Concert Reviews - Swallow the Sun w/Insomnium

I finally made up for that missed show back in Calgary. STS was the last show I missed before moving to Europe. I pretty much didn't want to pay to see them open for a band I had never heard of, since I would have been paying $35 or so and STS isn't one of my ultimate favorites. So, I was pretty stoked to hear about STS playing at Tavastia for only 9 eu. My elation was increased when I discovered that Insomnium was opening (and if you read these reviews, you know that I love Insomnium).

Niilo, looking a bit like he's in pain

I was actually a bit late for the Insomnium show but I did manage to wander right up to the front and see one of my favorite live melodic death metal bands. I've reviewed them twice in the last month or two and I ensure you that the show was equally as impressive as it was each other time. The only difference is that Jules Näveri from Profane Omen was not at this show, so when they played the new songs, one of the guitarists was doing the clean vocals. He wasn't very good and I don't think he was feeling very confident singing them. However, you must make due with what you have. It was still awesome and would've been worth the 9 eu alone.

The girls in front of me left, leaving me right at the front for Swallow the Sun. I really didn't know what to expect from this show because I am not really big into doom metal and had no idea what a doom metal show would be like. I was pleasantly surprised.

Mikko looking dramatic

For starters, I sort of expected a really... boring show. Like, I expected everyone to be really dreary. I was shocked to see that not only were they all really into it, but they were VERY active and the two in front of me (Juha on guitars and Markus on keyboards) were particularly into it. Juha has a lot of style and Markus looks like he is angrily destroying his keyboard at all times. Mikko (singer) sort of passionately clutches his mic and growls and he's pretty excellent. The man has a great voice. The drummer from Wintersun is playing with them at the moment too and he's pretty darn good.

The music itself was not bad. Their playing was really clean and good. The sound was great but the vocals I found to be too quiet (though I'm not sure if that was due to me having earplugs or not) and they had a girl come in to do guest vocals on one song, which was really nice, but again, couldn't hear her well enough. I have no idea what her name was though. The song was 50% nice and 50% thrashy, so I was on the fence on it.

The set was nice, they didn't play anything too long, which was good, and they played a couple songs I did know, including Don't Fall Asleep. However, most of the stuff was off the new album (which has the most unfortnate name based on the fact that the new Twilight movie just came out). If you want to hear a fun story about my aquisition of a setlist, check out the latest post in Amy's Barbaric Adventures. Here are the tracks:

These Woods Breathe Evil
Falling World
Out of this Gloomy Light
Plague of Butterflies
Sleepless Swans
Lights on the Lake (Horror pt III)
Don't Fall Asleep
Servant of Sorrow
New Moon
EC The Giant
EC Swallow (Horror pt I)

Overall, I liked it. I'd probably go again if you asked me. I'd like to know the music better next time though.

Mikko and the guest singer

Year: Nov 2009
Opening bands: Insomnium
Who I went with: me, myself, and I; encountering Ilkka, Daniel, Jaakko, Valtsu, and Marko in the process
Location: Tavastia, Helsinki, FI

Concert Reviews - Stratovarius + Bonus

Yep... I saw Stratovarius. Are you as surprised as I am?

I made an evening trip into Helsinki to check out this show. I've had Stratovarius floating around on my iPod since I was 17 but I can't say I've ever really gotten seriously into the music. Something about Kotipelto just reeks of cheese and as much as I think he's a good singer, I get sick of them pretty fast.

Kotipelto

Stratovarius has had enough drama since its birth to pretty much qualify it as a soap opera. The most recent news involves Timo Tolkki's leaving of the band. Tolkki wrote pretty much all the music and there was some messy business over the name Stratovarius but it seems that the remaining members of the band hold no real negative feelings. They brought in a young guy by the name of Matias Kupiainen to fill in on guitars and are now writing their own music without Tolkki as the God and Overlord of the music.

I was really thrilled to see Kupiainen live. I've seen him in interviews and he seems like a really interesting guy. He was so happy and lively on stage. Everyone was, really. They all just seemed spot on with the performance, no stress, everyone happy... a far cry from what they might've looked like a year or two ago with the longevity of the band so threatened. I sensed a lot of freedom amongst them and fellowship though. They all looked comfortable playing together, like everyone was having a good time.

The song selection was also really nice. I'm not so fluent in Stratovarius-nese but I recognised Destiny, Hunting High and Low, A Million Light Years Away, and a few more. Actually, quite a few considering how very seldomly I listen to their music. And they threw in a bass solo and a guitar/bass duel too, which was pretty darn excellent, if I do say so. Mathias and Jens passed off beers and riffs to each other, and they were both all smiles! Somewhere in the night the keyboardist began to mess around too, and whatever the setting he plays on is, I love it and he's really phenomenal. I love his playing, it always sounds so sharp and reminds me of King's Quest games (which is a good thing).

