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 - Lacuna Coil

I've been waiting for this show for a very long time. I originally planned to go to Ontario to see it someday with my friend Chris, but since then I moved to Finland and he didn't want to come all the way here for one show (shocking).

Cristina Scabbia

Marc, however, was awesome enough to come with me. We were having a lazy night so we skipped the opening bands, got lost trying to find Nosturi and walked somewhere between 2-3 km out of our way (total) and ended up on the docks with no accessible easy way, so we had to go back. We still arrived with a good 15-20 minutes before LC went onstage, fortunately.

The show was really excellent. One of the first things we noticed was that the bassist was missing. In the end they mentioned that he had messed up his shoulder, which was a bit odd, considering that Andrea Ferro also had some stuff going on with his shoulder from an incident in Oslo, apparently. He had his arm in a LC scarf for a sling and seemed quite oblivious to it and didn't let it hold him back.

Andrea Ferro

However, as a result of the bassist being gone, they had to have a track play and therefore, the musicians weren't really able to let loose and have as much fun as I think they could have. So the show was a lot more focused on the vocals, which was okei because both Cristina and Andrea did quite well. I liked the fact that they didn't try to sound exactly like the do on the albums and had a bit of fun with it. They had a lot of stage charisma too, talking to the crowd, introducing the songs, that sort of thing.

I have to say one thing about Cristina Scabbia on stage. There are different ways a girl can act as a singer and sometimes it just doesn't work for a metal band. If you compare Nightwish's singers - Tarja Turunen was always rather still, raising her arms and looking sort of epic. Anette, contrastingly, dances around and looks sort of popstarish. Cristina is the happy medium between these two. She doesn't look like a popstar at all but she still moves around and has fun and rocks out a bit on stage. She was fun to watch and didn't annoy me in the slightest by the way she was acting.

The set was excellent too. I heard pretty much everything I was dying to hear, from as far back as they have good songs (Unleashed Memories). They had quite a long setlist, considering they only played for about an hour and a half. They had a change in the middle where Cristina came out in a lovely dress to sing my favorite of their slow songs - Wide Awake (you may remember as a song of the day from around when I moved here, and my general life anthem for a while). Then she changed again and they brought it back to life for the rest of the show, with four more songs and then three encores.

Cristina Scabbia - Wide Awake

Another fun moment was the "karaoke contest", where they stated that every night they play Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence and see which city sings the loudest. I think Marc won "loudest city" all on his own, heh.

Set List:
I'll Survive
Underdog
Closer
I'm Not Afraid
Fragments
Tight Rope
Senzafine
I Won't Tell You
Heaven's A Lie
Fragile
Wide Awake
To the Edge
The Maze
Swamped
Enjoy the Silence
EC - Not Enough
EC - Spellbound
EC - Our Truth


Overall, really excellent show. It would've been a bit better if they had maybe been able to loosen up a bit and have some more fun (if the bassist had been there) but otherwise everything was really solid. There was a lot of focus on the vocals and the singers were outstanding. Definitely a show I'd recommend checking out!

Lacuna Coil - whole band

Year: Feb 2010
Opening bands: Dommin, Blackstar Halo
Who I went with: Marc
Location: Nosturi, Helsinki

Concert Reviews - Tarja Turunen (joulukonsertti)

Tarja Turunen's Christmas concert... what an experience.

I had no idea what to expect from this show. To be completely honest, I didn't actually know it was a joulukonsertti when I bought my ticket; I thought it was her solo band. I was a bit disappointed when I found out I spent quite a lot of money on that sort of thing, considering I am notorious for HATING Christmas music. But hei, I never do anything festive and I've never seen Tarja perform before (not even with Nightwish, to break my heart), so I figured it would be something interesting, and I was not let down.

Tarja was performing her Christmas show with a percussionist, a guitarist, and an organist (is that a word?). The music was ridiculously well done, and I was really pleased by the Finnish Christmas songs. Maybe it's because I didn't know any of them, but the music was brilliant, the songs didn't annoy me like every Christmas song in North America does, and Tarja was unreal.

Her voice is crisp and perfectly pitched and just, mind boggling. She sounds so completely unreal, and it was cool to see her without all the other stuff. I mean, I love Nightwish and they are one of my favorite bands ever, and as I said, I'm crushed that I never saw them with Tarja, but this show was focusing on just Tarja, not on a band as a whole, so it was great to see what she could do.

Her musicians were also really cool. The guitarist looked like he could be quite the rocker but was holding back for the sort of... sanctity of the event. He looked like he was having an absolute blast though and was so into the music, having fun, smiling, and being a bit silly even. The percussionist was in complete control of all of his instruments - from the drums to the chimes, and just looked so practiced and confident. And the organ guy was so Phantom of the Opera that it hurt. And I mean that in the most awesome sort of way. Epic loud phantom-music, totally excellent.

