Crowbar played early and by some accounts, they threw in one of the best shows of the weekend. The only problem was that they had been scheduled for an early slot and thus all we had to go by was hearsay. In general, festivals like this should only book local acts for starting slots — especially on Fridays when people are traveling to the festival grounds from all over the country. Turmiön Kätilöt were having their ‘normal’ TK show on the main stage. They always put on an energetic show. With a year and a half under his belt (or so), the new vocalist Shag-u (who also pulls vocal duties in Fear of Domination) seems to have gelled with the band. The biggest take away though was how fucking loud everything seemed to be this year. Maybe it was due to some renovations made to the area or what, but things just seemed absurdly loud all around.

Moonsorrow

On the second stage, put up again in a tent, Moonsorrow played live again — I’ve not seen them in a long while — yet I felt disconnected with the material from Jumalten Aika and couldn’t really get into it. “Kivenkantaja” was nice but in the middle of it I decided it was better to go snatch something to drink.

Mike Patton of Dead Cross

Dead Cross, featuring Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo, were keen on fucking up the audience’s ears with a high feedback noise that kept ringing through their speakers throughout the whole set. At first I thought it was a technical glitch that they’d sort out, but maybe it was just a mood-setter for their violent, scream-out-your anger hardcore. Whatever it was, it sure made things a lot more oppressive. I basically couldn’t tell one song from another, but Dead Cross did play some moody instrumental sort of stuff at some point. That shit sounded extremely promising and I wouldn’t have minded had they had their full set like that. At the end, the group figured they’d do an encore. “Where’s Ice-T? Is Ice-T in the fucking building? Where is the fucking guy?,” Patton questioned. Then they commenced the shortest encore in history by playing “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”. (MK)

I can appreciate when bands are in touch with their past and can let loose but at the same time, I couldn’t but help think that maybe Dead Cross’ angsty output is more suitable for youngsters. I mean, you can still love things you liked as a teenager, but it was kind of amusing to watch a bunch of well seasoned geezers play like they are purposely trying to hide all their talent and experience. Even Henry Rollins knew when to move onwards and leave most of the screaming to the kids. Patton is still the man though, but Dead Cross is one of the least impressive projects he’s been tangled up in. (MM)

There aren’t that many good reasons to miss out on Leprous playing live, especially if they’re an arm’s length away. One such reason: queuing up to shake hands with Ice-T and Ernie C, along with the rest of Body Count. For the first time in nine or ten years of covering shows (and quite possibly the last), we stood there for an hour waiting our turn like two little fan girls — just to meet and greet a single band. While it felt perverse, it was something that had to be done. (MK)

Ice-T had a rockstar attitude from the very start, but the rest of the guys were really enthusiastic. Ernie C especially seemed genuinely excited to meet fans and exchange pleasantries. And yeah, even by the end, Ice-T seemed to relax and open up a bit. While we did miss out on most of Leprous’ gig, we caught the last few couple of songs and agreed that yeah, they’re a pretty damn good band. (MM)

I’ve run out of “Jeff Loomis is being wasted in Arch Enemy” jokes, so I’m gonna say something positive for once. The last time I saw the band, Angela Gossow was still fronting and they didn’t leave much of an impression on me. They’ve always had the means and in parts, they sound awesome, but the songwriting overall never leaves a long lasting impression. This time around, I gave ‘em another chance and they sounded actually pretty okay and ‘fitting’ for a metal festival. I think I also prefer Alissa White-Gluz’s output too. Decent gig, but not one for the memory banks or renewed album listens. Interestingly, Arch Enemy was selling a fan jersey at their merch booth with a Finnish flag motif on it. Customized stuff for the fans instead simply slapping tour dates at the back of a black t-shirt? That’s quite nice.

Meshuggah

There’s something about Meshuggah that makes people go crazy. Maybe it’s the rhythmic bombardment that sends people into a tribal trance. It’s easy to get lost in the band’s impressive, all-consuming wall of sound – especially in the confined space of the venue tent. Not sure it would have gone on a more open stage.  Some people literally went crazy due to the barrage of sound. I got almost knocked the fuck out by a guy who was clearly on something more than a few beers — he thought he could take on four security guys alone. Turns out he wasn’t a superhuman after all, no matter how appropriate the background music was. (MK)

If not for the rare delight of having Body Count out there waiting, Meshuggah could have as well manned the headline spot for the day. The large and bit more intimate tent stage worked out nicely with the band’s menacing sound and sensory overloading visuals. The sound quality and mixing was on point on the second stage (as it was throughout the festival), and here it paid dividends. You could really hear and appreciate the band’s precision. (MM)

Ice-T

Body Count – MK’s Take

The main attraction for me at this year’s Tuska was definitely Friday’s headliner, Body Count — with a silly “featuring Ice-T” subtitle in the marketing materials. Body Count came back in 2014 with the excellent Manslaughter album and then followed it up with more vitriolic excellence in 2017 with Bloodlust. Their debut self-titled, Born Dead, and Violent Demise also received a ton of play throughout the years, along with Ice-T’s Home Invasion and his audiobook The Ice Opinion. In a way, it’s pretty sad that since their comeback, Body Count is still one of today’s most relevant bands, seeing how little things appear to have changed since the band’s inception, what, some 28 years ago? Shit’s still fucked up… now sports!

Usually bands dabble with Slayer’s “Raining Blood” and how it’s often the most requested song to be played at any metal concert, no matter who’s performing. So it was refreshing to see Body Count start out their set with their cover medley of “Raining Blood/Postmortem”. And when you also have Dave Lombardo at the fest (remember, Dead Cross), you get his ass on that drumkit! And so they did. Genius way to get the crowd pumping.

It was also interesting to see how the band constructed their setlist, considering they actually have a lot of good songs to pick from. Surprisingly enough, they treated some of their bigger hits as normal setlist material, rather than build around them or end the gig with them. For example, “Cop Killer” was played in the middle, as did “Talk Shit, Get Shot” and “No Lives Matter.” Since the set was limited to an hour and a half, a lot of songs had to be left out, like one of the band’s heaviest songs “All Love is Lost” (from the latest album). Violent Demise was also completely absent from the setlist — not a single song from that release (and nothing from Murder 4 Hire, album that I’ve never been able to listen to with any proper attention due to the production. Maybe there’s a good bangers there too?)

Musically, the band is fucking tight. They suffer from a similar misconception as GWAR did, where people placed the group into certain non-serious category without giving them a proper chance. As with GWAR, the actual musicianship is there and so is the songwriting — especially now. It’s also maddening how little Ernie C’s excellent guitar work is talked about. Dude has written some great fucking riffs throughout the years and on stage, a pure joy to watch & listen.

And then there’s Ice-T. He’s 60! And he seems very much at home on stage at a metal festival. Dude knows how to entertain and he’s got the swagger and admirable arrogance to back it up. He even coined a new term: “virtual encore.” The audience pretends the band had walked away (they didn’t) and has to call the band back. Other bands exit the stage to milk an actual encore, but this is “I’m too lazy to actually walk away so yell for an encore anyway.”

All in all, Body Count brought one of the most diverse crowds to Tuska that I’ve ever seen and it was well worth whatever troubles we had in attending this year. Excellent booking, excellent show. Amazing booking!

Vincent Price of Body Count

MM’s Take:

I first heard Body Count in the mid/late ‘90s when my brother brought in a random set of metal on C-cassettes. One of those was Body Count’s debut, and with the first gunshots and the riffs from “Body Count’s in the House,” I immediately became a fan. Even today, that album still sounds as fresh and tight as it did back then. It’s really one of the handful of albums that truly had an impact on my impressionistic teenage mind back then. The few recent albums have been pure fire, so it’s nice that the band still has it, even if not all of their songs have always been up to par.

Seeing the band live, even without most of the original members, was a dream come true. And after all these years, it was well worth the wait. It was nice to hear most of the classics during the set as they fit seamlessly with the newer stuff. Ice-T had ramped up his energy and presence significantly since the meet and greet, and took the stage with aggression and enough cock-rock attitude to fill the stage and then some. Major charisma.

Ernie C seemed to be having the time of his life throughout the whole set. It was also heartwarming to watch the band commanding such a large following. Between now and the early 90s, the crowd spanned multiple generations from old to young, from metalheads to rap fans and everything in between. At least before Manslaughter, I’d thought the band was pretty limited and obscure to Finnish audiences so it was great to have that proven wrong.

If I can get a bit political, in Theodore Parker’s words (which Mr. King also later quoted): “The arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Some things are so integral to how we humans are inclined to behave, it’s kinda hard to get rid of tribal tendencies and insecurities — even when given decades to vigilantly better them. I believe many things, as well as people in general, have changed towards the better since Body Count first came out with “There Goes the Neighbourhood”, even if we are still struggling with related issues.

Ernie C

SATURDAY

When the main songwriter got kicked out from Battle Beast — his own band! — he didn’t stay on the dole for long. Nope, he went right out and set up Beast in Black. As we were walking towards the festival grounds, we caught the second half of their set from a mile and a half away. Sounded like Battle Beast with a male singer, which is good for the fans I guess, since Battle Beast sound like a different Battle Beast nowadays anyway. (MK)

• MK: The fans got two bands to cheer for. I just wish they’d have their beasts duke it out in a no-holds-barred cage match, WWE style. I’d come early to see that.
• MM: This is more like the war between Smackdown and RAW (or NTW, TNA or whatever), except this time it’s “Beast Wars”. Two promotions, in head-to-head competition, for the same restricted market, while providing more or less the same product. “But who has Hulk Hogan?” I don’t care enough to even ask.

We figured we’d go check out the merchandise booth while 69 Eyes were playing in the tent close by, but oh man were they fucking loud. Could hardly hear my thoughts. I’m not sure if it was just me, but this year, both festivals (South Park and Tuska) felt fucking loud compared to previous years. It’s like they’d lifted the decibel limits or stopped giving a flying fuck about them altogether.

• MK: It’s funny to see capitalism in action at the merch booth, btw. On Friday, as Body Count’s shirts started to sell well, the price went up a few times.
• MM: Haven’t you heard? Ice-T has been a marketing wizard even since he ran the street game. He knows and he plans this shit out. Scarcity creates value. It’s also logistically easier and cheaper to fly in with ten Fruit of the Loom shirts in the bag and sell them for a hundred a pop, than it is to pack 100 shirts and sell them for a tenner each. Recognize game?

We also took part on a behind-the-scenes tour of Tuska which was mainly aimed at international visitors. It started with a view of the main stage from the sidelines as Mokoma were performing, and then went through the key locations around the festival area which make for good stories: the sauna; dining options where you can reserve a spot for some fine dining inside a quieter environment (sold out for the most part); also how various artists collaborate with the organizers to make the festival ground a bit more lively.

The tour underscored Tuska as an urban metal festival (instead of being held in a field somewhere) and how the audience expects more than just bands playing. (Whisky and cocktail bars, for one!) We did learn how 1 out of 4 visitors is new to the fest and after the locals, Germany and UK are the main sources for visitors. I’m quite surprised the organizers haven’t made a promotional video that captures all of this in an informative, but entertaining way. Have some charismatic, high profile and entertaining celebrity do it. Then again, they’ve got a bunch of Youtubers (or “influencers”) running around the festival doing content so maybe I should just get on with the times by clicking like, commenting below and then subscribing to one.

For us, the tour was a nice change of pace and offered something ‘new’ vs just running between the three stages to try and cover everything (while forgetting to actually appreciate the small things that are easily overlooked).

Carpenter Brut live

I’ve listened to my fair share of synthwave like everybody throughout the year, but I never thought Carpenter Brut was part of the genre. For some reason, I thought they were a death metal band. Nope, they aren’t. I guess ‘Carpenter’ should have been my first clue there. Their set featured Outrun (the video game) music with real instruments. The set’s highlight was an appearance by Beastmilk/Grave Pleasures singer Mat McNerney. Really like that dude’s output and it’s a shame Grave Pleasures were performing on the last day when we wouldn’t be there to see them. Otherwise, Carpenter Brut sounded pretty much like most other bands in the field, i.e. not bad but they didn’t really stand out either. I’ve heard better. While not related, it reminded me how genius it was to book Huoratron to play his pummeling set some years ago. That show was an awesome, brutal sensory overload. Should bring him back. (MK)

MM’s take: I regard Dark Synthwave or Retro Synthwave or whatever it’s called as something one plays in the background while doing something else. It’s a sound that does not annoy or take much effort to digest. I guess I can recognize and name around five artists from the ever-growing bunch and Carpenter Brut is one of them, so I was interested to see how their music would work as a live show.

Ten minutes in, I started to feel some secondhand embarrassment and had to shift to an angle where I could no longer see the stage. I can appreciate electronic music in live venues, but it’s hard for me to watch live performances where the shenanigans make me question the authenticity of the show. For one, the guitar sound seemed to change tunings and distortions mid-riff, and I didn’t see any meaningful pedal work going on. Call me old fashioned or a purist, but it felt wrong and incoherent. I would not have minded if the whole gig were just a pure DJ gig. Granted, everything looked energetic and people seemed loved the sound, so perhaps it is better to just pipe down. (MM)

Samoth of Emperor

Nothing like black metal with the sun shining like it’s the happiest day of summer. Emperor summoned the sun as they were blasting through the entire Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk album. (Some years ago at Tuska, they did the same with In the Nightside Eclipse). Since I don’t have that big of a personal connection with the album (HERESY!) or the band, I admired the set for a bit and then went onto different things. This just wasn’t the gig to finally sell me on their greatness. I would have actually preferred to see Ihnsahn’s solo gig instead, but unfortunately that was saved for Sunday.

Tomi Joutsen, Hallatar

It seems like Tomi Joutsen has something against Pasi Koskinen. Not only has he helmed Koskinen’s old band Amorphis for a long time, his gig (Hallatar) with guitarist Juha Raivio (Swallow the Sun) and drummer Gas Lipstick (HIM) has him trying to outdo Shape of Despair in the doom and gloom department too. Not that I’m complaining — the guy’s voice and range suits those feelings perfectly, and it’s nice to see him doing something new. Aside from hearing a song from Hallatar eons ago, this was my first larger introduction to the group. The material didn’t sound bad at all as it kept me captivated throughout, fondling my anguish and encouraging me to brood on further. (MK)

Kreator

Once again visitors from Germany left no bridge unburned (see: Lapland war, ed. note) as Kreator played a set that killed everything under the midday sun. The Teutonic thrash metal missionaries are always pleasant to check out and without question, they always put on top quality entertainment. (Or maybe it’s just great to always see a thrash show, period?) Kreator have had a warm place in my heart since my teen years. There simply is no replacement for Mille’s unique vocal delivery, mixed with the lyrics filled with violence and paranoia and topped off with relentless drumming and blistering riffs. 30+ years in and there seems to be no pumping the brakes with this band. Like their contemporaries in Testament, Kreator love playing live and thrashing it out on stage. I’ve never seen a subpar gig from these bastards and this was no exception. Pure class. (MM)

At The Gates

For what seems to be the first time in probably, well, ever, I actually finally ‘got’ At the Gates and enjoyed their set quite a bit despite seeing them a few times before. Don’t know what was different this time around that made things different, but I’ll take it. Maybe it was that the songs from their new album “To Drink from the Night Itself” gelled seamlessly with the old but gold stuff t0 make a proper, well-balanced show? (MK)

Gojira

Gojira are no stranger to Tuska, as they’ve appeared on the bill what, three times or so. They’ve always been better than great, yet when I heard that their fourth time would have them headlining on Saturday, I thought, “Huh?” Aside from their own club gigs, I’m not seen them in a headlining spot before. First time for everything! Nonetheless, the French took the stage last and showed that they deserved to finish out the day. They truly are ‘headline’ worthy and are able to fill stage of any size.

What made the feat truly special was that according to the band, they weren’t sure if they could even play the gig as their shit got stuck on some German highway a day or two back. Luckily, the organizers and their crew were able to pull off a miracle so that the band could perform another stellar show that made me appreciate Gojira even more. They’ve truly risen up the ranks to top tier territory and the craftsmanship is borderline unfair to most other bands.  Gojira has an amazing way to make complex things seem simple, if not effortless. Mokoma’s Marko Annala and I think Amorphis’ Holopainen were watching the show and at different points, both left in a hurry. We laughed and joked that they were probably inspired – no, driven – to pick up their guitars and get back to work.

Only thing Gojira could have done to top off their set would have been to play “Global Warming.” Next time!

THE END

Usually the third stage houses a lot of surprises, hidden gems, and hungry bands putting out great shows. Unfortunately, we had our hands full between absorbing the two main stages and trying to maintain our sanity. We’re not getting any younger as we become more and more assimilated with the ‘default’ Tuska-goer who seeks experiences, comfort, and services. Luckily, this year the two stages provided plenty of valuable entertainment with two killer headliners in Body Count and Gojira, with decent support in between. The two days we had were plenty enough, even though it meant skipping out on acts Clutch and Grave Pleasures. Sometimes you just need to accept that you can’t have everything… or more like, you don’t need everything.

All in all, a fine short weekend.

AND THIS YEAR?

Tuska’s line-up seems to be forming up quite well for this year: SLAYER, Opeth, Dimmu Borgir just to name few of the headliners. Heilung should be interesting too. Question is: will they let us back in? Who knows.

Check out www.tuska.fi for more information.

Check out our Facebook-page for more photos from Tuska 2018.

Anyway, the summer of 2017 was special to Tuska Open Air Metal Festival as the premium metal festival in Helsinki, Finland celebrated its 20th Anniversary. The small festival, born from beer driven ideas, has grown throughout the years while witnessing heavy metal history in the making. Tuska was there when Finnish metal really started to pick up with the likes of Children of Bodom, HIM and Nightwish (fun fact, the success of Offspring’s Smash made it possible for Spinefarm to put the Finnish metal revolution into proper gear.) Tuska was there when Finnish sung metal became normal with the likes of Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus, Kotiteollisuus, Mokoma and many others. Throughout the years, Tuska has invited a bunch of metal’s legends to rock out (say, Bruce Dickinson headlining in 2002) — some which have since gone from here to eternity, such as Type O Negative‘s Peter Steele in 2003. The festival built a gym to the backstage area just for him. Tuska has seen the culmination of mainstream success with Lordi winning the Eurovision in 2006 and the ‘fall’ that came after. Yet. Metal is still here. Tuska is still here, showcasing the current leaders, classics, followers and upcoming talent. The festival has seen the world’s ups and downs, all the while making the heavy metal crowd a visible part of Helsinki during the summer. Needless to say, no matter what one thinks of the line-ups or the festival in general, Tuska Open Air is an institution and a huge part of Finnish heavy metal legacy.

And for that, we tip our hats.

But let’s get down to the dirty basics and figure out what went on as our two-man team recollects end of June and the beginning of July 2017.

FRIDAY

Once we got through the formalities, we were greeted by Brother Firetribe on the main stage strutting its radio heavy rock. The biggest selling point is that they can plaster those rounded stickers on their CDs saying how Emppu Vuorinen of Nightwish-fame is in the band. They’re an inoffensive band, doing textbook AOR for all to enjoy, but since we didn’t want to judge them from the middle of their set, we headed towards the second stage where Anneke Van Giersberger’s Vuur were to play next.

Vuur

[MK] I hadn’t heard of Anneke’s new band before, but that’s not too surprising considering they’ve only got a single song out on Youtube. Yet once Anneke and her band took stage, it turned out to be actually somewhat promising if not even surprisingly heavy at times. Anneke herself seemed to be enjoying playing live a lot, constantly radiating positivity. Not only did they showcase the group’s material, Anneke also threw a few uppercuts by ‘covering’ The Gathering’s “On most Surfaces“ and “Strange Machines “.

[MM] As a long time listener of The Gathering, as well as a general Anneke fanboy, Vuur was one of the gigs that I was amped up about. The gig delivered. Vuur’s general sound is arguably heaviest of all the bands and projects Anneke has been part of since her time in The Gathering. While the setlist included songs like “Days Go By” that carry a similar tonal melancholy as older The Gathering songs, the musical palette was much more varied. The tempo seemed faster too. Out of their own set of songs, “The Storm” took the highlight spot in my book; built around a relentless main riff, sounding in part like something that Nightwish might have toyed around with, bombastic and operatic. It’s a sound that I don’t normally care much about but Vuur pulled it off in such a way that even I could appreciate it.

Anneke’s singing was in top form and flawless in tone as one would expect. The songwriting in Vuur clearly made use of her wide vocal range. While it quickly became very apparent that the rest of the band also consisted of well-above average musicians, one who specifically stood out from the group was the guitarist Jord Otto. Whether it came into pulling out heavy riffs, solos or laying some technical patchwork behind the beat, you could feel a somewhat unique sound in his guitar play.

• MK: “The Storm” nostalgically showed me those early Year 2000 -albums where bands combined all sorts of metal with classical. Made me remember that Hollenthon actually existed.

Wintersun’s Mäenpää didn’t carry a guitar

[MK] Wintersun has had a hell of a year. They held new albums hostage on Indiegogo (in what is now known as ‘Saunagate’) and were able to get a measly sum of 464,000 euros in ransom — exceeding the original asking price by over 310,000 euros, much to the dismay of some well established (and now jealous) bands that have to ship their own cardboard promos to some dickweed bloggers in Arkansas. The thing that surprises me with Wintersun is that for a band that’s quite ‘marginal’ in the daily street view, Jari Mäenpää’s merry band sure has a shitloads of fans that you never come across in any other place. It’s like a huge, worldwide underground cult or something.

“Fuck Trump” said Brujeria

The festival’s Mexican population rose from zero to a handful and a half, as the ‘Mexican drug lords’ Brujeria took the second stage with machetes and intimidation. Due to the recent events, the band has new found relevance and the group didn’t shy away from that at all as they spat their anti-Trump sentiment loud, proud and on a constant basis in between songs. “FUCK TRUMP” the tent echoed — it became perfectly clear we weren’t in a GOP meeting extravaganza with a Ted Nugent cover band. Brujeria pummelled the audience into a chaotic frenzy, preparing them for Suicidal Tendencies on the main stage.

• MM: While POTUS did not get much love from the band, the crowd gave plenty of love to the band. Language barrier be damned. Salsa dancing, luchador masks, a scent of reefer madness, chest pounding and general mayhem. What’s there not to like?
• MK: Yeah. And their bassist had the same hair-do as Napalm Death‘s Shane Embury!
• MM: …

Mike Muir & Suicidal Tendencies were inducted in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame

[MM] While Suicidal Tendencies was a clear crowd magnet, I took a leave of absence to find some food and to enjoy some pricy beverages that the festival area had to offer. When I got back, Mike Muir was ending it big by calling all the “Suicidal Psychos” from the crowd onto the stage. The security guys were in a state of distress, as clearly not all of the officials had received the memo about letting the fans hop over the front barricade. After the initial confusion, the stage featured a record amount of people, at least as far as Tuska Festival is concerned. Both Suicidal Tendencies and their fans on stage seemed to have a blast jumping around and chanting “ST” in unison. After the show there was a lot of sweaty hugs offered and received within the happy and exhausted crowd.

• Mike Muir commented on getting old: “Dont fucking forget. When you’re young you fight with your fists — when you’re old, you fight with yer mind.” Still, he seemed to have a bit of a fight in him. And was that Dave Lombardo on drums, by the way?

Insomnium

[MM] I’ve never really listened to any Insomnium record but I’ve seen them live at least five times and this was the first time I actually took notice. In fact, they sounded kinda great. For me the band has sounded somewhat derived and forgettable; they play well but sound dull. This time, however the impression I got was much more positive.

[MK] It’s funny. Seems like Insomnium is a band that takes a while to pick up for some reason. Anyway, after I’d gotten my fix, I figured I’d take a peek at Barathrum who were playing inside the boiler room on the third stage. Walking towards the area felt like descending upon madness, away from the glitter of the main areas. Wading through masses of people, I only got to the entrance lobby — the building was packed with little space to breathe and since I didn’t want to cover my elbows in blood, I came to the conclusion that there was no point in looking at people’s neckbeards. So I turned around. Seems like Barathrum were quite popular.

[MM] From what I saw, the only two bands that got the boiler room stuffed during the whole weekend were Barathrum and Oranssi Pazuzu. Outside these two acts it usually felt pretty spacy, but no so with those two. My visit to the venue fell short as it really became uncomfortable because of being in a hot, humid human sardine can. I decided to squeeze out of the place before completely turning into rotten mush. As I somehow pressurized myself out, behind me echoed the lead singer Demonos Sova’s raspy voice. Between songs he had decided to give a lecture about health benefits by spraying hydrogen peroxide into your eyes: “Everybody should try it!” It was the last thing that caught my ear.

Anneke + Devin

“I’m pissed off because my need for validation is steeped in your ambivalence.”
– Devin Townsend, Tuska 2017

[MK] The audience failed Devin Townsend who, together with Anneke Van Giersbergen, had just stopped performing a lustful rendition of “Ih Ah”. The crowd hadn’t picked up the cues to sing along, denying Devin from his quest for a “Scorpions moment where the whole world would assemble together”.

Devin himself didn’t fail, as his show seemed a lot more cohesive and balanced this time around, at least when compared to his 2011’s Tuska set. Then again, his albums back then were Ki, Addicted, Deconstruction and Ghost — whereas the newest one (and a damn fine album too), Transcendence is much closer home with Accelerated Evolution. And if someone was still in doubt, the show solidified his status, again, as one of the best vocalists in the world going from depths of hell to the highest and clearest of squeals in an instant with finesse and clarity. Seeing him on top of his game and Anneke on hers was a joy to say the least. In fact, it was downright vocal pornography at times, seeing the two feed off of each other in such a way that it actually made someone’s boner visible to Devin.

Dave Young seemed to enjoy playing on Tuska’s stage again

[MM] Last time when DTP was headlining Tuska back in 2011, I felt their gig was dragging along with the setlist being a goulash of too many thematic albums. This time around the set was more streamlined and emotionally coherent. Dev was clearly on a more chatty mood and upheld constant banter with the crowd. The end came way too early and could have used a longer set this time around, but apparently festivals have these mainly one hour time slots. Songs from the latest Transcendence record played great live. Hearing the show ending “Higher” live was a totally different experience from what I got from the recorded version. Harked from the record the song felt a bit too slow and disjointed, but live it became a monolithic structure.