Kupiainen

My complaint? Only that Kotipelto's voice wears me thin after a while. I think he's brilliant, it's just not so much my thing. I was also situated for the first while behind the most retarded couple in the room who were waaaaay too into it. Painfully so. Shamefully so. It made me a bit ill. But hei, whatever makes you happy right?

Overall, good performance, good music, good everything. If it's a bad you like, you'd probably love it live. I don't think I'd go again but that's because it's not really my type of music.

So of course I snagged a setlist, but this time I was stealthy about it and asked the soundbooth guy. He gave me the most hardcore eye-roll I've ever received, but what the hell do I care about that? Here it is:

Destiny
Hunting High and Low
Speed of Light
Kiss of Judas
Deep Unknown
Legions
A Million Light Years Away
-Jens solo
Winter Skies
Phoenix
-guitar/bass solo
Forever is Today
Twilight Symphony
Eagleheart
EC Forever
EC Father Time
EC Black Diamond

Stratovarius

Year: Nov 2009
Opening bands: nada
Who I went with: me, myself, and I
Location: Tavastia, Helsinki, FI


*BONUS REVIEW*

What? Behold! You are getting a second review in here today! Aren't you lucky!

So who is this mysterious band I am reviewing? The one and only Leverage! A cheesy old epic metal band from Finland and one of the best times I've had at a show in a while.

This is music for amusement, for laughter, for pumping your fist in the air, for holding up your lighter, and for banging your head! I listened to the music for an hour before heading to Helsinki and then headed to the show with my friends only to wait way too long for the band to come out. But we were greeted with an enthusiastic group who played rather ridiculous music in the most awesome sort of way. The singer looked like a gym teacher (which I believe I was told he actually was at some point) and probably spent an exorbitant amount of time getting the wings in his hair to look so sublime.

I won't go into detail. All I have to say was this was one of the funnest shows I've been to. The sort of show you see to get drunk and go crazy at. A good times had by all show. No one is judging because they're all laughing and having fun. If you see it, go, have a few beers, put your fist in the air, and rawk! You'll see what I mean!

Leverage!

Year: Nov 2009
Opening bands: nada
Who I went with: Jake, Juho, Jake's friends
Location: Dante's Highlight, Helsinki, FI

Concert Reviews - Insomnium w/Profane Omen & Omnium Gatherum

This may sound a little familiar... did I not just see this show a week or two ago? Yes I did, only last time it had a crappy thrash band and not Profane Omen. Also, I missed Profane Omen on Friday because my family went to Tahkovuori and I had to go with.

So, a note to all the readers out there... tonight marks a special occasion (sort of) - Omnium Gatherum now wins the prize for band I have seen the most times, sitting at thrice, and is tied with Insomnium for seen in quickest succession, since they're touring together.

Omnium Gatherum

Omnium Gatherum is always a treat to watch. I've figured out my issues with the band too. As always, the music was fantastic, Toni is growing a goatee now and I didn't recognise him at first, and Aapo looked less bored than last time.

My problem with them is that, while I love watching Jukka and his antics and ways of making the first couple rows smile, his voice isn't that great. With singers like Niilo Sevänen (Insomnium) to compare with, Jukka sounds like he's not well trained to do growls and gives off the impression that he probably has a sore throat and pukes blood after a show.

However, the show was great, as it has been the last 2 times I saw it, and I was pleased to see Jukka come down to the crowd and shake hands with everyone in the first row. He's such a personable guy. Loves the crowd, and I think that's a great thing. Shame his vocals aren't better.

Profane Omen - Jules Näveri

Profane Omen was next. What I had expected to hear was an acoustic show, but that was not the case. It was very loud. I actually got earplugs for the first time (mom should be happy) and I'm damned glad I did because something about the cement venue of Finlandia-talo (Finlandia house) is insane.

I haven't listened to much Profane Omen but I had intended to see them with Marc that one night so it was nice to get a chance to see them live. I was really really REALLY impressed with their energy; particularly Jules Näveri. He doesn't connect directly with specific people the way Jukka does, but he really gets in there and makes you want to put your fists/horns in the air and be part of it, getting everyone revved up. Oh, and they did wall of death. It was epic, but I stayed out of it.

The music was great - a bit thrashy but really solid. Jules has a great voice and his growls are pretty awesome too. He's a pretty good looking guy... got a bit of a Brad Pitt thing going on, only skinny and Finnish and metal, hah. They were all very active and put on a great show.

Profane Omen

One of the guitarists broke a string at one point so they did some little fun things to kill the time. I'm not sure what song they played to pass the time but it was fun. And the drummer got up and asked where his mom was (they're from Lahti) and then wished her happy birthday. It was pretty cute. As a side note, that happened in Finnish and I understood, so give me a few cheers too!

