Live Show: The Silent Rage, Dragony, I Abyssick, Mystfall, Element Zero
Place: Kyttaro Club, Athens, Greece
Date: Sunday, February 22nd, 2025
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
On Sunday, the 23rd of February we returned to Kyttaro for the second version the Ghostlands and Ravenlands Festival. It was my first time there and certainly won’t be the last after what I saw.
The rich schedule begun with ELEMENT ZERO quite early, around 19:00 but to my surprise I realized that there were already a lot of people in the venue choosing to honor all the bands, as it should be. With their modern sound and the voice of the Korina (who wore a mask on her face_ they managed to draw the attention of the audience easily. Unfortunately, there were some issues with the sound regarding the vocals (not only in ELEMENT ZERO but in almost all the bands) but they didn’t seem to bother anyone. Of course, they based their setlist on their recent EP, “A Place In The World” which includes a very interesting cover of DELERIUM’s “Silence” which brought back memories of my teenage years and Sarah McLachlan’s wonderful voice. Despite being first in the festival’s lineup the they were treated with the same respect as every other band and were given enough time for a full performance, according to their disvography of course. Surely we expect to see more from them but the first impression was very good.
Setlist
- Last Warble
- Paradigm Shift
- Matter of Light
- FIRE!
- When Everything is Lost
- Silence (DELERIUM cover)
- Outcast
Next on stage were MYSTFALL with the amazing singer Marialena Trikoglou. I had heard Mariolena live, even before MYSTFALL, in a “Ladies of Metal Festival” a few years ago and I was sure that I will see her again some time. With a stable line up now in her band and with “Celestial Vision” which has already run its course in music industry, she proved that her voice has tremendous potential despite the problems that seemed to trouble her at times. Stelios Varotsakis’ growl vocals were a nice touch as well, creating a nice contrast with Mariolena’s operatic vocals. I think this genre is extremely difficult in terms of tying vocals and music and how the two will fit together. I believe that MYSTFALL will get better and better as time goes by, although they are already at a very good level.
Setlist
- Celestial Vision
- Centuries
- Endless
- Kings of Utopia
- Moral Compass
- Freedom Path
One of the main reasons why I didn’t want to miss this festival was I ABYSSICK, that I got to know the hard way, meaning through their live show a few years ago at Temple. In fact, as Angelos (their drummer) reminded me, I was the first person to upload a video of their live performance. So, when a band impresses you with their performance on stage, then they are definitely doing something good. They just confirmed my first impression. Konstantinos Maris were the one to take the leading role in their interaction with the audience and showed his communication skills but at the same time his modest character. Most importantly he showed that he recognized and respected the effort of everyone working for the festival and the audience of course. The metalheads who by that time were around 200, reacted enthusiastically to what they were listening to and enjoyed the heavy and dark atmosphere that I ABYSSICK’s songs create, either with their most heavy parts or even in their melodic moments. As expected, their setlist was based on the amazing “Ashes Enthroned” released in 2021 and due to COVID it took a long time to gain the recognition it deserves. Can’t wait for their next show!
- Mankind?
- Truth
- New Breed of Slaves
- Swept away
- At the Edge of Life
- Epiphany
Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the festival was the Austrian Symphonic Power Metallers DRAGONY who visited our country for the first time. Fronted by their highly communicative and smiling singer, Siegfried “The Dragonslayer” Samer, they filled every inch of the stage and every cubic centimeter of the air with their epic melodies. Unfortunately there were issues with the vocals here as well and you could tell by the fact that Samer was taking on and off his headphones, a sign that something was not right. Did it affect them? Not in the least. He expressed many times his joy and gratitude that they finally came to Greece for a “best of” performance with emphasis on their latest album of course, “Hic Svnt Dracones” and even after the end of their performance they took their place in front of the merch stand to meet their old and new friends. Generally, they seemed to enjoy it unabashedly and I reckon it won’t be long before we see them again in our country.
Setlist
- Twilight of the Gods
- Gods of War
- Lords of the Hunt Magic
- If It Bleeds We Can Kill It
- Dragon of the Sea
- The Einherjar
- Beyond the Rainbow Bridge
They may have made few quality releases, but THE SILENT RAGE can now be easily considered veterans of Power Metal and the best way to realize this is to see them live. Nikos Siglidis, the soul of the band and of the festival, changed his “role” and from host and organizer of the event he transformed into the band’s guitarist and dragged everyone, audience and musicians, to a musical party. Of course, Michael Rinakakis was very supportive with his amazing voice and his communication skills. As headliners, they had enough time to satisfy every fan and played songs from their entire discography. Like the hit “The Serpent Lord” or my favorite “Nuances of Life” from their latest album but also older songs like “A Piece of Eden” with which they closed the show or “Harvester of Souls” from their EP back in 2011. A pleasant surprise was the guest appearance of Stavros Giannakopoulos, who was the first vocalist of THE SILENT RAGE for the song “Between Harmony & Sorrow”, who has proven that in music you can create relationships for life and is ready to support his old band whenever he is needed.
Setlist
- Enemy At The Gates ( Intro I)
- The Serpent Lord
- Code Of Destruction
- Nuances Of Life
- Crows Fly Back
- Sin Of A Pilgrim
- Exhaling Fear
- Carve Your Rage
- Harvester Of Souls
- Signal Of War (Intro II)
- My Race Won’t Last
- The Deadliest Scourge
- Stormwarrior
- Between Harmony And Sorrow
- Leading The Legions
- Ghost Of A Wayward God
- A Piece Of Eden
Shortly after midnight, the festival came to an end and we renewed our date (hopefully) for the next Ghostlands and Ravenlands Festival. The organization was impeccable, the bands gave their best, the crowd embraced the effort and in the end what remains is one more event that makes the Greek Metal scene a little bit taller and of course one more night with friends that we will remember.
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
Design, Editing & Text Correction: Kostas Boudoukos
Photos: Kostas Boudoukos
External Links: Ghostlands & Ravenlands – Facebook Page
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