I also managed to catch the last twenty minutes of Trap Them playing to a very thin crowd in the boiler room. I would have thought that Trap Them had more name recognition and pull. Mainly the audience consisted of guys in their teens and mid-twenties, all throwing their bones around in the front of the stage. From my understanding of a narrow perspective, these newer hardcore acts seem to go a tad unnoticed at Tuska. In Finland there is still some line-crossing going around, where bands like this are more in sync with fans that are not your typical Finnish metal enthusiast or annual Tuska goers. A club setting or more “hipsterish” summer festival, where you can see something like Yeezus and Morrisey, would probably have a more optimized crowd for a band like Trap Them — as funny as it sounds.

Even though the turnout was not the biggest, Trap Them played with good spirits and recognized the crowd both during and between songs. They also had the option to call it short, but decided to come back: “This is not what we do. We do not do encores, but let’s play a few more.” While the band has only flashed my peripheral vision as I basically know them by name, selected songs like “Revival Spines” from their last album Crown Feral got me nodding and tapping my foot during their set.

Mayhem had technical difficulties

[MK] Where Devin Townsend’s humor serves a purpose and comes off as a natural extension of his personality, Mayhem isn’t as well known as a humorous act. Yet before the show an overly dramatic, pre-recorded message from the band started playing where they asked for people to avoid using cellphones and flashlights in order to not disturb the ‘atmosphere’ of the show. Unfortunately, Mayhem who were playing De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas in full, started off with a set of technical difficulties; first tune sounded like garbled up, distorted feedback (more than it should) and Attila Csihar’s mic didn’t work either for half a song or more. Things started to look up after the fact, but by the time things got back into form, I was already totally out of it and elsewhere.

[MM] While the songs were enjoyable for the most part it was the latter part of the stage performance that hijacked my senses. Past mid-part I ended up laughing out loud at the cartoonish theatrics that were put on display. Candles for the small ritual table, which seemed to be a standard Ikea build, were lit and Attila in his robes and plague ridden facemask, plodded through the dimly lit stage behind the table to pose ominously for the ritualistic setup. Then a death knell chimed and Attila began to fondle a skull while mumbling the dark mystical transcript which were embedded on the red table cloth. The large side screens gave a bit too detailed look into this cheap decor. The whole scene became quite ridiculous and unintentionally funny — with all perceived seriousness attached making it even more so.

Sabaton and pyrotechnics

[MK] Friday’s headlining tasks fell upon Sabaton, who, according to some calculations, have had something like 13 shows in Finland in the past three years alone — if not more. I got into the game with their Art of War release and have enjoyed the cheese and crackers throughout the years. While the band performs with genuine dedication,putting on a good, entertaining show, certain formulaic tendencies have crept up the past few years and the latest offerings have been somewhat uninspired on the whole — despite always offering catchy choruses. They played a few not too good songs too (“Swedish Pagans”), instead of completely relying on surefire hits. I think the setlist needed at least “Cliffs of Gallipolli”.

• MK: They skipped “Final Solution” again!
• MM: Why do you wanna hear it so bad?
• MK: There’s just something morbidly morose about seeing a happy-ass band singalong about one of humanity’s darkest moments with a crowd that’s so devout they don’t even stop to question what’s going on.
• MM: Do they have songs about the US elections?

And say what thou wilt about the band, but they’ve found a goldmine with their pattern of producing easy to pick up songs about each nation, their tragedies and unsung war heroes. It ticks all the right parts in people’s brains; “THEY’RE SINGING ABOUT US! FINALLY RECOGNITION!” Yet, as much as I was entertained and Sabaton were doing the right things on stage, the show did leave me a tad cold. They’re starting to do things a bit ‘too right’ despite the ever changing banter. I hope they tighten their tactics slightly in the near future and maybe mix things up a bit too. Of course they can’t go too apeshit in fear of alienating their core fanbase. Yet, to me, they’re walking a thin line. One just has to hope they do not cross it and become like, for example, what Manowar did on God of War back in 2007. One could argue that their line was crossed almost what, 20 years earlier after or before The Triumph of Steel, but fuck you, 2002’s Warriors of the World was still a proper record and not just a Best of -collection of intros, interludes and outros.

I wasn’t originally supposed to get to the area before Saturday, but I managed to skip out of work on Friday to catch the last few acts. The crowds were light, but that was because it was the end of the day, or else people just didn’t want to deal with the tropical heat (yes, even in Finland). No matter, it made for quick, efficient entry into the fest!

First act I caught was Dear Victims. They were doing Kiss covers on the second stage (basically planted inside the beer area). Surprisingly, the band had opted out of painting shit on their face and instead just rocked out in plain clothes. I’ve never really paid much attention to Kiss, aside from the singles and seeing them live once, so I’m in no position to tell you how Dear Victims compared to the real thing. Seemed to be okay, but perhaps, just perhaps, the songs need the spectacle too?

Ensiferum went up on the main stage right afterwards. Last time I saw them was at Stormbringer in 2002, and truth be told, I haven’t really kept up with their doings since then. Well, I knew that Jari Mäenpää left the band to form Wintersun at some point. The show started with an intro while the band took their positions, but just before they could get the Viking metal party started, whoops, here’s that intro again. Some laughs, chuckles and a few rimshots.

Ensiferum

Round 2: Ensiferum got its rousing brand of folk metal flowing through the PA. They whipped the audience up with an extremely fun and entertaining show, filled with nice humppa interludes and other bits. The band’s musical output is just left of my interests and I wouldn’t have recognized the songs if they bit me in the ass, but it goes to show that in a live setting, some shit just works. Guitarist Markus Toivanen must have also been in a special mood that night – sometimes he pranced around the stage in such a way that the rest of the band kept doing double-takes.

I also noticed Netta Skog is now part of the band. I figured she’d had enough years ago after leaving Turisas – in fact, the last I saw of her, she was participating in one of Finland’s biggest Tango contests and apparently won an accordion championship as well. She hasn’t missed a beat though, and gelled well with rest of the band – accordion and folk metal go together like honey and blood, so she’s a great addition to Ensiferum.

Next up, New Jersey began its set of Bon Jovi covers, and they covered pretty much everything you’d expect a Bon Jovi cover band to cover. As I was trying to find some facts from the Internet to throw up in here, I learned that there’s actually another Bon Jovi tribute band in the States called New Jersey. Dese guys weren’t dose guys, so fuggedaboutit.

Finland’s New Jersey and Finland’s Bon Jovi

Anyway, the alcohol-soaked (but civil!) audience craved Bon Jovi, and so Bon Jovi they got, talk box tricks included. The vocalist didn’t really sound like Jon, but he did his job fine. Capri, better known from Amberian Dawn, laid down some female vocals throughout, but also performed the solo in “Living on a Prayer.” Someone in the audience really wanted to hear “Runaway” as well, and the vocalist agreed ,but blue-balled the guy with a “But not yet. BAD MEDICINE!” Musically, the group was tight, but they have a thing to learn about setlists – after playing “Runaway”, they ended the show with a lesser hit. Might work as an encore at a real Bon Jovi concert with hardcore Bon Jovi fans, but you can’t go out on a low note like that!

Brother Firetribe

Brother Firetribe is one of those bands you can’t name, but at least in Finland you’ve definitely heard a song or two of theirs on the radio. I guess they’re better known as the band that has Emppu Vuorinen (of Nightwish fame) on guitar. The Brothers appeared at Tuska as well, but at the time their set didn’t really leave an impression on me. At Sauna Classic, what I saw wasn’t actually too bad, though. Brother Firetribe play inoffensive, extremely well-shaped AOR with some catchy choruses straight from the 80s. The stuff is clearly made for, well, radio. The band as a whole was tight, and vocalist Pekka Heino (also in Leverage) carried his frontman duties with experience. The smaller stage also fit the band perfectly. At Tuska, it was too big for them but here it allowed for more of a direct and intimate experience. Funny how things completely outside of the actual music can alter the experience altogether.

The next day, I grinded through work while contemplating the fact that I was missing out on Kill with Cover, a Manowar cover band. Last time the actual band toured here, they were asking around 100 bucks for club show tickets, so a cheaper option to hear a few classic tunes wouldn’t have been too bad. Then again, the weather was having a manic up/down episode with rain, sun, and everything and anything in between, so at least I didn’t get soaked up my tits. Another interesting group, as far as cover songs go, would have been Run for Cover, which features people from Tracedawn, Wintersun, and Stratovarius on instruments, with Netta Laurenne out front.

Omnium Gatherum. Don’t be afraid!

Once I was finally able to distance myself from things that pay, I got to the festival ground just in time for Omnium Gatherum. I think I’ve written about OG multiple times for all the previous festival reports I’ve penned, and all of that probably holds true here. In a way, it’s weirder to be in a festival where the band isn’t performing. They always put on an energetic show and once again, vocalist Jukka Pelkonen tried to sweeten up the audience in an effort to lure more people to the stage: “Don’t be afraid!” It’s funny; they always seem to have to do that, playing in spots where they should have the audience but where they still have to work for it — and they always do. The band is always reliable live and soon enough, people who hadn’t heard of ‘em were throwing up the OG signs in the air (both hands facing one another with index and pinky fingers extended. Like their logo. Extremely clever if you ask me!)

The funny thing is that Pelkonen also commented how this was, if I heard correctly, Omnium Gatherum’s only festival gig in Finland this summer. Only one? Surprised — they always seem to be everywhere, always working. Since I’ve seen the band live so many times, I figured that I finally owed them a merch purchase, so I bought a reasonably priced (15 euros instead of the usual twenty-fucking-five!) t-shirt. And if you ask my close ones, no, I don’t need another black T-shirt — but fuck them! What do they know?

Iron Mates

On the ‘cover’ stage, Iron Mates was doing, you guessed it, Iron Maiden covers, with two guitars and Taage Laiho (from the band Kilpi) on vocals. The mates concentrated on 80s stuff, such as “Two Minutes to Midnight,” “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” and the likes. Taage isn’t exactly Bruce Dickinson, but he’s still a competent heavy metal singer and the songs rolled out effortlessly. Every now and then, the sound cut off for a second, but that didn’t stop the group. Also there was quite an audience in front of the stage, making it clear that yes, Iron Maiden is metal canon.

Meanwhile, the weather was going completely crazy again. The main stage area was being drowned in rain while half of the beer area, including the stage, were enjoying a sunny sky without any raindrops. Fucking Finnish summer at its worst, best, I don’t know anymore.

Turisas

Luckily the skies cleared up just before Turisas took the stage. It was a minimalist stage set-up this time – no pyros – but it didn’t matter. None were needed, as Turisas is a fucking well-oiled machine. Likely the band was celebrating their Vangarian Way album’s 10th Anniversary by playing through most of it and ending it all with “Stand Up and Fight.” Matias set the scene for each song through storytelling and describing the songs’ settings, asking people to imagine the journey that we all were to take. Great way to engage the crowd on a deeper level – but of course the band was also able to spank the audience into a dancing frenzy throughout. During “In the Court of Jarisleif” it was hard to get a steady photo with all of the bodies slamming in and invading my personal space. Excellent!

Turisas’ crowd

Stratovarius had the pleasure to end the festival though they started 15 minutes late or so. There were unfortunately some technical issues during soundcheck:

-“You need to connect that into the analogue thing”
-”You’re telling me this now?!”
-”I’m telling you this now.”

Sir Tolkki of House Stratovarius

What’s surprising is that the audience was pretty much silent the whole time. No screams or shouts or any kind of explicit negatives thrown around. Just a polite clap and cheer once shit got solved, and then the intro started blasting. I suppose if you make positive music and groom the audience, they’ll turn out to act courteous. Hell, nobody even yelled the mandatory “Slayer!” Also worth noting that maybe the extra time to sort out the technical issues was worth it – the bass drums had a lot more punch and impact than most bands at the show. After three songs though, I figured I’d gotten my fix, even if it meant that I had to skip hearing set closer “Black Diamond.” Time to go.

Stratovarius’ crowd

(Random Finnish moment after I left the show: I went to wait for a bus where some old people next to me were talking about how sex-hungry Tampere is as a city, and how they’d fuck so much that they’d churn out 16 kids or something. This is while a nicely-dressed man in his 50s was trying to pick a fight with taxi drivers, a bus and who knows what else. Fucking Finnish Summer. Often reminds me of Predator 2.)

Even though I don’t often have a boner for “traditional heavy metal,” Sauna Classic was a refreshing small little event. Simple and easy going and everything felt just right. The indecisive weather clearly took a toll on the crowd as the festival space could have accommodated a bigger crowd, but after experiencing plenty of stuffed venues and events, I have to say it was nice to have space to breathe.

Beer grows in trees in Finland

As South Park festival is stated to return again next year, I have no idea how that will affect Sauna’s plans. But hell, I might go even if the bands aren’t to my exact liking just for the straightforward pleasure of it all.

For more information on the event, visit the official website.

FRIDAY

I was sad to miss Cattle Decapitation’s festival opening set, as hearsay and elves said that the show was quite possibly the best gig of the weekend. Then again, it’s simply evil to put such a band on a 2 PM timeslot on a Friday when people still haven’t woken up or have “obligations” at work. Pure evil I say!

Swallow the Sun is not one of those bands that play it safe. For Tuska, the band booked three gigs on three separate days in three separate settings, and played through the three CDs of their newest album, Songs from the North I & II & III. Friday’s gig took place on the main stage under a blinding sun that perhaps wasn’t the most appropriate match for the band’s mournful mood. On Saturday, they played inside in a new, much more intimate setting, but access was only granted to those who had won a raffle. And finally on Sunday, the band performed inside on the third stage. I only caught the first and last, but on both accounts the band soldiered on and delivered some crushing notes to take home. Party music? Not so much.

Mikko Kotamäki of Swallow the Sun

Then it was time for Cain’s Offering. I’d never heard them mentioned before, but then shortly before the show, I overheard some guys talking about the band on the subway. One commented on the other’s homemade Cain’s Offering shirt, and then they debated about where Cain’s Offering had played and had not played. Listening to them debate and out-metal each other, I figured to myself “oh boy, Cain’s Offering must be some good shit.” So I went to the tent stage with a genuine interest. The show started and each of the members stepped on stage one by one. They looked awfully familiar. There was ex-Sonata Arctica guitarist Jani Liimatainen who I’d completely forgotten existed, then there was Jens Johansson… and finally, no other than Timo Kotipelto arrived.

For some, that might be enough of a punchline, but for the rest, if you’re looking back at Sonata Arctica’s past few albums and thought they deviated a bit too much from the first ones, then Cain’s Offering might have something to offer you. Hell, I’ll step up and publicly announce that I think Sonata‘s debut is a goddamn good release, but to me, Cain’s Offering wasn’t offering much. Competent as expected with that member line-up, but I think I found more solace by trying to get to the bottom of my beer mug.

Cain’s Offering’s Timo Tolkki

Lordi got some publicity (not all of it good) throughout the metal spectrum around ten years ago, when they picked up the much-cherished first place in the Eurovision song contest. Even the late, great Oderus Urungus talked shit about them. During their Tuska appearance, the band’s set leaned towards their early years, even bringing out old version of the Lordi-character, but the biggest responses came in the end as “Would You Love a Monsterman” and the song that brought them their international, yet short-lived stardom, “Hard Rock Hallelujah” echoed through the festival grounds. Truth be told, the show was entertaining and the songs worked well in the live setting. And no matter how you might feel about their music and antics, you have to show respect to anyone committed enough to wearing tons of latex under the scorching sun.

Lordi and his bride

Last time I saw Kvelertak was at Tuska, in 2011. It was just after some fuckwit had wasted an island of teenagers, and the Norwegian group seemed pretty pissed about it. It was one of the angriest and most physical show I’ve ever seen, and I still think I’ve got a bruise from vocalist Erlend Hjelvik, who jumped on top of me when I wasn’t watching. This time I had my guard up the whole time, but it seemed like things had calmed a bit since that one particular day. The group provided a sweaty, energetic, and rocking gig. Perhaps it’s time I lifted a finger and checked them out on album?

Kvelertak

I’ve also lost track of the times I’ve seen Testament play at Tuska. Not that I’m complaining, as the band and especially Chuck Billy were as welcoming and good-spirited as ever. They’re a joy to watch and Alex Skolnick doesn’t seem to be getting tired of thrash metal either. Shame their setlist doesn’t seem to deviate at all anymore. This was almost a repeat of the one they did a few years ago, give or take a few songs. Don’t take this personally Testament, but you realize you’ve got some excellent stuff on albums like Low and Demonic, right?! Play more of those tunes, goddammit!

Luckily, they’ve got a new album coming out! Chuck Billy also gave a nod to the indigenous people of Finland during the show. It may have been a message lost on the many fans waiting for the next wall of death, but it was an important message nonetheless — especially when the Finnish Sami-people are, even today, still fighting for some of their rights.

Chuck Billy of Testament, always happy

This year (and maybe last year too? I wouldn’t know — we weren’t there), the second stage was moved inside a huge-ass tent. While the shelter from the light and sun allowed for better stage shows, it also got extremely crowded during the more popular acts. Still, Behemoth took advantage of the plusses, and played through The Satanist (also not exactly a sunshine record). Personally, I think the whole performance leaned a bit too much on spectacle as I was more in the mood for a pure show, but after eavesdropping on a few people, the real fans apparently had their expectations met.

Nergal of Behemoth was less happy

I’ve never understood the appeal of Tobias Sammett’s Edguy, but I consider the The Metal Opera from his other project, Avantasia, to be one of the finest, pure-cheese power metal albums ever released. So I was pleased that the organizers had booked Avantasia to conclude Friday’s metal meeting. Sammett brought a bunch of other notable people with him for the show, from Michael Kiske and Jørn Lande to Ronnie Atkins, Eric Martin and Bob Catley. At some point, the whole thing felt like a sitcom episode where someone famous pops in to the applause and cheers from the audience. Ridiculous. Fun. Yet, all in vain, because goddammit, the fuckers played only like one song off the first album. What a waste.

Sascha Paeth and Tobias Sammett

Oh yeah. Michael Kiske suspiciously looked a lot like Michael Chiklis of The Shield (and The Commish) fame. Just look at the guy. I was constantly expecting Vic Mackey to put a cap in someone’s ass, but alas, that wasn’t meant to be either.

Michael Chik…Kiske

SATURDAY

The festival’s main attraction for me was Primordial, who had been slotted into an interesting spot: five minutes short of 3PM, and with it, another scorching sun. Kind of like what Triptykon had to endure some weeks earlier at the South Park festival. Despite the mismatched setting (where was the mist? the gloom? the craggy highland hills?), the band conquered and A.A. Nemtheanga continues to be one of the finest leads in metal. He was able to pull whatever energy there was to be had out of the audience, and sallied forth with the band. It’s a shame I hadn’t set up an interview, as I was curious to hear if he had any thoughts to share about Brexit and the EU. Perhaps the ‘And that is true’ line he threw after “As Rome Burns” was a nod to that.

A.A. Nemtheanga of Primordial

No matter what stage Turmion Kätilöt plays on, they attract a crowd that fills the space. Tongue firmly in cheek, the combination of metal, pop music flair, dance music energy, and low-brow sexual innuendo has made the band one of the most popular live acts in Finland. Underneath all the glitter, the group (helmed by MC Raaka Pee and Spellgoth, from Horna and various other things) does feature some depth. That’s easy to forget in the midst of unadulterated entertainment, bouncing beach balls that almost piledrived us taking photos over, and of course, flames. I still haven’t figured out why they’re not constantly touring in Germany or Japan, even if they do sing in Finnish and have a very Finnish sense of humor.

Spellgoth with Turmion Kätilöt

I’m a late bloomer when it comes to Omnium Gatherum, but I’ve caught them live a few times over the past few years. Vocalist Jukka Pelkonen always seems like a really nice guy up on the stage, very inviting and welcoming and trying to make the audience happy whilst screaming into the microphone. Among some old surefire hits (such as “The Unknowing”), the band also got to showcase their latest album Grey Heavens. The band has toured quite a bit the past few years and it shows on stage, as no matter the venue, situation, time or weather, Omnium seems to rock and roll without any hiccups of their own doing.

Omnium Gatherum

German’s technical death metallers Obscura seemed a tad out of place on the main stage. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that the festival gave them a respectable chance to showcase their talent, but they would have worked better inside the tent or in the boiler room (third stage). Despite the band’s good effort, they were an obscure attraction for the crowd. Flawlessly-played technical death metal just isn’t the easiest way to bring in people whose metal shirts scream “I like the classics” or hell, “I’m here for radio friendly.” Now what bands might those be? Tell us in the comments and click the like button and subscribe to our channel. Oh wait, this wasn’t Youtube or some clickbait site. We have standards here!

Obscura’s Rafael Trujillo

Years ago, Thunderstone was destined to become one of Finland’s biggest musical exports, but their success never quite materialized. Something just wasn’t there. After seven years, they finally released a somewhat rejuvenated comeback album of sorts (Apocalypse Again) and it actually had a few good tunes on it. In the live setting though, it came off as by-the-numbers. It didn’t offend, but I also think I got my lifetime’s worth from it. Those around me felt differently, as many were happily singing along. Tuomas Yli-Jaskari (from Tracedawn) filled in for usual bassist Titus Hjelm, and had learned all the songs in three hours or something like that. Nice work.

Thunderstone

“Do you like thrash metal?” “Guy with the green hair didn’t raise his hands!” “I’m watching you!”

Apparently sponsored by Monster Energy drink, Anthrax arrived to promote their latest effort For All Kings. Their brand of thrash has never stuck with me or made an impression, aside from some of their ‘90s albums. I borrowed those from the library though and they’ve yet to sell me their stuff.Still, they’ve always been enjoyable live, and Saturday’s set was no exception. Joey Belladonna is always a treat and a likeable fellow on stage. Glad to see that the band’s lineup hasn’t had too much drama as of late. While he’s been around three years or so, ‘new’ guitarist Jonathan Donais still seemed quite reserved and subdued, like he’s wondering if he’s still in the band or not. Frank Bello, on the other hand, was just a whirlwind on stage.

Frank Bello & Anthrax Monster Energy Drink

I also noticed that Anthrax’s shirts started at 25 euros, like most others at the beginning of the festival, but at some point on Saturday, the price had hiked up to 35 euros. Not sure if it was a pricing mistake or a scheme to nickle-and-dime a few more Monster Energy Drink cans. (When did I turn into such a cynical asshole?)

Despite their visually excellent setting and overpowering lights on the tent stage, Stam1na really should have been on the main stage instead of Obscura. The group seemed even tighter than they were at South Park festival. The tent was bursting at the seams – not the most ideal environment for the claustrophobic. As at South Park, the new songs off the band’s latest Elokuutio sounded as crystal clear as the album versions, but even more harder and more pummelling. Whoever’s responsible for the band’s audiotechnicalmumbojumbo really earns whatever they’re paid. Like ‘em or hate ‘em, Stam1na live are simply a force to be reckoned with — they gave even Anthrax a run for their money, despite vocalist/guitarist Antti Hyyrynen joking about having to play after them.

Stam1na

Then it was time for the festival’s biggest attraction, Grammy®™-award winning Ghost. Say what you will about the music, but in a live setting, the shit works — especially when there’s no sun to poke you in the eye and water down whatever pseudo-satanism you might be peddling. For the first time in the festival’s history at the new Suvilahti-location (6th year thus far, the organizers were able to sell out a day with around 11,000 visitors coming in on Saturday. Entertaining show. I can see the appeal and would possibly see them again. Oh, and did I say they won a Grammy®™?

Ghost’s Papa Emeritus

SUNDAY

The weather on Sunday wasn’t promising at first, so I took it slow and only made my way to the show just as Hatebreed was starting their set. Jamey Jasta must have done a rain dance or two — the sky poured down in full force. The moshpit didn’t seem to mind though. They bounced around and earned themselves some pneumonia. God bless.

Jamey Jasta (photo by J. Tilus)

Hatebreed, the rain, the fans (photo by J. Tilus)

Things were drier under the second stage tent. I was glad for the chance to finally see Diablo for the first time, since I had missed them at South Park. Their first album in seven years, Lost Horizons, was a decent effort and continued from where the band had left off all those years ago. Unfortunately, the band just felt a bit uninspired live. The song material is strong, the audience was ready and willing, but the performance fell few steps short and wasn’t as tight as I would have guessed. There were strong moments, especially with their classic songs, but the show never achieved the frenzy I had hoped for. The song “Prince of the Machine” was a nice curiosity, though, with greetings sent towards Oulu and a dedication to Tenkula and Lopakka (of Sentenced fame).

Diablo’s Marko Utriainen

The rain stopped pouring by the time for Gojira took the main stage. Their new release Magma turned out to be one of the best albums in their discography, and the songs blended nicely with the rest. Production was top notch, and the pummeling riffs and raffs found a clear path to the listeners’ spines. They were a joy to see in 2009, and still were in 2016. Excellent, excellent stuff that’s not only hypnotizing, compelling but somehow primal as well; it was easy to get lost in their rhythm. And what is it with bass players wrecking around live? Like Frank Bello, Jean-Michel Labadie was also (again as always) spinning, stomping and whirlwinding around the stage as if he was the bus in the first Speed movie.

Jean-Michel Labadie of Gojira — always a force of nature on bass

Metal is love (photo by J.Tilus)

With the cold, rain and two and a half days of rocking and rolling, I’d decided that Katatonia would be the last band I’d see. On album, they’re great if not amazing. I don’t know what it is though, but they simply don’t work live at all. They played at the same festival some years back and I kind of hoped that the gig back then was a one-off but it was the same result this time. There was just nothing to connect with, even though the song material makes it really easy to sob your worth alone in the comfort of your own home. After trying to get into the show after a handful of songs, I finally admitted defeat and left the festival for a Burger King meal and a helicopter ride back home.

Jonas Renkse of Katatonia

Children of Bodom finished the whole festival but I wouldn’t know anything about that, now would I?