Tarja looked absolutely beautiful, in her lovely black/red dresses and still managed to look a bit metal even though she was doing a fancy show (I'm glad I had the good sense to dress nicely). What was really cool though was that she took a couple breaks and let her band play. I expected some sort of festive music, and I honestly don't know what you consider "festive" in Finland but this was like, dark, ambient music and it was weird as hell and totally brilliant. I was really shocked and absolutely thrilled about it.

Even cooler, she did a Finnish version of Silent Night as an encore, which was nice because, as I said, I hate North American Christmas music but with the Finnish lyrics it was so much better. And her last song was Walking in the Air, and they had "snow" come out to fall around her while she sang, it was beautiful and SO cool to hear with her random assortment of instruments, not a band. Magnificent.

So, while I found the show a bit short, and a lot expensive, it was totally worth the experience and I would probably even consider going again. It was great to hear her at her classical-style best and I would recommend seeing her to anyone. She really is amazing, regardless or not of what you think of her character.



Year: Dec 2009
Opening bands: n/a
Who I went with: me, myself, and I
Location: Sibeliustalo, Lahti, FI

Concert Reviews - Riverside w/Ageness

Another weekend in Helsinki, another show to check out. This weekend we changed up from the usual melodic death or power metal I've been seeing to taste something I haven't tried in a while... progressive metal!

I have seen one prog show before, and if you read my reviews, you will know that I had been very unimpressed by Dream Theater's live show. Granted, I think that was just a bad night and would be willing to give them another chance because I think they're a great band. However, I went into Riverside with some skepticism because of this former experience with these long songs performed live.

We arrived a while after Ageness started. The band seemed to have some potential, but everyone seemed to be quite old and we got the vibe that the singer (who looked like Geddy Lee and Dio had a child together) was the master behind the band and the whole thing was his special baby. Shame it wasn't better. It wasn't bad but it got old after a while. It was pretty much the quintessential opening band. Good, but not great, and a nice choice to open for a band of the same genre but you know it's nowhere near as good as what you're about to hear.

So, Riverside. I heard about these guys because Michael's brother was really into them (which is surprising because, Opeth aside, he's not really the prog metal type). I have one of their CDs and I consider it to be a good CD but after a while nothing seems to jump out. It's good to have for a listen but nothing to go crazy over anyways. They are also the only Polish band I can name.

I have to say, with very low expectations of this show (and even a tiny bit of regret because the ticket was a bit pricey), I was really pleased that I had chosen to check it out. For starters, the music was really really good. Even when they played long songs (12+ minutes) it never got boring because it always changed up and it NEVER once sounded like the musicians were just showing off. The guitarist was sort of bouncing on the spot all the time and the keyboardist looked like he was enjoying himself. I really liked the vocalist though. Remniscient of Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth, he was awesome to watch live. He had a great sense of humor, joking onstage about singing and the length of their songs, and other such things. He had a great voice too... really smooth transitions between regular and high pitch, and he was just overall really fun to watch.

We were discussing the different bands we could hear in Riverside's music. I could definitely hear Dream Theater elements, as well as some new Iron Maiden style stuff, a bit of Deep Purple, and even a hint of Smashing Pumpkins at one point. The music was diverse, and interesting. It was powerful and melodic and mystical, like good prog metal should be. You got to hear all the members of the band doing their thing and enjoying it and having fun (including the keyboardist and a theramin, haha)!

I really have to conclude that I didn't have much or anything to complain about during this show. It took a while for the band to get the crowd into it but after a few songs, they really started to feel it and got more into it, rocking out and singing along (it really helped that the singer was encouraging and funny, making it easy to sing along even if you didn't know the words). The song selection was good (even though I didn't know hardly any of it) and much more diverse than the Rapid Eye Movement album alone... I even decided I'd look up more of their music because they had one song that they played acoustically that I really loved.

I would completely recommend this band, if you're a fan of progressive metal at all. It was really solid, really well done, and really impressive. Definitely a band to check out if you ever get a chance!

Riverside

Year: Nov 2009
Opening bands: Ageness
Who I went with: Marc
Location: Nosturi, Helsinki, FI

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 - 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 - Turisas & DragonForce

What do you expect when you get tickets to see DragonForce? I don't think anyone really knows what to expect. I expected to laugh, I guess.

When I first heard DragonForce, I honestly thought they were a band that was making fun of metal just because they are so cheesy. That was a year or two ago. One day I finally realized that they were a serious band that was just ridiculous. I didn't know what to think after that.

Last night was the last concert of the year for us. When we heard that DragonForce was playing in Calgary, we laughed and thought, yea, maybe if the tickets are cheap or if they have a sweet opening band.

