Who would have honestly thought that on this cold, dark and weary mid-Winter's night, that three bands from both sides of Europe would ignite a sweat-pit so hot and steamy in the 02 Islington Academy, that everyone would be clambering around for their ice cold beers? Well you could blame the incessant rampaging of the crowd, or you could blame the magical wizardry of Londoners Pythia, Estonia's Metsatöll and Finland's Ensiferum for their encapsulating and unrelenting assault of metal at it's finest. A night full of bard, folkloric anthems and continual salutations towards the bands unfolded. Let us indulge in the night's gig and diverge from the near verbose verbiage given above. . A lot was expected of Londoners Pythia at tonight's gig that the overall reaction post-performance was one of slight disillusion and disappointment, despite the heroics of keeping their cool intact and letting themselves go, Pythia never managed to shift out of third gear. Sure their pedigree of late ought have safeguarded their show from criticism, but they seemed out of sync at times, failed to keep the crowd on their toes and above all (which actually isn't their fault) did not fit in tonight's themed gig that well. Power / Gothic Metal? Folk Metal? You get the idea, it's like putting a Black Metal band with a Glam Metal band, there again imagine a Blackened Glam Metal band? Deviating here, much like what Pythia did at times during their set. It wasn't completely pretty and yet whilst there were glimmers of hope that could have lead to something magical sparking, the fire just did not ignite and this meant that the crowd were left in a state of boredom to the band's dismay. On another night Pythia may well have blasted the ceiling, but this night it was not meant to be, surely there needed something folkloric to not only get this crowd (and pit) open, cue Metsatöll [7] Metsatöll brought with them their folkloric antics and atmospherics that would almost certainly have resulted in them being awarded the coveted 12 points at Eurovision, if this was Eurovision that is. Instead the crowd might as well have given them maximum points as they swayed, moshed and ritualistically headbanged to the beauty of Estonian Folk Metal. Here is a band who despite their language differences; they sing in Estonian, managed to ignite the venue without any restrictions. Not strangers to the British shores, this Baltic horde mix Folk Metal with Thrash Metal to develop something that's fast, heavy, danceable, even funky if you wish to call it that. They even weaved a traditional Pagan song into their set, which was prominently instrumental and was well received by the crowd. Harking back to the band's antics, one such antic was Varulven playing the Estonian bagpipes behind his back, we've all seen guitarists do this trick (Varulven is one too) but bagpipers? That little trick got a wow from the crowd, however there was an even bigger wow directed towards to the whole band as they laid down the foundations for their Finnish neighbours Ensiferum, and closed their performance with a song about love and beer; the latter of which was flowing like a gushing stream. For a band who has been knocking around for 17 years, they certainly showed no signs of stopping. [8] * FYI that is not our meme.
Ensiferum, having celebrated 21 years activity and 15 years since their debut self-titled album dropped, were never destined to set a foot wrong in this most audacious of nights (you know the references). Having just released their latest effort "One Man Army", this show as part of their tour of the same name (as the album) could equate to a thousand-strong horde running riot, crashing into and smashing everything in sight, including you. That was the sheer force exerted by the Finnish sextet tonight, a full-on onslaught of 'Finnish folkloric anthems' and by that came the bards in metal form, reciting their majestic scripts that will have no doubt be spoken of and sung to on this night. Whilst the pits opened and closed, the headbanging became rhythmic and the dancing ensued due to the band's uncanny nature of knowing what makes their fans tick. Ensiferum have been there and done it, they know what it takes to make a night unforgettable and as they unleashed song after song, the crowd did not appear to show any signs of slowing down. Joined on stage by their new live musician Netta Skog (ex-Turisas) of whom took part on the tracks 'Cry For The Earth Bounds' and 'Descendants, Defiance, Domination' on the band's latest album, Ensiferum signed off each song played in style and as the night drew closer and closer to the end, it was apparent that despite the disappointing start by Pythia, both Metsatöll and Ensiferum drew out their swords and did battle, leaving the crowd gasping for air and emerging as valiant warriors born. Ensiferum this night justified their worth as Finnish Folk Metal leaders as well as pioneering idols, this was a night that everyone in attendance would never forget. [9] RHYS STEVENSON http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pythia/12587806334 http://www.facebook.com/Metsatoll http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ensiferum/332
