Paganfest V Concert Impressions

What a night that was. Five bands, a whole lot of folk, and a whole lot of energy. I was worried at first given the size of the lineup that the concert would drag on, but it was over before I knew it. The opening bands (everyone except Turisas and Korpiklaani) only played a handful of songs before leaving the stage. There were a couple of bands I would have liked to see a bit more from but it kept things interesting.

Winterhymn

The first band was Winterhymn from Cincinnati, Ohio. Having traveled the least, they were a great opener, despite the fact that they were playing for less than half of what would be the final audience. I'm guessing it's because the doors opened at 6 that there was a pittance of a crowd. Regardless, they played a solid set which included an awesome cover of the Skyrim theme. The violin was even audible! Surprisingly, every single band that came out with a violin actually had it loud enough to hear. I don't think I've ever seen that at a folk metal concert. Winterhymn was the only band I didn't listen to before this concert but they're definitely worth checking out.

Varg: big German guys.

Next up was Varg from Germany. The first time I saw them a bit over a year ago, I was blown away. This time however was more of the same. They haven't released any new music since I last saw them and they didn't add anything to their live show. The setlist consisted of all their more popular songs (Guten Tag, Was Nicht Darf, etc.) along with a slightly different selection compared to last time. Unfortunately, Varg is one of those bands where the majority of their songs played live sound very similar. They could have played anything with the Varg style and it would have sounded the same. That being said, the show was still solid and if I hadn't have seen them before, I probably would have been swept off my feet like the first time. The only weird thing though; no bass player! Apparently he left the band sometime last year and they just never filled the gap.

Chthonic, complete with cool lighting and a light-up bass.

When I first saw the lineup for this tour, I was really surprised and excited to see Chthonic there. I honestly never thought I'd see the Taiwanese band on Canadian shores. They were also missing a member in their keyboardist. As far as I know, he is still in the band but it's unfortunate because he has the coolest costume. Either way, the band came out and gave a good taste of Asian metal. They had all their signatures: the erhu, the light-up bass, and the awesome vocals.

Freddy Lim with his signature erhu

From what I could make out (the vocals were a little quiet compared to the rest of the instruments), they performed a mix of English and non-English lyrics. In between songs, the vocalist mentioned how great it was that bands from all these countries were coming together to play metal for all of us. I agree with him. Almost every band on this tour comes from a very different background, but we all unite under the banner of folk metal and a good time. If you ever have the chance to see Chthonic in concert, please do. I'm not sure if they'll even ever come back to North America.

Turisas vocalist Mathias Nygård with his awesome jacket.

Chthonic finished around 8 which gave the headlining bands plenty of time to set up. The stage was decked in Turisas colours, red and black everywhere. Turisas plays great music, but apart from that I don't think they're very creative. There was the strange naming of their most recent album and now their signature appears to be three red lines on a black background. They played a good amount of songs from Turisas2013 (but no Into the Free, dammit) mixed with their old classics. I'm glad that the vocalist tried to connect with us by giving little speeches between songs but I couldn't hear a damn word he was saying. Everything else about their performance was pretty good. If you've seen Turisas perform, then you've seen Turisas perform, I don't really have anything else to say. This was also the point where the crowd really got into it. Let me just say that the crowd was a bit more pushy than usual and it kind of made the show a bit worse of an experience than it could have been.

One half of Korpiklaani.

The headlining Korpiklaani was oddly the only band without any sort of facepaint. There were even two different bands on this tour with black and red all over their faces. But Korpiklaani likes to keep it traditional. The same can be said about their live performance. They knew that the majority of the crowd was there to see them and as such they just played music. There were hardly any words between songs and most of the song names weren't even announced beforehand. It was definitely a bit of a shift from Turisas setting up each and every song, but this entire concert was a constantly shifting whirlwind of music. As with the other bands, there wasn't anything overly special about Korpiklaani's performance. It was solid and they played most of the songs anyone would expect and that's about it. The band sure had fun though. I don't think any of the members stood in place for more than a few seconds, constantly dancing around the stage. There were even a few members of the audience that joined the stage and helped sing the chorus of a song before jumping off. Security was surprisingly lenient since they only came out if someone really overstayed their welcome on stage. The last thing to mention would be the crowd. If they were pushy during Turisas, then they were downright violent during Korpiklaani. I couldn't stand in one spot for more than a few seconds without being pushed around until I relocated to behind the mosh pit. I could say the same about the first time I saw Korpiklaani, but then it was because of people dancing around and having a good time. This time it was people literally pushing the front of the audience against the stage repeatedly. I'm sure there's other ways to enjoy a concert, such as the guy who started a 30+-person rowing party in the middle of the mosh pit. In any case, I was thoroughly soaked in other people's sweat by the end of the night.

