Download Festival - Friday: June 13, 2014

Back in June this year, I went to Download Festival (one of the largest and best rock/metal festivals in the U.K.) as my graduation present. And I thought I might do a review of my experience by day, with some of my favorite performances*. I know it was months ago, but I'm slow at getting things done.
*full lineup.
On Friday of the festival I looked around at the different stages and was at the main stage for Black Label Society, Within Temptation, Rob Zombie, and Avenged Sevenfold.

Within Temptation

This is the first band I really knew before attending and so obviously one that would peak my interest. They were the second to last band on the main stage before the headliner, and played set that lasted around an hour. I only knew one song by this Dutch metal band, but after seeing them, I would really like to get to know them better. While vocalist, Sharon den Adel did not have quite as much energy as the frontmen of some of my favorite live acts, she did have a powerful voice, which is definitely something to appreciate from a female in rock. The song "Our Solemn Hour" was one that stayed in my mind long after the show (probably has something to the Latin chant). It's a really neat symphonic metal track off the band's fourth album The Heart of Everything, and has a full, steady beat.

The main stage headliner the first night was American metal band A7X who are not new to this blog. Now, I am not usually the one to review their stuff, but I have enjoyed listening to them since even before the festival. I was quite excited to see this group, and I was not disappointed. The played a set that lasted about two hours (including the encore) that was full of fire (literally) and heavy metal. Their new drummer (RIP the Rev) Arin Ilejay did a pretty darn good job, even with the old songs' complicated and epic beats. Synyster Gates had some beautiful guitar solos that night, along with his song "So Far Away" that vocalist M. Shadows dedicated to their fallen bandmate and friend. The songs I have here are the first single and title song of their newest album Hail to the King (one I think encompasses the album pretty well), as well as "This Means War" also from that album (this song was stuck in my head for days after). Their sixth studio release came out August 2013, and was the first with Ilejay on the drums. Although he is capable of tougher beats, the band wanted to strip down music some, but it still sounds fantastically epic.

Avenged Sevenfold

Man with a Mission ft. Takuma - "Database"

Rating: 8/10 With the second season beginning and keeping this epic OP I thought now would be a good time to post this song. Log Horizon is one of my favorite anime and this song is certainly part of the reason why. An interesting rock song combining some hip-hop elements along with combining English and Japanese makes a really interesting song and I love it. Interestingly the OP version has different singing that the full version. Also unfortunately the normal version of the second OP version isn't on youtube so I included the preview for it which is still excellent. Hype song, hype anime, looking forward to the rest of Log Horizon and this song every week.

Nightwish - "The Kinslayer"

Rating: 7/10 This is one of my favorite examples of classic Nightwish from Wishmaster which was their heaviest album, this a great example of that style with the power metalesque instrumentation but given the symphonic twist with the keyboard and Tarja's vocals. A really interesting example, quite possibly the song that best exemplifies symphonic power metal as a genre. This is definitely one a song that I didn't like as much when I first heard it but it has grown on me a lot over time.