Those who read frequently the updates of Tartarean Desire would have noticed that on the 25th of June the first part of Rockwave took place and at the beginning of July "stroke" the second wave featuring: Slayer, Accept, Candlemass, Dismember, Order Of The Ebon Hand on the 8th and Twisted Sisters, Dio, Anthrax, Katatonia, Olethrio Rygma on the 9th. Unfortunately due to personal and vocational obligations I could not attend both days so I selected (difficult selection indeed) the first one. The place was the same as the first wave, namely Terra Vibe Park at Malakasa. Everything was almost the same as some days ago apart from the 2 big videowalls that were missing and the weather that was hotter.

The Festival begun at about 16:30 with the Greeks Deathsters "Order Of The Ebon Hand", who played in the middle of the July heat for about half an hour. They played a sort of exciting and aggressive but rather flat Death-Black Metal with main influences from the top Norwegian bands like Immortal, Emperor etc. Apart from their songs they also played "Killed By Death". Although they seem to have music abilities, their one-dimensional music doesn't allow them to express their skills.

Next band the Swedish Dismember. I think it was the first time they play in Greece and I bet they should have nice memories from their performance judging from the response of the audience, which expressed their enthusiasm in an interesting way. At beginning of each song behind the front seats they formed circles and ran around jostling and pushing each other. Dismember played many songs from the first two albums. They begun with "Soon To Be Dead" from their first album, then they played "Casket Garden" which was "embraced" warmly by the audience. They dedicated the next song to Iron Maiden (I think it was "Where Ironcrosses Grow"), which was influenced by their style. A really nice song, which proves they can compose, and other sort of music than Death Metal. Despite the heat they seemed to enjoy it. Matti Kärki was talkative with the audience and the indisputable frontman. He dedicated almost every song to some one. For example "Skin Her Alive" to the females (!!!), "Reborn In Blasphemy", which they hadn't played it for a long, to all of us, "Of Fire" to the fanatics of the front rows. Dismember are among the pioneers of Swedish Death Metal and I like much some of their songs, especially the particular sound of the guitars and some nice ideas at riffs and compositions. However sometimes they become boring because they repeat the same ideas. Songs like "Misanthropic", "Skinfather" and "Dreaming In Red" had a variety, changes of rhythms (especially the last one) and were performed excellently. In general Dismember's appearance should have left their fans at least satisfied.

Although I respect the releases of Candlemass. I can't say I am a keen supporter because some of their songs are very slow but I acknowledge they are among the pioneers of Doom Metal and they have produced artistic music not to say that some of their songs are considered among the masterpieces of Metal. They appeared on stage at about 18:30 and played for about an hour. Messiah Marcolin wore the famous frock, which should have been hot enough for him. If I remember well they begun with "Black Dwarf" followed by 2 dynamites of the past "Mirror Mirror" and "Solitude". Of course they played songs from the new album like: "Witches", "Seven Silver Keys" and others that I can’t say I particularly enjoyed because they were a bit boring. However the audience participated at all songs and assisted Messiah when asked. I did enjoy actually much the older ones like "At The Gallows End" and the amazing performed final song "Dark Are The Veils Of Death". Messiah throughout the concert thanked many times the audience and the band gave the impression that has enjoyed very much this concert despite the heat. Even those who were not 100% fans of the bands, like me, admitted they attended a great performance, which makes me wonder if I have unjust them. I promise to listen more carefully their releases; I bet I will discover something new.

One of the advantages of this Festival was that the little "gap" between the bands, so after 20 minutes that Candlemass finished, at about 19:50 Accept appeared on stage. They have already played in Athens twice in the past (in '93 and '95 if I remember well) but the audience was eager to see them again after so many years, let alone for those you hadn't seen them already. Personally I had the opportunity to attend some of their songs live at last year's UDO concert. But that was another thing. One can't imagine what happened when they appeared on stage. The absolute Panic!!! There is no reason to describe what happened at every song separately because they were simply amazing especially for us who were thirsty seeing them play live. The only problem was the sound that was a bit unclear and bass at the beginning and Udo's characteristic voice couldn't be heard sufficiently. But after a certain point it got improved. I am wondering how could Udo sing wearing continuously a long leather jacket with such a heat. The heavy "artillery" of the band was the solid guitar-bass sound assisted by the drums that were frantic at some tracks like "Fast As A Shark". Apart from the well known Peter Baltes and Wolf Hoffmann, the band was consisted also by Herman Frank at guitars, who had participated only at "Balls To the Wall" and Stefan Schwarzmann at drums.

The participation of the crowd was escalated at the last two encore songs "Princess Of The Dawn" and "Balls To The Wall" where the audience was the second singer. I don't know why but Accept songs sound ideal to me for football matches. Accept played for 75 minutes and it was obvious that they wanted to play more despite their age but in a Festival there are time restrictions. I don't know if Accept enjoyed it but we did so for sure.

The setlist is approximately the following: Starlight, Living For Tonite, London Leatherboys, Metal Heart, Love Child, Breaker, Solo Bass, Head Over Heels, Guitar Solos (Classical Themes), Restless & Wild, Son Of A Bitch, Flash Rockin’ Man, Monsterman, Fast As A Shark. Encore: Princess Of The Dawn, Balls To The Wall.

After a necessary break to recover it was time for Slayer to appear on stage at about 21:30. Slayer have already played twice in Athens but unfortunately due to misshappenings I didn't have the opportunity to see them on stage. So tonight I was very curious to attend them with the original line-up. When they stepped their foot on stage and played the first notes of "Disciple" the audience started a continuous frantic delirium until the end of their show. In order to take some photos I had to be in the front rows. I am sorry but I can't objectively describe what happened at this concert since the situation was similar of a "Chemical Warfare". The most import became not what or how Slayer played but its influence to the audience. Endless headbanging and moshing, while the crowd surfers passed over our heads like without mercy like a crazy swarm raid. Of course the manifestation of the enthousiasm climaxed with the old stuff and was comparatively cooler with the new songs.

Slayer played almost continuously in a colourful mist (the light engineers had done a nice job and the equipment was plenty enough). They performed like a well wound up war machine, which made attach in our brains and nervous system paralysing every living tissue. Dave Lombardo bombed mercilessly somewhere hidden in the mist. Most of us couldn't see but definitely could listen his artwork. The guitarist duet Jeff Hanneman-Kerry King was the main axis of the sonic attack, while Tom Araya (who according the German colleague of "Home of Rock", who covered "Fields Of Rock 2005", looked like the longhair brother of Saddam; I like this; from a point of view he is right) was the spokesman of the band and kept the interest of the audience high. All three kept on headbanging all the time like being at their 20ties. It was obvious that Slayer wanted to transmit exciting feelings but this was prevented a bit by the quality of the sound, which wasn't the proper one. Somewhere in the middle it was reduced and then increased a bit in order to be listened better but not so successfully.

Shortly after the beginning I was all of a sweat like having fallen in a river. After a certain point I lost every control. The pens were lost or couldn't function due to the body heat and sweat, the pencil's edge broke, and the most important I couldn't remember properly in such a mess. To the extend I can remember some of the songs they played were: Disciple, War Ensemble, At Dawn They Sleep, Necrophiliac, Blood Red, Stain Of Mind, Dead Skin Mask, Chemical Warfare, Postmortem, Raining Blood, South Of Heaven, Silent Scream, Mandatory Suicide, Angel Of Death.

Tom thanked the audience saying that "we are crazy" (I don't think there are modest Slayer fan at least at the front rows all over the world), the band greeted us and after having played for about 90 minutes that Festival day was over leaving us nice memories.