HRH Friday 8th Nov 2019 - Summary

Parkdean Resorts, Great Yarmouth

Live review by; Myk

 

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Ravenbreed had to bring a stand in vocalist into their line up due to a recent parting of the ways with their usual singer. However temporary or not the new recruit performed more than adequately. Yes he had to refer to a lyric sheet form time to time but it didn’t detract from his or their performance which was all about power and driving riffs, bludgeoning the audience into submission. Highly enjoyable and a band I will seek out again and I’m really looking forward to how things develop in the future when they find a permanent singer.

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Kikamora are a powerful five piece with some great riffs backed by a solid rhythm section. The vocals were complimentary if unspectacular. Enjoyable performance with good audience engagement and a definite watch band at future festivals.

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Hollowstar have a nice bluesy vibe, heavy but with a level of sophistication. The vocals would have benefited from being more up in the mix but that’s a personal preference as opposed to criticism, clearly the sound man agreed as gradually they crept up in the mix to a better level. There was plenty of variety on offer across the songs and the crowd was fully engaged responding to all the prompts. Definitely ones to watch as they sound destined for a bright future.

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I only caught half the Wayward Sons set but these guys are classic rock personified ticking all the right boxes. Commanding stage presence, some good tunes delivered with aplomb and plenty of audience participation. What is there not to like. I will look to catch a full show as soon as I can.

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I’d been hearing a few good things about Beth Blade & the Beautiful Disaster and they did not disappoint, delivering a great classic rock sound very reminiscent of the Runaways or Girlschool with that punk like vocal delivery. The impact of the twin guitar attack worked really well and the intensity from the first song to the last never dropped. The quality of the compositions was high and this is a band I will definitely follow as I love a good rock band with a strong female vocalist.

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HRH Highway to Hell winners Twister start with a dramatic intro promising great things then launch into a surprisingly keyboard orientated opener when I’d been expecting something more hard hitting. This continued into subsequent songs which did not dispel my initial thought that they lacked a clear identity. Now this may sound like I didn’t like what I was hearing but that wasn’t the case, the songs were well crafted and executed. However I felt that there was such mix of styles sometimes even within songs it was hard to work out what direction the band were going in and it left me a little confused as to where they see themselves going. But maybe that is unimportant and the delivery is the crucial part, in which case they were winners again with the audience clearly enjoying the show.

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Hell’s Addiction launch straight in with a thunderous aural onslaught that didn’t let up throughout the set. Not a lot of finesse on show but I don’t think it was needed given the style of music. Entertaining personal interaction from the gravelly voiced frontman Ben as he managed to assuage his thirst thanks to some crowd members at the barrier. He then grabbed someone’s offered phone a take an up and close video of himself before returning it and then using a pair of led slogan sunglasses for several songs before returning them to the delighted owner. Clearly an entertaining festival band but based on this show nothing to make them stand out from the crowd.

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After a major line up shake up Wicked Stone are back and rejuvenated, presenting the crowd with some melodic heavy classic rock infused songs taken from debut album Ain’t No rest and the recently released E.P. Devil In Me. Their charismatic frontman Joe Hawx strutting around the stage belting out the tunes with great finesse, ably supported by some impressive shredding from Dave Winchester. Engagement with the eager audience was terrific and although they suffered a brief technical issue, this was quickly resolved and normal service was resumed. A great performance and I’m keen to see more.