Concert Reviews - Ensiferum w/Tarujen Saari

What an unexpected night.

Juho and I went in (too early) for the Ensiferum show. After the last time I saw them, back in September, I was expecting sort of a similar thing - to run into lots of people I know, hear some awesome music, and have an awesome time. I can't say that's what happened.

I am sure there are a lot of things I could say about Tarujen Saari. Not many of them would be positive. But, I am a fan of talking, so I'll tell you anyways.

Tarujen Saari

For starters... stage attire? We have an undead bride playing violin that looks like she had an Evanescence music video puke all over her, and not in a good way (I have been known to like Amy Lee's style). Then there is the old-school rocker (with a terrible voice) who was in leather pants and a Tarujen Saari shirt. The singer had a goth/Morticia Adams thing going on in her too-tight fake corsetted dress with her hair shaped like boobs. Then there was a guy who looked like he wanted to be a pirate but just settled for whatever he had in his closet that was too big and full of bling, and an affeminate guy in a kilt. What the bloody hell? No symmetry at all.

Musically, the singer sounded like she might be able to sing but wasn't trying very hard to do it successfully. Musically, the only one of the musicians who had any style was the violinist, and I couldn't hear her half the time.

And then there was the random weird stuff that kept happening. Most of it was vocal, like weird laughter or vocal parts that either made us laugh hysterically, or cry. Here is a picture that pretty much says everything you need to know about Tarujen Saari.

Juho doesn't know whether to laugh or cry...

As for good old Enska... I don't know what it was. Maybe it was just me and the fact that I wasn't really in the mood for going out, or the fact that there wasn't a massive crowd of my friends like last time, or the fact that the crowd did consist of shirtless pasty 18-year-old dipshits... well, whatever it was, I didn't enjoy it that much.

The setlist was actually better than during the From Afar tour, because they didn't play either of the Heathen Throne songs and played more older favorites. I finally got to hear Lai Lai Hei live, for example. There were also some older favorites, like Victory Song, Token of Time, and more. They skipped Smoking Ruins, which I was a bit disappointed by, since it was on their setlist. The orchestral intro version of By the Dividing Stream was pretty wicked, I must say.

Ensiferum

As for live shows... I've yet to see them in their sexy Finnish flag kilts, but their stage set was really cool - Emmi had the shield and swords on the front of her keyboards, like always, and they were wearing their usual kilts (Pete's Ensiferum kilt is pretty awesome). What was unusual, was the addition of a viking-like guy on the left, carrying a sword and ale horn, and a mostly-naked "viking" in a fur diaper on the right. The purpose of these two were to do backing vocals and chants, and in the fur diaper guy's case, vocals on a couple songs (because Pete can't sing, I guess).

Now, viking-guy was fine and I had no problem, but I really had to question Aleksi Parviainen's attire (cuz that's his name - you may recall me making fun of his suck factor back in May of last year because he is the singer for Soulcage). The guy sets off my gaydar seriously, sticking his chest and gut out like he's completely overconfident in the most odd way possible. His hairy diaper and his fur "boots" (that looked more like someone strapped a dead animal around his feet than boots) were ridiculous. He looked like he had been wearing fur pants at some point but someone came up behind him, ripping the legs off, so there was nothing but underwear and hairy pantlegs bunched around his ankles. He did not look viking.

Aleksi (Soulcage) on vocals

And the things they had to do were a bit stupid. I was hoping to see them have some sort of small sword-fight during one of the songs, but I was not so fortunate. They just touched their blades together and walked away from each other. Booooring!

Aleksi did a good enough job on vocals for the song Vandraren (a cover of a Nordman song that appeared on the From Afar album. A sort of 50-50 moment for me was when they invited him back to do another cover, Battle Hymn. What I didn't initially realize was that it was a Manowar cover! I was torn between joy and amusement. Joy, because I love Manowar and think they are the funniest thing ever (though this is far from their best or most amusing song) and amusement because Aleksi couldn't sing it very well. He's got a bit of the Eric Adams going on, sure, but his voice was cracking in the big wails and his stage presence still annoys the hell out of me.

The only other thing I can think to mention is just that I am convinced Sami Hinkka (bass) was drunk out of his mind. He seemed unnaturally energetic and was running around and making faces like a complete madman. It was hilarious to watch but I wondered if it was a bit too much for Pete and Markus.

Sami looking insane

Overall, it's hard to see a bad Ensiferum show, but this was nowhere near as nice as the last one. I think a lot of it was just me, and the show itself was really good. Crappy crowds do a lot to ruin a show for me (even though I was watching from the balcony) and the opening band put me in a rather unforgiving mood - we even bailed out before the encore. I've seen Iron before and didn't care about the other songs. Still, gotta love Enska!

