>> MOTSTOY FESTIVALEN 2006<<

Stua Notodden, Oktober 6 - 7

Day 1

I arrived at the festival a bit late this first day, so I didn’t see the demo-band DECIPHER. But from what I heard afterwards the audience had met up early this afternoon to see the festival’s first band.
LEPROUS was the festival’s second band out and it was a positive surprise for me as I wasn’t familiar with the band in advance. Leprous is playing a mix of prog rock/metal and symphonic black/extreme metal with both clean vocals and growling (or whatever they call the black/death metal vocals) from vocalist/synthist Einar Solberg (who also does the keys in Emperor). We also got a piece of classical music on the piano at the end of the concert. The band sounded very good and at least very exciting. This is a band to look out for in the future both live and on record (album review elsewhere on this site soon).

Then it was BENEA REACH’s turn, an extreme metal band that gave me nothing. I don’t understand why this band have three guitarists. I rush to the next band, TORCH, that served us a mixture of hardcore, extreme metal and punk that was just bailed out nonesensically. I understand why this band played for only 19 paying people in Hamar the day before.

But then the bigger names started to enter the stage and the first band out was the metallers in RED HARVEST. We’re talking brutal heavy/power metal here! For me it’s too much in the long run, but the band proved that they know how to do their things. This band have an energy of an atom bomb when they’re on stage.

SUSPERIA was the next to last band this first day at the festival and it was obvious that many had come to see them live. There was a very lively crowd that got a solid dose of fast melodic thrash metal. I used to liste to thrash metal many years ago so this band gave me a little flashback, in a positive meaning. Susperia also played two brand new songs that will appear on the next album (that the band is working on in the studio these days), as well as an okay version of W.A.S.P.’s “Wild Child”. I will also add that there were most people in the crowd during Red Harvest’s and Susperia’s concerts.

Headliner this first day was the melodic power/prog rockers PAGAN’S MIND. There’s no doubt that this band is very professional and very clever musicians. There seems to be differing opinions on Nils’ vocals, but I think he does a great job just like the band’s instrumentalists. But I find their songs average despite of the bandmembers capability. And on top of that, it sounds very similar to Dream Theater at times that it can almost be characterized as plagiarism. During the 100 minutes Pagan’s Mind stood on stage the crowd got smaller and smaller, so it isn’t just me that think the band should have written better songs. The band closed their set and the festival’s first day with a cover of Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper”.

Day 2:

This second day started at 4.30 p.m. and the first band out was the festival’s second demo-band FRACTURE. This local gang did their second concert ever this day. Since last concert they had hired an extra guitarist, Wegard Golbeiowski, for the event. The band had only rehearsed three times with two guitarist and they were so satisfied with Wegard that he’s now a permanent member of the band. And with two guitarists the bands sound was fatten up this Saturday afternoon. The performance was very good, both musically and vocally. There’s no need to point a finger on the PA-sound either. We were served songs from the demo ‘Isolation Wings’ as well as a couple of new ones. Many people had arrived early to check out Fracture live, and they seemed impressed of what they heard. It will be very exciting to watch this promising band in the future, both live and on record.

I didn’t see the next band SHE SAID DESTROY as I had to have some food before the prog rock/metallers CIRCUS MAXIMUS entered the stage. But the PA-system partly broke down, which resulted in that the bass and vocals was cut out from the sound now and then throughout the concert. The problem was some defailts with some amplifiers. That was very sad as the band played extremly well this night (like last time I saw them live), so I can’t blame the band’s performance and achievement. One thing I wanted from Circus Maximus this night was the song “The Prophecy”, which they didn’t play. But instead we got to hear two brand new songs (one of them called “My Destiny”) from the upcoming album the band is currently working on in the studio.

The sound problems continued into TÖMMERMENN’s concert before it was fixed. But this band also completed their concert. Like Pagan’s Mind this band is getting boring in the long run despite of the band’s clever heavy metal musicians. There’s nothing wrong with Tömmermenn for that matter, but their songs should’ve been better. Tömmermenn sings in Norwegian language and with their heavy style it sounds weird sometimes (with lyrics like “I’m free as the bird”).

More prog rock was on the way when MAGIC PIE entered the stage. The sound problems was by now fixed and we again got great sound throughout Magic Pie’s concert. Magic Pie must be the best prog rock band in Norway now. You have to look a long time for a more harmonized and tight band like this, and they have great songs. I will compare Magic Pie to Spock’s Beard with its musical similarities and all of the band’s six members sings (either lead and/or backing vocals). The sound is getting so massive and big that makes one’s hair stand on end. For those of you who don’t know Magic Pie’s music, I can tell you that they have similarities to bands like Yes, The Flower Kings and, as ementioned above, Spock’s Beard. Like some of the other bands on this festival Magic Pie is also working in the studio these days, and we got to hear some tasters which sounded very good. The band seems to continue in the same vein as their first album, so this is very promising in advance to the upcoming album.

The festival’s last two bands, MORTIIS and EMPEROR is too heavy for me, so I won’t say too much about them. I can tell that the audience were completely hooked by these two bands. So many had come to see these two bands, especially Emperor that reunited this summer for some performances. There’s no doubt this extreme black metal band have been highly missed. But for me it’s too extreme.

In the end I will say that the festival were well organized, and thinking of this as a non-alcoholic arrangement the audience gave an even more honest feedback by being sober. It’s unusual to see Emperor fans with nails around their arms enjoying prog rock from Magic Pie, but this proves that people isn’t just true to their own style. So there is actually possible to arrange great rock concerts/festival without offering alcohol!

The sound started on a moderate level and were increased throughout the day as well as alsomst silence between the bands. Just a little heavy rock on elevator music level. It’s good to have a rest on the ears in between. All in all I’m very satisfied with Motstøy Festivalen 2006 and I’m already looking foreward to next year’s festival. I will especially thank Tor Oddmund and Einar (the festival organizers) as well as Fracture’s Per Morten and Pål for a great weekend at Motstøy!

Review and photos by Per Erik Jansen

Click for Photos