Insomnium - Niilo Sevänen

As for Insomnium, well, I openly welcomed another flawless performance. I spent a lot of time thinking about Niilo's vocals and wondering why I like them so much while other bands not so much. I've concluded that it is great because it sounds natural and effortless, and when you hear it, it's gentle and not overbearing. It flows perfectly with the music, and I adore it. Also, he dresses really nicely and it makes me happy - simple, but looks totally metal. Insomnium has to now be one of my favorite melodic death bands. Of course, that means that the playing was sensational as well.

What a bonus to be touring with the band that hosts your clean vocalist. Jules (Profane Omen, does the clean vocals on the tracks off the new album) and Niilo's voices just flow so beautifully together, making absolutely perfect harmony and Profane Omen's show had a lot of growls, so it's great to hear Jules with more clean vocals. The man has an unreal voice and he should use it more.

Insomnium with Jules

Their stage show is more laid back than Profane Omen's, but that's fine, the result is that they just look badass. Everyone has great hair to bang around as well. The only unfortunate part was that about half to three quarters of the way through the set they started to get some reverb in some of the songs.

Overall, spectacular show (again), and I just discovered that they're playing with Swallow the Sun next month, so bonus for me! That'll bring them up to tie with OG for band I've seen most, and I couldn't be more pleased with the fact!

Insomnium

Setlist for Insomnium:
Equivalence
Down With the Sun
Drawn to Black
Last Statement
The Harrowing Years
Where the Last Wave Broke
Medeia
The Killjoy
Lay of the Autumn
The Gale
Mortal Share
Devoid of Caring
EC The Day it All Came Down
EC Weighed Down With Sorrow

Year: Oct 2009
Opening bands: Omnium Gatherum & Profane Omen were opening for Insomnium
Who I went with: me, myself, and I
Location: Lahti - Finlandia-klubi (Finlandia-club)

Concert Reviews - Insomnium w/ Omnium Gatherum

Another weekend in Helsinki, another bunch of shows.

Before I get into Insomnium, I want to mention that I happened to catch Eternal Tears of Sorrow on Friday night with Jari and Ilkka. I can't say I know many (or any) of their songs, but it was a good show, unfortunately ruined by absolutely brutal sound quality. At the stage it was so loud it made your ears bleed and at the back you could only hear the drums. It was unpleasant. Stage show was good though and so was the music. Glad we opted to check it out.

So we went earlier than I had wanted to check out the show. I didn't know anything about Axegressor but Jake had told me that they were terrible. He was right. They were just really bad thrash. Anyone who knows me knows I don't like thrash, but I can at least appreciate a band that's got some style and that sort of thing. I don't mind Stam1na, for example. But this band was just plain with a pretty awful vocalist and I found myself thinking "mennä kotiin" the whole time.

Next was Omnium Gatherum. If you're following, you know I've seen these guys before once and I liked it. My latest decision about this show is basically the same but I have some new points to add.

Omnium Gatherum

First off, it was a good show, nice performance, and their music is quite alright - nothing mind-blowing but nothing offensive to my ears at all, making for an enjoyable experience. Jukka Pelkonen is a rare type when it comes to fronting a band too. While he can look a bit ridiculous onstage, I appreciate that he is always REALLY into the show and does his utmost to connect to every person in the crowd, searches out the person who isn't smiling and MAKES them smile, and gets right in there (even literally at one point) to get the crowd going.

The rest of the performers are also great. However, we were noticing this time around that Aapo (keyboards) did not seem to be doing that much and even seemed bored at times. He was, of course, still rocking out, but I felt like every time my attention was drawn to him that he wasn't playing much.

Omnium Gatherum

OG is just one of those bands that I can watch to put me in a pleasant mood. Something about seeing a show by these guys puts a smile on my face.

Insomnium was the main attraction, of course. When I had mentioned the consideration of going to this show, my friend Valtteri told me I should listen to Insomnium because they're great. A few other people seconded his notion, so I decided to do it, and I was really pleased with what I heard. Their last album was very highly acclaimed and their newest album really captured me, so I became really enthusiastic about this show. And I was certainly not disappointed.

Insomnium

We were watching from upstairs on the balcony across from the stage, where the sound quality wasn't at its prime but wasn't too bad either. I have to give utmost praise to what was an absolutely flawless performance. The vocals were incredible, the music was well played, the performance was outstanding, and Jules Näveri (Profane Omen) stepped in to do the songs from the new album, Across the Dark, which really pleased me considering I am really loving their new album. That guy has a great voice and really flows well with Insomnium.

Insomnium w/ Jules

The set was also incredible, with some favorites, such as a recent song of the day of mine, Where the Last Wave Broke. Another cool thing was that they played two intros... Equivalence to open up but also The Gale into Mortal Share (Mortal Share being one of the songs I was dying to hear). The encore was performed after a surprisingly short wait (that's a good thing in my opinion, I hate waiting 5 minutes for an encore to start) and they performed two more songs before finishing up.

Overall, outstanding performance, with Niilo Servänen's vocals and stage presence really creating good and solid union with the rest of the band, for a spectacular show.

