I was pretty excited when I found out that as warm-up for their tour with Kamelot, Alestorm and The Agonist, Blackguard would be doing a headlining show in my area. (If you don't know why I'm crazy about Blackguard, read this post.) They'll play a whole set, I thought, which means a bunch of their old stuff! (These days they tend to mainly play songs from Firefight, their latest album, with a few old ones thrown in along with a comment about their fans who've followed them since the beginning of time and how they used to be a folk metal band, which always causes me to throw the horns and yell, "FOLK METALLLLL!" Although before that, they were a black metal band.) But anyway, I digress.
Well, this show started late. By the time we managed to get our butts in gear and get out the door (and stop by Giant for supplies..) it became clear it would be past 9:00 when we got to Frederick. We figured we were going to miss most of the opening bands, which made me sad since the tiny samples that Sixteen Cylinder put up online sounded pretty tempting, and I wanted to hear some full songs from them. But it turned out the show, which was supposed to start at 8, didn't start till 9. We missed Sanhedron, but Sixteen Cylinder was on when we got there.
Sixteen Cylinder is an insanely heavy band, with a little industrial flavor particularly at the beginnings of their songs, and also a female vocalist with a great voice. I was glad we got to see them, disappointed that they didn't have any CDs or merch for sale. I guess they're just working on their first album. They had an amazing, loud and heavy sound for a band that's so new they don't even have an album or full song samples.
After Sixteen Cylinder, we skipped out for a bit. Krug's place is more of a bar and restaurant than a real concert venue - there was plenty of seating, as well as pool tables, in the bar area to the left, and the room to the right where the bands played was jammed with tables, chairs and five bands' gear. The "floor" area was so tiny and the "stage" so small and low, that it was wonder none of the moshers crashed into any of the band members. Things at the venue were pretty relaxed, so it was easy to go in and out..so figuring we were in for a long night, we left and got some fries.
When we got back, Fallen Martyr was on. We missed Vitality, whom S. would have liked to see, but I was not that excited about. Fallen Martyr has a pretty nice sound, and they sound more intense live than on their recordings, but they're still missing something. Their songs tend to be long and ramble a bit, with lots of different pieces that don't quite come together. They have epic and heavy guitars, but the singer doesn't quite live up to the rest of the band. He has a nice voice, but in my opinion he doesn't sing strongly enough - although this was better live than on the recordings; S. thought he would be more suited to a different music genre.
By the time Blackguard finally came on stage - I think it was near midnight, I didn't even dare look at my watch cause I had to go to work the next day - there were only ten or so people left in the floor area. We chatted a bit with Terry (guitarist) earlier in the show, and found out that since Kim (lead guitarist) couldn't make it, they were not going to be able to do any songs from their Profugus Mortis days, only a limited set that the guest guitarist (someone from Destrophy \m/) had learned. And then since they came on late, they announced they were only going to play a short set :(
They started with "Firefight" like usual. I felt like there was something off about the song, but maybe that's just from listening to the album version too many times. Even with a small crowd in a small space, they sounded loud and awesome, and they used the low stage to their advantage - the bassist got on the floor a couple times to join in the pit, and Paul put his hand on people's heads and gave one avid fan the chance to sing into the mic. The highlight of the night for me was that they played "Sarissas," my second favorite song from the new album and one that they don't usually play live; I said to S., "If no one else starts a pit for this song, I think I'll have to." No one else did - so I ran into a bunch of big dudes, who looked at me like I was crazy - I'm female and kind of small, so I don't think they believed I was serious. I couldn't get a real pit going for that song, but I joined in a few more and tried to start a folk pit for "Allegiance." (More about folk pits in the next review XD) Overall, the expected solid, fun performance from Blackguard, and it was just too bad that there weren't more people there to hear them. (S. commented that the advertising for the show and for Krug's Place in general was pretty nonexistent.)
Next review: I believe the one I will post after this is Kamelot, Alestorm, BLACKGUARDDDDD and The Agonist, from 8/27/11
Monday, September 5, 2011
Human Factors Lab, Army of the Universe, KMFDM - 8/20/11 at Recher Theatre, Towson, MD
KMFDM SUCKS.
All right, now that we've got that out of the way. This was an almost excellent concert, the first I went to at Recher Theatre. The venue was all right, it was basically a huge room with no seating and way too much open space for an agoraphobe like me. In spite of the big crowd though, we were able to get pretty close to the front, which is of course the only place to be at a metal concert! Also, it seemed there was food available, which is ALWAYS a plus, although we did not imbibe of food or drinks, perhaps due to the lack of seating, or maybe from not wanting to lose our awesome spot (just behind the pit \m/).
The first band we saw was Army of the Universe, from Italy. Their sound is like you take European dance music, and add some heavy guitars and an industrial beat. They were better than I expected from their Youtube videos - heavier and more danceable. I even enjoyed their Bjork cover, which is rather lackluster on the intarwebz, but soooo heavy and driving live, that I had to dance. Perhaps that wasn't very metal of me, but screw it, that's what this music is made for, what's the point of experiencing it live, loud and heavy if you're not going to enjoy it and let it move you. This is them on the same tour, different city.
I thought that next up was the excellent and amazing Human Factors Lab, so I was a bit disappointed when I realized it was KMFDM setting up (hence the reason for the concert being only "almost" excellent). I guess we got there too late (almost an hour after doors).
KMFDM was great, though. To anyone who is wondering if after 20+ years Sascha and co. have still "got it," the answer would be a resounding yes. Sascha had a fitting mix of energy and industrial cool, and Lucia had a great stage presence, dark and seductive, but also bad-ass. Her singing voice was excellent, sometimes I got a little bored of the shouted lyrics, but the "ultra heavy beat" more than made up for it. I wound up dancing to almost every song and even more awesome, gigantic mosh pits formed for songs like "Megalomaniac" and "Drug Against War". It was awesome to see such metal people going crazy for an industrial band XD
There was a guest vocalist for a few songs, but I couldn't catch his name when he was introduced. Actually, Sascha didn't talk much at all, just played music. I didn't really notice until S. or someone pointed it out afterward.
It was so far the best industrial night of my life, and could probably only be topped by Rammstein.
Next concert: Blackguard, 8/24 and Blackguard, The Agonist, Alestorm & Kamelot, 8/27
All right, now that we've got that out of the way. This was an almost excellent concert, the first I went to at Recher Theatre. The venue was all right, it was basically a huge room with no seating and way too much open space for an agoraphobe like me. In spite of the big crowd though, we were able to get pretty close to the front, which is of course the only place to be at a metal concert! Also, it seemed there was food available, which is ALWAYS a plus, although we did not imbibe of food or drinks, perhaps due to the lack of seating, or maybe from not wanting to lose our awesome spot (just behind the pit \m/).
The first band we saw was Army of the Universe, from Italy. Their sound is like you take European dance music, and add some heavy guitars and an industrial beat. They were better than I expected from their Youtube videos - heavier and more danceable. I even enjoyed their Bjork cover, which is rather lackluster on the intarwebz, but soooo heavy and driving live, that I had to dance. Perhaps that wasn't very metal of me, but screw it, that's what this music is made for, what's the point of experiencing it live, loud and heavy if you're not going to enjoy it and let it move you. This is them on the same tour, different city.
I thought that next up was the excellent and amazing Human Factors Lab, so I was a bit disappointed when I realized it was KMFDM setting up (hence the reason for the concert being only "almost" excellent). I guess we got there too late (almost an hour after doors).
KMFDM was great, though. To anyone who is wondering if after 20+ years Sascha and co. have still "got it," the answer would be a resounding yes. Sascha had a fitting mix of energy and industrial cool, and Lucia had a great stage presence, dark and seductive, but also bad-ass. Her singing voice was excellent, sometimes I got a little bored of the shouted lyrics, but the "ultra heavy beat" more than made up for it. I wound up dancing to almost every song and even more awesome, gigantic mosh pits formed for songs like "Megalomaniac" and "Drug Against War". It was awesome to see such metal people going crazy for an industrial band XD
There was a guest vocalist for a few songs, but I couldn't catch his name when he was introduced. Actually, Sascha didn't talk much at all, just played music. I didn't really notice until S. or someone pointed it out afterward.
It was so far the best industrial night of my life, and could probably only be topped by Rammstein.
Next concert: Blackguard, 8/24 and Blackguard, The Agonist, Alestorm & Kamelot, 8/27
One Jump Ahead by Mark L. Van Name
So how about a book review for a change? Anyway, finally posting this..I finished the book back in June and quickly jotted some notes in Wordpad, and then I went to Europe for several weeks and the file languished on my computer..and then I came back and life happened. But anyway. Here finally is my review of One Jump Ahead.
I got it as part of a volume called Jump Gate Twist, which also includes the short story "My Sister, My Self" and the sequel Slanted Jack. I had to return the book before being able to read either of those two, so I may come back to them again later.
It's a far future novel about a mercenary who gets himself in deeper and deeper trouble until, with the help of an (almost unbelievably) unlikely coalition of allies, he manages to fight his way out of his problems. Nonviolently. Yes, our mercenary hero is a devoted pacifist who goes out of his way to trank rather than maim/kill his enemies. I'm not making fun of nonviolence - it's one of my own core values - but the way it plays out seems almost farcical in this novel. It's like the author wanted to write about a mercenary, but couldn't quite make all the violence that would entail mesh with his own value system, so he created this pacifist mercenary to pacify his own conscience. And what happens is that it allows the enlightened violence-disapproving reader to feel ok about reading a book that essentially showcases (watered down) violence as a way of achieving one's aims. Not what the author really wanted, I think.
This mercenary, Jon, is also possessed of magical nanomachines. They're not really magical, supposedly, but I say that because they can do pretty much anything, and Jon can control them on a whim. He usually uses them to heal himself, to create diversions and to melt people's heads (because when confronted with the choice between winning and sticking to his principles, he chooses winning).
Dang, none of this hardcore criticism was in my notes. I am not usually like this either. This book must have touched a nerve!
So anyway, I thought the nanomachines were an interesting idea, but kind of blandly executed. There needed to be more rules, limitations and details regarding how they were used. After the first time that Jon magically got himself out of a tricky situation by calling up the nanomachines and melting someone's head, it got kind of boring since I figured basically he could get out of anything.
My favorite character was Lobo, which was some kind of artificially intelligent, talking armored space-warship type thing. He had much more personality than Jon, who seemed more like a machine than a person. The short story in the volume was about Jon as a teen, and it would have been nice to read that and see what he was like when younger, before the nanomachines and also different in another way I shall not reveal ;)
There were some author's notes at the end of the novel, and usually I like reading those and finding out how the author wrote the book, but this one was rather boring. I would have liked to know more about his inspiration and how he planned the novel, not how he sold it to publishers.
I did, however, like the ending - at least I did back when I read it, who knows if this sudden hypercritical me would have been moved by it. At the time, in spite of Jon's magic-plot-device nanomachines and willingness to bend his principles, I had come to care about him a bit since he did seem to care about doing the right thing and was apparently trying his best to get over a difficult past and find a better life. So this ending brought tears to my eyes, because I hoped that he would indeed find brightness.
"In that perfect black I could see a dark and dangerous universe, but I could also see worlds yet to form, an unwritten future waiting for me to fill it with the bright colors of days to come.
In that moment, I hoped for brightness.
We jumped."
Good endings are hard to write, but I feel Mr. van Name nailed it with this one.
Next review: Tuomas Karhumieli by Ritva Toivola
I got it as part of a volume called Jump Gate Twist, which also includes the short story "My Sister, My Self" and the sequel Slanted Jack. I had to return the book before being able to read either of those two, so I may come back to them again later.
It's a far future novel about a mercenary who gets himself in deeper and deeper trouble until, with the help of an (almost unbelievably) unlikely coalition of allies, he manages to fight his way out of his problems. Nonviolently. Yes, our mercenary hero is a devoted pacifist who goes out of his way to trank rather than maim/kill his enemies. I'm not making fun of nonviolence - it's one of my own core values - but the way it plays out seems almost farcical in this novel. It's like the author wanted to write about a mercenary, but couldn't quite make all the violence that would entail mesh with his own value system, so he created this pacifist mercenary to pacify his own conscience. And what happens is that it allows the enlightened violence-disapproving reader to feel ok about reading a book that essentially showcases (watered down) violence as a way of achieving one's aims. Not what the author really wanted, I think.
This mercenary, Jon, is also possessed of magical nanomachines. They're not really magical, supposedly, but I say that because they can do pretty much anything, and Jon can control them on a whim. He usually uses them to heal himself, to create diversions and to melt people's heads (because when confronted with the choice between winning and sticking to his principles, he chooses winning).
Dang, none of this hardcore criticism was in my notes. I am not usually like this either. This book must have touched a nerve!
So anyway, I thought the nanomachines were an interesting idea, but kind of blandly executed. There needed to be more rules, limitations and details regarding how they were used. After the first time that Jon magically got himself out of a tricky situation by calling up the nanomachines and melting someone's head, it got kind of boring since I figured basically he could get out of anything.
My favorite character was Lobo, which was some kind of artificially intelligent, talking armored space-warship type thing. He had much more personality than Jon, who seemed more like a machine than a person. The short story in the volume was about Jon as a teen, and it would have been nice to read that and see what he was like when younger, before the nanomachines and also different in another way I shall not reveal ;)
There were some author's notes at the end of the novel, and usually I like reading those and finding out how the author wrote the book, but this one was rather boring. I would have liked to know more about his inspiration and how he planned the novel, not how he sold it to publishers.
I did, however, like the ending - at least I did back when I read it, who knows if this sudden hypercritical me would have been moved by it. At the time, in spite of Jon's magic-plot-device nanomachines and willingness to bend his principles, I had come to care about him a bit since he did seem to care about doing the right thing and was apparently trying his best to get over a difficult past and find a better life. So this ending brought tears to my eyes, because I hoped that he would indeed find brightness.
"In that perfect black I could see a dark and dangerous universe, but I could also see worlds yet to form, an unwritten future waiting for me to fill it with the bright colors of days to come.
In that moment, I hoped for brightness.
We jumped."
Good endings are hard to write, but I feel Mr. van Name nailed it with this one.
Next review: Tuomas Karhumieli by Ritva Toivola
TUSKA Videos
As promised, yummy videos from Tuska Fest 2011. These are not my videos though, much loves to the wonderful people who recorded them and posted them on Youtube.
Moonsorrow - Aurinko ja Kuu
Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja - This is from Wacken, not Tuska, but I couldn't find a Tuska video of this song. This is the one I was talking about with the shamanic sound.
Wintersun wall of death
Wintersun - so called "Summer Madness"
Blind Guardian - Valhalla sing-along
Blind Guardian - Nightfall
Enslaved - Allfáðr Oðinn
Turisas - To Holmgard and Beyond
Turisas - Battle Metal
ok, so I didn't see these guys cause they were on Sunday but I just love em!
Moonsorrow - Aurinko ja Kuu
Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja - This is from Wacken, not Tuska, but I couldn't find a Tuska video of this song. This is the one I was talking about with the shamanic sound.
Wintersun wall of death
Wintersun - so called "Summer Madness"
Blind Guardian - Valhalla sing-along
Blind Guardian - Nightfall
Enslaved - Allfáðr Oðinn
Turisas - To Holmgard and Beyond
Turisas - Battle Metal
ok, so I didn't see these guys cause they were on Sunday but I just love em!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
TUSKA - 7/23/11 at Suvilahti, Helsinki, Finland
So, I know this is very late, but one thing or another has conspired to keep me from typing it up ever since the event and since I got back from Finland. Now I have some other concert reviews piling up, so I need to get this posted, and expect a few more posts in quick succession.
So. I believe Tuska is Finland's largest metal festival, held each summer in Helsinki for three days (I only went for one day, though, because the tickets were so expensive). In the past, I think it has drawn some performers from overseas, but this year the line-up was mostly Finnish, with several Swedish visitors and a smattering of other European bands. Oh and Devin Townsend Project, which I believe is from Australia. The biggest names there - off the top of my head, and with considerable bias according to my tastes - were Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian, Epica, Amorphis, Wintersun, Turisas.. I could go on and on.
I went on Saturday, the middle day. Most of the big names like Amon Amarth, Amorphis and Turisas performed on Sunday, but I chose Saturday because I already saw Amon Amarth and Turisas earlier this year, and on Saturday I would have the chance to see Wintersun and Moonsorrow.
Tuska used to be held at a park called Kaisaniemi, but this year it was in what seemed to be an old industrial location called Suvilahti. It was very convenient to the metro - you literally walk about 100 feet from the Kalasatama metro station, following the stream of metallic looking people. I got there early in the day, about 1pm, and there was no line to speak of at the gates. The space inside the area felt a little small, maybe because the arrangement of the vendors and merch booths, food stands and stages created some sort of narrow, winding areas with large open areas only in front of the main and second stage. However, it did not feel cramped, even in the evening when the crowds got bigger, but then again the festival wasn't sold out either.
Facilities at the venue were excellent. There was a veritable maze of portapotties, with no line. There were a couple water fountains for drinking and refilling water bottles. The lines for food and merch were not too long (wait about 5 minutes) and moved fast, especially the line for the Alepa (convenience store) kiosk. The only long waits were at the signing booth, where I waited an hour each of the two times I went (for Wintersun and Epica). The Alepa kiosk was great - you could get sandwiches, ice cream, energy drinks and other basic supplies for very good prices there. (I read on the Tuska website that the prices were the same as in regular Alepa stores around Helsinki. Mad props to Alepa for doing that, it made being at the fest all day much more economical \m/) The area was pretty clean, compared to what I'd seen on the news a few days earlier about a big gathering in a park in Helsinki or Turku, with trash everywhere - at Tuska, there were just cigarette butts everywhere, and a few cans.
I loved the relaxed atmosphere - my favorite part of the day had to be sitting on the ground in the shade of this huge domed thing, eating something called "kebab" which was really not a kebab at all, with a bunch of people I didn't know but felt totally cool with, all while watching Blind Guardian perform not too far away on the main stage. I didn't talk to many people - as I well exemplify, Finnish people are kind of taciturn and not given to small talk - but I felt very comfortable. The Finnish metal scene has a strong goth/industrial edge, so I fit in better than at metal shows in the US ;D
So now to the actual bands. The entire list of performers and schedule for the day can still be found on the Tuska website (and when they can't anymore, well, I guess it means it's time to move on and think about Tuska 2012 XD) I shall just go through the bands that I actually saw and/or was interested in.
Witchery - They were onstage when I got through the winding corridor of vendor booths, and I sort of watched the with one eye while buying stuff at the merch stand (T-shirts!!) and then waiting for Wintersun at the signing booth. They were fast and heavy though not particularly remarkable.
Medeia - Just as I stepped away from the signing booth, it started to rain, and a bunch of people headed into the building where the fourth stage was (only that and the third stage, which was in a huge tent, were covered). I was going in there anyway since it was time for Medeia to start. Medeia is a death metal band from Finland with hilarious videos. This video is my favorite. I don't think they're well known abroad but they definitely had a lot of enthusiastic fans at Tuska. Their riffs were kind of simple but the guitars were very heavy. The last song they played sounded like thunder - always a good sign for a metal band. (I just wish I'd written down which song it was because now I have no recollection >.<)
Moonsorrow - A pagan/folk metal band with a very strong influence from Finnish folk music in particular, which is rare compared to the more jig-like Scandinavian/Celtic sound that a lot of folk metal bands use. Their songs are long and often slow, although in a good way (I think) because of the melodies and folk elements. "Kivenkantaja" (The Stone Carrier) was a crowd favorite. For the first time, I realized the (apparent) influence from Finnish shaman chants - when the vocalist starts in, the guitars, not just the drums, even seemed to imitate the sound a of shaman's drum. Starting from this song, their set got heavier, which made me happy.
Katatonia - Wandered out to see them partway through their set after a having a snack. They were a little lite for my taste. A person who started randomly talking to me said they used to have a heavier sound but their singer damaged his voice and can't do growls anymore, thus the classic metal sound.
Wintersun - Obviously, they were epic. Jari Mäenpää is a god to many Finnish metal fans - though he seemed like a regular dude when I asked him to sign a t-shirt for a friend of mine, maybe a little aloof but what Finnish person isn't? (Digression, you could definitely feel the difference in national personalities between Wintersun and Epica, the former being civil, smiling and perhaps chatting a little with you if you started the conversation; the latter joking, hitting people with flyswatters and all around out to have a good time.) Anyway, so Wintersun was not very heavy but they were FAST. The guitars were sometimes so fast and complicated that it was hard to headbang. They were easily the best performance of the day.
Blind Guardian - As I said before, I listened to them while eating dinner XD I would have been more enthused if it weren't for the fact that I saw BG last December (battling a nasty nasty cold to go the show, too). I was walking away toward the signing booth when "Valhalla" started and I had to back and sing along (best BG sing-along song EVER). I listened to them more while waiting for Epica. As at Jaxx last December, they gave a solid performance and played all the crowd-pleasers like "Valhalla," "The Bard's Song," "Nightfall" and so on.
Enslaved - After BG finished, while I was still waiting for Epica, stages 2 and 3 started up at the same time, and I couldn't make out much except when one of the bands stopped to talk. After getting another shirt signed for another friend, I went to listen to Enslaved while eating ice cream. (What's better than eating something yummy while watching awesome metal? Well, I suppose not eating while watching so that you can HEADBANG or MOSH.) Enslaved, I found out, is an epic Swedish death metal band in the vein of Amon Amarth. Strong melodies and epic riffs. I liked their last song, "Allfadr Odin" so much that I chose to headbang, rather than use the portapotty before dashing out to the metro for a two hour bus ride back to Turku.
Since my mom and I opted for the 9:00 bus (which would let us get back to Turku before midnight), I didn't get to hear Devin Townsend Project (as it was, I just barely made it to the bus terminal in time; but luckily there was a very clean and functional toilet in the back of the bus :D). And I definitely didn't get to go to the afterclub, where Turmion Kätilöt, one of my favorite Finnish industrial metal bands, would have been performing. But as my aunt said, "Leave something for next time!"
Hopefully, next time will be Tuska 2012, just waiting to see who the performers will be, and figure out a way to get airline tickets.... O.o
Next reviews: I have a review of KMFDM already typed up, and need to do one for Blackguard who we saw headlining this past Wednesday. I hope I can get those up before we head out to see Blackguard, Alestorm and Kamelot tonight - braving a hurricane no less!
I will also later proofread this post and add links to wonderfully awesome live vids from the festival....
So. I believe Tuska is Finland's largest metal festival, held each summer in Helsinki for three days (I only went for one day, though, because the tickets were so expensive). In the past, I think it has drawn some performers from overseas, but this year the line-up was mostly Finnish, with several Swedish visitors and a smattering of other European bands. Oh and Devin Townsend Project, which I believe is from Australia. The biggest names there - off the top of my head, and with considerable bias according to my tastes - were Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian, Epica, Amorphis, Wintersun, Turisas.. I could go on and on.
I went on Saturday, the middle day. Most of the big names like Amon Amarth, Amorphis and Turisas performed on Sunday, but I chose Saturday because I already saw Amon Amarth and Turisas earlier this year, and on Saturday I would have the chance to see Wintersun and Moonsorrow.
Tuska used to be held at a park called Kaisaniemi, but this year it was in what seemed to be an old industrial location called Suvilahti. It was very convenient to the metro - you literally walk about 100 feet from the Kalasatama metro station, following the stream of metallic looking people. I got there early in the day, about 1pm, and there was no line to speak of at the gates. The space inside the area felt a little small, maybe because the arrangement of the vendors and merch booths, food stands and stages created some sort of narrow, winding areas with large open areas only in front of the main and second stage. However, it did not feel cramped, even in the evening when the crowds got bigger, but then again the festival wasn't sold out either.
Facilities at the venue were excellent. There was a veritable maze of portapotties, with no line. There were a couple water fountains for drinking and refilling water bottles. The lines for food and merch were not too long (wait about 5 minutes) and moved fast, especially the line for the Alepa (convenience store) kiosk. The only long waits were at the signing booth, where I waited an hour each of the two times I went (for Wintersun and Epica). The Alepa kiosk was great - you could get sandwiches, ice cream, energy drinks and other basic supplies for very good prices there. (I read on the Tuska website that the prices were the same as in regular Alepa stores around Helsinki. Mad props to Alepa for doing that, it made being at the fest all day much more economical \m/) The area was pretty clean, compared to what I'd seen on the news a few days earlier about a big gathering in a park in Helsinki or Turku, with trash everywhere - at Tuska, there were just cigarette butts everywhere, and a few cans.
I loved the relaxed atmosphere - my favorite part of the day had to be sitting on the ground in the shade of this huge domed thing, eating something called "kebab" which was really not a kebab at all, with a bunch of people I didn't know but felt totally cool with, all while watching Blind Guardian perform not too far away on the main stage. I didn't talk to many people - as I well exemplify, Finnish people are kind of taciturn and not given to small talk - but I felt very comfortable. The Finnish metal scene has a strong goth/industrial edge, so I fit in better than at metal shows in the US ;D
So now to the actual bands. The entire list of performers and schedule for the day can still be found on the Tuska website (and when they can't anymore, well, I guess it means it's time to move on and think about Tuska 2012 XD) I shall just go through the bands that I actually saw and/or was interested in.
Witchery - They were onstage when I got through the winding corridor of vendor booths, and I sort of watched the with one eye while buying stuff at the merch stand (T-shirts!!) and then waiting for Wintersun at the signing booth. They were fast and heavy though not particularly remarkable.
Medeia - Just as I stepped away from the signing booth, it started to rain, and a bunch of people headed into the building where the fourth stage was (only that and the third stage, which was in a huge tent, were covered). I was going in there anyway since it was time for Medeia to start. Medeia is a death metal band from Finland with hilarious videos. This video is my favorite. I don't think they're well known abroad but they definitely had a lot of enthusiastic fans at Tuska. Their riffs were kind of simple but the guitars were very heavy. The last song they played sounded like thunder - always a good sign for a metal band. (I just wish I'd written down which song it was because now I have no recollection >.<)
Moonsorrow - A pagan/folk metal band with a very strong influence from Finnish folk music in particular, which is rare compared to the more jig-like Scandinavian/Celtic sound that a lot of folk metal bands use. Their songs are long and often slow, although in a good way (I think) because of the melodies and folk elements. "Kivenkantaja" (The Stone Carrier) was a crowd favorite. For the first time, I realized the (apparent) influence from Finnish shaman chants - when the vocalist starts in, the guitars, not just the drums, even seemed to imitate the sound a of shaman's drum. Starting from this song, their set got heavier, which made me happy.
Katatonia - Wandered out to see them partway through their set after a having a snack. They were a little lite for my taste. A person who started randomly talking to me said they used to have a heavier sound but their singer damaged his voice and can't do growls anymore, thus the classic metal sound.
Wintersun - Obviously, they were epic. Jari Mäenpää is a god to many Finnish metal fans - though he seemed like a regular dude when I asked him to sign a t-shirt for a friend of mine, maybe a little aloof but what Finnish person isn't? (Digression, you could definitely feel the difference in national personalities between Wintersun and Epica, the former being civil, smiling and perhaps chatting a little with you if you started the conversation; the latter joking, hitting people with flyswatters and all around out to have a good time.) Anyway, so Wintersun was not very heavy but they were FAST. The guitars were sometimes so fast and complicated that it was hard to headbang. They were easily the best performance of the day.
Blind Guardian - As I said before, I listened to them while eating dinner XD I would have been more enthused if it weren't for the fact that I saw BG last December (battling a nasty nasty cold to go the show, too). I was walking away toward the signing booth when "Valhalla" started and I had to back and sing along (best BG sing-along song EVER). I listened to them more while waiting for Epica. As at Jaxx last December, they gave a solid performance and played all the crowd-pleasers like "Valhalla," "The Bard's Song," "Nightfall" and so on.
Enslaved - After BG finished, while I was still waiting for Epica, stages 2 and 3 started up at the same time, and I couldn't make out much except when one of the bands stopped to talk. After getting another shirt signed for another friend, I went to listen to Enslaved while eating ice cream. (What's better than eating something yummy while watching awesome metal? Well, I suppose not eating while watching so that you can HEADBANG or MOSH.) Enslaved, I found out, is an epic Swedish death metal band in the vein of Amon Amarth. Strong melodies and epic riffs. I liked their last song, "Allfadr Odin" so much that I chose to headbang, rather than use the portapotty before dashing out to the metro for a two hour bus ride back to Turku.
Since my mom and I opted for the 9:00 bus (which would let us get back to Turku before midnight), I didn't get to hear Devin Townsend Project (as it was, I just barely made it to the bus terminal in time; but luckily there was a very clean and functional toilet in the back of the bus :D). And I definitely didn't get to go to the afterclub, where Turmion Kätilöt, one of my favorite Finnish industrial metal bands, would have been performing. But as my aunt said, "Leave something for next time!"
Hopefully, next time will be Tuska 2012, just waiting to see who the performers will be, and figure out a way to get airline tickets.... O.o
Next reviews: I have a review of KMFDM already typed up, and need to do one for Blackguard who we saw headlining this past Wednesday. I hope I can get those up before we head out to see Blackguard, Alestorm and Kamelot tonight - braving a hurricane no less!
I will also later proofread this post and add links to wonderfully awesome live vids from the festival....
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Urgamla, Axegressor, Primordial - 7/14/11 at Klubi, Turku, Finland; and Summer Wars
Something extra for you today. Not just a concert review but also a short movie review! And there will be a book review when I get back to the States. I finished One Jump Ahead in June but I left the draft of my review on my laptop. So it will be posted when I get back. Now I'm reading Kadonneet Kyyneleet (Lost Tears) by Mike Pohjola, so you may get a double review. And now on to the good stuff...
