29 March 2024

04-03-2017 Wolfheart

[schema type=”event” evtype=”Event” name=”04-03-2017 Wolfheart” description=”Supports: Magenta Harvest & The Hypothesis; Photo: Juho Karila; Review: Gamze Öyunc ” sdate=”2017-03-04″ street=”Virgin Oil” city=”Helsinki” country=”FI” ]
Magenta Harvest at Virgin Oil Co
Wolfheart´s brand new album “Tyhjyys” has been eagerly awaited by the fans after 2 years. Luckily I got to see the band play the new album live in Helsinki with my Tempelores mate Juho just the day after the release date.

What made the gig so much tastier than it already was were the 2 bands opening for Wolfheart. Those were both Finnish acts. Subsequently, Magenta Harvest and The Hypothesis.

I was so excited to hear Magenta Harvest live, however due to some involuntary delay, we could only catch the last 3 songs of them. I only knew Mathias Lilmåns from Finntroll and his growling and brutal vocals were impeccable throughout the show. They played the songs live from their album I enjoyed the hell out of them. They sound so fresh live and unique in the Finnish death metal scene in my opinion. They can be described as melodeath but a bit on the progressive side. It was a joy to headbang to them.

The Hypothesis at Virgin Oil Co
After the Magenta Harvest feast, Finnish “Modern Melodic Death Metal” band The Hypothesis took the stage. They can be described as the Finnish brothers of Soilwork and Scar Symmetry. They have cool keyboards and clean vocals in the verses. Everyone in the crowd seemed to enjoy their live performance, they got loud applause and cheers between their songs. The band was very dynamic and energetic on the stage, I think it reflected on the audience, too.

Now after The Hypothesis, the time has come for the mighty Wolfheart. The audience was crowded in the front rows and when the band opened with “Boneyard”, which is the first track of Tyhjyys after the instrumental “Shores of the Lake Simple”,  the excitement hit the ceiling.
Wolfheart at Virgin Oil Co
As well as the new songs from “Tyhjyys”, Tuomas Saukkonen and his crew of warriors played Wolfheart trademarks from previous albums such as my ever-favorites, Routa Pt.2, Zero Gravity and The Hunt. The band played over an hour and nearly 30 minutes more and the energy was palpable as they rocked the crowd with every song they played. The crowd contributed the energy with a few mosh-pits through the end. Surely enough, the new songs from Tyhjyys got great reactions, even though they were more on the death metal side rather than the trademark melodic elements of Wolfheart sound. After the show I got to rotate the album numerous more times and I can say that they grew on me much more though I had found them less melodic before.

After the show Tuomas was kind enough to give us his autograph on the bag I got for my best friend. We also got to meet and chat with Mathias Lilmåns from Magenta Harvest. All has been carved as an awesome memory in my heart.

Wolfheart will play at festivals in Finland throughout the summer and do not forget about the Before The Dawn reunion only for a special one time gig at John Smith Rockfest on late June. Wolfheart at Virgin Oil Co