Il portale della musica Heavy Metal

Ghost Brigade + Unkind + Hollow - 9/30/2011 - Nosturi - Helsinki

Another week, another gig at Nosturi. This time it was time to get emotional and moody, and the autumnal weather sure fit the mood.
The moment I stepped to the floor I was dumbstruck by the first band, Hollow. Their confusing setup; cellist, a guitarist and a standing drummer with a xylophone, was enough to set it apart from most bands. They had a cool lit-up backdrop, which separated the front of the stage from the backer part with the other bands instruments, which was great at creating an ethereal atmosphere. Their music was moody, and I wouldn’t call it metal. For some reason they reminded me of Mew, which is at least a bit strange. They had no show to speak of and their music was pretty bland, but because of the cello it was an okay thing to listen to for 30 minutes.
Then it was finally time for some distortion, as Unkind took the stage. They had a very muddled sound, and combined with generic hardcore/punk really didn’t have anything new or original to say. This would’ve been okay if they at least had brought some proper rage to the stage, but there was equally little to see on stage as with Hollow. As they entered another slowed down part of an already slow song it was time to exit.
After the boring “warm-up” acts it was finally time for the real deal, Ghost Brigade. There’s just something really strange and exceptional with this band, at least for me. Described as a mix between Katatonia and Amorphis, by a friend, I just shrugged it off since I almost despise that kind of music. However, to almost every horrid genre there’s an exception. Ghost Brigade proves that out of pretty boring parts a truly fantastic combination can be made.
They used an electronic mix of their own song as an intro tape, but it was strange to hear an intro with proper recorded lyrics, can’t remember when I’d last heard something like that. From the get-go they had their synchronized moshing going and took the eager crowd by force. The sounds were really good considering Nosturi’s acoustics, and Manne Ikonen’s clean and growled vocals were superb even live.
The crowd was pleased with what the band offered, and clapped along and shouted to the songs. Only a few jackasses who decided to pit along to a slow song tried to destroy the awesome mood, but luckily even they gave up and enjoyed the show. The setlist was awesome and they finished their set by leaving the stage one at a time, while the rest of the band continued playing. After this there was still time for an encore which included their best two songs, “My Heart is a Tomb” and “Into the Black Light” made the evening perfect. A great gig from a great band, as it should be.

Report a cura di Markus Karppinen