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
Monday, January 20, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
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:
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
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 |
Here's some links for Svartsot:
Reverbnation
Metal-Archives
http://www.svartsot.dk/
-Zombie Viking
Monday, January 6, 2014
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.
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.
 |
| 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.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Parsifal
Parsifal is a Swedish/Norwegian/Dutch power metal band consisting of a few Youtube celebrities that decided to get together and form a band. I'm pretty sure you haven't heard of them because their Facebook page has about 150 likes and the songs on Youtube have around 1000 views. And don't bother trying to search up the band on Google, all you'll find is the opera that the name is inspired by. The Last.fm page for Parsifal is about some dance DJ but is slowly being taken over by the far superior band. They do however have a Metal Archives page, so that's nice to see. But needless to say, this band needs some more exposure. That's where this blog comes in.
Parsifal is made up of Bjarte (guitars), Oscar (vocals), Victor (bass), and Bram (drums). I've been subscribed to Bram and Oscar for years, back when they were both making videos regularly and I subscribed to Bjarte shortly after I found out about the band. I don't know if Victor has a Youtube channel, but I'm sure he's a cool guy regardless. Needless to say, they're all extremely talented musicians. Bram has covered almost all of my favourite songs pretty close to flawlessly. Oscar does (used to do?) "different" covers of metal songs, singing clean vocals over ones that are usually growled. If you wanted to see the standout videos on both of their channels, it would definitely be Oscar's heathen warrior cover of Cascada's Every Time We Touch and Bram's epic collaborative cover of Sons of Winter and Stars originally by Wintersun.
Bjarte, Bram, and Oscar all have channels full of covers of other bands, but with Parsifal they've shown that they can create great music of their own. In my opinion, the band is best described as power metal with folk influences. They even throw in some keyboard and other instruments at times, possibly from a ghost player because no one seems to be credited with any extra instruments. The songs in their debut album, Here From the Past, cover a nice range, from slower to fast (but mostly fast, just how I like it) and atmospheric to slightly less atmospheric. The only thing that needs to be said is that Oscar's vocals take a little bit to get used to. It's an odd thing to say because his vocals are all clean, but he definitely has a unique voice. My only real criticism of the album is that Oscar's vocals are not always used in the best way. In most songs the music compliments his voice really well and it all creates a great atmosphere, like in Forever till Dawn. But other times he tries to fit too many syllables into too short a time or there's too many vocal tracks going on at once. I think it's just a matter of the short time the band has actually been working together and I'm sure it'll get better with each new song they write. My other issues with the album deal with the mixing and sound quality, but I'm guessing it was made with a very small budget so it's well within the limits of acceptable. The sound quality is actually surprisingly good with all things considered.
Whether or not I've sold you on the band, you have no excuse to not check out the album. Here From the Past is available for free on Parsifal's site. That's right, just go to http://www.parsifalband.com/ and scroll down until you see the download album button. And best of all, clicking the button won't put you on some stupid mailing list like so many "free" download links nowadays. Give the album a listen or two and then consider pressing the donate button right beside it. Just think about what these guys could do with their next album(s) if they had a bit more money to work with. Alternatively, it's available for "name your price" on the band's Bandcamp.
Parsifal is a band with all the talent and none of the fanbase. They definitely deserve to become better known and maybe have some money thrown their way so they can make more music and maybe even tour (am I being too hopeful?). The band's members are to blame too for not getting the word out about their own band. You guys all have Youtube channels, put some Parsifal songs/videos on them! It's not selling out or shoving the band down our throats because the album is free! Since I wasn't subscribed to Bjarte at the time (the only member who has Parsifal videos on his channel), I only found out about the band due to a small post on Bram's Facebook page. Just knowing the name isn't enough since you can't search "Parsifal" anywhere and get the actual band to come up in the results. It all just seems kind of silly to me. Oh well, hopefully they'll get popular enough that this won't be a problem anymore.
