"Summer is a-comin' in, arise, arise." The weather has turned here in New England, and with shows like this, it really does seem like the festival season is right around the corner. I may not be going to NEMHF, but between one thing and another, I'm already looking ahead to the coming run of dust, mud, beer, and pounding metal.
The rain was a little difficult, but didn't really interfere with the drive out, and there are certainly worse ways to go out to a Finntroll/Moonsorrow show than through a gray rain that throws clouds of fog off the road when driven on, deep green trees against a stormy sky, pounding Equilibrium on the stereo. I got up shortly before the first band started, in time to get a beer and some merch, but not soon enough to resolve that and get much more than halfway forward before they got underway.
Infinite Descent [4/7]
This band had some good ideas, but they were incompletely developed, and the soundboard gave them a pretty rough going over. Prog-metal seasoned with brutal bits verging on the metalcore at times, the idea seemed to be to aim for Into Eternity or Evergrey in that mix of the aggressive and neo-symphonic, but the songwriting isn't up to standard, at least yet, to carry those ideas forwards to a band that is going to make people stand up and take notice.
At this point, it is necessary to note that this is also a clear example of this record's relentless even-handedness and absolute focus on the music; those who were there will agree, looking at the way scores have gone in the past, that this is about where this band came out, allowing for differences in personal taste. There are no indications that the band was penalized for having inflatable swords, dragons, and battle flails at their merch stand, but nothing recorded, and I am exactly the kind of vindictive old stick-in-the-mud that this sort of thing rubs the wrong way. Seriously, what the hell is happening with our music? The inflatables played into the festival atmosphere later, but it was desperately artificial; people are supposed to lug these with them to fuck around in the campground with and accidentally throw in the fire, not to buy them from a band's merch stand.
Swallow the Sun [6/7]
Once again, as in the summer, these guys had a hard time getting the sound to pick up from the start, but this time it was the vocals, and the fault of the soundboard, rather than the guitarist having to tune up while the rest of the band was going through the first song. Once again, also, they laid down a strong, worthy performance once everything was brought in correctly. They showed a little more of their black metal roots than I'd seen (or at least remember) from them previously, but balanced it with some of the New Moon material, which continued the Katatonia-like trend towards accessibility that's been current in their material at least since getting off Firebox. All around, this was a high-quality performance of high-quality doomic metal; these guys have got to come back around headlining sometime, hopefully with Insomnium in support.
Moonsorrow [7/7]
The performance wasn't quite as long, or quite at the full level of the summer, but it was a definite step up from the last time I saw them in this building, and the audience, confined by the small space, was another level up as well. As at Party.San, the band's increased willingness to go back to the start of their catalog for rougher and folkier songs got people thrashing more intensely, and this was an American audience, not a German one. Absolute, total pit chaos, but unlike Finntroll's set, it always remained secondary to the music on stage. Taking it all together, this was one of the best sets so far in this relatively young year. If you missed it -- or potentially worse, saw if from the balcony rather than on the floor like an honest metalhead, it's your loss.
Finntroll [6.5/7]
After Moonsorrow, it would be difficult for practically any band to make a notable impression; fortunately, though, Finntroll did manage to break through to a degree. Not all of their material in this set was up to the level of what Moonsorrow presented, but those who came to mosh were here for this band, and they didn't hold back in driving the floor into a frenzy. Most of the time, there was enough of a buffer -- or enough people folkdancing in the middle to slow things down -- for me to listen up instead of just tossing people back to avoid getting smashed, but this, also, is what we go to metal shows for, to smash and get smashed, to drown in sweat and splattered beer, to bang our heads into oblivion.
Unfortunately, though, they wound down, downed axes, and the security started shouting at people to get them out the door. If you followed their directions, you screwed up; the rest of us pressed in on the stage, kept yelling, and eventually the band's people prevailed upon the venue operators to give them an encore. At this point, I went up, stuck my head practically into the PA cab, and got decleated on their final riff because I wasn't watching myself. If I squashed you between the wavebreaker and the stage or the cab, I apologize, but in reality that is what the goddamned wavebreaker is for, so don't stand on the wrong side of it next time and you won't get crushing injuries if someone gets fired into it.