All in all, Tuska continues to be a safe bet if you want a good dose of varying kinds of metal in a safe setting. The best variety can be found on the third stage, but was under-represented in this article. Maybe I’ll do better with that next year! Plus it’s the festival 20th anniversary in 2017, so now we anxiously wait to see how the big year will be celebrated.

Your everyday Salesman (photo by J. Tilus)

Oh yeah. That’s not all. Teeth of the Divine invited a Finnish street photographer Jukka Tilus to capture the crowd at the festival and you can see those, as well as our more traditional band shots at our official Facebook page.

The layout was mostly the same as my last visit to the area in 2011, though the second stage was moved to an indoor tent that proved to be a major hassle throughout the festival. It got packed quickly, and due to the limited entrances and narrow width, things got real tight, leaving a ton of potential listeners unable to get a good glimpse of the show at hand — depending on the artist of course. Otherwise, the festival seemed to run with a well-oiled engine, despite some odd policies here and there (on the first day, caps from bottles were removed due to some band’s security concerns).

As for the bands themselves, the line-up followed along with the foundation set by Sauna Open Air: relatively safe bets that get enough airtime on the rock radios and attract a wide audience. I get it — familiarity helps, and with plenty of more specialized festivals and shows across Europe and even in Finland (such as Tampere Metal Meeting held a week later), this fest clearly serves a need and a purpose. The fact that Sweden Rock Festival happens at the same time and bleeds bands over to this side of the border is also a beneficial factor from an organizer’s point of view.

Still, if there’s one thing to summarize the festival with, it would be ‘opposite extremes’. The weather was psychotic, swinging from very hot to very cold and rainy in an instant. That extremity showed up in the line-up too.

In one corner, you had the latest push from Spinefarm Records, Ember Falls, who feel like one of the biggest spreadsheet bands in a while. Armed with black and red warpaint (on loan from Turisas?), they were backed by huge advertisement banners/roll-ups on stage that seemed only to advertise the band’s existence, rather than add anything meaningful to the group’s visual identity on stage. And besides, the whole dystopian, anarchistic revolution shtick felt like what Arch Enemy had done with Rise of the Tyrant and even before. The music followed suit; competent and polished with a commercial upside and crafted for social media, but in the end, still edgeless melodic metal with forcefed catchiness. In from one ear, out the other. So, I did what all the people on Tinder do when they come across my profile and mugshot, swiped left to find another act.

Ember Falls

That was Triptykon, all the way at the other end of the South Park spectrum. Born from the bitter molten ashes of Celtic Frost’s demise and helmed by legendary originator Tom G. Fischer, the group was the antithesis to everything else on the bill. Minimalistic in its approach, no unnecessary antics, self-conscious yet erotic, and at times, even playful. The sunshine might not have suited their sound, but their plowing wall of distortion was still all-consuming and exhilarating.

Half of the set consisted of Celtic Frost songs, but the most shivering moment came when they played “Aurorae,” from Triptykon’s second (and latest) album Melana Chasmata. I don’t think I’ve ever quavered during a show before, let alone used that word before, yet the moment pierced me straight to my core and shattered me from within. And at that moment, whatever came before or after, was quite meaningless.

Tom G. Warrior

Unfortunately, if there’s one idiom to use to describe the show, it would be ‘cast pearls before swine’ as most of the audience just seemed dumbfounded, looking for something easier to digest. Not the most optimal setting, yet major props to the organizers for booking the band. It was a culturally significant manoeuvre.

Amorphis

This is not to say that other artists at the show were necessarily bad or worse, they just filled a different need and were easier to eat up and enjoy. Amorphis offered a solid gig as expected, despite some technical difficulties during the first four or five songs — to the clear frustration of Tomi Joutsenniemi. Progressive/thrash/theirownthing powerhouse Stam1na also offered an entertaining and adrenaline-pumping show like they always do, constantly joking about how much of a hurry they were in (before Slayer and after Triptykon ate some minutes from their set). The new material from Stam1na’s awesome latest album Elokuutio worked very well live, and slotted nicely into the rest of the playlist.

Stam1na

Battle Beast were also on stage when I arrived, but I only caught the last few songs. A year and a half ago, the band fired the band’s originator (and songwriter and lead guitarist) Anton Kabanen, but that didn’t seem to have any negative effect on the band’s confident stage presence or popularity at all.  Since Anton’s new band, Beast in Black,  will perform at Tuska later this year, I suppose the fans won in the divorce by getting two productive parents.

Lost Society, the Finnish poster childs for thrash metal and heirs to aging popular acts, didn’t disappoint with their energy either. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder how much more interesting their material will be in 10 years once they’ve evolved past ‘80s thrash tributes. If they ever churn out their own Low, Demonic (or The Gathering), I’ll be there to check it out. In the meantime, they’re still an awesome-as-hell live act.

Lost Society got intimate

Slayer, the first day’s headliner, took the stage 15-20 minutes late, played songs off their new album, and then ended the show with their greatest and most expected hits. Or so I assume, as I left after a handful of songs since my hunger was fed for the day by the Triptykon gig. From what I saw, it was Slayer through and through, but they sounded surprisingly solid and it was nice seeing how well Gary Holt has fit into the huge hole left by Jeff Hanneman. The most memorable quip of the night came while waiting for the band to take stage, as someone profoundly exclaimed “What the fuck?! You’re not fucking Guns n’ Roses!” The next day, I talked with one of the security guards and he revealed that during Slayer’s set, the assholery multiplied in the audience as people had soaked in enough alcohol by then. This normally doesn’t affect (Finnish) metal festivals that much, since they’re most often hailed for their lack of disorderly conduct, but I guess SLAYUUUUURGH are special that way.

Kerry King

The next day held little of interest to me as it was mostly an ‘80s rehash, with a bunch of glam/sleaze bands leading the attack. This stuff just doesn’t offer me a thing unless you sugarcoat it with simpleton humor like Steel Panther does and even, there’s a hard coded time limit. My personal cynicism aside, the style is making (or has been, for the past ten years or so) a comeback in Finland, attracting a ton of new, young fans while giving the old and experienced fans a new outlet to relive their youth’s passions. Not surprisingly, the fan base, young or old, is exclusively female. So I’m not exactly the target demo, no matter how many times I dress up in bridal dresses and apply for The Bachelorette.

Reckless Love

Reckless Love are partly to blame for the glam metal renaissance here. They clearly have the years under their belt and Michael Monroe posters on their walls. The showmanship was there, the songs were often well crafted and catchy, the stage beamed with photogenic presence, and the guitarist knew his shit… but what was up with the Monster Energy logos everywhere? They also felt older — especially compared to newcomers like Shiraz Lane, who, while proficient, felt slightly more like a high school band playing make-believe than a truly well-polished, sex-driven pack of heartbreaking Tyrannosauruses. The hubris and confidence that stems from experience simply wasn’t quite there yet. However, the show did seem to start rolling better and better the further it got and nearing the end of their set, there was one song that had some light progressive tones to it which made me open up my ears for a bit. On Friday, there was also quite possibly the hottest band in the field at the moment (and Sebastian Bach‘s favorite), Santa Cruz, who switched places and played early in the day as they were in a hurry to get to Donington’s Download Fest.

Shiraz Lane

L.A Guns was also scheduled to perform, but had to cancel, and so Mokoma was slotted in instead. The group seemed more than satisfied on stage, much more so than at some other shows I’ve seen from them. The first half of the set was surprisingly heavy, so it was unfortunate that they slowed things down with a few slower cuts (like “Kuu Saa Valtansa Auringolta”), even if they played them a bit differently and were more pummeling than before. Good band live, but I really wouldn’t mind seeing a show where they just blaze through their most hardest material and make the audience submit in exhaustion.

Mokoma

Like Thunderstone earlier in the day, Germany’s Powerwolf offered a bit more to the power metal crowd. I’ve only skimmed through the band’s material, but what appeared on stage seemed to be the teutonic version of Sabaton — plenty of cheese with a peculiar “blaspheming werewolves” theme or something. I haven’t seen much hype for the band here, yet many in the crowd did seem to know at least parts of the lyrics and the Germans had garnered quite an audience. There were plenty of sing-along chants and ooh-aah moments for the crowd, who returned the favor with some horrible vocalwork, forcing singer Attila Dorn to question “Too much beer, yes?” I appreciated the showmanship and craft, but the music simply didn’t reach out to manhandle me like the warmongering Swedes do. Still, Powerwolf likely picked up quite a few new fans with their solid and entertaining show.

Powerwolf

I only caught a few of Soilwork’s songs, but it seemed like another solid set from the Swedish melodeath veterans (or “Swedupellet” as Björn Strid likes to call themselves). Unfortunately, due to previous commitments, I had to leave early and skip town (goddamned weddings), and also missed out on Diablo’s set. Shame, because they just released a bunch of new good songs on their Silver Horizon album at the end of last year after a 7 year hiatus. Would have been interesting to see how’d they’d fare on stage.

Soilwork

As Bullet for My Valentine headlined the festival and took the stage after Diablo, I missed them too, but seriously speaking, whatever. Apparently the band isn’t as big of a deal as they once were (although they also had many young female fans sporting their shirts throughout the weekend), since Saturday’s turnout was less than expected by the official accounts.

Yet, enough people showed up to justify the ‘new’ festival’s existence, so that it will return in 2017. Hopefully there’ll be some interesting acts again to shake up the mix, but otherwise the circus ran without a hitch (aside from the tent and some sound issues) and I wouldn’t mind doing it again.

“Now hold onto your Nokias my Finnish compadre! Comprende?”
– The phones or the tires?
“Whatever. Just keep your hands where I can see them and back up a little with that gun in your pants there, buckaroo. Now s-l-o-w-l-y… Stam1na who?”
– Oh. Right.

Widely popular in their native Finland, Stam1na are practically unknown outside the borders, especially in the ‘murica. Maybe it’s that they spout neatly formulated, thought-provoking texts solely in Finnish, making it tough for Trump to follow (cause you know, it’s not in English and he doesn’t give a flying fuck) or perhaps the name can be easily mistaken for something a nu-metal group would don after picking up their face paints from the local drama club. Against any and all misconceptions though, Stam1na deploys a varied but coherent sound that isn’t afraid of detours. The versatile basis relies on highly energetic thrash/melodic death oriented riffing, catchy choruses spiced with both clean and growled vocals. Naturally, there are some more reflective parts or songs thrown into the mix to provide a well balanced array of material. One could argue that there’s some progressive tones to the music as well, but without the wizardry being overly emphasized; it just manifests itself in some screwball moments that support the songs at hand.

Granted, during the past 10 years or so, not all of Stam1na’s albums have been pure ten out of tens; Nocebo and Raja weren’t exactly as memorable as the stuff that came before, between and after. 2014’s SLK-album wasn’t able to avoid a few misses either, despite featuring some really good songs (see the single “Panzerfaust” or “Kuoliaaksi Ruoskitut Hevoset” for example). Where Stam1na hasn’t faltered, as far as I know, ever, is on stage. Even through overexposure they’ve always been a highly entertaining and a hard working live act.

So back to the review part.

Elokuutio, is the second concept album from Stam1na (first being 2010’s excellent Viimeinen Atlantis). The theme revolves around humanity’s tragic path of digitized evolution. You’d think all would be lost in translation, but luckily the musical textures adhere to the words and with a little bit of babelfishing, one can easily make simplified guesses about what exactly the band is trying to say from the song titles.

For those uninitiated, the two bands mentioned right in the first paragraph will throw you some kind of a bone as to what to expect here musically. On this very CD. But not quite. A handful could have namedropped Gojira in there too, but that’s just something you’d do in a haste. Ultimately the point being, is that the music goes from suave melodies to full-on, party hard riff raff thrashing faster, then furiously all the while screams and shouts echo hookier rock-leanings and the choruses drive earworms through your eardrums like a hollow point bullet paints walls red. Come to think of it, Stam1na might be Finland’s very own Die Apokalyptischen Reiter if that makes any more sense?

Indeed. Elokuutio is an album full of shapeshifting passages that blend through various states of aggression, wonder and astoundment whilst still being playful and masterfully executed. It’s not a new thing for Stam1na as that describes pretty much all their stuff, and the bulk here appears to be a direct continuation from the previous album (SLK), but it’s all less streamlined here and even more frilly, free to explore — it’s a minuscule difference but makes for a significant impact; almost as if the last album was trying out things and building up for this.

There are so many goddamn layers but Stam1na keeps them all under very tight wraps that no surprising element is out of place as they effortlessly intervene with one another; one time you’re thinking you’re listening to Blackwater Park only to find yourself punching holes through walls looking for Vangelis’ records and then trying to figure out where all the pent up emotions inside your head stem from. And that’s just the sinister first song (“Ikoneklasmia”)! Hell, don’t get me started on the last, “Valhe” which is Elokuutio’s, nay, Stam1na’s, finest hour as it paints with an atmospheric brush not too far from the palette of certain Finnish melodic doom/death bands or *cough*Atoma*cough*.

Between the first and last song, there are a few more traditional and classical, faster, Stam1na-tracks in there as well, including the single “Kuudet Raamit”, which might be the weakest cut on the album simply because the other pieces offer so much more. Actually no. That dubious honor surprisingly goes to one of the fastest song “Meidänkaltaisillemme” (“ToOurKind”) or “Mätä Hohtava Omena” (“Rotten Shimmering Apple”). But to counter the known, there are also tracks such as “Marttyyri” that tuned towards Bethlehem’s Schatten aus der Alexander Welt for me at times or the slightly industrialized “D.S.M” with a slightly techier death-y feel to it

Quite possibly the more traditional leanings are the biggest negative point to the album; the highest moments on the album make you wish the band would have twisted all the familiar aspects much further, boldly venturing deeper towards controlled beautiful chaos. And honestly, saying that out loud comes off erroneous and contradictory too, as Stam1na’s strongest point on the thing (and in the past) is that no matter what they do, they sound naturally themselves. Except this time it appears there’s a bit less tongue in cheek amidst the serious observations than one would have expected. But overall, perhaps I’m just awestruck and shell shocked by some of the songs here (again, first and last especially), and more things will stand out later on, in good and bad, but there’s no denying of how goddamn capable the band is and how much still untapped potential creativity there is. In fact, it makes your head spin and fills it with all sorts of ideas and hopes for Stam1na’s future outputs…

To help the message come across, some extra vocals on a few tracks are provided by Tomi Joutsen (Amorphis), Tuomo Saikkonen (Mokoma), Kalle Lindberg (Cardinal Sin) and Janne Joutsenniemi (Stone) who is also responsible for the fine, clear production on the album. It doesn’t hurt Elokuutio that the band itself consists of pure talent, most notably guitarist-vocalist Hyrde who has no problem machine gunning the cleverness of the text with his cleans, shouts and growls. I’m also going to point out the great synths from Emil Lähteenmäki that continue some of the themes heard on the previous albums, but play a heightened role in selling Elokuutio’s thesis.

The brilliance of Elokuutio shines so bright that although one’s accustomed to expecting the unexpected from the Stam1na, the maturity and sheer excellence in songwriting makes it nothing short of inspiring and at the same time, impossible to fully grasp fully in just one go. Stam1na seem to have taken a look at what they’ve done in the past, nodded in agreement about all the best parts, punched it all up to eleven and shaken it around to summon the 48-minutes that will no doubt define their musical legacy from here on out. Seven albums in and dropping something this hot to be genuinely excited about is quite the feat!

After this review was written, it was announced that Elokuutio had reached the number one spot on the official Finnish top ten list.

FRIDAY

At some point Disco Ensemble was touted as Finland’s biggest indie/alternative rock bands, but I’m not sure what happened to the world domination or if it’s still on going. I’ve never clocked the time to listen to their shenanigans, despite having had some distant personal connection to the band, but alas, the lads were doing a pretty good thing on the stage when I walked into the festival grounds. Energy levels seemed alright and the drive was actually decent at times, so perhaps someday I’ll actually take the time to check out what the rave is about, or was.

Disco Ensemble’s Jussi Ylikoski still putting an effort

Kaija Koo was up next, briging in some major flashbacks. Just like last year on the very same stage, the show seemed to repeat last year’s playbook — from what I gathered anyway. I actually enjoyed her show last year and quite frankly, there wasn’t anything wrong with this one either, but I just disconnected after a while. Still, I have to say it’s somewhat interesting to see just which ‘80s/’90s pop singers are able to stay relevant throughout the years and with what kinds of audiences. Kaija Koo seems to do just fine branching out from the her old fanbase and reaching out for all sorts of new listeners.

Kaija Koo provided some major flashbacks of last year’s show

Finnish reggae superstar, Jukka Poika, performing with the Soul Captain Band, was another repeat offender from last year. The last time I saw him perform was some years ago at some city festival in Tampere and while relaxed reggae might not be my go-to music too often, I had to admit that the guy had a decent show. This year’s overly positive Wanaja set wasn’t that bad of a thing either, but it felt different and somehow more calculated. It’s hard to pinpoint it exactly, but it’s kind of like the feeling you get when you deal with reptilians. Everything seems perfect, too perfect perhaps… but it also got me thinking just how important of a part the backing band, Soul Captain Band, plays. In my opinion, they’re the true stars of the show. The backing band is tight and easily appreciated. Plus their bass gave a tingly sensation all around.

Jukka Poika seemed to be on a good mood

Stam1na, Friday’s only (and the festival’s first of two) metal band, has been featured on our festival reports a couple of times. Since I didn’t get to see the band last year, I didn’t mind seeing them once again. After all, they always give their all and put on a great show. I guess it could be entertaining to see a bad show from the band, one where you’d die out of boredom but alas, that, as expected, didn’t happen this time around either. Instead, the group came in and gave an entertaining slab of heavy metal, armed with some new material since they released a new album (SLK) last year. There didn’t seem to be a particular theme this year, aside from some running dick sucking joke, but the show started out funnily enough with the band performing their own intro. Supposedly they didn’t happen to have time to arrange anything else. Another curiosity was that this year, almost all of their songs were being introduced as being about the current situation in Greece.

Stam1na always putting on a sweat on stage

Next up was Elastinen, a Finnish rapper turned singer and every mother’s fantasy son-in-law. The man has been said to be partly responsible for the rise of Finnish hip hop and rap in the late ‘90s as the duo he was in, Fintelligens, was one of the first ones to break out to the mainstream in an impactful way. That’s the official story anyway. The real deal is that in the early ‘90s, acts like Raptori, Hausmylly and Nikke–T laid the true foundation. Now, many will say how at least the first and last one killed Finnish rap by making it a joke for a good 10 years, but we all know that’s revisionist, sensational bullshit. You can’t rewrite music history like that, not like military history anyway… but enough with school.

Elastinen elastically reaching towards the sky

Elastinen has come a long way in ~15 years and his show sounded big, well crafted and every punch was made to make it seem epic and grand. Everyone on stage was dressed in white like in some cult ready to be raided by the FBI while the man’s own label’s (Rähinä) logos were featured on every available inch. So the show is big as fuck, trying to bring a stadium gig to a much smaller stage, and in some perverse way, actually doing a good job with it. But that’s where the thing starts to lend itself to an unintended parody; the going gets so fucking ridiculous and while it’s packaged into a positive, fun, experience it still reeks as too fucking serious for it’s own good. But maybe I’m jaded. No. I am jaded. The whole bigger-than-life thing began last year with another rapper, Cheek, who sold out (or almost) two stadium shows before taking a year off music. Now all the biggest sellers are trying to build an empire, craft themselves as living legends and most likely quote Scarface in the privacy of their mansions. The most hilarious part of Elastinen’s gig was when the guy put all his soul into a PMMP cover, pouring down the syrup so thick it actually made all the late ‘90s mallcore angst seem genuine growing pains. Jesus F Christ.

Eppu Normaali had the honors to close the day off. For those not in the know, Eppu Normaali is one of the cornerstones in the Finnish music scene. The group began as a punk band in the ‘70s but throughout the years, it has become one of the biggest rock groups in the country.

Eppu Normaali and the highlight of the day

At Wanaja, Eppu Normaali was celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of its most celebrated albums, Kahdeksas Ihme (‘Eight Wonder’) by performing it in its entirety. After quite a few pompous acts, the comparably minimalistic, straight to the point approach cemented the fact that sometimes, some-bloody-times, music is actually enough. Personally I don’t know the band’s whole discography too well, but even I had a few flashbacks to early years once sure-fire hit “Vuonna ‘85” blasted on air. Before that, ”Voi kuinka me sinua kaivataan” actually made me want to revisit the group’s stuff to see if there’s anything else a bit less obvious, but good. The band seemed to be in a good condition for a 40-year old band. They were able to evoke, not necessarily nostalgia but certain reminiscent longing. And no matter what you think of the band or their material, their songs are so incorporated into the culture nowadays, that they’re sure to evoke at least something else other than total indifference. Definitely the highlight of the day, a perfect way to close Friday and embrace the night.

SATURDAY

The next day brought in a bit colder weather with plenty of light rain. I didn’t mind.

Atomirotta is the current incarnation of Notkea Rotta. They’ve been mentioned a couple of times in the past festival reports. What’s different is that they’ve gone from a full-fledged orchestra into a three man group. What’s not different is that the group’s still entertaining. Guitarist and a general swiss-army-knife, Rane Raitsikka (also known from the ‘80s act Smack), seemed genuinely excited about the stuff they’re doing.

Atomirotta

Samuli Edelman was up next. Now, for some he’s turning into this icon and some sort of an heir to another well-regarded Finnish singer, Vesa-Matti Loiri. Both of ‘em are also well known from acting, with Vesku being most well known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro; a mythological Finnish comedy character. Fun fact: one of the Amorphis guitarists bought some vintage guitar equipment that was used for the soundtracks of those comedies. Anyway, Samuli is more well known from his a comedy group Vintiöt, but also as the bad guy’s right arm in Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Dude came out on stage with a chair set up and basically did the whole gig from there. If you like mellow and easy pop tunes that somehow make middle-aged women weak in the knees, give him a shot. As much as there’s certain smugness to it all, can’t hate the dude at all.

Samuli looking for Tom Cruise

Mokoma was the other actual metal band set to play on the bill. After their two albums received somewhat lukewarm reception, the band parted ways with a major label, formed one of their own and readjusted their musical focus by leaning towards thrash metal. With the help of the single “Takatalvi”, 2003’s album Kurimus shot the band to a whole other level and basically paved the way with gold again for Finnish-sung metal. 12 years and some seven-ish albums later, the band still does well in the top lists. While the band’s past few albums haven’t really resonated as well as some of those earlier ones, the level of consistency is undeniable, especially live and on stage, where the band has proven to be top tier even after all these years. And, Wanaja 2015’s set was no different.

Mokoma put ona good show. As expected. However…

The biggest surprise of the festival was Olavi Uusivirta. Now, I had expectations set in the minus celsius degrees, but the dude came and conquered. His music is an absolutely terrible blend of pop, indie and rock that caressed absolutely zero of my taste buds, but the stage ethic was unrivaled by a long shot. The man absolutely gave a sincere 100 and one percent effort, accidentally tearing up his shirt during the first couple of songs. Unlike Elastinen‘s set the day before, the going here actually felt authentic, so while the music was a miss for me, it’s hard to bitch and complain.

…Olavi Uusivirta put on a better show.

Since I’d already gotten my nostalgia fix few years ago, I decided to skip Leningrad Cowboys’ show at the end of the festival, and thus Haloo Helsinki’s performance became the last one for me. The band has grown into one of Finland’s biggest rock groups in the past handful of years, each year becoming bigger and bigger. In fact, so big that they are in the midst of a see you later -tour as they’re winding down their operation for a break. If I were to bet money, I’d bet on singer Elli releasing a solo album within the next couple of years. To celebrate their temporary retirement, the show was taking visual cues from Germany and topped it with pyros, thus disallowing photographers to point their technical soul sucking devices at them at close range. But credit where credit is due, it seems like all the touring the band has made has paid off and it’s no wonder, with catchy pop-rock songs, that the thing has blown into huge proportions. It does help that the lyrics are a bit wordier from the usual nonsensical bullshit that most mainstream acts try to peddle.

Haloo Helsinki doing farewells with a bang

So another year, another Wanaja, another coverage of non-metal acts on a metal-dedicated website. I like the festival, partly because it gives a quick vertical slice of the current Finnish music scene that I otherwise don’t pay that much attention to, but also because it’s a chill gathering in a perfect environment. Now, they could update their practices and have quotas for minorities, ie. metal acts. Let’s say, three bands a year. Yeah. At least three metal acts a year sounds good.

Anyway. Until next year.

You see, I ain’t young anymore. It ain’t easy breaking the 30-year old mark. Not that it happened today or yesterday, hell, I think it might have been a while ago. But I ain’t young anymore and actions have begun to have consequences.

Thus, there I was, in the serene photo pit at 2014’s Wanaja Festival trying to take decent pictures of bands for your amusement with a sore fucking leg. Actually, it’s more than sore. I think it might be broken. Or fractured. Or whatever the fuck, but using that hunk of meat with a ton of nerves and some withered muscles was painful.

But I like the festival. Even if I had to skip the first day when Andy McCoy’s new band, Grease Helmet, played (featuring Amoral’s guitarist and someone from Amorphis). I didn’t know Andy was active, but good for him. I also missed Michael Monroe headlining that day. He must have climbed the rafters again. He always does. Actually, I wonder if Friday featured some sort of a Hanoi Rocks comeback, considering that I think Sami Yaffa plays in Monroe’s band nowadays too, so 1+1+1 equals… I don’t know.

But as I was saying, Wanaja Festival is an event, even if it’s hard to recommend for oppressed metalheads. Out of all the bands, only two (Turisas and Deadforger) were straight up metal with one (Kotiteollisuus) being sometimes lumped into the genre, even though it’s mainly schlager with distortion and jokes about being drunk.

