Tuska Open Air Metal Festival 2013 - Helsinki, Finland

The pinnacle of the Finnish metal summer had once again arrived, the Tuska Open Air Festival circa 2013. Contrary to previous years in my festival report, I had an increase in my interview assignments for radio so I didn’t have as much time to concentrate purely on bands. To combat this predicament, I needed a co-writer to observe matters on the scene, a proverbial Dr. Gonzo to my Raoul Duke. My good metal-inclined buddy of several experienced years, Seppo, joined me for the extended weekend and delivered a sizeable portion of the report below. Our respective parts have been clearly indicated. Seppo: So first about some general stuff. As Aleksi has previously indicated, the festival’s old venue, the Kaisaniemi Park, was an excellent location for Tuska. Aside from the fact that it was located in the dead center of Helsinki, the park setting was very nice and comfortable. It was almost surrounded with trees and lawns, almost creating an illusion of not being in a city but in some woodland area, as if fans of metal were having their own celebratory ritualistic gathering in a forest. Now, back to the matter at hand, away from the melodramatics... For the past couple of years, Tuska has been held at Suvilahti, still in Helsinki, quite close to the city center. Suvilahti used to be a powerplant area and is nowadays used eg. for events and festivals. Instead of a park with trees, we have a concrete plateau surrounded by old industrial buildings. It is a bit like going from folk metal to old school British heavy metal. While metal of the latter kind is objectively awesome, the location has had big boots to fill. One of the bright sides of having concrete under us instead of dirt is that it is cleaner. There are no clouds of dust that rose when it was really dry and masses of people moved across the dirt. Conditions which were highly likely at a summer festival... This year the area had a three stage setup with the big main stage, a mid-size second, both of them outside as usual and the third stage, the smaller Club Stage, located inside one of the old industrial facilities. Although the large pillars in there could be in the way of sight for some of the audience, the overall atmosphere is good; it is literally a club stage within a festival. However, there are all in all only a few advantages that Suvilahti has over Kaisaniemi (from a regular visitor's point of view), which had a superb atmosphere. On one end of Kaisaniemi, there were grassy knolls, which were ideal spots for sitting down and relaxing while still seeing at least one stage. There is none of that in Suvilahti when practically everything is flat concrete. The stages there were also situated somewhat oddly, as the main stage, the Radio Rock Stage, and the second stage, the Inferno Stage that is now almost the same size as the main stage, were opposing each other. The Club Stage was situated further away, and the organizers did a real disservice to some of the bands playing there, assigning them to play the same time as some of the main stage acts. The drinking areas were, for the most part, well assigned, as one could see the stages from there, at least if one was near the perimeter. There was even a small drinking area, called Puisto Bar (= Park Bar), that was located over the only apparent vegetation the area had; the grass and trees there did invoke memories of the Good Old Times at Kaisaniemi, though the area is located so far in a corner behind a building that it was impossible to see any of the stages. Overall, while Suvilahti is not a bad location for Tuska, it pales in comparison with the greatness that was Kaisaniemi. Alas, the realities of directives and festival growth drove the festival out of the woods into the industrial sites, so we make the most of it. Friday June 28th TESSERACT Aleksi: The festival was opened by the technical noodlery of Tesseract, who were the classic acquired taste, especially considering the context of a festival show. I’m sure there were some prog-heads who managed to stay in nifty 12/8-rhythm in the scattered beginnings of the weekend’s first mosh pit (first of so many, as you can imagine) and soak it all in. But I feel that there were equally many if not more just digging the demanding instrumentalism or thinking that this kinda tech-churning simply works better on record more often. Anyhoo, all deserved credit to the band for their massive chops and how they pull it all off on stage as they do in the studio. Approximated setlist: Origin Of Matter - Proxy Of Matter – Retrospect Of Matter – Resist Deception Perfection Of Mind - Nocturne April Acceptance CUT TO FIT Seppo: A Finnish hardcore punk/grindcore trio, armed with vocals, drums and bass. No guitar, just bass. But with such an amount of distortion, one can forget the lack of guitar. The bass is grooving and rocking enough by itself and combined with drums it becomes a plummeting force. Cut To Fit is a very energetic band and their songs last on average less than two minutes. The Club Stage was a very suitable venue for the band, as the tight small space went well with their grindcore assault. The crowd was with them, and the vocalist's banter was jovial. A memorable pre-song speech had the vocalist asking the crowd to quote mongols as they were depicted in an episode of South Park. They certainly left a positive impression on me. ABHORRENCE Aleksi: Founded at the tail end of the 1980s, Abhorrence became one of the pioneering names in Finnish death metal even though they only released a few demos and an EP of recorded material in those days. Some of their members ended up in much better known groups of Finnish metallians, most notably guitarist Tomi Koivusaari who slightly later got involved in the very early stages of a lil’ group called Amorphis. Actually, who out there digs Amorphis’ awesome death-drenched debut, Karelian Isthmus? The brilliant headbasher at the end of the record, Vulgar Necrolatry? T’was originally an Abhorrence-song. As for the gig itself, it was no-frills, scummy and decomposing death metal at its finest. If these dudes should happen to carry on touring even sparsely, I recommend seizing the opportunity to see them. Approximated setlist: Intro Pestilential Mists Holy Laws of Pain Devourer of Souls Caught in a Vortex Adoration of Abscessed Cadavers Pleasures of Putrid Flesh Disintegration of the Flesh Vulgar Necrolatry WINTERSUN Aleksi: Having trotted their finally-released Time I on the road for a good period, grandiose death metal patrol Wintersun came to the main stage of Tuska to showcase their mightily fused live form. Head honcho Jari Mäenpää displayed his versatile vocal ownage very well and the group behind him kept the maelstrom churning very impressively. You can’t really go wrong in extreme metal when Kai Hahto is bashing the drums. The olden goldies from the band’s self-titled record kept impressing as powerfully as always but I have to say, the live renditions of the Time I-tracks left me a bit cold. They’re just so gigantically layered and full of audio mayhem and as such, require so much from the backing tracks, that they didn’t translate onto the live stage with the same gusto you get from the new album through your home audio system. I do believe I would’ve enjoyed these new epics better in a more atmospheric setting such as an indoor club, rather than on a sun-bathed festival stage. But purely in technical terms of the performance, Wintersun delivered and left me anticipating the second portion of Time. Approximated setlist: When Time Fades Away Sons of Winter and Stars Land of Snow and Sorrow Winter Madness Beautiful Death Time Starchild IHNSAHN Seppo: The legendary black metaller's solo show. A joking comment could be made about him looking like George Harrison. Or how practically the rest of the band looked like really young guys rocking next to the black metal legend (seriously, that guitarist's hairdo could be a muse to a whole set for a comedian). However, Ihnsahn's brand of technical progressive metal did have its merits. It can leave one cold, if one is not a fan of technicality for the sake of technicality. Aleksi: Most amusing about Ihsahn’s tight solo set was that his Norwegian cohorts of Leprous served as his backing band. I don’t know if I’ll ever see that many 8-string guitars utilized at a single live show. The steady mix of material from his solo works filled the set well, with the cuts off Eremita showing the fresh vitality of his craft. I will state the obvious that an outdoor festival stage with no overstretching tent was not the ideal setting for the atmospherics and avant garde blackness. The gig was good as it was but it would’ve surely been improved by a darker club environment. BOLT THROWER Seppo: A famed thrash/death metal band launches its attack on Finnish soil from Radio Rock Stage. The thrash enthusiast gets what he wants, but the less initiated could get a feeling that their set was too long with one hour fifteen minutes. In the long run, there was little variety in their particular assault. Aleksi: The world’s greatest Warhammer (40K or otherwise) tribute band put on the kind of display of driving death metal that any self-respecting jean jacket was hoping for. Just a muscular performance all around. In addition, I gotta give praise to the group’s business practices on the festival grounds. They had their own merch tent by the usual common big T-shirt stand and were selling a wide selection of new shirts at pretty much half the price that nearly everyone was (10 euros instead of the usual festival standard of 20 or even more). A notable perk for the fans of the band specifically, maximizing the “most bang for your buck”-ethos. Approximated setlist: Anti-Tank The Killchain Anti-Tank Realm of Chaos Battle for Britain The IVth Crusade Mercenary