The third annual Metal Female Voices Fest, the biggest and best event representing the female fronted metal scene, took place at the Oktoberhallen in Wieze, Belgium on the 22nd Oct. The increasing popularity of the female fronted metal scene has led to this event growing massively in the few years since it was started, and 2005 saw it upgraded from 1 stage in the lovely Ancienne Belgique in central Brussels, (2004s venue), to 2 stages in what seemed to be a large aircraft hangar in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately coaches were laid on for those travelling from Brussels, but once at the venue gig goers were stranded till the coaches returned at midnight. A problem with security at the doors led to a three hour wait in the queue to get in, meaning almost everyone missed the first band and quite a few tempers were frayed before the long day even started. Once inside we discovered that we were at the mercy of the generally pitiful food selection of the venue. The 2 vegetarians in our group had the grand total of one food option – chips from the burger van outside. The whole event took place inside one giant room, meaning that there was no escape from the noise if you wanted to chat or were not keen on the band playing at that particular time. There was no seating anywhere, other than the floor, which by the end of the day was most uncomfortable, and also covered in plastic beer glasses. The only compliments I heard about the venue were from those who had press passes and got to sit in the apparently very nice backstage area with the bands.

On to the bands:

Autumn

Having only heard their first album, a rather unmemorable take on pagan themed gothic metal, it was a pleasant surprise to find Autumn a very good live act. Nienke de Jong’s vocals were strong and she exuded confidence and stage presence. The songs from their new album ‘Summer’s End’ were impressive live, reminiscent of their debut but beefier sounding and more memorable. A tight live act, they definitely merit more attention in the future. A very good start to the day indeed!

Legion of Hetheria

Unfortunately their lacklustre performance failed to compete with the lure of the burger van and after 2 songs we left to refuel.

Elis

Like their straightforward gothic metal albums, their performance was good, but lacking in some spark that would make them great. With a more simplistic style definitely lacking the complexities of many of their genre contemporaries, and based more on ‘chugga chugga’ riffing, one might have expected at least a few head banging worthy moments, but instead they seriously lacked power. Competently played songs and pleasant vocals made for an enjoyable set, but even their best songs just lacked the punch to make the performance memorable.

Skeptical Minds

The first real variation in style of the day, Skeptical Minds played metal with an electronica/industrial feel that didn’t impress at first but quickly grew on me and I found myself enjoying their set. Along with Asrai, they were certainly the ‘odd ones out’ of the festival, and weren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they provided a welcome change from the regular gothic metal sound of many of the other bands on the bill.

Midnattsol

Fronted by Liv Kristine’s sister Carmen Espanaes, Midnattsol are a band that rather divides many in the female fronted metal scene. Those who love their folk tinged metal sound, loved their performance, but those, like me, who found their debut ‘Where Twilight Dwells’, to be even more dull than Leaves’ Eyes last offering, failed to be swayed by their live performance. I found myself dwelling on Carmen’s very pretty ‘Galadriel’ style dress rather than the songs, and her between song chat was gushing and irritating. The music lacked anything to make them memorable and interesting and the general performance was, while not bad, certainly nothing impressive either.

Mercury Rain

Representing the UK were Mercury Rain. With much better sound than at the Kingston Peel the previous week for the ‘UK Female Voices of Metal’, the band held their own amongst the European competition. I did not have a good vantage point for the band however, as we were at the time trying to get to a good place for Epica on the main stage, and I didn’t get to see Mercury Rain the way they deserved. One track that did really catch my attention however was the closing song of the set, a male / female vocal duet – a very impressive performance and definitely a highlight.

Epica

After the stage crew wasted a ridiculous amount of time trying to straighten their banner, Epica finally took the stage in as one of most anticipated acts of the event. Vocalist Simone had a few problems at the start, due to an illness in the previous week that had led them to cancel their tour dates preceding this event, but soon got in her stride and they put on a typically great and energetic performance. One of the increasingly big names in the female fronted metal scene and one of my favourite live acts, they didn’t quite reach the heights of their performance at 2004’s MFVF2, but still managed to blow all the previous acts of the day out of the water. They played a mixed set of songs from both studio albums, with the addition of the pretty b-side ballad ‘Linger’. Tracks from the slightly disappointing second album ‘Consign to Oblivion’ sounded infinitely better in the live arena, particularly ‘Quietus’, sung by Simone alone on the album, but with Mark Jansen’s growled vocals added to the live version. Epica were the first real highlight of the festival.

