[Seb] ] As always, the final day arrives much sooner than you’d think. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Sunday was (at least until the evening) even worse than the days prior, so the rain gear will probably be put to good use again. The amphitheater round is also noticeably emptier than on the first two days, a lot of people have probably decided to skip Sunday in favor of staying dry, despite a 3-day ticket.
However, nothing could do any harm to our spirits :)
[Sui] On goes the poncho, off goes the poncho - Sunday's motto. We rarely experienced such a rainy RHF day. For once, even the beer was too cold to be enjoyable. After two musically pretty strong days, Sunday was the day with the biggest question mark.
[Dajana] Saturday weather turned out to be much better than forecast and yet we were (almost) all soaking wet. There was much more rain today, but somehow, we coped with it much better ;)
I was pleased to see that there were 5 female-fronted bands this year (plus the guitarist for the opener Tailgunner, the backing singer for Geoff Tate and the dancer for Myrath): more than ever, if I'm keeping track correctly. Overall, almost a quarter…
:: pics :: TAILGUNNER ::
[Seb] A look at the band's logo and even someone who wasn't into NWoBHM back then will be instantly nostalgic :)
[Sui] The British youngsters :: TAILGUNNER :: weren’t any more original than the openers of the first two days, but they brought far more energy and charisma to the stage. For me one of the best RHF openers ever. Twin guitars - finally a female guitarist who doesn't just scrub power chords - and classic NWOBHM hooks, banger heart, what more could you want? Great!
[BRT] Yep, that was really great. There was a lot of youthful energy coming from the stage, even if the singer sounded a bit squawky early on. It wasn't original, but it was great fun. The band had not only done their proper Iron Maiden homework, but also went all in regarding leather & spikes. A fine show. I'd like to see them again in a small club.
[Dajana] TAILGUNNER were an absolute blast! The gig really got you in the right mood for a final day of a festival. This was also reflected by the size of the audience - there was quite a crowd for a slot as early as this one. And the custom band name logo on the bottom of the mic stand was awesome! It looked pretty heavy, though...
Band: Craig Cairns (vox), Rhea Thompson (git), Zach Salvini (git), Thomas Hewson (bass), Eddie Mariotti (drums)
Setlist: Midnight Blitz, Blood Sacrifice, White Death, Barren Lands & Seas Of Red, Eulogy, Hit The Lights (Metallica cover), Guns For Hire
:: pics :: HIRAES ::
[Seb] I didn't want to miss the Lower Saxony melo-death combo :: HIRAES :: and so I made sure to arrive early despite my somewhat questionable state. Led by singer Britta Görtz, the band was the first of two with a female front woman.
Despite the early hour, the band got down to business right from the start, and Britta in particular managed to fire up the audience again and again.
At the end, the whole band was visibly moved by the very cheerful audience’s response (especially, as the weather really sucked at that point) and ended the gig with a group photo with fans in the background. A strong performance and, above all, very likable .
[Sui] Even I liked HIRAES' death metal, although I still don't like the growls, not even when they come from a woman's throat. One reason for this was certainly that front woman Britta Görtz came across as absolutely likeable and also had a lot of charisma. Additionally, the music was not just blunt full throttle, but instead extremely varied.
[BRT] HIRAES gave a really good performance, even though I can't really relate to the band's modern melodic death metal. Objectively speaking, the band did everything right, but without the extremely charismatic front woman Britta they would be a rather pale bunch.
[Dajana] The band and Britta have changed a lot. You can clearly hear and see the influence of bands such as Jinjer, Infected Rain or Arch Enemy's Alissa White-Gluz. This modern metal style is much more successful than the “common” death metal as in Cripper, Critical Mass or Dawn Of Disease ;) They deserve their success. Yep, great show!
Band: Britta Görtz (vox), Oliver Kirchner (git), Lukas Kerk (git), Christian Wösten (bass), Mathias Blässe (drums)
Setlist: Through The Storm, About Lies, Under Fire, We Owe No One, Solitary, Nightflight, Dormant, Undercurrent
:: pics :: THE CRYPT ::
[Seb] :: THE CRYPT ::, from Sweden, announced as the “protégés of Candlemass mastermind Leif Edling”, are certainly one of the biggest and, most importantly, positive surprises of RHF 2025, and not just for me!