Insomnium's setlist:
Equivalence
Down With the Sun
Drawn To Black
The Killjoy
Daughter of the Moon
The Harrowing Years
Where the last Wave Broke
The Lay of Autumn
Medeia
The Gale
Mortal Share
Devoid of Caring
EC The Day It All Came Down
EC Weighted Down With Sorrow

Insomnium w/ Jules

Year: October 2009
Opening Bands: Axegressor and Omnium Gatherum
Who I went with: Mikael, and met up with Markus and Valtsu
Location: Helsinki - Nosturi

Concert Reviews - Amorphis

I missed Amorphis twice this year. I'm not sure why that was such a big deal to me considering I never got big into their stuff. I like them and they've got great music though, so when I was hungover and passed out and didn't wake up until their set was half over at Nummirock I was pretty bummed. And at Ankkarock my friend wasn't ready to go on time so we were too late for that performance also.

I saw that they were playing in Hel in December so I had planned on going and this weekend I was supposed to see Amon Amarth playing in Tavastia. Unfortunately for me, by the time I went to get my Amon Amarth tickets, they were sold out. I did manage to get the last available ticket for Amorphis a week later though but that meant going solo (something I am getting more comfortable doing).

So, opening bands were Amoral, whom I've seen once before and am on the fence on the whole Ari Koivunen thing, and Before the Dawn, whom I tend to enjoy and watched a bit of at Nummirock, so I was relatively pleased with the lineup for this show.

I found myself a nice spot on the rise right at the front before Amoral started playing (after having a nice visit with Ilkka at merch) and prepared for the show. What I was not prepared for was the crowd.

Amoral, first song

Before I get into this, let me explain something about myself. I go see bands for the music. I enjoy watching live shows even if the music isn't my favorite. I just like seeing performances and taking pictures and that sort of business. What I do not like are groupie poser girls who slut up the scene and make the girls who actually like the music look bad. And that's pretty much all you're gonna find at an Amoral show these days.

Ari Koivunen

Don't get me wrong, Amoral's music is quite okei, but I can't comment too much because I don't actually know any of their songs. I also don't know what their old vocalist was like. I will admit though that since my last review of them, Ari seems more comfortable with the music and he didn't seem nearly as out-of-place as before. They sound good, they look fine on stage, and whatever you may think of Ari Koivunen, the guy has a voice. But I have to wonder if he hates himself for going on Finnish Idol because the only people in their crowd were slutty 15-year-old groupie wannabe sluts and little boys who want to be like him. It made me nauseous. It made me ill. It made me never want to see them play again (regardless of how much I love their drummer and his vinyl pants). Particularly annoying were two girls right near me who were trying way too hard and took off their shirts to try and get some attention. Because they think that their bras are going to impress Koivunen. Seriously. If you're gonna be a poser slut, at least have the guts to show your boobs.

Amoral full band

After that was Before the Dawn. I know they're not everyone's favorite but I think their music is okei and I like the bassist's voice combined with the vocalist's growls. The music was really good. They played a few songs I really like, a few more that I recognised, and a few ones I didn't but it was a good show. I have to say again that I really like Lars Eikind's voice. He sings quite nicely.

Lars Eikind (clean vocals and bass)

The thing that made me the happiest about their show was the drummer though. If I recall correctly, he is just a touring drummer but he had this ridiculously huge grin on his face the entire show and every time I looked at him I just couldn't help but smile also because he just looked SO happy. A couple songs I recognised, for interest's sake, were Disappear, Faithless, and Deadsong. My biggest problem, and this was unfortunately with all the bands, was that the vocal quality of the main vocalist was not very good from where I was sitting.

Before the Dawn

Little intro to a side-story... I asked the security guy (who was very nice) if I could have the set list for the show and he asked the stage crew guy, who said no. Jerk. To be continued.

Tomi Joutsen, Amorphis

I know you really want to know what I thought of Amorphis though. I can see right through you! Okei, well, bear in mind, like I said, that I actually don't know much of their stuff (like all the bands this night). But the performance was brilliant. Really brilliant. Tomi Joutsen is a tiny little guy who is completely ripped and has a really strong and proud stage presence. Like, the guy is a massive aura of confidence, but he doesn't project himself like a douche. And what a voice. He has a really lovely singing voice combined with solid growls, making such a really wonderful overall show. And my lord that man's dreadlocks are long. Really long. Like, a few of them are down to his knees (granted, as I said, the man is very short).

The stage performance was great. The line-up is really solid, with a couple guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums. Tomi had a sort of a 50s-style mic, which was kind of cool. Everyone looked like they were having fun, playing confidently, and enjoying the sold-out crowd. I've said that I don't know that many songs by them, but they played the ones I know, including The Smoke, Silent Waters, and House of Sleep. There were a couple others I recognised too but didn't know the names of, which was nice.

