Metal Warning IV took place at Gloria, Helsinki on November 11th and 12th [yes, it means last weekend]. Sadly, it’s been informed that this was also most likely the very last Metal Warning to be organized. That’s a shame, since through their festival Immu and Orkku have been showering us [little Finnish people] in our very distant and strange land with the most exciting rarities from the past as well as curious new comers from the present.

Through Metal Warning years they brought to us such artists like Manilla Road, In Solitude, Helvetet’s Port, Cloven Hoof, Sarcofagus, OZ and Santa Lucia. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t attend but two of these magnificent Heavy Metal events, and now that I’ve found out there will be no more of them, I feel somewhat regretful. You know, how at the ending of things you start to see, how much more there could have been done; well, I suggest you go a head and do those things once the possibility is presented to you. It sucks to regret those things you didn’t do, trust me.

Friday

Our  journey to Helsinki started at Evil-lÿn’s rehearsal room, where the boys packed their gear to a trailer attached to Marko’s car. After Johanna and her companion arrived there was some debate over who was going to ride with whom; the main argument was quite strictly which of the two rides had the better music prepared for the road. I never got to know which records Marko had packed with him, but I trust his choices were good as he expressed it with such conviction. Any case, once I had sat down in our car at our own parking lot and taken a look at the records Anssi had brought with him, I had known this was the better car for me. And you know, that’s a good thing since I’m inclined to ride with him for better and for worse. Oh, and the music Anssi had brought to our car included stuff like Armour, Skullfist, Tytan, Bewithched and Portrait AND there was some Fifth Angel there already. Now let me ask you; how can you seriously beat that?

So, to the Helsinki we rode to spent yet another weekend Heavy Metal style. [During the ride from Tampere to Helsinki we stopped at a service station to feed ourselves and I have got to tell you that it's somewhat peculiar feeling to walk among station filled with truck drivers, elderly people and families when you're wearing silver snakeskin spandex. Not that I don't enjoy the attention but once you sit down with your meal, it becomes little disruptive when someone stares at you with their mouth wide open and eyes almost popping out of their head. The whole time you sit there. I mean; come on! It's OK to look, I don't mind it at all. I mean, if I wanted to camouflage to the wall I'd wear totally different set of clothing, but please be kind and let me have some piece and privacy while I eat. Or maybe it's my problem since I seem to forget the difference between Heavy Metal and average world, the fact that though I live in a world full of spandex and skinny jeans, fringes, studded belts and amazingly good music, not all in our little nation share the same views or take the same kind of stuff granted. Some of us are not used to girls wearing tight, shinny pants, or boys for that matter, and there you go; confrontations of different kinds.]

Anyway, we arrived to our destination somewhere after three p.m. and as I stayed behind to watch over the equipment’s left in the trailer, the boys sifted them one by one to the insides of Gloria. Once the drums and amps and guitars had been taken inside, I followed the Evil-lÿn folks there as well. As Evil-lÿn was the band bringing the backline for the festival, I sat down on the floor and started to read a book while the boys put up their drums and speakers and amps. After some time all was ready for the soundchecks to start and Evil-lÿn retreated to the backstage. Little while later Jani came back and invited me and Junnu, Johanna’s companion, to join them on the backstage.

At this point I dug out my camera just to realize there were batteries left for a one shot only. Of course this hit me after I’d taken a picture of the eye on the wall. Nice. So, the only memento I have from probably the last Metal Warning in a form of photograph is this; nice little eye thing on the wall of the hallway at backstage. As I said, nice.

Between the putting up the backline and Evil-ÿn’s soundcheck there were few hours to be spent hanging around. Evil-lÿn made their HQ on the room or space, if you will, right next to stage and there we sat and joked around as the other bands started dropping in for their soundcheck’s. On the contrary to what I’m used to see, this time the soundcheck order wasn’t inverted running order, which meant that Evil-lÿn did their soundcheck third although they were playing second. All together there were six bands per day. The last band to do their soundcheck was Witchtiger, which was also the opening act for the event. During their soundcheck, the doors to the joint were already open since there had been some anomalies during the soundchecking in general. Things like bands not showing up as they were expected and other common but unfortunate delays. Anyway, so it happened that Witchtiger was bound to start the way we’d joked about with them just a bit earlier; they continued to play their set almost straight from their soundcheck.