From the very first seconds, singer Pepper in her “gothic burlesque” costume including (almost absurdly tall) devil horns (unsurprisingly) attracted everyone's attention. And the lascivious movements, practiced through experience as a professional dancer, did certainly play at least as much of a role as her stunning look. However, anyone, who might have thought that the lady was just a kind of “gimmick” is mistaken: the vocal qualities were by no means impressive either.
The first and most of the songs were introduced by dark spoken passages/poems (which, despite the otherwise incomparable music, reminded me a little of Coffinshakers, who are also of Swedish origin). I would describe the music itself as a kind of “doom/heavy metal fusion with a small portion of musical and a very large portion of visual gothic influences, garnished with an astonishing amount of ”oomph”.
The gentlemen on the instruments let a lot of heads spin - based on the descriptions I had read in advance, I had expected far fewer neck-breaking riffs.
At the finale Mistress Of Fire, Pepper even topped it and donned a somewhat wing-like cape with interwoven lights. The way she moved around with those “wings” increased her effect on stage even more.
The show was really a ton of fun and I really like the RHF for something like this: I would otherwise never have seen THE CRYPT live or even taken any notice of them! !
[Sui] And there it is, my personal RHF discovery 2025: THE CRYPT! At almost every ROCK HARD FESTIVAL, I get to know a band that I never had on my radar and that really gets me going. Now it's the Swedish doom-goth-burlesque metallers around charismatic singer Pepper. Surprisingly hard, surprisingly heavy, surprisingly surprising: the mixture of Black Sabbath, Hammer Studios horror optics and burlesque was absolutely outstanding. The first signs of fatigue were blown away.
[BRT] Wowzers, THE CRYPT were a real blast. Certainly, the best newcomer I've seen live on the metal circuit for a long time. The sound was great, the band and especially singer Pepper had a lot of charisma and the songs hit the mark. Well, a certain Leif Edling probably had a hand in it and his signature sound could be heard at every edge. THE CRYPT picked up from when he once wrote songs for Avatarium or Doomsday Kingdom. Doomy metallic songs with a preference for the 70s, in this case Rainbow, garnished with a fat organ. Outstanding. The opening track Into The Crypt is an absolute fucking hit.
[Dajana] I can only agree with all that. My most important recent discovery, a feast for the senses and for me THE highlight of the last festival day! Now it's time to get the self-titled debut into the bag. ♥
[BRT] By the way and off-topic: while one could rightfully criticize the lack of diversity in recent years, THE CRYPT were the third consecutive band with female front women and/or members this Sunday. It would be nice if this became completely normal in the future and you didn't have to point it out any longer.
Band: Pepper (vox), Dave McKenzie (git), Rigor Mortimer (bass), Danne McKenzie (drums), Floke (keys)
Setlist: Intro, Into The Crypt, Cemetery Children, Open The Gate, Rock Kommander, I Love The Darkness, Metal Priestess, Blood For Blood, Mistress Of Fire, Outro
:: pics :: DESERTED FEAR ::
[Seb] If you didn't know that :: DESERTED FEAR :: come from Thuringia and/or what a Thuringian dialect sounds like (definitely pretty funny for Ruhr area natives), now you know, haha.
The guys were obviously in a good mood, joked around in between songs (“Am I on TV? Hello mom!”) and of course didn't miss out on the music either. It was apparent that DESERTED FEAR are aware that not everyone likes their stylistic reorientation, and played some “harder” songs explicitly for fans of the early days.
Even if my colleague BRT won't agree: A good and entertaining gig, even if I have to admit that the old and more traditional old-school material is a lot more appealing than the new modern style the band has now committed itself to .
[BRT] Not so fast: the gig was alright, but as with Hiraes, musically it just wasn't my cup of tea. DESERTED FEAR somehow does everything right, but perhaps a bit too smooth and predictable. And to me it has too much of a “the nice guys next door” feeling, hard to explain. Death Metal is not supposed to be nice, as far as I am concerned. So, that's it!
[Sui] Musically not my thing, but DESERTED FEAR did nonetheless come across quite well and were able to score some sympathy points, even if the announcements were sometimes a bit cryptic. Neither the old nor the new material left much of a mark on me, but the shitty weather was also starting to get to me.