You can find Parsifal at the following internet locations:
http://www.parsifalband.com/
Facebook
Bandcamp
Metal Archives
-Zombie Viking
 |
| Clockwise: Bjarte, Oscar, Victor, Bram |
Bjarte, Bram, and Oscar all have channels full of covers of other bands, but with Parsifal they've shown that they can create great music of their own. In my opinion, the band is best described as power metal with folk influences. They even throw in some keyboard and other instruments at times, possibly from a ghost player because no one seems to be credited with any extra instruments. The songs in their debut album, Here From the Past, cover a nice range, from slower to fast (but mostly fast, just how I like it) and atmospheric to slightly less atmospheric. The only thing that needs to be said is that Oscar's vocals take a little bit to get used to. It's an odd thing to say because his vocals are all clean, but he definitely has a unique voice. My only real criticism of the album is that Oscar's vocals are not always used in the best way. In most songs the music compliments his voice really well and it all creates a great atmosphere, like in Forever till Dawn. But other times he tries to fit too many syllables into too short a time or there's too many vocal tracks going on at once. I think it's just a matter of the short time the band has actually been working together and I'm sure it'll get better with each new song they write. My other issues with the album deal with the mixing and sound quality, but I'm guessing it was made with a very small budget so it's well within the limits of acceptable. The sound quality is actually surprisingly good with all things considered.
Whether or not I've sold you on the band, you have no excuse to not check out the album. Here From the Past is available for free on Parsifal's site. That's right, just go to http://www.parsifalband.com/ and scroll down until you see the download album button. And best of all, clicking the button won't put you on some stupid mailing list like so many "free" download links nowadays. Give the album a listen or two and then consider pressing the donate button right beside it. Just think about what these guys could do with their next album(s) if they had a bit more money to work with. Alternatively, it's available for "name your price" on the band's Bandcamp.
Parsifal is a band with all the talent and none of the fanbase. They definitely deserve to become better known and maybe have some money thrown their way so they can make more music and maybe even tour (am I being too hopeful?). The band's members are to blame too for not getting the word out about their own band. You guys all have Youtube channels, put some Parsifal songs/videos on them! It's not selling out or shoving the band down our throats because the album is free! Since I wasn't subscribed to Bjarte at the time (the only member who has Parsifal videos on his channel), I only found out about the band due to a small post on Bram's Facebook page. Just knowing the name isn't enough since you can't search "Parsifal" anywhere and get the actual band to come up in the results. It all just seems kind of silly to me. Oh well, hopefully they'll get popular enough that this won't be a problem anymore.
You can find Parsifal at the following internet locations:
http://www.parsifalband.com/
Bandcamp
Metal Archives
-Zombie Viking
Friday, December 27, 2013
Out of the Ordinary #2: Semargl
What comes to your mind when you think of black metal? It could be church burnings and the grim forests of Norway. Or possibly blasting instruments and low production values. Maybe your image of black metal is entirely based around Immortal. Or perhaps you think of a band covered in pentagrams and corpse paint... playing pop music with growled vocals. If that last one doesn't come to mind, then you haven't been introduced to a little band called Semargl. They're definitely out of the ordinary.
Semargl is made up of (from left to right) Romulus, Anima, Rutarp, Adele Ri, and Shaddar. They make a unique blend of black metal and pop that they call "satanic pop metal". That's also the name of their most recent album, what a coincidence! They started off back in 1997 making pure black metal and somehow gravitated towards this equally amazing amalgam of music.
Of course, any time a band betrays their fanbase and changes to a completely unrelated genre, they're going to have some backlash. In fact, it's sometimes hard to sort through the pile of negative comments on their music videos and various website profiles (ie. Facebook, Last.fm, their official site..), so I'm going to say what needs to be said: Semargl is a great band and makes great music. There, I said it. And I will stick by it. They started off making quality black metal and now they make quality pop metal. I've been looking for something like this since I stumbled upon the genre known as industrial metal. You can try, but you'll never find anything quite like Semargl.
I'm not exactly sure what prompted their change into the band that you see in the video above. They're a Ukrainian band, which is not exactly an area known for its metal. They've also gone through plenty of lineup changes. Rutarp and Shaddar are the only founding members left in the group. I'm sure it had something to do with Rutarp. Just look at that face. Plus, what kind of vocalist would willingly give up their position as frontman to play keyboard? Someone who's busy transforming their band's genre, that's who.