Continuing my setlist tale, after the show one of the crew guys (possibly the one who shot me down before) grabbed a couple of set lists and handed them out to the crowd. The security guy was totally going to take one for me but the nasty old woman beside me snatched it first like a seedy gremlin. I am pretty sure she was actually cackling and drooling too, in the sort of Gollum "my precious" way. But when I was in the lineup to leave, he came back to the other side of the stage with two more setlists and no one noticed him but me so I went up and he gave me one. So here is the set from the show:

1. Leaves Scar
2. Towards & Against
3. On Rich and Poor
4. Sampo
5. Castaway
6. The Smoke
7. Majestic Beast
8. Alone
9. Silent Waters
10. Against Widows
11. Silver Bride
12. Sky is Mine
13. My Kantele
EC House of Sleep
EC Black Winter Day

All in all, I was really pleased with the show, I'm more interested in listening to Amorphis now, and I would definitely go back to see them again. This completely made up for the fact that I've missed them twice over the summer. Oh, and how can you go wrong playing Eläkeläset's Vaivaistalossa as your outro track? You can't!

Amorphis

Year: Oct 2009
Opening bands: Amoral and Before the Dawn opened for Amorphis
Who I went with: me, myself, and I
Location: Helsinki - Nosturi

Concert Reviews - Omnium Gatherum

Sorry, this is a bit older than the others but I wanted to add pictures before copying it here.

Mikael had put in a solid effort to get me to start listening to Omnium Gatherum. His most efficient method has been convincing me to go to the show the other day.

We arrived in the middle of an epic storm just in time to get the show. Omnium Gatherum was just about to start and since they were opening, I was able to get right up to the front to watch the show.

Jukka, Omnium Gatherum vocalist

Omnium Gatherum is sort of a melodic death metal band, as far as I can tell. So what to say about them? I can't talk about the set list because I can't name any of their songs (even though I spent the day listening to The Redshift, which is a fantastic album), but it was great. The music was phenomenal, but what really impressed me was the stage show. All of them had so much energy, it was hard not to get into it. In particular I refer to Jukka Pelkonen, the singer. What an interesting guy to watch. He was so in tune with the crowd and he really drew the watchers in. Everyone in the first three rows of people (most of whom were girls, incidentally) got a personal salute from him at some point, including me, with a connected set of metal horns for some 30 seconds or so. He shook hands with the drunk rockers and generally, in the words of Jason Lee in Almost Famous, spent the entire show "getting people off." It was wonderful. I wish more singers really spent time connecting with the crowd this way.

There was also a lovely scene where Aapo Koivisto (keyboards) took the shirt off one of the guitarists (not sure which), and Jukka poured water on his bandmates.

Omnium Gatherum; more band memebers

So, as I'm sure you gathered, I was really happy with the show. I greeted Aapo at the bar for Mikael and met Toni Mäki (bass) at the merch table when I was talking to Kaisu, the sweet girl who was selling stuff. He was an unbelievably nice guy and I was very pleased to make his acquaintance.

Toni, Omnium Gatherum bassist

After some time, Amoral came out to perform. Basically, the story behind Amoral seems to be that they, for reasons I am not familiar with, have recently replaced their old death metal singer with Ari Koivunen, the winner of Finnish Idol a few years ago. In this, the band has had to change their style quite a bit and in doing so, from what I've been told, in the long and short, has lost most of their old fanbase, being replaced with an entirely new fanbase.

My feelings about this, after getting over the fact that Ari looks like he's about 12, were that the music was good. Nice sound, nice playing, nice performance. And Ari can sing... there is no doubt there. However... the combination of the two was questionable, to say the least. Something was not quite clicking for me in this performance and because of it I can't give it a very solid review. Granted, it was still much better than most opening bands I've seen in Canada, but for how good the music was, I felt a bit disappointed by the overall show.

So that's my general feeling about this show. Omnium Gatherum was quite fantastic to watch and gets a definite recommendation from me. As for Amoral... I'll leave that call up to your judgement!

Year: June 2009
Opening bands: Omnium Gatherum was opening for Amoral
Who I went with: Evita and Kaspars, met up with guys from Norther and made friends with Kaisu and Toni
Location: Helsinki - Tavastia

Concert reviews - Ensiferum

I have decided that I will indeed grace my readers (all none of them) with a review of this show, because, well, frankly it was a great show. The reason I hadn't really intended on reviewing this show was that I hadn't been paying a WHOLE lot of attention to it.

After having a few drinks we went upstairs to the balcony bar to watch Tracedawn, who was already going. I haven't actually heard them before but I had read online that these guys are quite young and they are. Really young. And I don't know any of their songs but they were pretty good. They had a nice show, the music was fine, and that's pretty much that. As I said, my attention in the opening bands was not at its best.

