Heidenfest
12 October 2011 23:06![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glenatronOne of the things that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
herecirm has brought into my life is a lot of music I wouldn't have heard otherwise. Her tastes are as diverse as mine but tending far more into the realms of metal, especially folk metal. She has introduced me to a lot of bands I would never have heard at all otherwise varying from the brilliant to the insane, frequently across a single song.
One of her favourite gigs of the year is Heidenfest and when she asked if I wanted to come along, I figured it might help me understand her music a little better. Consequently yesterday we marched up to the Forum to hear some bands rock out.
The first thing I noticed was that the crowd basically appeared to be almost identical to what you might encounter at a typical LARP event. I suspect there is a reason for this. In fact as Turisas, one of the headliners, favour black and red war paint and a lot of their fans were wearing it there was a clear resemblance to the monster crew at some Jackals events a few years back.
The sound was pretty good- I was a bit worried that the music would be just pure white-out noise, but that was only sometimes the case. We weren't right in the mosh pit, though- in a generous concession to the fact I'm an old man, we were a little further back.
First up were Skalmold ( various umlauts missing as I couldn't be bothered to work out how to type them ) who are Icelandic and intense and I really enjoyed. They were a great start to the evening. Also their bassist was really bless.
Second band were Trollfest - I couldn't make head nor tail of these guys - they seemed to just change pace at arbitrary intervals and for every time they did something musically interesting they had to suddenly change in a way that made no sense and had no dynamic. Also the singer seemed to only have one tone, a monotone distorted quack. They came across as someone's jokey side project to my mind, though for all I know they could well be doing some kind of thrash Zappa thing. Nice to see an accordion being used in metal, but then they did also have a saxophone.
Arkona were supposed to be third but for some reason they had cancelled, so next up we got merry scottish japesters Alestorm. They put on a good show and they were very entertaining but I really couldn't make out much of what was going on with their songs. I'm not sure that the singer is actually a singer at all but he does have a keytar, which is also important. Their pirate theme was another reason that the gig felt a lot like a LARP event as there were many tricorns and pirate boots around. Possibly a case of concept over actuality.
Fintroll, conversely, were crazily heavy, ridiculously fast and very intense. They were a whole lot of fun. If you pressed me I probably wouldn't be able to distinguish many of their songs from each other ( aside from Trollhammeren which is just one of the most hilariously brilliant songs ever ) but the overall effect was pretty devastating, in a good way. In places the music was going so fast that my researches indicated that I would need to dance at a quarter speed to be able to dance to it at all. Very good fun.
Top of the bill were Turisas who, in keeping with the old adage of "write what you know", write songs about being vikings and fighting epic battles, joining the Varangian Guard and generally getting up to shenanigans. I liked the balance of instruments ( not just crazy guitars- one could actually make out the violin and keyboards ) and the general sense of fun. Also it was a very hot headline slot at a very hot gig and you have to respect a band who go out and play that in medium armour. Going out and playing songs on these topics is an inherently silly thing to do and it was nice that the band were clearly embracing that while also playing with total commitment. Also they played a song about hunting pirates, which complemented the Alestorm set. We missed the last few tracks because of needing to get back in time for a train, but I felt like it had been a pretty full evening nonetheless.
What the bands had in common, and what they had in common with most bands who have really impressed me live, was that they pretty much demanded a party happen right there with those people in that room and one did. It was a very entertaining evening and I really enjoyed experiencing some of the music thatherecirm loves with her as my guide.
herecirm has brought into my life is a lot of music I wouldn't have heard otherwise. Her tastes are as diverse as mine but tending far more into the realms of metal, especially folk metal. She has introduced me to a lot of bands I would never have heard at all otherwise varying from the brilliant to the insane, frequently across a single song. One of her favourite gigs of the year is Heidenfest and when she asked if I wanted to come along, I figured it might help me understand her music a little better. Consequently yesterday we marched up to the Forum to hear some bands rock out.
The first thing I noticed was that the crowd basically appeared to be almost identical to what you might encounter at a typical LARP event. I suspect there is a reason for this. In fact as Turisas, one of the headliners, favour black and red war paint and a lot of their fans were wearing it there was a clear resemblance to the monster crew at some Jackals events a few years back.
The sound was pretty good- I was a bit worried that the music would be just pure white-out noise, but that was only sometimes the case. We weren't right in the mosh pit, though- in a generous concession to the fact I'm an old man, we were a little further back.
First up were Skalmold ( various umlauts missing as I couldn't be bothered to work out how to type them ) who are Icelandic and intense and I really enjoyed. They were a great start to the evening. Also their bassist was really bless.
Second band were Trollfest - I couldn't make head nor tail of these guys - they seemed to just change pace at arbitrary intervals and for every time they did something musically interesting they had to suddenly change in a way that made no sense and had no dynamic. Also the singer seemed to only have one tone, a monotone distorted quack. They came across as someone's jokey side project to my mind, though for all I know they could well be doing some kind of thrash Zappa thing. Nice to see an accordion being used in metal, but then they did also have a saxophone.
Arkona were supposed to be third but for some reason they had cancelled, so next up we got merry scottish japesters Alestorm. They put on a good show and they were very entertaining but I really couldn't make out much of what was going on with their songs. I'm not sure that the singer is actually a singer at all but he does have a keytar, which is also important. Their pirate theme was another reason that the gig felt a lot like a LARP event as there were many tricorns and pirate boots around. Possibly a case of concept over actuality.
Fintroll, conversely, were crazily heavy, ridiculously fast and very intense. They were a whole lot of fun. If you pressed me I probably wouldn't be able to distinguish many of their songs from each other ( aside from Trollhammeren which is just one of the most hilariously brilliant songs ever ) but the overall effect was pretty devastating, in a good way. In places the music was going so fast that my researches indicated that I would need to dance at a quarter speed to be able to dance to it at all. Very good fun.
Top of the bill were Turisas who, in keeping with the old adage of "write what you know", write songs about being vikings and fighting epic battles, joining the Varangian Guard and generally getting up to shenanigans. I liked the balance of instruments ( not just crazy guitars- one could actually make out the violin and keyboards ) and the general sense of fun. Also it was a very hot headline slot at a very hot gig and you have to respect a band who go out and play that in medium armour. Going out and playing songs on these topics is an inherently silly thing to do and it was nice that the band were clearly embracing that while also playing with total commitment. Also they played a song about hunting pirates, which complemented the Alestorm set. We missed the last few tracks because of needing to get back in time for a train, but I felt like it had been a pretty full evening nonetheless.
What the bands had in common, and what they had in common with most bands who have really impressed me live, was that they pretty much demanded a party happen right there with those people in that room and one did. It was a very entertaining evening and I really enjoyed experiencing some of the music that
herecirm loves with her as my guide.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 17 Oct 2011 01:04 (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Oct 2011 10:57 (UTC)