04-03-2008 Electric Eel Shock

Support: Frivolvol; venue: Tavastia, Helsinki (Finland)
By: Elvira Visser

Frivolvol is an unknown band to me, the only thing I do know is that they are from Finland. Their musical style is also not easy to describe. I would say some sort of experimental screamo. The band reminded me of the Dutch band “San Andreas”, but it sounded if they had to practise a bit more. It all sounded a bit raw as if some songs were not completely finished , and they just played incomplete songs. Or maybe that is exactly their style, I do not know. The singer decided to lay down on the ground for a while and did his own thing. If this was what they are aiming for – do not count me in on their next gig. If this was the beginning of the band, maybe they can develop into something I would actually like to see again. But for now, I did not like it.

  For those who do not know Electric Eel Shock let me introduce them to you.
  The band consist of three members Aki Morimoto (guitar and vocals), Kazuto Maekawa
  (bass) and Tomoharu Ito or “Gian” (drums). They come from Tokyo Japan
  and play a mix of classic rock, punk and metal. Some good hard rock/metal from
  the days of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Kiss. Keep those bands in your head
  and that is mainly what you get. They decided to leave Japan in 1999 and see
  if there were other people out there in the world who would appreciate their
  music. And they’ve been touring ever since.

  Tonight when entering the stage I expected the drummer to enter wearing only
  a sock on his private parts. I attended a show of them some months before. They
  did however enter the stage with Black Sabbath’s song “Iron Man”,
  which immediately set the tone. Their own “Gian” was not there. Instead
  they brought an American guy named “Thomas” to rock the drums. But
  the sound of the band was still the same. Good pounding drumming and great guitar
  solos mixed with a dozen fun on stage. Pointing at people, inviting them to
  scream, and tell them little stories. Of course saying that Finland had the
  most beautiful ladies, but I thought he said that about the Dutch girls as well.
  Well maybe he is just a lady lover.

  At some points they were playing little pieces from well known songs from Black
  Sabbath and Iron Maiden and of course the audience liked it. The atmosphere
  was very good, and because it was not that crowded people had a lot of space
  to move, jump or head-bang on to the music. Aki the singer was pointing at people
  and calling them bastards, called Kazuto a bastard and in the end maybe himself
  as well. Of course that was the intro to the song “Bastard”. Other
  songs the audience seemed to know were “Scream for Me” and “Big
  Mistake”. I kind of think that if you were not there but do like that 70s
  metal rock you definitely missed out on a great band, because they are best
  live on stage.

For more pictures of this gig visit photographicretentions.nl