Tracedawn

Metsatöll: Markus Teeäär and Lauri Õunapuu

Metsatöll was second on the line-up. This is an unusual Estonian folk metal band. They were actually the main highlight and reason for coming for a couple of friends, like Markus and Erkka. I had been only half paying attention because Jake had showed up and there were lots of people appearing to talk to. As far as folk music goes, it didn't really jump out at me as being incredible. That being said, it wasn't bad. The singer was good, looking like a proper hairy viking-type, and their torupill (Estonian bagpipes)/etc player was really quite phenomenal. The overall impression didn't leave a great mark on me though. That could just be because I wasn't really watching though.


Of course, the main highlight for us was Ensiferum. Garance had flown in from France for the show, so you know it had to be a good one. And it was. They opened up with the intro song off their new album and went right into an explosive rendition of From Afar and Twilight tavern. Pete Lindroos was looking happy and comfortable in his new full-time-no-other-obligations position of lead singer (as you should know, he is no longer the vocalist for Norther) and was having a great time.

Ensiferum, Sami Hinkka

Sami Hinkka was playing a really excellent looking bass and looking very good (and very viking). Markus Toivonen was playing well and I'm betting he's happy with the present line-up of the band. I couldn't see Emmi Silvennoinen (or Janne Parviainen) because she was not in my line of sight but I could hear her and she was playing very nicely. I recall having really liked her performance the last time I saw them back in Calgary and I was very pleased to hear that they had added her as a permanent member to their lineup.

Ensiferum, Sami, Pete, and Markus

And what can I say? I'm a sucker for a bunch of men in kilts and war paint. Scottish, Ensiferum-logo, Finnish flag, whatever these guys are in, they look great and they look hot. I love it.

The set was great. I was really glad to hear a lot of the new songs live, and they played almost the entire album. The new songs feature a lot more symphonic stuff, a long more clean/chant vocals, and a lot of power! Unfortunately though, with all the new songs they left out a couple classics, like Token of Time (which I heard in Calgary so I didn't miss it) and Lai Lai Hei, which I was really sad not to hear. However, hearing Iron and the entire sold-out crowd doing the TÄTTÄDÄDÄÄ TÄTTÄDÄDÄÄ together. I think my favorite from the night had to be Smoking Ruins though. I love everything about that song: the music, the lyrics, the clean vocals combined with Pete's growls... the whole thing was just solid and epic. Fantastic.

So here is the setlist from the show.

Ensiferum, Pete Lindroos

1. By the Dividing Stream
2. From Afar
3. Twilight Tavern
4. Little Dreamer
5. Elusive Reaches
6. Wanderer
7. Heathen Throne
8. Guardians of Fate
9. Tale of Revenge
10. Smoking Ruins
11. Slayer of Light
12. One More Magic Potion
13. Tumman Virran Taa
14. The Longest Journey
EC Treacherous Gods
EC Battle Song/Porilaisten Marssi
EC Iron

Enska is definitely one of my favorite bands these days and I'm really glad I've seen them again now that I know them infinitely better than the last time I saw them live. Great performance, great new songs, and an overall great feeling of good times, battles, and metal.

Enska

Year: October 2009
Opening Bands: Tracedawn and Metsatöll opened for Enska
Who I went with: Garance, Matti, Jake, and joined at points by Teemu, Sebastian, Kasper, Varpu, Erkka, Markus, Atte, Aki, Antti, Marko, and more!
Location: Helsinki - Nosturi

Concert Reviews - Apocalyptica/Nightwish

I haven't really felt wildly compelled to do this in a while. I also haven't been to a show in a really big venue since I moved to Finland either though. Not sure if it's related.

Either way, a few months ago, very shortly after I moved to Hel, my first host family's grandparents brought over a newspaper clipping for me. It is quite a well known fact (probably because I posted it on my Au Pair profile) that I love Finnish metal and hoped to see as many shows as humanly possible while I was in Europe, and they were eager to help me out. I debated it for some time. It was an expensive show, and I didn't know anyone in town so I wasn't really keen on going. Adversely, I have never seen Apocalyptica play live before and I like them a lot, and I also was interested to see the grande finale after 2 years and 193 other shows. So I opted to go.

Apocalyptica came out relatively quickly after I arrived, to my great pleasure. I've never been good at remembering their song names, unfortunately, but it was of no consequence. I recognised their cover of Fade to Black by Metallica, as well as an instrumental version of Bittersweet, which was quite lovely, and they brought in a guest singer (you may know him as Antti Hyyrynen of Stam1na) to do I'm Not Jesus and I Don't Care from the Worlds Collide album. They also finished with Hall of the Mountain King, which is one of those songs that I had really hoped to hear live, and I was not disappointed.