Warmaster When Glory Beckons World Eater / Cenotaph Entrenched ...For Victory No Guts, No Glory The Killchain Powder Burns Where Next to Conquer When Cannons Fade Intermission Encore: In Battle There Is No Law SEREMONIA Seppo: This Finnish band follows the neo-retro path in the same vein as other newer bands such as Witchcraft and Hexvessel have. Their looks emulated 70s rock and Black Sabbath while they set themselves apart from such bands through their female vocalist and utilization of the Finnish language. Unfortunately, the female vocalist is unimpressive, and the band suffered overall from a lack of stage presence. Other bands could have compensated these faults with superb musicianship. Seremonia, however, did not have a remarkable sound. KING DIAMOND Seppo: The last time King Diamond AKA Kim Bendix Petersen graced the Finnish nation with a concert at the Tavastia Club in 2006, his trademark falsetto was not as it used to be. Livia Zita, the King's wife and the backing vocalist on The Puppet Master and Give Me Your Soul... Please, had to compensate King's lacking falsettos on the support mic. However, the stage presence was amazing and the songs great. In 2013, all I expected was that he would be in similar shape, even after his bypass surgery a couple of years back. At Tuska 2013, King Diamond was not in similar shape... He was FAR BETTER. The complete overhaul of his lifestyle following the surgery has led to the amazing fact that King's falsettos are as great as they were in the good old times! This was proven in the very first song, Candle from King Diamond's debut album Fatal Portrait, as his falsettos struck the crowd like a lightning from a clear sky. Nay! It was alike to the heavens themselves sending several mighty bolts of lightning to shock the nation! King's falsettos alone could energize the whole festival crowd, sending shivers all over their bodies. The Radio Rock Stage had been transformed to resemble a gothic theater stage, with King Diamond delivering the horror stories to the eager crowd. Surprisingly, some of the "mandatory" songs like A Mansion in Darkness were left out, giving room for some other, perhaps even neglected, classics. Newer material was sadly scarce, Shapes of Black being the only representative of the latest albums. That is a shame because The Puppet Master is a brilliant album. However, the setlist did cover a good deal of King Diamond's career, having at least one song from 9 out of 12 albums. The setlist seemed to be King Diamond's way of showing off his newly awakened skills. With that in mind, it is no wonder that the setlist included falsetto-heavy songs like At The Graves, Sleepless Nights and Dreams. And as always, the band did a great job with Andy LaRocque still being a great, oddly underappreciated metal guitarist. Funnily, Livia was left with little to do. If one was to judge the looks she gave her husband, it is very likely that she is also grateful of King's resurrected glory. Aleksi: I honestly have nothing to add. Superb songs superbly performed with all the gorgeous stage props to go with it all. The King is most definitely back. SPIIRIIIIIITS! RIIIISING FROM THEIR GRAAAVE! Approximated setlist: The Candle Welcome Home At the Graves Up from the Grave Voodoo Let It Be Done Dreams Sleepless Nights Drum Solo Shapes of Black Come to the Sabbath Eye of the Witch Encore: The Family Ghost Evil Encore 2: Black Horsemen Saturday June 29th LOST SOCIETY Seppo: Despite their youth, this thrash metal group knows how to dish out their craft old school style! And goddamn these Finnish youngsters were having the time of their lives! Their energy and enthusiasm emanated from them and thus the crowd (the ones who had dragged themselves up by this early hour) was also having fun. If there was anything to criticize, I guess you could say that their songs lacked in variety. When you’ve heard three of their songs, you have basically heard them all. However, this does feel like unnecessary nitpicking when one considers that these guys are still a very new band. And above all, THEY KNOW HOW TO ROCK! Anyone with even the slightest appreciation for thrash enjoyed themselves this Saturday "morning". Aleksi: I had seen Lost Society in a club environment supporting Overkill a few months earlier and they did a very commendable job at it. Seriously high energy, skilled playing and all the sweaty jazz that goes with a good thrash metal gig. But holy mother of Beelzebub did they own the Tuska festival’s main stage. Their brand of straight-ahead, rapid-riffing thrash metal is made for waking up hungover festival guests. Hair, bodies, instruments swinging with reckless abandon, non-sensical yet somehow hysterical between-songs-banter flowing freely, a flying ass in a roadie’s hand…just mayhem. And if you think you’ve seen barely 20-year old dudes convince a crowd to rig up a mean wall of death, you must’ve seen these guys live or otherwise you haven’t really seen it. Straight up, if you dig your thrashing and get the chance to see these guys live even as a warm up act, no matter who is headlining (whether it be someone to your preference or not), go and check out Lost Society. These youngsters can give a run for anyone’s money on the concert stage. SOILWORK Aleksi: Soilwork was this year’s entrant in my nigh annual slot of ”band that pulls off an alright gig, the large crowd goes fairly bananas but personally I just can’t seem to care anymore”. I believe Sonata Arctica held this spot last year. I guess my overall inability to get much out of this gig was that Soilwork hasn’t really grabbed me on any post-Natural Born Chaos releases (and fittingly enough, their setlist didn’t contain any songs from their pre-NBC “golden years”). The group’s playing was alright and Speed Strid belted his vocals with expected skill, but I felt that this particular train had left me at a station long ago. Good stuff for the enthused crowd bouncing along, but I was underwhelmed. Approximated setlist: This Momentary Bliss Parasite Blues Weapon of Vanity Spectrum of Eternity Follow the Hollow Tongue Nerve Let This River Flow Long Live the Misanthrope Rise Above the Sentiment Late for the Kill, Early for the Slaughter Stabbing the Drama KREATOR Seppo: The veteran thrashers from Germany were once again in Tuska and once again they showed no mercy! With a setlist that was spearheaded by songs from their latest album, Phamtom Antichrist, Kreator unleashed their thrash metal unto a willing and energized audience. A circle pit was immediately established as the first riffs left the band's guitars, remaining in its central spot all through the concert, except when a wall of death was arranged by the band. The ferocity did not diminish during any song and especially front man Mille Petrozza was relentless. When not singing like he is screaming his lungs out and riffing like hell, he maintained the same level of aggression. His mid-song speeches were almost like sermons. There was also a small verbal jab at their countrymen Rammstein, who were playing at a different festival in Helsinki at the time. A slight disappointment to me was the lack of songs from Hordes of Chaos, aside for the title track itself. However, that is a small matter when compared to the metal magnificence that was their concert. Approximated setlist: Mars Mantra (intro) Phantom Antichrist From Flood into Fire Coma of Souls / Endless Pain Pleasure to Kill Hordes of Chaos (A Necrologue for the Elite) Death to the World Phobia Enemy of God The Patriarch Violent Revolution Tormentor / Under the Guillotine TESTAMENT Seppo: The veteran thrasher group from the United States served as the day’s main act. Whereas Kreator's thrash metal was like a horde of savages rampaging through town, Testament's was more like a smaller warband hitting with precision. While overall it was less aggressive, it still invoked a rush of adrenaline and the people were wild in the circle pit. Singer Chuck Billy dominated over everyone with his cheerful yet wicked presence. When inviting the crowd to make a bigger circle pit, he whirled his mic stand to enforce the command like a grinning warlock. While their concert was top notch overall, there was one specific moment that stuck with me. During a song, Chuck threw a pick into the the front row, and when someone else than the intended target go it, Chuck interfered by saying "No, man! It's for the kid there!" At that very moment, Chuck Billy was officially the Coolest Human in the Universe. Aleksi: On top of all that, Alex Skolnick is a beast on the guitar. In other news, water is wet. But seriously, listening to his solo band's jazz albums is one thing in terms of acknowledging versatility and virtuosity, but the dude is a sight to behold live. Even in terms of that ever subjectively elusive taste-factor, whereby one can say that he doesn’t just widdle millions of notes but picks his licks with style, Alex excelled. Not going overboard while keeping it speedy according to metallic traditions. I really enjoyed the band’s setlist as well as it combined the best cuts off of their latest record, provided enough from their modern masterpiece The Formation of Damnation (would’ve even liked more from there, at least Henchmen Ride and Dangers of the Faithless) and also included a good smattering of ye olden classics. Notable moment of awkwardness amidst the greatness: Chuck Billy enthusiastically inviting their buddy Björn Strid of Soilwork on stage to sing Alone in the Dark with him, just to have Strid mild-manneredly saunter most of the song around the drum riser and singing very little. I don’t know if he was spent from Soilwork’s own gig a couple of hours back, if he had imbibed too many vials of Jäger backstage right after their bit or what, but compared to his very on-point showing with his own band, Strid looked like he wasn’t completely