So I did some digging and found out that a band called Turisas was opening for them. For those of you who haven't read my band review on them, I'll summarize it: I fucking love that band. The first song I heard was a metal cover of the song "Rasputin" by Boney M. How awesome is that? They also do a cover of "Those Were the Days," which is also amazing. But not only do they do brilliant covers, but their own work is amazing. Matthias "Warlord" Nygård is exactly what I've been looking for in a viking/folk metal singer, and they have an accordion player, Netta Skog, who is insane, and a violinist, Olli Vänskä, who is pretty much my hero in the world of violins. So, needless to say, I was pretty stoked to see them last night, even though they were opening for Dragonforce.

Powerglove, faintly

The first band on the venue was called Powerglove. We missed most of them because we were in the merch line. When we finally got out though, we encountered one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen: a bunch of guys in ridiculous foam costumes (the singer looked like he had spiked Koopa shells on his shoulders and the drummer had two tall flags on his shoulders) with a giant inflated bat on stage with them, opening with a song about the ultimate weapon in Final Fantasy VII - Omnishred. I almost had a heart attack from a combination of hysterical laughter and amazement, because it was actually really good. Then they did a song about a plumber who does fireflowers and mushrooms, who flushed himself down the toilet and instead of dying, like most people, ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom: Mario Minor. And they ended with none other than the Power Rangers theme, metal style. I remained in shock (and amusement) because, as lame as they really and truly looked, the music was pretty sweet. I am a huge nerd, so I appreciated it.

Turisas

Turisas came next, and they were really what I wanted to see. Well, I really wanted to see them live in their homeland where they have a bigger following, but why not see them in Canada while they're here?

Netta and Jussi

They opened with Battle Metal, A Portage to the Unknown, One More (a drinking song in celebration of trying out three new beers in Canada, all of which gained the seal of approval), In the Court of Jarisleif, the cover of Rasputin that I love so much, and ended with To Holmgard and Beyond.

Warlord

This set, to my immense delight, included four out of four songs that I wanted to hear (Battle Metal, One More, Rasputin, and To Holmgard and Beyond).

Warlord, enjoying some Canadian beer

It was all awesome. Battle Metal got the crowd interested, and The Court of Jarisleif let them mosh around like madmen. They had one of the best responses for an opening band I've seen this year and, as a huge fan myself, I thought it was awesome. The vocals were great, Netta on the accordion was incredible, and Olli on violin was particularly brilliant. All of the musicians in that band were just amazing. And I do love that they dress up like barbarians in war paint and fur and leather and all that good stuff. It was fantastic, they have great energy, really got the crowd going, and the music was phenomenal. It was without a doubt the best opening show I've seen, and one of the most enjoyable concerts (aside from being way too short) I've seen this year.

Hanu and Olli

While DragonForce was setting up, Hannes "Hanu" Horma (bass) and Olli Vänskä were out in the lobby and I went to talk to them. They're both incredibly nice guys, really excited to see someone who came to the show to see them and not DragonForce, and Olli said that getting some sheet music for download is on his list of things to do (being a violinist, I asked him if he has any because his stuff is just brilliant). They were both very friendly and pleasant guys, and very appreciative of the support they were getting.

Turisas, bidding the crowd goodnight

DragonForce

So lastly was DragonForce. I have heard that these guys are terrible live, so I wasn't expecting much from them, save for a good laugh. Well... I did get my good laugh, several times over. They're absolutely absurd to watch as they dance around on stage and the keyboard player rocks out like he overdosed on speed before coming onstage. It was hilarious. However, to my immense shock, the music wasn't bad. They seemed to successfully execute their solos and the sound was good. So you may ask then, why did I not stay for the whole show? Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't know any of their songs, save for Through Fire and Flames, but they all sound the same. This reminded me of why I don't actually listen to DragonForce on a regular basis - because there is no differentiation between songs. There is decent singing, really good guitar playing, entertaining keyboarding with good soloing, and so on and so forth. But even if it's good, if you don't know it and it all sounds the exact same, it's not really that interesting. So needless to say, we stuck it out for a while, but didn't think it was worth standing for another hour to finish watching. We didn't get to see Through Fire and Flames, but we figured they'd play it at the end and didn't want to watch the whole concert to see one song that sounded just like all the other ones we had been listening.

The coolest part of their portion of the show was when Netta came out during the keyboard player's solo song and they had a speedy dual of accordion vs keytar.

Keyboard vs accordion

It was fun to watch their fingers flying around and I won't deny that I was a little more than impressed. It takes some serious talent to know all those tiny buttons on an accordion well enough to fly across them that quickly.

