Photo Reports
Stam1na released a new album with ‘X’ and celebrated with a massive show at one of Helsinki’s biggest venues. And with them they brought their countrymates and melodeath heroes Diablo, the Swedish heavy metal/hard rock outfit Corroded and the modern metal project Dear Mother, all the way from the Netherlands! The turnout was massive and spectacular night of metal and heavy music!
Saturday night, and the Halle room from the Backstage Club is completely packed. Personally I think it’s a bit of a mistake to have put this event in this room, as it’s too small for so many people, probably leaving many frustrated at not being able to get a ticket. Perhaps the reason for not using the club’s larger room had to do with an event on the same day and probably just as large, I don’t know… what is certain is that getting some photographs under the conditions presented was an almost impossible task.
Founded in Japan in 2009 as Suicide Heaven, they were on the road as Gyze between 2011 and 2023, changed their name this year to RYUJIN, and announced a worldwide contract with Napalm Records. They were the first band to take to the stage in the Halle room at Backstage in Munich, and for about half an hour they showed that they are technically gifted and very happy to have the opportunity to win over new people in Munich.
Eleine came from Sweden and showed that they are a well-trained band with a good fan base. Madaleine Liljestam, powerful in voice and stage presence, spread her magic to everyone present, leaving the male audience completely mesmerised by her beauty and sensuality. It was a very confident and powerful concert, which stirred the crowd into believing that we could soon have a tour as headliners to present their latest album “We Shall Remain”, dated 2023, because the short concert they gave here felt like too little.
After a short break, one of the pioneers of what is now known as pagan metal, Finnish band Ensiferum, took to the stage. It was a good concert, very lively and with a lot of people who were there to see them perform, but unfortunately it was again too short for a big band like them. We look forward to their return to Munich so that the party can be in full swing.
It was clear that the time was against what was going on in the Hall Backstage room, as there was a big event at the club and everything had to happen quickly and under strict control. A good-humoured short film featuring Pain’s mascot played on the screen, and so began the party for the band’s concert in Munich. For about an hour and a half, they played all the hits to please both young and old audiences. The live show is worth seeing. The enthusiasm and joy with which things are done in a genuine and natural way, manage to convey and communicate their messages in a funny way and entertain those present. Perhaps such a large audience had a negative impact on Pain‘s performance and the madness didn’t happen in Munich as Peter Tägtgren and co. had hoped, it was very good, but it could have been excellent and unforgettable.
Sonic Rites brought a new festival into existence to overcome the full year until the next edition of the festival, and gave us 3 nights of excellent bands in the doom, sludge and affiliated music genres. We got to enjoy the first night with the Dutch psych rockers of Iron Jinn and the ladies from across the water, the doomgazers all the way from the US: Blackwater Holylight!
Fans flocked to Piere’s in Fort Wayne, Indiana on a Thursday night November 2nd, 2023 to rock out on the first night of the tour of Black Stone Cherry with special guests Giovannie and The Hired Guns and Jigsaw Youth!
Jigsaw Youth, hailing from Staten Island, New York, kicked the night off with their punk/grunge vibe with a hint of nu metal. The 3-piece band totally rocked and got the crowd warmed up for the night! Taking the stage next was Giovannie and The Hired Guns, the 5 piece country/rock band based out of Texas. They had a really fun and engaging stage presence! Favorite memories were when they played Raymon Ayala and a cover of Pumped Up Kicks (Foster The People).
Finally, Black Stone Cherry hit the stage! Playing in front of a packed house, lead singer Chris Robertson said they purposefully started the tour in Fort Wayne, because it doesn’t matter what night of the week they play, Fort Wayne always shows up!! Black Stone Cherry is a rock band from Kentucky that has been on the scene for over 20 years now! They played new song Nervous along with several other hits such as Ringin In My Head, Me and Mary Jane and Lonely Train. What a solid good ol’ rock and roll band who loves their fans and is very engaging and interactive while on the stage! What a great show and I hope to see them again soon.
On Friday November 3rd , Psychework hit the last stop of their ‘Spark Of Hope‘ tour, presenting their new album of the same name, as they played their show at Hönö Baari in Tampere. Support was provided by Scars of Solitude, and although the venue wasn’t very packed it was still quite the night of good Finnish music and ended up being even better than anticipated!
Kvelertak has been touring through Europe the last month and a half, introducing their new album ‘Endling’, and we have been reporting this earlier from Helsinki and Munich. Since their shows are so full of energy it’s a true must see, and therefore we just had to be there for their last show of this tour which was in Antwerp.
The doors opened half an hour earlier than first planned, allowing warm-up act Cancer Bats to play an hour instead of half an hour. Cancer Bats was joined by guest vocalist Brooklyn Doran. She can be heard on their latest album Psychic Jailbreak, during the song Hammering on, but during this tour she also joined them live on stage.
Enjoy the photos:
Deathstars was part of the soundtrack of many of our youths, so them being back properly with a new album and tour was some of the most exciting news we could have gotten. So when their latest tour kicked off in Finland, we did all we could to be at the show at Tavastia in Helsinki. And with them came our favorite synth ghouls of Priest and the ever popular Finnish outfit King Satan! What a way to spend our Halloween night!
When two of renown Finnish musician Tuomas Saukkonen’s projects join forces to go on a co-headlining tour, you know that is something you won’t want to miss. The recently reinvigorated Before The Dawn and consistently striking Wolfheart set up an extensive tour throughout Europe, but not before hitting the homecountry with a small tour. So when they dropped by at Tavastia in Helsinki, we had to be there. Added to that, we got a nice warming up from the in the meantime highly respected melodeath masters of Brymir!
After many years(!) of waiting and many times of rescheduling Deathstars finally made it to Tampere on their ‘Everything Destroys Europe Tour’. You can literally see the excitement of the fans: I don’t think I have ever seen such a long line of people queue for a show at Olympia-Kortelli.
The evening starts with a home match for King Satan, who undoubtable have their own fan base with them. After that Priest bring us something completely different with their synth music. They caught me a bit by surprise, but I can’t argue that their music has something. I’ve listened to ‘History in Black‘ approximately 200 times in the last 3 days. We even got to experience the live premiere of their new song ‘Burning Love‘.
And then Deathstars hit the stage with ‘Night Electric Night‘. It’s one hit after the other, the only song I was missing on the set list was ‘Play God‘, but as much as I would have loved to heard that song live, I wasn’t really expecting it anyway. Whiplasher had to scold us several times and remind us that we “only speak when we’re spoken too”. He kept giving us commands, but I don’t think anyone minded it, we happily screamed when he told us to and raised our hands on his command. At the end of the show, I just can’t stop smiling. I’m not sure when I enjoyed a show this much the last time. The only thing that comes to mind hitting me equally hard has been Green Day 14 years ago, back when I was still a teenager. I need more of this, the approximately one and a half hours were just not enough. This was quite possibly one of the best shows I’ve ever been to.
Whenever a band does a reunion, it’s a big deal, even if it’s just for a few shows. Even though I don’t really know Poisonblack, it was clear that I had to try to catch one of the 20th ‘Escapexstacyn‘ anniversary shows. Luckily enough I got the chance to attend their show at Tullikamari Klubi in Tampere and my expectations were certainly met. Not only did they play ‘Escapexstacyn’ in its entirety, they also got a lot of the old members back on stage, even if, in some cases, just for a couple of songs.
