We continue into the final day of ProgPower USA festivities, featuring some huge names, a last minute cancellation, and good times all around!

[date]12th September, 2015[/date]
[venue]Center Stage[/venue]
[city]Atlanta, GA, USA[/city]
[support_bands]Helker, Riverside, Unleash the Archers, Dragonland, Royal Hunt, Angra[/support_bands]

Helker

Helker is another one of those bands I knew nothing about, except that they were from Argentina, and they play heavy metal. Considering that the only band I actually know from Argentina are Skiltron, it was probably worth diversifying my portfolio of knowledge on music for the region and checking them out.

It was met with absolutely no regrets. Helker, playing their first show outside Argentina, were there to impress. Storming the stage with their opening track ‘Still Alive‘, the traditional heavy metal sound rang through the Center Stage as if it were an arena, emitting that South American passion on stage that really brings the music alive.

I always seem to really enjoy shows when a band I know next to nothing about delivers. While Helker don’t particularly play anything unique, they play their brand of heavy metal very well. Soaring vocals, chugging guitars, shredding and super battery all collaborating nicely under an umbrella of passion and vigour. Helker delivered, and it certainly was a bang into the days proceedings.

Dragonland

So remember I said that it wasn’t the last we would see of Dragonland in the US? Well they’re back! An unfortunate last minute cancellation of Swedish metallers Dynazty who were due to play their acclaimed album ‘Renatus’ in it’s entirety led to the promoters swiftly asking Dragonland if they would like to play another set. Of course the band agreed!

The setlist was not particularly different than that of Friday’s kick off show, but a couple other songs thrown in. Now that Dragonland were comfortable with the American audience, the band moved around a lot more and brought across their fantasy power metal into a lightning storm of energy – one that ProgPower USA fans really responded to. They even invited a couple hardcore fans on stage to join them! Clearly they had made an impression as by the time ‘The Inn of Eamonn Boyle‘ rang out the theatre was completely packed.

We know Dragonland don’t play too often, but we would like to see them back one day!

Riverside

Now for band arguably the proggiest of the bunch – Riverside. Just to define it when I mean proggy, I mean a very unusual style of metal usually backed by intricate artistic themes that usually have long songs that take a while to get to the good parts. Music like this tends to attract the music intelligentsia, but hey – that is pretty much every fan at ProgPower USA! This is the right place for Riverside.

The band kick off proceedings with their oddly titled track, ‘Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened of a Hat?)‘ surrounding the venue in a melancholic atmosphere, and setting the tone for the performance ahead.

Riverside are one of those bands, like most progressive bands, that fit more or less under the ‘shoegaze’ category – focusing entirely on their music in the live performance and ensuring that all notes are pitch perfect, a feat that is impressive entirely by itself. That means that the show lacked physical energy, but they are simply not that kind of band.

Watching the clash of dark keys and fierce riffing in ‘Hyperactive‘ is something brilliant to watch, as well as perfectly pulling off the effects in the opening of ‘Egoist Hedonist‘ is spectacular. There were plenty of ‘how do they play that’ moments, and it was pretty distinguishable who played an instrument in the audience due to beard scratching and universal telekinetic thought patterns of, ‘how can I get my live rig to sound that amazing’?

The Polish quartet certainly won some hearts here tonight.

Unleash the Archers

Unleash the Archers were yet another band that was not originally supposed to be playing ProgPower tonight, but a cancellation in the original line-up (I believe it was Morgana LeFay) led promoters to book these growing power metal sensations, and boy am I glad they did! I’ve been very much looking forward to seeing this band play live since the release of their epic new album ‘Time Stands Still’ over the summer. A great brand of power metal that the band have made their own, and something I believed would come off well very live.

Well guess what? It certainly did. Starting out with the opening track of the new album ‘Frozen Steel‘, frontwoman Brittney Slayes surprises those who didn’t know the band with her heavy metal style wailing, as opposed to the sweet, solemn style she sung with Dragonland a couple hours before.

