Performing: Bloodbound, Sabaton, HammerFall
Location: Maribor / UŠC Leon Štukelj / Slovenia
Date: Tuesday, 07.04.2009
HammerFall! Thirteen years have flown by since their debut album. Now, wiser and more seasoned with seven studio albums behind them, and traveling with the ever more popular “war-themed metal” youngsters Sabaton and another Swedish band, Bloodbound, who haven’t been around all that long (three albums in the bag, though) and blow the same kind of genre horn, they’ve brought a swing of the hammer to Slovenian soil too, on a big new European tour.
| BLOODBOUND: |
The whole night kicked off earlier than the usual gig routine. Doors opened at 7:00 PM and the first act, Bloodbound, hit the stage at 7:30. Since they’re a lesser-known name in power metal, let me quickly rattle off a few basic facts about them. Bloodbound are Swedish melodic metallers who formed in the summer of 2004. They were founded by guitarist Thomas Ollson and keyboardist Fredrik Bergh, the latter known for his work in the excellent Swedish AOR rock outfit Street Talk. The band released their debut album “Nosferatu” in 2006, followed a year later by “The Book Of Dead”, with top-notch German hard rock vocalist Michael Bormann (ex-Jaded Heart) handling lead vocals. Today Bloodbound are Urban Breed (vocals, ex-Tad Morose), Tomas Olsson (lead and rhythm guitar), Fredrik Bergh (keyboards), Pelle Åkerlind (drums), Henrik Olsson (rhythm guitar) and Johan Sohlberg (bass). They’ve just put out a new studio album, “Tabula Rasa”. Sadly, you’ll have to live with the fact that I pretty much missed Bloodbound entirely, thanks to an unfortunate chain of events (hunting for a decent parking spot, then walking to the venue after a wrong turn that took me to ŠKUC first), so I only caught the tail end of Nosferatu. Still, it was enough to confirm a highly skilled, tightly built and well-oiled approach that pleasantly surprised the small crowd slowly trickling into the hall and visibly made their night, as people didn’t hold back with loud cheers at the end of the show. Just five songs squeezed into Bloodbound’s half hour, but the opening slot came with a really great sound in the hall (judging by that last song). The basic conditions were met, and they were a real boost to the band in its much-needed push to establish and cement its name. These are seasoned tomcats with a wealth of musical experience, with an excellent, melodically crafted and commanding voice at the center and a dynamic, cocky stage presence.
| SABATON: |
Sabaton got 40 minutes. Some 350 fans were already swarming below the stage, proving that the band’s name has firmly taken root in Slovenia. They first played here a little over two years ago as a real “mystery act”, supporting Swedes Therion together with Grave Digger in January and February 2007. That tour was hugely successful for the band, thanks to the seductive style they bring to their metal sermon. Just a year after “Metalizer”, their third studio album “The Art Of War” (2008) came out, where the band polished their war-metal storytelling even further.
Their pompous, spice-laden assault tracks got people on their feet without a second thought, and singer Joakim Broden especially shone, ruling the crowd below the stage with far more determination and upgraded confidence (compared to the band’s show in Ljubljana two years ago). His positive address alone, where Joakim made no secret of how glad the band was to be playing in Slovenia again and how thrilled Sabaton were with the great reception their work has had among Slovenian audiences, pushed everyone present into full party mode.
And that was hardly difficult with the marching anthems Sabaton know how to deliver so convincingly live. The initially somewhat scratchy sound of the two guitars was later polished and tamed. The band cast a complete spell on the crowd, who were literally eating out of their hands, with a “hefty” showcase of the new album “The Art Of War” in the first part of the set and a helping of older (crowd-proven) winners in the second, like Attero Dominatus, Price Of A Mile, Primo Victoria and the closing Metal Machine. The sight was incredible: during Primo Victoria and the closing Metal Machine especially, Joakim got the entire hall jumping and clapping with hands in the air, including the two keenly swaying ladies at the official merch stand for the touring bands. Sabaton have grown another notch, judging by what they showed, and presenting the new album so extensively proves how firmly the guys believe in their own goal and musical vision, and how proud they are of their new record. No complaints. Maximum and thrilling all the way.
| HAMMERFALL: |
HammerFall, who threw the doors wide open in 1996 for new discoveries along the lines of Sabaton, have become a thoroughly trustworthy metal fortress. By standing their ground on the metal scene, they blew away every nasty insinuation long ago that they were a flash in the pan, one that after two albums would have nobody left to excite or interest with this kind of music. HammerFall are an interesting phenomenon, embraced above all by freshly baked heavy metal devotees on their path of musical (and personal) growth through the magic of metal. They’re a sort of stepping stone on that journey of discovering everything heavy metal can offer a listener. It’s also no small thing that with their new album, HammerFall proved how confidently they can turn a guitar phrase used a thousand times into the seductive tightness of their own songs, where the band’s famously venomous, infectious pomp shows no sign of fading even in 2009, delivered with a filigree sense for following a polished melody.