So in the end, Powerglove was a great new discovery, DragonForce proved themselves to be competent live, and the only disappointment from Turisas was the short length of their set. I hope they come back again, headlining, so I can hear more of them live. It was a great performance and I'd recommend anyone to check them out.

Hanu, me, and Olli.

Year: December 2008
Opening bands: Powerglove
Who I went with: Michael Widmer
Location: Calgary - Mac Hall

Concert Reviews - In Flames

Concert Reviews – In Flames

Well, ever since seeing the video for My Sweet Shadow, I’ve been hoping In Flames would come this way. I know they were here with Gigantour earlier this year but I didn’t want to spend the money if they weren’t headlining. Lucky me, they came back a few months later.

In Flames is touring with All That Remains, a decent (considering) American metal band, and Gogira, another decent band. I think someone else played but we were looking (and unimpressed) at the shirt selection and didn’t catch them at all.

So to start with, Gogira was interesting. My first thought is to say that I didn’t hate them. It says a lot, because I hate most opening bands. These guys weren’t hard to listen to, but at the same time, they didn’t really stand out. They had a bit of thrash, but only in one or two songs and not enough to piss me off, and the singer had moments where he sounded like David Draiman (from Disturbed) but in the end, their music was pretty good and, while the singing was a bit boring, it wasn’t terrible. Definitely not the worst thing you could get stuck listening to on a car ride, that’s for sure. They should probably give their bass player some Ritalin though... he looked like he might lose his head if he doesn’t relax a bit.

Next up was All That Remains. I am pretty outspoken in my dislike for American metal. I classify it as American metal because the metal that comes out of America and that comes out of Europe is an entirely different style of music. With that in mind, again, these guys weren’t terrible. The singer amused me a bit cuz he looked kinda like he should be at a frat party, not in a metal band, but he was alright. His nipple rings were a bit distracting though. No comment on that one. The music wasn’t bad but I wasn’t a huge fan of the singing. But, like I said, it definitely wasn’t terrible, but not really my style.

Anders in the spotlight, talking to the crowd.

Ah, In Flames. I am a big big big fan of Anders Fridén. In the last year and a half, I’ve also become a big big big fan of In Flames. I know a lot of the old school fans will say, “whatever, new In Flames sucks and isn’t what it used to be.” My ex told me that Soundtrack to Your Escape sounded like Linkin Park. But hey, I like Linkin Park and he doesn’t. I really don’t see the similarity either way. I feel that bands should play the music they want to play and be true to themselves. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to listen to it.

One of the guitarists, Björn Gelotte.

They opened with a couple songs off their new album, Sober and Irrelevant, along with Mirror’s Truth. Amongst those, they also played Satellites and Astronauts, Pinball Map, Eraser (a song about forgetting the past and being who you want to be), a combo of either Dead God in Me or Food for the Gods into The Jester Race (which was pretty cool, considering I don’t know much old stuff), System, Trigger, Cloud Connected, The Quiet Place, Touch of Red, Delight and Angers, and Alias, plus a few others, ending with Take This Life.

Mostly everyone.

I got the song I HAD to hear (there’s one at every concert, right?), which was Come Clarity, though I was disappointed that Anders didn’t sing along to the chorus through most of the song, which really is what makes it so amazing, so that kinda sucked. It was still incredible though. A few that I would’ve liked to hear that I missed out on were My Sweet Shadow (probably my second favourite song by them), Clayman, and Only For the Weak (which I’m surprised they didn’t play).

The guitarists.

What I really enjoyed about this show, was that it was just a very well-rounded concert. Anders interacted with the crowd, talked to us, and made us laugh (like when the guitar player was playing little riffs while Anders was asking where they could go party after the show, saying something along the lines of “Hey! I am trying to talk to them about something very important; partying, and you are interrupting me with your guitar. SHUT UP!”). With the number of songs they have, you know you’re going to hear a lot of stuff you want to hear, and a lot of stuff you don’t care about either way. I found at the beginning I wasn’t too impressed with their selection but it got progressively better throughout the show. However, I imagine it encompassed enough of a range of their music to satisfy pretty much everyone, so I can’t complain.

What I mean by well-rounded though, is that it seemed like a concert that almost anyone could really enjoy. It was heavy enough that the hardcores were in the middle moshing to most of it, but it was relaxed enough that we were standing off to the side, rocking out and enjoying the music, and still able to see the show without being pressed up against big sweaty guys. Even the songs, like Eraser, that I’m not particularly fond of, sounded awesome live. As I said, anyone who knows me musically knows that I am a big Anders fan and he did not disappoint live. The music was fantastic, as good or better than it sounds on the albums, and it generally just made me happy, sounded amazing, and had a really good atmosphere, even with the Beer Gardens open (which usually results in at least one obnoxious drunk pissing me off for a minimum of half an hour, and I was spared them for the most part). It was a really good set and I was really impressed with them overall.