Semargl released their first full-length album in 2005, Attack on God. By all means, this was a good black metal album. It had blast beats for days, symphonic keyboards, and all the devilish screaming you could ask for. It's a very different sound then the band you were introduced to.
The band even had a whole satanic mythology/philosophy that they created and centred their first 4 albums around. They put a lot of effort into their work and fully developed their ideas until it was time to try something new. I'm still not sure what prompted the change into their specific genre, but it can be seen as a new phase of the band. Semargl changed their members, they changed their logo, and they started making a new type of music. Their black metal days are behind them but they keep their costumes and face paint as an homage to their roots. If you strip away everything, Semargl is a band that just wanted to try something different. And different they did.
Rutarp is keeping his own black metal spirit alive with his side project of the same name. You can check out one of his songs here. I also wanted to include this remix of Credo Revolution by Zardonic, since it's how I found out about Semargl in the first place.
You can find Semargl at the following links (copied from their website):
http://www.semargl.com.ua
http://www.myspace.com/semargl
http://www.vkontakte.ru/club744615
http://www.lastfm.ru/music/Semargl
http://www.ilike.com/artist/Semargl
http://www.youtube.com/semarglband
http://www.facebook.com/semargl.band
-Zombie Viking
Semargl is made up of (from left to right) Romulus, Anima, Rutarp, Adele Ri, and Shaddar. They make a unique blend of black metal and pop that they call "satanic pop metal". That's also the name of their most recent album, what a coincidence! They started off back in 1997 making pure black metal and somehow gravitated towards this equally amazing amalgam of music.
Of course, any time a band betrays their fanbase and changes to a completely unrelated genre, they're going to have some backlash. In fact, it's sometimes hard to sort through the pile of negative comments on their music videos and various website profiles (ie. Facebook, Last.fm, their official site..), so I'm going to say what needs to be said: Semargl is a great band and makes great music. There, I said it. And I will stick by it. They started off making quality black metal and now they make quality pop metal. I've been looking for something like this since I stumbled upon the genre known as industrial metal. You can try, but you'll never find anything quite like Semargl.
I'm not exactly sure what prompted their change into the band that you see in the video above. They're a Ukrainian band, which is not exactly an area known for its metal. They've also gone through plenty of lineup changes. Rutarp and Shaddar are the only founding members left in the group. I'm sure it had something to do with Rutarp. Just look at that face. Plus, what kind of vocalist would willingly give up their position as frontman to play keyboard? Someone who's busy transforming their band's genre, that's who.
Semargl released their first full-length album in 2005, Attack on God. By all means, this was a good black metal album. It had blast beats for days, symphonic keyboards, and all the devilish screaming you could ask for. It's a very different sound then the band you were introduced to.
The band even had a whole satanic mythology/philosophy that they created and centred their first 4 albums around. They put a lot of effort into their work and fully developed their ideas until it was time to try something new. I'm still not sure what prompted the change into their specific genre, but it can be seen as a new phase of the band. Semargl changed their members, they changed their logo, and they started making a new type of music. Their black metal days are behind them but they keep their costumes and face paint as an homage to their roots. If you strip away everything, Semargl is a band that just wanted to try something different. And different they did.
Rutarp is keeping his own black metal spirit alive with his side project of the same name. You can check out one of his songs here. I also wanted to include this remix of Credo Revolution by Zardonic, since it's how I found out about Semargl in the first place.
You can find Semargl at the following links (copied from their website):
http://www.semargl.com.ua
http://www.myspace.com/semargl
http://www.vkontakte.ru/club744615
http://www.lastfm.ru/music/Semargl
http://www.ilike.com/artist/Semargl
http://www.youtube.com/semarglband
http://www.facebook.com/semargl.band
-Zombie Viking
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
WINTERSUN / FLESHGOD / ARSIS / STARKILL Concert Impressions
This concert was absolutely amazing. It was everything I was expecting and more. After meeting with the band, I went back outside, picked up some dinner quickly and went back to waiting in line. It was a split between two different experiences, almost as if I had gone home and come back the next day to see the actual concert. My two friends arrived and joined me in line and before long we were inside the venue.