The other half of Korpiklaani.

So that was Paganfest America V. All in all a very solid show, if not anything special. All of the bands gave it their all in the short time they had on stage. Even the semi-local opening band was great and definitely deserves further research. It was my second time seeing every band expect Chthonic and I'd go see any of them for a third next time they're in town.

-Zombie Viking

Comments on Metal Videos

Here's something I've been wanting to start for a while. We've all seen Youtube comments. They're one of the internet's dark secrets, hidden away at the bottom of every video. No type of video is ever safe, not even metal videos with under 1000 views. There is always at least one person with a keyboard and a loose understanding of the English language who thinks their opinion is more important than everyone else's.

In fact, metal videos have some of the worst comments. For some reason, people feel the need to go on music they don't like and leave a comment proclaiming their distaste with the music no one forced them to listen to. It's utterly baffling why this situation would ever occur, but it does and it leads to some of the funniest comments out there.

I'm starting a movement. Send screencaps of stupid or funny comments on metal videos or related pages (with context if needed) as a message to the Facebook page or as an email to vogelfrei25@gmail.com. I'll keep collecting them like I've been doing for a while, but I'm only one person and I only watch so many videos.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys can find. They will be posted at regular intervals over on the Facebook page, so give it a like if you haven't already.

-Zombie Viking

My Life As a Non-Elitist

I previously wrote a post about being a music elitist. I'm not going to link to it here because I'm embarrassed, but I'm sure you can find it if you really want. It's a moot point though because something magical happened over the blog break, my musical tastes expanded.

One of my biggest musical pet peeves used to be slow songs. I just didn't have the patience to listen to them. I used to go through albums and delete the slow songs before I added them to my library. But now I give them a chance. I guess I got more patience and there's now a bunch of slower songs that I enjoy just as much as anything else. I started something with myself to ensure that I actually gave every song in my library a fair shot. I really don't want to fall into the category that so many people find themselves in, of having a large music library and skipping over half the songs. So now when I listen to my music, I put it on random and put my phone in my pocket. If I actually don't like a song I'll delete it. But I ended up actually liking a lot of the songs I had previously always skipped over. There was actually a lot of awesome music that I kept skipping over. Here's an example of a great song that I previously would have skipped over or deleted. Shame on me.


I was also able to expand my musical horizons. I think that was just my desire to not only listen to as much music as possible, but also to as many different types of music. I've added electronic, rock, and even some metalcore to my music library. I was never against these genres because they do have awesome music, but it just felt weird adding these songs to my library. I've always listened to metal that takes influence from other genres so it's a natural extension to actually listen to music from these other genres regularly. There is so much awesome music out there that I might have missed - that I still might miss - but I will never stop expanding my horizons. I have a friend (you know who you are) who once said to me that it's a shame we'll never be able to listen to every single great band out there; there's just too many. We can always keep searching for music and find as much as we can, it's all anyone can do.

-Zombie Viking

I'm Back (Again)!

Well, it seems it's finally time I got off of (or rather, sat on) my lazy butt and wrote some new blog posts. I've got the trifecta of singles from upcoming albums playing (War Eternal from Arch Enemy, To Hell And Back from Sabaton, and The Essence of Silence from Epica) and I'm ready to crank out an update.

School is complete for another year and this time I get an actual break. I'll be working for the next 16 months and going back for my final year of university in September 2015. That means one very important thing: more free time! I plan to post on this blog at least semi-regularly with all my fantastic observations and opinions that I'm sure you're just dying to read. That being said, expect a slow start. I do have a few things that I want to write about, but I definitely need to get back into the writing mood. I prefer quality over quantity. Everything will be posted on the Facebook page, so if you haven't liked the page, there's a button in the top right of the blog.

As for what I want to post about, here's a couple things to look forward to. I'll be attending Paganfest America this Thursday May 1st. Expect a writeup Friday or Saturday. Hopefully I'll be getting a new phone so I can post some decent concert pictures. But if not, I'll include the same crappy quality photos I've been taking up until now, hurray!

