Fest serves up a feast of metal

British Rock and Metal Fest

JB's, Dudley

Homegrown heavy rock in its many guises was celebrated at the first-ever British Rock and Metal Fest held at JB's.

The brainchild of guitarist Steve Slater from Dudley, the festival served up almost 11 hours of live headbanging action, culminating in a breathless set from Midland rocker Blaze Bayley . . . and all for just a tenner.

A non-stop human dynamo, Bayley was on irresistable form as he led his brand new band through his back catalogue, including Futureal and Man On The Edge from his days with Iron Maiden, as well as three songs from his thunderous new album, The Man Who Would Not Die.

The night before, Bayley had played to an audience of bikers in Moscow. On Saturday, 3,520 miles and 24-hours later he and his band showed no signs of jet lag, and wouldn't give up until every last hand was punching the air, Bailey wringing every response out of the audience as if his life depended on it.

London band Voodoo Six have already been creating a huge stir, after releasing their debut album, Feed My Soul, described by Iron Maiden's Steve Harris as "the best debut album I've heard in years", which has now been revamped and re-released as First Hit For Free.

Following their performance at the Download Festival a fortnight ago, they were back in the Midlands, all smiles and swagger, beefy riffs and memorable melodies. Foppish singer Henry Rundell has one side of his face painted white, a rock and roll dandy as he leads the celebrations, the band coming across as classic yet eccentric English rockers as imagined by Tim Burton.

Steve Slater's own band, Rekuiem, led his home crowd through 50-minutes of 80s-style crunching, anthems.

With his long blond hair and sporting a Gibson Flying V guitar, Slater could almost be a doppelgänger for Michael Schenker in his UFO days, peeling off apparently effortless riffs and lead licks in a catalogue of songs from the band's superb Time Will Tell album.

Former Firewind singer Chity Somapala's enthusiasm was contagious as he led Rekuiem from the front, engaging the audience's attention as the thunder erupted around him.

Before Rekuiem, JB's was treated to a performance by a true Midlands metal aristocrat, but unfortunately the lack of a compere for the evening meant that many would have been unaware of the fact. Al Atkins was the original singer with Judas Priest and now fronts his own band Holy Rage, 70s-style heavy rockers to a man.

Atkins included a couple of Priest classics, Victim Of Changes and Breaking the Law in his set, which also featured a romp through Led Zeppelin's Rock & Roll.

There was a feeling that Abigail's Mercy and Spit Like This might be testing some of the audience's patience at times, as they both mine seams away from straightforward British metal. Nonetheless, they helped add a welcome breadth to the event.

Abigail's Mercy conjure up a gothic mix of rock and romanticism, drawing influence from a wide range of bands, including Black Sabbath, Lacuna Coil and Within Temptation. They sound like Evanescence might if they could actually be bothered to rock out.

Punk glam-metallers Spit Like This come with a reputation for controversy, having won the title 'Trashiest Band In The UK' and promising to "push the boundaries of decency and taste".

It was hard to find anything too offensive about their performance at JB's, just a solid collection of punky anthems and singalong run through of Rocky Horror Show's Sweet Transvestite, although PVC-clad bassist Vikki Spit did seem to be getting most of the attention from the photographers.

Birmingham's Hostile were also on the JB's bill after a storming appearance at Download which won a rave review in heavy metal bible Kerrang!

Their mix of traditional and extreme metal sounds have drawn the attention of Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing who is producing their first album, and their intense, bone-crunching set included one song, Avenger, written for them by Downing, the twin guitars of A.J. Mills and Matt Waddoups ricocheting around Adrian Carloss's bruising, doom-laden vocals.

Earlier, the rock and metal fest had been opened by female-fronted classic rockers Oxzide, from Stourbridge, followed by Heresy and Orius.

By Ian Harvey

Former Iron Maiden and Wolfsbane singer Blaze Bayley at JB's.

Blaze Bayley was like a non-stop human dynamo.

Voodoo Six frontman Henry Rundell.

Voodoo Six were back in the Midlands a fortnight after

their performance at the Download Festival.

Steve Slater of Rekuiem, who organised the British Rock and Metal Festival.

Rekuiem's guest singer Chity Somapala.

Original Judas Priest singer Al Atkins appeared with his band Holy Rage.

Vikki Spit of Spit Like This on stage at JB's.

Spit Like This specialise in singalong glam-goth punk.

Abigail's Mercy singer Lindsey at JB's.

Abigail's Mercy guitarist John.

Hostile singer Adrian Carloss's vocals were bruising and doom-laden.

Hostile's first album is being produced by Judas Priest guitar legend KK Downing.