Asrai

Their lively gothic rock and distinctive and flamboyant dress made Asrai stand out from the crowd and fortunately their performance lived up to their image. I like them on CD but hearing them live really added something to the songs and I found myself head banging along even though I was in a quieter section towards the back of the crowd. Vocalist Margriet, has a rather unfortunate habit of flinging her arms out when hitting the high notes, including the arm holding the mic, so on occasions sections of her vocals suddenly decreased in volume, but other than that the performance was top notch and their sound excellent. Definitely a band I’d be eager to see again.

After Forever

This was the band I was most looking forward to seeing, and their impressive show at the Bloodstock Indoor festival earlier in the year had given me high expectations. Fortunately for me, After Forever not only met those expectations but also surpassed them in awesome style. They are a band who’s sound has progressed from their early days as gothic symphonic metal to a simpler, but no less powerful metal sound – and it seems that their newer style was made for the live arena. From start to finish, the band were on stellar form, musically perfect, with Floor and Sander’s vocals sounding flawless and powerful. Floor is an excellent front-woman, charismatic and energetic – she completely owns the stage, and her voice is second to none. They played a set consisting largely of songs from their latest album ‘Remagine’, with a few favourites from the earlier albums thrown in, and though it would have been nice to hear a bit more from ‘Decipher’ or ‘Invisible Circles’ the new material sounded so fantastic live I still came away completely satisfied. Their choice of set closer ‘The Final Countdown’ took me rather by surprise, but it was an excellent cover and worked really well. An absolutely wonderful performance, this is how live music SHOULD sound.

Leaves’ Eyes

Leaves’ Eyes proved themselves worthy of their second stage, headlining slot, by putting on a very good performance. The ‘First Lady’ of gothic metal, Liv Kristine, has great stage presence and Leaves’ Eyes blend of metal with a folky/Nordic feel sounded much better live than on CD. I am not personally a fan of second album ‘Vinland Saga’, but they did play the best tracks from both that and ‘Lovelorn’. They were somewhat overshadowed for me by After Forever’s set, but nonetheless it was a good show, if not overwhelming.

Lacuna Coil

And so on to the headliner. Having seen them live before in 2003 and being very disappointed on that previous occasion, I didn’t have high expectations for their performance this time round. Still touring ‘Comalies’ 3 years after it’s release, the band have at least had time to hone their live sound and they were definitely an improvement on my previous experience in this respect. Cristina’s vocals were strong and the band were definitely tighter as a live unit than before. However, Lacuna Coil just lack something live and I found my interest waning very quickly. The sound was muddy, their backing tapes were too loud, and their performance overall was very lacklustre. The new songs they played from upcoming album ‘Karmacode’ seemed to have suffered from the band’s time spent on the Ozzfest tour in America – sounding like bland, jump up and down, ‘heard it all before in the 90s’ toss. I don’t personally think they were worth the extortionate amount of money they demanded to play this event and After Forever would have excelled as headliner in their place. We left before the encore to make sure we caught our coach back, without any qualms about leaving early – and we weren’t the only ones.

Overall, MFVF3 as far as I am concerned, was not as good as the previous year – there were too many lacklustre bands, the location and venue were terrible, and the door arrangements were very poor. On the positive however, the sound was on the whole excellent, the set up time between each band was very fast, the transport laid on by the festival organisers was good, and there were enough very good bands to make me feel like the trip was worth it. I only hope next years venue is better, with better food, seating and a separate chill out area an essential. And in a scene like this, one can only wonder how many more good bands can be found to play - without the organisers continually repeating the same sort of line up year after year.

Setlist:
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