Wow...what a great weekend. It felt like a progpower reunion all over again seeing the K-5 crew with the rest of the band in tow, Shelley, Bear, Ken & Kathy, Metal(don't call me "rose")
, Henry & Norm (Imakiga) and meeting all kinds of cool new people like Angela, Shaye, Wayne (yes, THE guitar tech), Tracey as well as the band people I talked to.
Here's my Run down on the bands in the order they played.
WarMachine - (Canada). Good metal band but didn't really do a lot for me.
Silencer - (Denver) Old late 80's/90's thrash. Liked thier energy and songs. Had flashbacks to the old days. Good to hear them. I'm going to look up thier new CD and maybe thier Import after hearing them live.
Archetype (Cleveland) - Good performance. New vocalist for the band sounded good and they played a lot of new material as well as songs from Dawning. I'm looking forward to hearing new stuff from them.
Morgana Lefay (Sweden) - I wasn't a huge ML fan before seeing them though I did recognize Lord of the Rings and Isengard as well as a few other tunes. GOod performance though and obviously a crowd favorite from the reaction.
Saturday
Katagory V ("Mormon Metal" from SLC) - what can I say. Thier performance was tight, they had fun on stage and the sound was excellent. They played some new tracks from The Rising Anger and some old tracks. IMO, one of the best shows of the weekend.
Imagika (Cali) - Another great set, Imagika's style is more thrashier than Power metal but they sounded great and I thought Norm sounded great as well. I bought their CD as soon as I got home last night.
Ion Vein (Illinois) - Quite honestly, I thought Ion Vein had the toughest job following K-5 and Imagika. The energy level of the crowd had to be drained by the time they took the stage. They still put on a good performance but I was drained by the time they came on.
Twelfth Gate (Illinois) - I didn't know what to expect from these guys since I had never heard them but I figured I'd check them out and then go grab a beer. I never left my spot the rest of their show. They were fucking amazing live and Jim Stopper (Guitarist) was incredible. Along with K-5 and Imagika they were the highlight of CPF.
Tad Morose - (Sweden) - At this point I was mentally and physically exhausted. I recognized some of the songs and they sounded good but I just didn't get into like I did some of the others. I think it's just because of the time factor (and age (haha)).
All in All it was a fantastic weekend. I enjoyed meeting the rest of the Katagory V crew, hanging out with everyone. All the bands were very approachable, including the Swedes who definately looked like they had fun. I'll definately come back to Chicago next year!
, Henry & Norm (Imakiga) and meeting all kinds of cool new people like Angela, Shaye, Wayne (yes, THE guitar tech), Tracey as well as the band people I talked to. Here's my Run down on the bands in the order they played.
WarMachine - (Canada). Good metal band but didn't really do a lot for me.
Silencer - (Denver) Old late 80's/90's thrash. Liked thier energy and songs. Had flashbacks to the old days. Good to hear them. I'm going to look up thier new CD and maybe thier Import after hearing them live.
Archetype (Cleveland) - Good performance. New vocalist for the band sounded good and they played a lot of new material as well as songs from Dawning. I'm looking forward to hearing new stuff from them.
Morgana Lefay (Sweden) - I wasn't a huge ML fan before seeing them though I did recognize Lord of the Rings and Isengard as well as a few other tunes. GOod performance though and obviously a crowd favorite from the reaction.
Saturday
Katagory V ("Mormon Metal" from SLC) - what can I say. Thier performance was tight, they had fun on stage and the sound was excellent. They played some new tracks from The Rising Anger and some old tracks. IMO, one of the best shows of the weekend.
Imagika (Cali) - Another great set, Imagika's style is more thrashier than Power metal but they sounded great and I thought Norm sounded great as well. I bought their CD as soon as I got home last night.
Ion Vein (Illinois) - Quite honestly, I thought Ion Vein had the toughest job following K-5 and Imagika. The energy level of the crowd had to be drained by the time they took the stage. They still put on a good performance but I was drained by the time they came on.
Twelfth Gate (Illinois) - I didn't know what to expect from these guys since I had never heard them but I figured I'd check them out and then go grab a beer. I never left my spot the rest of their show. They were fucking amazing live and Jim Stopper (Guitarist) was incredible. Along with K-5 and Imagika they were the highlight of CPF.
Tad Morose - (Sweden) - At this point I was mentally and physically exhausted. I recognized some of the songs and they sounded good but I just didn't get into like I did some of the others. I think it's just because of the time factor (and age (haha)).
All in All it was a fantastic weekend. I enjoyed meeting the rest of the Katagory V crew, hanging out with everyone. All the bands were very approachable, including the Swedes who definately looked like they had fun. I'll definately come back to Chicago next year!
