Photo Reports
Last time I saw Smash Into Pieces in action, was when they dropped by in Helsinki as support for Hardcore Superstar back in 2018. In the meantime, they’ve released quite some more music, and have only gained in popularity. Remembering their show being super energetic and entertaining, I was really looking forward to see how much they’ve come to grow over the past half a decade. As support, the modern metallers of Cyhra came over from Sweden to worm up the crowd properly!
Fear Factory are back on the road in style and force. The latest major change within the FF ranks was the acquisition of a new vocalist, Milo Silvestro, who was chosen to give voice to the project. The young Italian is currently living the dream of his life and shows a lot of professionalism, humility and commitment to what he does, being as perfect as possible live to deliver the old powerful songs similar to the vocalisations performed for years by the enormous Burton C. Bell. It was good to see the band again for me, some 22 years later, and I really enjoyed what I saw and heard. Dino Cazares continues to be a master of heavy riffs, always with a solid and effective presence, landing and greeting his loyal audience. The band’s rhythm is commanded by the bass of veteran Tony Campos, who has played in some of the most important metal projects we’ve heard in recent years, and who is paired here, with experienced newcomer Pete Webber, who has the strength to give Fear Factory the gas it needs.
Of particular note, is the energetic and fantastic stage performance by The Butcher Babies, who are touring for the first time in their career without Carla Harvey, who is recovering from an operation. Heidi Shepherd and co. have coped well with the problem and are a huge force on and off-stage.
Opening the night were England’s Ghosts of Atlantis and Ukraine’s Ignea, who warmed up the crowd well for the main acts.
A memorable night showing that Fear Factory are strong again!
SKYND has a deep fascination with the evil that humans are capable of. All their songs are true stories about some of the cruelest murders of all time, put in an electro/metal/rock format. Tonight they played 15 of their songs for us live in Antwerp.
Support act was Knife Bride.
While roaming around the internet and social media, from time to time, you come across a music project that pulls you in with its uniqueness and artistic vision. That happened to me again last when a project called Witch Club Satan came on my radar, a Norwegian black metal trio that is taking the underground genre to new places and even received mentorship and a stamp of approval from no other than black metal legend Necrobutcher from Mayhem. Luckily I came across them just in time to catch them bringing their theatrical performance to the Finnish theater festival Baltic Circle and got to experience this once in a lifetime piece of performance art…
Perhaps less heavy than we are used to on this website. Nevertheless, DIRK. made it a fantastic indie rock evening in Ghent. Warmed up by Sad Boys Klub and John Lemon, the well-filled VIERNULVIER venue had a great time.
In 2021, Martijn Westerholt announced the dissolution of Delain, intending to continue as a solo project. A few months later, however, he retracted his earlier statement and announced that he would form a new lineup. Earlier this year, the band released their seventh album, “Dark Waters.” Tonight they played in Sint-Niklaas to introduce this record, and new singer Diana Leah to the Belgian fans.
Support act was Xandria.
Longstanding Finnish melodeath outfit Mors Subita just recently released their new album ‘Origin of Fire’, and when we had an interview with them, they were so kind to invite us to their show at On The Rocks. It’s been quite awhile since I last saw them live, and their new songs absolutely smash, so how could I say no. For the Helsinki show, they invited the local modern metal heroes of Shereign and fellow Out of Line Music label mates I Am Your God, only making it more enticing to join what promised to be a fun night of good Finnish metal.
A package consisting of some really exciting bands in the realms of black metal, folk metal and pagan themed metal, is something I tend to try not to miss out on. So when All Things Live and Hellsinki Metal Festival were bringing back Batushka on their “Black Pilgrimage tour 2023” with Arkona, Aeternam and Varang Nord, the night at Helsinki’s Vanha Ylioppilastalo was quickly marked in my calendar, which was also the very last stop of this leg of the tour!
The always intriguing Finnish band Hexvessel recently released their new album ‘Polar Veil’, which brought the usually quite folky band on a path towards the black metal origins of main man and vocalist Mat “Kvohst” McNerney. The album still brings that magical kind of folky atmosphere, but this time around the soundscapes feel larger than live with the addition of well-placed ice-cold black metal riffs. To celebrate the release, they did a couple of release shows in Finland, and we just had to make the trip to Kuudes Linja in Helsinki to experience their new work live!
On Thursday November 16, Mors Subita made it to Klubi, Tampere for one of their ‘Origin of Fire‘ release shows. And of course they didn’t come alone, they brought along Marianas Rest, who played a surprisingly long set. All together, a nice, relaxed evening of Finnish Metal without any major ups and downs.
