Saturday 22nd June 2023
This can only mean one thing, Balls of Steel, a solid night of Old School Heavy Metal, brought to us by Warhorns in league with Heavy Metal Entertainment (HME). Wakefield’s Venue 23 was set to be razed to the ground all in the name of metal.
- Denim? Check!
- Leather? Check!
- Chains? Check!
- Absence of wimps of posers? Absolutely!
Warhorns are known for their biannual Warhorns Festival, which brings together established and emerging metal bands of various sub-genres from across the UK and Europe. HME, consisting of Dan and Dan, one little and one big, are known for their popular Metal themed YouTube channel. Last year, they joined forces to bring ‘Vikings’ to Venue 23. When Balls of Steel was announced towards the end of 2023, expectations of an old-school metal lineup were high. Those expectations were rightly surpassed with the announcement of Hellripper as the headline band, with Stukka Squadron, Heavy Sentence, Wolfbastard, Kilonova, and Sellsword swiftly added to round off the lineup!
Venue 23 is set in a typical old industrial unit on the edge of the city centre, a short stroll from Westgate station which passes some excellent ale houses on the way. It’s fair to assume that by 5:30 pm the masses were fairly well lubricated and ready for their fill of Steel Balls! Entrance into the venue was handled swiftly by Northern Darkness (Midlands) crew and I was then greeted by a variety of fancy dress (more on that later!) for sale, which has become synonymous with Warhorns. Inside the main room, each of the bands had their own merch stalls set up at the back with a good variety of music and merchandise. I couldn’t resist a couple of Hellripper patches, Heavy Sentence’s Bang to the Right on vinyl, and their Warriors of Madness t-shirt. A bonus to the band merch was a stall selling a fantastic selection of band patches, pins, and other merchandise.
KILONOVA
Hailing from the NWOBHM hotbed of Newcastle, the 4-piece Kilonova delivered a tight and modern take on groove-laden thrash to the crowd forming around the front of the stage. Vocalist Ellen Hills spent as much time on the barriers and in the crowd as on the stage, successfully bringing the room to life and moving through her high-energy performance. The quality of the venue was immediately clear: the sound through Kilonova’s set was superb, as it would be for the rest of the bands.
With 6 bands on the lineup and generous set times of 45 minutes for each band, with quick turnaround times between sets, it was not long before Heavy Sentence made their way to the stage
HEAVY SENTENCE
Manchester’s Heavy Sentence is a band I have been listening to for a while now, and I was thrilled to see them added to the line-up. Bringing a sizeable contingent over the Pennines into Yorkshire and armed with a full case of Carlsberg on the stage, things got lively fast. Their sound evokes early Saxon (Wheels of Steel, Denim and Leather, Strong Arm), coupled with Gaz Howells’ vocals reminiscent of Lemmy having swallowed a truckload of gravel with a whiskey chaser. The energy on stage soon poured into the crowd, particularly with the trio of Medusa, Heavy Sentence, and Always on the Run, creating that backs-to-the-wall and camaraderie spirit only metal can create. The new song Hallucination was a great addition to the set, fitting alongside a selection of tracks from the Bang to Rights LP and the Warriors of Madness EP. Constantly pushing things to the limit, the band just about squeezed two final tracks in before the end of their set, including a personal favorite, Edge of Knife. With 23 seconds to spare, Heavy Sentence not only obliterated their case of Carlsberg but left the crowd wanting more.
Heavy Sentence are set to play London on the 16th September alongside Night Demon supporting Cirith Ungol in what will be their final ever UK show!
