Finntroll / MyGrain

Imagine, a mere handful facing an overwhelming crowd in Tavastia klubi, yet they did not give in and fought, surrounded by fumes of smoke and the stench of spilled beer, and they kept struggling, bathed in sweat, until the last encore – for the glory of Finntroll…

Or better, imagine a reviewer who went to see the show after watching the movie „300“…
well, still it was, in my opinion, the best way to spend Eastern in Helsinki, checking out how Tundra, Skrymer, Routa, Trollhorn, Vreth and Beast Dominator present their new album “Ur Jordens Djup” live on stage. And many, many people shared my opinion…

First it was up to the young Finns myGRAIN to warm up the crowd, or more correctly just about half of the crowd that Finntroll would face later… The fans who came late missed the opportunity to check out a very talented sextet, founded in 2004, who offered a very dramatic and energetic show. Another band in the genre of Melodic Death Metal, yet they managed to create real ear candy – thanks to the flexible vocalist Tommy – that invites to check out their debut album “Orbit Dance”. And I think that night they also made some new fans among the Finntroll-followers.

But all the cheers for the openers was nothing in comparison what happened after a short break when lights went out and the “Gryning” Intro started… the audience went NUTS! And pretty much stayed that way throughout the whole show… Determined to wipe out the entire human race, or at least win them over by storm, the Trolls – with an additional keyboarder, Virta – started off with the darker, rather slow but merciless grooves of “Sång” or “Nedgång” from the new album until they tried to weaken their enemies by making them dance to more cheerful Humppa-Metal. Naturally spirits went even higher during classics like “Jaktens Tid”, “Salget Vid Blodsälv”, or “Ursvamp”, “Trollhammaren” or “Nattfödd” from the previous Album. Vreth proved to be an impressive fronter, constantly banging when he was not singing; he did not even have to invite the audience to join in.

As a special surprise Katla, the first Finntroll-singer, came on stage for just one song, I think it was “Blodnatt”, and caused the audience to cheer even more. When the Trolls finally were allowed to leave stage, it was already early morning, and difficult to say who was more exhausted, the band or the audience… But I daresay that everybody left with a smile, so it was definitely a much better ending than the Battle at Thermopylae…