Blaze Bayley returned to Helsinki, Finland to celebrate his Iron Maiden’s 30th anniversary, and of course we joined the party!
***Review and photos by Giovanna Marques***
Once again, I had the chance to be at our beloved bar and concert venue, On the Rocks Helsinki, this time to see Blaze Bayley present his 30th Anniversary Iron Maiden tour.
The concert was sold out and the crowd was ready to rock even before the show began, waving Iron Maiden flags and wearing band shirts.
As a “thank you for the support” gift to the fans in Finland, Blaze held a free meet-and-greet for all the fans who bought tickets to the show. This was a very special experience for me since Blaze was one of the first concerts I ever saw in my life when I was 12 years old and I carry great memories from that day. During the meet-and-greet, he thanked everyone for their presence, signed merchandise, and posed for selfies. This is the third time I’ve had the chance to see him live and every time he has been very kind, patient, and grateful to the fans.
OPENING ACT: ABSOLVA Absolva is a heavy metal band from Manchester, UK and consists of Martin McNee on drums, Chris Appleton on lead guitar and vocals, Karl Schramm on bass, Martin McNee on drums and Luke Appleton (ex-Iced Earth) on guitar and backing vocals. They released their first album in 2012 and play high-quality heavy metal, clearly influenced by the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) with catchy choruses, melodic riffs, and speedy solos, making it easy to headbang to every song.
Since 2014, Absolva has been the support band for Blaze Bayley on both tours and recorded albums. It’s great to see such fine musicians as part of Blaze’s history after so many years of temporary and rotating touring musicians.
Absolva’s concert was technically impressive, melodious, and definitely energized the crowd. The band played songs that had fans singing from beginning to end, including tracks from their latest album, Fire in the Sky, released in 2022. It’s totally worth checking out!
BLAZE BAYLEY After a very short break for Absolva’s musicians to reorganize the stage, Blaze Bayley was welcomed by a standing ovation as he entered.
The crowd, already pumped from Absolva’s performance, couldn’t wait to hear his Iron Maiden songs. The gig started with “Lord of the Flies,” which gave the audience goosebumps as Blaze sang the first words.
The joy and excitement of seeing Blaze back on stage after his quadruple bypass surgery following a heart attack in 2023 are beyond words. I was emotional and thrilled to see the vocalist, who has overcome so many personal setbacks, return to deliver such a stunning performance.
The next song was “Sign of the Cross,” and the songs kept coming one after another! In total, Blaze played sixteen songs, with only four from his solo era: “Rage” and “Circle of Stone” from his latest album of the same name, as well as “Warrior” and “Pull Yourself Up” from his 2021 album War Within Me.
As a Blaze fan, I confess I was hoping to hear some songs from “Silicon Messiah”, an absolutely legendary album. However, the excitement of hearing so many great songs played live overshadowed any disappointment.
The concert was enriched by moments where Blaze shared stories behind each song, such as when he was in Argentina and learned that one of his schoolmates had gone to fight as a marine in the Falklands War (Guerra de Malvinas) and died there. The memories of those times, mixed with the sadness of a war fought by ordinary people, like you and me, inspired Blaze to start writing a poem that eventually became the lyrics to “Como Estais Amigos.”
I haven’t seen On the Rocks as crowded as it was that day and Blaze delivered what the fans were expecting and more.
For those who continue to pity Blaze as a guy living off his “Iron Maiden golden years,” I challenge you to buy a ticket and see him live. As he has mentioned in interviews, this “30th Iron Maiden Anniversary tour” is a celebration of all the good that has stayed with him and his music, not just a nostalgic memory of what has passed. Blaze’s music is alive and doing very well!
Setlist
Lord of the Flies
Sign of the Cross
Judgement of Heaven
Fortunes of War
Virus
Circle of Stone
Rage
When Two Worlds Collide
Lightning Strikes Twice
The Clansman
Warrior
Pull Yourself Up
Como estais amigos
Man on the Edge
Futureal
The Angel and the Gambler
Band members
Blaze Bayley– vocals
Chris Appleton – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Luke Appleton – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals
Karl Schramm – bass, backing vocals
Once again, The Headbanging Moose takes Finland by storm, this time to talk about the amazing classic rock singer Graham Bonnet and his awesome band playing in Helsinki.
