Photo Reports

Pain gave us a huge party, not just in our head, for the start of their short Finland tour. While the crowd was still a little thin during Detset‘s performance, Olympia-Kortteli was pretty packed by the time Pain started.

They also brought with them a great light show and a huge back screen which showed videos and very entertaining little game animations.

German veterans of Heavy Metal Grave Digger are back on tour in 2023. After being postponed twice, the ‘Knights and Riots Tour 2023’ finally made it to the streets and is running. To warm up the crowds are Cellar Stone from Greece and Mystic Prophecy, another experienced German metal outfit. Mid of January 2023 this combination made a stop at LKA Longhorn – which I have to say with a very sad and heavy heart – was only filled with a few hundred people. This was really a shame for the show presented. Especially when considering that Grave Digger are rocking stages worldwide for more than 40 years and had a phenomenal gig in Wacken 2022 on the big stage.

Yes – all of you who had doubts have missed a night of the finest metal. All the bands fit perfectly together, rocked the house down or to say it in Grave Digger‘s words: they created a ‘Heavy Metal Breakdown’ and delivered a great show.

Since their participation in Eurovision, the Finnish violent pop revelation Blind Channel has been soaring more than ever. So to end their pretty fantastic year in style, they had a Blind Channel cruise and a couple of arena shows. We were at the arena show at Jäähalli in Helsinki where a headline show for these guys was pretty monumental since that venue is the place to be for some of the biggest names in rock and metal to bring their music to the masses…

Support came from Arttu Lindeman.

It’s been since 2019 that we last caught the Swedish rock/metal sensation that is Normandie on a stage near us. Knowing that they blow the roof off any venue they go to, we knew that this was a show we didn’t want to miss out on. Add to that the fact that this tour was to celebrate the killer ‘Dark & Beautiful Secrets’ album they released back in 2021, and we got really excited. Support came from Finland’s metalcore up-and-comers Balance Breach and gloomy alt-rockers Delta Enigma.

Slogan: AEPHANEMER artfully blends brutally fast symphonic death and raw melodic metal into a multi-faceted epic!

Based in Toulouse (south of France) this band was founded 10 years ago. The symphonic death metallists have produced 3 full albums by now. While on tour in their home country and the rest of Europe, we were able to catch them on their stop at The Black Lab in Wasquehal (FR). It was Aephanemer’s first time in the most northern region of France (Nord-Pas-De-Calais). The growling of vocalist Marion Bacoul is well received by the attendees, which shows off in what she is grateful for: witnessing their first circle pit ever! Or is it? Since Aephanemer is one of Europe’s most promising up-and-coming melodic death metal bands of the moment, it is rather hard to believe they never got a circle pit before, but we’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

After the show, their success is once again proven by the huge queue at the merch. The entire band is there to meet and greet the fans, take pictures and to sign whatever they bought. Far fewer people to notice at the Sorcières stand. Unjustified, because this black/folk metal band, incidentally from this region, had also put down a very strong show as the supporting act.

Last year, there was an interesting competition among some Finnish bands named “Come To Latin America”, where the winner would get to go and show what they got in Latin America. After some voting rounds, the winner that came on top out of 3 remaining bands, was the modern metal outfit Where’s My Bible, who blends some proper extreme metal with a bunch of creativity and different influences. To celebrate the competition, there was somewhat of a showcase night at On The Rocks in Helsinki where the winner Where’s My Bible and the 2 runner ups Noira and Luna Kills got to give us a taste of their work.

Sadly, Noira had to cancel last minute due to some health issues, so we’ll have to catch up with them live some other time. But both Luna Kills and Where’s My Bible still turned it into a fun night of some excellent live performances…

Giants of the Antwerp.. what am I saying? Flemish! rock scene Clement Peerens Explosition are calling it quits.

After almost 30 years of rocking Flemish stages, the legendary band around Hugo Matthysen aka Clement Peerens is calling it quits. No longer will they pose existential questions in the vein of  “Do you think my ass looks too big in this skirt?”, demand the TV remote (“Geft da kaske na is hier”) or call out ugly “Foorwijven”. No longer will Clement regale us with his fathomless knowledge of music.

But rockers of their stature cannot go out without a bang. They planned on doing 1 farewell show at the storied Antwerp venue De Roma, but that was not enough for the hungry masses. One show turned into 10 fully sold out shows which, of course, we could not miss! Enjoy the pics below.

Every year we have a bunch of photographers roaming events all over the world to try and capture that one amazing shot. There are so many pictures taken every year, that it’s sometimes hard to take note of the really epic capture. So we give our photographers the daunting task to go through their pictures and make a small selection of only 25 of the best pictures of the year. Enjoy:

For a long-time melodic death metal fan like me, a bill headed by In Flames and as supporting guests At The Gates, Imminence and Orbit Culture, celebrating both the originators of the genre and the new generation, is simply something I can’t miss out on. And with In Flames’ recent singles of the upcoming new album sounding more like In Flames of a decade ago, it was getting me even more excited. Not that an In Flames show is ever even remotely bad, but still… So off I went to Helsinki to Jäähalli, ploughing through some decent amount of snow to get there.

A line-up like this that shows different takes on the same melodeath genre is simply one to die for as a metalhead. Openers Nailed To Obscurity brought a very Opeth-esque atmosphere to Jäähalli in Helsinki, while Dark Tranquillity gave a schooling in both old school and new school melodeath. First co-headliner Eluveitie really impressed with a very pleasant set, including their new hurdy-gurdy player Annie, and Finnish metal favorites Amorphis really got the people out of their homes, filling up the venue properly once they hit the stage!