In the past, for a period in my life I got really into Gothic music, post-punk and similar dark and often gloomy music. Nowadays I usually tend to wander around more in the metal and vintage rock realms. But from time to time I go back to that kind of music again. Last Summer I discovered the awesome Finnish post-punk & new wave band Grave Pleasures at Tuska 2018 and it sort of sparked a hunger for more of this kind of stuff. So when I realized there was a night being planned at On The Rocks called Dark Vision with mostly bands in this style, I felt like I just had to be there!

First up was the Finnish The Flatfield (***) and a perfect opener for a night like this. I presume their name comes from the classic Bauhaus track In The Flat Field and it seems to me that their influences stem mostly from that kind of 80’s post-punk and Gothic rock. The often frantic vocals (especially during ‘The Witch’) and demeanor of vocalist Ville brought a tense and nervous touch to the music that really reminded me of that raw feel of bands from that time period and every single one of the band members seemed to have walked in straight from the 80’s. Great start!

Setlist:
Deception
With Me
Dancer
The Night
Moment
Grey City
The Exorcist
The Witch

Next was the Danish The Foreign Resort (***1/2), the band that actually put my attention to this event when our site published a news article about their upcoming new album ‘Outnumbered’. These guys look more like your regular rockers, but packed quite the post-punk punch. With the addition of a slight electronic touch on backtrack, they soon had a couple of people moving to their music. The passion for playing was clearly there and it translated in an infectious gig. They actually gave us quite a taste of their upcoming release with new tracks like ‘Obsessing’, ‘Hearts Fade Out’, ‘She Is Lost’, ‘Burn In The Night’ and lastly the title track of the new album ‘Outnumbered’. If they are able to bring across the same energy and passion they have live to their recorded work, I urge you to check it out when it gets on the shelves on April 5th!

Setlist:
Obsessing
Hearts Fade Out
Suburban Depression
She Is Lost
Flushed
Burn In The Night
Dead End Roads
Outnumbered
Dark White

All the way from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean came TRAITRS (****1/2). This Canadian duo just blew me away! The energy, power and wall of sound they were able to conjure up with just the 2 of them was damn-right impressive! Both of them danced, stomped their feet to the beat, jumped around and clearly put their all into the performance. Their brand of more electronica infused post-punk is just keyboards & samples and a guitar, creating such an amazing massively hitting sound. There were immediately a whole bunch more dancers in front of the stage compared to earlier bands. Throw on top of that some really cool visuals to go with the music and you got a very memorable show. Love this discovery!

Setlist:
Pale
Still From Her Sores
Skinning
Witch Trials
The Suffering of Spiders
Thin Flesh
The Lovely Wounded
Hand of Holy Fingers
Omen
Youth Cults

Closer of the night was the Swedish Then Comes Silence (****). Apparently this band is popular enough for some people to only show up for this last band, so the venue was actually at its fullest at their show. Their music, looks and overal sound made me think of them as almost a counterpart of the popular Finnish band 69 Eyes. Same deep gravely voice, same gothic rock ‘n’ roll attitude, just with a punch of (post-)punk thrown into the mix. Not knowing the band well at all, I got surprised by the catchiness of a lot of their songs. I found myself soon humming around to songs like Warm Like Blood or The Rest Will Follow. And I clearly wasn’t alone, because I saw a whole lot of people cranking out some dance moves and sing along out loud.

Setlist:
There’s a Sound
The Dead Cry For No One
Strange Kicks
Good Friday
Warm Like Blood
Animals
Mercury
Strangers
The Rest Will Follow
Whispering About You
My Bones
Slowly Dragging You Down
She Loves the Night
Death Rides

For more pictures, go see our photo coverage here:
https://www.grimmgent.com/dark-vision-on-the-rocks-helsinki-photo/