01-04-2016 Moonsorrow

[schema type=”event” evtype=”Event” name=”01-04-2016 Moonsorrow” description=”Support: Alghazanth; By: Juho Karila & Reija Myllynen” sdate=”2016-04-01″ stime=”10:00 pm” street=”Virgin Oil Co.” city=”Helsinki” country=”FI” ]

As we walk together towards the venue with my colleague, we could both see why Ville (Sorvali, singer-bassist) was so excited about the sold out night. Queue swirls on the street, stretching meters away from the door and perked ears could pick up several different languages among the babble of our kinsmen, but the topic probably remained the same on everyone’s mind: Moonsorrow and Jumalten Aika.

Much to our relief, we managed to get a spot on the upstairs balcony where we could watch and enjoy the show without the fear of having someone taller blocking our way or an ecstatic headbanger to our neck. Everything seemed set for us to have a night of a lifetime and I felt butterflies flying inside my belly as I assembled my camera and got ready for the support act: Alghazanth; who had already started playing when we reached our vantage point.

Alghazanth are a melodic and atmospheric Black Metal band hailing from Jyväskylä, Finland.
I vaguely recalled of owning one album after my longtime friend recommended it in highschool and I knew I really liked their atmospheric and melodic music, which didn’t seem to have too much in common with their Norwegian or Swedish peers.

When the first notes of the first song of their set, “AdraMelekTaus”, reached into my ears, it took me a while to have a grip of the song as setting my gear up was taking my focus so well that I completely missed the beginning but I didn’t let that bother me; instead I took what I could of the song and it further enhanced the feeling that this is a band I must listen to more.

The band was very static for the first couple of songs and I figured it must be because the audience didn’t seem to be warming up too much for them but my camera thanked but for the crowd it didn’t work too well. The band took absolutely zero contact to the audience and remained stationary for the whole set, making me wonder if we were watching rehearsals or did they just get up on the stage because they had to?

Musically Alghazanth worked great as a support for Moonsorrow in their expertly delivered atmospheric and epic black metal; they really knew what they were doing and the set was solid as long as they were playing. I dunno if it was their style to just play through the show without any speaks or headbanging or even thanking the audience for coming to see them but judging by the first impression; they’d do better when listening to an album.

Alghazanth setlist: 1. AdraMelekTaus, 2. The Kings to Come, 3. Words Envenomed, 4. Promethean Permutation, 5. The Phosphorescent

When Moonsorrow’s showtime draws in, the venue was literally full. All of my concerns on the show were washed away when they hit the stage and opened the gig with “Jumalten Aika”. The difference between the two bands of the night was crystal clear and it felt like everyone had become alive from some kind of a stupor; the connection between the band and the audience was formed instantly. Another pleasant notion was that Moonsorrow played genuinely from the heart, leaving no room for doubt if they were happy and it also showed on their performance and amount of headbanging.

Photographing them was a whole lot more fun as they seek different poses to ensure good shots but sadly my Olympus didn’t quite work in the challenging situations of having someone jumping on my toes or banging a fist against my back; so I decided quickly that I shouldn’t try to swim through the mass of ecstatic fans.

With the second song, “Raunioilla”, I was glad that I had returned to the spot upstairs because getting to the stage would had been hazardous. Playing a classic hit right after a brand new song was clearly a wise decision because the band seemed to relax even more and got seemingly giddy.

The same feeling basically carried on throughout the entire set and during “Suden Tunti”, I couldn’t tell if they were more excited about having sold out or getting a chance of playing new songs in their hometown; most likely both. Performance was once again rock solid Moonsorrow and at this point it was certain that it’s nearly impossible to find anything to criticize the band so I decided to just enjoy hearing a perfect mixture of old classics and new songs played out in a way which mesmerized me, and many others as a glance downstairs revealed, completely when the intro for “Ukkosenjumalan Poika” rolled in.

I’ve seen Moonsorrow live many, many times and this was clearly one of their best shows, which tells a lot because I’ve never seen a bad show from them. The band puts full effort in the show when they are up on the stage and makes sure the audience has time of a lifetime but this time there was something magical in the show. I can’t put a finger on it, as like there would be only one reason why the band delivered such a perfect show, but I have to raise one particular song above the others: “Ruttolehto incl. Päivättömän Päivän Lansa”. In its catchiness, the song simply left me awestruck and it seemed like they had been waiting for a chance to play it live; and I’m anticipating to hear it again and again on future shows.

The night was simply perfect, in terms of music, all of my disappointments due Alghazanth’s passive and routine-like playing, as well as the venue’s odd choices in interiors, I got a really great reminder of why I fell in love with the band roughly 10 years ago back in highschool.

Moonsorrow setlist: 1. Jumalten aika, 2. Raunioilla, 3. Suden tunti, 4. Ukkosenjumalan Poika, 5. Kuolleiden maa, 6. Ruttolehto incl. Päivättömän päivän kansa, 7. Pimeä, 8. Ihmisen aika (Kumarrus pimeyteen), Encore: 9. Sankaritarina

Links:
Moonsorrow Official
Moonsorrow Facebook