Stam1na + Rytmihäiriö + Skálmöld @ Black Box Jäähalli, Helsinki - 26.05.18

Stam1na + Rytmihäiriö + Skálmöld @ Black Box Jäähalli, Helsinki – 26.05.18

May 31, 2018June 18, 2018 steelrain

Black boxHelsinkiJäähalliOceanhoarseRajaRytmihäiriöSkálmöldStam1naStone

Stam1na celebrated the 10th anniversary release of their “Raja” album with a special gig at Jäähalli´s Black Box in Helsinki. Rytmihäiriö and Skálmöld joined the party as well. We were lucky enough to experience such a memorable night. Memorable and steamy I would say in the very sense of the word, due to the heat generated not only by the bands and their dedicated fan base, but also by the lack of any ventilation inside the venue.

The opening act of the night, the Icelandic sextet Skálmöld, has been supporting various folk metal acts across Europe in the last few years such as Korpiklaani, Finntroll, Týr (just to name a few). Their unique style combines epic viking, old school death and thrash metal, entwined with Icelandic heritage. Skálmöld´s latest performance on Finnish soil took place in 2015 and I was looking forward to their live set, being a folk metal lover: their captivating 45 minutes live set offered heroic and hypnotic melodies created by 3 guitar players and fascinating lyrics, performed entirely in Icelandic and inspired by Norse mythology and Icelandic sagas. Definitely a killer start of the evening.

Helsinki based Rytmihäiriö (which may be translated “arrhythmia” or “rhythmic disorder”) proved to be very familiar among the audience. Their whole performance was celebrated by very energetic circle pits which lasted for the whole set and contributed to raise the heat of the night: the ice definitely melted at Jäähalli at that point.”The country’s most famous and only surmacore band”, as Rytmihäiriö has been defined, delivered a dissonant, yet fierce and tight set, definitely one of a kind, incorporating hardcore punk, grindcore, surmacore and thrash metal. On a personal note, it was great to see Jukka “Kosmo” Kröger on drums, who is definitely known to HIM and “Herra Ylppö & Ihmiset” fans. A kick-ass warm up to the main event.

Finally Stam1na showed up on stage and the band members were received with a huge welcome, one of the warmest I have seen on Finnish stages lately. It was rumored the veterans of Finnish metal would have played the whole “Raja” album from the beginning until the end and few more classics from their highly acclaimed discography: everyone, including me, was expecting a memorable and extensive live set which came true indeed! The first live set consisted mainly of tracks off “Raja“, many of which hadn´t been played for years so it was definitely epic to witness them live, such as “Vartijaton“and “Voima vastaan viha” (first time live since 2008 and 2009) , “Kädet vasten lasia” , “Murtumispiste“, (first time live since 2015) and “Susi-ihminen” which featured a special guest on stage, Tuomas “Tommy” Tuovinen (Oceanhoarse and ex-MyGrain) who later joined the band once again on stage to perform “Yhdeksän tien päät“. After a long 15 minutes break, Stam1na delivered a second set reserving few surprises to their delirious fans, including the live premiere of “Elämänlanka“. It was delightful to listen to some of my favorite tracks such as “Panzerfaust” and “Lääke” which brought back few good old memories. The highly entertaining grand finale consisted of a cover of “Get Stoned” (classic track by the Finnish legendary thrash metal band Stone) which featured many special appearances on stage, such as Janne Joutsenniemi of Stone on vocals, (who produced “Raja” album back in 2008), Joonas “Jope” Koto of Omnium Gatherum on guitar and members of Rytmihäiriö, old friends of the band. The crowd went definitely mad at that point: the sweat and the energy generated by the whole Jäähalli could have started a nuclear reaction! As final encore, Stam1na performed “Paha arkkitehti” leaving the stage after an intense, flawless and highly remarkable 2 hours live celebration which, I´m sure, will be remembered for a long time.