Waking up Saturday morning I thought to myself, “Is this really the last day of the festival? Man, it feels like I just got here!” After watching some Chappelle's show and the first half of A History Of Violence our crew left the apartment fairly early to grab a bite to eat before going back to the hotel where all our belongings were stashed. At lunch Jonah made it a point to meet as many fans as possible that day. He regretted missing the Pyramaze signing session to play the show with Blood Promise and wanted to make sure that everyone who missed him the day before would have a chance to talk and hang out. I thought that was pretty cool because not that many people knew he was in Blood Promise which is why he was absent the day before and as a professional musician you can’t be missing shows with your bands. After a much needed shave and shower I was ready for day two. I was especially stoked to see Zero Hour and Epica that night. Zero Hour (who filled in after the Greek band Wastefall had to pull out due to visa acquisition complications) put the prog back into Prog Power. They debuted two things that night, new material from Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond and new singer Chris Salinas. I remember back at Prog Power III I thought that the band were technically amazing but boring live due to the complicated nature of their music. This time around however the performance aspect of their show had improved greatly. The twin six stringers bassist Troy and guitarist Jasun were a lot more active. They were head banging, dropping to a knee to bust out solos and riffs, and Chris cracked a few jokes and kept the crowd on their feet. They’ll be coming to Texas in October so I’m looking forward to seeing them here in the Lone Star State playing a much longer set.

Zero Hour setlist: Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond, Evidence Of The Unseen, Falcon’s Cry, Face The Fear, Eyes Of Denial, Vestige

At this time the massive amount of chips and hot sauce that complemented the gigantic burrito I had for lunch was doing a number on me so I had to hoof it back to the hotel for some porcelain comfort. At the hotel I ran into the guys from Thunderstone chilling in the lobby so I talked to them for a while before running upstairs and taking care of business. I missed Vision Divine due to this but I wasn’t too distraught.

Vision Divine setlist: The Perfect Machine, First Day Of A Never Ending Day, The Secret Of Life, Colours Of My World, The Ancestor’s Blood, The Fallen Feather, La Vita Fugge, Versions Of The Same, God Is Dead

I made it back to the venue halfway through Thunderstone’s opener, Until We Touch The Burning Sun. While I am not a rabid fan of these Finns I have been following their career since the beginning. I remember playing the debut to death and The Burning got its fair share of airtime in my house as well. Naturally when Eyes Of A Stranger, Break The Emotions, and Forth Into The Black were played I was into these tracks moreso than the material from Tools Of Destruction for sentimental purposes. As far as their performance it was quite entertaining. Pasi (vocals) kept the audience’s hands busy and bassist Titus was slamming his fist on his bass when he was really getting into the music. I really liked their gig more than I thought I would and came away from their performance with some good things to say.

Thunderstone setlist: Until We Touch The Burning Sun, Without Wings, Forth Into The Black, Eyes Of A Stranger, Land Of Innocence, Break The Emotions, Welcome To The Real, Spire, Tool Of The Devil

I walked into Epica’s set a bit tardy due to two things, the cool lobby banter with Matt, Noah, Andrew and company, and because Epica started around twenty or thirty minutes late. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of the Dutch symphonic metallers but with only two albums to their name they were given the second to last slot of the final night and expectations for them were set high. Bands that have played this slot at Prog Powers past have been Gamma Ray, Evergrey, and Pain Of Salvation so Epica had a lot to live up to. What I noticed right away is that while the guys and girl did use backing tapes for some of the orchestration and choirs they didn’t rely too heavily on them. Simone simplified the choral arrangements to fit her voice only so it gave the songs a more stripped down feel and Mark and Ad’s guitars were turned up a lot louder than they are on the studio releases to for some extra energy and crunch. For being so young and early in her career Simone exuded confidence in her stage performance and played off Mark well. She ran about head banging and rocking out with keysman Coen, and Mark got the crowd to pump their fists and sing along. Two memorable highlights included the Death cover of Crystal Mountain with Mark as the sole vocalist and Simone in the spotlght singing Solitary Ground backed only by Coen's piano. The former was the heaviest most intense moment of the show while the latter was definitely the most beautiful and stirring.

Epica setlist: Hunab Ku, Dance Of Fate, Sensorium, Quietus, Mother Of Light, Cry For The Moon, Solitary Ground, Crystal Mountain, Seif Al Din, Façade Of Reality, The Last Crusade, Consign To Oblivion, The Phantom Agony

For me this was the last band of Prog Power VII. I skipped out on Jorn to go party at Cheetah’s with Pyramaze and their entourage of Claus, Rene, Grant, Laura, and myself. I love that place. I even got a rowdy lap dance for two dollars (which was all I had and that was my MARTA fare to get back to the airport the next morning ha!), how cool is that? We all had a hell of a good time there and stayed until the lights came on inside and got shooed out the door. Going back to the hotel at three thirty in the morning I said my goodbyes to everyone and stayed up until seven shooting the breeze with Ed. All in all I had a terrific time this year. There’s a reason why I keep coming back and that’s due to the fact that Glenn Harveston really does have something special with Prog Power USA. It’s a great (and sometimes the only place) way to see bands that would rarely if ever come over to the US and the whole atmosphere of the weekend is that of a large extended family. It’s a place where I can come get all my cds autographed and hang out with bands and friends alike. I really enjoy talking to musicians and discussing the industry with them. Plus even non performers like Redemption’s Nick van Dyk and Urban Breed are in attendance because they are fans just like everybody else. For fans of Progressive and Power metal, this is really as good as you can get in terms of the caliber of performers and attendees. If you happen to have a bad time at Prog Power then it better be because your hotel blew up because there is no reason that anyone who makes the trip should leave with nothing but fond memories, ringing ears, and a month’s worth of cool stories to share with friends. Barring anymore tours, I expect to be at next year’s Prog Power and every one that follows.

Jorn’s setlist: We Brought The Angels Down, Black Song, Gonna Find The Sun, Duke Of Love, Are You Ready / Cold Sweat, Bridges Will Burn, Out To Every Nation, Straight Through The Heart, Godless And Wicked, Soulburn, My Own Way Home, Perfect Strangers, Tungu Knivur / Noose, Stormcrow, Whitesnake medley, Stars (the old Hear N Aid song. Every singer from every band was on stage for this one)