Concert Review - Eluveitie, Tyr, Metsatöll - 9/19/14 at SoundStage, Baltimore, MD

My readers will know that there are few things I love more than a good folk pit. And Switzerland's Eluveitie makes some damn good folk pit music. Estonia's Metsatöll, meanwhile, is among my favorite folk metal bands for another reason - their music has a very authentic feel, in large part due to the solemn singing style that reminds me of actual Baltic folk songs. And they play the kannel (Estonian zither) live on stage! What other metal band does that? Tyr meanwhile.. tons of my friends love them to death. I like 'em all right. I didn't mind seeing them but wasn't super excited about them, either. But anyway, I was looking forward to this show for most of the summer, just for the kick-ass folk pits for Eluveitie.

I don't know how good this review will be, though, because I found it a bit hard to actually pay attention to the music that night. For one thing, I had a lot of personal stuff on my mind, which was taking up a lot of my attention, even during sets sometimes. And then there's the fact that I always have a frickin blast at folk metal shows, and spend all my energy dancing and going crazy instead of thinking about what to write in some damn review. But I'll give it a shot anyway, for the record if nothing else.

We arrived about quarter or ten of eight, for an 8:00 show time -- and found that the line to get into SoundStage wrapped around the corner, from Market Pl onto Lombard St. Needless to say, K and I started to get antsy about whether we'd get in in time to see Metsatöll. Then we were told if we needed to buy tickets or pick up will call tickets, to go to another line, which seemed shorter, but in fact moved slower than the first line we were in. I heard some guys in line discussing my, uh, appearance, but didn't hear what conclusion they came to, but did hear an unfortunate slur :( It was not an omen of things to come though, as the evening went great for me in my new persona :)

We did get in in time for Metsatöll -- they started just as we were purchasing/picking up tickets. K and I watched from the back for a song or two. I linked arms with a guy who was dancing nearby. Then I saw that a pit had formed, so I ran to it, but it was rather brutal for me. They played a lot from their new album (so not a lot of stuff I recognized), which does indeed have a rather thrashy vibe under the the folk instruments and the solemn vocals. The singer even introduced one of the songs as a thrash song and told the audience to go crazy in the pit - which they did. The only song I can remember for sure was "Kivine Maa," although I think there were a couple of other older songs. I'm sure they played "Küü," for instance. I was stoked to hear/see Lauri play the kannel on stage (and also to hear people chanting his name..cause I recently changed my own first name to Lauri, so it was like people were chanting my name XD). From the new album, I believe they played "See On See Maa" and "Must Hunt," and perhaps "Tôrrede Kôhtudes," which, if I have the song right, they introduced as a "love song," and I went and danced around in the pit for it. They ended with something they introduced as "Together," which was another of the fast, thrashy ones.

It was to be a night of missed beginnings. When Tyr started, I was wandering around the venue looking for someone. I hurried into the crowd, and found some friends. (I can't remember if this was the point when I picked out S by his white Rainbow shirt. I do recall I was standing beside Im. for the first couple songs of Tyr.) Of course they started out with "Blood of Heroes" - I knew it from the opening riff that sounds so much like Amon Amarth's "Twilight of the Thunder God." It's a fairly catchy song, and the crowd was amped to hear it. They followed that up with an oldie, "Tróndur í Gøtu," one of my favorite Tyr songs for its epic melody. A few songs after that was the classic "Hold the Heathen Hammer High," and I think I ran to the pit at that point, because who could resist jumping around in the pit to that song? Besides, I wanted to mosh a little with my friend L, and he had said he was going to get destroyed in the pit for Tyr and be no good for Eluveitie, so I had to seize my chance during Tyr's set. But the pit was still so brutal I hardly dared go in. While I'm not super familiar with Tyr's discography, it seems like they played a pretty good mix of songs from their latest album Valkyrja ("Blood of Heroes," "Mare of my Night," "Lady of the Slain") and older songs, including the ones mentioned above, "By the Sword in My Hand," and "Shadow of the Swastika" (ok, just slightly older). Besides one slow song - which I liked for the vibes of old songs like "Ormurin Langi," my fave Tyr song - the songs were quite energetic, which made the pit fun, if even just to watch.

