Sonisphere Finland 2010: Festival report

Sonisphere report in TMK blog:
http://tonimattikarjalainen.blogspot.com/2010/08/sonisphere-finland-2010-festival-report.html

HIM Screamworks tour in UK

By Toni-Matti Karjalainen

BogFires took the chance of checking HIM performing in one of the band’s strongest markets, celebrating their recent “Screamworks…” album. We attended the gigs in Manchester Academy 1 and Newcastle O2 Academy, both venues with a capacity of some 2.000 guests. Manchester was sold out, and Newcastle didn’t have many free places either.

HIM is apparently experiencing a peek in its public recognition in UK. In addition to a recent cover story in Metal Hammer magazine, Kerrang! and Big Cheese covers were both also decorated by Ville Valo’s face. When I arrived in Manchester, I spotted the first Heartagram T-Shirts and beanies right outside the Piccadilly train station, and by the considerable number of HIM fans wandering in the city center it was not difficult to tell which band was playing there in the evening. In Newcastle we noticed that the first fans were lining up outside the venue already by noon, almost 10 hours before the gig would start. And the pirate T-shirt sellers outside the venue, appearing after the Manchester show, are always some kind of a sign of larger reputation.

In the gigs, the band also received a warm welcome. Hardly ever have we witnessed as loud audience. The band enjoyed the attention and played tightly with a seemingly good mood. The atmosphere rose perhaps a bit higher in Newcastle, possibly due to the slightly nicer venue with a more theatre-like construction and consequently enhanced feeling of closeness. There it was, however, more challenging to master sounds that were somewhat better in Manchester. Concerning the visual output, the gig was rather restricted, as usually in the HIM case, but beautiful and well-thought lights nicely changed the moods according to the needs of different songs. Ville’s talks between the songs also reflected the good spirit, even though most of them remain pretty much unclear at least to the balconies.

The gender division among the audience seemed to be quite even in the UK, and various age groups were also presented. Newcastle might have had a larger attendance of younger fans. In general, the newer songs were slightly better welcomed than the old ones, but the old classics also received quite a celebrative response. As the personal opinion, Buried Alive by Love was the tightest moment in both sets. Setlist as such comprised no surprises, as they were identical in both gigs and with most other evenings of the tour. Perhaps well so, as the set seems to be very consistent and offers a good overview of the HIM catalogue.

The L.A. mood rockers Dommin is supporting HIM in this leg. They offered a nice show with hooky songs, grand sounds and good vocal performance. There are a lots of bands that this group is compared to, and personally I felt a few moments with distant references to ones such as The Cult, The 69 Eyes, even Danzig, and yes… Elvis.

Warm thanks to HIM management for including us in the guest lists.

TMK

HIM setlist (both gigs):

Like St. Valentine

Right Here In My Arms

Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly

Heartkiller

Join Me In Death

The Kiss Of Dawn

Katherine Wheel

Poison Girl

Buried Alive By Love

Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness)

Your Sweet 666

Wicked Game

When Love And Death Embrace

Encore:

The Sacrament

Scared To Death

The Funeral Of Hearts

Ghost Brigade & HIM @ Helldone, Dec 29 2009

The Helldone festival, grown around the traditional new year's gigs of HIM, is again being arranged in the Tavastia & Semifinal clubs in Helsinki. This year, the set up includes HIM playing four consequent nights with varying supporters + an acoustic warm up by The 69 Eyes at the Semifinal club.

On the second night of the fest, the honour of the opening band was given to Ghost Brigade that has recently received lots of attention and high appraisal in the Finnish music press. Even though the Helldone audience was not the most optimal for GB tunes, the band played an energetic show. It was nice to see that it is possible to transmit the gorgeous atmosphere of their recent "Isolation Songs" masterpiece into the live context. There appeared some scrabbling and stuffy sounds in the two opening pieces, but as soon as "Into the Black light" got in motion, intensity was ensured. As admitted by the band's guitarist Wille Naukkarinen the day after, the band indeed experienced some start-up difficulties due to the preceding gig break.



HIM was also experiencing some technical problems, as Ville needed to constantly remind the technical staff about sound problems and even to got one of the Kaasu's plates change in the middle of the set. In overall, the set was a routine performance, even a slightly listless one, but the audience loved it.



TMK

http://www.myspace.com/helldone

HIM setlist:

Buried Alive By Love
Heartkiller
Right Here In My Arms
Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly
Bleed Well
Join Me In Death
Soul On Fire
Love, The Hardest Way
Killing Loneliness
Wicked Game
And Love Said No
The Funeral Of Hearts
Your Sweet 666
Scared To Death
Poison Girl
The Sacrament
Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart
Pretending
Encore:
When Love And Death Embrace

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

Ville Valo writing new songs

In an interview for Kerrang! (Feb 21 2009), Ville Valo reports on his current status of mostly staying home and writing songs for the next HIM album. "I've got ideas for eight or nine songs that won't take much to finish... this time everything is very direct and straight to the point".

The same issue cover stories Lamb of God in cover story. This interesting interview proposes LOG being on the verge of becoming metal's next superstars. After hearing their new album "Wrath", I'm sort of agreeing with that...

TMK

www.kerrang.com

HIM & Helldone @ Tavastia 29.-31.12.2008

Such a nice experience! My first time in traditional HIM party which was organised now for 9th year in row. HIM played superbly, Ville is charismatic as always, the set list inclusive, and Tavastia a perfect place for this band. And of course the international audience and devoted fans make the atmosphere extraordinary. A nice video in YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8423ItgVmk

Ville's interview in Helldone:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1186621/ville_valo_intervieuw_helldone_2008/

About the other bands... Godsplague and Diablo on Monday really nailed it down, and Stam1na was superb, convincing, hilarious and everything, as always. And lots of musicians hanging around there in the club... Tuesday with Sara, Negative and the 69 Eyes was calmer and lamer but basically ok. On Wednesday, I missed 45 Degree Womean, but luckily experienced the peculiarly entertaining KYPCK.

Ville Valo & Pekka Himanen

Pekka Himasen ja Ville Valon dialogi ti 13.1. yliopistolla oli mielenkiintoinen tapahtuma. Joku onkin ehtinyt tilaisuutta jo kommentoimaan:

http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/blogs/martela/post-119.htm