Visually, Eicca Toppinen and Perttu Kivilaakso were both incredibly brilliant to watch. The long hair and headbanging while playing, Perttu playing with the cello tilted to the side (which I imagine takes some talent because you are holding up your cello at an unusual angle while playing), and some rocking on the ground, waving cellos around, that sort of business; they both were quite amazing to watch. Paavo Lötjönen impressed me far less. Maybe it was his inital lack of hair that made me lose interest in him but his stange presence was to me less metal and more show-off. Plus, without the hair he made the band lose symmetry. Nothing against his playing though. I also thought it was interesting to see them with a drummer. He didn't overpower the other three like I might have thought. I was pleased to see this, though it might've been nice to see them when they were just four cellists.

As for Nightwish, they opened with a soft instrumental with a guest musician who was playing an instrument that I couldn't quite recognise. It seemed like a bagpipe but not exactly. After that they went into 7 Days to the Wolves, Everdream, Wishmaster, Sahara, Amaranth, Nemo, Last of the Wilds, and many more. They brought out a guest violinist, Pekka something, to play The Siren, and he was incredible. After that, they kept him around for one more song, which totally made my entire night worth it - While Your Lips Are Still Red (which you may recall was my song of the day a while ago and is one of my alltime favorites of theirs). It is a song written for a movie and was on a single, so it wasn't something I ever expected to hear live and I was very pleased. Near the end they did the accoustic versions of The Islander and Walking in the Air featuring the guest musician on the strange instrument and flutes from the intro, and finished with a never-before-played version of Meadows of Heaven, which I admit I enjoyed live much more than I did on the album (definitely my least favorite song). It was good, but I could've done without the extensive vocal soloing at the end that sort of brought it down a bit.

Encore really made me happy. Another one of my alltime favorite ever Nightwish songs is off the Once album - Ghost Love Score. It's another one of those songs I thought I'd never hear... especially when Tarja Turunen isn't in the band anymore. The best part was that Anette actually did a decent job of singing it. She was, of course, no Tarja, but she didn't do a bad job. Then they finished with the 194th time doing I Wish I Had An Angel.

Overall impression? It was a really good show. My initial irritation with Anette was removed after a couple songs and the fire/lights/waterfalls (I think they were waterfalls after Meadows of Heaven, which struck me as odd, but kind of cool) were spectacular. Tuomas was playing inside a big boat and there was an anchor on the stage too, a couple high platforms, so the setup was really great in a sort of "The Islander" way. My biggest complaint really and honestly had to be Anette's blonde hair. I don't know what on earth made her think she would look better as a blonde but it's terrible. Really terrible.

Marco and Emppu are always really fun to watch on stage. And I am always really impressed with how much better Marco's singing is than it used to be. He totally outshines Anette every time he sings these days and unlike when he sings in Northern Kings, Tuomas writes songs that really help his vocals, rather than strain them. Unfortunately for me, I don't understand enough Finnish to understand anything he said at the end between Ghost Love Score and I Wish I Had An Angel, and I sort of appreciated Anette because she's Swedish and doesn't really speak any Finnish, so she was always talking in English.

All-in-all, it was a fantastic show, a great finale, and I'm really glad I went. I remain cautiously optimistic for the next album in hopes that Tuomas writes music more appropriate for Anette's style (though I'd be lying if I said I disliked Dark Passion Play - I actually do like it) the way he did for Tarja.

Track list (Nightwish)
01. Intro - Finlandia (w/ U.K. multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley)
02. 7 Days To The Wolves
03. Ever Dream
04. Wishmaster
05. Romanticide
06. Amaranth
07. The Siren (w/ Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto)
08. While Your Lips Are Still Red (w/ Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto)
09. Poet And The Pendulum
10. Nemo
11. Sahara
12. Dark Chest Of Wonders
13. The Islander
14. Walking In The Air (w/ U.K. multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley)
15. Last Of The Wilds (w/ U.K. multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley)
16. Meadows Of Heaven
17. Ghost Love Score
18. I Wish I Had An Angel


Year: Sept 2009
Opening bands: Apocalyptica was opening for Nightwish
Who I went with: me, myself, and I
Location: Helsinki - Hartwall Areena

Concert Reviews - Finntroll

Wooo! Did I ever get to see Finntroll again the other night.

They were playing a small show before their gig at Sauna Open Air up in Tampere the day after, so I went with a couple of friends who also love Finntroll.

Some strange band called Draugnim opened up for them. They were dressed heavily in cloaks/robes and mail and whatnot. I had never heard of them before. They looked pretty metal. The music was fine and the vocals were fine... in theory, however, it was rather boring. If you've read any of my other reviews, you know I have a big problem with monotonous sound. The music was okay and sort of folky, which is good, but still, just sort of droned on after a while and I lost interest in it after 3 songs or so. Considering all the shitty bands that have opened in other shows I've seen in the last year or two though, this one wasn't terrible by comparison.