I'd like to thank Starkill for putting me and my friend on the guestlist (I really got a lot of free stuff at this concert), which was quite a different experience. I'm pretty sure we were the only names on the guest list and it allowed me to bring a third person. After we were inside we went straight to the merch booth and I bought a Time I shirt for a friend that couldn't make it. All the Wintersun merch was awesome. Buy some if you're going to any of the other shows.
Starkill was up first and man did they get the crowd going. They had a huge amount of energy, constantly getting everyone to chant and throw up horns. It also didn't hurt that their songs were catchy and translated really well to a live performance. The crowd quickly woke up after only the first song and everyone was running, jumping and moshing right away. The Opera House is usually spotty for sound quality, with some concerts sounding really good and others just a mish-mash of sounds. The only problem I really noticed with Starkill was that their guitars were a little quiet, but that was turned up a couple songs into the set. It's a good thing too, because they have a bunch of crazy solos. New Infernal Rebirth and Wash Away the Blood With Rain were my two favourite performances. Overall they were my second favourite performance of the night and they definitely took away a significant amount of my energy (more on that later).
Arsis was up next. They're the only band I didn't listen to prior to the concert and sadly, they'll remain that way. They gave a decent performance but the aforementioned Opera House sound quality came back to bite them. The drums were way too loud and it drowned out most of the other instruments. It also didn't help that they had very little consistency in their songs. I don't know if it was just because I was watching it live, but it felt like every minute or so in a song they'd just switch up the riff to something completely different. I didn't know what tempo to headbang at for half the time, and that is just a terrible feeling. Their frontman looked like he was about to die for the majority of the performance. He was completely drenched in sweat and managed to make his guitar and the floor around him slightly more shiny. I checked out a few of their music videos before the concert and let's just say that this guy looks a lot older without his long hair. I swear, he looks like a father. That being said, kudos to him for giving his all. Even though he was sweating so much, he never missed a beat and managed to scream out every word with the same power. Arsis' bassist was also a great guy. He was constantly jumping around and climbing up on the amps at the front of the stage.
I was really excited for Fleshgod Apocalypse to come on. Apart from releasing an awesome new album in a couple days, they brought along an opera singer on the tour just to add to the sound. They have such a great blend of brutality and beautiful symphonic elements. Unfortunately, the Opera House struck again. All the sounds were just blended together and I could barely hear any of the vocals, guitar or piano. It's a shame because they brought along an actual piano to play on, not just a keyboard. The opera singer was drowned out for most of the set, but she actually sang along to every single song so that's a bonus. She shined during the clean vocals sections where she sang along with the bassist (and the crowd!). I was afraid the drums would overpower everything, but they drastically reduced the sound so that even the blast beats were a bit quiet. Don't get me wrong, they still put on a great show, but the sound was all a little off and it's really unfortunate that it had to happen to these guys. There were still many moments where just the symphonic parts were playing and it created such an epic atmosphere. Crowd favourite song The Violation was also beyond awesome. The moshpit was probably one of the most brutal I've seen and the band loved it, encouraging everyone to join in the fun. Fleshgod managed to finish on a high note with The Forsaking which sounded really good live. It was a great choice on their part. Oddly enough, none of us managed to take a decent picture of Fleshgod, but here's the best I could find.
And then there was Wintersun. The last thing they said to me during the soundcheck was "enjoy the show" to which I replied "as long as it's as good as last time". I forget who in the band said it, but they responded with "it'll be better!" and "well, it'll be longer". I couldn't agree with them more, their set was both longer and better than the previous time they visited (which I thought would be impossible to top). Jari started it off filming the crowd cheering with his (or someone else's phone), which you can now check out on Youtube, and then the band went straight into Sons of Winter and Stars. The crowd was nuts for the entire set, singing along to every single lyric of every single song. Especially great was everyone humming along to the main riff of Land of Snow and Sorrow.