Anders and the others.

Disappointments? Aside from the lack of Anders during the Come Clarity choruses, I was really disappointed with their lack of encore. This is the second band now (the first being System of a Down) and I find it to be such a let-down. Your crowd wants you, so give them more! I hate no encore. Hate it. Also, I didn’t find Take This Life to be a good ending song. I think it’d be a better opening song. I mean, I know that oftentimes the goal is to leave your crowd wanting more when you go, but you can’t end with an opening song, it kind of leaves you feeling incomplete. And they had the possibility to do something like Only for the Weak for an encore, which would’ve been awesome. Alas, such is life. And really, without all that, it was an awesome show. The band seemed happy to be there, enthusiastic, and just looked like they were having a good time.

Another group shot.

Anders said he likes Canada better than the US but told us not to boo, which I liked (I really don’t know why people do that, but whatever; I guess people are just competitive by nature), and said he wasn’t just sucking up to us. It’s up to you whether to believe him though. It’s still a nice gesture, either way.

So with all that, I’m really hoping they come back again (like he said they would), with a new set of songs I haven’t heard yet live, and a version of Come Clarity where he sings more in the chorus. I left that concert feeling great and wanting more, and I think that’s a generally good way to leave a show.

The group saying thank you at the end.

Year: November 2008
Opening bands: ???, Gogira, All That Remains
Who I went with: Michael Widmer
Location: Calgary - Mac Hall (main floor)

Concert Reviews - Ensiferum & Amon Amarth

I am exhausted. The show last night was pretty intense and I didn't get to bed until after 1:00 a.m. We caught the Amon Amarth with Ensiferum concert. It was kinda cool, before the show, Amon Amarth was standing by the shirt/etc vendors to sign autographs. Lucky me, they went to get ready for the show right before I could indulge. Such is life.

So the first band to open was The Absence, I believe, from California. They were... not bad. As soon as he said they were American I thought, "oh great, bring on the thrash." However, the music was decent and the singing not bad. They also all sported impressively long hair and wicked beards. Except the drummer, he looked like he might be a member of Our Lady Peace in his spare time, hah! Given my usual leary outlook on American metal bands, I was considerably not horrified by them.

Belphegor was another classic example of how to ruin a great drummer by turning his work into NOISE. Mindless smashing siunds were all I heard. Like I expected from the first band, these guys brought on the thrash. It did a great job of reving up the crowd and all those moshers seemed to really like it, but I've been well known for not having any taste for thrash. Other points of note include... well... ok, listen, to all you singers out there... if you can sing with a growl, sweet, but if you can't talk with it - don't. We don't care, I promise. This guy was trying to growl while he spoke and he honestly sounded like Kermit the Frog if he had gone hardcore. I could only laugh at him. It was ridiculous. The guitar player (I think) was really creepy looking and the singer brought out what I might've thought was a BDSM mask if I hadn't been at a metal concert, which was just kind of strange. Whatever you're into I guess. Really, I wasn't impressed with them at all. Also, I found them to be just a bit too loud. Yes, I realize I was at a metal concert, but it was just... harsh, and not in a good way.

Sami Hinkka (bass) and Petri Lindroos (vocals and guitar) of Ensiferum

Next on the list was Ensiferum. I was actually more stoked to see Ensiferum than I was to see Amon Amarth because I'm a bigger fan of folk metal than death metal. This happened to be another episode of "can that scrawny little guy really growl?"

Markus Toivonen (guitar) in the front and Emmi Silvennoinen (keyboards) of Ensiferum

And he could, and he was wicked. I wasn't familiar with anything they played except the intro, which is from Victory Songs, but I truly enjoyed all the music. The bass player was playing on a 7-string bass, which was incredible, and they threw in a metal Stairway to Heaven intro to one of their songs that was pretty cool. I really like the keyboarding in Ensiferum so I was sad that their touring pianist seemed to be turned down a bit and most of the time I couldn't hear her. The music was still great but I could've used some more of her. I imagine there won't be any complaints if they keep her in as a full time keyboardist for the band because, when I could hear her, she was very good. Unfortunately, they didn't play for very long. For headlining with Amon Amarth, I really think they could've done with a longer set that around 30 minutes. They could've eliminated Belphegor entirely and just had Ensiferum play through there too - that would've been ideal to me.

The visible parts of Ensiferum

So lastly was Amon Amarth. I haven't listened to them much but for a straight-up viking/death metal band, they're pretty sweet. I liked With Oden on Our Side so I bought Twilight of the Thunder God at the show, and I've since been enjoying it.
They opened with TotTG, which was sweet. Others that I caught, were Free Will Sacrifice, Guardians of Asgaard (so heavy and so awesome), Where is Your God?, Valhall Awaits Me (the only song of theirs I really know offhand, and really enjoyed), Hermod's Ride to Hel (another one I vaguely recognised, which was also amazing live), and Cry of the Black Birds (unbelievable). They introduced a couple older ones to me, like Death in Fire, which was wicked and heavy, and I have to say, the mosh pit took up pretty much the entire floor of the Warehouse and looked pretty brutal.

