It was a Wednesday and after a long road trip from the northern part of Greece I arrived at Release Athens Festival around 16:30, quite early so the gates hadn’t opened yet. Release fest is a very diverse one, hosting all kinds of genres through various dates between June and July, yet there was an exception here as three consecutive days were organized only for metal music.

The venue is by a seaside part of Athens in a very large area next to a marina. At that time the sun was burning and there was no shade to be found anywhere around, but just before the first band started playing shortly after the gates opened everyone ignored the sun issue and started running to grab a spot by the barricade in front of the stage.

The ninth day of Release Athens had just begun. ‘Bleed From Within’ came out at 18:00 with many people already gathered. The band played without a bassist but nevertheless their performance was very good, and the crowd enjoyed them so much that the mosh pits were started even if early.

Release Athens in general has a tendency of mixing different sub-genres of metal in their dates thus dividing somehow the crowd in lovers and haters but apart from that, there is a strong presence of metalcore bands in Greek festivals, same as in rest of Europe. Either way, the performance of ‘Bleed From Within’ was great and I’d like to see them again.

By 19:00 it was time for the Germans ‘Heaven Shall Burn’. I think they were the perfect band to make the lineup’s transition gradually towards the “harder” sound.

The venue was getting fuller by the minute, and the crowd seemed more and more excited. The band had so much energy on stage that kept the crowd moshing constantly.

They played songs from their entire discography but unfortunately only for a short time as there were only 9 songs performed. But that’s how festivals are.

The sun was finally setting, and the venue was getting much more crowded. The reason, of course, no other than ‘Kreator’ playing next.

Since the day the concert was announced, there have been strong complaints from their supporters on social media because ‘Kreator’ were not the last band in the lineup since they are in the top 10 favorite bands of the Greek metal audience.

I don’t think there was a reason for that though since they were co-headliners, and their set lasted for an hour and a half. There are no words to describe exactly how it feels to see Kreator in Greece.

They are known worldwide for the thunderous atmosphere at their live shows. Endless beating, 90 minutes of continuous mosh pit, circle pit, crowdsurfing and headbanging. A boost to their music was the pyro show, something uncommon to witness in a concert here in Greece.

Kreator smashed it with thousands of people living the moment and even lighting flairs.

The concert reminded me of a football stadium atmosphere. The security guards in the photo pit deserve a thumbs up for acting in time for the crowd’s safety in the front, either by intervening whenever people were having difficulties inside the crowd or by offering bottles of water to anyone that asked for it.

After they finished, there was a one-hour break until the stage was set up for Amon Amarth. Unfortunately, several people chose to leave the concert as they had only come for Kreator and caused the venue to thin out.

Around 23:00 the Swedish “Vikings” appeared, who had prepared a whole theatrical performance for their set. There’s been a big difference in their stage performance over the last few years with the band getting bigger and bigger.

From the moment they started playing, the crowd in the front rows went wild. Amon Amarth had surprises in many of the songs, either by having something new on stage or some interaction with the crowd.

For example, on ‘The Great Heathen Army’ and ‘Shieldwall’ there were Viking Poses. In ‘The Way of Vikings’ there was a battle re-enactment. In ‘Deceiver of the Gods’ there was a person dressed as Loki.

Furthermore, there were things like Thor’s hammer and beer drinking from horns. Of course, the highlight of all was none other than Rowing in ‘Put you back into the oar’. No matter who was loving or hating this, almost everyone sat down and rowed.

As mentioned earlier the change in Amon Amarth’s production seems much for the better, with probably their management being responsible for this. The band was 100% efficient on the entire show promising they would be back.

Thankfully there were absolutely no issues, neither with the production nor with the audience.

In conclusion, it was a long concert with a wide variety of genres but in the end, it was a great experience for those who were at Release Athens on the 28th of June.

Review and Photos: Sotiris Zikas