Masters of Metal festival was supposed to be held in both Pakkahuone and Klubi, which are in the same building, but due to little lack of ticket buyers the organiser decided to drop some names off from the band list and only choose the smaller venue, Klubi. This place is located in Tampere, Finland, and since the spring had finally arrived with the heat, I was really looking forward to this event, even though most of the bands I wasn't really familiar with.
When we arrived there was already movement on the stage. The overwhelmingly loud sounds we heard were from some "classic" Youtube video and the ruckus was as awful as the Finnish sense of humor, so we decided to take first two cold beers and enjoy the weather on the terrace. At the exact same time Norther started to play. Their melodic death metal sounded familiar even without the knowledge about their discography. The professional execution of their music made the first two drinks even more enjoyable, even though I didn't have visual contact with the band. Lot of people seemed to like the band and there were even some funny fanboys collecting autographs after the gig. The lack of older songs seemed to be the downside of their performance.
Next band to perform was Bibleblack. I knew pretty much nothing about the band, and not too many people gathered in front of the stage when they started. Their performance reminded me of Pantera, at least musically, and I was pretty surprised afterwards when checking the band. It's not really that close to Pantera. Well, that's what it sounded like, be it a good thing or a bad thing. The Finnish word "saatana" (guess what that means) was heard many times, and the guys seemed to be in a good mood, and I guess some more people found them before they left the stage after a brief performance.
Before The Dawn was next in line, and I don't know if it was the rising level of alcohol in my veins, the good music or the weather, but their performance was one the best in the whole event. The show was precise and emotional. Altogether one of the more enjoyable gigs, and I'm not even too fond of the band. I wasn't the only one to notice this, and during the gig many people came from the terrace to see the band, and some had even come to see this band exclusively. Guitarist/vocalist Tuomas (also of Black Sun Aeon) was a charismatic character, and vocalist/bassist Lars was interactive with the audience.
According to the number of t-shirts worn, Onslaught was one of the most anticipated bands of the festival. They have been around for ages, and many thrash metallers consider them as one of the more important bands of the genre. I missed most of the gig because of an interesting interview with 1349, but the latter part sounded raging and furious, just the the way thrash metal should. The local thrash metal dudes seemed happy, so I guess nothing went wrong.
The Finnish band Ajattara is pretty known at least in their homeland, since the band consists of known musicians. Their latest album Noitumaa caused a bit of a stir due to its acoustic nature. Their performance in Masters Of Metal was solid but nothing memorable. Vocalist Ruoja's bad behaviour included spitting water on the audience and making suggestive hand gestures. The gig was somewhat entertaining, but maybe just a little bit dull. Sounds were clear and all that, but the performance in general was just basic, though including some of their better songs.
Turmion kätilöt were next. It's a Finnish industrial metal group, who have shocked the audience before, and even the tabloids have written about them after a notorious gig in 2005. In Masters Of Metal we saw nothing that big, just some spanking and usual perv stuff. The band's pseudo- black metal look was just hilarious, including weird "corpse paints", rubber suits and a spiked armband with drinking straws in it. All in all, I think TK always throw a little party when they perform.
After Turmion Kätilöt the crowd had moved almost completely indoors, knowing the last band is going to be the awaited 1349. There was a red curtain covering the stage, and the crowd was eagerly waiting for the band to start. Then the intro started, and the curtains slowly revealed the band. The two gentlemen we met earlier had transformed into Ravn and Seidemann and the satanic performance began, consisting of both older and newer stuff. I don't know if it was the fact that this band is pretty extreme or the fact that people were already too drunk and/or tired, but the crowd was pretty boring. Besides the occasional rapid neck movement the crowd just stared and listened to the band, which is not a bad thing, but since the band were pretty active I would have hoped the same from the audience. Still, it was a great final for a great night.
All in all the festival was a success. There were a broad variety of bands, and of course there was as much diversity in the audience as well. I heard totally new bands for me, met new people, got drunk and enjoyed the finnish spring in its warmest. A good way to start the summer.
Photos: Ville Huovila