In Finland, everything is death metal
I thought there'd be this huge metal scene in Finland but it seems to be concentrated in Helsinki and Tampere - then again I have to drive an hour to most metal shows in my area too. But I did find a couple of shows in Turku as part of Hammer Open Air Metal Festival and decided to go see Urgamla, Axegressor and Primordial at Klubi.
Getting into Klubi is a little disorienting but once inside its quite cozy, kind of like Jaxx. You have to go into this alley, down some stairs, through a restaurant/bar area (empty both when I arrived and left), up some stairs and finally you're at the entrance to Klubi Live. The floor is a little smaller than Jaxx (I'm terrible with measurements though so don't ask me what the dimensions are) but there are more tables, chairs and benches for sitting and a little room to the back that I didn't really explore.
Hardly anyone was there when I arrived - and Urgamla had already started even though it was only ten minutes past their scheduled start time. Perhaps in Finland concerts actually start on time? Anyway, Urgamla is a black metal band from Turku with a very brutal and death metal like sound - growled vocals (mostly in Finnish) and heavy guitars, with very headbangable riffs and melodies, and a little folk flavor. They were going for a very evil image - the singer was covered in fake blood and at some point brought out an inverted cross with some candles on it. I wish they had more CDs (they only have two short demos) and/or more stuff on youtube. I liked them better out of the two openers.
Axegressor bills themselves as a thrash metal band and if you really listen for it, you can hear the thrashiness in their songs. The heaviness and melodic touches were more reminiscent of Scandinavian death metal, though, and I (who doesn't like thrash too much, I find it kind of boring) thoroughly enjoyed their set. I thought the singer had some kind of odd shorts on of some kind of printed fabric, and then toward the end I realized they were actually covered in band patches. Hoped he would be hanging out somewhere afterward so I could compliment him on the awesome shorts but didn't happen. However, I just realized that Axegressor will be at Tuska the day that I'm there so I'll get the chance to hear them again, yay.
Primordial, lastly, is a pagan/black metal band from Ireland. They started late and I had to leave early, so I only got to hear 45 minutes of them (4 songs, I think?). But they were well worth the wait and I would happily have stayed for the whole set (although my neck might not have liked me the next day). This is the start of their set (not my video). I was shocked to see that the singer had a shaved head since I had the impression they all had lovely long hair, and everyone else in the band had epic long wavy hair. Instead, the singer had corpse paint, but it fit the mood of the songs - a little bit slow paced, but very heavy. I didn't headbang much, because of the slow beat, but there were some epic melodic moments that were quite headbangable. There were a definite Celtic influence and the songs seemed to have Celtic themes, including the fall of Rome. We got to sing along to that one.
For three unknowns - I'd never heard of any of these bands before this concert - this was a great find. Definitely a fan of all three of these bands now, looking forward to seeing Axegressor at Tuska, and hoping Primordial will tour the US.
next concert: TUSKA, Helsinki, Finland, 7/23
Summer Wars
Now for my first ever movie review (on this blog at least).
Someone pointed out a review of an anime movie in the paper, which turned out to be Mamoru Hosoda's Summer Wars. I'm a bit of anime fan but not an expert, so I hadn't heard of this movie or director before. The picture in the paper looked a bit goofy, but it said the director was a big Miyazaki fan, so I figured, it's got to be ok at least. And I was kind of bored. So I went to see it at Turku's biggest (and only) movie theater. There were exactly three other people in the that theater with me - everyone headed to the Harry Potter movie next door.
The movie started out plunging us straight into a virtual world called OZ, moving very fast, with lots of bright colors and cute images - it was very disorienting, and I thought, if the whole movie is like this, then I'm going to get tired of it very fast. But luckily, it soon moved to the "real" world. And once the main conflict emerged - BEGIN SPOILER - OZ, which controls everything from GPS navigation to cell phone and TV transmission, was hacked by a powerhungry AI thing, and an unlikely team of programmers and game fanatics got together to beat it - END SPOILER - I was hooked and followed the story on the edge of my seat.
The characters were not very deep, but easy to relate to - the shy and awkward computer geek, the girl he likes and tries to help, the kid who spends all his time on the computer and turns out to be the game champion of OZ. The girl Natsuki's huge family was very interesting - the aunt who just wanted to watch baseball, the silly kids and the spitfire great grandmother were very memorable. It was probably because there was such a huge cast that no one in particular could be excessively complicated, and props to the director that in spite of the huge cast, I didn't have any trouble keeping track of who anyone was - they were very distinctive (although, I'm not sure I could say for sure how anyone except the most important characters were specifically related. For instance, I have no idea whose kid Kazuma, the game fanatic and martial arts genius, was.)
The action sequences - battles between Kazuma and the hacker, which took place in OZ - were downright amazing. So much fun to watch.
The story a bit simple, so I don't know if this is a movie I would want to watch over and over (unlike other anime favorites like Appleseed and Perfect Blue). But I certainly enjoyed it this time and would recommend it to other anime fans. Non anime fans might find it less than amusing due to unapologetic animatedness of the OZ segments and not quite logical moments (ex. magical girl costume morph) that anime fans take for granted.
Next movie: don't know..I hardly ever watch movies.
In Finland, everything is death metal
I thought there'd be this huge metal scene in Finland but it seems to be concentrated in Helsinki and Tampere - then again I have to drive an hour to most metal shows in my area too. But I did find a couple of shows in Turku as part of Hammer Open Air Metal Festival and decided to go see Urgamla, Axegressor and Primordial at Klubi.
Getting into Klubi is a little disorienting but once inside its quite cozy, kind of like Jaxx. You have to go into this alley, down some stairs, through a restaurant/bar area (empty both when I arrived and left), up some stairs and finally you're at the entrance to Klubi Live. The floor is a little smaller than Jaxx (I'm terrible with measurements though so don't ask me what the dimensions are) but there are more tables, chairs and benches for sitting and a little room to the back that I didn't really explore.
