Photos and setlists: Milady Metal Festival 5th edition -

There is only one festival that takes place in January of every year in Italy that celebrates and promotes women in metal. And for the fifth edition of the Milady Metal Festival, no expanse was spared because it involved many incredible groups led by talented artists. And I, with the usual help of Silvio Colombo for the photos, have attended to it and reported to you. We would like to thank Massimo Mazzola, Tom Hell’s Nights and Arci Tom for their kindness and professionalism.

Snei Ap

The afternoon and the festival kick off a bit later than the schedule posted (even just outside the stage door). Instead of 17:15, the first group begins the performance at 17:40. Not ideal, but not much we can do about it. Snei Ap are an all-female group that has a very unique style and genre. The group was very enthusiastic about playing at this festival, and they had interesting melodic lines and riffs. I think they could improve a little bit their relationship with the audience by engaging more or introducing more songs. Overall, they had a fantastic energy on stage, and it was clear that they were enjoying playing!

Setlist:

Fuck Off M8
Io Sono Un Problema
Bullet
Lucifer
Different Life
Viaggio
Barbie
Obsexion

Frogg

The delay in the timetable doesn’t stop people from having fun and enjoying the bands. The second band of the evening is, in fact, Frogg. Unfortunately, the volumes and the backing tracks weren’t correctly mixed; I was standing on the right side of the stage (looking from the audience), and I could barely hear the singer’s voice. Letizia was very comfortable on stage and flawlessly led the group. I have already had the pleasure of seeing her with Eternal Idol some months ago, and she confirmed my initial impression of a good performer.

Setlist:

Ascension
Gaslight
Hostile Forces III Typhoeus
Melting Souls
Bloom

Revenience

After their triumphant tour in the UK, this band from Bologna has returned to the Arci Tom, where exactly was their last Italian show. So this is a unique concert! The band moves and commands the stage like it’s a piece of cake. Debora is on fire: she nails her vocals in such a perfect way it is a pleasure to see her singing. They are also very good at engaging with the audience, and this makes their set satisfying. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see them again with a longer setlist!

Setlist:

Awake
Blown Away By The Wind
A-Maze
Revenant
Shamble
No Time To Die (Billie Eilish cover)
Not My Choice
Pillars
Neither Created Nor Destroyed

Nicoletta Rosellini

Who here has gone to Milady just to hear this acoustic set? Oh yes I am putting my hand up now. You bet I am! Nicoletta and Paolo have enchanted the whole audience of Mantua with a delightful acoustic set. The volumes were unfortunately too low in my opinion, and even if I was standing very close to them, I couldn’t hear much. And due to this, it is very probable that Nicoletta had to force her voice to be (barely) heard by us in the audience. Too bad, because their acoustic sets are incredibly rare and it would have been better if we could heard them a bit more!

Setlist:

Frozen Throne
Circe’s Spell
To The Darkness I Belong
The Lost Mariner
Last Siren
I Have A Right (Sonata Arctica cover)
Always Will Be (HammerFall cover)

Sick N’ Beautiful

It’s time to pull out the big guns. Oh no, I’m not talking to you, readers, but to the band that has performed one of the most staggering set I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Sick N’ Beautiful really pulled out guns, lasers, books and amazing effects to create a performance that wasn’t only for our ears, but for our eyes as well. This band knows its worth and they are not afraid of showing it. Everything is made to the sole purpose of entertaining and capturing the audience in their world. The downside is, that musically they don’t have much to offer, but song very similar between them and ripetitive riffs. Also, since they started performing 40 minutes later than scheduled, you’d think that they would cut a song or the encore. But unfortunately not, so the delay kept growing…

Setlist:

March Of the Scolopendra
Fire True
Tonight We Go To War
Pray Tell Me
God Of Thunder
Drop It To The B
This Is Not The End
Starstruck
Deep End Dark
New Witch 666
Makin’ Angels
Sick To The Bone

Deathless Legacy

The atmosphere changes completely at the Arci Tom, for the second-to-last band of the night. Deathless Legacy have taken the whole audience to hell and back with their songs, their choreographies and the charachters that have followed up on stage. I am very happy that I will be seeing again this band next month, because they definitely took their time to prepare their performance to the last detail. I was both in awe and scared of lead singer Steva: she was capturing, mysterious and mesmerizing at the same time.

Setlist:

Ora Pro Nobis
Rituals Of Black Magic
Queen Of The Infernal Pantheon
Your Blood Is Mine
Absolution
Altar Of Bones
Litch
Legion Of The Night
Moonless Night
The Coven
Dominus Inferi

Illumishade

With an unbelievable hour and 10 minutes of delay, finally the last band of the evening takes place on stage. This is the Italian debut for Illumishade, and they are all super happy and in perfect shape. Fabienne is as her usual very charming and delivers and excellent performance, just like Mirjam playing the synth and the theremin. This group has a huge amount of potential, and I am personally excited for what the future will bring to this amazing group of people!

Setlist: