Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of reviews from reporter Matt Bower on his recent trip to Germany for the Wacken Open Air Festival.

VREID

Friday began at the early hour of 11 a.m. with a band from Norway called Vreid on the main stage. Vreid is a black metal band that mixes elements of thrash metal into their music. Black metal tends to be very fast paced with high pitched, shrieking vocals and pummeling drums. Vreid was a good wakeup call to start the day and I was surprised to see them using pyro effects so early in the day, but it worked well.

UFO

Up until now you’re probably scratching your head wondering who any of these bands are, but I’m sure this next one will be much more familiar to you, and quite a departure from Vreid’s blackened thrash metal. UFO was up next on the other main stage, and though I was mostly unfamiliar with these hard rock legends from the ’70s and ’80s, my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. Songs included “Lights Out,” “Too Hot to Handle,” and “Rock Bottom.” And though they didn’t play their biggest hit, “Doctor, Doctor,” I’d say it was one of my favorite performances of the festival.

ENDSTILLE

More German black metal awaited us on the Black Metal Stage on the heels of UFO’s set on the True Metal Stage. Endstille came out with their faces painted and their arms adorned with spiked gauntlets. Clouds also rolled in overhead during their dark performance. Not much more to say other than a well executed set of extreme black metal.

GAMMA RAY

If you haven’t noticed by now, there was a heavy German theme running through this year’s festival with the majority of bands on the lineup being from the homeland. Leading the charge on the True Metal Stage was Gamma Ray, one of the most famous power metal bands, especially in Germany. Kai Hansen led his band through all the classics and even treated the crowd to a song off the band’s upcoming untitled new album called “(Hail) To the Metal.” It was my third time seeing Gamma Ray, and though a worthy performance, it seemed to fly by rather quickly.

TRISTANIA

Next we ventured over to the Party Stage, or the side stage, to see Tristania. Tristania is a gothic metal band from Norway and their somber melodies and slower paced gothic tones provided us a chance to slow down the rapid pace of bands and take a break from the loud and more aggressive bands on the main stages. I think Tristania would have been more effective during a nighttime performance, but they still put on a good set and also introduced us to some new songs.

NEVERMORE

Nevermore is one of my all-time favorite bands. The group hails from Seattle and was one of the few American bands to play the festival. Unfortunately I found myself struggling to stay awake during the majority of their performance due to being kept up late at night at our campsite from our Danish neighbors who were drunk and belligerent all night long. Luckily I saw Nevermore last time when I attended this festival in 2006, which was also when they must have broke the crowd surfing record with the amount of people they were able to get over the stage barrier. Nevermore attempted to break that record this time around, and though I think they came up short, it didn’t stop Josh from participating.

AIRBOURNE

Airbourne was a band I did not want to miss ever since hearing their debut album, “Running Wild.” Airbourne come from Australia and have a sound that echoes their hometown heroes of AC/DC, but I dare you not to have fun at an Airbourne show. The entire crowd got caught up in the rock ’n roll spirit, including lead singer Joel O’Keefe, who climbed the stage scaffolding to perform his guitar solo at the top of the stage. Airbourne were definitely one of the festival highlights and more than proved themselves having been invited back to perform this year after a successful debut at last year’s festival.

HAMMERFALL

HammerFall is a Swedish power metal band. I’ve waited many years to see these guys live and they did not disappoint. However, the most memorable thing for me of their performance was the fact that I was standing directly in front of the huge bass speaker and whenever they played, my ears rattled. HammerFall only had an hour to play, like most other bands, but they chose excellent songs to rock us with and the stage pyrotechnics only added to a superb performance. I’ll be sure to catch these guys again when they come Stateside.

EPICA

The next band we saw was the Dutch female-fronted symphonic metal band Epica. Epica rocked the Party Stage and instantly became our favorite performance of the festival. Countless flames of fire shot out from the stage as the band pounded through symphonic power metal classics. After seeing Epica, I went to the merchandise tent and searched for their CDs. Luckily, I was able to find one I hadn’t seen anywhere else. The Metal Markt, as it’s called, is known for having many rarities you won’t find elsewhere. Epica definitely impressed me and I will be following them much more closely now.

DORO

After Epica, was one of the reasons Josh and I traveled thousands of miles to Germany for this festival. Doro Pesch, referred to among her peers as the Metal Queen and former vocalist of metal band Warlock, delivered a special set of her best material to the Wacken crowd to help celebrate the festival’s 20th birthday. Doro has been a mainstay at the festival over the years and was more than happy to share in the celebration with the rest of us. She even threw in an awesome cover of the Judas Priest classic “Breaking the Law.”

AMON AMARTH

The final band for me on Friday was the Swedish Viking metal band Amon Amarth. Amon Amarth play a form of melodic death metal with harsh growling vocals and lyrical themes of Vikings and Norse mythology and lore. The Swedes brought with them an elaborate stage setup complete with a longboat and lots of pyrotechnics. They even had some Viking actors come out on stage and wage war against one another with Amon Amarth providing the soundtrack to the mayhem and bloodshed. By the time Amon Amarth ended, it was 3 a.m. and I was ready for bed and to prepare for another full day of heavy metal madness.