The layout of the festival had changed a bit again from last year, with the removal of the third tent stage. A sad loss, but I guess it didn’t warrant an inclusion. Another addition that I didn’t get to experience were two separate, special concerts. One earlier on Saturday by Vesa-Matti Loiri or Finland’s Johnny Cash in lack of a better comparison. The next day, on Sunday, Finnish boy pop sensation Robin would perform to a screaming ocean of teenage girls. Sadly, I wouldn’t be one of them. As for the main event, changes didn’t stop there as it appeared like there was no main stage anymore. The two remaining stages were scaled to almost exact proportions and didn’t seem to prioritize bands by their fame or popularity. An odd choice at first, but I’m not sure if anyone noticed a thing and I guess it allowed ‘big acts’ to go straight after one another. Weather was nice despite the forecast promising thunder and lightning. Not the first time those meteorologists have been incorrect. Rather than face electrocution, when the sun pierced through clouds, it actually burned through and made the experience scorching at times. Anyway, it was good to be back. The grass was green. The people seemed relaxed and there wasn’t a hint of Tuska’s ruthless concrete jungle, aside from the sun.

Diablo’s Aadolf laying down the bass for Deadforger

Aforementioned Deadforger had the honors to start the day. The currently unknown group consists of heavy metal veterans from various bands that didn’t have any major breakthroughs for the most part; Corruption Inc, Helion, Jane Doe 69 and Pain Confessor — even though the last one had mild success in Finland and even got to do a couple of shows in Japan. Actually, some of you might remember then from last year’s article.

Deadforger is pretty much a pastiche of the band’s origins and inspirations, mainly materializing into a mix of groove-driven hardened heavy metal and hard rock that hasn’t been in the limelight as of late. The songs vary and take cues from various depths, say Alice in Chains, Mustasch/Sparzanza, Godsmack (or Alice in Chains again), Soil and hell, even Sentenced. Unfortunately the song material isn’t quite there yet as it tends to slightly dry up and be less than the sum of the band’s parts; there’s still some way to go before radio play if that’s the way they’re aiming.

Deadforger did however manage to hit me with a curve ball straight to the balls. I didn’t realize what was happening at first and it took me a long while and a bit of a push to figure out. The group ended the show with a cover of Danzig’s “Five Finger Crawl”. Now, if you’re doing Danzig covers, and nobody does Danzig covers, including from Blackacidevil and forward, I’m definitely not willing to write the band off just yet. Too bad it had me so flabbergasted that I didn’t appreciate the moment fully at the time… because goddamn. Nice move!

Kotiteollisuus hadn’t changed at all, really.

Then it was time for Kotiteollisuus. I think I saw the exact same gig from these guys two years ago at the same exact venue. I didn’t have any notes with me but the in between song banter was probably the same too. Actually, that’s not completely true, as I think they’ve since added another guitarist to the lineup in Mitri Aaltonen (responsible for a lot things, producing a ton of Finnish metal bands etc., among other things).

Jenni Vartiainen

Jenni Vartiainen became part of an all girl pop group after one of the first talent shows on TV years and years ago. The group never really got anywhere and disbanded after a while. Then some years later, she appeared dressed up as a nun or some shit on the music video of a Finnish hard rock/metal band, Sturm und Drang which consisted of a bunch of kids and sold 100,000 albums in the process before they too disappeared from the face of the earth. Not soon after, Vartiainen released her first solo material and shot to instant success, steadily becoming the top female performer in Finland. Whereas Chisu (see our Wanaja piece from 2012) has put her coins in nostalgia and quaint, romantic city streets, Vartiainen has adopted more mystic and shamanistic overtones. Even when I’m not part of her target audience, it’s hard to deny Vartiainen’s sheer professionalism on stage and skill to captivate and lure her audience into obedience. A good example of a performer who unapologetically owns the space with her performance.

Compared to Vartiainen, Anna Abreu — who rose to fame for coming second in the Finnish Idols, losing to heavy metal oriented Ari Koivunen (currently singing in Amoral) — has a lot of growing up to do, and that’s not even a bad pun about her actual height. Whoever is responsible for her development is doing a shitty job, as Abreu seemed to come to terms with her career a few years back, but this year seems to have fucked it all up — at least as far the music is concerned. The new album apparently hasn’t gained the same traction as the one before and the media has mainly concentrated on her abs and pondered books-worth of pages whether or not her ass was authentic in a video or not. Serious business, that show business.

Anna Abreu

While she’s undeniably talented, she somehow managed to muster this year’s shittiest song in “Ra-ta ta-ta”, even though my niece loves the bejesus out of it. The lyrics in that atrocity make no goddamn sense even for a modern pop tune. It’s like she has an identity crisis of sorts that has her ‘trying too much’ so to speak, as she wants to be all grown up and raunchy while targeting the thirteen to sixteen year olds. It all comes off as forced. It just seems odd to me, considering she appeared to be aiming for an older audience on her previous album and seemed to pack at least a bit more universal appeal. As it stands now, compared to Vartiainen and her presence on stage, Abreu looks like a kid that’s lost but still deep down tries her best to impress the grown ups. We’re not even going to touch the 140,000 difference in the sales numbers…

Anyway. Perhaps Abreu’s not to blame in all of this. Perhaps the background powers that be have simply jacked off one times too many to Miley Cyrus’ latest vomit and think there’s some substance there. It’s not often I’m reminded of Britney Spear’s “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” but somehow saying that out loud seems apt. Besides, this is a goddamn heavy metal website and here I am raving about this shit?! FUCK!

Anyway. The best part during the show was when Abreu talked rather lovingly about another artist who she wrote a song with and who makes an appearance on the track she was just about to do. I first thought she’d bring the guy on stage because she kind of set it up so, but fuck it, background tape that shit all the way. Strike one. Then she played that song she’s featured on and does the chorus to, but without the two actual guys whose song it is. Strike two. Lastly, she even manages to make a cover song somehow insincere, as she did a piece by Finnish reggae artist Jukka-Poika, “Kylmästä Lämpimään”. Granted, that cover was part of an extremely popular TV-show featuring the two artists (among other Finnish musicians) doing covers of one anothers’ tracks, but Jukka-Poika probably played that song the day before at the same festival. And doing the expected can be kind of lame anyway (unless you’re my favorite band. Then I only want to hear the good shit). Strike three and you’re out!

…and so am I mentally, because the next couple of acts had even less to offer. Having done most of my growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there’s no denying that I like rap or hip hop, so long as the beats are good and/or the tone is dark enough to please my antisocial tendencies. One Finnish rap label had constructed some sort of a b-tier all-star outing to give the three artists some traction, but I forfeited the gig and didn’t feel bad about doing so at all. Pick your battles, as they say.

Yö’s Olli Lindholm

Another skip for me was Yö. If you’re in your 40s or 50s and reminisce the past good old days when love was reserved to heterosexual couples in the backseat of a beat up Ford Escort, then Yö (as in ‘Night’) might resonate with you. Originating from some punk-ish roots and successfully wading through growing pains throughout the years, the band grew into a safe-bet Suomirock-institution. I don’t think they’ve had as big of a success as of late like they did 10 years ago, but still have a somewhat devout following at live shows that in an instant raises the average age of attendees on the front row by ten, twenty or thirty years.

Haloo Helsinki

Haloo Helsinki was another repeat from two years ago. The band put out an energetic showing back then and only seem to have grown (both in fame and in skill) even more since then, even though the frontwoman Elli starting the gig by hand greeting the front row audience felt a tad awkward. While the music is far from controversial, they’ve introduced a bit of roughness to the presentation that most artists battling in the pop rock genre tend to avoid most of the time. It adds an unexpected punch to the show and makes the group more interesting than they are on paper. Okay.

The basic deal at most gigs is that you can photograph the first three songs from the pit and then do whatever once you’re back with the peasants in the audience. One thing I’ve noticed though, throughout the years, is that a lot of bands skim through the first few songs and then, finally put it into gear later on in the show as they somehow manage to find better stage lighting and even better performance from within themselves. Perhaps they’ll even remove their sunglasses then. I do realize that you can’t go full speed all the time, that you need to balance the act and hell, even have a crescendo at the end of it to leave a lasting impression but goddamn does it make photographing the acts a pain at times.

Turisas

Luckily Turisas isn’t one of those acts that constantly blueball people and cheapskate their way on stage. The Hameenlinna-native band had returned to their home stage, playing into the time machine aspect of the festival. Though, this time they didn’t have a Japanese video production after them, but they still remembered to take a pyrotechnician off the dole. Turisas has been touring the world and appeared somewhat elated about performing for their home city, and if there’s one thing the band does — aside from shuffling its members every now and then — is that they put out a good live show. At one point Warlord Nygård cherished seeing friends and family again, thanking some fans from America and Europe for showing up for the gig as well while inquiring the audience if they had any reasons to complain. “There’s nothing to complain about!” he determined, savoring the moment and somehow missing the few complaints that echoed “Yö!” Turisas’ set didn’t hold any surprises with “Battle Metal” receiving a quality response from the fans and “Stand Up and Fight” finally ending their tour de force along with the bangs of some fireworks.

Kaija Koo

Kaija Koo is a long-running female singer with a ton of hits behind her and somehow she’s stayed relevant throughout her long career. She’s been able to avoid my CD player for all those years, but hot-diggity-damn, against all odds, I actually enjoyed her set which makes me confused. I’m not sure why, but the audience around me seemed extremely happy and lively, dancing around and singing along, giving a better response back to the artist than the people at this year’s Tuska. Plus, while I’ve seen some bloodied up people at Tuska, thanks to the pits, Kaija Koo actually got some unfortunate soul to drop into such a condition that the person had to be carried away in an ambulance. “So, let it go!” Kaija Koo sung, nothing to do with that horrible song off Disney’s Frozen, as the security and ER moved in to save lives.

The main portion of the festival was ended by Klamydia, who’ve appeared at the event so many times the organizers must have ran out of fingers by now. I missed them too, as I was pretty much satisfied with the day by then and the goddamn leg, that I’d forgotten about, started acting up again, putting my pain tolerance through some serious conditioning.

2014´s Wanaja Festival served more people than it expected with some 24,000 visitors going through the grounds in three days. The festival hasn’t relied on foreign acts in two years now and with the good outcome, I doubt we’ll see any outsiders next year either. There were also some doubts whether or not they could organize the event at the same perfect location next year too, but Monday papers said that they could, so good.

Wanaja Festival still provided a nice, relaxed conclusion to my summer’s musical needs and it’s always entertaining to see how oblivious the security manning the gates to the photo pits is. This time, I witnessed as one photographer tried to make the guard understand that the pass he was holding granted the press access in front of the stage like it even read on the guard’s cheat sheet. The guard instead insisted that we go shove our way through the audience to gain front row access. Luckily the matter was sorted and things worked fine until another guard took his place and only allowed us through once the band actually got on stage. Minor things and nothing to stress about. It’s all good.

Wanaja Festival is a ‘joy’ to visit, even though the artists aren’t necessarily up my alley and most of the time, less so on this site’s real agenda. Hopefully they’ll book some more metal acts next year under which’s guise I get to do this all again… even more older and fragile.

With half of Teeth’s fighting crew succumbing to the battle injuries from Nummirock festival the week earlier, I was again forced to go solo — which is fine, considering all the masochism and self-deprecation that running Teeth of the Divine requires. Speaking of Nummirock, or any other Finnish festival, when you compare the lineups, there’s a lot of overlap. If one was to attend them all, things would probably go a bit stale after a while, but “luckily” I haven’t had the luxury this year.

Anyway. Tuska. 2014. Go.

FRIDAY

Ensiferum had the honors to cherrypop the main stage. I was still in the queue waiting for my credentials and the +10 charisma boost that comes with the press pass. The plebs seemed to pour into the festival from their own gates quite effortlessly, so at least the four years at Suvilahti have ironed out some of the more basic quirks of the operation.

Poisonblack & Antti Remes

Right after I was fab fived, I found myself in the photo pit for Poisonblack. Truth be told, I really didn’t hear anything the band was doing on stage, as I was still in a rush of getting accustomed to my surroundings. Not that things had changed since last year,but at least the ‘booth babes’ with free Coca Cola had made a welcomed comeback. I know putting it that way sounds extremely exciting, especially for a metal site, but the small free cans are an excellent way to keep thyself hydrated throughout the day as you combat the sun.

Friday’s set must have been somewhat of an ungrateful gig for Phil H. Anselmo and The Illegals. A lot of people wanted to see Phil Anselmo live, but I’m not sure how many of them cared for Superjoint Ritual or even knew Phil had some new stuff to offer as well. Despite the somewhat welcoming audience, in reality, it seemed like what they truly wanted was Pantera.

Phil Anselmo

The Cowboys from Hell were supposed to play with Slayer at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, back in 2001. Then some planes struck a couple of buildings and the world changed permanently. Slayer came over with Cradle of Filth, In Flames and Amorphis, but Pantera didn’t want to have anything to do with flying planes so they stayed home. Three years and few months later, Dimebag got shot and that was that for Pantera.

Phil’s still a charismatic fellow. A lot more subdued and rugged, older to be frank, but still commands a bit of that machismo that, despite the naysayers nowadays, made the guy a legend of the ‘90s metal movement. When he speaks, you tend to listen and he still has his wits about him. “You’re waiting for your heroes… in black and white makeup… like the poseurs I know you are” the man laughed, while chuckling at his own notions that his new band would become bigger than Metallica ever was.

But, the set at this year’s Tuska was an odd thing to witness. The audience was courteous, but it still seemed like the band and the guys throwing up the fists really didn’t seem to meet — aside from when the group was covering Pantera with songs like “Domination/Hollow” and “Hellbound”, but everyone knew that was not enough. At some point Phil seemed surprised that they still had minutes to fill: “We can make it up as we go… so whadda ya want to hear?”

“What really grinds me gears…”

Dare I say there was a ton of awkwardness, but still at the same time, plenty of ‘fun’ as well. Kind of like driving 120 miles per hour into oncoming traffic, not holding back and still trying to make the best of the situation and in a nihilistic way, actually enjoy it. In one of the greatest stunts of the festival, Phil completely blueballed the audience by rocking Slayer’s “Raining Blood” on guitar, getting the rest of the band behind him, riling the audience up for a new pit and then just finishing it off into a wall before the thing got anymore traction. Ice cold.

Phil Anselmo 20 years earlier. No wait. Nails.

Speaking of getting your brains splattered all across the festival grounds, Nails was up next on the second stage and they got a “holee shit” out of me with their pummeling hybrid of all things heavy. The band steamrolls violently through any opposition and forces people to succumb to the beating. I’d assume the set would have worked better inside the boiler room, with a more intimate contact with the crowd, but whatever. A strong heads up from the band and probably the closest I’ve felt of seeing Being and Nothing -era Extreme Noise Terror live.

Children of Bodom was supposedly playing at Tuska for the first time in… 7 years or something? Anyway, they were meant to play last year but had to cancel due to reasons; most likely for touring quite actively in North America. This time the band had set up a homecoming party of sorts to celebrate the occasion, driving a couple of trucks on stage and a few real barbeques, up and ready to grill. Lost Society seemed to be doing most of the serving, while Bodom were handing out their musical meat on the front of the stage.

Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho shreds and cusses

Like I think I said in last year’s Sauna Open Air report, Bodom aren’t in my area of interest. For what’s it worth, they seemed to rock the stage, have a good time and give the audience a worthwhile metal show. Me, I had time to concentrate on benign irrelevancies, such as shaking my head at Alexi Laiho’s in between banter; the guys definitely have been touring the States for far too long, as Alexi’s tendency to speak English to the home audience felt at times, quite laughable with the constant explicits. Fuck this, fuck that. Sure, there were a ton of foreign visitors as well, but when in Rome… or whatever that smartass proverb was.

Hamferð was moody

At some point during CoB’s set I zombied onwards to the dark, murky third stage and was greeted with a wall of melodic doom slash death, as Hamferð, from Faroe Island, was making a strong showing for themselves to a devout crowd. Hadn’t heard of the band before, but it didn’t take long for the versatile vocalist, Mr. Jón Aldará to win me over along with the rest of the band. The guy also replaced Mikko Kotamäki in Barren Earth, so there’s that too. Definitely one of the biggest and best surprises of the festival, so much so, that I went and ordered their latest album, Evst. The show ended far too early and there was still enough time to hear Alexi speak his finglish on stage; “[In Finnish] Thank you Tuska, you were an amazing audience! [And right after in English] Thank you so fucking much!” Oh you little rascal, you — I’d cuddle you to death!

Stand-up comedian Jeff Walker

Jeff Walker was in a sarcastic mood, constantly bantering with the audience and throwing sharp knives towards everyone and everything; not giving a shit like Phil Anselmo earlier and rightfully so. The guy laughed at the line queuing up for Bodom’s signatures, constantly called everyone who wasn’t watching their show a loser and an asshole. The man also apologized for Carcass’ part in the creation of the Gothenburg sound and whatever melodeath bands they might have influenced in the past 20 years. Carcass threw songs from left and right, including their latest Surgical Steel album but seemed to skip Swansong for some reason.

Dimmu Borgir and Shagrath’s amazing gaze

Since you’re visiting this site, it pretty much means that Dimmu Borgir needs no introduction whatsoever. I think they played at Tuska some years ago, when Simen was still around to grace the band with his fantastic clean vocals. Apparently the band wanted to celebrate some sort of a 21 year run with the audience, albeit that didn’t seem to translate into anything special on stage. Supposedly the plan was to play through Death Cult Armageddon but I think they stopped after a handful of songs and moved onto other things, including a 10-15 minute background tape interlude — the third ‘intro’ of the show or so — at which point I wondered if the band dragged onwards like this on their albums as they did on stage, as I sure as shit couldn’t remember being actually bored the last time I went through one their albums. “Fuck this” I thought, and took the gateway out of dodge as “Gateways” began to blare in the background.

And oh boy, motherfuckers. Manslaughter is one hell of a rocking slab of abrasive heavy metal with a politically incorrect edge — more than ready to be hashtag campaigned against on Twitter for more reasons than one. Where Murder 4 Hire had many fatal shortcomings and empty clips, none of those are here as the Mac-10 is fully loaded, ready to dish out some sweet street justice.

Body Count sounds rejuvenated as they bang their heads between heavy metal, crossover and thrash metal, prepared to bluntly school a lot of modern acts and call them out on their bullshit. Body Count’s latest incarnation is tight, paying respects to the band’s demised original lineup. The addition of Agent Steel guitarist Juan Garcia looks like a proper move as he works swell with Ernie C; the riffing and soloing leaves nothing to hope for. Bassist Vince Dennis (Steel Prophet) and drummer Will Dorsey, Jr provide a quality backdrop for the mayhem. The production has been fixed as well as it’s clear and impactful. The presence of ‘80s and ‘90s is strong, but the whole thing is fresh like a prince, instead of a whacky rehash — even with a song like “Black Voodoo Sex” that hints at the band’s history in a more explicit manner. Some might argue against “99 Problems BC” too, where Ice-T revisits his past. One could easily consider it the weakest cut on the plate, but it still fits the album with ease.

The pedal stays on the metal most of the time as the pace alters between various speeds of ‘fast’ (“Manslaughter” and “Bitch in the Pit”) all the while the daylight drive by is served with a strong sense of groove and topped with Ice-T’s vicious verbal acrobatics. The Man drops truth bombs, screams social commentary and threats of bodily harm with a conviction and a knack for entertainment. Take for example the reimagined cover of Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized 2014” where anger problems materialize as the man casually wades through everyday problems such as Oprah’s brainwashing against ‘shooting fuckers’ on Xbox, vegetarians and customer support representatives. Then there’s, say, “Pop Bubble” (with an appearance from Jamey Jasta) that speaks lovingly of the music industry’s love for deeper substance while the music takes a turn to a more early ‘00s hard/metalcore. Can’t forget the opening “Talk Shit, Get Shot”, one of the albums finest, as it speaks about rules and regulations. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s the album closing, slowly burning and slightly ominous “I Will Always Love You” that concludes the album in a more serious note with a nod of respect to those in the armed forces. (There’s a ‘rock mix’ -version of “99 Problems BC” at the very end, but I take that as an optional bonus track). Overall the social commentary might not reach that of the debut album, but if the band continues on this path and becomes even more engulfed in anger, some amazing things might happen in the future.

One of the biggest and most surprising things that Manslaughter evokes, though, is a certain deeper connection with GWAR (hail Dave Brockie!) and their music from Violence Has Arrived and onwards. There’s a ton of similarities that might not be clearly evident at first but still make me want to pick up a red marker and draw lines between the two bands. Hell, the riffing at the end on “Wanna Be a Gangsta” would suit War Party any day and the aforementioned “I Will Always Love You” isn’t too far from, say “The Road Behind”. Apparently Body Count will perform at the 5th annual Gwar-B-Q this August and that to me feels simply fitting

So there you have it. Not only does Ice-T remain as one of the leading — but heavily underappreciated — frontmen in heavy metal, but also, even after 22 years or so, Body Count is still more than relevant in 2014 with Manslaughter becoming one of this year’s most entertaining offerings; a perfect soundtrack to the summer and your next domestic violence dispute. Appreciate, motherfuckers.

187 points out of 187.

Whereas the band’s previous album Carolus Rex concentrated on Swedish history and Charles XII, the new album Heroes sees Sabaton return to the more modern times as they educate the listener about various heroic personalities of outfits from World War 2. For example, opener “Night Witches” is about a Soviet bomber regiment and “Inmate 4859”, probably the darkest sounding tune on the 37-minute album, has vocalist Broden roll out his teutonic sounding R’s as he lectures us about Witold Pilecki who led the resistance movement in Auschwitz. The fastest and fiercest track on the album “Soldier of 3 Armies” speaks of the legend that is Lauri Törni, aka Larry Thorne; a Finn who fought the communist horde in three different armies throughout the years, before seeing his demise in a freak helicopter accident during the early years of the Vietnam War. John Wayne played a role loosely based on him in the 1968 movie Green Berets, but I digress.

Musically, at first light Heroes doesn’t deviate from the battle plan, like, at the fuck all and some might be offended and accuse the band of playing it too safe. Personally, I don’t mind it too much as Sabaton still does their spiel rather flawlessly; speedy power metal attacks spearheading the way while a few slower, anthemic metal ballads provide indirect fire to cover the movement. Seven albums in, there’s been enough variation to keep the Swedish fighting force battle efficient.

With that being said however, Heroes, does seem a bit less intoxicating from the predecessors, even if first time through I was grinning at the over-the-top ridiculousness, ruthlessly performed without showing the tongue in cheek. But closer recollection during a lull from the battle, there’s no denying that the first three tracks, while competent, are ultimately a bit meh in the grand scheme of things: The aforementioned “Night Witches” seems like a neutered version of The Art of War’s epic first round, “Ghost Division”. The follow-up, “No Bullets Fly” is a rather basic Sabaton tune that doesn’t seem to stick out for long, even if there’s an addicting “Killing machine!” shout in the chorus. The third track, “Smoking Snakes”, doesn’t improve things either as it’s probably the least interesting song in the tensome. Then there’s the aptly named “The Ballad of the Bull” that sees Sabaton dig through the cold corpse of Manowar for their belongings. The realization appears a bit like shooting a fly with an M114 howitzer, missing the subtlety and restraint Manowar was able to provide still in songs like “Heart of Steel” or “Master of the Wind”.

Yet, the rest of the time, Heroes sees Sabaton turbocharge their panzerwagen like they were on an excellent adventure with Bill and Ted through times of conflict and war. Tracks like “Resist and Bite”, the previously mentioned “Soldier of 3 Armies” and “Far From the Fame” do wonders to lift up the album. Then there’s a certain playful quality to tracks like “To Hell and Back”, which has some spaghetti western meddling going on, and on the closure “Hearts of Iron”, where Sabaton lob around in some J.S Bach’s “Air” to the mix right after stripping any traces of melancholy out of it — even while they’re lecturing about how the German forces of 9th and 12th armies protected the fleeing soldiers and civilians so they could escape the bloodthirsty Soviets and surrender to the Western forces.

Sabaton are pretty much the only thing resembling an audiobook rendition of the British Commando comic books, so either you like the pulpy, bombastic entertainment or you don’t, as Heroes won’t suddenly convert any deserters that the outcomes of war can be scary charming. For those in on it though, Heroes provides an enjoyable new set of lore to sing along to, crafted with skill and passion. In its whole, Heroes might not rise up to the accolades of the previous war efforts, but it’s a serviceable album that offers shiny highlights that’ll keep Sabaton’s live arsenal fresh and their chamber loaded.

Yet, I cannot help but feel that the Swedes might soon be headed too deep behind enemy lines and, depending on the next few albums, eventually face the junction where Manowar chose wrong as it got blinded by its own true metal schtick and forgot about actually writing a variety of quality tunes as they foolhardily chased for epicness — only to find themselves in a punchline.

Oh yeah. Speaking of Manowar in the bucketloads, there’s a few different versions of the album, one which has a whole 20-minute bonus disc dedicated to bonus tracks, and among those tracks lies “Man of War” — a tribute to the self acclaimed kings of metal. Quite fitting. The rest of the bonus tracks include Sabaton’s versions of Raubtier’s “En Hjaltes Vag”, Battle Beast’s “Out of Control” and one “For Whom the Bell Toll” and finally a reworked version of the band’s own “7734” from their Metalizer album.

The near 50-minute cross to bear might not hold many shocking revelations along the way nor does it reinvent the genre in any meaningful way, but it’s hard to say that’s a fault. Kylmä Kaunis Maailma is still perhaps a bit less conventional in its ways compared to some of the other bigger names of the genre, but fans of acts like Swallow the Sun and Black Sun Aeon will be right at home and I’d even draw some hesitant parallels with Futile-era Rapture too (see the highlight that is “Kivisydän” for example). The music flows a bit more freely between the polar ends of the melodic spectrum, occasionally speeding things up slightly and adding layers and details to the music that more generic acts might normally shy away from — for example, be it the sometimes peculiar riffing or the excellent use of keyboards that really add value to the songs, which even brought back the memory of Scorngrain’s existence during “Itsestään kuollut”. Even if that mental connection is pushing it quite a bit…

The guitars generally buzz deep enough, but still quite a few feet away from the burial at sea U-Boat levels, even if some of the songs are set up (“Aamu”) to throw rocks at funeral convoys. The musicianship overall doesn’t limit the art or the expression and the decent enough vocals are mainly growled at varying depths — just as one would expect from material like this. Occasionally Mikko Heikkilä’s (see Black Sun Aeon) clean vocals take a role to add a bit of extra variety/contrast and emotion to the material (“En Ole Mitään”). It needs to be said out loud that I really dig the guy’s voice. Fits well. Female vocalization is utilized as another instrument to strengthen the compositions (“Kuolematon”). The lyrics are expressed in Finnish and seem to revolve around the usual but ever-so-jubilant Finnish table topics that contemplate anywhere between the decaying human condition and our own place in this shithole of a world. As for the production, I’ve forgotten the last time I’ve heard a totally shitty sounding album from a Finnish band and Kaunis Kuolematon doesn’t deviate from the high quality norm at all either; everything’s as it should be in that department.