From there, back out, and despite the exhaustion, it was clean sailing. Next show is back out here, Bloodsoaked at Ralph's for Metal Thursday, and then likely more on the weekend. Summer is a-comin' in, arise, arise.
Showing posts with label finntroll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finntroll. Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Every Shirt XXXI: Finntroll
shirt: Finntroll
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band
I picked this up from the band on their Ur Jordens Djup tour, which ended up being one of the last shows I saw at Mark's (not that anyone really misses said venue....). Because I missed them on their subsequent tour -- which went through the Middle East last fall -- I still have not seen Finntroll in a set of conditions that most normal people would consider fulfilled by default for a metal band: both a) at a range of closer than half a mile and b) not throwing people out for moshing. That's one to be worked on.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Finntroll with Frozen, The Accursed, Provocate, Lord Bacon, Morgirion, and Habitual Offendaz [Mark's, Bedford, 9/23/2007]
I left what I thought was a little late, but managed to get up right around doors; we're out of that part of the year where people go to New Hampshire when they don't have to work. There was a fair number of people hanging around carbaring in the parking lot; again, Saturday show, and also, Finntroll, where the zaniness is enhanced by being well-oiled.
Habitual Offendaz [3/7]
To a certian degree these guys deserve sympathy. Unfortunately, none of it has to do with their music. This was a monotonous set of nu-metal boring; I'm not going to say that they were untalented, because they didn't actually play anything wrong, but nothing they did convinced me that they had much in the way of actual ability. Even more than the bands getting ripped off, this is the worst thing about pay-to-play shows: that you get bands that suck and don't match to open for Finntroll. Yecch.
Morgirion [5/7]
Despite the lack of a bass player, they put up a decent set of death metal that varied in its influences from black to doom metal. Unfortunately, the crowd wasn't enormously up for them; part of it was the style, but part of it was probably that they were wicked out of area; they come from Connecticut, and it's difficult that they could have gotten many people from their home ground to buy tickets to a show in New Hampshire. This was a good performance, but unfortunately they didn't have CDs; this, again presented a common strand at this gig.
During their set, there was a low-lvl Photog running around taking pics. He looked about lv 5, but I couldn't tell for sure; he had the blue bandanna, but I don't know when you get the quest for that class token. The body model he was using was familiar to other examples I've seen, but the ponytail was a little longer and the goatee a little sparser; the art department needs to get their ass in gear and do some more variations. Since he was low-lv, though, he couldn't dual-wield or use the flashchuck, so he was doing a bunch of noob things like walk around on the front, and it was pretty obvious that he didn't have enough bag slots to pack the right gear. gb2/ah/, n00b. He was gone, though, by the time the normal purple-decked lv 70 showed up after shooting SBC.
Lord Bacon [7/7]
This band has the largest ratio of actual coolness to name coolness that I have ever seen. You'd never know it from not listening to them, but this band is one to watch out for, following close on the heels of Atheist with aggressive, dense jazz-influenced instrumental technical death metal. This was an absolute technical feast, which I had the privilege of seeing front and center, mostly by accident, and with some comradely good fellowship, which was completely incidental to the music and continued through most of the rest of the show. They're playing again in November; I didn't get a ticket from them, but I'm definitely going to make a point of seeing them next time. Seriously, record something, dudes!
Provocate [4/7]
This is almost the clinical definition of letdown. My ears were on the point of falling off from boredom after one or two songs, and I got the impression that they somehow learned death metal from, like, a correspondance school or something without actually listening to any. It was bizarre in addition to sleep-inducing; they were obviously technically competent, but absolutely incapable of writing interesting songs -- despite being buds with the Lord Bacon guys! SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL. Like Habitual Offendaz, they didn't fit the bill, but they sucked less, and at least have the potential to eventually improve.
The Accursed [6/7]
I didn't remember them being this thrash-driven previously, but it was definitely a good thing. They played a bunch of new stuff in addition to the Season of the Scythe material, which is definitely encouraging for any new record; no news on this, but it'll probably be dropping sometime in the next year. They closed with Carcass' "Generation Hexed"; yes, it's Swansong material, but that's still good in itself, and they did a raw and tight version of it that might well have blended in on Heartwork. Good stuff, but things were still improving.