As for the band, I didn't see the drummer pretty much at all, but I could hear him and that was enough, he was great. The bass player was on a 5-string, playing low and heavy, the guitar was intense, and the singer was amazing. He's really smiley and makes the crowd feel like the band really appreciates being able to play for us. As for the music, for me not recognizing most of it, and it being heavy death metal, moshing music but without the thrash, I loved it. It made me want to bang my head and growl, which not a lot of music does. They had some nice looking synchronized head-banging and the band toasted their horns (literally) of ale (beer?) to the crowd in the oldschool viking manner.

Ted Lundström and Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth

Amon Amarth raising their horns to toast

This was their second time in Calgary, first time headlining, and I left the show with a good feeling just of having sincerely enjoyed myself in the presence of a band I don't really know very well. I really hope they come back again once I get a bit more familiar with them. I enjoyed the show a lot and I'd recommend them to anyone who likes that heavy viking/death metal.

Drinking the toast

Year: October 2008
Opening bands: The Absence, Belphegor, Ensiferum
Who I went with: Michael Widmer, Graham Widmer*, Gianna Romano*
Location: Calgary - The Warehouse

* Sorry about the shit pictures - The Warehouse is terrible for getting good shots for some reason.

Amon Amarth, head banging

General Reviews - Turisas

So Dragonforce is coming to town. I found this out when I was picking up tickets to the In Flames and Amon Amarth/Ensiferum shows and I was thinking, "haha, sweet, I bet they're terrible live - I wonder how much tickets cost." I asked the girl and she said the whole shebang was around $45 total (she was lying, I looked online and saw they were $35 a few days ago). And for someone who paid $35 to see In Flames, a sweet band, why would I pay that much to see a band who is good for amusement value at best and is probably terrible live? Yea, wasn't planning on going.

However, a few days ago I thought I'd look and see who's opening, just incase they're sweet. It's this band called Turisas that I'd never heard of before, so I went to look on youtube to have a listen. Well, if you know Turisas, you will know that the first song I came across would be Rasputin. So I hit it and listen. Then I think, "hey, I know that tune.... oh man! OH MAN! YES! FUCKING YES!" It was a metal cover of Rasputin by Boney M, which is a sweet disco song made even SWEETER by being metal. I came very close to soiling myself with excitement.

So I go to the next song, which was the official video made of fan clips for the song Battle Metal, which I guess is their big thing. The song was awesome in a way that claims fame to wicked music, killer vocals, and just a hint of cheese.

So of course I went straight to Play and bought The Varagian Way (limited Paganfest tour edition). It's more or less a story album about a viking journey, from what I gathered (Varangian being a term for viking).

I popped it onto my computer and started copying it and I thought... this first song (To Holmgard and Beyond) is unbelievable! The intro music draws you right in and I love Mathias "Warlord" Nygård's vocals. You can tell the thick Finnish accent without it limiting his voice, but actually makes it seem more suitable for the music. And the music - it's just awesome. The whole collaboration of the actually band members' instruments with the symphonic stuff that Warlord provided for the background just makes the song. Also, Warlord growls just enough to change up the vocals but without being annoying. I straight up love it.

The next song (A Portage to the Unknown) starts out with an accordion intro that has kind of a piratey-viking feel to it that you don't get in much metal unless you venture into the realms of Finntroll and Korpiklaani. The slowed down vocals are really nice so you can actually hear what Warlord is saying. The collaboration of multiple singers into the chorus gives it more of an epic feel too. I particularly like when one of them busts out the "give me all you 'ave..."

I wasn't sure at first if I liked Cursed Be Iron or not. I find the clanking blacksmith noises to be cool but the initial singing has a bit more of a mainstream American feel to it. However, once he slows down with the accordion droning in the background it sounds good again. After you get past the intro shock, it actually sounds just heavy and not American. I also really like the part at the end with the whispering. I read that this song was inspired by a finnish epic poem called The Kavelava but I couldn't find it to compare. Lyrically this song is very interesting.

I actually didn't know Fields of Gold was a separate song at first because Cursed Be Iron flows into it so directly. It takes the feel of Cursed Be Iron and continues on with it, softening the harshess and allowing the song to be a bit more musical. It has a nice feel following Cursed Be Iron.