As already mentioned by Renata in the Brother Firetribe gig review, The Headbanging Moose is now also in Finland, and I, Giovanna, am more than thrilled to be part of this great team! To celebrate my first contribution to THM, nothing better than Graham Bonnet, an absolute classic Rock and Roll legend showing that age is just a number and what matters in the attitude and will to rock.
The evening filled with pure quality Rock and Roll started with a performance of the Helsinki local band WISHING WELL. The band first released their material in 2015, but it has been a long-term project of the leader and guitarist, Anssi Korkiakoski. During the concert, the band played their classic songs, greatly influenced by the 1970s and 1980s classic rock bands, leaving a nostalgic and energetic feeling in the house, making the audience eager for more good rock and roll. It is worth it to check out the band’s material if you are also a fan of classic rock.
After the usual break to exchange the gears for the next band, we were finally gifted with the presence of Graham Bonnet and the band members on stage.
The gig started with some technical difficulties making the public unable to hear the bassist Beth-Ami Heavenstone’s chords but after a short complaint and some screams at the sound table everything was sorted out and the gig started for real. The band opened the night with the Rainbow Cover “Eyes of the World” and the British singer showed that 76 is just a number and there is no such thing as being too old to rock and roll. The band continued with a few more Rainbow songs and although my particular favorite “Love’s no Friend” was one of the highest moments of the show in my opinion, the crowd went crazy with ”Since You’ve Been Gone” leaving a super energetic atmosphere for the keyboard solo by the Italian Allessandro Bertoni.
After the short break, the singer came back to the stage and the band played songs from Bonnet’s Solo career emphasizing the quality of the musicians present in his solo albums.
I must confess that being a Michael Schenker fanatic, I was anxiously awaiting for the Assault Attack album songs, and when the band finally played “Desert Song” it was an absolute delight. The Brazilian guitarist Conrado Pesinato showed in every step of the concert that he is more than capable to carry the legacy of the astonishing guitarists that were part of Graham Bonnet’s career. Pesinato presented his version of the songs and solos, never letting the audience down and filling the concert with great technique and soul.
After The first Michael Schenker cover, the band played my personal favorite from their album “Day Out in Nowhere”, the song “Uncle John”. Something that made the concert even richer was the stories told by the members about the songs and events surrounding the band and the singer. For example, Graham explained that he wrote the lyrics of the song ”Uncle John” for a teacher who was beloved by his students but was lately charged and arrested accused of pedophilia.
Next, came the “Jet to Jet” drum solo, and we were presented with the energetic drummer Francis Cassol, also a Brazilian musician. Francis was chosen to be part of the Swedish and Finnish leg of the European tour and I think they could not have chosen any better! After the solo, the band played more songs from the singer’s solo career and covers. ”Assault Attack” and ”Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live” made the crowd sing loud, leaving the space for the final and vibrant song ”Lost in Hollywood”. The charisma of all band members made the night more than special. I am hoping they come back next year for another spectacular and nostalgic evening.
Setlist Eyes of the World (Rainbow cover) All Night Long (Rainbow cover) Love’s No Friend (Rainbow cover) Makin’ Love (Rainbow cover) Since You’ve Been Gone (Rainbow cover) Lazy/Keyboard Solo (Deep Purple Cover) Imposter S.O.S Desert Song (MSG Cover) Uncle John Jet to Jet/Drum Solo (Alcatrazz cover) Night Games Into the Night Assault Attack (MSG Cover) Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live (Alcatrazz cover) Lost in Hollywood (Rainbow cover)
Band members Graham Bonnet – vocals Conrado Pesinato – guitar Beth-Ami Heavenstone – bass Allessandro Bertoni – keyboards Francis Cassol – drums
The future Past Tour 2023 turned the city of Edmonton into “Eddie-monton” thanks to one of the wildest Iron Maiden crowds ever in Canadian lands.