all there during this impromptu appearance. Anyhoo, great stuff all around from the west coast veterans to cap off the festival Saturday. Approximated setlist: Rise Up More Than Meets the Eye The Preacher Native Blood True American Hate Dark Roots of Earth Into the Pit Practice What You Preach The New Order The Haunting Alone in the Dark (with Björn Strid) Disciples of the Watch Over the Wall D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate) 3 Days in Darkness The Formation of Damnation Sunday June 30th DEATHCHAIN: Aleksi: Speaking of clearing a hangover, just as Lost Society had easily cut the mustard on that front the day before, Finland’s Deathchain did a splendid job of it to open the final day of this year’s Tuska. The continued “grandiose deathification” of the band’s death/thrash sound that continued on their latest album, Ritual Death Metal, is also evident in their live show. They do still provide the deliriously fast thrash bites to please the most hardened pit dwellers, but the overpoweringly heavy death barrage that dominates their stylistic core right now was front and center. Depending on your preferences on said scale, the gig was either very good or brilliant. AMARANTHE Seppo: Amaranthe is a Swedish pop/electro/something metal band, the genre definition depending on one's opinion on them. This "Disturbed meets Pandora" group have created many polarized opinions with their pop-melody laden modern metal. This year at Tuska, while their songs were OK and the melodies can stick in your head worse than a tick covered in tar, they lacked that certain touch that would make them a compelling live band. To someone not really familiar with the band, their songs lacked some versatility. Approximated setlist: Invincible Leave Everything Behind 1.000.000 Lightyears Serendipity Afterlife Infinity Burn With Me Mechanical Illusion It's All About Me (Rain) The Nexus Amaranthine Call Out My Name Hunger BATTLE BEAST Seppo: Originally the British emocore band Asking Alexandria was supposed to play at Tuska, but due to problems involving passports, the band couldn’t arrive in Finland. They were replaced by the Finnish metal band Battle Beast, which was great news for every fan of traditional metal. Ever since their debut album, this band has gained some notable traction with their old school heavy metal. Lately the band went through a vocalist change, with the raspy-voiced Nitte Valo being replaced by another female vocalist, Noora Louhimo. Louhimo retained the no-compromises attitude of her predecessor, while providing slightly less raspy voice that is possibly even more powerful. It was also apparent that the band was more experienced and tightly-knit at this concert than they have been before. They were comfortable on the main stage, rocking out like veterans of metal. Overall, Battle Beast had a blast with the crowd. Oh, and the keyboardist Janne Björkroth regularly rocked with a keytar! Automatic bonus points! Aleksi: Concert cancellations are always a bummer, but at least in a festival context organizers have to be poised for them to at least some degree so that replacements can be implemented in a way that singular gigs usually wouldn’t allow. Bummers aside, I will have to say with a certain degree of mirth that out of the people I either knew or overheard, a notable majority took the news of England’s Asking Alexandria’s misfortune turning into a Battle Beast gig with relative happiness. Yes, there were a good amount of AA T-shirts donned on festival grounds too so their disappointment shouldn’t be downplayed. But overall I have noted throughout the years that Finnish metal fans aren’t all that crazy about their ‘core-fusions of any kind. In terms of the show, I could’ve been utterly fooled that Battle Beast came in and played on short notice as their set was tight and heavy metallic to the hilt. Traditional melody and solo-drenched fist-pumping that the crowd seemed to eat up as well. Oh and I fully agree with the keytar-notion. Automatic bonus points! Approximated setlist: Let It Roar Out on the Streets Neuromancer Raven Into the Heart of Danger Show Me How to Die Golden Age Kingdom Black Ninja Fight, Kill, Die Iron Hand Out of Control Enter the Metal World STRATOVARIUS Seppo: As an old fan of Stratovarius, the pioneers of Finnish melodic power metal, I waited their concert with scepticism. I had doubts whether the band could strike any sort of chords within me after all these years. Well, if their concert did not satisfy the old sceptical fan, it is only because they managed to dig up the younger enthusiastic fan to the surface. The band proved that aside from making good albums once again, they can also deliver live. These past few years after the founder and head honcho Timo Tolkki left the band, it has shown signs of healthy revitalization that has enabled it to move on and succeed. The dark days of Maniac Dance are fortunately far behind... Aleksi: Post-Tolkki Stratovarius has been a rollercoaster ride of quality for me. Polaris is a good record if nothing brilliant, Elysium on the other hand is just that, brilliant, from the double bass speedsters to the epic prog pieces. Probably my favourite album from them since the days of Infinite. The new one, Nemesis…I just don’t know, it’s one of those where the mid-temponess has drained me. It sounds like a Strato-record for sure but has just left me flaccid. With that in mind, the latest tunes such as Dragons and Abandon sounded much better live. Maybe that energy was all they needed. The never-tiring classics such as Kiss of Judas and Black Diamond melded in nicely and the solo moments weren’t too long. Timo Kotipelto, while mostly singing very well, has clearly adjusted minor portions of certain songs in a different way by now, arranging the absolutely highest wails here and there to a lower register. I guess it’s for the best to do a different, lower melodic line that is comfortable for the voice than attempt a faithful recreation of a banshee wail and botch it horribly or even damage them chords. On the highly skilled instrumental front, I gotta bring out that Lauri Porra is a monster on bass. I should even recommend his solo work for those interested. Maybe beyond drums, I think he could’ve played any instrument on stage this night and pulled it off. When your mother’s grandfather was a certain composer named Jean Sibelius, I guess the talent-level is naturally there. Approximated setlist: Abandon Speed of Light Halcyon Days Bass Solo The Kiss of Judas Phoenix Dragons Against the Wind Keyboard Solo Black Diamond Unbreakable Hunting High and Low NIGHTWISH Seppo: The Dutch vocalist Floor Janssen had formidable expectations foisted on her when she replaced Anette Olzon in the middle of Nightwish's world tour. At Tuska, she showed that not only could she overcome those expectations, she would be perhaps the best vocalist the band has ever had. The Once-centric setlist allowed her to show off her prowess. Aleksi: I’m sure these testimonials have flowed in rivers by now but I can only agree whole-heartedly, with an added feeling of certainty. Floor Janssen is the best singer Nightwish has ever had. Tarja Turunen did the operatic power voice really well and could mix it up here and there, but on stage was sorely lacking in stage presence. Olzon took the stage with more flair and did the more pop/rock-oriented belting well but was woefully short of more operatic vocal skills. Thus she was unable to handle Nightwish’s full back catalogue, drastically limiting their playing possibilities at concerts. Janssen brings the best of both worlds in terms of vocals and has the charisma to handle the stage superbly. And getting back to the voice, have you at least youtubed her singing Ghost Love Score? I mean sweet Jaysus on a pogo stick! By now we have already received the announcement that she will be the band’s permanent singer, so hopefully I can also state that she is the best and only singer Nightwish will have from here on out. As was also evident at this show, amusingly Floor was even the tallest person on stage. Maybe if Marco Hietala’s beard counted as well measured from his scalp and upwards, he would have a shot. Man, is that a sick duet pairing on the mic as well. Troy Donockley’s pipe-mastery and occasional background vocals added very nice layers to the proceedings as well. All this hype aside, the band’s ridiculously cool pyros, massive video screen antics, solid set list (still unfortunately nothing played from Oceanborn, but the cuts off of Century Child and a heavy dose of my favourite of theirs, Once, made up for it) and a solid band performance pushed by a seriously hyped and enthused crowd made for a very fitting ending to this year’s festival. The future looks bright for both Nightwish and the Tuska organization. Approximated setlist: Dark Chest of Wonders Wish I Had an Angel She Is My Sin Ever Dream Storytime I Want My Tears Back (with Troy Donockley) Nemo (with Troy Donockley) Last of the Wilds (with Troy Donockley) Bless the Child Romanticide Amaranth Ghost River Over the Hills and Far Away (Gary Moore cover) (with Troy Donockley) Ghost Love Score Song of Myself Last Ride of the Day Aleksi: As a final addendum, I along with scores of others felt that the notably “genre-oriented” division of the bands to the three festival days (Friday with a more death/horror theme, Saturday with a decidedly thrash metallic slant and Sunday bringing a more melodic serving) was a very commendable course of action from the organizers. The fans that only wanted or were able to attend for a day or two could thus choose more specifically according to their exact preferences, if they had them. Hopefully such a booking strategy remains possible in the future as well and the organization holds on to a good thing. Much obliged for another great year, Tuska Open Air!