The Court of Jarisleif is another one with a bit of a Finntroll folky feel to it, just a happy accordion song that makes you want to dance around and party with King Jarisleif, like the song indicates. Jarisleif was actually a ruler in Rus (Yaroslav I the Wise), so this song is actually a very entertaining take on real history. The violinist really gets going in this song too, which I really like.

I LOVE the intro the Five Hundred and One. The piano has a really beautiful sound that reminds me of the title screen music for the Tristan and Isolde DVD and I love the music from that movie. The song is a bit heavier than I would've expected from such a pretty intro. It changes quite abruptly but becomes a really intense song, going up and down in intensity while maintaining flow.

The Dnieper Rapids really does feel like an raging river as it starts. Warlord's little introductory growl is a nice touch leading into the false sense of calm that comes before the vocals pick up again. This one picks up and makes you feel on edge, putting you in the place of raging rapids. The chorus singing is pretty awesome as well.

The Miklagard Overture is very blatantly an epic song. It is the end to the journey of The Varangian Way and ends it in a dramatic fashion. You even hear him near the beginning saying "to Holmgard and beyond" again, but softer. The backing music just adds the oomph that gets you into the great conclusion of the CD. It stirs you up and lets you out gently while you still want more, and is really a fantastic conclusion to the album. However, lucky me, my copy of TVW had copies of Battle Metal and Rasputin at the end of the CD, so there is fun still to be had once the adventure that is this CD is finished.

For the band themselves, I did some research and I really respect them. Warlord says that he's not writing about dragons and cheesy crap like that, their music has meaning and substance and they believe in it. I really respect that (how'd they end up being the opening band for Dragonforce? Haha!)

As well, just from fans alone, they seem like really nice, friendly guys. They are shockingly young but have done unbelievably well for themselves considering. Their ages range from 18 (Netta Skog, the accordion player) to 27 (the violinist, Olli Vänskä). Their warpaint and viking/barbarian outfits are pretty awesome and their live shows, from what I've seen on the bonus disk, are incredible. They've already made a fair name for themselves in Europe, playing festivals and the like.

What I find is incredible is that, for the style of viking/folk metal, it's not really been heard much in Canada yet. I mean, Finntroll is the biggest and original folk band and they just came to Canada last month for the first time. Helloween, who is a power metal band who've been around since at least the 90s, just came to Calgary for their first time too! These unique bands don't usually get to Canada for YEARS, and Turisas is already big enough to be opening for Dragonforce, and coming to Canada after they've been around for not even 3 years. That's insane!

As a violinist, I really appreciate the fact that these guys have, along with vocals, guitar, bass, and drums, an actual violinist and accordion player IN the band, not just in the studio. It's nice to know that Netta and Olli are respected as actual metal musicians, not just studio music. I really like that. And Warlord is just a genius in general. He writes most of the lyrics, as well as does the piano (now that their pianist quit) and symphonic backing music in studio.

So in summary, I have been listening to Turisas since... approximately October 3rd, and I think they are bloody brilliant. Warlord's vocals are everything I've ever hoped to find in a viking metal band, they have incredible musicians, including those guys who make the extra folky music included in their songs, and they put together one hell of an epic adventure on their second CD. So before, when I was saying that I wouldn't be going to Dragonforce... yea, I'll be going, but not to see them. I want to hear some Battle Metal and rock out to Turisas!

Concert Reviews - Gamma Ray/Helloween

Ah, Helloween. Helloween is one of the first metal bands I got into after Iron Maiden, along with Blind Guardian and Iced Earth. You can imagine my elation upon discovering their imminent concert at the Mac Hall Ballroom with Gamma Ray.

Gamma ray is, for lack of a better description, old Helloween. They were formed by Helloween's first singer (Uli Kusch also played for them before joining Helloween) and Kai Hanson sings for them to this day. So seeing Gamma Ray with Helloween is like seeing a band that sounds just like old Helloween playing with Helloween. Translation: pretty cool.

I've heard a song or two of Gamma Ray's here and there but otherwise I haven't paid much attention to them, being a bigger fan of new Helloween over the old stuff. So, being unfamiliar with most of Gamma Ray's songs, I was quite pleasantly surprised.

Kai Hanson from Gamma Ray, formerly of Helloween

The music was good, Kai Hanson sounds just like he used to and is really quite enjoyable to watch onstage, and, to my true enjoyment, they did a great rendition of Ride the Sky off Helloween's first CD, Walls of Jericho, which Kai Hanson sang on.

They played some pretty good songs, a newer one called Empress that was about being bitten by a vampire, or a princess, or perhaps both, and they got the crowd going pretty good to Heavy Metal Universe. Gamma Ray is also the first "opening" band I've ever seen to come back for an encore, though I suppose technically they were touring together, not so much as an opening. But to my elation, they played Send Me A Sign, which is pretty much the only Gamma Ray song I know, and I'm rather fond of it.