STUKA SQUADRON
Send in the Stuka’s! If Heavy Sentence brought the rough and ready to Balls of Steel, it was now Stuka Squadron’s mission to crank the theatrics up to 11. Led by Lord Pyre (Bass) his fellow revenants were reanimated by and Captain Strange (Vocals) during an extended opening track before hurtling straight into Tiger II. Pit of Fire was next up, with some great call and response from crowd. Older songs from 2011’s Tales of the Ost received a warm blooded welcome, We Drink Blood and On the Volga Bridge, both with some excellent guitar work from Klauss von Orlock. The band finished with One Man Blitzkrieg from their latest release Zeppelin. If war, vampires, the occult and death is your thing then check out our recent in-depth interview with Lord Pyre.
WOLFBASTARD
Fast, filthy, and furious, Wolfbastard set out to destroy Venue23 with alcohol, Satan, and all-out nuclear war. The propagation of Hell Hammer, Discharge, Bathory, and Motorhead leaves no room for the weak, as the front rows erupted from the very first song. By the end of the second, their crate of Carling was shared amongst the thirsty and rabid crowd while Dez (Guitars/Vocals) was reaching for something much stronger in his carrier bag! Those thinking the apex had been reached were not anticipating the early arrival of North West Sex Pest, soon followed by Buckfast Blasphemies, and Dez handing out said drink amongst the crowd. Sick in a Bath followed next, and by the end of their set, the Heavy Sentence crew had joined in with the madness. Special mention goes out to Si Fox’s relentless bass tone! Ta Wolfbastard, Ta very much!
SELLSWORD
If there is one lesson Wolfbastard tried to preach, but that should be ignored in the name of all that is metal, it is to not glorify knife crime! Nathan Harrison (Vocals) struck the stage armed with a broadsword-come-microphone stand to deliver Sellsword’s glorious brand of epic heavy metal. A big following for Sellsword had gathered for these Warhorns favorites, slowing the pace between Wolfbastard and Hellripper. It was a chance for the crowd to enjoy plenty of metal sing-alongs and fantastic twin-guitar dueling. Saxon Steel, their hugely popular latest release, was accompanied by a crusader knight for some extra theatrics. Even days after the show, I’m still singing along to their songs. They opened with pure bombast with “Unto the Breach” and finished the set off with an epic rendition of “Hadrada” from their 2016 independent release …And Now We Ride. I am looking forward to hearing their new album, hopefully it’s on its way soon.
HELLRIPPER
The evening had taken it’s toll, with heavy metal casualties littering the side steps after the vicious attack of Wolfbastard and being laid siege to by Sellsword. However, by the 11th hour those brave metal warriors had rallied themselves for one final time to All Hail The Goat!
Scotland’s Hellripper was non-stop heavy metal carnage from the first to the last from their twin flying-V attack. Hell’s Rock ‘n’ Roll opened their set, with Hell’s Angels finishing suitably everyone off more than an hour later. Through the course of the evening we were treated to an exhilarating experience of blackened speed metal, within a dash of rock and roll thrown in for good measure. Part way through the set, allowed for a slight melodic interlude with Nucalavee and Goat Vomit Nightmare from 2023’s Warlocks and Grim Withered Hags making an appearance, showing off how McBain has evolved his sound to incorporate Maiden-esq melody.
Both Heavy Sentence and Wolfbastard couldn’t keep away from the stage and joined in with the audience in the frenetic ‘pit down at the front. As the bodies piled high through their set, the Goat KVLT carried on relentlessly, do we want speed metal McBain cried? YES! Do we want it faster? YES! Necks were duly snapped!
Hellripper will lay waste to Europe throughout the summer, be sure to check the official site for gig dates.
Conclusion
Hellripper gave an excellent night a spectacular ending, with word on the street that Balls of Steel will make a return in 2024. This years edition was a fantastic spectacle of heavy metal and I am looking forward to seeing how the night can be matched, the venue was fantastic and the sound engineers did an amazing job through the night. Next time I will be certain to add a neck brace to my heavy metal check-list!
[…] Manchester. Having seen Heavy Sentence for the first time earlier this year at the fantastic Balls of Steel, I was looking forward to a repeat performance of their gritty no-nonsense metal to start the night […]