With Kylmä Kaunis Maailma, Kaunis Kuolematon adds itself to the somewhat bottomless pool of not-too-happy melodic death and/or doomy Finnish bands that wade through depressive realism with skill and finesse. Luckily the group does enough to distance itself adequately from the rest, without stepping on any toes on their way, to find their own exact spot in that tight space — right next to the aforementioned acts and a bunch of others, such as Soulfallen or Depressed Mode (to name a few).

If you need to remind yourself of what’s to come as soon as the upcoming, short summer will end, Kylmä Kaunis Maailma is a very competent and effective new dietary supplement to block out the effects of the sun — even if deep down you kind of have heard it all and know what to expect. It might not work as efficiently the first few times, but each successive listen definitely nurtures and cultivates the brooding atmosphere. I suppose therein lies what might be the biggest ‘fault’ of the album to some, as it doesn’t necessarily pull you fully under into the solitary of worthlessness and tranquility of consuming suicidal sorrow. Instead, Kylmä Kaunis Maailma comforts and admonishes you of that being a very worthwhile option — before it potentially turns into a full-blown addiction.

What this Finnish outfit has done is make it all come together in a more than balanced manner. The different layers seem to drive the agenda forward rather than just have all the bits and pieces around ‘just because’. There’s a purpose, a plan on display here and it’s being executed methodically with an extreme prejudice.

Collapse puts the listener through a 35-minute meat grinder workout that’s not only consuming, but also indoctrinating. At first, Collapse simply appears to be more of a surgical shot of adrenaline that you empty into your system in one go. There’s little deviation as the guitars beetle onward with precision and weight, while the electronics weave patterns in the background despite occasionally bleeding into the forefront and taking the lead. And in that sonic violence, behind the distorted wall of guitar, electronics, low bass and Neurosis-esque rasping, lies the only downside — it’s constant and absolute. Some might hope for more variation and dynamics; more highs, lows and more contrast.

But once the material assumes total control of your senses, all the little details make it clear that this mechanical beast appears carefully planned out and the slight tonal changes become more evident. The nuances start to shine and despite the attention to detail and perfection, Collapse refuses to sound synthetic or lifeless. For example, at times “A Vessel to Steer” and “Cypher” sound almost death-doomish in their core, as if Daylight Dies had been assimilated into the mix. Then there’s the last last track, “The Martyr Acts”, that brings into play trip-hoppy (and quite teasing) female vocals that close Collapse with a hint of humanity and a glimmer of hope — if not of salvation.

I first saw the band play live at last year’s Tuska Festival in Helsinki, where the group pretty much overpowered and shadowed most of the other acts with the dehumanizing, audiovisual sensory overload. It’s now finally nice to have a part of that in a portable format, even if Collapse doesn’t quite yet see Khroma reach its full, projected potential. However, the upside is immense as Collapse simply refuses not to take part in the race to be one of 2014’s better albums.

In a way, Kauan’s fifth album gathers up the previous releases and makes a statement of who they are now, moving quite effortlessly between some raspier overtones and the more delicate, humane experiences. The distorted guitars that pace onwards at slow speeds are a clear throwback to the band’s doom-ish outings of the past.

While on the outside Pirut might express itself as an esoteric and minimalistic release, it’s anything but as the songs float through like the change of seasons and various emotions all the way through its spin time. And just like our lives, the album is meant to be taken as a whole; while separated into eight sections, in reality it’s a one 40-minute track. Mastermind Antov Belov seems to throw in pretty much everything he has accumulated in his arsenal thus far throughout the years; the aforementioned doom metal sections, beautifully flowing, vulnerable scenic paintings and much more grandiose, symphonic celebrations — all seamlessly mixed together.

Take for example the short section after the halfway mark on track “IV”. A few years ago, Belov posted the section as a custom soundtrack to the trailer of Disney’s Crimson Wings movie — it was not hard to memorize those visuals once they hit the airwaves here. But unlike modern, streamlined Disney pieces, the music (rather than the track as a sole entity) moves on to harsher realms, all the while maintaining a longing for life.

The contrast is wide but all the time, mature and coherent. Everything serves a purpose and fits the big picture. At times, while the music and modus operandi are different, Pirut reminded me of The Gathering’s way of doing things (with a hint of Anathema on few occasions), even if at the moment, I have a hard time putting my finger to it… I also have to mention that Belov’s cleans are some of the best I’ve heard all year. While I’ll leave technical reviews to others, the sheer emotion and expressiveness is magical to me; especially when the man uses the Finnish language in such a different way than a native speaker would, emphasizing, stretching letters and vowels that shouldn’t be. Pure, joy.

With all that said and the journey being so rich and full of details that suck you in, this is Kauan’s hardest album yet. After a first few listens, it’s clear that the band has yet again managed to release an involving, long-lasting expedition. It really takes Pirut a long time to really sink in in all of its glory. And that’s just Pirut. The album ends in a burst (not unlike on “Suora Liila Sydänkäyrä”) that not only makes the 40-minutes go a full circle, but with Pirut going through the band’s whole discography (and then some), it also leaves the possibility to derive all sorts of correlations from nature’s cycles and humanity’s habit of repeating itself.

Yet, despite all that, Kauan keeps on moving forward and expanding. That’s something to be relished on its own.

PMMP touring for the last time…

Take for example the Finnish girl duo, PMMP, who are winding their 10-year (or so) career down by doing this final tour. Their at times minimalistic music and relentless performance has gathered plenty of fans from all areas of music and listening to them doesn’t seem to bring any shame at all to anyone. Perhaps it’s the fact that their sometimes genre bending pop tunes hold melancholic and excessive realism; a fact not that surprising considering that the band’s music is pretty much composed by one Jori Sjöroos that some might know from such acts as Magenta Skycode and This Empty Flow or even before that, funeral doom act Thergothon.

But I’m fast forwarding.

Shut up, Pää Kii!

I arrived to the scene late due to prior obligations and caught the last few songs from Finland’s currently hottest punk rock group, Pää Kii (or ‘Shut Up’). Going by what was happening on stage musically, either I’ve got a completely distorted view of punk or the band was playing their most mellow songs. Either way or both, there didn’t seem to be much danger on stage aside from the band laughing at their bass player for showing off and fucking up a song in the process. After the scandal that mainman Teemu Bergman caused earlier this year by appearing somewhat wasted (on whatever) in an interview for the national TV, I was expecting something different. Something with a bit more spit and piss, I guess. Instead the band sounded almost like reinvented Klamydia.

Jonne Aaron

Another safe act followed as Jonne Aaron took the stage with his solo ensemble. The guy’s appeared on teenagers’ walls for his duties in his rock band Negative. Now there were some older faces in the audience too for the guy had appeared in a TV series where a bunch of rockers, poppers, new and old talked shit with one another and performed each others’ songs, making those at home teary-eyed for one reason or another. I can’t say I waste my time by hating the guy or anything, but it would be safe to say that the stuff does absolutely nothing for me.

This guy seemed to appreciate Notkea Rotta

Unlike Notkea Rotta whose jamming soundcheck I decided to check instead. They appeared at the very same festival last year, this time manning the second stage (fitted them better) and co-touring with another Finnish rap oriented group, SMC Lähiörotat — who romanticize Finland’s version of the life in the projects. Notkea Rotta’s metal connection was discussed last year but what was forgotten to mention was the fact that guitarist Rane Raitsikka originally played (and still does) with the legendary Finnish punk act, Lama (who in turn made an appearance at this year’s Tuska). The ensemble threw an entertaining, enjoyable set that sometimes was a mere distortion pedal away from proper crossover. Maybe some day. The show did rile up the audience and in turn, the band on stage as well.

PMMP’s Paula Vesala empowering the audience

As for PMMP, they came and did what was expected of them. The two singers, Paula and Mira, we’re all over the place (including the top of the stage) making the best out of their last times on stage together — sometimes to the ire of the security who tried to hold them back from interacting with the audience too closely (at one point making Paula shout “Let go of me!”). Crowd participation was good and the songs echoed nicely live. Towards the end, the duo caused yet another problem for the security as they invited everybody (“We ain’t gonna pick and choose the cream of the crop”) on stage. I didn’t stay around to see the clean-up aftermath, but it was interesting seeing fans climb all over the place.

Elakelaiset showing how it’s done (be it music or boozing).

On the outside Eläkeläiset (roughly translated into The Pensioners) has very little to do with metal, but their humppa covers of known rock songs — and not least, alcoholism — has raised them up to legendary levels over here and abroad (with quite a few stints to Wacken). While one might skip them on CD, in a live setting they’re nothing but pure destruction and mayhem, disarming the audiences of any nay-saying and inhibitions with self-deprecation, showmanship and catchy fucking rhythms; “Twenty years of this same shit and still you come to see us”. The ultimate live band.

Apulanta’s Toni Wirtanen

Friday ended with one of Finland’s biggest and most successful rock groups, Apulanta who crashed onto the scene with their punk-ish (pop) rock nearly 20 years ago or so. They’ve gone through various phases in that time, at one point adding a few more strings to their instruments and a meatier downtuned flair to the music (see 2005’s “Pahempi Toistaan”). That happened around the same time when everyone else did so as well due to finally discovering Meshuggah again or something. But, they’ve since toned it down (or up) again. Interestingly the band’s origins were in (death) metal when it was formed by Antti Lautala and Toni Wirtanen, but Lautala left the band when he wanted to continue with metal, with the rest wanting to add more pop and punk to it. So, Toni Wirtanen picked up the vocal duties and eventually launched the band into the success it is today. Personally I’ve never gotten the feeling that the band has calculated its way to success, as they’ve been able to keep themselves somewhat relevant and accepted by simply doing their own thing.

During the show, Apulanta bathed in a wall of extreme light, with some displays set up to support the close encounter of the third kind. The stage setup, which I felt to be quite unique for a Finnish act, acted as a clear contrast to the band as the trio performed in classical, childhood fantasy cowboy outfits. I only got to watch the first three or four tracks since I was on the clock, but it didn’t look like the group was underperforming.

The weather was tons better on the bright new day, with sun shining and warming up the place — it was still summer in Finland, hallelujah! I had a clear cut plan. Go in. Three bands. Get out. Due to my prior commitments I didn’t have the opportunity to stick around longer, but that was okay, as the festival had kindly organized all the metal acts to open up Saturday.

THEN CAME SATURDAY

The gates opened at 2:00 PM. I was there 30 minutes later ready to witness Hameenlinna locals, melodic death metal group, Pain Confessor, take on their home turn at three o’clock. Pain Confessor made note of themselves with their debut album Turmoil back in 2004 — especially with their memorable hit song “Lake of Regret” (which is a lake in Hameenlinna where, as it’s been said, people went to wash off their forced baptism). The band released two more albums in 2006 and 2007 but never gained the real, lasting breakthrough they were perhaps hoping for (despite scoring a few international gigs as well). Last year the band returned rejuvenated with an updated lineup and released Incarcerated — their strongest and most interesting outing yet. The album saw Pain Confessor tackle some heavier notes and at times sport a strong Vader-esque feel. Just see “Oceans of Sickness”.

Pain Confessor’s Jaakko Kunnas gazing

The day’s opening show was held on the fourth stage inside a tent that stood within the gated alcohol zone, a new addition to the festival since last year. Pain Confessor’s crowd seemed to consist of the band’s friends and family — not unexpected considering most of the ticket holders were probably still sleeping off their hangovers.That didn’t stop the group from making a decent showing for themselves, though. A reliable live band that hopefully will carve out more interesting, pummeling songs in the future.

Omnium Gatherum still rocking

Next up on the main stage was Omnium Gatherum, making it a second time for me to see them live this summer. They didn’t seem to have a problem with it and I didn’t have any reason to complain either. Omnium Gatherum acknowledged that the festival had a bit of everything for everyone, and hoped that the (still rather small) audience wouldn’t mind some metal. Vocalist Jukka Pelkonen did his earnest to whip at least some kind of a reaction out of the tiny crowd. “You girls up front, yeah, you — clap your hands…Why? Because it’s fun. Try it” or singling out someone at the bar area “You in the In Flames shirt. Yeah you. Show me what you’ve got”. Between his smiles and vocals, he also gave out a general rule to the pop-oriented audience who were there lined up for ‘good seats’ to see shitty Finnish rap sensation Cheek: “Try moshing!”. Omnium Gatherum too did a good, warming show on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Peer Günt, surprisingly lively

Last on my list was a somewhat legendary, again Finnish, hard rock group Peer Günt who I thought might have called it quits not too long ago. Last time I heard of them, they had a huge lineup change due to alcohol related differences, so I didn’t know if they were still operational. Apparently they were. I saw the band before with the previous lineup about ten years ago at some shady, local American car gathering. Compared to that, the going seemed quite sober. Not necessarily a bad thing, as the band looked quite happy to be on stage despite the early time slot, throwing some authentic-sounding, hard rock ’n’ roll towards the now steadily growing audience and adequately ending my festival experiences. It was finally time to enjoy a bit of the summer — or what was left of it; the clouds were brooding.

After two larger, dedicated metal festivals, Wanaja Festival again provided a nice, differing if not even relaxing experience. The festival’s area, with grass, trees and a big fucking castle at the back, was the best one out of the three, adding to the festivities’ feeling; it felt like a place where you could come, sit around and enjoy the music even if it wasn’t always your cup of tea.

Omnium Gatherum’s audience

According to festival goers, the security was tighter this year as the men in neon vests tried to weed out alcohol from the area (and I too got searched). But inside the festival area, the atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming — even if outside, the nearby city streets were littered with drunken and passed out teenagers trying to grasp what was left of their vacation.

Finnish goddamn summer.

Occasionally the second stage would bottleneck access to the third, but overall it was still easy to get around. I wasn’t too sad to see the fourth stage go, as it meant that not as many bands were booked on top of one another and you didn’t have to stampede from one end to the other to try and get a glimpse of everything. Especially when our Teeth crew was only just one man strong this time around.

Minor defects included the water refilling spots, as their locations seemed to have gone to deaf ears. People didn’t seem to realize that there were actually two places to replenish empty water bottles. Most queued next to the building that housed the third stage, adding to the clutter. There was also quite a bit of flooding from the toilet area nearby, with some of the urinals pouring over; apparently warm weather makes people drink and piss more.

However, the biggest omission that struck me in the gut was the lack of free, sponsored beverages. There was no Coca Cola stand to be found anywhere, which previous years was a great way to get some fluid back in while moving between stages. As hinted, the weather was nice throughout with a bit of burning happening on Friday, and humane warmth on Saturday and Sunday — despite some clouds here and there. Again, Tuska proved to go against all weather reports, as the festival evaded the promised rain clouds.

What I paid attention to this year around was that, going against some reports online, the sound policies were pretty much perfect to my worn ears. At no point did I notice any badly mixed sets on any of the stages that would have distracted one from enjoying the bands at hand. Instead I found myself thinking how the mixes were quite fitting on more than one occasion.

As Teeth’s task force was just one man this time around, I figured I’d take it a bit easier this year and not machinegun with the camera from one band to another. It proved to be a wise decision as unlike the previous years, I actually felt quite healthy on the next Monday after all had been said and done.

Let’s rewind.

FRIDAY

Cut to Fit

“Because this is probably the last time we’ll ever get to play a stage as big as this…” proclaimed Cut to Fit screamer Jere inside the boiler room that held Tuska’s third stage, somewhat taken aback by the fact that indeed, they had a pretty damn good turnout for their gig at Tuska Open Air, especially considering the festival had just begun. “[…] So this will be the only crowd singalong I’ll do…” he continued before adding “You guys seen the South Park episode where the mongols invade and the Chinese guy has to defend…and the mongolians go DURRRRRH? When I count to three, go DURRRRRH! One, two, three [crowd goes DURRRRRRHH!!!]”. Not that I could see it clearly, and maybe it was just sweat pouring down Jere’s face after beating himself into submission on stage, but there might have been a glimpse of joy in his eyes before he instantly rocketed himself into the next song. And with that moment, the grindcore group from Lahti, Finland won me over. Not that I didn’t appreciate their (on average) 40 second long songs—most featuring a burly groove—about various topics that ranged from silly, to social issues (“Next song’s about how hard it’s to watch how your close ones go mental”), the intolerability of life and government’s way to fuck the average Joe up in the ass. There was something very humane and humbling about the event.

Tesseract

Moments before Tesseract had closed their festival opening set on the ‘Radiorock’ main stage. They’d been summoned by speed dial to replace Dillinger Escape Plan and had 60-minutes to sell their djent-influenced, rhythmic and sometimes progressive take on metal to a still cold but ever-growing crowd. While it didn’t seem to be up to everyone’s tastes, having spun Tesseract’s fresh new album Altered State quite actively the past few weeks prior, the show proved well worth my time. The band’s new singer Ashe O’Hara showed that he was quite capable in a live setting as well. The rest of the band played with conviction and precision while making a strong showcase of themselves too.

Abhorrence

I don’t think Abhorrence needs much, if any introduction. After a twenty and some odd years hiatus, the band was back on stage on the smaller second stage, ‘Inferno’. The crowd welcomed the truckload of nostalgia with open arms, and after some adjusting, the band too got back into the groove of it more and more. The band had to throw in everything they had to fill the time slot which also lead to the fact that, in all honesty, they do seem to have some filler. Still, a curiosity that undeniably reminded that the current state of metal in Finland shouldn’t be taken for granted nor that the success of it all was made overnight.

Wintersun

Abhorrence wasn’t the only thing coming back on stage, as Friday saw many bands who had been playing at Tuska not too long ago make a return, including Wintersun, Ihsahn and Amorphis. Wintersun’s latest album Time I sparked some debate with the fans about whether or not it was actually worth the wait, but on stage the new material gelled quite well with the old. The band lead by Jari Mäenpää and backed by Kai Hahto sounded strong and majestic (with a ton of backing tapes), but after a handful of songs, I decided to check out the last few songs from rocking doomsters Tombstoned instead and a bit later, the first few cuts by power metal act Dreamtale. Where the first was quite subdued and concentrated, the latter showed its experience with what seemed like a strong show — considering the music did nothing for me.

Ihsahn

Once Wintersun had done its bit to get some adrenaline going, Ihsahn arrived onto the second stage with Leprous backing him up (who had started the festival in the boiler room at the same time with Tesseract). I couldn’t remember much from the 2010 gig Ihsahn threw at Tuska, but this time his progressive metal charmed me with strong instrumentalization. One thing that stood out was how animated Leprous’ keyboardist Einar Solberg was. The guy pretty much stole the show. After a while, I went to check the remaining 30 minutes of Torture Killer’s death metal marathon. And, oh boy, did the band catch me off my guard. Especially notable was vocalist Pessi Haltsonen who provided some of the best growling I’ve heard in years, and the music steamrolled the packed indoor area into total surrender. Death Metal fans, pay note. Oh yeah, as for Leprous, I learned later on that missing them and their 20-minute (or so) set was a huge bummer as their newest album Coal is some of the best stuff put out in 2013.

Bolt Thrower

Conveniently Torture Killer’s murder seemed to have warmed up the audience as Bolt Thrower received a far bigger (and well deserved) response on the main stage than I believed possible, which was nice. The band seemed happy to throw their only European gig to a bloodthirsty audience, ready for war, death and destruction. And that’s exactly what the legendary death metal battalion brought, picking off songs from their vast discography (“When Glory Beckons” was played in honor of Jeff Hanneman) and serving it all with such absolution that none were left unsatisfied after the 75 minutes of nothing but hit songs were over. Another thing where Bolt Thrower obliterated was the merch booth, which they had set up themselves. T-shirts were around 15 euros cheaper compared to other bands (aside from De Lirium’s Order who also sold their goods at a reasonable price).

During Bolt Thrower’s set, I decided to take a peek of Kuolemanlaakso, the Finnish doom/death supergroup of sorts (featuring Swallow the Sun’s Mikko Kotomäki on vocals). I only stayed for a song and a half, but their crunchy offering sounded good, very good in fact — so much so, that I ordered their debut album Uljas Uusi Maailma (“Brave New World”) a few days later for a closer inspection.

Jere Lehtinen of Dallas Stars fame likes metal

I couldn’t explain it to myself why, but I had been anticipating Amorphis’ gig. NHL legend Jere Lehtinen (of Dallas Stars fame) introduced the band to stage, but in the end, the show left me a tad cold despite the band’s strong (as expected) effort. Perhaps it was the setlist that didn’t get me all that excited, as only “On Rich and Poor” was played off Elegy and none from Tuonela. The new songs sounded good live, though, and especially “Hopeless Days” resonated well with me, albeit the song would be tons better without the happy parts. It’s painful how clear it is that if Amorphis were to fully embrace melancholia rather than try to offer hope where they can, it could give birth to things oh-so-beautiful. It also seemed like Tomi Joutsen had something to prove after all the previous death metal outfits, as he seemed a bit more intense than I’ve seen him before. Tomi Koivusaari, on the other hand, seemed a bit less so, but then again, it was his second show of the day having played with Abhorrence just some hours before.

I’ve never grown to be that big of a King Diamond aficionado, but it would have been a crime not to have the man and his band close off Friday. While King went through some medical issues not too long ago, on stage he proved to be in excellent condition both in voice and showmanship. The group provided a show that would have been right at home at some Broadway theater with their mansion backdrop complete with a dancer acting out whatever roles were needed to illustrate the songs.

King Diamond. Who else?

Some fans seemed to crave for more recent songs, but for some dolt like me, the setlist provided a nice general view. Some Mercyful Fate songs (“Come to the Sabbath” and “Evil”) got played as well, with the traditional drum solo at the middle. The acoustic intro to “Black Horsemen” sounded great, while “Welcome Home” came early in the set to please my expectations. Perhaps the most memorable and entertaining parts of the show were “Up from the Grave” and “Voodoo” that really drove home how big of a performer on stage Kim Petersen really is (along with the convincing stage presence from guitar extraordinaire Andy LaRocque, Hal Patino and Mike Wead).

The show was a great tour de force, making it loud and clear that King Diamond is, indeed, a force not to be reckoned with and that I’ve got some more home studies to do. With all due respect to my old-time favorite Testament, King Diamond provided the festival’s most entertaining set right on the very first day. Everything just screamed heavy metal. Pure and simple.

Stadium.

There were some issues that weren’t about pure perception though. On Saturday, one of the two entrances (at the opposite sides of one another) was bottlenecked and people had to wait in queue for quite a while. The biggest problem was with the second stage. It was hidden on the road next to the stadium rather than being in the relative closeness of the main one. It seemed like it was an effort away for a lot of people who didn’t want to walk up all those steps and the concrete ramps just to see bands they didn’t already know. Scientists say people are becoming more passive each and every day and the second stage’s turnout was a proof of that. Those who did turn out, however, seemed to be quite devout. There were few minor details that hindered the overall experience as well. The signing sessions had decent-sized queues, which interfered with the water refilling spots, but luckily the weather wasn’t as scorching as it could have been.

Where’s Waldo?

On the other end, as far as comfort goes, it’s hard to complain as there was plenty of seating available, the running track provided a humane enough experience for aching feet (compared to pure concrete) and best of all, one didn’t have to sneeze black shit (dust) from one’s nose for the whole week after. Overall, it was nice to have the somewhat refreshed Sauna Open Air back.

But let’s get on with the bands, shall we.

SATURDAY

Mikko: I saw Stratovarius live once years ago well before Tolkki lost his mind and started meddling with oddball publicity stunts and bloodied up female singers. None of that was to be seen, nor Tolkki, but the Finnish power metal institution sounded different, and dare I say, even a bit harder now. I haven’t really paid attention to the band, but I suppose it helps when you pretty much switch the whole lineup like Kotipelto and Jens Johansson have done. It seems to have paid off. Matias Kupiainen (guitars) has the tools to go into aggressive mode while still maintaining the virtuosity and delicate touch that Stratovarius fans are known to love, and the rest of the guys (including bassist Lauri Porra) are no slouches either. Surprisingly, Kotipelto seemed a lot less irritating too than the last time I saw the guy live — as if he’d come to realize that you don’t need to go hunting high all the time. Despite listening to Episode and Visions a few times in my youth, I never had a mental connection with the band. However, on Saturday, I felt satisfaction seeing them doing their thing, but most of all, it was nice seeing them also branch out from their old conventions.

Lauri Porra of Stratovarius is a flashy bass player

Matti: I was stuck in the queue when the band was playing. Not that big of a loss really, as I’ve never been a fan and thought they were pretty much done and dead already. At least I got the latest scoop (or half of it) listening to a few drunken metalheads who desperately tried to not only make sense of the situation with the band, but also empty their full beer cans as fast as possible before security check.

— Who’s that playing?
— I think it’s (hic) Stratovarius.
— Oh, I thought they played yesterday?
— No, that was just Timo Kotipelto (barf)
— Wait, I thought Tolkki was there also?
— No, just Kotipelto. Tolkki (barf) does not play anymore.
— What? I heard he came back?
— Never happened (hic)
— Oh… whatever, I am here to see Bodom!

Blood Red Hour Glass. So much rage.

