Il portale della musica Heavy Metal

Jalometalli 2012 - Day 2 - 8/11/2012 - Club Teatria - Oulu

I wasn’t so eager to get to the festival early on Saturday, the weather was quite good, and after waking up there was still plenty of time for drinking a couple of beers outside. Despite that, things not always go as expected, so here I am at Club Teatria again, with a lower alcohol-level than I wished for, but hey, I got a free Redbull at least!
Following the cancellation of Heathen, Altars Of Destruction are the first on the indoor stage. The band is actually one of the first metal bands from Finland, but their first album came out only two years ago. Their sound is rooted in the thrash of the bay area, but somehow to me it doesn’t seem so appealing as to watch much of the show.
I am curious instead about Nekromantheon, since I remember hearing positive things about them, but I can’t recall the band itself. The Norwegian guys reminds me about some very young Aura Noir, which is obviously not a bad thing. The bass player himself kind of makes certain expressions similar to Apollyon. But the music is not bad, and sets up the atmosphere to get this second day of the festival going.
Next is time to move again to the indoor stage, as in the third one is playing Unholy, which I have seen a couple of weeks earlier at Hammer. Inside instead plays this band I never heard of: Achren.
It appears evident that these big bearded guys are from Scotland from the accent, and they have released their first album last year, "The Forgotten King". Their thrash/black sound doesn’t get too much to the audience, who’s mostly drinking or watching the other band on the small stage. Not that the show wasn’t ok, but they probably won’t be remembered as the best act of the festival.
Gorguts on the other hand, made a really good impression, not only on me, but apparently also on the agitated fans in the front. The singer of the Canadian band, not really much active after the suicide of the drummer in 2002, actually shows a lot of energy and a charismatic character. The same can’t be said of the second guitar player, who looks a bit goofy on stage, even though the concert goes with no major technical issues and actually it’s a very interesting performance. Some new song is played, not so much for the joy of the audience, who still goes on headbanging till the end.
When you notice people with aluminium masks (you got to be creative) walking around, it’s time for Crimson Glory. The band lead now by Todd La Torre, who recently got a new job as singer of Queensrÿche - tired of Geoff Tate’s ego - is one of the most awaited acts of the day. The beginning is epic already, with "Valhalla" and "Dragon Lady" coming directly from the debut album. Needless to say the crowd responds very well, inciting the band and shouting all the time. Quite atypical for being just half-way through this day.
The set is evenly divided between "Crimson Glory" and "Trascendence", and at times the show is quite spectacular. This is one of those few bands I didn’t have the chance to see before, and I was looking forward to at Jalometalli. With the exception of a little break to pay a visit to Wandering Midget, since everyone was talking so well about them. Unfortunately the doom metal band encounter right at that moment some prolonged problems, so back to the indoor stage for the ending with "Painted Skies" and "Red Sharks", getting at the same time mentally worked-up for the upcoming show.
When a few minutes later, after some complaining overheard from the tour manager, Iced Earth set foot on the main stage, the first thing you notice is how Schaffer looks weird with his hair died black and the American bandana covering his head. The second is the fact that the poor Stu Block not only is wearing strangely patched pants, but has to shout out his lungs for almost a couple of songs before the microphone sounds alright. The same kind of weird jeans is shared by the newest addition, the bass player Luke Appleton, who at least today is also having a big part in the backing vocals.
After the beginning the show goes much much better, and the fans sure are totally into the gig. I honestly was really skeptical about the new singer before I saw the new line-up live last winter. Now I can say they actually founds someone that suits their sounds extremely well, and the new album ain’t really that bad!
While "V" and "Anthem" prove this last point, with people singing along in the yard outside Teatria, the show comes to an end with the triplet "I Died For You", "Damien", and "Iced Earth", the last of which I have to hear from afar while going towards the other end of the festival area. The reason being, Baptism is about to play.
The only true black metal band of the day, is also "headlining" the small stage, since this will be unmounted right after the gig. The attitude of the Tampere-based blacksters gives the typical "I don’t give a f**k"-vibe that you get normally in those true black metal gigs. The band is there to play music after all, not to entertain the crowd with useless speeches of sort. Marko Saarikalle, better known as the vocalist of Behexen, is also joining on stage at some point to borrow his vocals, as the mainman of the band lights a cigarette.
Overall a relaxed atmosphere on stage, and the audience quietly watching in silence, as the sun is going down. Quite a suggestive moment in contrast with the dark, gloomy music performed by the 5-piece. Which makes the whole thing even more enjoyable.
A completely different approach to music is the one of Municipal Waste, restless thrashers of a new generation, who excite their fans with their fast and heavy rhythms and their "raw&dirty" songs, 21 in total in their set, but it’s not surprising being mostly around 2 minutes. The duo made of Tony Foresta and the guitar player Ryan Waste is always at the core of the band’s performance, even though Land Phil at the bass is just not staying aside to watch. The energy that comes from the show is reflected by that with which the most devoted fans are responding, especially those with the big inflated "terror shark", requesting the song with the same name until satisfied by the little singer. Tony is smiling and laughing all the time, talking quite often to the audience. Musically the gig is not so different from what I’ve heard only the month before in Sweden, so I can take the chance to rest a little before the gran finale.
One of the main reasons for me to be at this festival was surely The Devil’s Blood. Since the time I saw them back in 2010 in Germany, playing right before Watain, they captured me with their music and with the amazing voice of their singer, who goes by the nickname of Mouth of Satan.
The band revolves around the genius of Selim, her brother and guitar player/composer of these masterpieces. Their set, in the end, will exceed the 1 hour and a half at the band’s disposal, but I don’t see anyone complaining. The magic of the band’s music touches the people gathered inside the venue, who can just watch and listen, overtaken by the occult atmosphere surrounding the blood-covered guys on stage. "The Time Of No Time Evermore" was a masterpiece, the new songs are maybe more complex and elaborated, but still effective and powerful. Truly amazing is the (never)ending closure, with the guys prolonging the fantastic "Voodoo Dust" first, and then "Christ Or Cocaine", in an almost hypnotic repeating of guitar riffs. No one seems to want this to end, and the band is just giving this feeling to the fans. Best ending possible for this festival.
With still this awesomeness in my head, it’s time to slowly head back to the center, and maybe hope to celebrate a bit the personal ending of this festival season 2012. Favorite bands of this day: The Devil’s Blood, Iced Earth, Crimson Glory, with a special mention for Baptism and Gorguts.

This first experience at Jalometalli has been after all quite good. The area might not be pleasant-looking, but it’s functional to the location of the three stages, and things seem to have worked well, despite some small technical issues quickly resolved here and there. And then again Oulu is always nice, and a trip to northern Finland, despite the long traveling time and everything, is always welcome. Let’s see if we will meet again the next year!


Photos:
Jalometalli 2012

Report a cura di Marco Manzi