INTRO: IMFC Meetup and FTTB, Pt. II
The day after the concert in Calgary, I would say all Iron Maiden Fan Club members (plus a lot of locals as well) headed up a little further north to Edmonton for another round of IRON MAIDEN during the band’s The Future Past Tour 2023 (plus of course the opening act ATREYU). Once again, one day before the actual concert a big group gathered at On The Rocks for another successful IMFC Meetup, sharing a few beers with old and new friends, enjoying a few metal hymns played by the DJ including “Run to the Hills” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”, and a live band playing pop songs from the 80’s. The pub was even giving away two tickets for the concert, but I bet the old fella who won those sold them online right away. As I mentioned in the review for the Calgary show, the meetups have a unique energy that’s worth going out of your way to make it there.
A few hours after the meetup, several of us had a (very) early start to join the FTTB – First to the Barrier at Rogers Place for another memorable day with our blood brothers and sisters in preparation for the concert that night. And I gotta say the FTTB meeting point this time was a blessing from the metal gods, as we were able to stay indoors (yes, with a roof and away from the chilly Edmonton weather) with easy access to washrooms and to an array of restaurants like Boston Pizza! It was so relaxed and comfy there that it didn’t feel like we were there for almost 12 hours before getting into the venue. This was most probably the nicest FTTB ever, with no cold weather, no winds, no rain, no starvation nor dehydration being present, making it A LOT easier for us all to endure the battlefield that the GA section turned into as soon as the lights went down later that day for the concert.
Precisely at 7:30pm, California’s own Metalcore act ATREYU did what was expected of them once again, putting on a very entertaining show for both their regular fans as well as for anyone who had no idea who they were. Frontman Brandon Saller made an excellent use of the wild energy emanating from the crowd to demand some mosh pits, and he was promptly answered by most kids in the floor section, which in the end put a huge smile in the faces of all band members. When they played the song Save Us and asked the crowd to scream those two words with them, the reply from the whole venue was pretty loud, with their bassist Marc “Porter” McKnight later taking some time to say how much they admire and respect the Maiden family for being so nice to them and for enjoying their show more than anyone could have imagined. That was indeed a wild concert by Atreyu, and if the opening band already turned up the heat that much at the Rogers Place, you can imagine what happened when Iron Maiden hit the stage, right?
Setlist Drowning
Becoming the Bull
Right Side of the Bed
Save Us
When Two Are One
The Theft
The Time Is Now
Gone
Ex’s and Oh’s
Battle Drums
Falling Down
Watch Me Burn
Warrior
Blow
Band members Brandon Saller – clean vocals
Dan Jacobs – lead guitar, backing vocals
Travis Miguel – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Marc “Porter” McKnight – harsh vocals, bass
Kyle Rosa – drums
And there we were all again precisely at 8:50pm, going crazy already during the first few seconds of Doctor Doctor, for one more flammable performance by the “dental floss salesmen from Montana” (also known as IRON MAIDEN) for our personal “collection” of concerts; however, this time things got pretty wild for a Canadian show, placing the Edmonton gig as one of the roughest crowds I’ve ever experienced worldwide. All hell broke loose the minute the band hit the stage with their old school classics from Somewhere In Time and their newer ones from Senjutsu, with that madness happening even during slower or more melodic songs like The Writing on the Wall and Death of the Celts. We were being smashed and pulverized by the wild fans from the GA, but we didn’t get to the venue so early to give up our spot at the barrier, so we did our best to survive that.
Remember when I talked about meeting “Mr. Lobster” during the FTTB wait in Calgary? I think I forgot to mention it was just a crazy dude fully dressed as a lobster, but that weird costume paid off in Edmonton as Bruce himself spotted that guy during the speech before The Time Machine and questioned if he came all the way from the ocean walking to Edmonton. As a matter of fact, Bruce was so impressed with the guy’s costume that instead of waving his arms in the air during the breathtaking Hell on Earth, which was by the way the most amazing song of the night in my humble opinion, he put his hands in the air like if he had “lobsters claws”. A small but awesome touch to the concert by Bruce, I might say. I just think that next time Mr. Lobster needs a friend dressed as a steak, so they can form a “surf and turf” duo at the show.