Frozen [6/7]
They sounded a lot less like Evergrey last time, but this one was still really good regardless; John added an uncanny edge to "Ghosts of War" with his camo pants and desert boots -- a sobering and thought-provoking reminder of those in our generation for which these subjects are all too real, both when they're over there and after they get back. This band continues to kick ass, but the crowd was unfortunately a little less for them; they were the only openers not to sell tickets, and this sadly translated into a lot of people staying outside to smoke butts. New Hampshire's state laws are mostly good, but if they keep doods away from seeing Frozen, it's a difficult but bearable sacrifice.
Finntroll [7/7]
The crowd really filled in for them, and they got a hell of an outing. I'd technically seen them before, but this was really the first time I'd seen them seen them; I could have almost stayed home and seen them from closer than last time, which was at Wacken, from half a mile away, and through so much beer that I really don't think my eyes were focusing correctly any more. This time I was on the front rail, incidentally packed in with most of Rohirrim, and got the best of the ensuing outing from Finland's premiere alt-country analogue.
Seriously, they are. Think about it. The roots of the band are in humppaa, and the bass and drums still drive throughout with the folk-polka rhythms, the keys setting up the folkic melody, and then the guitars add the metallic punch that brings them up into modernity for their country. The result, of course, is the ultimate metal bar band, with the attendant guzzling and riotousness that makes for a classic time. Unfortunately, despite the awesome music offered, the other components were lacking. The venue is out in the middle of nowhere, cutting down on the beerconsumption, and more importantly, the security was completely mental, breaking up the least little bit of turbulance and tossing people for breaking into jigs. IDIOTIC. They've always had a no-mosh policy, but the TNT guys took this to absolutely stupid extremes last night, ejecting several people, and allegedly macing some kid. Sooner or later, this is going to backfire on the club, and only because I was right up on the rail did these dumb overreactions not sour an excellent performance by one of the best party bands going in metal.
We should have organized better and just thrown a giant riot-cum-moshpit on their last song; soon enough, someone is going to, and they may well also taze all the security first, which could get heinous. The drive back was okay, but I'd rather have gone into the car with a clean thrashout rather than redshirts fucking people up. Bullshit.
Next week, I'm pretty sure there's no Mark's gig on the slate; Firewind in connection with security bullshit isn't compelling, and there's also two gigs on for next week, so poverty is probably going to be an intervening concern. Next, of course is Municipal Waste (Is Gonna Fuck You Up) at the Palladium. I don't know if this is upstairs of down; upstairs fits better with a thrash-revival lineup with more latitude for pileups and sick pits, but the Waste is probably popular enough to get a good crowd in the downstairs. Regardless, it's time for kutte rivalries and knee injuries and pushing through herds of anklebiters to hit the bar.
Habitual Offendaz [3/7]
To a certian degree these guys deserve sympathy. Unfortunately, none of it has to do with their music. This was a monotonous set of nu-metal boring; I'm not going to say that they were untalented, because they didn't actually play anything wrong, but nothing they did convinced me that they had much in the way of actual ability. Even more than the bands getting ripped off, this is the worst thing about pay-to-play shows: that you get bands that suck and don't match to open for Finntroll. Yecch.
Morgirion [5/7]
Despite the lack of a bass player, they put up a decent set of death metal that varied in its influences from black to doom metal. Unfortunately, the crowd wasn't enormously up for them; part of it was the style, but part of it was probably that they were wicked out of area; they come from Connecticut, and it's difficult that they could have gotten many people from their home ground to buy tickets to a show in New Hampshire. This was a good performance, but unfortunately they didn't have CDs; this, again presented a common strand at this gig.
During their set, there was a low-lvl Photog running around taking pics. He looked about lv 5, but I couldn't tell for sure; he had the blue bandanna, but I don't know when you get the quest for that class token. The body model he was using was familiar to other examples I've seen, but the ponytail was a little longer and the goatee a little sparser; the art department needs to get their ass in gear and do some more variations. Since he was low-lv, though, he couldn't dual-wield or use the flashchuck, so he was doing a bunch of noob things like walk around on the front, and it was pretty obvious that he didn't have enough bag slots to pack the right gear. gb2/ah/, n00b. He was gone, though, by the time the normal purple-decked lv 70 showed up after shooting SBC.
