Concert Reviews - Amberian Dawn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!