Back to the concert, all that pushing and smashing was getting wilder and tougher as the band continued to stun us with an avalanche of classics, making it quite difficult to jump up and down during Heaven Can Wait, for example, or to raise our arms and fists in the air together with the band. Some tiny girls behind us were being crushed into pieces to the point we kept turning to them to ask if they were OK, if they needed some water and so on. The crowd surfing was also insane, and I guess I’ll never see so many crowd surfers again during a song like Hell on Earth anywhere in the world. Of course things got even worse when the boys played Fear of the Dark, but who cares? Nothing that some time at the gym and some cardio can’t take care of.
By the end of the show, it was visible how Bruce, Steve, Adrian, Dave, Janick and Nicko were amazed by the rowdy reaction of the crowd throughout the entire concert, with the nonstop action in the GA being highly acclaimed by the band, and of course, with Bruce being stunned with the loud chants of “Maiden! Maiden! Maiden!” to the point he left his microphone behind and simply enjoyed such beautiful moment with the fans. The Trooper and Wasted Years were pure war in the floor section, something you could only see in places like Brazil or Argentina, but the Edmonton fans made sure they’re also going to be “feared” whenever the band returns to the city. And after all was said and done, there was a very emotional moment with one of the most amazing members of the IMFC that brought tears of joy to the eyes of several of us, including myself of course. I’m not going to add all details here, but all I’m going to say is that next time someone questions me why I still listen to Iron Maiden after so many years, I’ll just smile back at that person.
Unfortunately due to budget limitations and work-related duties I couldn’t make it to the Vancouver show, but that doesn’t mean my Canadian Iron Maiden journey finished with the show in Edmonton. Even at the West Edmonton Mall and at the airport on Sunday I saw countless Maiden shirts and chatted with some of those fans, proving how strong the connection is between Maidenheads no matter what. One of the funniest moments happened at the airport right before boarding the plane, when two kids who were around six or seven years old kept looking at my new Sasquatch Eddie shirt. The oldest one said hi to me and then he smiled and said he liked my shirt, even showing me his dinosaur backpack to show how cool he also is. That was amazing, and from now on I’ll call the city of Edmonton as “Eddie-monton”, the Iron Maiden capital of Western Canada.
Setlist Doctor Doctor (UFO song) Blade Runner (End Titles) (Vangelis song) Caught Somewhere in Time
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Writing on the Wall
Days of Future Past
The Time Machine
The Prisoner
Death of the Celts
Can I Play With Madness
Heaven Can Wait
Alexander the Great
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
Encore: Hell on Earth
The Trooper
Wasted Years Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Monty Python song)
Band members
Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals
Steve Harris – bass
Dave Murray – guitar
Adrian Smith – guitar
Janick Gers – guitar
Nicko McBrain – drums
There isn’t a lot of personal details about our metal chick for this month, but I don’t think you’ll really care that much about it as our chosen one kicks some serious ass with her devilish growls, stunning looks and a badass attitude. Furthermore, if you’re a diehard fan of Swedish Melodic Death Metal titans Arch Enemy, nurturing a special admiration for their almost 15 years with the unparalleled screaming queen Angela Gossow on vocals, you’ll certainly have a blast listening to the ravishing singer Viktoria Viren, the frontwoman of Finnish Melodic Death Metal band Evil Drive, bursting her lungs and delivering high-voltage Heavy Metal with her bandmates, proving once again that the importance of women in extreme music is only growing more and more through the years. So keep your eyes and ears open, because whenever you see a “double V” in Melodic Death Metal, you know it’s going to be brutal, thrilling and, obviously, awesome.
