PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
HELSTAR With Atomkraft, Deceptor, Hybris @ The Purple Turtle, Camden 29th August 2011
Review & Photos by Jo Blackened – Altercarnated Photography
Despite it being a Monday Night on this Bank Holiday weekend, it was no surprise seeing a large queue outside The Purple Turtle tonight, especially as it’s Helstar’s first live show in London!
Unfortunately with the headliners being trapped in France and desperate attempt to board the fastest ferry it was at least an hour wait until the doors officially opened, but luckily for us there are many pubs near by.
Despite tonight seeing to have a stressful start, everyone was in good spirits!
I was quite surprised to see there were infact 4 Bands playing tonight and with the venue being an hour behind it wasn’t long until the first band hit the stage!
Hybris; a thrash, power, tech metal band including some members of Abgott, Stuka Squadron and Centurions Ghost!
To be honest I’d not heard of these guys before but they exploded onto stage and played really well with some great riffs. I was impressed with this being their only second gig to date and had just recruited a new drummer just a week prior to this gig, but they played so well together you would have thought they had been playing for ages, this just shows their previous gigging experience and great stage presence.
Without much delay it was time for Deceptor to take to the stage.
Despite these guys only being a 3 member band, they sounded amazing! Again in the same thrash, power metal genre these guys were great on stage and seemed to have a strong fan base here tonight, with many fans eagerly headbanging and singing along to their songs. Playing new tracks from their recently released EP, laughing at the enthusiastic crowd shouting ‘I bet you’ve not heard that track before, and playing the track ‘The Heat Seeker’ about an undercover op based in the Jungle, which was really amusing!
These guys are great to watch live, again with great stage presence and impressive guitar riffs and solos with both guys on guitars and vocals, it was no surprise hearing the crowd screaming for me as they left the stage.
Next on stage was Atomkraft; who too burst onto stage with incredible energy!
These guys were enthusiastic and thrilled to be here, chatting to the crowd in between their set, talking about how much has changed and the ‘Old Scene’ of metal!
It was great to watch a band that have so many years of gigging experience, having formed back in 1988 & reforming in 2005!
Their set was fast, energetic and sounded heavier than the previous bands but still in the thrash, speed style manner, playing some of their more known old tracks aswell as mixing it up with some new material! An absolutely amazing performance from these guys!
Again it wasn’t long before tonights headliners took to the stage and with a wait of over 25 years for these guys to play in the UK you could feel everyone’s anticipation.
Helstar; this was most definitely the band everyone was here to see tonight and the energy exploded as soon as their intro began to play!
It was great to see these guys finally play in the UK and vocalist ‘James Rivera’ joked saying it’s taken them nearly 30 years to get here and stated they were truly overwhelmed by the support shown here tonight, saying to the crowd ‘You just want to see a grown man cry!’
They played all their classic tracks tonight and explained the stress it took for them to finally get here tonight but luckily ‘The Powers That Be’ were on their side!
James Rivera’s voice sounded amazing tonight, keeping the crowds energy up with such enthusiastic force in a true thrash metal style! They played with incredible force, playing track after track perfectly with an extremely tight set.
There’s not many metal bands that can bring out the London metallers on a Monday Bank Holiday night, but if any band can do it, it’s certainly these guys!
Ending their set on epic form tonight and walking off stage with James saying ‘I will be back’ in an Arnie voice the crowd showed their true love and appreciation of this band; who due to the time had to cut back on their full set, but still managed a full hour!
This really was a fantastic way to end this Bank Holiday Weekend!
Helstar Setlist;
- Angels Fall to Hell/
- Pandemonium/
- The Plague Called Man/
- Conquest/
- Bitter End/
- Summer of Hate/
- Evil Reign/
- Burning Star/
- Monarch of Bloodshed/
- Dracula’s Castle/
- Angel of Death/
- The King Is Dead/
- Baptized In Blood/
- Alma Negra
