Watain Abbath Tribulation Bolzer – Helsinki Finland : Metal-Rules.com
The “Chaoriots of Fire” tour package consisting of Watain, Abbath, Tribulation and Bolzer landed in Finland on a dark November day. In the twilight of Helsinki, a hundred meter long line wound around the old mansion in the center of Helsinki, as hundreds of extreme metal fans waited for the door to open. The place was full of hundreds of extreme metal fans.
When the Swiss two-piece Bolzer took the stage, the doors opened just 15 minutes before the show. People were still coming in when Bolzer caused a huge commotion in the hall. Bolzer unleashed the most intense barbaric blackened metal of the 30-minute set. Planter and guitarist KzR used the entire stage area by moving from side to side. His guitar vocals sounded impressive and above all raw and brutal. When the guitar sounds were so barbaric, there was no need for a bass. Drummer HzR’s insanely tight and sharp drumming was the pinnacle of Bolzer’s entire sound world. Being the opening band of the evening is not easy, but Bolzer already has a solid following here in Finland.
Roman acupuncture
Sagittarius
Entrance from Wolfshook
Æstivation
Zeus – Seducer of Hearts
CME
Swedish Tribulation’s latest album “Where the Gloom Becomes Sound” received nothing but brilliant and laudatory responses. In addition, Tribulation has regularly visited Finnish metal festivals in recent years. The four-piece gloomesters offered a more or less gothic set with catchy and melodic riffs that sounded gorgeous and hypnotizing. The band definitely needs a certain atmosphere and lights, because the normal festival area with daylight doesn’t create as good an atmosphere for Tribulation. Different colored lights brought depth and mysticism to their live performances. Even though Jonathan Hultan is out and replaced by Joseph Tholl, the band sounded and looked strange. Both guitarists Throll and Zaars, the dual guitar work sounded perfectly unified, conjuring up eerie-sounding anthems. The set consisted of seven songs from three albums. The brand new single song “Hamartia” was among the others. Tribulation is definitely a great band with all those riffs and yet there is a mystique in the imagination and music.
In memory
Leviathans
Bound for the night
Melancholia
Hamartia
Funeral pyre
Strange Gateways Beckon
Abbath himself proved himself to be tight and extremely fit and his band was hella tight during the summer festival run. The same routine continued here. Apparently, the mandatory break caused by the covid pandemic must have had a positive effect on Abbath to recharge the batteries. The whole Abbath gig was an absolutely strong performance. He didn’t slip or fail at any part of the show, banging his head and focusing on playing and growling. As for the sounds, Abbath’s stuff is fast and has a lot of blastbeat elements in the songs. Although the structure of the place is not the most idealistic for extreme metal bands, the sounds became quite chaotic and messy. There was tons of smoke and insanely bright blue lights. As for the set list, it consisted of songs taken from three Abbath albums, of course the obligatory Immortal classics like “All Shall Perish” “Beyond The North Waves”. Current drummer Ugri Suvilehto has been a great addition to strengthen Abbath’s sound. However, he faced technical problems when the drum had to be replaced. Abbath would have been great if the sounds had been a little better, but as stated, the whole band was in black metal.
To war
Winterbane
Artifex
Dread Reaver
Hecate
Beyond the North Waves (Immortal cover)
Acid Haze
Dream Cull
Bridge of spasms
Warriors (Cover I)
In My Kingdom Cold (Immortal cover)
Tyrants (Immortal deck)
All Fall (Immortal Deck)
When Watain took the stage, an eccentric stench of putrefaction and putrefaction wafted from the stage into the audience. The smell was disgusting, it was a miracle no one threw up. The whole Watain gig and performance was a more ritualistic mass.
The stage was more or less stripped down as all fire aspects had been removed due to the limited capacity of the stage. However, there were things reminiscent of an altar. The whole stage was full of blue lights, seeing special things or the Watain altar was quite hopeless. A set of 10 songs was sped up over 75 minutes. Of course, the set included most of the stuff from the latest album, such as “Before the Cataclysm”, “Ecstasies in Night Infinite”, “Serimosa”. People started leaving during Watain. Suddenly the place was only half full. In this case, Abbath should have been the headliner, because for some strange reason, Abbath definitely has a stronger and wider fan base than Watain. Obviously, Watain doesn’t cater to a mainstream audience like Abbath.
It is quite rare for such extreme metal tours to reach Finland these days. Therefore, seeing a huge number of people was definitely a positive sign. Honestly, it would be time to get these extreme metal gigs on Finnish Soil after all these years.
Ecstasy in Night Infinite
Black rescue
Squall
I Am the Earth
The storm of Antichrist
Devil’s blood
Serimosa
Before the cataclysm
Angelrape
A wrongdoer