Born on November 11, 1988 (I guess) somewhere in Russia (but also Finnish at heart), Viktoria started her career in heavy music at an early stage of her life, singing in various bands from when she was only 14 years old, with her first major festival happening a couple of years later, when she was 16, performing with a Death Metal band at the Vyborg Castle, a Swedish-built medieval fortress originally constructed in the 1290’s and one of the three major castles of Finland, around which the town of Viborg (today in Russia) evolved. You won’t find many videos of Viktoria from her early metal days, except for this 2012 footage of our diva (at that time part of a band named Alistaja, which I couldn’t find any information about) singing Megadeth’s neck-breaking all-time classic Symphony of Destruction, and this one with a band named Soulcrypt at the Vyborg Castle in 2010; however, based on this sole sample of what Viktoria can do with her voice, it’s easy to understand how she quickly progressed in music until reaching her status today with Evil Drive.
“It was 2004 and the only woman in a metal band that I knew of was Angela Gossow”, said Viktoria in one of her interviews, and that’s one of the main reasons why she decided to follow the path of guttural singing in heavy music. She mentioned that she really likes the growling and screaming, that it makes the music more powerful and energetic, and that she feels stronger when doing guttural. Viktoria also said that, although she could be doing some clean singing with Evil Drive, she doesn’t think that can properly transmit the power of their compositions to their fans. We saw something similar happening with Alissa White-Gluz when she left The Agonist and joined Arch Enemy, when she completely ditched her clean vocals and began doing only guttural for Michael Amott’s iconic band due to the nature of their songs and their musical direction. Maybe we’ll see Viktoria doing some clean singing one day, but for now let’s keep enjoying her beastly roars (as if that wasn’t awesome enough for us metalheads).
In regards to her band Evil Drive, I think we might say Viktoria and the band are one single entity. There’s no Viktoria Viren without Evil Drive, and vice-versa. Founded in 2013 in Kotka, a city located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, by Viktoria, her husband and guitarist Ville Wiren (who by the way also plays for Finnish Symphonic Power/Gothic Metal band Domination Black), and drummer Juha Beck, the aim was to set up a band which has not been previously heard. All the musicians in the band have a history in a number of different bands and different genres, therefore incorporating many distinct musical styles into their compositions, sounding like a traditional Melodic Death Metal band with a twist of 80’s style Thrash Metal. When asked about the origin of the name “Evil Drive”, Viktoria mentioned the fusion of those two words has a strong influence on the band’s music, as everything they do and try to achieve is characterized by this name. The word “drive” connects to her love for motorcycles, energy and freedom, while “evil” was a wicked combination found by Viktoria, becoming a simple but powerful name in the end.
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In November 2013, Viktoria and her bandmates Ville Wiren (guitar), Niko Huusari (guitar), Marko Syrjala (bass) and Juha Beck (drums) released their debut self-titled EP, getting a lot of attention not only from the Finnish media, but from critics and fans all over the world. The EP consisted of four original songs that would later become part of their first full-length album, entitled The Land of the Dead, released in January 2016. In the official video for one of the tracks from the EP, the excellent Bullet, you can have a very good taste of what Evil Drive are capable of, providing a clear view of the musical direction the band was going to follow with their upcoming releases. The Land of the Dead, released in the beginning of 2016, contained the four songs from the Evil Drive EP plus six original belligerent tunes that helped cement the name of the band in the metallic scenario worldwide, in special in the world of Melodic Death Metal. You can check their two official videos recorded for the album, one for the song War, and the other for the title-track The Land of the Dead (which can be seen at the end of this essay), showcasing the evolution in their musicality and how their looks and the use of military imagery became a crucial part of the whole concept behind their music. Well, Viktoria and the rest of the band don’t need to worry too much about maintaining their warlike visual always fresh and renovated, as they have a healthy partnership with the highly acclaimed Finnish army supply store Varusteleka, making it easy for them to keep the war going.
In addition to that, the band even had some extra fuel to release the single Anti-Genocide on October 12, 2016, to be featured on their upcoming album which is scheduled to be released sometime this year. The new single, which features the band’s new guitarist Juha-Pekka Pusa (replacing Niko Huusari), offers the listener a different theme and feeling compared to The Land of the Dead, which was all about the current world politics and war, according to Viktoria herself. “The new track is about the history of the American Indians and about the fate they had to face when the white men came and took over their land”, said our gorgeous screamer, and as per the official video for the song you’ll be able to see the band truly immersed themselves in the topic, especially Viktoria with her awesome Indian attire.