Setlist:

By The Dividing Stream (orchestral intro)
From Afar
Token Of Time
Deathbringer From The Sky
Elusive Reaches
Dragonheads
Into Battle
Smoking Ruins ~ not performed
Windrider
Old Man
Vandraren (Aleksi vocals)
Stone Cold Metal
Lai Lai Hei
Ahti
Battle Hymn (Aleksi vocals)
Blood Is The Price For Glory
Victory Song + outro
EC Tears (Kaisu vocals)
EC Twilight Tavern
EC Iron

Ensiferum ft Aleksi on vocals

Year: Mar 2010
Opening bands: Tarujen Saari
Who I went with: Juho
Location: Nosturi, Helsinki

Concert Reviews - Finntroll & FME

Trying out something a little different this time, since last weekend was a whole pile of concerts.

Finntroll

Let's start with Finntroll. This was the third time I've seen them now, and each time I've been to Finntroll, I've watched from a different place. The first time was in Calgary and I was on a small rise that keeps people out of the mosh pit but is still on the main floor. The second time was at the Virgin Oil Co. and I was front-row. This time I ended up being relatively directly in the mosh pit.

It is impossible not to be involved in the insanity when you are bordering the mosh pit at a Finntroll concert. You are either pushing the moshers back, or you are being pushed aside by people entering and exiting the pit. It can be irritating if you want to just watch the show but once you have accepted the fact that unless you move, that's how it's going to stay, it opens up worlds of fun for you.

The pit at this show was quite big. It took up almost the entire floor of Nosturi with sweaty shirtless men and crazy metal girls, all in there going insane. The music was upbeat and fast, with Finntroll all being drunk and high and having a good time on stage. They played the usual favorites, like Korpens Saga and Trollhammaren, but also played some new stuff, like Under Bergens Rot and Solsagan to make up for taking out some others. I was actually a bit disappointed that they removed Forsvinn Du Som Lyser and En Mäktig Har from the repertoire because they were some of my favorites and were awesome live.

As far as release parties go, this was a great show though. Everyone was having a blast, the crowd was insane, and the music was awesome. You can't ask for much more than that at a folk metal show.

Fintroll again

Year: Feb 2010
Opening bands: Armour, Barren Earth
Who I went with: Juho, Marc, Garance, Jari, Ilkka, and anyone else who was there!
Location: Nosturi, Helsinki



As for the Finnish Metal Expo, that was an interesting thing indeed. I've never been to a metal expo before. Promotional stuff everywhere, free/cheap CDs and singles, signing sessions, band members walking around everywhere signing and taking pictures with people who recognise them, interviews, and more. It's general madness and you can want to be in about three different places at once at times.

Korpiklaani

The first show I watched was Korpiklaani. We were a bit late arriving and they had already started. Holy hell, energy. Their songs are quite fast normally and they really cranked it up a notch live. The sound quality was too loud and rather poor as a result, which was unfortunate, and I felt like Vodka was actually too fast, truth be told. However, I also thought that some of their other songs were better at a faster pace, such as Saunas & Cottages. And they played all the obvious favorites, like Wooden Pints, and finished off with Happy Little Boozer.

They're a ton of fun to watch, too. Jonne Järvelä is the cutest man in the world with a great voice and his awesome dimples. Whenever he sings "here comes the womanizer" in Vodka I can't help but smile. The guitarist likes to shuffle around happily on stage and Jonne joins in with him sometimes. Their bass player has such a friendly smile as well; they all look so happy on stage (except the violinist, he looks very dutiful). It was a fun show and I'd like to see them play a real show sometime now!

I didn't watch much of anyone else on Friday but did catch a glimpse of Doom Unit. It didn't impress me so we didn't watch for long. We missed out on Satyricon and Amorphis because it was late and we were tired from Finntroll, wanting to save energy for Saturday.

Due to a late start, we missed Insomnium and the Finnish Metal Awards, but the winners were as follows:

Leverage

Band of the year: Insomnium
Record of the year: Insomnium
Vocalist of the year: Tomi Joutsen, Amorphis
Musician of the year: Alexi Laiho
Cover art of the year: Skyforger, Amorphis (Travis Smith)
Newcomer of the year: FM2000
Demo band of the year: Ghoul Patrol

Insomnium only played for 30 minutes, so it wasn't a huge loss. I've seen them about four times now anyways.

Juho and I checked out Leverage's 30-minute show (though I ducked out for a signing session for a bit of it). Leverage is just a ton of fun to watch live. They're so silly that it's awesome and I can never get over their singer's hair. It's too much. He must spend so much time getting it to look like that beforehand! It was fun though, as it always is.

Swallow the Sun

We caught the end of Swallow the Sun, which was about the same as always. Good music, good live show, but doom metal really has a hard time drawing me in live because it doesn't have a lot of energy. It's not the fault of the musicians - it's just the style. It doesn't mesh well with an active crowd and for me, it's the kind of music I listen to before I go to sleep.

