Scarecrow / Saatanan Marionetit / Refusal
8 August 2014, Dubrovnik Lounge & Lobby, Helsinki, Finland
Tough competition for this small but remarkable Macaroni Penguin Music Event in a small but remarkable club, featuring not-so-well-known but remarkable bands – besides Flow festival there were about 5 more Metal gigs in town, and the fantastic summer weather had many prefer an outdoor terrace to any indoor situation. Luckily enough enthusiastic metalheads joined the MPM first birthday party – but there could have been more.
Refusal
from Helsinki, existing since 2008, rather stem from Hardcore roots but appealed to me with their Slayer riffing and Sepultura groove alternating with brutal blast beats. The very energetic front man Niikka Lius turned out to be fond of close audience contact, he even started moshing with his band colleagues. It´s worth to check them out, and also their several demo releases.
At this point a compliment to the sound guy, despite limited equipment, all the bands sounded great and the noise attack was not too bad for an unprotected pair of ears.
Saatanan Marionetit
had been praised the last time already, and also this show was very entertaining. Not only because of the additional multi media effects. Cradle of Filth meets Monty Pythons, so to say. A “Mas Turbo” song or this ballad about magic mushrooms simply take you over in an instant. Frontman Tritonus Satan´s outfit reminded of Nosferatu this time, and he gave his deep volumous voice some chance to shine. Also in this case the moshpit action hardly ever stopped.
Scarecrow
from Hyvinkää had not been heard of before, but Jack13 – Vocals, Ruho – Guitar, Anza – Skins, Hellhound – Bass have obviously had many years of experience in the biz. A highly professional show, Thrash metal based material mercilessly unleashed onto the small metal community. When the bands before had chosen to interact very closely with the audience, this band preferred to even skip song announcements. Which fit to the overall concept of the show, where naturally the legendary mask had to be included. Also in this case: check out this band.
