Live | Burning Witches & Hammer King – Nieuwe Nor – Heerlen [NL]

8 February 2026

Sunday, February 8, it was time once again to visit the poppodium Nieuwe Nor in Heerlen. The ladies of Burning Witches and the gentlemen of Hammer King are currently on tour under the banner of their ”Witches and Kings Tour”.

On this dreary Sunday, the small hall of Nieuwe Nor is well filled with more than 200 visitors, and those present are clearly in the mood for some unadulterated heavy metal.

HAMMER KING

Hammer King were the first to take the stage, just before 7 p.m., to whip up the audience with their metal in the style of bands such as All For Metal / Brothers Of Metal, to name but a few.

Complete with medieval costumes and royal scenes, the show was led by singer Titan Fox. During the show, the golden coins that a maiden lady has in her bowl appear. These golden coins are then distributed among the audience. As far as their show element is concerned, they have clearly thought about their concept and that is conveyed to the audience.

Musically speaking, we can conclude that Hammer King proved themselves to be a seasoned act in their short 50-minute set. Tight playing, good sound, and the fans in attendance were able to sing along loudly to quite a few songs. The setlist focused on the last two albums. ‘König Und Kaiser’ and ‘Make Metal Royal Again’, as well as a few songs from earlier albums.
I was surprised by the cover of the 80s classic ,,Danger Zone’’. A song we all know from the Top Gun movie.

In any case, Hammer King put on a great, solid show, and the audience clearly appreciated it.

SETLIST HAMMER KING

The Last Kingdom
King For A Day
Make Metal Royal Again
Kingdom Of Hammers And Kings
Pariah Is My Name
König Und Kaiser
Hammerschlag
Danger Zone [Kenny Loggins cover]
Kingdom Of The Hammer King
The Last Kingdom [outro]

BURNING WITCHES

After a brief changeover, the Witches took over from the Kings.

Burning Witches also had a great sound and the lighting was perfectly balanced. It’s always funny how the number of photographers triples during shows featuring women or all-female bands. Apparently, it’s more interesting to take pictures then. But anyway, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Burning Witches always guarantee a great heavy metal show. Frontlady Laura Guldemond, from our own Eindhoven City, knows the ropes by now and guides the show through the songs in an excellent manner. She reproduces her vocals from the albums perfectly, and many bands could take a leaf out of Burning Witches’ book.

PURE ROCK AND ROLL

No nonsense, no backing tracks, just pure rock and roll adrenaline. The guitar solos are superbly alternated between Romana Kalkuhl and Courtney Cox. And bassist Jeanine Grob, together with drummer Lala Frischknecht, provide a powerful and solid rhythm section.

You can think what you want about the music of these Witches, but here is a band that knows what they are doing and they do it with tremendous accuracy. Apart from some white smoke, the show is not embellished with all kinds of nonsense. This band simply doesn’t need it. And every time I see them live, the bar is raised a little higher.

We get to hear four songs from their latest release, ‘Inquisition’, and four songs from ‘Dance With The Devil’.

It’s clear that the audience has had a great night of music on this Sunday evening. Both Burning Witches and Hammer King put on a fantastic heavy metal show. Before and after the show, the audience could enjoy a drink in the Nieuwe Nor café, where DJ Theo provided the music.

After the show, visitors were able to chat with Laura and Courtney for quite some time, who joined them for a drink in the café.
Great evening.

SETLIST BURNING WITCHES

Intro
Souleater
Shame
Dance With The Devil
Maiden Of Steel
The Dark Tower
Sea Of Lies
Inquisition
Release Me
Black Widow
Evil Witch
Lucid Nightmare
Encore:
Hexenhammer
Wings Of Steel
The Witch Of The Nord
Burning Witches

All photos by Raymond Helebrand