On Friday the running order was as follows

• Witchtiger [FIN]
• Evil-lÿn [FIN]
• Hand Of Orlac [ITA]
• Armour [FIN]
• OZ [FIN / SWE]
• Helvetet’s Port [SWE]

Let The Games Begin

Witchtiger, the band including Immu behind the drums and Orkku doing the vocals, was a pleasant surprise for me since I had not heard their music before hand. At first I thought Witchtiger was strictly Doom Metal, but as it turned out, I was soon proved wrong. Even though there were obvious Doom influences to be heard all through their set, Witchtiger was really about Heavy Metal. I have to say that Orkku has great and strong voice, and I really have to compliment his outfit as well; there are way too few Finnish guys who have the balls to wear spandex. I have only one wish to be presented to these guys; please, add further more show elements and movement to your act and don’t be shy about it, you’ve got great material and you should back it up with equal show. All and all I think that Witchtiger’s set worked well, since I became interested on their material and I’m happy to know they’re coming to Tampere at December.

Evil-lÿn was to my opinion the greatest show band of the evening. Without a doubt. They had this truly live wire atmosphere on stage,  I think it’s about the right kind of attitude and energy. It’s about their self-awareness and vision of what they want to be, which covers their stage presence with such trickling electricity it’s hard to override. Of course being fortunate enough to follow the band from the very first day I’ve been able to see the huge development they’ve made through out the years but especially during the last year or so.

They’ve always had the skills to write good song material but what really makes them different from all the others is that they can throw out one hell of a show. That side they’ve been building up piece by piece during the two years they’ve been playing live, and now, with their latest line-up they ready to let it show. Great live act’s aren’t that common, and the ones accompanied with equally great songs are sadly still rarities. And though some of you might think that I’m at least a bit biased to be talking about Evil-lÿn and their greatness, I’d like to inform you that I think the other people among the audience could pick up their electric spirit as well. People started to move closer to stage as the band started and it was so delightful to see the front rows fill with people I mostly didn’t recognize. And then they got fired up and started rooting the band. Complete strangers; so I don’t see greatness because I wear long time fan or groupie glasses, I see greatness because they are great.

Hands Of Orlac was new acquaintance to me, but since they so clearly had listened their Black Sabbath through and through, I found their music strangely familiar and inviting. The band has a female vocalist who along with the singing plays a flute. Now that’s original, I thought at first. It really seemed like a good idea for a moment, then after good set of songs I was up to my ears with the flute. If I’m not wrong, it was used in every single song at some point and that’s the way, my friends, to ruin a perfectly good spicing up. You don’t use cinnamon to every single food you make, now do you? It simply doesn’t fit all around and then again you’d probably get quite tired of the taste, if you ate only such foods that were spiced up with it. Get my point? Sometimes less is truly more. Anyway the Italians were sympathetic on and off stage, I just wish they’d diminish the role of the flute so that the songs would show their full potential. [And I really don't mean they should get rid of the flute completely, not at all. It is an interesting addition, but it shouldn't have such a strong foothold on their output.] As I put it down on my little black book at the site, Hands Of Orlac is nicely strange orchestra.

Armour was, and I’m really sorry to say this, because I really like their music, the biggest disappointment of the whole event. Their attitude sucked on so many levels, I don’t have words for it. I mean this much I’ve got to give them credit; The guys obviously live their brand, they have this thorough way of Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle. It’s just that too much of angry, unsatisfied, drunken “rockstar” attitude and way too little well played songs and charismatic show combined together, don’t really match with a term enjoyable experience. At the point when they started to play huumorihumppaa in form of Rentun Ruusu, I finally gave in to my desire to walk away.  I was so abashed with their “show”, I felt so let down that I seriously consider if I’m ever again going to pay to see them. [The last song they played was Heavy Metal Drinkers, and like at the start of their show as well at the start of this final song, I yet again run from the backstage, through upstairs to the downstairs and in front of the stage to root for the band. This time I was determined to have fun even if it killed me; and so some fun was had. Luckily it didn't kill me.] Bad boys might be cool and fun from some point of view but when I’m paying for the delight of seeing one on stage, I expect some sort of professional touch to the attitude and show as well, at least I hope you’re sober enough to play your own goddamn songs.

OZ was the other show band of the evening. This was their Burning Leather [just got to love the name] record release show and as such it was a mix up of old songs and newer material. And let me tell you, they mix and match almost perfectly; it is more than nice to know that the touch is still there. The disappointment I was left to struggle with after the Armour “show”, quickly vaporized as the now almost all the way Swedish band started their set. The new / substitute guitarists [including the bass player] have the right kind of showmanship for the job; this kind of traditional Heavy Metal does need a big show to stand out, and with these kind of guys OZ has it. One thing I noticed though; wireless transmitters are a must for a show band. I didn’t notice this during the gig, so I don’t know what was the case then, but when the band came back for encore, the bass player was leashed to the amplifier with a very very short cable. To his advance I’ve got to tell you, that he threw a good show nevertheless. This is exactly the short of professionalism I was ranting about earlier. If you want the audience to love you, you have got to give them something more than plain nuisance, and clearly OZ gets this so nicely.

