Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Cvetličarna, Ljubljana
Concert date: 22.03.2011
Attendance: 700
Ticket price: 25€
Over the last few years, the bigger concert booking agencies have been increasingly adopting the American festival-tour model, where a whole bunch of bands play a single indoor show in one day. They usually come from the same genre, or at least a similar one. One of the biggest drivers of this approach on European soil is the agency Rock the Nation, which leads the pack with its tours Thrashfest, Heidenfest, Full of Hate, Neckbreakers Ball and Paganfest (and then there are Bonecrusher and Never Say Die, run by Avocado Booking). The latter finally made its first stop in Slovenia, bringing hordes of pagan/folk/viking metal bands, and by far the standout among them was the Swedish death metal crew Unleashed.
Because of the ridiculously early start, I unfortunately missed the first act, the druids of the stone forest, Kivimetsän Druidi. From what I’ve heard, I didn’t miss much anyway. Except the singer’s off-key wailing, hehe.
The druids were followed on stage by the Israeli outfit Arafel, who play folk metal, now and then mixed with and beefed up by more aggressive black metal elements. Sadly, that doesn’t mean the band offers anything extra that would set them apart from the flood of bands who are as alike as two peas in a pod (Ensiferum, Finntroll and so on). The band can brag about having the best-selling record of all time in Israel (their second one, Second Strike: Through the Flames of the Ages), but once you actually hear Arafel, it’s pretty clear why they aren’t better known elsewhere in the world. First and foremost, they’re a generic band with typical epic, quasi-folk passages and heavier but still melodically polished instrumental lines. They did draw a few more people to the front than a “no-name” opener usually does, but I suspect most of the male crowd was mainly feasting their eyes on the cute violinist Eveline Guez. The ladies, meanwhile, were feasting on former Equilibrium vocalist Helge Stang, who nailed his role with an aggressive, raw vocal approach.
A bit more energy hit the stage with the Bavarian wolves Varg, who finally managed to fire up the impatient crowd with a confident, fiery performance. Dressed in war paint and battle gear, the band members charged into their half hour like starved wolves and sprinted through all three of their albums so far. The energetic show came wrapped in pompous, soaring instrumental parts and interesting solutions with a lack of folk instruments (thank God). Frontman Freki kept stoking the crowd, and it was a surprise to see the band has quite a few fans here. In what is a more serious take on pagan/black metal, without the idiotic odes to gnomes, booze and the rest of the junk most folk metal bands peddle these days, it was interesting to hear lyrics sung exclusively in German, which gave the whole experience an even stronger personal stamp. Varg did their job with confidence and shifted the evening into a higher gear.
Then we drifted into more ethereal realms with the Finnish band Moonsorrow, without a doubt one of the most unique groups in the flood of folk metal clones. Their set, bathed in dark blue light, was brilliant, since the long instrumental passages came across as even more mystical and almost trance-like. Despite their long songs, Moonsorrow manage to keep everything coherent, so the repeating sections never sound monotonous but instead underline the essence of the band’s epic storytelling. The celebration of Finnish folklore sounds far more authentic in songs sung exclusively in Finnish, and the suffering, aggressive vocals carry those epic tales of battle and death across superbly. Despite their considerable success over the last few years, the guys remain true to themselves and still write their lyrics exclusively in Finnish. Respect! Moonsorrow come off so original and authentic that you almost feel like strapping on a sword, painting yourself in war colors and setting off on a bloody rampage. Preferably some kind of pagan inquisition, hehe. They build Moonsorrow’s atmosphere brilliantly with ambient keyboards that know nothing of the masturbatory solos of the Sonata Arctica or Stratovarius variety, and instead serve purely as atmosphere-builders and an upgrade to the epic, pompous guitar lines. Moonsorrow did great with their three quarters of an hour and could easily have taken the headliner spot, if it weren’t for the next act, who for the rest of this year’s Paganfest lineup meant exactly what the headline says.
The gods were finally done for, and the hammer of God came crashing down on Cvetličarna with full force. Out of the longships stormed the bloodthirsty, legendary Swedish death metal vikings Unleashed. The band led by the legendary Johnny Hedlund, who is considered the godfather of Swedish death metal thanks to his work in the cult act Nihilist, has been serving up merciless, one-of-a-kind death metal about vikings for a good twenty years. Even after twenty years Unleashed haven’t run out of steam at all, and without a doubt they delivered the most energetic and explosive show of Paganfest. Under Johnny’s commanding lead, who surprised everyone with a vocal that’s still brutal and aggressive yet perfectly intelligible, Unleashed hit uncompromisingly with an excellent set full of classics, but clearly with an emphasis on the current album As Yggdrasil Trembles. The Swedes are still in top form today, because the show was played flawlessly, without a single mistake and with one pure death metal punch. Hedlund’s bass dug like an excavator, the guitar duo hacked away mercilessly with proper Swedish-school death metal riffs, and the cannon-fire drumming echoed like blows from Thor’s hammer. Unleashed pleasantly surprised us with a killer one-two punch from their legendary debut Where No Life Dwells, Before the Creation of Time and the anthemic Into Glory Ride, and classics like Hammer Battalion, The Longships are Coming, Don’t Want to Be Born and Midvinterblot were not missing either. It was great to see that during Unleashed’s excellent set there was real chaos going on in front of the stage too, with moshing aplenty, probably thanks mostly to the older part of the crowd. Unleashed were absolutely like Odin’s lightning, fast and bright as a flash, and they left Cvetličarna scorched and devastated behind them. Unleashed are living proof that the self-proclaimed viking metallers Amon Amarth can only cower, shamefully and weakly, under the nearest rock! The undisputed winners of the festival should, given their years in the game, have been the headliners, and I definitely hope they’ll be back here soon with a proper headline show and a longer setlist.
The honor of closing this year’s Paganfest went to old acquaintances of Slovenian stages, the Finnish folk metallers Korpiklaani. It’s incredible to see this band still gaining in popularity, even though at least their last three albums have been repeating themselves badly and sinking ever deeper into monotony. Even in the band’s stage show it was immediately obvious that the originality, sparkle and energy that defined and distinguished them just a few years ago have vanished. Absolutely everyone was painfully static, even the usually energetic, party-loving guitarists Jonne and Kalle. Not to mention the dead faces of bassist Jarkko and accordionist Juho. Even the band’s favorite songs like Wooden Pints and Cottages and Saunas sounded weak and boring, and this time Korpiklaani even allowed themselves to literally desecrate the Motörhead classic Iron Fist. If Lemmy had heard that, he’d probably have climbed into a panzer and personally flattened the Cvetličarna stage. This Korpiklaani show was incredibly dry, and with its idiotic dance odes to alcohol it fell flat. Proof that the band is sinking ever deeper into serious mediocrity?
Photos: Rok Klemše
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