As every metal band in the world, it’s when the musicians are performing live on stage that we finally know if the band is worth a place in Valhalla among the metal gods, right? Well, there’s a lot of good quality footage on YouTube where you can check Viktoria kicking fuckin’ ass with her Evil Drive, such as two videos from their first year as a band playing in St. Petersburg, Russia on November 22, 2013 (just click HERE and HERE); playing the song Screaming Soul at the now closed PRKL Club in Helsinki, Finland on July 17, 2015; paying an awesome tribute to the iconic Lemmy and his Motörhead by playing a cover version of the classic Killed By Death at the traditional pub On The Rocks, also in Helsinki, on January 23, 2016; performing at the Finnish winter festival known as Metal Bath on March 4, 2016 in Hämeenlinna, Finland, as you can see in the songs War and again the Motörhead cover Killed By Death; and more recently playing their newest hymn Anti-Genocide live at Bar Bäkkäri in Helsinki on December 10, 2016.
When questioned if the presence of a frontwoman affects the career of a band, Viktoria said that in the past having a female band member attracted more attention because it was a world dominated predominantly by men, but today that’s not the case anymore. We see more and more talented women taking the stage on par with any male musician, and not only on vocals but in any other instrument. Viktoria also mentioned that over the years women have mastered the art of guttural singing, becoming more prominent in metal and, as a consequence, being more accepted in extreme music than before. She said the combination of factors such as the beauty, the strength and the unpredictability turn a female guttural singer into something mesmerizing, and we must agree with her it’s always astonishing to see a woman that looks delicate at first sight start screaming like a beast and headbanging like a maniac on stage, just like we got used to see with Angela Gossow, Alissa White-Gluz and many other exceptional growlers, don’t you agree?
Lastly, there couldn’t be a better place for Viktoria to live than Finland, a land that breathes Heavy Metal. When asked about how hard it is to find the right musicians in her homeland, our red-haired metaller said it’s actually quite easy to put a band together in Finland, as every other person is a guitarist, a bass player or a drummer, but that’s also extremely challenging to keep the band members working side by side in a productive and friendly way, as everyone has different ideas and visions on writing and making music. As long as Viktoria and her band members are able to keep working as a single powerful unity like what we’ve been witnessing with Evil Drive, the world of heavy music will remain happy and energized for more of her impactful demonic growls, no doubt about that.
“Over the recent years females have shown to master the throat singing just as well as men. I think the interest in us is caused by many different factors: the beautiful, strong and the unpredictable – this is mesmerizing.” – Viktoria Viren
The best Manowar album of all time not recorded by Manowar. And what’s even better, it’s entirely sung in Finnish.
As any normal person in the world, I developed a passion for a country very different from my own many years ago: the Republic of Finland. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, right? And I had some very good reasons for that, because especially in terms of music and drinks, Finland is way better than Brazil. So I started studying Finnish and saving money for the “trip of my dreams”, which finally happened in the beginning of 2006. I was able to see the snow for the first time (which now that I live in Canada doesn’t seem to be that cool anymore); I tried lots of different types of beer, vodka and other typical Finnish drinks; I made some really good friends; I saw Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica and Lordi live, as well as a theatrical play with Tarja Turunen; and went to a heavy karaoke where I saw a guy singing an amazing song called Metallisydän. Wait, what the hell was that song? What band was that?
Then the next day or the other one (of course I don’t remember exactly when), I went to a nice pub called On the Rocks, and there was this cover band playing some classics from Queen, Rolling Stones etc., when they played another powerful heavy song in Finnish called Taivas Lyö Tulta from that same band, and that was more than enough to make me ask a guy at the pub the name of the band and run to a record store the next day to buy their album. This is the story of how I discovered the Power Metal band Teräsbetoni (“Reinforced Concrete” in English) and bought their debut album, the almost perfect Metallitotuus (“Metal Truth” in English), one of the best, if not THE best, Power Metal album of the past 10 years at least (and a million light-years better than anything Manowar has produced since Louder Than Hell).