Luckily enough, I was able to get (and keep!) a nice spot just a couple rows back from the stage. I was out of the way of the mosh pit, but it was still pretty crazy. Everyone was crowd surfing and jumping and singing and pushing every which way. I loved it. I loved it so much that halfway through Wintersun's set I completely ran out of energy. I have never been so exhausted in my life but I stayed at the front the entire set. I was just unable to sing along to most of the songs or jump around too much. As much as I loved the concert, I was actually kind of hoping they wouldn't come out for an encore just because I was so tired. Luckily, they played everything before they left the stage.
Jari and the rest of the band were so nice, always saying how great it was to be playing for us and pointing at different things in the crowd (like the huge Finland flag one girl brought). Afterwards they all came to the front of the stage to shake the crowd's hands and throw a bunch of souvenirs at us. Before the final song, Jari asked us what we wanted to hear and was met with a few "Time II" shouts and one guy who really wanted them to play Sleeping Stars. He kept yelling out the song title throughout the set. They never played it. They did manage to play every single other song in their repertoire though except for Sadness and Hate. Seriously, they played every single song except for two. They even played The Way of the Fire which sounded great live and made everyone really excited for Time II. There was even room for a Teemu solo and a part of a song that reminded everyone that there are actually good bands to come out of Canada.
Sound issues aside, this was a great concert. It seems like every concert I go to just keeps getting better and better. If this keeps up, I won't be able to walk for a week after the next one! Both of my friends (who admittedly haven't been to many concerts) loved it and asked when the next band I'm going to see is in town.
I want to thank Wintersun again for the amazing VIP experience and Starkill for the free tickets and getting on the guest list. I'll never forget this night.
-Zombie Viking
I'd like to thank Starkill for putting me and my friend on the guestlist (I really got a lot of free stuff at this concert), which was quite a different experience. I'm pretty sure we were the only names on the guest list and it allowed me to bring a third person. After we were inside we went straight to the merch booth and I bought a Time I shirt for a friend that couldn't make it. All the Wintersun merch was awesome. Buy some if you're going to any of the other shows.
Starkill was up first and man did they get the crowd going. They had a huge amount of energy, constantly getting everyone to chant and throw up horns. It also didn't hurt that their songs were catchy and translated really well to a live performance. The crowd quickly woke up after only the first song and everyone was running, jumping and moshing right away. The Opera House is usually spotty for sound quality, with some concerts sounding really good and others just a mish-mash of sounds. The only problem I really noticed with Starkill was that their guitars were a little quiet, but that was turned up a couple songs into the set. It's a good thing too, because they have a bunch of crazy solos. New Infernal Rebirth and Wash Away the Blood With Rain were my two favourite performances. Overall they were my second favourite performance of the night and they definitely took away a significant amount of my energy (more on that later).
 | |
| During one of their awesome solos. |
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| Just shredding and sweating away. |
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| It was a crowded stage when these guys were on. |
Luckily enough, I was able to get (and keep!) a nice spot just a couple rows back from the stage. I was out of the way of the mosh pit, but it was still pretty crazy. Everyone was crowd surfing and jumping and singing and pushing every which way. I loved it. I loved it so much that halfway through Wintersun's set I completely ran out of energy. I have never been so exhausted in my life but I stayed at the front the entire set. I was just unable to sing along to most of the songs or jump around too much. As much as I loved the concert, I was actually kind of hoping they wouldn't come out for an encore just because I was so tired. Luckily, they played everything before they left the stage.
Jari and the rest of the band were so nice, always saying how great it was to be playing for us and pointing at different things in the crowd (like the huge Finland flag one girl brought). Afterwards they all came to the front of the stage to shake the crowd's hands and throw a bunch of souvenirs at us. Before the final song, Jari asked us what we wanted to hear and was met with a few "Time II" shouts and one guy who really wanted them to play Sleeping Stars. He kept yelling out the song title throughout the set. They never played it. They did manage to play every single other song in their repertoire though except for Sadness and Hate. Seriously, they played every single song except for two. They even played The Way of the Fire which sounded great live and made everyone really excited for Time II. There was even room for a Teemu solo and a part of a song that reminded everyone that there are actually good bands to come out of Canada.
