Review by S J Holetz
Flagons
were once again hoisted high in honor of Metal last month,
as I
returned to the venerable
El Corazon [Link] for the
Seattle stop of the Finnish Metal Tour,
and
another opportunity to catch the
mighty Finntroll live. Since
the release of latest CD "Nefilvind", I
have been looking forward to hearing how
the new cuts would fit into the live setlist, so there was no way I'd
be
missing this one.
Unfortunately, brutal eastside
traffic conspired to keep me from seeing all of it, and I did miss all
but the last 2 songs from opening act Blood
and
Thunder. That said, I liked what little I heard. Seattle's
Blood and Thunder [MySpace] turned in
some straight-up Swedish flavored death metal with exactly
the sort of Maiden-esque
twin guitar flourish, that I am a sucker for, along with solid lead
vocal work
from
drummer Ryan Yancey, who made a touching dedication to a friend in
failing health before kicking off
the final rip-roaring track. I look forward to hearing more from this
band.
Next up was 7 Horns
7 Eyes [MySpace], also from Seattle;
their fat, sludgy seven-string sound an
instant contrast to that of the previous band. I really enjoyed this
band's
fantastically sinister sound and post-
metal touches, but I did have a few gripes with the presentation. Not
to
be too harsh here, but I hate to see
a band tune up in the middle of a song, or fiddle with their
laptops too much, or a frontman wandering
aimlessly during a solo. I appreciate musical precision, but in this
case I felt it resulted in music that came
across as too “constructed”, without a lot of dramatic presence or
concern
with engaging the room. Once this
band learns to aim their formidable talent at the crowd, they will
positively own. Until then, 7 Horns 7
Eyes
needs a few more
balls.
New
to me was the first Finnish act of the evening, Swallow the Sun [Home, MySpace], who wasted
little
time in erecting a wall of spinning hair and somber yet catchy metal,
providing the evening's first
serious
headbang. Swallow the Sun
definitely grabbed hold of the crowd with their grandiose, atmospheric
riffing and
deep
register vocals, which served as a calm before the
raucous storm to follow. The tunes "These Hours of
Despair" and "Sleepless Ones" were definite standouts. Cool set,
but
damned
if Swallow
the Sun
didn't make
me
REALLY miss Sentenced.
Also
a first for me was Helsinki's
Moonsorrow [Home, MySpace], although I have long been aware
of
their existence as the other band where Finntroll founder Henri "Trollhorn"
Sorvali hangs his helm.
As "Trollhorn"
did not tour with Finntroll on
the Ur Jorden's Djup tour (as chronicled HERE by
yours truly), it was my hope
that he would join both bands on the road this trip. It was not to be,
however Moonsorrow's
brand of "heathen
battle metal" was well marshalled by Trollhorn's brother, frontman and
bassist Ville Sorvali.
Moonsorrow's
epic, historic thunder
finally ignited the mosh pit, bringing to mind a heavier
version of Ensiferum. Great
music,
topped by priceless intros from
Sorvali. To whit: "Around
1100
or so, no one quite knows the year, a Swedish
bishop tried to
bring Christianity to Finland. He FAILED!
A peasant named Lalli met him on the
ice at Lake
Köyliönjärvi... and SLAYED
HIM!” Learning things can be fucking awesome. I was impressed
with Moonsorrow's
set, particularly the sprawling "Firestorm, chapters 5-9". Hopefully
with this in mind, now I will stop
confusing
them with Moonspell.
With that, it was time for the
rollicking Finntroll [Home, MySpace] to take the stage, and rollick they
did, favoring the stalwart midweek crowd with an excellent mix of old
favorites and new cuts. By way of new
tracks,the raging "Solsagen", the Boingo-meets-Metal "Den Frusna
Munnen" (hilariously referred to as
"Boingo"
on the setlist) and awesomely raucous personal fave "Under
Berget’s Rot" stood
tall with classics "Aldhissla",
"Kitteldags", and crushing
crowdpleaser "Trollhammaren", meshing perfectly in an excellent set.
Frontman
Vreth's stern visage notwithstanding, it is
always great to see how much fun this band has on stage, as guitarists
Tundra and Skrymer cross back and
forth, exhorting the crowd and each other to greater heights as they
douse
the room in
beer-soaked, folk flavored, mosh friendly metal. A brisk encore, and the
show was Finnished,
although
as always with regards to Finntroll, far too soon. There is little more
to be said than, if you haven't, or even if you
have...See
Finntroll NOOOWWW!
7 HORNS 7 EYES
Divine Amnesty
Empire of Lies
Delusions
Vindicator
Slaves of Depravity
SWALLOW THE SUN
These Woods Breathe Evil
Falling World
These Hours of Despair
Sleepless Ones
Out of This Gloomy Light
Plague of Butterflies
New Moon
Swallow
FINNTROLL
Nedgång
Drap
Skogen's Hamnd
Slaget Vid Blodsälv
Boingo (Den Frusna Munnen)
Nattfödd
Korpen's Saga
Aldhissla
Svartberg
Blodnatt
Trollhammaren
Kummitas (Under Bergets Rot)
Arabi (Ett Norskennsdad)
Eliytres
Kitteldags
Makten's Spira
Encore:
Solsagen