd.

Up next was the Belgian Dyscordia. This was a show that came to near perfection on every level. Looking at the crowd, probably quite a chunk came for this band from Kortrijk and the venue was completely filled up in the mean time. They blew the roof off the place with songs like Twin Symbiosis, Bail me out,.. Every track was absolutely great. This is just clearly one of those Belgian bands from the metal scene that we can be proud of.

After Dyscordia warmed us up, it was time for the headliner of the day and the venue was transformed into a big party hall by the Swedish Amaranthe. The band (and the crowd) just completely threw themselves into the show with singalong tracks like Boomerang, Endlessly (the song with a high Eurovision level), opening dance material Amaranthine and of course also some of their more heavy tracks. Vocalist Elize managed at a certain point to get a wall of death, which is kind of exceptional for their modern metal style. It was also really nice to see that at the end of their show a young fan was allowed on stage with the band. A great band to end a wonderful event!

Simply said: This was a fun metal party to start the festival season on a high note. As all fun parties it was a pity that it ended so fast, time flies when you’re having fun. Again a great edition and we’re already looking forward to next year for a new party of the same, if not higher, quality! Lots of thanks to the organisation and the bands for yet again a fantastic Headbanger’s Balls Fest….

For more pictures by our photographer Nera, go here.