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Metalheim 2011 - Day 2 - 10/29/2011 - Nosturi - Helsinki

The second day seems to register even less people, at least until the very end of the evening, when finally there is a proper crowd. It’s a pity considering that after all the festival includes some really interesting names of the local scene, and that the previous year it was even hard to enter the venue in time for the first band.
It’s in front of about 20 people that Hateform gets to play. I saw them a few months earlier already, but they didn’t leave me much of an impression. It’s a bit better today, even though the alternate vocals between their main singer and the bass player is not really my cup of tea. Their music still works as a proper intro to the evening, even though you can literally count the people in the audience. From the numerical point of view the situation doesn’t change when the forefathers of Finnish black metal, Black Crucifixion enter on stage. This is their last date of 2011, and last promoting the new “Hope of Retaliation”, a mixture of new songs and re-recorded classics by the guys from Lapland. The show in itself is the typical BC formula, at least as I could have seen from the many shows this year. This band really shows its strenght live, and shows it with energy, especially with the two guitars, solid base of their crude sound.
The new “Retaliation” and older material such as “Serpent of Your Holy Garden”, “Prometean Gift”, “Goddess of Doom” are always great live material, and this time is no exception. Of course what’s lacking in this show is mostly the presence of the audience, as very few people are actually involved into the band’s performance.
One would think that Profane Omen could bring in more people, but that was a wrong assumption. And I have been wondering how come that I cannot recall any major event where these guys have played, because their shows are really something, and it would be great festival music! Jules Näveri is indeed a very talented frontman, but also the two guitar players knows how to move, thanks to the many many shows the band has played in these past years, and the stability of their line-up.
The new songs from “Destroy” sounds pretty damn good live as well, so that if I had enough cash with me I would have thought about buying the cd. Not a top-notch band, but they are still quite skilled at what they do, that must be acknowledged.
Profane Omen gave a boost of energy and prepared the ground for the old-time Finnish thrashers A.R.G.. I didn’t know much of this band beforehand, but everyone has always had good words for them. Now I know why. These guys have all the rights to be considered among the most important thrash metal bands from Finland, and it’s great to be able to see them fresh from reunion, 20 years after their latest full-lenght album. Old school thrash metal as it should be done it’s their morning bread, and the band has a clear will to still show their fans what they are capable of. It was indeed a really good surprise!
Around the end of the show, some random guy in gray boxers and with a red clown nose appears on stage to whip the guys’ ass while playing. Weird! But that gave time for some laughter.
Another surprise is also the amount of people entering in Nosturi right after this show, to see the Irish pagan blacksters Primordial. A complete disregard for the previous bands. And not really smart too, since the ticket for one day was 25€, and you could see 5 bands instead of just the headliners.
“No Grave Deep Enough” lights the fire of this involving show, with Alan Averill “Nemtheanga” freely showing his index finger around and concluding most of his sentences with “who gives a fuck” or similar. Teasing and inciting the audience at the same time with his speeches. And the singer is really the soul of this great band, and the real showman on this gig, the others supporting “in the shadows” with their instruments. That’s probably the real meaning of “frontman”.
“Lain With The Wolf”, and “As Rome Burns” really ignite the first rows, filled with excited people headbanging no-stop. At this point the singer begins to tease about coming closer to the end of the show, but this goes on for about half hour, so at the end nobody believes it anymore! “Heaten Tribes” preceeds the awesome “Coffin Ships”, which he compares for Finns to understand, to the war between Finland and Russia in WWII. Of course this involves even more the crowd, right before ending in style with “Empire Falls”: here Alan let himself be carried from the fans into doing bodysurf on them, while still singing with his legs in the air. Madness, the fun kind.
After the shows at this year’s Hellfest, Hammer, and here, I can say this one has been surely the most entertaining gig of the three, or at least the one with the closest interaction with the audience, which helps a lot in its success.
The evening ends here, and everyone heads to the many afterparties/Halloween parties in the city. Balance of this year’s edition, great bands, although a real mass-gathering headliner was truly missing. The conjunction with the Halloween weekend hasn’t helped, and the presence of metalheads was by far lower than (at least my) expectations. The organization was pretty much flawless, and every band was extremely punctual with their starting time, or a few minutes late at maximum. A good event, snubbed by many metalheads. Shame on you!


Photos:
Primordial


A.R.G.


Profane Omen


Black Crucifixion


Hateform


Report a cura di Marco Manzi