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Helvation Festival II - 12/9/2011 - DOM - Helsinki

A little more than an year after its first, promising edition, Helvation comes back, same venue, but with a different name and more space. Maybe that is also why the place seems not so full as it would have deserved to be.
Headliners of this edition are the Italian Sadist and Pestilence from Netherlands, which makes for an interesting event despite the various Dark Tranquillity, Within Temptation and the likes, playing simultaneously here in Helsinki.

Friday 09th

There is, quite a few people already from the beginning in the first day, the reason being the show of the local deathsters Noumena, a band that reminds of Insomnium and similar artists, but which incorporates two vocalists, male and female, and actually three tonight since the guitarist Ville had injured his hand, and was thus replaced at the guitar from Matti Vaaja.
Starting with “The End of the Century” from their second full-length, the 6-piece also presented two new songs, “Let It Run Red” and “Behind Perception”, enriching their set for the joy of the fans. The audience seemed to enjoy the gig, and being my first time to see them, I must say it didn’t seem bad at all, although I’ve heard others claiming that the band had better moments. This genre seems to be very appreciated nonetheless here in Finland, given the recent success of bigger names, and I think that Noumena might deserve more exposure.
“Slain Memories”, together with “Triumph and Loss” conclude this 45-min show, a nice warm-up for the evening.
Ram-Zet is not my kind of music, or at least not usually. But said that, I must admit they did have quite a good show, and you could feel the energy from the blonde singer SfinX and her restlessness on stage. That girl knows how to do her job. Also the Norwegian guys have a new song to offer, although the crowd seems less interested than during the previous show. Well represented in the set the latest “Neutralized”, while the concert ends with “The Fall”. Nothing really to complain musically speaking, just I’m thinking that lately from Norway there’s quite many bands trying to experiment and push the limits of music into those so-called “post-metal” and “avant-garde”. The creation of Mr. Zet is among these, and I’m not really sure what to make out of one single show since I haven’t listened to them beforehand and they didn’t really catch my undivided attention. It might be that like their compatriot Shining, they just need to be listened more carefully, or maybe not.
In the meanwhile many people has started to gather in front of the stage for what apparently to many is the main attraction of the night, Vesania. Obviously this interest around the Polish black metal act is due to the singer/guitarist Orion, which you might know better for playing the bass in a little more famous band called Behemoth.
The more black-oriented sounds, and synth of the keyboards clearly reminds of Dimmu Borgir, but of course on a smaller scale. It is surprising for me to see how much the audience in the front rows is involved in their show, not that it isn’t good, even if the second guitar player is a bit of a show-off. The guys sometimes lose their cold and detached attitude to interact with their fans, all seemingly satisfied from their performance. It ends, almost surprisingly, after 1 hour, as the time has been running quite fast during this gig. Or maybe I was just looking forward to see finally Sadist again after something like 4 years.
Many Italian bands have played recently here in Finland, at least 2 every month since the end of the summer, which is interesting considering that normally this place is often neglected by many of those. Coming from Genova, Northern Italy, Trevor and company are ready to kick some ass and give it their all to ignite this cold Finnish weekend (enough already with this goddamn wind!). “Season in Silence” sure is the perfect album for this Scandinavian setting, and in fact the first 3 songs (plus intro) are taken exactly in the same order as in this record.
I’m honestly a bit annoyed to see less people than with Vesania, and it is a shame for Finns to neglect one of the best Death metal bands from my country. But still they don’t really care much about this on stage, given that Tommy, Trevor, Andy and Alessio are all playing with the same energy as usual. A well-trained machine which never fails to entertain its audience.
The show continues among songs such as “I Feel You Climb”, “The Path”, and even a little room for the coming holidays with “Christmas Beat”, the eyes of the crowd roaming from Talamanca’s double skills divided between guitar and keyboards, to the big Trevor inciting them, and the poses of Andy Marchini with his bass. There’s also room for the usual drunk guy climbing (and falling) on stage, before being kicked down falling on the floor.
As “Tearing Away” approaches, we know the end is near, and it comes in the form of “Sometimes They Come Back”. They do, in fact, come back, for the last encore, before the night is over. Applauses from the audience, but I still believe the band would have deserved more. For me surely the best act of the evening, Sadist showed that they still play in the same way as they used to. And this can’t be bad. Before coming back in the storm outside, my thought goes to the next evening, with Pestilence being the main course.