Mikko: I’d never ever even heard of Blood Red Hourglass (or BRHG as they called themselves) before and I doubt you’ll hear much of them either; the group mingles in a somewhat crowded and contested territory, sailing somewhere between Lamb of God influences and those European “death/thrash” metal acts like Konkhra… you know, the one’s that you can listen through without any disdain but can’t remember much about afterwards. I was about to mention Pantera as a clear influence as well, but there didn’t seem to be as big of an emphasis on grooves or fist-in-your-face shredtastic riffing. While BRHG was putting a commendable effort for a somewhat to-the-norm pummeling of a show, I felt the band still didn’t quite go above and beyond like they should have. They failed to achieve that (almost over the top) ferocity one has come to expect from bands like these in a live setting, although on a positive side they didn’t look corny by acting out rehearsed stage antics either. The rock’n’rolling did get better and better towards the end though, so perhaps there’s an underlying upside to it all.

Matti: Agree. In a way I liked all that was going on but nothing really stuck or popped. Nothing stood out for me as something special. There were some Pantera-esque sounds in the middle of a few songs, though. Maybe they’re still there if I ever hear their current album. The guys did seem to show some dedication as some of the band members had gotten their BRHG-logo inked on their skinsuits with cat-sized letters.

Alexi Laiho still angry about the Bodom-lake murders.

Mikko: To tell you the truth, I’ve never made it a mission to see Children of Bodom live but figured I’d pop my Bodom cherry since they were up on the main stage next. For a band that has toured as much as they have, I was surprised how lackluster their show turned out to be; it first seemed as if they’d been forced at gunpoint to be on stage — as if that silly epithet, Children of Boredom, had actually become a reality. It got better towards the end and the crowd seemed to eat it all up, but looking at it overall, it just felt… flat. Not that the musicianship had gone anywhere, but otherwise it seemed like the machine had not properly warmed up yet. They also played a couple of songs (“Transference” and “Halo of Blood”) from the fresh new album and while there have been some slight alterations to their 20-year-old formula (a bit less pompous and some more extreme influences thrown in), nothing really stood out that would have made a cynical dick like myself go “Wow. I need to hear more of this.” All the musicianship is still there but… meh.

Matti: Yeah. I felt like COB are already way past the high time to get some kind of real inspiration to what they are doing — or rather selling. At this point it’s like this band has run out of all that vital young-boy angst & aggression that once built and fueled their rise. The milk has run out and the old scythe they once wielded with vigor has gotten woefully dull.

Youthful vigor and Lost Society.

Mikko: Speaking of young vigor and morning wood, while well established bands were underachieving, the biggest surprise of the festival went by the name Lost Society. The young thrash metal outfit looked like they’d come to 2013 from 1986 with a rad fucking time machine. They got some notoriety in a band contest where they got signed by Nuclear Blast. For good reason too, as Lost Society looked extremely happy to be on stage and far more eager than anybody to prove themselves worthy of one’s attention. The band plays no-bullshit, pure old-school American thrash metal and as said earlier, they certainly looked the part. The young guns suffered from some technical difficulties at first, which didn’t slow them down one bit and by the end of their 30-minute set, they had already rocked the shit out of it and achieved a level of enthusiasm that very few bands could touch over the weekend. Lost Society definitely made Bodom look even worse. To conclude, if thrash is your thing, definitely keep an eye out.

Matti: Shit! Did I come here just to confirm your thoughts or are we now tuning into some retarded hive-mind, melt-state consciousness. While this was my first gentle time with Lost Society, for weeks now I have almost daily admired their debut record’s ‘80s throwback cover art, which has been hanging on my local record shop’s display window. Outside of the cool (and what turned out to be pretty foretelling) cover art, I had no idea what to expect when I headed towards the Inferno stage as it was just about to light up. And light up it did.

These little devils made a case for themselves, all the while making me feel old as shit — not that it’s very difficult nowadays. Bunch snot-faced young lads (and most likely high school dropouts) playing music from an era when even I was just a small child. How dare they! And how old were these guys? 17-18? Fuck. But alas, I must forgive them, for they played great homage to the metal gods of the old. I see a bright future for these promising guys and I hope they can keep the same energy level going on when their balls start to sag some more.

Mikael Åkerfeldt had some fun things to say. Again.

Matti: After the young guns, came the old again. I saw Opeth play live a few years back when they were going through that clear transitional period with their music with all those quieter and subtle progressive rock elements, which would ultimately lead them into Heritage and the Åkerfeldt/Steven Wilson collaboration Storm of Corrosion. This in result made that gig a pretty big letdown for me as I was waiting to hear more tunes from their (at the time) most recent outing, Watershed. Instead I got to hear a lumbering set comprised of a couple of bigger Opeth hits and a bunch of less played songs that were plagued from the beginning to the end by what felt like randomly placed ambient prog rock gimmicks. Back to 2013, Opeth’s setlist seemed to be more streamlined and well-balanced. In a short but versatile performance, we saw the merry band play it pretty close to the vest and by doing so, showcased pretty much all the band’s strong points. I could not but enjoy the show full-heartedly while it lasted.

Mikko: Opeth did fit the “summer’s here” feeling like Finnish people passing out in public from alcohol poisoning during the summer time (then again they do that in the winter time as well). Not only did Åkerfeldt rile up the audience with his known antics (bad mouthing the Finnish hockey team), but he also seemed somewhat genuinely sorry for having to do a one hour set. But it was a warming 60-minutes.

Finntroll showed who was in charge.

Mikko: Instead of replacing some no-show act on a short notice, Finntroll was actually summoned to play their trollish tunes from the get-go. They have always seemed able to gather up a crowd even when they’ve been mere mercenaries, but I don’t think I’ve personally sat through a complete set from them. I did this time and was thoroughly entertained and it seemed like, again, other people were too.

Matti: Yup. Strong support for Fintroll. The second stage was swamped by people in a way that was not seen again during the two day festival. The nearest beer cage was filled to the quills and people were jolly while the spock-eared festival veterans stomped on the stage.

As a side note, while I found myself looking through the lens at the trolls in full make-up and costumes, I began to go through all the bands that have crossed my viewfinder. It dawned on me that a lot of those bands had some sort of extravagant metal uniforms on; be it troll ears, horned viking helments, chainmails, denim vests and band tags, artistic face paints and decorative mic stands — no corners are cut and none shall be spared. Dress up or die. Like one guy who liked to dress up once advised, “It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again…”

Mikko: Maybe in the future, we’re going to have turf wars at metal festivals when the vikings fight against denims all the while the Broadstreet Corpsepainters are gooning up the casual non-dressers.

Nightwish’s first actual front woman.

Mikko: Speaking of casual-friendly music, Nightwish were up next to finish and tidy up Saturday.

After going through two vocalists (namely Tarja Turunen and Anette Olzon) Nightwish seems to have finally found the perfect front woman in Floor Jansen. As people have reported from the Nightwish shows they’ve seen with her at the helm, she did in fact, look right at home and the rest of the band didn’t seem to be playing with a stick up in their ass either. Dare I say, Nightwish actually looked like a band that had been playing together as a band for quite some time… with proper chemistry and all. Floor also managed to gel in with the music too, as she performed through old and new songs without a stretch or a worry in her voice, all the while dominating the stage with her tall presence. Third time’s a charm and perhaps the band has finally found the singer they’ve always been looking for. Will they be able to keep her along? Who knows, but I knew I was hungry so as “Storytime” hit the airwaves, I headed out to the warm evening of Tampere city in a search for a tasty… burger.

Matti: I hadn’t been paying attention to Nightwish since Oceanborn. At the time they were offering something different, even if the lyrics were corky as hell and badly pronounced. That was well before they became so theatrical that they needed to have their own movies to justify all the bullshit.

In a way I could draw some parallels between the evolution of Children of Bodom and Nighwish. While the path traveled is a little different, in the end both seem to have ended up inside an artistical void, where all straws have been pulled to maintain the commercially successful mold. Both were children of the late ‘90s and when they both hit the streets almost simultaneously, they became the new hot things in the Finnish metal scene. From there, they soon gathered the somewhat deserved international appeal. Now, both bands seem to have gone through the natural cycle and stayed well past their welcome; desperately trying to keep a falling empire afloat. Both bands seem to have gotten as big as they possibly can. Now they’re just stagnant in a coma, getting bloated with artificial efforts of maintenance.

Nightwish and the audience.

So where was I? I found myself totally out of the loop on who was singing and why. Walking towards the main stage to snap a few photos, equipped with my dog-like sense of super hearing, I got it all explained to me from afar by a random conversation.

“Dude! I hear Nightwish have yet another new female vocalist…” some guy said to another, before unleashing the ultimate reason as to why Floor Jansen was better: “…she’s got a way better ass than Anette Olzon!”

While in some other context this might have been a valid selling point for me, I carried on to sneak a peek and a few tunes too. In the end, to put it bluntly, I was not that impressed. Unfortunately, living my life completely unaware of Anette Olsen, I couldn’t compare how big of an improvement Floor was. But with the information given to me before, maybe I can do some ass-to-ass comparisons when the next Nightwish singer is crowned. [Insert some generic beauty pageant theme song here to close day one].

The album starts out a bit more theatrical, but then progresses into a harsher and more fierce movement at the end. However, it’s the mid-section that really holds no punches, as it takes emotional stabs with transitions that shockwave through the body and resonate long after the album is finished; “The Valley” and “Echo”, both clocking 9-minutes or so, are probably the best songs of the year. For example, when “Echo” takes a more active persona at the 4:30 mark, it’s a move that few bands have been able to pull off — and for the song to transform into the epic that it becomes… goddamn!

Musically Leprous operates in territories where Devin Townsend has been at his best — without the skullet — albeit the band also has its moments of delirium. While the title song “Coal” could fool almost anybody, it’s still not 1:1 at any point, as there’s the Norwegian genius thrown into the mix that seems to combine acts like Arcturus, Ulver, Winds, Green Carnation and Emperor (with a sprinkle of more mainstream acts like Muse and to-hell-with-it, Daft Punk). Much like the aforementioned acts, the thing goes from absolute beauty to sprouts of rage and then gathers all those mixed emotions into something that simply makes sense in the end. I don’t know, it’s hard to just put the band into a cone with a bunch of references around it, but what we’ve got here is indeed perfected and polished like a diamond; one that maintains all the blood, sweat and oppression that go with such beautiful things.

It’s not just that the songs work. The talent behind the instruments must be commended as each and everyone pulls their weight in gold, illustrating such a vastly mesmerizing journey. However, it’s the lead vocals from Einar Solberg that add such a strong layer on top of it all, and combined with his keyboards, the man is able to pierce right down to the very core of one’s anima — forcefully pulling reactions out like no other: Even a heterosexual (unless he’s not telling me something) friend of mine who avoids metal, and rarely has any favorable things to say, wanted to have sex with Solberg.

While diamonds might be a girl’s best friend, that shit doesn’t make the world go around. It’s Coal. For someone who seems hard to please and quite apathetic when it comes down to new music, the fact that I’m whimpering and emotionally exposed by Coal should be quite telling. This is the shit, folks.

SUNDAY

Matti: Sunday cometh. The third and last day of Tuska also happened to be the day I personally was waiting for the most. During the first two days of the festival, I must admit that there were several moments when I had to question my motivation for attending. The diverse musical catering provided was somewhat inconsistent when it came to my highly specific needs. Today felt much different. So like a level 60 nerd playing WOW online with a girl for the first time, I showed embarrassingly early.

The day started off with some gothic and melodic metal/hard rock provided by Finland’s The Man-Eating Tree. The apples of this tree do not seem to fall far from those bands in which these guys have played before., and the music was much in the vein of Sentenced, Poisonblack and Embraze. Being a relatively new band, they have been quick to put out two full-length albums (Vine, Harvest), so they had plenty to use for their set. Personally, not the first thing on my favorite list, but not a bad band if you like this kind of music. They gathered a decent amount of confused goth babes to the crowd — which are, in fact, the second thing on my favorite list. It was like flies circling a traplight, where I could be the turd lying on the porch below — a good way to grab the attention of any stragglers… Yes, I am a romantic at heart.

Tuomas Tuominen sang for Fall of the Leafe. Now he sings in Man-Eating Tree.

Speaking of shits and turds — a field which I am a expert in — Suicide Silence gets to compete for the price of being the biggest piece of garbage I have ever witnessed at Tuska. “We are trying too fucking hard at being too cool for school” was one of the phrases that kept playing through my head as I watching this assclownery unfold onstage. Vocalist Mitch Lucker was trying his hardest to bust out his best Phil Anselmo impression, but he kept failing in every way by not having any sense of true conviction. Everything felt so totally dishonest and contrived that it’s hard to put into words how powerful their shit reeked.

Somebody needs to wash their mouth with soap

Even when I thought it could not get any more sad and pathetic, things took a full 360 turn when they broke out their ultimate punchline. (I’ll paraphrase here by channeling my inner douchebag so I can recall this as authentically as possible.) Between songs, Mitch turns and addresses his teen horde by opening his big and magical ‘Book of Words by Mitch’. The one that has over three hundred pages full of the word ‘fuck’ and nothing much else: “Hey all you fuckers out there! I want you all to fucking sing this fucker with me. Are you fucking ready!? This next fucking song is called… Fuck everything!” Ba da-fucking-bum! And to top it all off, the track’s actually their sing-a-fucking-long song too.

I guess angst-filled and immature metal music works well for angst-filled and immature youths; one look at the scores of confused teens in front of Suicide Silence’s set proved that. They’re the epitome of generic metal/deathcore: an endless amount of unnecessary breakdowns, and lyrical content void of any intelligence. Unintentionally funny, but ultimately so stupid, it shouldn’t even exist.

Jack Sparrow, Perttu Kivilaakso or Tuomas Holopainen? The other memorable Apocalyptica-member, anyway. Whatever. 

Having the iffy novelty act Apocalyptica on the main stage was, in my opinion, somewhat of a low moment, considering the band mainly performs cover songs. Okay, I can understand that they’re big at international funfairs, and that they’re some sort of accessible ambassadors for all of metal — they take classic metal songs and give them a fresh face by playing them with cellos. Still, even after all these years, and despite the fact that they do write original songs as well, the band still feels like too much of a gimmick to me. The excessive make-up and easy-to-photo, over-acted facial expressions (not to mention dressing up as Jack Sparrow) does not help the band seem more legit in my book, but whatever. Also, the nicely executed light show was ruined by the bright summer sun.

Still, some of their own songs can be pretty decent, and are helped by the fact that they’ve employed a real drummer for quite some time now. There was also a guest vocalist, Tipe Johnson — maybe Corey Taylor and the other guys singing on the records had something better to do that day — singing backup on some of the tracks. I didn’t finish their set, though — after my shift at the photo pit, I withdrew into the shade to catch a nap.

• MK: Well, there’s one thing going for Apocalyptica… at least they’re not goddamn Van Canto.
• MM: Oh, don’t get me started on acapella music. Thinking about shit like that makes me believe that with enough hate inside, spontaneous combustion is actually possible.

Last year there was Ghost and Enslaved, so this year the coin-toss dilemma came up with Skeletonwitch and Baroness playing at the same time. A fifteen minute interval in between starting times enabled me to snatch some photos of both bands, but in the end, the double booking left me sulking after losing out on half of the musical goodness from each.

Chance Garnette felt lively.

Skeletonwitch started hard and hostile, as I had anticipated. Armed with a beer can in his tattooed and claw-like hand, Chance Garnette shrieked through their first songs while hurling himself around the stage like meth-crazed biker that had just eaten some poor sob’s face for breakfast. A mosh pit quickly turned the Inferno tent inside out, but the band was only starting to gear up their blackened thrash assault. Sadly, the good times (for me, at least), were short-lived, as I had to rush over to catch Baroness’ first notes.

Mikko: I slept long as Sunday dawned, and woke up somewhat revitalized — all of my pain from the previous two days was gone, and I went to eat breakfast by the sea. While I would have wanted to see The Man-Eating Tree (mainly because of its Fall of the Leafe connections), it was too early for me to do anything of the sort, so I kept smiling and devoured my bagel. I finally pranced into the premises right before Skeletonwitch took the stage, as I remember this very site hyping them up at one point. I caught up with Matti, and he too seemed ready for good music, especially after he’d just barely avoided being stabbed by one of Apocalyptica’s cellists.

• MM: Oh, I almost forgot that close call! I was trying to take some sexy low-angle photos during their set and almost got impaled by Paavo Lötjönen. It would have been such a Mortal Kombat-like humiliation if I’d been snuffed by the least memorable member of the band.

Skeletonwitch made a damn good first impression, and their Tuska gig apparently wrapped up their recent tour. They didn’t show any battle-wear as they proceeded to annihilate the audience with a lively set and relaxed banter between songs. Vocalist Chance Garnette expressed gratitude plenty of times to the rather large crowd for giving the band a chance — although he must have felt the reactions to his comments about pot were a tad lacking. No matter, the crowd responded well to the music, and shipped the guys off to the States with smiles on their face.

Matti: I still had not decided which band’s set to finish watching after I had taken three songs’ worth of shots of Baroness. In the end, I let them bring home the bacon, as their set was probably the best gig of the whole festival for me.

A proven live band, Baroness ably replicated the massive and multifaceted soundscape they have on their records. Come to think of it, it worked even better than hearing the same stuff on CD. Strangely, the extremely fine-tuned musicianship was celebrated by an oddly still and quiet Tuska audience. Perhaps that’s because they’re just one of the weirdest metal bands around, soundwise. Their music has some odd qualities, as even the more heavier parts always feel out-of-place due to the peculiar absence of bleakness and aggression that is usually quite prominent in metal/heavy music. Actually, you could argue that they’re more of a progressive rock outfit than a pure metal band — and even moreso after the new Yellow & Green album.

Baroness and the sun. Good mix.

Watching Baroness perform live, I caught this sense of warmth and happiness emitting from the stage. This was not the typical rowdy “Let’s get some beers and take over the night!” type of a thing (which Overkill would bring next to the main stage). Instead, the guys seemed to just enjoy playing out under the sunshine, and all the while interacting with the crowd and doing the whole 9 yards of a good rock show effortlessly.

They played most of the better songs from their color scheme albums, ranging from Red to Blue and also incorporating a few songs from the new Yellow & Green. It was a smooth setlist, and all of the songs from the color-themed albums built an organic, free flowing experience which worked out perfectly. After this showing, I don’t think I was the only one who left with high hopes to see Baroness touring through Finland’s clubs soon…

Mikko: Lamb of God was supposed to be playing next, but due to certain events in the Czech Republic, the band was forced to cancel and Finntroll were summoned on an extra-short notice. Lamb of God’s cancellation led to hilarious outbursts throughout the weekend as the band’s more vocal fans cried tasty bitter tears on Facebook, how they’d be selling their Sunday tickets as their weekend was now officially ruined. Yeah. An event that occurred two years ago in another country was definitely the Tuska organizers’ fault. Sheesh. Not surprisingly, as I roamed through the concrete paradise on Sunday, I saw a lot of those same teary-eyed faces from Facebook and elsewhere here and there on the festival grounds. Go figure.

• MM: I’m starting to feel like every festival organizer in Finland has a red phone on their desk with a direct line to Finntroll. I don’t think this is the first time the trolls have been called to the rescue…

Matti: When it comes to the case of Randy Blythe vs the Czech Republic, it’s been nice to see how fellow metal bands have been coming out and trying to raise awareness. They’ve brought some valid viewpoints to the whole debacle. I recently read an article with Dave Brockie of mighty GWAR sharing his untypically serious opinions on the case to free Randy. Still, I couldn’t keep “Let Us Slay” from playing in my head as I read his words.

Mikko: Some said Finntroll wasn’t a worthy enough replacement for Lamb of God. I wouldn’t know since I skipped their show, but from what I saw of it, they seemed to have found their audience and then some.

And truth be told, I didn’t mind Lamb of God’s unfortunate no-show, as it meant that Overkill got their spot on the main stage and with it, a longer set. Truth be told, the guys from New Jersey were definitely the weekend’s headliner for me, as their 2009’s Tuska set left me craving a bigger fix (and back then, they were also slightly overshadowed by my unnerving Nevermore-fanboyism). Three years later, on the first day of July 2012, Overkill showed that they more than deserved this bigger time slot.

Overkill’s Blitz is god-tier. No contest.

It was a killer set, and performed with such relentless and brutal power that a lot of younger bands lost any excuse for being completely motionless live. Bobby Blitz simply puts a lot of frontmen to shame, even though he had to go and take a breather a few times behind the amps. After a few deep breaths though (and, surprisingly, enjoying a cigarette while air-guitaring), he was back out onstage for more vocal violence. “You make me feel like I’m 49 years old again” — definitely one of the better frontmen out there.

He also spoke about growing old and how there’s nothing wrong with that — “as long as you have good friends to do it with.” That struck a nice chord with me as I floated around the festival ground, feeling older and wondering if I felt disconnected from the younger festivalgoers. The band showed no sign of stopping and mixed new with old — “Necroshine” particularly blew my mind. Despite the longer set, a lot of the songs I wanted to hear were left out (“Thunderhead” for example), but considering just how fucking extensive Overkill’s discography is, it’s really no wonder.

The band also addressed the Lamb of God situation briefly and commented on the metal community’s impressive support and solidarity. Brief Lamb of God chants were heard before switching back to Overkill’s name and more thrashing to “In Union We Stand”. It was really pleasing to see that not only was the crowd engaged throughout the set (and for many, this was their first exposure), but the band was also having a ton of fun. Quite telling that Blitz pretty much invited everyone at the show back to his house for a BBQ (so long as they brought their own drinks).

After Overkill’s set, I was more than content, but the festival was still few hours from ending. And while I’m at it, there’s no doubt that with each time I see Overkill, they solidify their place as my favorite thrash act along with Testament.

Matti: My highlight moment was hearing the old classic “Hello From the Gutter” live. I have some fond childhood memories of stealing one of my older brother’s C-cassettes which had this particular song on it. It made a long-lasting impact to my then-unscarred psyche. You know, I think this song might have been a factor in my personal decline as a human being, which resulted in me becoming a worthless scumbag and gave my parents a black sheep of shame to banish from their will (not to mention ruining any chance of building a meaningful relationship with the ladies.). Overkill, I thank thee for bringing me into the fold so young!

• MK: Shit just got personal!
• MM: Well, sometimes it can be a virtue to wear your heart on your sleeve. Even if that heart might look like a rotten potato.

Dr. Doom or Huoratron? Probably both.

Mikko: After Overkill’s thundering tour-de-force, many would and could argue that Huoratron was a miscast act for a heavy metal festival, but those people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. The bludgeoning, electronic wall of noise, armament of strobolights and Aku Raski’s evil genius-like performance had metalheads frantically dancing as if the end of the world was near. The strong, sweet essence of weed puffing out from the audience must have helped as well. Metal or not, but very metal-esque nonetheless. Definitely something that you more open-minded or less electronic-inclined people should check out in a live setting. Top notch stuff, really — even if I was left wondering how there weren’t any epileptic seizures…

• MM: For me, it was a fun and refreshing move to see Huoratron invade Tuska. I didn’t see or hear much negative feedback from the crowd, as the music seemed to keep most of them busy jumping and dancing to the beat. It’s one thing to look at hot girls screaming and fist-pumping in the crowd, but yet another to see them jumping and shaking those sweet, sweet booties around like there’s no tomorrow. I approve this message.

Mikko: Inside on the fourth stage, Jess and the Ancient Ones were also firing up their set. They’re part of the new occult-rock wave that seems to be gaining more and more momentum in the world’s darker corners. From the little I saw, the band (forged by Deathchain’s Corpse) seemed to be standing on its own two firm feet. Unfortunately, after the pummeling earlier from Overkill’s set, I just didn’t have the patience to come down from my high, so I went to watch the last of Huoratron’s gig instead. There’s just something reassuring about letting the beats pound your head before Ministry, the festival’s headliner.

Occult, occult, occult

Matti: After a hassle that interrupted the beginning of the show, I got settled next to the soundboard to watch Ministry have a go at it. I haven’t listened to the new Relapse album — Rio Grande was the last one on my shelf — so it took me awhile to get into the groove of things. Ultimately, the band put on a good show and in my opinion, well-worth the festival’s headliner billing. Highlights for me were “Just One Fix”, “NWO” and “Worthless,” and I also liked their revamped take on “Khyber Pass” (which is where they had finally “shot Bin Laden”). The song gave a really nice, subtle addition to the atmosphere, and lingered in the air as the set hurtled towards the encore.

Al Jourgensen and his portable pawnshop

Mikko: The first time I saw Al Jourgensen as a kid was on the “NWO” video. The guy instantly became one of the coolest people in existence back then, so when Ministry took the stage to close down the Tuska Festival, I was naively anticipating an evangelical experience. That got shot down pretty quick, as I haven’t paid attention to the band since Rio Grande Blood, nor had I had any indication of Al’s transformation into a walking body-piercing sweatshop. The dude must get a ton of shit at the airport’s metal detector!

• MM: Leave the man alone. He has enough to worry about with The New World Order and the upcoming collapse of the modern society. You do know he is deeply committed to fighting the NWO and preparing his home compound for the upcoming free-for-all when shit finally hits the fan.
• MK: Pure cosmetics aside, the music had a hard time grabbing my interest. Jourgensen seemed to be in a talkative mood, feeding the crowd with accolades and statistics about Helsinki being the metal capital of the world. Sadly, when it came down to hardcore politics and today’s events as topics, the audience seemed a bit more out of tune.

Mikko: I think Tuska was finally starting to overstay its welcome as that unique metal exhaustion began to creep up in my psyche. So after a handful of songs, I decided to call it quits and went to see a friend at one of the beer areas. Funnily enough, that particular bar was set up in an area that had actual nature inside, which reminded me of just how tiring the mix of metal and concrete can be, and how the festival’s spirit and audience had changed so much in just two years. The only thing that sucked was that as I was going through my hippie-phase with beer in hand, I’d missed out on seeing “NWO” live. Shit happens.

• MM: Jourgensen has such misanthropic views of the future, and surely does not care that taking mud baths for healthier skin will keep pretty rocker-man-crushes alive. If you didn’t know this, you can always search the interweb for the audio of him visiting Alex Jones at Info Wars. His AI/Spielberg story told during that interview was also pure gold.In the end, I think Al and Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman should have their own TV show, in which they’d have light-hearted chats each week about canned food, all while sitting on their recliners, shotguns across their laps, drinking tea and holding cute, fluffy kittens.

And that was that.