The stage, especially roomy in depth, had Johansson’s drums raised on an additional platform, with a front stage where band members swapped places dynamically throughout the performance. The band garnished the whole show with water-curtain effects, thin, long streams in the shape of a waterfall that intensified the mood, especially during songs like Glory To The Brave, Blood Bound and Last Man Standing.
HammerFall hit the stage of UŠC Leon Štukelj in a seriously refreshed lineup: bassist Fredrik Larsson has returned to the band after the 1996 debut, and lead guitarist Stefan Elmgren has been replaced by Pontus Norgren. When the latter came charging onstage with his buddies, his look briefly reminded me of Grave Digger guitarist Manni Schmidt, with a dash of Ralph Santolla’s physiognomy from Obituary thrown in. More important than that is the fact that Pontus has slotted into HammerFall superbly in a fairly short time, and not only in the studio but onstage too, which counts just as much, or rather even more, for full membership in the band. Pontus confidently tore through the bulk of the solos, meshed great in harmonies with the first HammerFall mascot and (still) painfully skinny Oscar Dronjak, and moved in sync through the quintet’s polished stage choreography. Something For The Ages, the instrumental from the new album “No Sacrifice, No Victory”, gave the middle of the set a number that convinced the crowd they were watching an excellent guitarist of the classic Scandinavian school, with finger-flying, textbook-perfect technique. HammerFall also tucked a short drum solo by Anders Johansson into that song.
HammerFall used to open their shows with their mascot, hammer and armor and all, dragging himself onstage, swinging a Styrofoam hammer with all his might and smashing it against the stage. This time the band brought special laser light effects that drew a sort of hologram in the air inside the hall, which included the famous hammer-wielding warrior, as well as falling snowflakes during Glory To The Brave (they used to drop white Styrofoam flakes on the crowd during this song). I should also mention that the band has pyrotechnics in its production, but they weren’t set off for the Maribor show.
HammerFall delivered, as expected, a top-notch professional show, with only the sound playing a bit of a trick: at the start, overly loud drums somewhat warped the mix, but later the guitars won back an equal share of the sonic spotlight. This time the sound was best in the middle of the hall and, of course, at the back.
The crowd surprised with a great reception for all the new songs from “No Sacrifice, No Victory”, even belting out the verses admirably. HammerFall mixed material from all their studio albums into the set, though I could have used another song or two from the debut besides Glory To The Brave. The highlights, apart from Glory To The Brave, naturally included the other older songs like Crimson Thunder, Renegade, Heeding The Call and the explosive closer, Riders Of The Storm. During the latter especially, tiredness was already showing in Joacim Cans’ vocal cords, so he dodged the higher registers of the chorus and replaced them with improvising and staying in the lower melodic range. Now and then, in arena-style choruses like Keep The Flame Burning, he also let the crowd sing a few verses on their own.
The band split the encore into two parts. In the first they sent the hall flying again with the ironclad Let The Hammer Fall, and in the second they squeezed the last decibels out of everyone present, pulling the hit Hearts On Fire out of their sleeve, with its simple but hugely punchy chorus. All in all, a show worth every bit of attention, proving that HammerFall bow to nobody on their path. They keep up the high-energy theater of their gigs, with that familiar, well-defined positive vibe and charged-up energy. The great concert atmosphere was boosted further by a fully invested crowd, mostly made up of fresh-faced twenty-somethings this time. Whatever HammerFall’s confidence, you can’t ignore the fact that Sabaton are challenging them very successfully with their performance and popularity on this tour. Plenty of Austrian citizens made the trip to Maribor too, especially from the south and southeast of Austria, for whom Maribor is a closer stop than Vienna, where HammerFall have announced their show for 14.04.2009. The intensity of this thoroughly successful get-together with the band in Maribor, once again run smoothly under the watchful baton of organizer Sindian Underground, will make for a very interesting comparison with the concert experience the Swedish trio’s power metal phalanx will conjure up in Zagreb the next day. So stay tuned!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
SABATON:
1. Introjavel
2. Ghost Division
3. The Art Of War
4. 40:1
5. Cliffs Of Gallipoli
6. Attero Dominatus
7. Price Of A Mile
8. Primo Victoria
9. Metal Machine
10. Outrodevil
HAMMERFALL:
1. Punish And Enslave
2. Crimson Thunder
3. Legion
4. Blood Bound
5. Renegade
6. Hallowed Be My Name
7. The Abyss
8. Last Man Standing
9. Heeding The Call
10. Glory To The Brave
11. Something For The Ages
12. Any Means Necessary
13. Natural High
14. Keep The Flame Burning
15. Between Two Worlds
16. Riders Of The Storm
—encore I.—
17. Lore of the Arcane
18. Trailblazers
19. Let The Hammer Fall
—encore II.—
20. Hearts On Fire