Band: Manuel Glatter (vox, git), Fabian Hildebrandt (git), Simon Mengs (drums), John Gahlert (bass)
Setlist: Intro, The Truth, The Final Chapter, Follow The Light That Blinds, Blind, Part Of The End, Kingdom Of Worms, The Carnage, Welcome To Reality, Funeral Of The Earth, At The End Of Our Reign, Veins Of Fire
:: pics :: VICTORY ::
[Seb] When it comes to old school hard rock bands from Hanover I always thought that the singer and not the guitarist is to wear the cap - is that even allowed? ;)
Unsurprisingly, hard rock is not really my thing, but I still thought it was pretty OK. Based on the performance, you might think that :: VICTORY :: have been playing together in their current form for many, many years (the band as such exists since 1973 and changed the name to VICTORY in 1984), but actually, Herman Frank is the only one of them who has (over multiple stints) been with the band for a long time. All the other members have either been with the band since 2019 or since 2021.
[BRT] VICTORY from Hanover play pretty much American-styled hard rock, not quite my cup of tea but really well done, plus plenty of catchy songs that invited you to party. The band (the predecessor band was called Fargo), has a long history: it features many prominent figures from German rock history, including Matthias Jabs before he went on to join the Scorpions, and producer Frank Bornemann, you might know from Eloy. Hermann Frank is the longest tenured member, but is not a founding member. But enough of the nerd talk.
It was a really great show, and even though (or maybe because) I don't listen to and read much about this kind of music, I have to admit that this was a show played by absolute professionals who were up for it .
[Sui] VICTORY did definitely deserve more attention than I could muster at that moment. What I heard in my twilight state was definitely worthwhile, though.
Band: Gianni Pontillo (vox), Herman Frank (git), Mike Pesin (git), Malte Burkert (bass), Michael Stein (drums)
Setlist: Django Rides In, Rock The Neighbours, Gods Of Tomorrow, Standing Like A Rock, Speak Up, Feel The Fire, Surrender My Heart, Temples Of Gold, Tonight We Rock, Count On Me, Are You Ready, Take The Pace, On The Loose, Checks In The Mail
:: pics :: MYRATH ::
[Seb] Exciting, we haven't had a band from Tunisia (or North Africa for that matter) at the RHF yet, or am I wrong?
It's nice to see that the metal scene is slowly but steadily establishing itself in this region too. If there's one thing I wouldn't have expected from the singer of such a band, it's the line: “Deine Mutter heißt Helmut und zieht LKWs auf DSF” (“Your mother's name is Helmut and she pulls trucks on DSF” (a TV-station)), haha.
Singer Zaher has a cousin in Germany and has learned a few “quips” as well as a bit of everyday German, much to the amusement of the audience :-)
In keeping with the North African origins of :: MYRATH :: the stage was decorated with symmetrical patterns reminiscent of mosque decorations. And the platforms for the drums, keyboard and a small stage for the dancer accompanying the band, were also clad in blue and white patterns.
The songs had the North African-oriental touch I was looking forward to, but fortunately never so much that it became cheesy or too dissonant for European ears. Very interesting !
[Sui] Metal of a somewhat unusual kind, both musically and visually, was brought to the stage by MYRATH from Tunisia. The always slightly oriental hooklines offered a welcome change to the RHF. In line with the oriental tunes, a female dancer occasionally wriggled across the stage, which, together with the singer, created a successful theatricality. Melodically sophisticated, tasteful, without appearing slick - I hope to see the band again soon.
Band: Zaher Zorgati (vox), Malek Ben Arbia (git), Anis Jouini (bass), Morgan Berthet (drums)
Setlist: Into, The Light, Born To Survive, Dance, Child Of Prophecy, Words Are Failing, To The Stars, Tales Of The Sands, Merciless Times, Heroes, Beyond The Stars, Candles Cry, Believer
:: pics :: DIRKSCHNEIDER ::
[Sui] :: DIRKSCHNEIDER :: , oder wie am Merchstand zu lesen war, Dirk Schneider, konnte eigentlich nichts falsch machen. Machte er auch nicht. Wer ein Set mit Balls To The Wall beginnen und mit Burning beenden kann, müsste schon vor der ersten Note sterben, um das zu verbocken. Und so brüllte sich das leider nicht ganz gefüllte Rund des Amphitheaters kollektiv die Kehlen heiser, sodass Udo eigentlich kaum noch selber singen musste. Tut er aber natürlich trotzdem, und das angesichts seines doch fortgeschrittenen Alters noch ziemlich wuchtig. Die Kreissäge kreist immer noch auf volle Pulle. Was sollte danach noch kommen?