Matti: Not counting some small moments here and there, only Sunday got me somewhat pumped-up. On Friday, I was tired and my overall motivation to check out the bands just wasn’t that strong. Saturday had few high moments with Anaal Nathrakh, Napalm Death and For the Imperium, but it still managed to feel a little lacking luster. Sunday, on the other hand, had several bands that I was really interested in seeing, but as they went on against each other, my raffle ticket didn’t score the grand prize.

My unscientific examination of the average age of this year’s Tuska festival-goer also made me weep for my own golden years. Most of the time, I felt like one of the Old Ones awakening on the bottom of the sea after long, strange aeons, only to find out that times have changed and kids are ruining fucking everything. And I just did not have the tentacles to give them a massive bitchslap.

Mikko: After all was said and done, this year’s Tuska felt eerily similar to last year’s. It’s as if the organizers had used the same template, with minor alterations to book the bands. Jess and the Ancient Ones vs. Jex Thoth, Hatebreed vs. Agnostic Front, Electric Wizard vs. Saint Vitus, Exodus vs. Forbidden and so forth. I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — the approach really gathered a wide variety of acts together.

• MM: I can agree with your assessment. This year really followed a similar pattern used last time around. Maybe they have this down in Excel now or something.

The festival was, without a doubt, a success, but given my wavering interest at times, I wonder what the future will hold for Tuska. Beneath the success, I think there’s a call for some sort of a shake up.

While the new area made it far more easier to maneuver through the crowds, some sort of intimacy or community has been lost in the process. In a way, it felt like that second gig from Devin Townsend two years ago was the pinnacle point for the festival. It gathered everyone together for a very special moment. Or perhaps there’s been no change and it’s just my nostalgia talking. Perhaps the new setting simply needs a few more years to burn in. Or perhaps I need to find the leak in my soul and pump some goddamn metal back into my veins…

The fact remains that the festival is still a Top Tier event and runs like a well-oiled machine. As long as the organizers keep booking excellent and surprising performers—as they have been doing—there’s simply nothing to worry about.

But we sure as fuck ain’t growing any younger.

* * *

Our last set of Tuska 2012 photos can be seen on our Facebook-page.

SATURDAY

Matti: The early bird catches the worm, but I still am just a man who needs his beauty sleep. Estonian folk metal band Metsätöll started day two raiding the main stage at half-past midday, but at that time I was still drinking milk and eating cereal. Metsätöll is a decent-to-good live band, but they’re one of those bands that tour Finland pretty regularly, and I had seen them on several occasions. So I had no hurry digging them Lucky Charms out of me milk bowl. After finishing my breakfast with a smile, I darted back to the trenches.

Anaal Nathrakh

It was a strong start to the second day as I arrived at the Inferno tent to take some photos of Anaal Nathrakh. For me, the band was a new acquaintance and—oh boy—they sure turned me into a fan! Shortly after their opening notes hit the air, I found myself totally losing my shit in the photo pit. I just wanted nothing else than to absorb the musical onslaught that invaded my every cell. The band sounded absolutely brilliant! A sound of all kinds of great things being stacked over and over on top of each other in a growing pile of awesomeness, without any threat of it collapsing in its grandeur. Anaal Nathrakh’s unique sound knits together influences from various kinds of sources, from black metal to grind to death to folk to post-metal, and mixed with some progressive stuff to boot. The list of possible references seems far too grand to put into a list.

One thing that really sticks in my mind, aside from the great whirlpool of riffing, was the somewhat unexpected use of clean vocals, which gave out a rare, Primordial kind of haunting vibe. Simple but amazing. After the photo pit had closed, I spent some time on the stage side listening to the band play. The stage side was untypically crowded, and I soon noted that Mr. Embury was hanging around next to me, inspecting the stage and nodding in approval. It was only later that I read he had also played with these guys.

Amoral’s gig was under control

Mikko: After being screwed over by Helsinki’s tram system, I arrived to the scene at the end of Amoral’s set, and completely missed Anaal Nathrakh’s first-ever performance in Finland. Major bummer, considering some named it the festival’s best gig. Makes you question why the fuck you’d put ‘em up on stage so early (1315 hours? On a Saturday? Goddamn!).

Mokoma at it again. Who else?

Matti: Next up was a widely popular Finnish thrash metal band called Mokoma. They had put up a poll beforehand and asked which album they should play from start to finish during their Tuska gig, and the most voted album was revealed just before the set. The winner—and biggest fan favorite—was Kuoleman Laulukunnaat, quite possibly the heaviest album in their discography and in my opinion, a good choice from and for the masses. Having had seen Mokoma so many times before, the band did little to surprise me during their set. They have always been a solid band with good live chops wrapped around them musical bones, so there was not much to complain about.

Mikko: I thought the audience chose wrong. I would have much more preferred Tämän Maailman Ruhtinaan Hovi, but I’ll let it slide. Mokoma is one of those bands in Finland that has toured the country backwards and forwards, and it really shows on stage. They don’t seem to have bad days and it doesn’t matter whether or not they’re performing on a small stage or stomping around the larger main stages. Professional group, in and out. I suppose the biggest surprise was a new track which has been in the making for years. It didn’t sound too bad for what it was, but it wasn’t anything exciting either. Kind of like their latest album from few years back.

Horna in black and white.

Horna brought its blasphemy to the tent stage, and their homage to Satan sounded far better live than I originally expected. Naturally, the 3pm playing time tried its best to spoil the mass—along with a heckler between the songs—but external factors aside, the gig was definitely one of the better ones on Saturday. Vocalist Spellgoth (more widely known for his pet project Turmion Kätilöt) also took the time to pay homage to satanic traditions by tearing up a bible and throwing the tattered remains into the audience. It might be an old trick, but it always gets a reaction from the audience. However, it appeared that Horna took the gathering far more seriously than the guys throwing up horns and laughs in front of the stage, so perhaps there was some kind of disconnect.

Textures’ vocalist Daniel de Jongh making diamonds

Matti: Whilst Horna was summoning Satanic spirits on the third stage, Textures, whom I had never heard of before Tuska, stepped onto the second stage. Apparently they have had some previous gigs in Finland, most notably at Frostbite Metalfest. That calls for a small detour to take a look at an important chapter in Finnish metal festival history.

Frostbite was a legendary one-off metal festival that was held in 2009. There was this one particular talk of the town back then, an 18-year-old chap who had a dream to bring all of his favorite bands to play live in his hometown, Lahti. Many promoters tried to give him advice and help him out, but their pleas fell upon deaf ears.

The final billing for this two-day-long metal extravaganza included bands like Lamb of God, Cradle of Filth, Mayhem, Arch Enemy and Gorgoroth. While some of these bands did end up playing, the whole thing turned into a total clusterfuck. The venue was oversized, the organization was faulty, and attendance was much, much smaller than what was projected. It also didn’t help that money was spent on limos to transport some of the bands from the airport, and that apparently, Lamb of God was given shitloads more money to play than what they would have normally asked for. Not surprisingly, the organizer/promoter/twelp wound up 200,000 euros in debt, and was nowhere to be found during or after the event. Legend also tells, that when shit really started to hit the fan, metal-extraordinaire and human Swiss army knife Tuomas Saukkonen (Before the Dawn and many other projects) wound up salvaging most of what was salvageable.

Tuska downtime

Frostbite also gave birth to one famous Finnish picture meme that spread around the Interwebs like wildfire through dry grass. The meme is a picture of a simple white paper sheet with the text “MAYHEM PERUTTU” (Mayhem canceled) written on it and taped to a concrete wall of the indoor festival area.

Okay, so why am I talking all this shit about some irrelevant thing in that happened way back when, and not the Textures performance at Tuska 2012? Well, mainly because I didn’t like it. It’s not that Textures is a totally talentless band or exceptionally bad at playing their instruments, just that their songs rely heavily on annoying metalcore gimmicks, and their “progressive” tempo shifts just do not fit the songs. The music was an utter mess, and did not work with me on any level.

• MK: Yeah. Textures seems to have a good work ethic but when the music blows, it blows. The little I saw of the band brought back the memory of Mnemic or watching M.A.N. before Misery Index and Fear Factory back in 2006. Ugh! Thankfully, Napalm Death arrived to the main stage to wash away any and all ill-feelings.

People asked. Napalm Death provided.

Matti: Napalm Death were great. Barney’s stage presence forced me into a good mood and all that ‘T-rex arm flailing’ has to be the best in the business. The grandfathers of grind played songs from throughout their 30-year old history, including the cover version of the Dead Kennedys’ “Nazi punks fuck off!”. On that note, on stage Napalm Death felt more like a hardcore punk band than a metal act. I wonder how many calories were burned giving their little speeches about life in general and how too many of us are contributing to the current sorry state of affairs in the world.

• MK: No doubt Napalm Death showed many of the young’uns in the crowd how to kill — and be political whilst doing so. Barney’s spastic stage antics deserve a second mention.

Battle Beast was nothing like the cartoons.

Mikko: Finland’s Battle Beast caters towards those that appreciate old-school heavy metal with galloping bass-lines. The music lingers somewhere between Judas Priest, Manowar and various Finnish power metal groups. Vocalist Nitte Valo provides a fresh, raspier take on female vocals that instantly draws connections to the ‘80s heavy metal world—before the unholy amalgamation between metal and Abba—where women weren’t afraid to show balls (say Hellion, Rock Goddess or Doro). Guitar shredder Anton Kabanen is everything that Manowar’s Mr. Karl Logan should be and then some. Good-spirited music in a live setting, but I think I’ll skip the albums.

• MM: Battle Beast sounds like a throwback act so hellbent on nailing their sound that they’ve created an ultimate over-the-top metal parody. When I listened to them play, I felt my stomach starting to turn and my skin grow clammy with sweat. Must have been odd flashbacks of a night in a disco on a boat trip to Sweden, where I was absolutely wasted and flailing my limbs on the dance floor to some awful cover band playing Iron Maiden.
• MK: Such negativity! Away with you! Actually, they should have chosen a different name — I half-expected to see people in animal costumes duking it out like it was the dawn of apocalypse. Damn, I miss my childhood action figures.

Afgrund

Matti: Running scared after hearing Battle Beast roar, I ended up indoors where Afgrund was about to climb onto the Musamaailma stage. Afgrund, a multi-national Nordic ensemble, played for what was most likely the smallest crowd at this year’s Tuska. The hall around stage four looked almost empty, with only a handful of hc-punk/hipster-looking people raising their tattoo branded arms and fists to greet the band. I think I caught the stench of their vinyl collections of Black Flag albums as I squeezed my ass into the narrow “photo pit” area. The small amount of attendees did not hold the band back though, as they opened a mixed can of whup-ass containing modern heavy hardcore, grind and black metal.

Sonata’s Elias Viljanen

Mikko: I’m starting to feel as if Sonata Arctica is stalking me. No matter where I go, or which shows I attend, somehow Tony Kakko and the rest of his merry band seem to be there as well. Look, I’ve got nothing against the group — they do what they do with skill, and Kakko is a likeable frontman. Hell, I secretly hold their debut album Ecliptica as one of the best pure power metal albums in the genre, period. However, enough was enough, and it was time for me to take a break before Poland’s biggest death metal act were due on stage.

On my quest to avoid Sonata, I found myself nodding my head in the shade of the third stage with Sweden’s Victims unleashing their aggression upon a dedicated crowd. From the little I heard, I became rather intrigued with the band’s explosive take on hardcore. Not a bad live act either. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for them. Also, I think the band got a decent boost in audience when it began to rain like a motherfucker (thanks Sonata!) and the crowd began finding refuge inside.

Swallow the Sun was swallowed by the color green

Matti: Struck by hunger, I don’t remember anything else about Swallow the Sun other than thinking that taking photos against backlight while smoke machines are going off full steam is a fucking drag. Also, there was this other notion of how Mikko Kotamäki had his lucky green cap on. I think he wore it during his set in 2010 Tuska with Barren Earth. Other than that, there wasn’t much else to note about their stage performance. Guess they did convey the needed sense of hopelessness and apathy that their music suggests.

Nergal followed Rob Dukes’ lead

Mikko: I was really expecting quite a bit from Behemoth—perhaps the outdoor setting was to blame—but unfortunately, they just didn’t quite reach the ferocity I expected. For a band that commands such a strong visual presence elsewhere, it all seemed a bit disappointing onstage, even if the musicians themselves were intimidating enough. Hell, Nergal’s short-haired look really works for him — it gives him a commanding Caesar-like presence.

Sure, the act was there musically, even if the set was slightly on the safe side. It was technical and impressive, and the riffs lend themselves to some proper headbanging action, but I’d still wager that the festival’s happier mood had a slightly poisoning effect on the show. Finland’s a hard place to be grim during the summer, and even during bad weather, there was plenty of light to drag the mood down. None the less, it was good to see Nergal look lively on stage.

For the Imperium tore the audience a new one

Meanwhile, For the Imperium was rocking the shit out of the smaller fourth stage. The band is still relatively unknown outside Finland, but over here, they’re making an impact of sorts, and after seeing the band live for the first time, I understand why. The whole band is a whirlwind of chaos, always and exhaustingly on the move onstage. The same goes for the actual music, which is complex but accessible at the same time, constantly shifting between jazzy tones, burst of aggression and catchier, pop-tinged hues. It’s quite telling that their roadie’s specialty seemed to be untangling badly-entwined cables. Definitely one of Finland’s most relevant live acts at the moment, or as they themselves joked: “We’re a shitty prog band. Sabaton is up soon.”

Matti: It was a breath of fresh air to watch these guys give it their all. There was definitely some good-spirited rock’n’roll antics going on, which brought the crowd alive straight from the get-go. I liked what I heard, even though at times it felt as if there were maybe too many different things happening, sound-wise. This in turn made me think that there might be a quick evolution ahead for these guys. Hard to predict where this will all end up, but they’ve got a lot of potential. They’re a very promising new band, and the guys seem to play with the right attitude.

Sabaton brought their own napalm

Mikko: I’ve been wanting to check out Sabaton in a live setting for ages now, but have never managed to do so. This time, I ran out of excuses as they were Saturday’s headliner. I finally got that off my bucket list. I’ve enjoyed the band since giving them a chance with their breakthrough album Art of War, and have had fun ever since with their blend of heavy/power metal and themes of war, decisive battles and human stupidity. The band’s albums feature plenty of songs that I presumed would fit the live setting perfectly. Turns out I was goddamn right. Take, for example, the slower singalong marathon “Price of a Mile” — almost a religious experience. Songs such as “White Death” and “Talvisota” had the Finnish audience pounding their fists up high. Not only does Sabaton offer plenty of chances for crowd interaction, the group’s material also caters towards nationalistic pride. That pretty much guarantees an epic heavy metal show, and Saturday’s set was just that: epic.

Sabaton had replaced most of its line-up not too long ago, and it was clear that the new guys were still being burned into the system. Even so, mainman Joakim Broden made up for any shortcomings with his energetic, good-spirited performance. When he’s running around the stage, riling up the audience and shooting the shit between songs, it’s clear that he’s living the ultimate heavy metal fantasy. Fantasy spiced with plenty of pyrotechnics.

The whole thing is nothing short of entertaining, even to those (I’d have to guess) who aren’t that fond of power metal. The show simply works on so many levels that it’s hard not to get carried away. It’s also pretty hilarious from a misanthropic perspective; the songs are all about death, war and humanity’s worst situations, yet here are people are singing along with the widest of smiles about a man killing hundreds of Russians (aforementioned “White Death”). Made the situation slightly absurd, if not cynically pleasing. It was a shame that Sabaton didn’t play “The Final Solution,” as it’s not only an excellent track, but it would have also been interesting to see if any of the Finnish newspapers or tabloids would have raised a shitstorm because of it.

Nonetheless, the band seemed to be enjoying themselves and Broden constantly kept reminding the audience how he had goosebumps. I think he mentioned being armed with an erect penis after some singalong as well. Excellent show, but Sabaton definitely needs to avoid Manowar’s mistakes. They shouldn’t repeat themselves from show to show (for example, according to YouTube, getting the audience to do ‘YMCA’ seems to be taking place at almost every show).

Nitpicks aside, Sabaton was Saturday’s highlight for me and all dissidents will be shot.

General Joakim Broden

Matti: Sabaton: A history of massacres, delivered with an upbeat tempo. Who could argue that the tragedy of war shouldn’t always be celebrated through song and dance? I wish Sabaton would start participating at the annual Eurovision song contest. Sabaton should take part in it from here to eternity and represent a different country each year. Then they could contribute a song about the selected nation’s history of violence and bloodshed, eventually building a bridge that would truly unite all of Europe. We would all come to terms with our past and own up to our present attitudes — namely, that we’re all a bunch of xenophobic, nationalist cunts. We could really start building a better future together as one, big, united clusterfuck.

* * *

As expected, we’ve got more photos on our Facebook-page. Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming final part.

The crowd was primarily younger than me, hungrier and far more eager to dive into the various circle pits that formed in front of the bands — some of which had probably never seen a pit up close before. Tuska’s weekend was filled with pits. Didn’t matter who was playing — there was always a pit. Some were larger, some were smaller, but fuck me if there weren’t at least a couple of metal cubs circling around in each one in a mating ritual of sweat, youthful vigor and a carefree view of life. The etiquette hadn’t changed, either. If someone went down, they were picked up and then back to circle, circle, circle, jump, circle and mosh some more. I hated them like an old man hates anything and everything he can’t be a part of. Those bastards better stay away from my front lawn. Too bad I wasn’t sitting on my front lawn, sipping down shitty beer and hating my grandkids for being a bunch of modern-day pussies. No.

The stream of black T-shirts, camouflage, spikes and long hairs had led me from Helsinki’s railway station to Suvilahti, an old industrial district of concrete and rusting metal. This was the second time Tuska was held here after the festival was moved away from the epicenter of the city (Kaisaniemi Park) to new surroundings. The move brought other changes as well: no own BYOB allowed, and good luck finding anything green or living. These were two ‘small’ changes that had a profound effect on the audience’s demography and the general feeling of the festival.

So, what hadn’t changed? Well, the bands hadn’t become any younger. Some would argue that this year’s line-up wasn’t that interesting, but I have to disagree. Perhaps the problem was the variety: there was something for everyone, which in turn could lend you to believe that there was nothing of interest — particularly if you only dug a single band. But the truth is, there was plenty to see and at times, the variety was extremely refreshing, even if many of the bands didn’t fuck their way onto our favorites-lists.

Anyway, we’ve decided to split this year’s Tuska report into three separate pieces for easier consumption. So here’s the first day.

– MK

FRIDAY

Mikko: It’s really easy to get to the festival grounds, no matter how bad you are at navigation. All you need to do is to follow the constant stream of black band T-shirts. It’s like having a real world, 3D GPS laying out the path for you. Due to construction work, this year it was better to get off the metro at Sörnäinen—an interesting Helsinki district full of delinquent and boozed up old-timers—and then take a short stroll from there to the gates of Tuska.

As I was waiting for my pass, Swallow the Sun’s Mikko Kotamäki was there waiting up front. He’d just taken an emergency phone call and learned that Animals as Leaders had cancelled and his other band, Barren Earth, was to be the replacement. To make things slightly more interesting, his main band Swallow the Sun was to perform the same day in Estonia, a short helicopter ride away (supposedly you can see Estonia’s capital Tallinn in the horizon from Helsinki — if the weather/light conditions are willing).

The weather wasn’t too bad, but it was unpredictable. No thanks to our local meteorologists and their endless insight. So, to maintain a certain comfort level meant that I had to carry a bit of extra weight, which, added to the camera gear I was lugging around, really made me feel older than I should have. I had also sprained my back a few days ear;oer, so the odds were definitely not in my favor.

Just as it was last year, Tuska was built around four different stages. Two main open air stages (titled “Radio Rock” and “Hellsinki”), one in a smaller tent (“Inferno”) and the fourth inside a building (“Musamaailma”). This last one created an intimate setting for the smaller acts.

I was early, but not early enough to catch Profane Omen start the festival on the second stage. They’ve always been a high-power, reliable live band, so I was slightly disappointed to have missed them. Instead, after getting my bearings, I went straight to the third stage (aka the tent) to catch Alcest for the very first time. The clock was pointing at 12:45 hours, and the area was still quite empty since most people were on their way to the show or still stuck at work.

Sunshine hates Alcest

The French group performed well, although the sun shone into the tent and the stage lights didn’t seem as focused as they should have been, making it feel as if Alcest was performing at a school dining hall. Not necessarily the best setting for the band, and I think it hindered the experience quite a bit.

Disconnected, I set my sights towards the main stage, where Exodus were to pop the main stage’s cherry with their Bay Area thrash. While most of the metalheads were still on their way to the festival, it truly was Exodus who kickstarted Tuska Open Air and pummeled the growing metal population into the right mood.

Rob Dukes’ fingernails are clean

When the band returned to the scene after a long hiatus with Tempo of the Damned almost 10 years ago (fuck! Time runs fast!), I was excited because Steve Souza delivered a piercing performance on that album. I was sad to see the man go after that, but Rob Dukes seems like a good fit for the band, even if I think his vocals can be somewhat lacking. On the other hand, the guy definitely brings authority to the stage. Especially his trademarked finisher, the wall of death, during the closer “Strike of the Beast”. That Exodus gem gave a good chunk of people the proper thrash-tastic adrenaline shot — a dose which lasted for the rest of the day. On a side note, Rick Hunolt (no stranger to Exodus) was standing in for Gary Holt on stage. Hunolt was really into the performance, constantly smirking, smiling, laughing and riffing his ass off. Definitely a proper temporary replacement.

Suidakra moshing it up

Germany’s Suidakra combines melodic death metal with some folkish elements. The band had just wrapped a set of gigs in India, but despite looking slightly exhausted, they threw a decent party for the ever-increasing audience. I had restless legs and an uneasy mind, though, so I shot out of the tent to muster up a battle plan for the rest of the day whilst watching Barren Earth bathe in the sun (which wasn’t supposed to shine) and rock out on the second stage.

Animals as Leaders…Barren Earth

Matti: I landed on the beach in the second wave. I had to miss a big (and dare I say, better) part of the opening day because of shitty real-life stuff, i.e. work. I couldn’t catch Alcest, who caught my interest the first time I saw them added to the festival lineup. Someone had poorly slotted them as a third stage opening act. What about those of us who go to work on fucking weekdays, Mr. Asshole producer?! Huh?! Guess that’s what I get for becoming a reliable, grown-up citizen with, you know, a job.

So, arriving around five-ish, I already felt hungry as hell and extremely sleep-deprived not having slept right the whole week — in other words, I was nowhere near tip-top shape for the fun-fun-festivities that are the Tuska Open Air Festival. Others may have been able to navigate their way to the show just fine, but this dummy just could not hack the sweaty and longhaired, bulletproof GPS-system available. I was that dead before even arriving to the premises.

First, I got confused because of the change in metro stations, and got off on a newly-appointed exit. Then I followed some misguided, semi-drunk youngsters wearing Mana Mana T-shirts. While they did look intoxicated, they also emitted an aura of false confidence that got us all lost. After asking some help from a native city dweller, I finally got my ass on the right track and those that once had led now became the followers.

As I got closer to the festival site, I heard what sounded like the voice of Tobias Sammet singing and Edguy playing on the still-distant Radio Rock stage. Even though I can’t say I am the biggest fan of the band—or of the power metal scene in general—I must admit that the last gig I saw from them (also at Tuska) surprised me. In a good way. Reminiscing takes me back several years. Oh, those were the times. I was young and handsome, full of optimism and the world was my oyster… eh, not really. Okay, I was born a natural pessimist and later evolved into a misanthropic semi-nihilist. That really dulls the edge of any nostalgia. Anyway, I was somewhat hesitant to jump in when Edguy were halfway through their set, so I headed down to the Inferno tent, where Lock Up was about to get things rolling. They were probably a more fitting opener for one who has now become a regular slave to the grind — yet another casualty of the working class.

Tobias Sammet and Avantasia – Yay. Tobias Sammet and Edguy – Another time, perhaps.

Mikko: A friend of ours had raved about Edguy’s recent live performance after seeing them at Wacken or some other German festival. I was interested in finding out for myself, so I took his word and aimed towards the main stage. Good-spirited Tobias Sammet was having a laugh on stage, posing for the cameras and by doing so, taking care of public relations in a convincing manner. However, entertaining as he was, I realized that I just wasn’t interested in the actual music at all. Don’t get me wrong, I think Sammet’s Avantasia is fucking excellent and catchy, but Edguy just didn’t seem to click. At all. After watching thirty minutes of the Teutonic power metal powerhouse provide the goods to the eager audience, I figured I’d seen enough and went to see Unkind on the fourth stage. They were more up my alley.

Unkind’s fans danced away. And why wouldn’t they?

I hadn’t been exposed to Unkind beforehand, which was surprising considering the band has a decent backlog and were signed to Relapse in 2010-ish. Good fit — Unkind, with their fierce combination of crust and hardcore, must have reminded Relapse of early Neurosis. Their sound doesn’t feature the quiet, open spaces of that band, though — it’s all tight corridors packed with murder and brutality. The group provided the smaller audience with a lesson in violence and in turn, they received one of the more dedicated pits of the festival (despite the small number of combatants). I came out impressed, eventually cussing how I’d now have to spend more money on new good music. Perfect for those fluffy late-evening, antisocial moments.

Anton Reisenegger of Lock Up

Matti: Shane Embury (Napalm Death) played his first set of two when he climbed onto the Inferno stage with the rest of Lock Up. This also seemed to be yet another wayt to sneak Tomas Lindberg into Tuska — the guy seems to have become a staple guest and is always on the scene. From what I gathered, the setlist was mostly centered on their latest album, Necropolis Transparent. As a grind metal act, Lock Up plays it pretty safe — they’re fast, heavy and hostile, which is just as it should be. After about fifteen minutes and nine songs, I bagged up the gypsy caravan and moved to the second stage, where Saint Vitus was going to make an appearance.