It sounded awesome, and was an absolute right choice for the festival. Power metal that is fast, furious, technical and has that unique edge to distinguish it from the rest. Tracks such as ‘Dreamcrusher‘ demonstrate the melodic abilities of the band while being run over with technical prowess and diversifying vocal flurries of death screams and soaring metal singing.

Of course the band played one of my favourite tracks of 2015 in ‘Tonight We Ride‘ with one of those massive sing-along choruses that was leaving more than a few people very impressed. Now I have seen the Archers live, I can definitely confirm that there will be big things for this band, and hope to see them in Europe where they will be very well received!

Royal Hunt

This next one is going to be a bit difficult for me to write, as I myself have never been the biggest fan of Royal Hunt. I definitely respect their place in progressive metal, but so much of their music reminds me of every AOR album of the 1980’s, and even though they have produced some fantastic albums in the last decade I just can’t get that idea out of my head.

It doesn’t help that train of thought when the band starts with tracks like ‘The Mission‘, which could really be mistaken as a Poison arena anthem and vocalist D.C. Cooper comes out in leopard skin attire. But I can safely say that idea goes away after 2 songs, as tonight is a special performance from Royal Hunt, in that they will play their fan-favourite ‘Paradox‘ album in it’s entirety.

From ‘The Awakening‘ down to ‘It’s Over‘, it’s admittedly a pretty awesome experience. The band play their instruments so well, and D.C. Cooper is such a personality that he really projects quite the entertainment with the pitch perfect sound. It’s something that only bands with years of experience can do, and for that the performance is incredibly admirable. Especially in the more intimate venue rather than the giant festival stages of Europe.

After ‘Paradox‘ is complete, the band treat us to a couple more tracks ‘May You Never (Walk Alone)‘ and closed the evening out with ‘A Life To Die For‘. Excellent performance all around.

Angra

Angra is the only band playing in this festival that I have seen more than once before. This however will be the first time I see them in a headline capacity with Fabio Lione, and the first time anyone will be seeing the band play their legendary ‘Holy Land‘ album played in it’s entirety. It could also be one of the last few times fans will see guitarist Kiko Loureiro with band before he commits to Megadeth, arguably what will be a demanding job.

The band waste no time in playing what they are here to do, 1996’s ‘Holy Land‘ in it’s entirety. Opening up with ‘Nothing to Say‘ the first point of interest was seeing how vocalist Fabio Lione handled the vocal duties of the original Andre Matos recordings, but it was fair to say he did it quite well giving an even more passionate and operatic edge to the vocals – much so that it really provided an enhancement to the album on the live stage.

During the album’s performance, it really became apparent how amazing ‘Holy Land‘ is, and how I could not believe I had not listened to it in so long. Epic tracks like ‘Carolina IV‘ and ‘The Shaman‘ really bring Angra to justice as a top force in power metal, and a reminder how new fans of the genre need to look back at albums like this to show just how it’s done.

The energy of the show is rampant, with frontman Lione having such a naturally dramatic stage presence and the guitar work of Kiko Loureiro and Rafael Bittencourt being nothing short of phenomenal. The band finish ‘Holy Land‘ with thunderous applause, and proceed into playing some newer tracks to close the festival including the epic ‘Newborn Me‘ and the time appropriate ‘Final Light‘.

We do hope that Loureiro’s new commitments with Megadeth don’t affect Angra, but given his talent and dedication we doubt it will. The band wrap up the festival by inviting the more prolific frontmen of the festival on stage including Jeff Scott Soto and D.C. Cooper to sing a rendition of The Kink’s ‘You Really Got Me Going‘.

A perfect end to a great festival. Despite all the dramas that happened this year, mainly because of the US Visa system conspiring against small bands and festivals (I am going to go on a rant about this in a separate article), fans always pull together and bring the best out, and the promoters do an epic job of making the show go on. The dedication and passion for this festival is evident, as next years edition sold out in 9 hours!

If you got your ticket, see you next year!