The album starts in the most powerful way possible with a track that has the same name as the band, Teräsbetoni (Reinforced Concrete), which could easily be used as the Finnish National Army’s anthem. It’s impossible not to compare each part of the song with some old Manowar classics, and I’m pretty sure that was the band’s original intention. The next track is one of my favorites: Älä Kerro Meille (Don’t Tell Us) has an amazing riff and the lyrics have that message about the fight for freedom and making your own decisions. Then comes my top Teräsbetoni track of all, not only of this album: Taivas Lyö Tulta (Sky Strikes Fire) is the perfect “battle track”, with a superb chorus that even if you don’t know a single word in Finnish you’ll start singing it as soon as you listen to it. This is a masterpiece that could have been a Manowar classic in a parallel world, if Manowar hasn’t become the most arrogant and laziest band in the world of Heavy Metal.
The following tracks might not be as good as the first three, but they’re very interesting in terms of riffs and rhythm: Vahva Kuin Metalli (Strong as Metal) and Silmä Silmästä (Eye for an Eye). Then comes another instant classic called Metallisydän (Metal Heart), a beautiful ballad I heard for the first time at that heavy karaoke I mentioned and that until today makes my “metal heart” beat stronger, and the funny Orjatar (Slavewoman), which in my opinion was some kind of tribute (or joke?) to Manowar’s Pleasure Slave. Anyway, it’s an awesome tune for all headbanging girls of the world.
The last part of the album keeps the energy level up with the fast and heavy Tuonelaan (To the Underworld); the title-track Metallitotuus (Metal Truth); another of my favorites Voittamaton (Invincible), which has the most Manowar-ish riff and drums of all (it sounds a lot like Fighting the World); and the interesting Teräksen Varjo (Shadow of Steel). The ONLY crappy song of all is the last one, Maljanne Nostakaa (Raise Your Cup), not due to its instrumental which is fairly good, but the singing done by Arto Järvinen makes you skip this track and go back to the beginning of the album. It’s simply mediocre.
Metallitotuus special digipak front cover
The front cover is a piece of junk (albeit not as bad as this one, and besides you can be lucky to find the special digipak version anyway), Jarkko Ahola oversings 99% of the time, and their Manowar-ish lyrics didn’t add much to my limited Finnish vocabulary, but I don’t really care about those minor details. Metallitotuus is pure Heavy Metal, and a very exciting album to listen to at any occasion.
Teräsbetoni, as well as many excellent European bands, are really underrated in North America. Add to that the fact they do not sing in English and are in an indefinite career hiatus and it seems absolutely impossible to see them one day playing live here in Canada. Anyway, despite all that, it’s a band definitely worth listening to, which has recorded some very good albums with Metallitotuus being their biggest masterpiece. Let’s just hope they get back in action, and that for the power of Odin they somehow come to Toronto for at least one single concert.
Best moments of the album:Taivas Lyö Tulta, Älä Kerro Meille, Metallisydän and Voittamaton.
Worst moments of the album:Maljanne Nostakaa, mainly due to the horrible singing as I mentioned before.
Once again, I had the chance to be at our beloved bar and concert venue, On the Rocks Helsinki, this time to see Blaze Bayley present his 30th Anniversary Iron Maiden tour.
Absolva is a heavy metal band from Manchester, UK and consists of Martin McNee on drums, Chris Appleton on lead guitar and vocals, Karl Schramm on bass, Martin McNee on drums and Luke Appleton (ex-Iced Earth) on guitar and backing vocals. They released their first album in 2012 and play high-quality heavy metal, clearly influenced by the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) with catchy choruses, melodic riffs, and speedy solos, making it easy to headbang to every song.
After a very short break for Absolva’s musicians to reorganize the stage, Blaze Bayley was welcomed by a standing ovation as he entered.
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 