Il portale della musica Heavy Metal

Tuska Open Air 2014 - Day 2 - 6/28/2014 - Suvilahti - Helsinki

Cannibal Accident (Club Stage): Opening this second day of Tuska is Cannibal Accident from Turku. This means raw meat, wheelchairs, dolls, booze, blood, and all sort of mayhem on stage. These grinders have always their good fun on stage, and properly entertain the fans who let themselves go into some proper headbanging in the first row. Good energy and some serious dose of Finnish humor make you start the afternoon in a positive mood!
(by Marco Manzi)



Lost Society (Inferno Stage): After the great success of last year, Lost Society comes back again at Tuska, this time taking the 2nd stage, but nonetheless the crowd goes nuts as usual. The release of their second record is a good excuse to show up again with some fresh material, which still sounds pretty good live. You can see that these guys are having the time of their life just by looking at their faces, and their happiness is contagious to their fans. Maybe is also one of the reasons they are attracting so much attention. Lost Society is the kind of band that gives the best on stage, a must to see.
(by Marco Manzi)




Stone (Radio Rock Stage): So I once again managed to miss Lost Society, poop. I only caught the end of Stone’s set, but they seemed exactly alike the previous times I’ve seen them during their reunion. The vocals are (and are supposed to be) weird, but with amazing riffs and guitar-play they do stand out. They also had the first Wall of Death that I witnessed, so points for that. Their outro made for the most epic piss ever, it’s quite weird listening to Finlandia on guitars while relieving oneself.




Turmion Kätilöt (Inferno Stage): The party band of the day, they managed to start at least my day. They had all ther usual elements, nudity, fetish stuff and bad jokes in the vein of “What was the bassist doing on stage? Watching the gig.” Having seen them so many times they’ve lost their best edge, but they still manage to entertain.




Metal Church (Radio Rock Stage): It’s weird to think that in all these years I never managed to see Metal Church live. Finally I could do it here at Tuska, especially curious as the latest record, Generation Nothing, turned out to be a very good one.
The band fronted by Ronny Munroe has to keep up with what is the hottest weather of the whole weekend (which is why most people seem very happy about the free Cola samples), still among the sweat they pull off an interesting show, featuring mostly their classics, and only the titletrack of the new release. I couldn’t though follow the entire show, as the Club Stage is going to get a lot of attention now with the guys of Beastmilk.
(by Marco Manzi)




Beastmilk (Club Stage): Following the day’s party band (Turmion Kätilöt) was the day’s moody band. Luckily, they played inside so their atmospheric post-apocalyptic punk remained undisturbed by the sun’s rays. Just listening to Children of the Atom Bomb’s dark groove and it’s no wonder that Beastmilk have been getting a great deal of recognition all over. Kvohst’s ethereal voice also needs further praise.




Tankard (Inferno Stage): One thing is for sure: Tankard = fun (and beer), women (and beer), and of course, beer. Good, but sadly short is their set, quite similar to what the band already played at last year’s Jalometalli. I don’t mind them coming back so early in Finland, as I always enjoy their shows to the fullest. This time is no exception, giving some good laughters when Gerre returns to the habit of dancing with a couple of ladies on stage and carrying them around on his shoulders. There is also a ‘darker’ twist this time, as we have a visit from the grim reaper during the new R.I.B. (Rest In Beer). Seems appropriate. Long live Tankard!
(by Marco Manzi)







Amoral (Club Stage): I was surprised that Amoral was playing on the smallest of stages, but the club feeling was definitely a plus. They played a special set, with half of the set dedicated to celebrating their debut album, Wound Creations, which came out ten years ago. The first part consisted of the best new songs they have with their current vocalist, Ari Koivunen. The guy has an insane voice, but due to the annoying tone of his singing he gets nowhere near the respect he deserves. The best of the new songs, To Prolong A Stay and If Not Here, Where? are truly epic and Koivunen’s voice live is incredible. It’s also pretty amazing how much the band has changed during the years, while also remaining the same.
When the second part started, with their original vocalist Niko Kalliojärvi doing the lead vocals with Koivunen backing up, it was almost as if a different band had taken the stage. The old songs are proper technical death metal, and the band has only gotten better at playing, so it was quite a treat. Also, while Ari’s growls are ok, Niko is, in my opinion, one of the top growlers in Finland, and it was nostalgic as fuck seeing him back on stage with Amoral. While only playing for 45 minutes, they still managed to display such a huge variety in expression and above all do what they did incredibly well. That’s why their gig was for me one of the best if not the best gig of this year’s Tuska.

Shining (Inferno Stage): I had never heard of Devil You Know, so I didn’t even notice their last-moment cancellation until I heard that Tuska had gotten Shining to cover for them. Sweden’s suicide black metallers are a weird band, with the insanity of Niklas Kvarforth as their leading light. This is a band that definitely should’ve played in the club stage’s darkness, not on a big stage during a sunny summer day, but since they were a replacement it couldn’t be helped. One of things that stood out was the musicianship of the current lineup, with two Finnish live members really livening things up. Rainer Tuomikanto’s drumming was precise, and the way he windmills while playing is cool to watch and Euge Valovirta was really shredding his guitar. But of course, the heart of any Shining performance is Niklas’ sick and twisted presence. A few highlights of the gig were him going “Heil Satan” and spitting Jack Daniels into the crowd and the sheer absurdity of him cutting his arm to drink his own blood while Rainer waves a bear shaped mitten in the air, smiling. Their set started off well with Låt oss ta allt från varandra and Förtvivlan, min arvedel but then they kinda got lost in progressive songs with loads of instrumental parts. The set ended anticlimactically with a slow song and Niklas wanting to play one more but the stage manager made them stop. In the end, I left slightly disappointed.




Ranger (Club Stage): One of those young bands which can really get the crowd going here in Finland is surely Ranger. These guys do love playing live, as you can see them performing pretty much everywhere. They also recently changed guitar player, as Jaakko left the band (and joined Speedtrap, also playing here), replaced by Ville. The new Shock Skull is the natural following of the songs from Knights of Darkness, and with the usual enthusiasm the guys live up to the expectations. But now it’s time for one of the best acts of the whole event: Anthrax!
(by Marco Manzi)




Anthrax (Radio Rock Stage): I don’t get how, once again, it came as a total surprise that Anthrax is a seriously awesome band. The precision and strength of their playing is simply astounding, and Belladonna’s voice is still amazing and one can really hear how he covered Dio with Dio’s Disciples. They played most of their best album, Among the Living, and also In the End, a song dedicated to Dio and Dimebag Darrell from their newest album. They sure know how to capture the audience, and have their own share of fun on stage, with Belladonna running around like a little kid and even grabbing the videocamera from the cameraman to film the crowd. Even if one can clearly see the age of the guys, you really can’t hear it. Simply an amazing gig.







Report a cura di Markus Karppinen - Photos by Marco Manzi