A View From The Back Of The Room: Power Quest (Review By Stief)

Power Quest, Hobos Bridgend

After a quick meal in the Kings Head, we headed into Bridgend's premier gig locale, Hobos. I caught a little of support act Chris Bay, but not enough to make a genuine review of it. A short while later, we filed into the main stage area to see Power Quest (8).

Right from the outset of Rising Anew, vocalist Ashley Edison shows he’s a force to be reckoned with, and it continues right throughout the show, his voice never faltering, and hitting every note, high or low. He (subjectively) has one of the best voices in power metal to date. Backed up by band founder Steve Williams, showing he’s more than a dab hand on keyboards and drummer Rich Smith, newcomers George “The Kid” Karafotis and Bradley Edison, showed excellent skill on guitar and bass respectively.

Another brilliant guitarist also graced the Hobos stage this night, and was arguably the centre of attention for a majority of the band’s set. Welsh lad Glyn Williams, was given a hero’s welcome by the crowd, with chants of ‘Power Quest’ morphing into ‘Power Glyn’ several times throughout the night. Ashley was more than happy to let Glyn bathe in the spotlight, especially after pointing out how much Glyn hates it. It’s clear the band are a close unit and it shows in the music. From the uplifting (or as one crowd member said ‘cheesy’) heights of No More Heroes to the brilliant Far Away, there was barely a drop, apart from some microphone problems midway through their set, which were swiftly solved by a quick swap.

A great set by a great band, the night was slightly marred at the end. All I can say is thank god overzealous security was there to usher the happy metalheads out in order to make way for what seemed to be a dance night being held in the very same place. I’d like to add that this is nothing against the venue itself, as the staff there seemed very friendly, but the way security treated the crowd was less than savoury. However, we still left with a smile on our faces. Cheesy? Of course it is, it’s power metal, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!