Ich ging jedenfalls, denn den Ober-Unsympathen Blacky Brainless muss ich mir nicht geben. W.A.S.P. mögen in den 80ern in der ersten Metal-Liga gespielt haben, aber für mich immer eher untere Tabellenhälfte.
[BRT] Vor ein paar Jahren war Udo DIRKSCHNEIDER doch schon mal auf dem ROCK HARD FESTIVAL, oder? Ah ja, richtig 2017… Hat damals aber keine besonderen Spuren hinterlassen, daher waren meine Erwartungen niedrig und die Motivation versank so langsam im Regen. Aber Pustekuchen, mit einer (größtenteils) jungen und motivierten Band im Rücken, spielte uns Udo sein Balls To The Wall Set, was richtig Spaß machte und die durchnässten Lebensgeister noch einmal zum Fistraisen und Headbangen brachte. Udo Dirkschneider selbst ist zwar nicht mehr der agilste und war auch nie der unterhaltsamste Frontmann, aber an diesem Co-Headliner Set gab es nix auszusetzen. Hat einfach richtig Spaß gemacht. Aber gut, auf dem Album reiht sich auch ein Klassiker an den anderen.
[Dajana] The 1983 album Balls To The Wall is a classic, almost every song is a smash hit and it’s actually one of the albums that got me into metal at the time (a nightmare for my parents, as I used to freak out in front of the radio on Sundays when Accept, Judas Priest, Queen or Kiss were playing in the charts on RIAS Berlin while I turned the volume up to 12+, hahahaha ;))
Band: Udo Dirkschneider (vox), Andrey Smirnov (git), Fabian Dee Dammers (git), Peter Baltes (bass), Sven Dirkschneider (drums)
Setlist: Balls To The Wall, London Leatherboys. Fight It Back, Head Over Heels, Losing More Than You’ve Ever Had, Love Child, Turn Me On, Losers And Winners, Guardian Of The Night, Winterdreams // Princess Of The Dawn, Burning
:: pics :: W.A.S.P. ::
[Seb] For a festival like the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL and its main target audience, the band seems like a worthy headliner, and I'm sure that :: W.A.S.P. :: will be duly celebrated. However, the music is not my cup of tea and I take this as an opportunity for a little more time off before it's back to the dreary daily grind…
[Dajana] I had absolutely zero expectations for W.A.S.P.. Fronter Licking Brainless has fucked it up so many times with his nonsensical, confused political views and has repeatedly canceled shows and tours, so I wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if he hadn't performed at the RHF either. On top of that, the idiot is also a Trump sycophant. Band, frontman and music... nobody needs them!
[Seb] Oh, I wasn’t even aware that the guy is such an unappetizing person, as the band doesn't play any role for me and I just know that they used to be very, very famous. I take back what I said about the worthy headliner and claim the exact opposite…
[BRT] Well, enough has already been said about Lackie Blowless, inviting a Trumpist was certainly not the most brilliant idea the organizers came up with. Especially as they had once upon a time promised to never invite Mr. Bloatie Legless again, because he was already behaving like a complete jerk years ago. But well, there were different people serving as organizers back then.
I have never been a W.A.S.P. fan. I just never liked the vocals and my expectations were close to zero. Being as neutral and emotionally distanced as possible: I’ve got to admit that it was a really good gig with a good backing band and a Lowie Bonkless did a rather good singing performance. He was acting rather subdued for a front man, maybe he had actually been asked to just keep his stupid mouth shut. As far as the song selection goes, it was fine.
[Dajana] And so we say goodbye to ROCK HARD FESTIVAL 2025, not on a high level but still in a great mood due to a great festival with many a surprise and awesome bands. See you next year! :)
Band: Blackie Lawless (vox, git, keys), Doug Blair (git), Mike Duda (vox, bass), Aquiles Priester (drums)
Setlist: I Wanna Be Somebody, L.O.V.E. Machine, The Flame, B.A.D., School Daze, Hellion, Sleeping (In The Fire), On Your Knees, Tormentor. The Torture Never Stops, The Big Welcome, The Real Me (The Who cover), Forever Free, The Headless Children, Wild Child, Blind In Texas
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