Sound issues aside, this was a great concert. It seems like every concert I go to just keeps getting better and better. If this keeps up, I won't be able to walk for a week after the next one! Both of my friends (who admittedly haven't been to many concerts) loved it and asked when the next band I'm going to see is in town.
I want to thank Wintersun again for the amazing VIP experience and Starkill for the free tickets and getting on the guest list. I'll never forget this night.
-Zombie Viking
Monday, August 12, 2013
My Meeting With Wintersun
I haven't updated this blog in over a month and I'm running on about 5 hours of sleep right now, but last night was just so awesome and surreal that I have to write a blog post about it. I still can't fully believe that I was shaking hands and talking with Wintersun. They're all a bunch of great and down to earth guys who just happen to be Finnish and make amazing music.
I'm still not sure why I was picked over everyone else. I sent in my submission only a couple days before the winners were announced and I just look weird in my picture. The only info I got about the process was when Kai told me that their manager, Florian, was picking the winners all the way from Finland. Kai isn't picking them because he'd just choose the people here that he already knows, and what fun is there in that? Here's the picture of my ugly mug that got me picked. It was the best out of the 30 or so that I took.
We were told to be at the venue at 3 and text the tour manager to let us in. I got there about 10 minutes early and met Brett, the other winner, waiting outside. I have to admit, we were both extremely anxious. 3 came and left with no sign of the band, but it gave us a chance to talk about Wintersun and metal in general. A couple of other guys joined us as well, about to wait in line for 4 hours. They were from out of town and had nowhere to go before the show so they decided to just wait in line. They were nice guys but I question some of their decisions. There were also guys from the bands just walking around getting supper and stuff. One of the guys from Fleshgod even asked us where the nearest Starbucks was. I don't think there were any in the area though, unfortunately for them.
After about 40 minutes of waiting (and asking Jukka to let us in when he walked by), we were each handed an awesome backstage pass with a Wintersun "W" and escorted inside. Everyone was busy working to set everything up. There were 2 sets of drum kits and a piano on the floor along with a ton of amps. Kai was sitting at his drum kit on the stage just messing around. Even seeing him play random crap was entertaining. Him Jukka and Teemu started playing riffs and trying out some new sounds. I'm pretty sure they were playing a new song from Time II, I know you're all extremely jealous. Jari came out shortly afterwards and gave us a big wave (he really is the nicest guy ever). Then they ran through part of Sons of Winter and Stars and Sadness and Hate while we watched from the floor.
After everything was perfect, they all came out and shook our hands. We just stood in the middle of the Opera House chatting it up with Wintersun. We talked about a bunch of random crap like Canada, touring and everyone's old bands. They even handed us a bit of swag like signed drumsticks from Kai, a Wintersun flag and Wintersun picks. We of course did the usual things like getting our albums signed and taking a picture with the band, but only after Kai kept reminding us. We were so star-struck that we just kept forgetting all the stuff we wanted to do. I tried to be the level headed one (Brett must have thanked them at least 20 times), but the whole thing was just surreal.
Yeah, Teemu really is that short. For comparison, I'm a little under 6 feet. I won't hold that against him though, he's a pretty cool guy. So is Jukka, he just gives off an aura of cool. Everything from his voice to his sunglasses. Jari is just as you'd expect if you've watched any interviews with him. He also has the smallest hands of the group, which is a little interesting tidbit for all of you. And Kai is probably the most conversational. He seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to us and was really humble considering all the compliments we were giving him and the band as a whole. The whole band was just happy that we enjoyed their music so much.
When we were finished talking, Brett and I headed over to the merch booths (who were still setting everything up) to see if we could buy some things in advance. Kai and Jukka came over with us and even shuffled around the boxes a little bit to see if they could find what we were looking for. I bought a Wintersun wristband which I've wanted for at least a couple years now. They had some really cool merch too, like a Wintersun hat and shorts. If only I had unlimited money... Kai even hung around with us for a bit longer after we probably should have been kicked out and just talked about drumming.
