Graspop metal meeting (GMM) June 26-28

Bogfires visited the famous Graspop Metal meeting in Belgium, June 26.-29.2009. The Graspop festival was first organized in year 1986 as a local pop festival. In 1993-1994 Bob Schumacher joined forces with the original organizers and together they changed the format into a genuine metal festival. Over two decades later Graspop is one of the biggest and famous metal festivals in Europe, and in the course of its history over 250 bands have performed in the festival, including the biggest names in the metal genre, such as Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Megadeath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and so on. This year’s headliners were Mötley Crüe, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson and Nightwish. Besided Nightwish the only Finnish band performing at Graspop was Children of Bodom. Both Finnish acts had their gigs on Sunday, so we had plenty of time to check out the other interesting bands, such as Heaven & Hell, Down and Mötley Crüe on Friday and Delain, Kataklysm, Volbeat, Journey and Slipknot on Saturday. Journey, an American band that was formed in the early 70’s by former members of Santana, was alive and well, with their new singer, Arnel Pineda from Philipines. The band had found the singer on YouTube singing covers of Journey songs. Interestingly, all Children of Bodom members were really excited to see Journey’s show on Saturday. The headliner Slipknot played a solid show with no surprises. On Sunday, Lamb of God had an early slot at one in the afternoon, but once again put up an energetic and sharp performance. Other interesting shows on Sunday were Suicidal Tendencies and Chicken foot, an all star line-up with members from Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers and maestro Satriani on the guitar. Nightwish performed on the main stage before the official headliner Marilyn Manson at eight on Sunday evening. Their hour and a half set list differed a little from the previous festival appearance in Finland, featuring for example Ghost Love Score from Once and title track Wishmaster. Children of Bodom had a later slot, headlining the second stage (a tent) at ten. This is how the band bassist Henkka describes his experiences of Graspop on the band website: “Sunday was sort a reunion feeling, when Lamb Of God and God Forbid was playing too. And Suicidal. Saturday we managed to get to the festival in time to see Journey. We played on Sunday, and the tent was really hot. But the crowd was amazing. Best Graspop show ever for us”. Bogfires would like to thank COB and Nightwish for their generosity and hospitality once again.

COB, NW & HIM mentioned in the metal history of the Classic Rock mag

The British "Classic Rock" magazine writes the story of metal in its Summer 2009 (#134) issue. Of the Finns are represented the big three:

Children Of Bodom's "Sixpounder" and Nightwish's "Wish I Was An Angel" (?!? wrong name doesn't necessarily improve the credibility...;) are mentioned as "songs that forged metal" from 2000 onwards (among with nine other songs from Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, In Flames, Disturbed, Opeth, System Of A Down, Immortal, Clutch, and Mastodon).

HIM in turn is briefly mentioned as one of the "five goth metal bands inspired by the sound of the Sisters Of Mercy (with Lacuna Coil, Type O Negative, Rammstein, and Marilyn Manson - hmm...).

Descriptions:

Sixpounder - Children Of Bodom (p.71)
"This Finnish band really broke out into the international scene with the Hate Crew Deathroll album. And "Sixpounder" is a definitive example of why it happened. The fierce extremity of old is still in evidence, but it has been given a new coat of classic metal values. The song roars right in your face, but it also still possesses sufficient finesse to be more than just musical concrete. It's got class."

Wish I Had An Angel - Nightwish (p. 71)
"More than any other song, this is the best example of the way that Nightwish could combine their goth-metal music with the soaring operatic vocals of Tarja Turunen., and encapsulate it all in what is essentially a finely tuned pop song. There's a charismatic sensibility here, overcoming any uneasiness in the increasingly fractured relationship between singer and band. This suggests what might have been had they remainded together."

HIM (p.70)
"Goth imagery + Bon Jovi-esque stadium rock powerchords x dandy frontman = pant-moistening superstardom. Download: Join Me In Death"

Hmm, hmm, hmm...

TMK @ Schiphol Airport

Heavy metal in Seoul

As noted already during my earlier visits to Seoul, the Korean metal circles seem to be very small, or at least it is very difficult to find information about gigs, bands or anything. Foreign bands seem to rarely visit the country, and local concerts are scarce as well.

There is, however, a special event called"Asia Metal Festival 2009" taking place in the Rolling Hall this Saturday (unfortunately after I've left the city), but without any bigger names on the list: http://www.myspace.com/asiametalfestival.

According to the locals, the music market here is dominated by local pop artists and bands. CD sales are marginal, as most of the music is downloaded from the web (with the exception of classical music). A visit to the music department of the Kyobo bookstore in Gwanghwamun, practically the only decent CD shop I've found, however reveals that there is a relatively good collection of metal CDs from better known foreign bands available. The brand new "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" album of Dream Theater is currently the only metal album visibly advertised, positioned on the 5th place in the store's list and accompanied with an article in the "Hottracks" music magazine. Probably the band's 2006 concert in Seoul is still paying off.

The only Finnish representatives in the store are Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and HIM, the last mentioned with the widest selection of albums, as well as a T-shirt, available.

And talking about metal T-shirts, they are extremely rarely worn on the streets. Only one from Black Sabbath spotted...

TMK