Helvetets Port looks so 80′s, it makes me want to cry. I mean, I want to have all their spandex and K. Lightning’s glasses as well, and the white Thor t-shirt and probably all their clothing in general [except the underwear, or perhaps I should say I want similar stuff they have..? Oh, you get the point, now don't you]. Anyway, they are a punch of nice guys and you’ve just got to love their dedication to 80′s style [there are fringes and mustaches included as well] AND that’s why it’s really a shame that the songs they have, are not so much of an instant hit material except for the Lightning Rod Avenger. That one surely breaks the bank, no question about it and I just wish they had more of similarly catchy songs. In Helvetets Ports favor I have to tell that the first time I saw the guys [at Metal Warning II in Kouvola], I thought they were arrogant and strangely annoyed to be playing for what I regarded as a full house. Now that I got to spent some time behind the curtain and got to watch the guys little more closely I realized, it was not arrogance at all what I perceived at Kouvola; the boys seemed not a least bit of presumptuous, but rather shy.  And that’s the way you earn a whole lot of sympathy points from me. The other way is to come to tell me after two days spent in the same quarters that you love my shiny spandex, and you loved the ones I wore the day before as well, and that I should always buy shiny spandex. This is what their drummer O. Thunder did. I love the kind of band that loves spandex and has mustaches and fringes. I’m so happy to see them in a month or so at Tampere.

After Helvetets Port ended their show, somewhere between one and two a.m., the first Metal Warning night was over and it was time for us to head outside.

Saturday

After crawling up and out of the hotel we had booked for the night Anssi, Lasse and I headed for a walk to our car. We put some more money in the parking meter, left our overnight stuff in the car and started to return to Gloria, where “Metal For Breakfast” record market had already filled more tables with LP’s and CD’s in a way, which, once we had arrived to the venue, reminded me distantly of the spirit of Keep It True.

Once inside, I wandered from table to table flicking through the record racks and glancing occasionally on the big screen where Aria was entertaining the -rather randomly popping by- record enthusiastics. After a little while my stomach made an informing sound and it was obvious, my body didn’t get all the needed nutrients by enjoying this type of breakfast, no matter how well it fed my soul. So, I sought out Anssi and queried him about our food policy and schedule of the day. To my relief, Anssi as well was ready to seek something more chewy to fill his body with and thus we entered the backstage to ponder about our choices and eat some Karelian pies we’d left to the fridge night before.

On the backstage we met Marko, Lasse and Jani, whom all acknowledged the hunger inside themselves as well. Instead of making a move to warm up the Karelian pies or heading out to hunt a fit restaurant, the boys started talking something about something and since it didn’t involve me in any particular way I started thinking seriously about a Vixen record I had seen on one of the racks. After a minute or two I told the boys, I was going to get a record to myself quickly, if we weren’t about to move on the exact minute. We weren’t, so, I dashed out of the backstage and back to the hall.

Of course I decided to flick through the racks on the table, which I was going to get my Rev It Up from. Just in case, as you probably understand. And so it happened that the Vixen was still left to the table as I discovered Fifth Angel’s self-titled depute on the rarities rack. I mean, I don’t really know that much about records [YET] but the price didn’t seem too high and as I just love Fifth Angel’s music and the depute record especially, on the very same moment I laid my eyes on this precious beauty, I lifted it up and handed it to person behind the table. As the money exchanged owner so did the record and 15 euros shorter I was a very happy and proud owner of the record. I think I actually did some hippedy-hopping back to the backstage with a wide happy-happy-joy-joy grin on my face.

As the boys were not ready go just yet, I took a quick glimpse of the promotional letter, which was included to my lovely-lovely one. It felt like Christmas eve, after the moment you’ve opened up all your presents and start to skim through what you really have gotten. Simply put: It was one part of the series “best moments ever”. As we finally were set to go for a lookout at the city center to find ourselves something that qualified as a brunch, Lasse and Marko decided to tag along. So, our little group hit the streets of Helsinki once again.

After some dining we returned back to Gloria to kill the time before evening’s show started. And I tell you, there really was time to be killed; luckily Immu had organized so, that there were enough Aria videos to be played until soundcheck started.

The running order for the evening was following:

• Architorture [FIN]
• Forced Kill [FIN]
• Jumalation [FIN]
• Solitaire [FIN]
• Santa Lucia [FIN]
• Minotaur [GER]