Hardly anyone was there when I arrived - and Urgamla had already started even though it was only ten minutes past their scheduled start time. Perhaps in Finland concerts actually start on time? Anyway, Urgamla is a black metal band from Turku with a very brutal and death metal like sound - growled vocals (mostly in Finnish) and heavy guitars, with very headbangable riffs and melodies, and a little folk flavor. They were going for a very evil image - the singer was covered in fake blood and at some point brought out an inverted cross with some candles on it. I wish they had more CDs (they only have two short demos) and/or more stuff on youtube. I liked them better out of the two openers.
Axegressor bills themselves as a thrash metal band and if you really listen for it, you can hear the thrashiness in their songs. The heaviness and melodic touches were more reminiscent of Scandinavian death metal, though, and I (who doesn't like thrash too much, I find it kind of boring) thoroughly enjoyed their set. I thought the singer had some kind of odd shorts on of some kind of printed fabric, and then toward the end I realized they were actually covered in band patches. Hoped he would be hanging out somewhere afterward so I could compliment him on the awesome shorts but didn't happen. However, I just realized that Axegressor will be at Tuska the day that I'm there so I'll get the chance to hear them again, yay.
Primordial, lastly, is a pagan/black metal band from Ireland. They started late and I had to leave early, so I only got to hear 45 minutes of them (4 songs, I think?). But they were well worth the wait and I would happily have stayed for the whole set (although my neck might not have liked me the next day). This is the start of their set (not my video). I was shocked to see that the singer had a shaved head since I had the impression they all had lovely long hair, and everyone else in the band had epic long wavy hair. Instead, the singer had corpse paint, but it fit the mood of the songs - a little bit slow paced, but very heavy. I didn't headbang much, because of the slow beat, but there were some epic melodic moments that were quite headbangable. There were a definite Celtic influence and the songs seemed to have Celtic themes, including the fall of Rome. We got to sing along to that one.
For three unknowns - I'd never heard of any of these bands before this concert - this was a great find. Definitely a fan of all three of these bands now, looking forward to seeing Axegressor at Tuska, and hoping Primordial will tour the US.
next concert: TUSKA, Helsinki, Finland, 7/23
Summer Wars
Now for my first ever movie review (on this blog at least).
Someone pointed out a review of an anime movie in the paper, which turned out to be Mamoru Hosoda's Summer Wars. I'm a bit of anime fan but not an expert, so I hadn't heard of this movie or director before. The picture in the paper looked a bit goofy, but it said the director was a big Miyazaki fan, so I figured, it's got to be ok at least. And I was kind of bored. So I went to see it at Turku's biggest (and only) movie theater. There were exactly three other people in the that theater with me - everyone headed to the Harry Potter movie next door.
The movie started out plunging us straight into a virtual world called OZ, moving very fast, with lots of bright colors and cute images - it was very disorienting, and I thought, if the whole movie is like this, then I'm going to get tired of it very fast. But luckily, it soon moved to the "real" world. And once the main conflict emerged - BEGIN SPOILER - OZ, which controls everything from GPS navigation to cell phone and TV transmission, was hacked by a powerhungry AI thing, and an unlikely team of programmers and game fanatics got together to beat it - END SPOILER - I was hooked and followed the story on the edge of my seat.
The characters were not very deep, but easy to relate to - the shy and awkward computer geek, the girl he likes and tries to help, the kid who spends all his time on the computer and turns out to be the game champion of OZ. The girl Natsuki's huge family was very interesting - the aunt who just wanted to watch baseball, the silly kids and the spitfire great grandmother were very memorable. It was probably because there was such a huge cast that no one in particular could be excessively complicated, and props to the director that in spite of the huge cast, I didn't have any trouble keeping track of who anyone was - they were very distinctive (although, I'm not sure I could say for sure how anyone except the most important characters were specifically related. For instance, I have no idea whose kid Kazuma, the game fanatic and martial arts genius, was.)
The action sequences - battles between Kazuma and the hacker, which took place in OZ - were downright amazing. So much fun to watch.
The story a bit simple, so I don't know if this is a movie I would want to watch over and over (unlike other anime favorites like Appleseed and Perfect Blue). But I certainly enjoyed it this time and would recommend it to other anime fans. Non anime fans might find it less than amusing due to unapologetic animatedness of the OZ segments and not quite logical moments (ex. magical girl costume morph) that anime fans take for granted.
Next movie: don't know..I hardly ever watch movies.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Sister Sin, Destrophy, Blackguard, Otep - 6/18/11 at Jaxx, Springfield, VA
Ack. So I didn't write up My Enemy Complete and those other local bands like I was supposed to >.< If I get a chance, I still want to do that, since they can use all the promotion they can get. But anyway. While it's still fresh in my mind, let me type up my review of last night's concert.
It was a kind of crazy combination of bands - when I first saw that Otep was touring, and then that Blackguard was supporting her, I thought, how in the world is that going to work out?! I was really looking forward to seeing both of them, but it just seemed like an odd combination. Actually, in addition to the four bands in the title, this goth act called One Eyed Doll also performed last night along with two local bands, Pain and Beyond Black Skies, but we missed those. (Yeah, it's we, not I, now. Life just got a little more interesting :P )
We got to Jaxx in the middle of Sister Sin's set. S. was really looking forward to seeing them, and I was glad we didn't miss them too. They're an "old-school" metal band from Sweden. Their songs are pretty catchy, with a bit more of hard rock sound, but still heavy enough to headbang to on most songs. Certainly the singer, Liv, headbanged plenty. The crowd was not really into it though (they didn't even respond to the "Hey!"/fistpump prompt the first time around >.<), which was a shame since I thought Sister Sin was pretty cool.
Destrophy was pretty good too. Still more of a hard rock sound, but their older songs were pretty heavy. For the two new (and not so heavy) songs they played, they made a big deal out of the fact that they get a lot of play on a certain radio station, and in fact they made a big deal about their CD's and merchandise before most of the songs. I guess they have to promote their stuff, still, it got kind of annoying. Of the new songs, "Closer" was the better one I thought, and I wanted to jump but no one else was into it. Typical Jaxx crowd!
