FINNISH METAL TOUR Gives Plenty Of Reason To Rejoice

By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal

My rating:

February 8th 2011, Key Club, Hollywood CA: Just like on its very first edition last year, the Finnish Metal Tour made a stop on the Sunset Strip, only this time it was at the Key Club, and brought with it a changed line-up featuring folk metallers Ensiferum, grindcore act Rotten Sound, and progressive death metal outfit Barren Earth along with headliners Finntroll. The anticipation surrounding this sold out show was clear for everyone to see, as the line of fans waiting to get in was quite huge by the time the doors opened. Numerous kids had face paint on them, and judging from the pre-show atmosphere, I was almost certain that this was going to be a fun night.

Before all of that though, local band Voices Of Ruin opened up proceedings tonight. They were very impressive and succeeded in warming up the crowd for things to come. Their singer showed great energy and expressed himself excellently with his voice as well as on-stage demeanor. The most enjoyable aspect of their music is the shred element incorporated by the guitarists. They turned out to be more than worthy openers for a touring line-up such as this, and I for one will certainly keep an eye out for their upcoming shows. It is heartening and reassuring to know that such quality of musicianship exists in the local LA metal scene.

Barren Earth hit the stage next with their masterful musicianship that features Sami Yii-Simio from Kreator on guitar, Mikko Kotamaki from Swallow The Sun on vocals. The music seemed to be heavily influenced by old school prog-rock. Because of the largely slow nature of their songs, this wasn't everyone's cup of tea, specially those that were more used to the Finntroll/Ensiferum brand of music. So even though the response they got wasn't the best, that shouldn't be taken into account while judging them, and I certainly enjoyed their set, specially Kasper's keyboard parts that lended the band a classic progressive sound. This was actually their very first tour as a band, and based on tonight, I foresee many more tours in the near future, but that's something that will depend on the usually busy schedules of Kreator and Swallow The Sun.

Even though Barren Earth were far removed from folk metal, Rotten Sound were the biggest surprise of this line-up. Their 30-minute set of hard-hitting grindcore ensured that everyone in the venue was fully awake. Some people in the crowd even started responding to their set and mosh pits got going for the first time tonight. This is a band I'm sure we'll see a lot more of, and I commend them for taking up the challenge of playing in front of crowds totally alien to them and their style of music. Just as frontman Kiejo Niinimaa told me in an interview, even though they were doing this tour with three bands from their country, they would feel more at home touring with a band like Trap Them. I look forward to that tour happening sooner rather than later.

Ensiferum were up next, and got their set off to a furiously energetic start with "By The Dividing Stream". What followed was a great mix of tunes from their catalog, including plenty of tempo changes that kept the set interesting and prevented it from sounding monotonic, as is the case with many bands when they turn up to perform live. Frontman Petri Lindroos not only nailed every note to perfection, but also possessed an imposing stage presence. For me the highlight of their set was "Lai Lai Hei", one of their most epic tunes that got the crowd to put their dancing shoes on, quite literally. Sami Hinkka's insane 6-string bass play and expressive persona added a whole dimension to the band's already killer sound, and he was very much a frontman along with Lindroos. It is amazing that even though both Ensiferum and Finntroll are Finnish folk metal bands, Ensiferum's music is very different from that of Finntroll as they brought with them musical elements that aren't present in Finntroll's music, making this line-up a richly diverse live experience as a whole for the audience.

Finntroll were the last to hit the Key Club stage and the difference in musical style I was just talking about, was evident from the moment they hit their first note. Their music isn't merely folk metal, and blends together plenty of black metal and death metal elements, thus having something for everyone to appreciate. Having said that, they did touch upon some of the purer folk sounding tunes like "Den Frusna Munnen" which comes from their latest album "Nifelvind". I've seldom seen fans at a show enjoying themselves quite like they were doing during Finntroll's set. Other than the good ol' mosh pit, there was lots of arm-linking and group dancing going on. The majority of the crowd was notably young, which is always a good thing. Frontman Mathias "Vreth" Lillmans even got them to do some chants in the Finnish folk language. "Trollhammaren" was another highlight of their thumping performance. After a two-song encore, the band thanked the crowd for coming out in huge numbers and left the stage with a promise to return with another edition of the Finnish Metal Tour next year.

Folk metal audiences are definitely the most fun to be part of, as I rediscovered that for myself tonight. The great thing about such shows is, it brings people who aren't even necessarily into metal as they know they'll still end up having a great time. Through these shows, bands like Finntroll are actually succeeding in turning folk music fans onto metal, and vice versa. If you haven't been to a Finntroll or Ensiferum show yet, you have no idea what you are missing.

An incredible night filled with fun and dance, and a little grindcore on the side.

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