I really can't compare this experience to anything else. Just a week ago I was listening to the debut album every single day on my drive to work and now I can say I've met the band. They are the nicest rockstars you'll ever meet and they put on a spectacular show afterwards. Thank you so much to Wintersun and all the management staff for putting this together, you guys rock!
You can find my full concert impressions right here.
-Zombie Viking
I'm still not sure why I was picked over everyone else. I sent in my submission only a couple days before the winners were announced and I just look weird in my picture. The only info I got about the process was when Kai told me that their manager, Florian, was picking the winners all the way from Finland. Kai isn't picking them because he'd just choose the people here that he already knows, and what fun is there in that? Here's the picture of my ugly mug that got me picked. It was the best out of the 30 or so that I took.
We were told to be at the venue at 3 and text the tour manager to let us in. I got there about 10 minutes early and met Brett, the other winner, waiting outside. I have to admit, we were both extremely anxious. 3 came and left with no sign of the band, but it gave us a chance to talk about Wintersun and metal in general. A couple of other guys joined us as well, about to wait in line for 4 hours. They were from out of town and had nowhere to go before the show so they decided to just wait in line. They were nice guys but I question some of their decisions. There were also guys from the bands just walking around getting supper and stuff. One of the guys from Fleshgod even asked us where the nearest Starbucks was. I don't think there were any in the area though, unfortunately for them.
After about 40 minutes of waiting (and asking Jukka to let us in when he walked by), we were each handed an awesome backstage pass with a Wintersun "W" and escorted inside. Everyone was busy working to set everything up. There were 2 sets of drum kits and a piano on the floor along with a ton of amps. Kai was sitting at his drum kit on the stage just messing around. Even seeing him play random crap was entertaining. Him Jukka and Teemu started playing riffs and trying out some new sounds. I'm pretty sure they were playing a new song from Time II, I know you're all extremely jealous. Jari came out shortly afterwards and gave us a big wave (he really is the nicest guy ever). Then they ran through part of Sons of Winter and Stars and Sadness and Hate while we watched from the floor.
After everything was perfect, they all came out and shook our hands. We just stood in the middle of the Opera House chatting it up with Wintersun. We talked about a bunch of random crap like Canada, touring and everyone's old bands. They even handed us a bit of swag like signed drumsticks from Kai, a Wintersun flag and Wintersun picks. We of course did the usual things like getting our albums signed and taking a picture with the band, but only after Kai kept reminding us. We were so star-struck that we just kept forgetting all the stuff we wanted to do. I tried to be the level headed one (Brett must have thanked them at least 20 times), but the whole thing was just surreal.
Yeah, Teemu really is that short. For comparison, I'm a little under 6 feet. I won't hold that against him though, he's a pretty cool guy. So is Jukka, he just gives off an aura of cool. Everything from his voice to his sunglasses. Jari is just as you'd expect if you've watched any interviews with him. He also has the smallest hands of the group, which is a little interesting tidbit for all of you. And Kai is probably the most conversational. He seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to us and was really humble considering all the compliments we were giving him and the band as a whole. The whole band was just happy that we enjoyed their music so much.
When we were finished talking, Brett and I headed over to the merch booths (who were still setting everything up) to see if we could buy some things in advance. Kai and Jukka came over with us and even shuffled around the boxes a little bit to see if they could find what we were looking for. I bought a Wintersun wristband which I've wanted for at least a couple years now. They had some really cool merch too, like a Wintersun hat and shorts. If only I had unlimited money... Kai even hung around with us for a bit longer after we probably should have been kicked out and just talked about drumming.
I really can't compare this experience to anything else. Just a week ago I was listening to the debut album every single day on my drive to work and now I can say I've met the band. They are the nicest rockstars you'll ever meet and they put on a spectacular show afterwards. Thank you so much to Wintersun and all the management staff for putting this together, you guys rock!
You can find my full concert impressions right here.
-Zombie Viking
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