My first encounters with the music of Fist had been numerous compilations, amongst which was Lars Ulrich’s “New Wave of British Heavy Metal ’79 Revisited”. I was hooked straight away and had made it my mission to collect as many Fist records as I could find (there aren’t so many, mind you). So there was no way I was going to miss the band’s first London gig in a veeery long time.
Seven Sisters I had already seen at last October’s Live Evil festival so I did have an idea of what to expect but Ascalon were a totally new proposition to me. Before long, I realized that the music of all three bands shared an affinity with traditional Metal.
Take Ascalon, for example…..
The most memorable moment was when they performed the song ‘Ascalon’ with the crowd chanting the band’s name in the chorus.
Anyone into Iron Maiden, Primal Fear or Angel Witch……..take note.
Rating: 75/100
I wasn’t entirely convinced by the lead vocals, which sounded a tad limited to me, but like Ascalon Seven Sisters had a good crowd response especially in the second half of their set when the band was more inspired. Interestingly, their set concluded with a cover of ‘We Stand to Fight’ of defunct NWOBHM cult band Virtue.
On the whole Seven Sisters gave an entertaining show. Good stuff.
Rating: 74/100
I loved the vocals of Glenn S. Howes…..a strange opinion perhaps considering that Glenn’s musical career was built around his guitar playing skills. In fact not only did he do the classic Fist songs justice but his singing seems to have its own style and personality.
For me set highlights included ‘S.S. Giro’, ‘Name, Rank & Serial Number’ and the aforementioned ‘Turn The Hell On’. All well-written songs given the dynamic interpretation they deserve. Apart from the set closer (more on that in a moment) the set-list was made up entirely of classic Fist songs despite the band already having some new songs up its sleeve. And the audience lapped it all up with heads banging frenetically, fists punching the air, choruses of songs sung in unison…..you just had to be there.
“There once was a guy called Lemmy and he was a rocker.” Right after Glenn’s brief intro, Fist proceeded to play set closer ‘Ace Of Spades’. And the audience truly went beserk. As I said, you had to be there.
Another thing I liked was that all the Fist members proved to be eminently approachable and down-to-earth, socialising with fans before and after the gig. The members of Ascalon and Seven Sisters were friendly lads too and wherever there was a riot they were never far off.
A great evening and triumphant return from an icon of the NWOBHM.
Rating: 90/100
(Text and all live photos by Chris Galea.)
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