The big ones of the weekend, of course, were Apocalyptica and Swallow the Sun. Apocalyptica was awesome. They played all sorts of favorites, like Bittersweet (instrumental) and had a guest vocalist whom I have so far been identify to name singing I'm Not Jesus and I Don't Care. They had Mikko come down from the drums and play the stand-up bass for the first time ever too, which was really something else. They played a slow instrumental that might have been a new song too. Their live performance is always so exciting, especially since they play such big instruments that require such immense control to keep a good sound. Phenomenal, as always. Something cool that I noted was the lighting in their show - it sometimes flashes back and forth so you can't see the drummer, and then switches so you can only see the drummer, and goes back and forth, creating a really cool effect with the music.

Apocalyptica - Mikko on bass

Apocalyptica - guest vocalist

And then there's Sonata Arctica. This was my third time seeing them live and I never get sick of it. Tony Kakko is always so engergetic and he was really talkative (though I had no idea what he was saying). They played the obvious favorites, like Don't Say A Word and Fullmoon, but threw in a whole lot of new stuff, like The Last Amazing Grays, Flag in the Ground, As If The World Wasn't Ending, and Juliet. It was awesome to hear some new stuff and the sound was great. The stage show was really exciting too, with fire and sparks and all that good stuff designed for the sole purpose of pumping you up (and totally suceeding).

Sonata Arctica

All in all, the whole thing was a blast. I met a ton of musicians, like the guys from Sonata, Apocalyptica, and Amorphis, got a ton of autographs and pictures, got to meet some of my heroes, like Tony Kakko and Marco Hietala, and got to see a couple of the guys from Swallow the Sun get really excited over my moth tattoo (which is their design). It was definitely a good time and I'd recommend it to any metal fan; especially those who are into the Finnish brand of metal!



Year: Feb 2010
Bands Seen: Korpiklaani, Leverage,
Who I went with: Marc
Location: Nosturi, Helsinki

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 - 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 - Finntroll

Ah, Finntroll. One of those bands that you think, "they'll never come here, so hopefully if I go to Sweden (or some other European country) one day I'll be able to catch a show." Imagine my delight when I heard they were coming our way!

I've never been to The Warehouse before, and I imagine, of the three main venues in Calgary, that it is by far the smallest place to go see a show, which is appropriate for Finntroll since I imagine they aren't particularly well known in these parts.

Opening for the touring bands was local pirate metal band, Verbal Deception. I had borrowed one of their CDs and was, needless to say, not particularly impressed, so I was curious but not particularly excited to see them. What a pleasant surprise for me! The music was enjoyable, the singing quiet and unoffensive, and the keyboarding... interesting. During the parts where the harpsicord didn't sound like a small creature being tortured, it added the pirate-y flavor to the songs. The sound, I believe, wasn't set up optimally for them, but they were enjoyable to watch and fun to listen to.

The actual opening band was called Warbringer. As someone who detests thrash metal, I don't have much to say about them. The singer was annoying, and the kick was ruined by the incessant banging on cymbals, etc. That aside, the music wasn't too bad. I think I slept through the first two songs because it was annoying me and I was tired. The set seemed to last 3 days and I was forgetting why I came to the concert in the first place.

So finally Finntroll came out. My first thought was... umm what? Who is that scrawny guy? Where's the big fat scary dude from the Trollhammaren video? Que? Well, if I hadn't known better already, this tiny little man (Vreth), youngest of the group and newest as of 2006 (and the newest album's vocalist), might have been the singer all along. He had a horrendous (in an awesome way) voice and sang all the old songs just as well as I might have expected from the behemoth who used to sing for them.

A foggy shot of the singer, Vreth, and his amazing hair.

Interestingly, I noted that the drummer seemed to be very intent on his work. Unlike most drummers, who thrash around and bang their heads, this round, bald man played brilliant kick and amazing drums whilst evidently not moving his body at all. There was a rare and occasional turn of the head slightly to the left, but I was simply blown away by the fact that a drummer, playing like he was, could not move himself at all. I was unaware that this could be done.

The music was lively and fun and as enjoyable as always to listen to. I was particularly pleased, being rather infamiliar with Finntroll's actual songs (sans En Maktig Har and Trollhammaren), that I actually recognised a few songs, like Jaktens Tid and several more whose names I didn't know offhand. Swedish does that you know. The fact that the music, with everyone playing, was clear made it more enjoyable than the din that preceeded it.

Another foggy shot of stage.

So for Finntroll's first appearance in Calgary, I was very impressed with their show. You truly have to respect a band that, even though they're just playing in a small bar, doesn't fail to give the show their everything. I would say that if you're into the whole folk metal bit, take a chance to see Finntroll if they're in your area because you never know when a band like that will be back.

Year: September 2008
Opening bands: Verbal Deception, Warbringer
Who I went with: Michael Widmer, Graham Widmer*, Gianna Romano*
Location: Calgary - The Warehouse