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By Ali Nichol-way It seemed like the cosy venue that The Brickyard was famous for became a calling beacon for all metal fans throughout Cumbria. With what seemed like half of Carlisle queuing at the doors, this was a highly anticipated show that many still didn’t believe was actually happening. When the show was announced on March 31st 2014, many thought it was an early April Fools. After all, Dragonforce is a huge international band who have played alongside the likes of Iron Maiden to sold out arenas; so it’s with some disbelief they were playing this 500 capacity venue which is not in the most notable city in the UK. However this tour is in promotion of their new album "Maximum Overload". Playing in over 20 cities on this tour, their tagline of “this time it’s personal” is very apt, with the intimate shows allowing them to connect with their fans on a personal level. Neonfly opened the night with their classic Power Metal sound that is already fit to fill arenas. Their opening song, 'Ships Without Sails', has a pitch perfect delivery but was received with some lethargy from the audience, whilst 'Enemy' brought and created some headbanging, and fist pumping from the slowly warming-up crowd. This may have been due to Willy Nortons infectious energy as he bounced around the stage, shamelessly dancing before making lots of eye contact with the crowd, letting them know that this is their performance as much as Neonfly's. They brought an onslaught of metal after playing three songs in a row without a break. 'Spitting Blood', 'Ornament' and 'Things That Go Bump' go down a storm as members jumped on to the barrier and into the crowd. The heavy machine gun-like double bass kicked off a frenzy, whilst the triple threat of the guitars lead for the perfect intro, simultaneously showing why they are much more than just your average support band. They ended their set with their biggest single 'Morning Star', which created a cacophony of hand clapping and fist pumping. Before they had even left people started pushing forward and chants for Dragonforce began. As they had never played Carlisle before, this was a new experience that the dedicated fans were sure to make the most of. You could barely hear their atmospheric, electronic entrance music over the thunderous applause of the crowd. This was met with some disappointment as Marc Hudson's vocal were a fuzzy mess due to the outdated P.A. system. However this was soon made up for by the brutal guitar and keyboard solos which, after the success of Guitar Hero, is the main attraction. Before the tour, Dragonforce had asked fans what songs they wanted to hear live, essentially allowing them to build the set list themselves. When Hudson said this, chants of 'Three Hammers' had begun before he’d got half way through the sentence. Sure enough 'Three Hammers' was next much to the fans glee as they clapped in time and sang along word for word. During Herman Li's mind blowing guitar solo a circle pit erupted as the slowly building tune reached its peak. This lead them headfirst into 'Black Winter' and 'New Song Season'. You could see that they were trying, and succeeding, to make it as personal as possible, however some grabby fans were pushing the limits as one tried to take Li's guitar from him while he was playing. Their 90 minute set comprised of many guitar battles between Li and Totman, getting more and more wilder as the show progressed. Li’s little kicks and tricks proved what a guitar playing god he was a he tackled complex melodies with smug ease. As they left the stage, “One more song” chants echoed around the room, goading them into coming back on stage for an encore, which was received with deafening applause. After giving a brief introduction about how they wanted to play a cover, they went into the most brutal cover of 'Ring of Fire' by Johnny Cash that has ever been conceived. This was added too by their amazing light display that looked like Kit from Knightrider on steroids. After telling fans there was a free meet and greet after the show they played what every fan in that room had been waiting for; 'Through The Fire And The Flames'. This was the perfect end to the night as the room erupted into musical chaos. This once again proves that Dragonforce is a band that everyone should witness live at least once in their lives. https://www.facebook.com/NeonflyUK https://www.facebook.com/dragonforce Joff Bailey showed off his unique cooling system to fight the heat On what was perceived as perhaps the hottest day of the summer so far, the weather at times seemed to take control of the overall performance by each band on the