Setlist Sadist:
01) Broken and Reborn
02) Season in Silence
03) The attic and the World of Emotions
04) One Thousand Memories
05) I Feel You Climb
06) India
07) Perversion, Lust, Orgasm
08) The Path
09) Ovariotomy
10) Evil Birds
11) Chistmas Beat
12) Tribe
13) Tearing Away
14) Sometimes They Come Back


Photos:
Sadist


Vesania


Ram-Zet


Noumena



Saturday 10th

Apparently the opening act of this second day, Septory is not as appealing as yesterday, in fact there is just a bunch of people, and a little Russian-looking girl filming the show with her camera in front of the stage. The band from Saint Petersburg has already two albums behind their back, and it’s from the new “Seductive Art Profane” that they take most of their set.
Too bad their Death Metal appears to lack of incisivity within this brief show, at least at the beginning, with some good moments just in the end, with “Swamp” and “Break Your Idols”. Still some credit most be given to these youngsters from Russia who came here and played their honest show, and the frog-like poses of the guitar player, together with the speeches of the singer, were overall quite amusing.
Definitely more crowd for De Lirium’s Order, which is the band with the worst luck in the whole festival. The 5-piece is first forced to wait for a few technical issues with the guitars to be solved, then the same happens with the drums. Nonetheless they make up for it with an entertaining gig, and maintaining the tradition of this festival by performing also some new material. Solid the show of the two guitarists (after the first difficulties), and not bad even the singer, also known for Pressure Points.
A band probably underrated, but which fits quite well and can make a stand in the local scene.
Another positive surprise was for me Acid Death. I confess I totally neglected this band up to recently, but this not-so-famous “cult” name from Athens sure has its way on stage. They really lightened up the evening from the beginning, with some crazy fans headbanging in the front. From the initial “W.A.R.”, to “Misled” and “Psycho Love”, the Greek combo puts on stage some energy that you don’t see often when you’re watching some 40-something years old men playing, especially the singer seemed particularly in shape, with the two guitars more in the shadows.
Sound-wise things goes much better here, and the show is not even more than a few minutes late (a delay that will be erased for when it comes to the headliners). The new songs “Eidolon” with its intro, and “No Sky Above” set the stage for one of the highest points of this show, the cover of “Flattening of Emotions” (Death), in memory of Chuck, who died almost exactly 10 years ago. The gig then ends with the good “Apathy Murders Hope”. First thought was, I might have to make up for the lost time and dig more into these guy’s music.
To use a Greek term, the apotheosis of this weekend couldn’t be represented by anything else than Pestilence. The Dutch band, acclaimed by the gathering of fans (I was expecting a little more though), is ready to wreck havoc in DOM, and it does so with power and an impressive wall of aggression hitting the audience right in the face.
After their comeback the guys, lead by Patrick Mameli, have already released two new records, not wasting any time. The fact that they are not as their early work is a given opinion, but still the classics are not forgotten, especially from “Consuming Impulse”. And the energy of the guys on stage, seemingly having quite a lot of fun themselves, is a big plus in this concert. “Process Of Suffocation”, “Dehydrated”, “Soul Search” and “Land of Tears” are only a few of the great songs that cover the first part of their set, making the fans go wild and inciting no-stop the band.
“Chronic Infection” and “Chemo Therapy” leave no quarter to the fans, who has only those moments in between the songs to take a deep breath. There is time for many applauses, and all well deserved, when the set ends with “Out Of The Body”, again from that masterpiece which is “Consuming Impulse”. Pestilence crown themselves as kings of this year’s Helvation, surpassing in my opinion, even if by a very small margin, Sadist. Personally other highlights of the festival were Acid Death, De Lirium’s Order, and Noumena. All really valid bands. Let’s hope that the guys of Disentertainment will keep up to these standards, and continue to bring here to Finland such interesting and appealing bands, still giving exposure also to some pretty good local acts. No major issues appear to have occurred, with the exception of DLO’s show, and again this year the organization has not only done a good job, but probably learned some valuable experience to treasure in the future. We look forward to the next events, and to a future Helvation pt.III!


Setlist Pestilence:
01) Intro (Doctrine)
02) Amgod
03) Devouring
04) Process of Suffocation
05) Suspended
06) Confusion
07) Absolution
08) Dehydrated
09) Soul Search
10) LAnd of Tears
11) Secrecies of Horror
12) Chronic Infection
13) Mind Reflections
14) Chemo Therapy
15) Salvation
16) Resurrection Macabre
17) Out of the Body


Photos:
Pestilence


Acid Death


De Lirium’s Order


Septory


Report a cura di Marco Manzi