And then when Eluveitie started, I was outside, and had to abandon people who were slow getting back in the venue. I think they were in middle of something from their new album, Origins, when I made my way into the crowd and eventually to the pit. Of course, it was still big and crazy. This is the first pit in a while that's been so crowded that my hair was getting stuck between people (which is incredibly painful, and made the pit a lot less fun than it could be). They played largely from Origins, with one of their older (or newer) classics thrown in every 3 or 4 songs. Many of the new songs are quite speedy and heavy, which really got the pit going, but there were fun folk-melody moments as well, where I, and a couple others, tried to get the dancing started. Every now and then we were successful in getting a jig line or circle going, or at least in getting a bit of dancing in before the shoving started. There were a couple guys who insisted on shoving people around even during the slower, quieter or more danceable parts of songs. I mean, come on, "Slania's Song" and "Rose for Epona" are not really moshing songs. There are plenty of other Eluveitie songs for that. I was psyched that they played "Luxtos," which is probably my favorite Eluveitie song, or least their best folk pit song in my opinion. It has this chorus that makes you wanna jump, sing along, dance and push people around all that the same time, and I'm pretty sure I did all four at some point during the song. They would follow that up with the classic "Inis Mona" and then the highly danceable "Vianna," so I was too exhausted to do much besides watch for the rest of the set after that. But I got energized again during the encore, which started with their theme song, "Helvetios" (including the album intro track) and then another classic, "Omnos." I was stoked to get in a jig circle for them one more time, and then hung back while the crazies brutalized each other to the last song of the evening, "King." I'd be surprised if they hadn't played every song from Origins by the time the set was done.

I limped out of the pit with massive bruises on one leg (from someone falling over my leg while I was just standing by the pit), some scratches oddly enough, and my waist-length hair matted into one big tangle (yay!). It was worth every battle scar and all the time it will take this week to untangle my hair. Folk metal shows are the best - all the best people are there, the pits are the most fun, and the energy is amazing. The pits were certainly more brutal than I really like at a folk metal show (cause it makes it hard to dance), but I still had an awesome time, and the bands definitely did not disappoint.

Next show: Within Temptation & Amaranthe, Oct. 7

Concert Review - Sonata Arctica, Delain, Xandria, Omnislash - 9/13/14 at Soundstage, Baltimore, MD

I think after the last time I saw Sonata Arctica, I might have sworn off seeing them ever again. They were fresh off Stones Grow Her Name and played a lot of disappointing songs from that album, and made disappointing choices from their other albums. (I believe "Draw Me" was the choice from Winterheart's Guild. Not a terrible song, but why pass up "The Ruins of My Life" or "Victoria's Secret" or for god's sake, "The Cage"???)

Pariah's Child changed my mind. While by no means as epic as Winterheart's Guild, it was definitely a return to form, with lots of fast melodic goodness that was missing from Stones Grow Her Name. I decided to give Sonata one more chance. They were, after all, one of the two bands that got me into metal in the first place.

I was excited to see that Xandria would be touring with them. While I don't know this band super well, they are one of the top bands in the female-fronted gothic-symphonic metal niche, and as far as I know have never been to the States before, so I highly anticipated the chance to see them. Delain I had seen on tour with Kamelot, and liked them well enough, but didn't feel any special need to see them again. Still, they'd be at least decent, I figured.

The Star-Spangled Spectacular was going on in Baltimore that weekend, and so parking was a bit crazy. (I can't blame the event too much, though, cause it brought a bunch of tall ships to town! My daughter and I returned the next day to see the ships.) Most of the garages were doing reserved parking, and being very risk averse I decided we should do that rather than try our luck hunting for parking - but the closest thing still available was in Fell's Point. Still, that was not really such a bad walk. We walked along the harbor hoping to see some ships, but it turned out there weren't any on that side of Pier 5, so all we got to see were good ole Taney, and an enormous battleship-gray cat-hull thing that was moored behind her. (USNS Choctaw County, I later found out.)

