21.10.2012 Xandria

Metal Female Voices Fest X

Oktoberhallen Wieze (Belgium)

(Pentax K-5 with Tamron SP AF 17-50mm 2.8 XR Di II LD Asp IF and Sigma AF 50-150mm 2.8 EX DC APO HSM II)

And directly afterwards the next band that I already could admire the year before. The German band Xandria was allowed to test on Friday evening how whether they are able to enthuse the crowd with their new style and her new front women Manuela Kraller. That appealed so well that they were headlining the Sunday evening this year.
Of course the songs of the current album "Neverworld's Edge" were dominating by which the band got rid of their used style and moved over into an edges where they are more comparable to early songs of Nightwhish. That does not necessarily mean to be bad and so Xandria was able to enthuse the audience directly from the start. I have not seen Lisa Middlehauve live but Manuela did her job very well and knew how to push the crowd to the limit. But also the other band members first of all the musical head and guitarist Marco Heubaum as well as Philip Restemeier and Gerit Lamm on drums knew to convince. Was it by great solos or by swirling wildly across the stage.
Of course you could not exclude the old songs completely and so by "The End Of Every Story" and "Ravenheart" a real classic closure was chosen. Last year's gig was already great but was overcome by far by this one. A comparison with old Xandria songs is hard as the new album radically oriented in a new way and shows a way harder pace. This came into one's own especially due to the new front women but I would have liked to hear some more old stuff. I could imagine that this also works quite well as I already in the past was having the need for a more powerful voice (sorry Lisa that is nothing about you but your voice is not that powerful and some songs would have sounded much better with that). It was not only me that was excited but also the meanwhile quite numerous audience and I think that in future there will be much fun with the new cast and their new orientation.

Setlist:

A Prophecy Of Worlds To Fall
Valentine
Call Of The Wind
Blood On My Hands
Euphoria
Forevermore
Soulcrusher
A Thousand Letters
The End Of Every Story
Ravenheart

Weblinks:

	Xandria Homepage of the German band Xandria.
	Metal Female Voices Fest Homepage of the Metal Female Voices festival at Wieze (Belgium).
	Oktoberhallen Homepage of the Oktoberhallen at Wieze (Belgium).