In the long term, I'm hoping to have a series of posts dedicated to a little project of mine. It's been my dream for a while now to actually make some music. The biggest hurdle is the fact that I have absolutely no musical talent and don't play any instruments. However, I've downloaded FL Studio and the necessary add-ons to make some sweet sweet metal. If I can make something that doesn't sound like complete garbage I'm going to post about it every step of the way. It can be done though, I've seen it with my own ears.

That's about it for now. I'm writing posts as you read this so expect some more stuff very soon! Stay metal.

-Zombie Viking

Come to Canada!

I feel like fanboy-ing a little bit here. I've compiled a list of bands that have either never come to Canada (as far as I can tell) or who come here very rarely and I have never seen. If any of the bands on the list see this, come to Canada! I can promise that you'll have at least one ticket sold and that I'll do everything in my power to make it to the concert.

In semi-alphabetical order:
Wolfchant
Powerwolf
Bloodshot Dawn
Dragonland
Equilibrium
Carach Angren
Immortal
Gloryhammer
Insomnium
Rotting Christ
Pathfinder
Svartsot
Xanthochroid
Månegarm


...And of course Wintersun can come here as many times as they like, I'll also be sure to buy a ticket every time to see them. They're the only band that I can guarantee I've seen every single time they've toured in the country.

-Zombie Viking

Metal on the Side Mondays: Svartsot

Do you like folk metal? Do you like beer? Do you like songs about the plague?... If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you'll like Svartsot.

Svartsot is a folk metal band from Denmark known for their delightful tin whistling and brutal vocals. They differ from similar bands in the sense that they're a little less folky. Their songs have more of a metal base and the folk instruments usually compliment the guitars instead of the other way around. It's not uncommon for a Svartsot song to contain large sections with almost no folk elements, but on the flipside they have many songs with all sorts of crazy stuff you'll only find in this genre. I also find they play a bit slower and more methodical than other folk metal bands. It gives the band a more brutal sound that stands out from everyone else.



The name Svartsot may translate to "black sickness", but don't get them confused as guys who don't like to have fun. Sure, many of their songs are about sickness and death, especially their most recent album Maledictus Eris (You will be cursed) but they also have songs about noble warriors and drinking. I'm sure glad their official site has translated lyrics, because absolutely everything from this band is in Danish! I would have had no idea otherwise.. Anyway, if you ever need any proof that these guys just like to joke around, or that they have magnificent beards, take a look at their official Facebook page. You'll find such gems as this one from Christmas:

As modern yuletide legend would have it, on the night of the 24th December, a jolly fat man with a large beard gains clandestine entry to your home, drinks your brandy, eats your pies and just the thought of his visit delights your children. However, when Hans-Jørgen tries that he just gets into really serious trouble. There's some major double fucking standards round this time of year!

The one thing about Svartsot is that they can't seem to maintain a solid lineup for more than a couple years. The band has only been around since 2005 but their only remaining founding member is Cris Frederiksen who also happens to be the main composer of the band. The ex-members list has nine names on it! Hopefully the current lineup will be stable.

Get used to these bastards

Svartsot may be a small band (in terms of audience size, of course) but they seem like they're picking up steam. They've appeared as the number one band from Denmark on countless lists and their album releases are taking on a more regular schedule. Maledictus Eris was released in 2011 and the band recently entered the studio again to record their upcoming fourth album. I just hope that after it's released they'll have enough resources to make a trip to North America since I don't think they've ever been here before. A new album and some more exposure is exactly what this band needs.

Here's some links for Svartsot:
Facebook
Reverbnation
Metal-Archives
http://www.svartsot.dk/

-Zombie Viking

Blog Shoutout: Heavy Latin

It's not uncommon to find Latin lyrics in your metal songs. The thing is, you usually have no idea what they mean besides a few words about Satan and hell. On top of that, the grammar is usually wrong and the possessive pronouns are all messed up. That's where the blog Heavy Latin comes in.

Looks like someone put more effort into a header than I did.

I originally came across this blog while searching for Powerwolf lyrics. I ended up searching for all the other bands I know use Latin lyrics. Markheim translates and tries to provide context to all the lyrics he finds. It's an insightful look at a language not many of us understand and it helps understand the songs from your favourite bands just a little bit more.

Best of all, he's been posting semi-regularly since 2008. That's more than you can say about the blog you're reading this on. So check out Heavy Latin and see if there are any songs you're curious about. If not, you can always send Markheim a request for all the songs you want.

You can find Heavy Latin at http://heavylatin.blogspot.com or by searching "Heavy Latin" on Google.

-Zombie Viking

P.S. Completely unrelated to the subgenre of Latin metal which I didn't even realize was a thing.