9

All Hail Majesty

I can't sit here and profess to know every metal band around today, there are many many bands who I've yet to even dip my musical toe into, and Majesty just so happens to be one of those acts. I knew nothing of this German five-piece before their performance and sometimes this is a good way to evaluate a band, on face value.

Impress me I thought, and one intro tape later four armour clad, big haired, heavy metal disciples ripped onto the stage. The quiet guitar syndrome that plagued the Friday claimed another victim as Rolf Munkes and Björn Daigger played hard but failed to make much of an impact for all their guitar fury. It was '2-day stand in drummer' Jan Raddatz who seemed to take over the mix, adding lots of power at the expense of the actual songs themselves.

Majesty are pure Heavy Metal, there's no denying they love their metal, but with song titles such as 'Sword and Sorcery,' 'Reign in Glory' and 'Metal Law' the band come across as that cheesy European metal that is ridiculed in much of today's music press. To be honest I don't think the band gives a damn and the Bloodstock crowd didn't either. I have to admit that Majesty were so entertaining, largely thanks to eminent vocalist Tarek "MS" Maghary, who, although doesn't have the greatest of voices, has the ability to appeal to an initially cold crowd. Of course saying phrases such as "The UK is the home of metal!" and so forth, is going to win over a local crowd but the band themselves won over the audience by simply playing a dodgy style of metal so convincingly. I hope they come over to the UK again very soon. All Hail Majesty.