Gamma Ray, Calgary 2008

Helloween was, ah, well, what can you say about Helloween? I really didn't know what to expect from Helloween. There were a lot of songs I was dying to hear but I didn't know what I was going to get because this was their first time in Calgary, and I would say that for a first time concert, a good selection of old favorites in with a couple newer ones is probably the way to go. That's pretty much what we got.

Andi Deris of Helloween

Andi Deris was phenomenal to watch. He's not quite as pretty in real life as photoshoots would lead you to believe but his voice is still unreal. He's also quite funny to watch, giving us lessons in German profanity and the like. He was also really good at getting the crowd all hyped up.

Michael Weikath of Helloween

Michael Weikath was an interesting sight to see. His visage is, like in most of his pictures, not unlike an old potato that's sprouted a quaff of fuzzy hair. He's a great player but has a bit of a cocky thing going on and tends to flick his wrist in a rather affeminate way, which I admit bothered me after I noticed it.

Sascha Gerstner of Helloween

Sascha Gerstner, I actually saw walk by me when I was buying a shirt but didn't recognise him as the newest and youngest member of the band. He was, along with Andi Deris, the one I enjoyed watching the most. He was far better looking than anyone else for one. Also, his style was just overall great. He's great to watch, he looks like he's having fun and not trying to impress anyone, he's just having a good time. And the music is great. I didn't know they had a second guitarist but I was pleased with the result for sure!

Markus Grosskopf of Helloween

Markus Grosskopf adds another member to the strangely misshapen old men of Helloween, however, his bass playing was catchy and enjoyable, as you can only hope from a bass player. Without him, it wouldn't have been Helloween right?

Dani Löble of Helloween, during a drum solo

Lastly is Dani Löble. If anyone has heard me talk about the drummer that has been with Helloween since Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy, you'd have heard a glowing report. In his own words, he is a "symbiosis" of Helloween's two former drummers and I couldn't agree more. He takes the styles that both of the others had and uses the parts that work from each to make it his own. He actually did a drum solo in the middle of the show that rather blindsided me with amazement. He to this day remains one of my favorite drummers to listen to. It's nice to see the drumming in a band stand out to me.

Musically, they did have a pretty good selection in the manner I had expected - old favorites with a few well-known (singles) new ones thrown in. They had a nice creepy-ish intro, just as I expected, and opened up with Andi Deris belting out Kai Hanson's old tune, Halloween! After a brilliant rendition of Halloween, they also played such old favorites as Sole Survivor, Mr. Torture, If I Could Fly, Eagle Fly Free, Dr. Stein, and a couple others I couldn't place. They did play two songs off Gambling With the Devil, which were As Long As I Fall (one of the songs I wanted to hear) and Paint a New World, which I didn't care much about hearing, but was still really good.

In regards to the song selection, I really can't complain. Hearing Andi Deris sing those old songs of Kai Hanson's really was a treat. I absolutely love Deris's voice and I was really stoked to hear it in those old songs. I mean, I would've loved to hear songs like Time of the Oath, The Departed (known to many as my all-time favorite song ever), and Mrs. God (my theme song). Mrs. God was the only one I was truly disappointed not to hear. I didn't expect to hear the other two but I had hoped that they'd play at least one song off KotSK: Legacy and I knew if they did, it'd be that one. I mean, it's only their second oldest CD, you'd think they might've done it. But alas, no such luck for me. Not that I'm complaining, they've got a lot of great music and you can't expect to hear everything you want in one concert. Looks like I'll just have to go see them again, yes?

The encore was a particularly good treat. They did two, for starters. The first was kind of a mashup of Master of the Rings songs, including Where the Rain Grows into a very crowd-involved long version of The Perfect Gentleman, which was pretty killer. Then of course, they came back WITH Gamma Ray for the second encore to play Future World and I Want Out (old Kai Hanson songs from early Helloween), which was unbelievable.

Helloween and Gamma Ray, united, playing the second encore of Future World and I Want Out

So what can I say? I thought this show was bloody brilliant and I hope to see them again and maybe I'll get to hear a couple more of those songs I missed out on last night. Gamma Ray is exactly what you need to warm you up for Helloween and overall I just thought it was great. Just... you know... try not to stand behind a big fat guy whose farts smell like he's shitting his pants. I really advise against that. Way to almost ruin a great concert for me buddy.

So my advice to Helloween fans is to go see them. The live experience will not disappoint.

Helloween: Andi, Sascha, Markus, Michael, and Dani in the back

Year: October 2008
Opening bands: Gamma Ray
Who I went with: Michael Widmer, Mike Wiseman, Andrea Wiseman, Frank Coetzer, Jaco Coetzer
Location: Calgary - Mac Hall Ballroom