FINNTROLL ARE A BLOODY GOOD TIME….LITERALLY
(photo by Justina Villanueva)
This past Thursday night, I ventured out for the 2010 Finnish Metal Tour featuring the Nordic favorites known as Swallow the Sun, Moonsorrow, and of course…Finntroll! Fun was to be had.
I had been meaning to listen to Swallow the Sun some time ago, but never had. They have a melodic death metal sort of thing going on, and are much more laid back than their tourmates. I think I’d prefer them on recordings. The same can be said for Moonsorrow. I dug their enthusiasm on stage, but I think I appreciate them more for the soothing, atmospheric energy on their albums. It took Finntroll a couple songs to really pick up, but before I knew it…the room was complete chaos. A lot of songs from their new album Nifelvind were peppered into the setlist including “Solsagan,” and my personal favorite “Under Bergets Rot.” But we still got a taste of the old standards like “Eliytres” and “Trollhammaren.” I loved every nerdy minute of it, and I found that I truly admired the band’s mystique, troll outfits and all.
But I gotta tell you guys, the crowd at this show alone was quite something to behold. I’ve been to pagan/folk metal shows before, but daaaamn. I saw the the most massive, shirtless behemoth I have ever laid eyes on. I saw someone do “interpretive moshing.” I saw two grown ass men jump up and down and squeal like little girls when the intro to their favorite song started. These were the people who really made my night. Major fist pumps go out to you all. My evening ended quite abruptly towards the end of Finntroll’s set when a bloody-eyed young man being forcibly removed from the venue ran right into me, thus depositing said blood in my hair. Oh, the horror. I had to get out of there.
“But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?” I had a blast! I think many would raise their brows at me for going to a show like this, but truth be told….give me men dressed as trolls over “cool kid” stoner metal or any of that grunty American dudecore ANY DAY.
Check out the remaining dates on Finntroll’s MySpace. Get your TROLL on and go!
-Elise