Mikko: After watching a handful of songs by Lock Up, I found myself drifting towards the second stage and Saint Vitus. After only watching for a while, I soon realized I should have come sooner. The band had earned the weather’s gratitude, and thus Thor himself had provided the old but extremely vigilant men with a sun that suited the music like a hammer to the face. It was a good-spirited gig with a heavier message that criticized governments’ inability to help those in need, with the legality of marijuana and whatnot thrown in for a good measure. While Scott “Wino” Weinrich was slightly more reserved, guitarist Dave Chandler entertained the audience with his unexpectedly flashy guitar playing, and his banter between songs was warm and inviting. The dude also seemed to be quite the stud, as he seemed sad that the female photographers had to leave the photo pit after three songs.

Wino didn’t need to showboat

Matti: At first glance it might have looked like Saint Vitus were around when the original Saint Vitus walked the streets of Rome. I wonder which has more gray hair — a pack of winter wolves or the guys on stage? Despite their advanced age, Saint Vitus showed very little wear and tear during their performance of groove and doom. The setlist took the audience on a trip from the band’s origins to their latest recordings, and it was a treat for doom and sludge metal fans and non-fans alike.

Matt Heafy showboated

Mikko: After the old men had vacated the stage, the younger studs of Trivium came out to conquer. There’s no denying that the band is extremely capable in a live setting, and shows immense amounts of energy and character, but goddamn, I just did not give a fuck. Definitely not my bag, but watching the audience going apeshit for Matt Heafy and Paolo Gregoletto, I can’t say that Trivium didn’t belong on the main stage.

• MM: Yeah. The band I’ve never-ever listened to played a totally forgettable set. I literally have no recollection of them playing. I think I took some photos of them on stage, but I can’t be certain. Oh look, there’s a picture. I guess they did play.
• MK: You blacked out like a teenage girl seeing The Beatles for the first time. Or perhaps it was the rohypnol I slipped in your water bottle.

Matti: Where was I? Ah yes. Going towards the Musamaailma stage, I was halted by some youngsters who seemed to share the same blood type: Jack Daniels. As drunk as they already were, for some reason they wanted my verbal approval so that they could continue boozing their semi-retarded minds into submission. I was in a hurry, so I gave my most sacred blessing for their ongoing endeavour. At this point, they had spotted my VIP/PRESS-pass and the well-hidden camel-sized camera that made my posture that of a 70-year old construction worker.

“He-Hey, are ya some important person taking photos here? Take a quick photo of me and my pal here, would ya?!”

I took a snapshot of them posing their asses off like it was prom night. This couple sure seemed to deserve each other. As I made my leave, the other guy started to piss and moan.

“Hey, where you taking these picture for? Goddamn, I don’t want my picture to be in any newspaper tomorrow. Promise me it won’t go to a newspaper or we will come and assfuck you!”

Jason found friends too!

As I am no fan of unwelcome sodomy — unless it comes through the airwaves without the letter Y attached to it — I obliged and reassured them that “No news will come out of you” before continuing “…unless it’s in some funny papers or a crime stories magazine”. I then left them on their own devices. As I entered the dark stage hall, they were already probably multiplying it up in some corner.

Demigod raising the roof

Mikko: Trivium might have not had an effect on me, but Demigod’s 30-minute set injected the audience with a good dose of old-school Finnish death metal. The band concentrated mainly on Slumber of Sullen Eyes and performed admirably. Supposedly Demigod has a new album coming out the future.

Ramin Kuntopolku — the festival’s biggest surprise?

Matti: Out of our commando unit, I was the first one to spot Ramin Kuntopolku (which loosely translates to something like Rami’s Fitness Track [kuntopolku; walking path/running track set within nature]) playing in the midst of the idling festival crowd while Demigod was finishing their set inside. The humorous, entertaining and mobile pair of two ski-masked fellows (one on drums, the other utilizing a megaphone) played ultra-short and vocally-incomprehensible grind, and by doing so, they became the first Urban Grind band ever to grace Tuska. Actually, they are the first and maybe only (and quite possibly last) self-acclaimed Urban Grind band in the world.

During the whole three-day long festival, we saw them playing their short unscheduled gigs (duration was apparently based on the amount of beer available) at various corners of the premises. They always attracted a crowd who was eager to soak in their message of good old fun and punk “do it best yourself” attitude. Ramin Kuntopolku has also been quite busy on YouTube as well — their viral campaigning has earned them bookings to perform at several bigger rock festivals this year.

• MK: Easily one of the festival’s most entertaining acts. Showcasing mad drum talent, the dynamic duo also brought plenty of humor and laughter. Admirable crowd interaction too. Excellent stuff in a festival setting. It’s a shame I had to resort to a YouTube video of the band performing one of their grind songs in slow motion, as that shit would have been an epic live experience.

Arcturus’ Skoll

Mikko: I’ve never been a huge Arcturus follower; case in point, I’ve owned La Masquerade Infernale for the last 12 odd years, but probably listened to it only a handful of times. Still, I felt obligated to check the band out in its current form. Their rich, eccentric music warrants a theatrical show, and a theatrical show was delivere. Each musician was dressed for the occasion in completely different and non-matching gear.

On the flip side, I’ve always been a fan of ICS Vortex’s vocals and it was extremely pleasing to find out that the dude sounds effortlessly good live (I always thought he was underused in Dimmu Borgir). His stage antics weren’t as impressive — he made odd faces, made some half-assed attempts at dancing and just generally looked bored. Wonder if he was just thinking about the beverages that awaited backstage (perhaps he’d already had some). Still, his vocals were pristine, so c’est la vie. It was a slightly odd, though entertaining show, and despite the varied musical selection, it was extremely coherent as well.

Jamey Jasta had plenty of space to exercise (unlike Brennan Huff and Dale Doback)

Matti: While Arcturus were artsying it up, Hatebreed played on the second stage and left a much better impression with their much simpler effort. Now, I’ve never really paid that much attention to Hatebreed. For me, they’ve been one of those bands who feature some good characteristics here and there, but in the end, their lack of originality still drag them down into the cesspool of mediocrity.

That said, this was a very good live performance, delivered with tons of energy, and they earned an equal response from the crowd. Vocalist Jamey Jasta was genuinely into the whole shebang — he ran around stage for the whole show and summoned one of the most active mosh/circle pits of this year’s Tuska. The manifestation of flesh and bruises came in various forms and speeds throughout the whole set.

Surprise. Megadave playing guitar instead of ranting about politics.

Mikko: It was time for Friday’s closing act: Megadeth. They, like their thrash contemporaries in Overkill, appeared at the festival two years earlier, and just like last time, there wasn’t really any motivation for me to stick around. Sorry, Dave Mustaine’s group simply does nothing for me. However, I did notice that Mr. Mustaine did seem hell of a lot happier and more inspired than I’ve ever seen him before — as if he was actually enjoying being on stage. Maybe it’s because it’s election year. It also helped that nobody was chanting for W.A.S.P. or throwing rocks at him like in Croatia.

In related news, I will go on the record and say — just as I have always said — that Chris Broderick is a handsome man (no homo) and an absolute beast on guitar, kind of like Lorenzo Lamas is an absolute beast at kicking ass. Wouldn’t mind seeing his talents utilized on some other, more deserving project though. In the end, “Hangar 18” was the soundtrack for my dramatic exit. Not that anyone noticed me leaving.

Matti: Megadeth sounded and looked better this time then their last appeareance in 2010, that’s for sure. Dave Mustaine was actually moving around the stage this time, and his mumbling vocals were at least comprehensible. The setlist was comprised of their biggest hits: “Head Crusher”, “Hangar 18”, “Sweating Bullets”, “A Tout Le Monde”, “Peace Sells”, “Holy Wars”, “Symphony…” and the likes. I was already walking towards the metro while those sweating bullets were ricocheting in the distant air. Seems to have become a small tradition for me while attending a Megadeth concert. Dave’s midget-sized charisma really makes it hard for him to be the leading figurehead of a band as well known as Megadeth are. And that’s pretty sad, considering that Dave is Megadeth. I can’t deny that the man is highly talented when it comes to making music, but he has to be one of the moistest paper tigers around when it comes to performing live.

David Ellefson’s had his hands on his bass

So, it was time to go off and eat, sleep and regroup for the next day. On the way to the metro, I almost got in a scuffle with some native Balboa of Sörnäinen. I don’t remember if my shoulder said something first to this poor geezer or why it deserved to be tapped with the world’s sloppiest and softest right jab. Maybe it was a bonding ritual of some sort, I dunno.

• MK: He just fancied your sunglasses after his had been broken a while back. That much I got out of his verbal communication. I’m a little saddened that you didn’t go Steven Seagal on his limbs. That would have made his story so much more sob-worthy the next time he would have harassed someone.

• MM: I guess, though I could never hurt a bum without fearing that I’d played my part in some kind of twisted chain of events like Oedipus and shit.

Stay tuned next week for Saturday’s excitement. While you wait, why not check out a few more photos on our Facebook page?

― You wanna go to Wanaja?
― Huh?
― Wanaja? Wanna go?
― Sure.

So we picked up our broken bones, depraved minds and our gear, bracing ourselves as we marched in through the festival’s gates.

Consider this a quick look at the Finnish music scene in general.

Friday

Since we forgot to photograph Elokuu, here’s a picture of some of the hardware stored right next to the Häme-castle. Doesn’t get more metal than this.

Mikko K (MK): When we arrived, Elokuu were playing on the main stage, cashing in on the nostalgia-craze that seems to be going on at the moment, where fields are golden, sun is either shining or casting long shadows and the girl from the next-door farm is mighty fine. The group’s frontline consists of B-tier Finnish reggae artist Nopsajalka and rapper Juno. While the somewhat small crowd was eating that shit up, we decided to begin our day with a plastic pint of reasonably (for a festival) priced beer.

Matti M (MM): Woe these couriers of entropy! Elokuu, what an awful excuse for music and an even worse soundtrack to drinking beer. Even the two goofs blabbing into their mics did not look that excited by the filth they were spewing. They looked as into it as two hookers on an all-night long street sweep motivated just by the fearful thought of being caned in the uterus later by some shady pimp character if they were to go back empty-handed. At least there was relatively cheap beer.

Haloo Helsinki. For ages 14-19 and 30-45.

MK: Haloo Helsinki was up next on the second stage, playing early for its major fan demographic, ie. kids, teenagers and those about to step into adult life. Sympathetic pop-rock with easily remembered choruses and instantly recognizable hooks. The show was surprisingly energetic for what it was. Three albums in, I’m predicting there’s plenty of more coming in the future (Ooooh!)

• MM: The singer Elli succeeded on making herself look very unattractive on the stage, as she resembled Courtney Love’s bastard daughter in every photo I took.
• MK: You monster. It should always be about the music and nothing but the music.
• MM: You almost sounded convincing.

Kotiteollisuus — Finland’s Black Label Society?

MK: Kotiteollisuus is a household name in the Finnish hard rock scene. Watching the band perform live brought the eternal question (from 2006) to mind once again: why would anyone still want to see them live? They were probably more tired live than on CD and their long-running schtick of manly frontman Jouni Hynynen belittling the audience lost its sharp tongued edge a long time ago. Occasionally they throw in a riff or two which, in a different context, might actually lead to a better experience, but no such luck here.

MM: Gather up your food stamps and coupons, there seems to be a never-ending retirement party on the stage. About ten years ago, I was sort of a fan of these guys, and then they made that cursed Helvetistä Itään record. An album that became their so-called breakout record followed the awful Finnish tradition of writing songs about living a shitty mediocre life filled with melancholy. The kind of music that soothes the semi-alcoholic, fatalistic and melancholic Finn by giving him something to thrive on — mainly sympathy and acceptance for being a hopeless sandbag to society. After they found a way to cash in, they’ve kept making that same record over and over again. The heavy sound and attitude that I kinda dug back then was replaced with parody-like apathy and righteously earned self-loathing. Seeing them farting up the stage again made me hope that somebody would climb up there and give these guys a wristwatch or something.

Pariisin Kevät guitarist for hire.

MK: The first and previous time I saw Pariisin Kevät (Spring of Paris) play live was on TV and the set was crushingly painful, mainly because of primus motor Arto Tuunela’s vocals as he aspired to become something unique and particular. I was expecting the worst again, but when heard live, the dude didn’t sound that bad at all. The music itself is basically classical ‘indie’ with its goods and bads. Not my bag, but props to Tuunela since he’s responsible, apparently, pretty much for everything that’s going on in the band’s music as the live outfit is merely there to play the instruments when he cannot.

Arto Tuunela. A full-time hippie.

MM: Seeing that Tuunela guy live and up close gave me the creeps. I might be paranoid, but something is not right with that hippie. And I am not saying this just because he is a hippie… or maybe that was just it. Is he even a hippie? I thought real hippies do not use prescription drugs, or do they? If they don’t, then why is he singing about not taking them anymore? Now I am confused…

Quite possibly the festival’s bigger (positive) surprises, Freeman.

MK: Freeman (Leo Christer Friman) is a legendary rock-artist who’s responsible for many of the now-hated songs that receive quite a bit of airtime (for example: “Ajetaan me Tandemilla”). He is part of the canon though, and at Wanaja Festival he was backed up by an army of able musicians such as Lauri Porra (Stratovarius) on bass and Zarkus Poussa on drums. Needless to say, despite the light content Freeman threw a rocking set that at times reached quite progressive tones. A good match for a summer day.

MM: I was out getting extra gear from HQ during this gig, but I had seen Freeman play live under a year ago. Back then, I kinda liked what I saw and heard, even though it is not something I would throw in while wanking off in my humble abode. Some harmless and ultra-catchy pop-rock that does not get on my nerves at all. This time, I got back during the last few songs and they seemed to have added some progressive-like elements here and there which I had not heard before.

Metal + dusk is an unbeatable combination.

MK: Friday’s only ‘pure’ metal band manifested itself as Stam1na took the stage. Always a whirlwind on stage, the band did not disappoint and provided an hour’s worth of thrashing as the sun began its steep decline. Like most Finnish bands, the guys are no strangers to dorky Finnish humor and they conquered the stage dressed up in working-class outfits. The festival’s only wall of death was seen as well at the band’s command. Earlier, Kotiteollisuus said some words about jokingly about Stam1na, so the band dedicated their “Kadonneet Kolme Sanaa” track to Hynynen, replacing the ‘human’ in the lyric ‘I hate you human’ with Hynynen. Too bad they too were only joking.

Deep down, Hyrde is actually a nice man.

MM: Yup, I gather they are best backstage buddies [with Kotiteollisuus], having toured the same Finnish rock circles together all these years. On stage, Stam1na is something of an antithesis to Kotiteollisuus when it comes being animated during their live performance. It has been a while since I last saw them and they appear to have kept their act solid during those years. Sometimes I still wonder how they got so big so fast and generally accepted by mainstream music listeners…

• MK: Must have something to do with signing up with Sakara Records (operated by some of the guys in Mokoma). They seem to do things right.

MM: …not to say that that it is a bad thing or anything. Quite the opposite. In ways they seem too fast, loud and maybe even too edgy to be regarded as a household name so easily. Maybe it’s just that their lyrics sometimes give off a poetry-boyish mystique, which then makes everything feel that much more deep and sensitive for the ladies.

• MK: When you think about it, the Sakara Records’ roster is full of tongue-twisting grammar foreplay. Speaking of language, Stam1na actually had their only English-sung song “Nomad” in the setlist.

Michael Monroe. It’s him.

MK: The evening’s headliner Michael Monroe needs no introduction. After finally shedding Hanoi Rocks off his shoulders some years ago, he’s since found a new drive after going solo back in 2010. Having turned 50 recently, the man shows no sign of taking it easy — as far as the stage performance goes. Dude’s an energetic piece of rock’n’roll and brought Overkill’s Blitz to mind; these old guys are simply shaming a lot of younger rockers. The New York Dolls’ (and Hanoi Rocks’) Sami Yaffa manned the bass, Steve Conte and Backyard Babies’ Dregen the guitar, with Karl Rockfist on drums. Pretty tight group that made the female fans quite eager.

Love is in the air.

MM: I agree with the above about Blitz and Monroe. Both of them seem to have been sculpted out from the same rock made of pure rock`n`roll, with stardust sprinkled all over them afterwards. This was my first time seeing Michael live and all the rumors about how Michael Monroe has the it-factor, and how he never fails to put on a show — I can’t argue with that. Once the band started it was clear that a world class rock n’ roll circus had just rolled into town. Most of the songs they played had more hooks than one could find from the island Tortuga circa 17th century, while some of the material could be labeled as generic hair-band stuff. A sublime show that had most of the crowd jumping from joy ended with a cover, as they busted out a Finnish rock classic “Get On” from Hurriganes. Naturally some of those trademark Michael Monroe leg-splits were performed in the middle.

Welcome Atoma and the ‘new’ group’s ‘new’ full-length debut, Skylight. Just as the predecessor to another moniker, Skylight rises out of nowhere to become one of the best albums of 2012 thus far. The genesis of the group has had an effect on the internals as well, as members seem to have picked up different roles and instruments, a curiosity that’s pretty much only noticeable after comparing the Atoma’s and Slumber’s albums directly side by side along with the booklet credits.

Those expecting another Fallout straight from the get-go will no doubt become slightly puzzled. With its more open, mechanized, progressive and space-y atmosphere Skylight sounds different, if not completely new and somewhat unheard of. There’s also a clear cinematic layer to Skylight’s compositions ― a course of drama that cements the fact that this is indeed a concept album. Despite all the changes, despite the rebirth, as minutes progress it’s also clear from which band Atoma grew out of. Just listen to tracks like “Skylight” (featuring deep growls for old time’s sake) and one of the album’s definite highlights, “Hole in the Sky”.

In that light, I’d also claim that Skylight is a very Swedish sounding album as nearly all the comparisons―even if their directness can be strongly debated―are drawn towards acts like Katatonia and Khoma. However, it’s actually Tiamat that lingered the most in my head as I was floating through the album, trying to grasp the light unfolding. In a way, I can’t but fantasize if this is what Johan Edlund’s material could have sounded like after Wildhoney and A Deeper Kind of Slumber (see that last word?) had he grown an unhealthy interest towards sci-fi themes and philosophical pondering of our own existence. The question is even further emphasized by the fact that at times, vocalist and primus motor (and Slumber’s keyboardist) Ensahn Kalantarpour could easily switch places with Edlund (“Highway” for example).

But what we truly have here is a journey that carries without a hitch or a fault throughout the 47-minute length. The songs are varied as they cater to those that wish to lose themselves in a trance, but Skylight also offers plenty of hooks, memorable melodies and a strong sense of emotion. In the end, once you start dissecting the album like Fox Mulder, the presence of Slumber is truly evident, even if the electronic instrumentals such as the strong album opening “Atoma”, amazing intermission “Bermuda Riviera” and “Solaris”―a track that mixes Fifth Element and Blade Runner with the more 2 A.M sort space ambient―might jam your bearings. Oh, there’s also “Saturn & I”. It’s clear that the band’s creative forces aren’t alien towards animated Japanese space operas or video game scores, collectively pulling enough familiar cues to form a strong visual image of the music into the listener’s brain.

To conclude, despite what your expectations might be, it would only showcase your stupidity to miss out on this trip, as Skylight truly is an experience quite like no other in the metal world. It takes the the listener through various locations, scenes and in the end, offers a chance to learn something about yourself. Hopefully, Atoma is here to stay this time around as it would be a goddamn shame for this group not to put out further material ― even if we, as humanity, kind of deserve all the shit that’s upon us.

Even though Anathema doesn’t deviate from their soft exploratory rock on Weather Systems, it feels as if they’ve finally found the sound and balance they’ve perhaps been unable to fully locate and apply consistently previously. They make good use of the newfound confidence—not saying they’ve ever been astray—as the band seems refreshed with the new material. While it would not be impossible to draw all sorts of shady thin lines to acts like Coldplay, 30 Seconds to Mars and various smaller acts operating in less stadium filling seas, Anathema weaves its musical history and varied influences into an entity that the band can exclusively call its own. The more you listen to Weather Systems, the more you see the distance the group has walked throughout the years but still, there’s a very strong, nuanced connection on display to the past as well.

Thus, it’s easy to say that Anathema has provided yet another solid release that resonates through a wide variety of emotions and at times sounds a lot bigger than you’d expect. While the group never seems to lose hope, tracks like the storming “The Gathering of Clouds” and perhaps the album’s most traditional piece “The Lost Child” easily prove they could churn the listener back into a much more darker corner if they so wanted. On the other hand, the group explores relatively new avenues with the 9-minute progressively growing epic “The Storm Before the Calm”, where machines reign inside a maelstrom of Katatonia-influences. The second half of the journey calms things down a bit, before throwing a very powerful moment echoing some of the past’s anguish, but instead of embracing the dark matter as they once did, the track concludes on a rather positive note instead. The follow-up “The Beginning and the End” too is another solid, emotional track that starts out softly before an ultimate resolution. Then there’s “Internal Landscape” that gives the album a cathartic conclusion, clearly recollecting the 55-minute album and finally letting go.

Weather Systems is another proof of Vincent Cavanaugh’s undeniable charisma as he wades through the drama masterfully but without suffocating the rest of the talented group ― as expected. On the other hand, it’s also becoming more and more clear that Anathema acts according to what’s best for the material. There are various layers of vocals from everybody and especially Lee Douglas seems to have gained a much more prominent role on the album this time around. It doesn’t stop there either as the other Douglas, longtime drummer John, also provides a surprisingl-y thundering and hard hitting backbone. A welcomed development.

The album took me quite a while to fully sink in. For example, I’m still having a bit of a hard time with “Lightning Song” that seems a bit of a whatever-track to me and then there’s the huge issue with the first two songs. You see, Weather Systems has the catchiest opening to any album in Anathema’s history (Judgement is on par but in a different way): “Untouchable, Part 1” and “Part 2” create such a captivating whirlwind from the start that it’s next to impossible for the rest of the tracks, aside from perhaps “The Gathering of Clouds” and “The Beginning and the End” to truly live up to them. In fact, I’d go as far as claim those two tracks―as one―to be the best new song I’ve heard all year. I’ve listened to the two far more many times than the whole album and I’m yet to feel any wear in them. Both tracks share a lot of traits but where “Part 1” is more rocking, “Part 2” gives gives a more serene perspective. Yet, that too explodes at the end in the best post-rock manner; an element that’s also underlying in the first. While the band is known to have quite a few catchy tunes (see “Panic”, “Empty” and “Pulled under…”) this really took me by surprise. I’m not completely confident in rationalizing the experience, but to me, the songs provided another one of those moments where you remember just how powerful music can be at its best. Consider me moved.

In the end, while Weather Systems features some of the most memorable―and some of the best―moments from Anathema in a good long time, I wouldn’t say that it is the band’s greatest achievement. I’d be lying if I did. Then again, what is and how could that even be possible? Each of the band’s releases serves a completely different purpose (for me) and each has all sorts of personal history engraved into them ― just as one day the new one will. What I’ll state as a fact however, is that the new one is definitely a good addition to the group’s  discography and I’d imagine that’s all it needs to be: Weather Systems is again a strong reminder that even if the band is far from a pure metal band these days, Anathema hasn’t lost its impact or relevance one bit.

A decade ago, power metal was still relatively current genre—it had had a strong run—but times were changing and new winds were blowing into the metal kingdom. Metalcore was a bit different than it is today and melodic death metal was starting to shape-shift into something else as well. Into the maelstrom, out of nowhere, came Lost Horizon.

Without backing any of my claims with historical, canonized facts or debated timelines, I’m stating here and now that Awakening the World beat power metal into submission, forcing the once powerhouse genre to seek refuge at the sidelines for the years to come. Not because the album was a travesty – on the contrary (as I’ve already revealed). Awakening the World was, is, the Superman of power metal albums. The purest and most powerful essence of power metal is packed into the album’s 43-minute length and those 43 minutes render pretty much everything else obsolete. Perfectly executed, the album is full of melody, speed, power and the right kind of metal cheese. It’s an empowering album that pummels pussies, grindlovers and closet power metal fans into true, proud men with big penises!

“Hey man! What is this?!
Sounds like wail of a wimp
Did you let loser side take command?!
Where’s the warrior in you
And the spirit he got
You say – “lost”
No! It’s somewhere inside”

After a disarming beginning of “Quickening” (an intro of sorts) and “Heart of Storm”, “Sworn in the Metal Wind” kicks up the gear up into eleven, directing Manowar to shut the fuck up, skip the foreplay and pay attention to things far more important: You, me, them, us, we! It’s the ultimate metal song that, if there’s any justice in the world, will go down in history as one of the greatest heavy metal anthems ever conceived. The track is true to its name, it’s the turning point where we all pledge our allegiance to Heavy-fucking-Metal – and to our true selves!

“If you once tasted treason from a female – leave that!
Every warrior has a gash on his sword
Don’t forget you are metal, not some ass-kissing whore
Take some under your wings, but she must kiss the ring!“

What follows is a collection of songs that never let up, that never give up and that never fail the listener. From the rocking “World Through my Fateless Eyes” to the 9-minute epic “Kingdom of My Will”, there are no weak links to the album. Even the album’s ballad can’t be spelled without ‘balls’ as “Perfect Warrior”, absorbs good qualities from Angel Dust and out comes a song worthy to stand in between the much faster songs.

As mentioned, Lost Horizon plays godly. Preternatural Transmogrifier (drums) and Cosmic Antagonist (bass) provide a top notch galloping backbone to the act, and while Transcendental Protagonist’s soaring guitars and wonderful solos pierce through earth, wind and fire straight into the listener’s very existence, it’s Ethereal Magnanimus’ commanding, clear voice that raise Awakening the World and Lost Horizon undeniably god-like. What a voice! What a band! What an album! As for the reissue, I didn’t hear any drastic changes—if any—to the original.

Unfortunately, even Lost Horizon’s follow-up, A Flame to the Ground Beneath (released two years later in 2003), couldn’t live up to the debut’s legacy and not soon after, power metal began its exodus from the limelight towards the undergrounds of The North.

However, the biggest scrutiny I have towards the album—not that it’s the album’s fault—is the fact that not everyone is ready to take in the weight and power of Awakening the World. Many will falter, more will die but those strong and fortunate enough to hear, see, live through the experience and understand the light will forever carry on far improved.