And then there's Finntroll. I met Vreth (the singer) at the merch table and chatted with him for a while before the gig got going. I'm not sure why but I sort of expected him to be a bit stuck up but he was actually quite friendly. Their merch was all on sale, from anywhere from 5-15 euros, which is an absurdly cheap price, especially in Finland. This was apparently because they didn't really have any merch for the show so they just grabbed whatever they could find... turned out it was all old tour stuff from around 2004 and on some of the shirts, they didn't even play most of the gigs because they were cancelled. He was nice to chat with and took a couple pictures with Garance and I (unfortunately I looked like hell in both of them :P but oh well) and then we went to watch the opening.

Finntroll's show was fantastic. Vreth came out with his crazy stick-finger glove that always amuses me (and never seems to leave on for more than one song, which doesn't surprise me). We were right up front so it was great to be right up there, unlike their other show, which I saw from about 20 meters back, behind the mosh pit. The set list was excellent and the performance was fantastic. I could have been happier if I could hear some more of the keyboardists but that is a very small complaint.

I am always happy to hear Trollhammaren, En Mäktig Här, and several others, but the real highlight of this show was the last song they played, off Visor Om Slutet (their acoustic EP), Forsvinn Du Som Lyser... one of the most ecstacy-inducing songs you could possibly imagine, played way faster than normal, and I wanted to jump and dance around like a maniac when I heard it.

So, Finntroll has yet to fail me live, with a spectacular performance each time. I definitely wouldn't pass up another chance to see them!




Year: June 2009
Opening bands: Draughnim
Who I went with: Garance Bascle, Teemu Maarela, Marc Taylor, Marc's two friends, Antti and ?
Location: Helsinki - Virgin Oil Co.

Concert Reviews - Nortti

Welcome to the secret review of Nortti's [code name] first show. I won't go into much detail because I'll be writing a proper review sometime after the 25th.

Went to Semifinal the other night with Mikael just because he pursuaded me that it would be a good idea to go for a bit. Turned out it was one of my favorite bands playing a show! To boot, Mikael introduced me to everyone in the band.

I've never seen this band play before and they have just replaced their old singer, who I really loved, so I was interested to see what this would be like.

The show was fantastic. I got to hear a lot of songs that I wanted to hear and got a nice preview of the new singer's voice, which was very good. I admit that I didn't find him particularly nice when I spoke to him (or thereafter), unfortunately. However, the keyboardist and bass player were both very nice, friendly guys.

I advise anyone in Helsinki not to turn down a random metal show they might come across. You never know what you might find!



Year: June 2009
Opening bands: nil
Who I went with: Mikael Holmlund
Location: Helsinki - Semifinal

Me and the new singer... at least he was nice enough to take a picture with me.

Concert Reviews - Amberian Dawn

It has been quite some time since I've been to a show. That's kind of a shame, but I'll be back into it soon enough!

Just a week or two after I arrived in Finland I heard of a band called Amberian Dawn, sort of an operatic gothic metal band from the general Helsinki/Espoo area. I downloaded the CD, gave it a listen, and thought it wasn't bad.

So in trying to find something to do the other night, one of my friends suggested we go to a place called Gloria, where Amberian Dawn and a couple others were playing. I was most pleased with this idea, so we gathered a plethora of friends and headed there.

To get right into it, AdaMantra opened up and they were interesting. They had sort of a Dream Theater/Stratovarius thing going on but the mixing was rather poor, as Marc put it. Generally speaking the music was okay and the singer had a decent wail but in the end I would just give it a mediocre. It was nice and I had no problem listening to it, but it didn't particularly jump out at me. However, as the show continued it seemed to improve and you could tell by watching the crowd that they had a slow start into it but by the end the crowd was really cheering, so they were quite well received.

Soulcage was... umm... well, not really my thing. The music was okay but the singer really bugged me and I was distracted by this the entire show. He looked like some sort of diva, dancing like Annette Olzon from Nightwish, spinning his mic around really fruitily, and really just sort of looked like he was probably a huge douchebag. His vocals were fine but the style was not great. I really just found that the entire thing sounded very mainstream/generic and sort of American, which is the last thing I want from a Finnish band.

Lastly was Amberian Dawn. What to say about that? The music was great. It had a nice feel, it sounded good, there was lots of diversity and power with the two guitars and keyboard... all around pretty solid. Heidi Parviainen is a fantastically beautiful woman with an astounding voice. She has a very opratic sound, very classical, and she is a delight to watch on stage. She looks very beautiful and feminine but without looking like a diva. She looks metal.

So why am I not giving this band a better review? For the same reason I didn't give the CD a better review. All the songs sound the exact same. It's beautiful, it's elegant, it's metal, and it's boring. The stage show was great, the performance was great, the sound was great, but if you've heard one song, you've heard them all.

It was definitely a good time and worth the 10 eu I paid to get in but I wouldn't feel the need to see them again necessarily unless they open up a bit more with their next album and show some more diversity.

Year: May 2009
Opening bands: AdaMantra & Soulcage
Who I went with: Marc Taylor, Jessica Grotensohn, Ines Klammer, Garance Bascle, Antti Pasonen
Location: Helsinki - Gloria