1 post tagged “ensiferum”
Paganfest USA, at the Avalon Ballroom (of all places), Santa Clara, CA, 5/9/08
Although I've been listening to heavy metal of one kind or another for over thirty years now, I've become a little more particular about what kind of metal I put in my ears these days. I went through a period of always trying to find the band that played faster than everybody else, or the band that was more disgusting or upsetting than everybody else, and through a period of attempting to locate the absolute slowest bands. Once both of these extemes had been reached, I went and listened (and still listen to) lots of very non-metal music as well. My job at Tower (books, but next to the record store) broke my narrow world clean open in a lot of ways, including introducing me to "world" music (I put it in quotes because it's really a meaningless term, since most "world" music is more rooted to a single geographical location than other types of music - it's not global at all, it's local!). I developed an immediate love for Scandinavian folk music, starting with the likes of Agnes Buen Garnas and Ale Moller/Lena Willemark's great Nordan project, and moving on from there. It was only a matter of time before metal reached out its long, cold fingers and co-opted all of this epic Scandinavian misery, which leads me to the review below.
Paganfest rolled into town last night. The town in question is Santa Clara, California, a dull suburb not known for its metal shows (or any other type of show, come to think of it). The venue, the Avalon, turned out to be walking distance from my mom's house in nearby Cupertino (of course, anything is walking distance as long as there isn't a body of water between you and your destination, but that's another story). I arrived at the club to find a long line of metalheads outside, decked out in the traditional metal costume of black, black, black. I joined the line and we inched forward. The sound of a band playing boomed dully through the walls - Germany's SuidAkrA had started their set, uncharacteristically (for any kind of live music) on time. We turned the corner and saw that, Disney-style, there was at least as long a line once you entered the doors. Plastered on the walls in several places, next to a sign advising that moshing and crowd surfing wasn't cool, was this sign:
Needless to say, I didn't actually see any disappointed attendees dragging their viking regalia back to their cars.
Once inside, I discovered that it was a pretty posh club, with acres of little round tables, a couple of video screens, brick facades, mood lighting, and more. SuidAkrA was in the middle of the set of loud, raspy-throated metal. Occasionally, a sung chorus or melodic break would rise above the din, reminding me a bit of the melodies found on mid-period Bathory albums (Hammerheart, Twilight of the Gods, etc.). This would be a recurring theme throughout the night. Historical note: Bathory was among the first of the so-called "viking metal" bands, but that was only after they'd passed through their "sound like Venom" stage. Fellow Swedes, Heavy Load, did this even earlier and much more melodically, but I digress... SuidAkrA weren't as good as either of the aforementioned bands, but they were enjoyable, even if the sound seemed a little hollow somehow. It's a shame they started playing while most of the crowd was still in line outside.
In very short order their set ended. I scanned the crowd for familiar faces, but found none. The crowd seemed mostly composed of teenagers and twenty-somethings, with only a handful of older people present. I probably only saw four or five people obviously older than me, and at least a few people who looked like they were still in elementary school.
The bands were playing on shared equipment, so there wasn't a big wait while the amps and drumsets were dragged back and forth. Eluveitie (from Switzerland) soundchecked a number of instruments before starting their set, including (to my excitement) a hurdy gurdy and a violin. When they finally started, it was with 8 band members. In addition to the aforementioned instruments and the more traditional metal ones, they also featured an array of tin whistles and gaida (an eastern european version of the bagpipes. The main vocalist (at times, everybody sang) played a mandola as well. This marks the first time I've seen an extreme metal band use a hurdy gurdy, and the first time I've seen someone headbanging while playing a tin whistle. They were definitely a sight to behold, with all of the tattoos, flying hair, and unexpected instruments. The crowd, who weren't allowed to dance, and kept under close watch by eager security, resorted to the time-tested heavy metal standbys of fist pumping and headbanging. Oh, and let's not forget the gratuitous use of the devil horn sign (which got George Bush in trouble in Norway once, but that's another story). I liked them enough to immediately buy their newest cd, Slania, and I'll definitely go see them again if they tour in the future. Strange that a Swiss band would sound so Scottish.
After another short break, during which I did an Umlaut-style audit of the merch table (if you bought one of everything, you'd spend $660, just $6 short of the most heavy metal of numbers - I must also add at this point that the club's address is 777, a most un-heavy metal number, unless you happen to be Trouble, or Stryper, or something...)
Tyr, from the Faroe Islands, marched on stage with little fanfare and immediately broke into a pair of songs from their upcoming album, Land. Using only traditional heavy metal instrumentation, they managed to sound both more "viking" and more "folk" than all of the other bands combined. The effortlessly pulled off a (tragically short) set of songs that sounded like they could have been written 5 or 6 hundred years ago and sung in longhouses somewhere along the coast of Greenland. Otyg is the only band I can think of who sounds anything like them. They were also the only band of the evening who I'd heard previous to this tour. I'm not sure why they played such a short set, but looking at the festival's MySpace page comments, this wasn't the only gig where this happened. Did they draw the short straw? Amongst the crowd, there was a lot of disappointment at the brevity of their set. Some even seemed outraged. Too bad - I would have loved to hear them to play for another hour or two.
Turisas were next, and the fans were already shouting for them before they hit the stage. To me it sounded for all the world that people were loudly chanting, "curry sauce! CURRY SAUCE!" When they finally arrived on stage, they did so in makeup and costume. The costumes were a sort of fur and armor plate thing, and the makeup made it look like they'd been mauled by bears. I can't fault their music though. They had a violinist and an accordian player to round out the standard instrumentation, and the singer was quite a character, often stopping to joke with the audience. He, being Finnish (the alcohol capital of the EU?), lamented the lack of good beer in the U.S., and the fact that some clubs wouldn't let the band drink on stage, leading them to resort to lifting pints of.... water... during their drinking song. The music was lively, growly, and melodic, sometimes with a folk tinge, and sometimes sounding epically Bathory-esque (geez, how many times can I mention Bathory in one review?). They also played a version of a 70's disco song (which I didn't recognize) complete with a disco ball brought out on stage by the singer. Great live band!
Finally, headliners Ensiferum hit the stage, and proved to be a bunch of shirtless, kilt-wearing young Finns. It was a bit of a letdown to see keyboards instead of the by-now-expected array of folk instruments. When they started playing, it was with studied ferocity, with the vocalist effortlessly emitting a most pleasing raspy roar. Occasionally, soaring choruses would float through the savagery, lending an epic feeling to the proceedings, but by this time I was starting to fade due to the fact that I'd been up for 20 hours on only five hours of sleep. Towards the end of their set, they launched into and instrumental version of Iron Maiden's The Trooper, and the crowd, with no prompting from the band, started singing the verses. It was so metal! It was strange, though, that a Finnish band would look so Scottish.
On the way out, some enterprising young black metal people handed me a free cdr by (presumably their band) Nihlotep. It's pretty good too! Epic local black metal? Why didn't this sort of thing happen when I was in high school? Dammit! Kids these days have all the luck.