However, I forgive them for that due to the way they received Blackguard. Huge mosh pits! Massive headbanging! If you want to know about Blackguard, see my paean in this post. I thought Blackguard sounded better than ever - they were loud and energetic and Paul's energy was contagious. Their sound seemed a bit out of balance, though - something, maybe the bass, was too loud and it was hard to hear the melodies. They acknowledged their folk metal roots and played a few old songs at the end of their set, but all the folk awesomeness was lost in the noise. I thought their best song last night was "The Fear of All Flesh," probably because it's a song that sounds good loud and made the crowd go crazy.
So speaking of going crazy. OTEP. If you haven't noticed, most of my reviews critique the crowd as much as the band, because I think the experience of being part of the "crowd" is as much part of the metal concert experience as hearing the band. I mean, you could headbang to music by yourself at home - you go to a concert so that you can headbang, fistpump, shout and mosh with a bunch of other metal fans. I'll still enjoy a concert even if there are only a few people listening and I'm the only one headbanging (has happened..) but it's much more fun with a bunch of other people that are into the music too. So anyway. Otep was, well, Otep. It seems like people either love her or hate her; me, I think she's awesome, as much for the artistic way she does things as for her amazing heavy music. She makes songs that, to me, sound a lot like spoken word set to metal music. I wasn't sure how that would work out in a concert setting - does one headbang to spoken word? Well, it worked out really well actually - the heavy music got people moving and Otep's rapid-fire delivery rode right along with it. The mosh pit was massive, at times I thought the whole floor would turn into one huge pit. (And then what would happen to the goth chicks? Haha, I'm mean. I'm not crazy about the pit either because having waist length hair that gets caught on things makes it more painful than I'd really want it to be.) But I had a good time headbanging on the edge of the pit.
Otep didn't come back out for an encore, and we met a diehard fan in 7-11 who complained about how she only played one song from her new album. I'm not that familiar with her new album and like her old stuff better anyway, so I didn't really notice or care about that, but I thought it was kind a of a jerkish gesture not to do an encore, especially since she kept saying things like we were the best crowd she'd ever seen (shows how cynical I am that I wondered if she says that to every crowd). Still, I thought it was a good show, enjoyed all four of the bands we saw and would definitely see any of them again.
Next concert: TUSKA METAL FESTIVAL in Helsinki!!! Saturday July 23!!
It was a kind of crazy combination of bands - when I first saw that Otep was touring, and then that Blackguard was supporting her, I thought, how in the world is that going to work out?! I was really looking forward to seeing both of them, but it just seemed like an odd combination. Actually, in addition to the four bands in the title, this goth act called One Eyed Doll also performed last night along with two local bands, Pain and Beyond Black Skies, but we missed those. (Yeah, it's we, not I, now. Life just got a little more interesting :P )
We got to Jaxx in the middle of Sister Sin's set. S. was really looking forward to seeing them, and I was glad we didn't miss them too. They're an "old-school" metal band from Sweden. Their songs are pretty catchy, with a bit more of hard rock sound, but still heavy enough to headbang to on most songs. Certainly the singer, Liv, headbanged plenty. The crowd was not really into it though (they didn't even respond to the "Hey!"/fistpump prompt the first time around >.<), which was a shame since I thought Sister Sin was pretty cool.
Destrophy was pretty good too. Still more of a hard rock sound, but their older songs were pretty heavy. For the two new (and not so heavy) songs they played, they made a big deal out of the fact that they get a lot of play on a certain radio station, and in fact they made a big deal about their CD's and merchandise before most of the songs. I guess they have to promote their stuff, still, it got kind of annoying. Of the new songs, "Closer" was the better one I thought, and I wanted to jump but no one else was into it. Typical Jaxx crowd!
However, I forgive them for that due to the way they received Blackguard. Huge mosh pits! Massive headbanging! If you want to know about Blackguard, see my paean in this post. I thought Blackguard sounded better than ever - they were loud and energetic and Paul's energy was contagious. Their sound seemed a bit out of balance, though - something, maybe the bass, was too loud and it was hard to hear the melodies. They acknowledged their folk metal roots and played a few old songs at the end of their set, but all the folk awesomeness was lost in the noise. I thought their best song last night was "The Fear of All Flesh," probably because it's a song that sounds good loud and made the crowd go crazy.
So speaking of going crazy. OTEP. If you haven't noticed, most of my reviews critique the crowd as much as the band, because I think the experience of being part of the "crowd" is as much part of the metal concert experience as hearing the band. I mean, you could headbang to music by yourself at home - you go to a concert so that you can headbang, fistpump, shout and mosh with a bunch of other metal fans. I'll still enjoy a concert even if there are only a few people listening and I'm the only one headbanging (has happened..) but it's much more fun with a bunch of other people that are into the music too. So anyway. Otep was, well, Otep. It seems like people either love her or hate her; me, I think she's awesome, as much for the artistic way she does things as for her amazing heavy music. She makes songs that, to me, sound a lot like spoken word set to metal music. I wasn't sure how that would work out in a concert setting - does one headbang to spoken word? Well, it worked out really well actually - the heavy music got people moving and Otep's rapid-fire delivery rode right along with it. The mosh pit was massive, at times I thought the whole floor would turn into one huge pit. (And then what would happen to the goth chicks? Haha, I'm mean. I'm not crazy about the pit either because having waist length hair that gets caught on things makes it more painful than I'd really want it to be.) But I had a good time headbanging on the edge of the pit.
Otep didn't come back out for an encore, and we met a diehard fan in 7-11 who complained about how she only played one song from her new album. I'm not that familiar with her new album and like her old stuff better anyway, so I didn't really notice or care about that, but I thought it was kind a of a jerkish gesture not to do an encore, especially since she kept saying things like we were the best crowd she'd ever seen (shows how cynical I am that I wondered if she says that to every crowd). Still, I thought it was a good show, enjoyed all four of the bands we saw and would definitely see any of them again.
Next concert: TUSKA METAL FESTIVAL in Helsinki!!! Saturday July 23!!
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