night. But they walked away unbeaten, having played at what seemed to be a sell-out gig at Islington's The Garage venue. Sweating buckets inside the crowed waited patiently for the first band to make their music heard, unleash the London mob Savage Messiah with their elaborate mix of Power Metal vocals with Thrash Metal embodiment, despite the heavy heat which led to the water jugs being handed out like sweets, the crowd enlivened themselves to the almighty blast that was being constructed in front of them. It was a decent and solid performance from the lads and served up nicely as a light appetizer for later metallic explosions later. As for the band performance, Savage Messiah gave a much better performance than their Bloodstock set and by far wiped the smirks off of a lot of people's faces. Fueled by the unrelenting fluidity of water being passed around, with their riffs echoing across the whole borough and their atmosphere raising hell from beneath the crowds feet, the atmosphere inferno was only going to get hotter as the bad shifted into the shadows for another band to make their way onto the sweat-soaked stage. [8/10] https://www.facebook.com/SavageMessiahMetal?ref=ts&fref=ts Never mind Bloodshot Dawn, here is Sweatshot Day... er-hem Another ex-Bloodstock band made their furious domination sound across the venue without any problems, except they seemed a little slack in this performance. I refer 'they' as to Bloodshot Dawn, the Pompey Melodic Death / Thrash armada that set sail to crush the controlling heat that was now taking its toll on people as they went outside to cool off. By this point the room was so hot that demand exceeded supply at the bar and beer was being downed in the gallons, well you get the idea. None the less Bloodshot Dawn did what they were geared to do and brought the house down with their menacing and inescapable complex algorithm of brutal melodies and fast acceleration on not only the drums but the guitars too. However at times it did seem as if the heat was getting to them, thus affecting their playing and whilst that can't be helped, what can be helped is the seeming lack of movement on stage, whether they melted so much they became bolted to the ground, or they just could not find the right note to do so in remains anyone's guess. Credit is given though to them for performing a damn good set, just it was not as good as most in the crowd expected, ironically worse was to come as before the headlining act Wintersun came on, the unwitting sound technician or the like accidentally knocked over a bottle of water near the guitar pedal and thus delaying Wintersun's set for around 10-15 minutes, leading to one fan being impromptu and displaying his anger towards the band for not coming out yet (come on mate it's not there fault you spilled your beer in the venue). Hark, the time had come.... [7/10] https://www.facebook.com/BloodshotDawn?ref=ts&fref=ts Teemu showed guitarists how to play the Finnish way, ice cold style. (Interview with Kai Hahto, drummer of Wintersun; also drummer of Swallow The Sun)
Despite the heat, Wintersun's fan had decided not to work tonight which was a shame, however the Finnish quartet did justice after the various issues and unleashed a frost-bitten wind of wintry proportions. Delivering that icy and cold feel to the atmosphere, Wintersun tore the room apart with their epic style of Melodic Death Metal. Interweaving between the new album 'Time' and their old self-titled album, eight years of a hard-long wait came out in one night for the attending crowd to let their hair down to (not implying the guys had their hair done up). It was rather interesting to see how Wintersun not once mentioned about how hot it is in the room unlike the other bands, perhaps they didn't feel it as much - or the more likely scenario was that they smothered the venue in a brilliant blueish-white with the feeling of cryogenics biting at everyone's ears. It's been a long time since the lads made their journey across the British lands in a tour setup; albeit their Bloodstock appearance a few years ago. You know the wait was entirely worth it, sure some were impatient; probably the same people were impatient for the second album, but as the saying goes 'good things come to those who wait'. In the end the overall feeling was all round satisfaction and one that certainly put the band in great stead for their next lot of gigs on the tour schedule, as for tonight Wintersun did the honor of not only cooling the crowd down (just), but making what could be the best live performance they have ever done in London. It may have taken eight to nine years to play their new album live, but Wintersun made it 101% perfect tonight and in doing so, won a whole host of new fans over, we await for the next time they set foot in the London area. [9/10] RHYS STEVENSON https://www.facebook.com/wintersun?ref=ts&fref=ts |
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