With the walk (as well as second dinner at my brother's place), we missed the first band, locals Omnislash. My friend T., who did see them, said they were old-school heavy metal (with power metal vibes, I think?) and were worth a $5 CD, at least.

My brother and I arrived well in time for Xandria, though, of which I was glad. They were epic - I was headbanging as soon as the first choir-backed riffs hit us. I should stop being surprised how loud and heavy gothic-symphonic bands can be live. My brother and I were standing at the back bar on an unsuccessful quest for Jaeger when they started, and it sounded thundering back there. I imagined it was deafening on the floor, although later experience showed that maybe that wasn't the case. With the volume and epic sound, I couldn't help headbanging while waiting for (and then sipping) my shot of Sambuca (a pretty good second best to Jaeger!). After drinking, we moved a little closer and I headbanged some more. My neck hurt already after Xandria's set - either they were that epic or my neck was that out of shape. The only song I could say I knew for sure was "Forevermore." The syncopated guitars in that song sounded a little odd, but the vocals and melody were lovely. Overall, I really enjoyed their thundering epic sound with the operatic vocals soaring over it, and regretted they had such a short set (5 songs). I hope they come back another time, higher on the bill.

After a rather long break (I had time to search the whole place for a friend, and then to have a decent conversation with her when I finally found her), Delain came on. They were less epic than Xandria, but still energetic, with a decent bit of heaviness and a lot of groove. My brother is such an enabler - I said they made me want to dance and he said, "Do ittt." So I danced. While headbanging. Cause that's what I do. Their riffs and melodies were very driving in a danceable way. And I appreciated Charlotte Wessel's vocals more this time than last time. There seemed less operatic pretension about them this time, just regular vocals with a gothic emotional edge and sometimes a little metal snarl. I'm not too familiar with their discography, but perhaps their recent songs are more in this vein. But my favorite song was their old classic "The Gathering," which is actually more in the epic, operatic gothic-symphonic vein. In any case, I enjoyed them wholeheartedly this time.

Another long break, and then it was time for Sonata Arctica. They delivered. They started out strong with the wolf song from their latest album, "The Wolves Die Young," and just got better from there. (Well, mostly.) They played a bunch of epic old songs like "Black Sheep," "Replica," "Kingdom for a Heart," "FullMoon" and "San Sebastian," which got me throwing my hair everywhere. Of newer material they mostly picked the stuff that's fairly epic and catchy like "Flag in the Ground" and "I Have a Right." Thankfully, they avoided most of the horrible stuff from Stones Grow Her Name. But I wasn't too fond of their picks from Pariah's Child. "X Marks the Spot" is just weird with the born-again rock star voiceover (though I guess it does have some decent parts), "What Did You Do in the War, Dad?" is not that interesting, and "Love" is just an inane song (note: I already though this before my recent breakup. I like sappy songs, but "Love" is beyond sappy; it's so generic it's pretty much meaningless). I was surprised they didn't play "Cloud Factory," which is much catchier. Still, I enjoyed myself enough that I didn't realize till writing this review that they pretty much skipped Winterheart's Guild and Reckoning Night.

For the encore, I made my way into the crowd to hang out with T., and discovered that even without earplugs, it was not painfully loud just a few rows from the stage (but it's probably good that I was standing at the back for most of the set - I think my tresses clear a circle a couple feet wide when I get my windmill going). The encore started with "Blood," which is another new song I haven't really gotten into. But they followed that with their long-lost classic, "Wolf and Raven"! The crowd went wild - though not quite wild enough for me; I kept looking around for the pit, but there was none, and I had no one to start one with :( As last time, they closed with "Don't Say a Word," a great jump and sing along song.

I had an awesome time. The two opening bands on the tour did not disappoint, and Sonata Arctica pretty well redeemed themselves with this epic set and performance. And hey - they played "Wolf and Raven" this time; perhaps it's not beyond hope that someday they will also play "The Cage" again??! :D

Next show: Eluveitie/ Tyr/ Metsatöll, this Friday!