Lord Bacon [7/7]
This band has the largest ratio of actual coolness to name coolness that I have ever seen. You'd never know it from not listening to them, but this band is one to watch out for, following close on the heels of Atheist with aggressive, dense jazz-influenced instrumental technical death metal. This was an absolute technical feast, which I had the privilege of seeing front and center, mostly by accident, and with some comradely good fellowship, which was completely incidental to the music and continued through most of the rest of the show. They're playing again in November; I didn't get a ticket from them, but I'm definitely going to make a point of seeing them next time. Seriously, record something, dudes!
Provocate [4/7]
This is almost the clinical definition of letdown. My ears were on the point of falling off from boredom after one or two songs, and I got the impression that they somehow learned death metal from, like, a correspondance school or something without actually listening to any. It was bizarre in addition to sleep-inducing; they were obviously technically competent, but absolutely incapable of writing interesting songs -- despite being buds with the Lord Bacon guys! SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL. Like Habitual Offendaz, they didn't fit the bill, but they sucked less, and at least have the potential to eventually improve.
The Accursed [6/7]
I didn't remember them being this thrash-driven previously, but it was definitely a good thing. They played a bunch of new stuff in addition to the Season of the Scythe material, which is definitely encouraging for any new record; no news on this, but it'll probably be dropping sometime in the next year. They closed with Carcass' "Generation Hexed"; yes, it's Swansong material, but that's still good in itself, and they did a raw and tight version of it that might well have blended in on Heartwork. Good stuff, but things were still improving.
Frozen [6/7]
They sounded a lot less like Evergrey last time, but this one was still really good regardless; John added an uncanny edge to "Ghosts of War" with his camo pants and desert boots -- a sobering and thought-provoking reminder of those in our generation for which these subjects are all too real, both when they're over there and after they get back. This band continues to kick ass, but the crowd was unfortunately a little less for them; they were the only openers not to sell tickets, and this sadly translated into a lot of people staying outside to smoke butts. New Hampshire's state laws are mostly good, but if they keep doods away from seeing Frozen, it's a difficult but bearable sacrifice.
Finntroll [7/7]
The crowd really filled in for them, and they got a hell of an outing. I'd technically seen them before, but this was really the first time I'd seen them seen them; I could have almost stayed home and seen them from closer than last time, which was at Wacken, from half a mile away, and through so much beer that I really don't think my eyes were focusing correctly any more. This time I was on the front rail, incidentally packed in with most of Rohirrim, and got the best of the ensuing outing from Finland's premiere alt-country analogue.
Seriously, they are. Think about it. The roots of the band are in humppaa, and the bass and drums still drive throughout with the folk-polka rhythms, the keys setting up the folkic melody, and then the guitars add the metallic punch that brings them up into modernity for their country. The result, of course, is the ultimate metal bar band, with the attendant guzzling and riotousness that makes for a classic time. Unfortunately, despite the awesome music offered, the other components were lacking. The venue is out in the middle of nowhere, cutting down on the beerconsumption, and more importantly, the security was completely mental, breaking up the least little bit of turbulance and tossing people for breaking into jigs. IDIOTIC. They've always had a no-mosh policy, but the TNT guys took this to absolutely stupid extremes last night, ejecting several people, and allegedly macing some kid. Sooner or later, this is going to backfire on the club, and only because I was right up on the rail did these dumb overreactions not sour an excellent performance by one of the best party bands going in metal.
We should have organized better and just thrown a giant riot-cum-moshpit on their last song; soon enough, someone is going to, and they may well also taze all the security first, which could get heinous. The drive back was okay, but I'd rather have gone into the car with a clean thrashout rather than redshirts fucking people up. Bullshit.
Next week, I'm pretty sure there's no Mark's gig on the slate; Firewind in connection with security bullshit isn't compelling, and there's also two gigs on for next week, so poverty is probably going to be an intervening concern. Next, of course is Municipal Waste (Is Gonna Fuck You Up) at the Palladium. I don't know if this is upstairs of down; upstairs fits better with a thrash-revival lineup with more latitude for pileups and sick pits, but the Waste is probably popular enough to get a good crowd in the downstairs. Regardless, it's time for kutte rivalries and knee injuries and pushing through herds of anklebiters to hit the bar.
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