Nachtgeschrei

Quite often you feel for the first band on stage at a festival. They’ve got to get things moving from a standing start and often they are effectively sound checking the PA for those to come afterwards. Germany’s Nachtgeschrei (literally; Nightscream) had no such issues. The sound was spot on from the first note and the audience, already present in good numbers got straight on with the serious business of ferocious head banging, prompting us to wonder how these good folk were going to stay the pace for the next six hours! Nachtgeschrei are young, local to Frankfurt and very talented. They feature two guitars bass and drums along with accordion, hurdy gurdy and bagpipes. What bagpipes they are too! Featuring hugely long reeds and a chanter topped with a carved three horned demon, they are wielded by Nik. He manages not only to integrate the pipes into the metal context but is actually the most flamboyant character on stage. He throws shapes, tosses his blonde mane with the confidence of a man who knows the effect he has on the ladies and toasts the audience with a flagon of fine German beer. Hats off to him, he’s actually managed to make playing the pipes cool! Musically Nachtgeschrei live in the same neighbourhood as Falconer (only with more traditional instruments). Lead singer Hotti communicates his vocals (all lyrics are in German) with emotional sincerity and between song links are handled by drummer and band leader Danu. He pushes all the right buttons with the crowd including throwing handfuls of their CD to eagerly outstretched hands. This band provided a great start to the day’s proceedings, they were hugely entertaining and their future should be very bright indeed.

Tyr  

A Norwegian friend recently remarked, following a trip to the Faroe Islands that he was struck how everybody, almost literally, plays a musical instrument. The islanders are hardy farming folk with a strong seafaring and musical heritage featuring a blend of both Scandinavian and Celtic cultures. From this proud background emerges Tyr, named after the Norse god (you know … the one with the hammer!). Their music is chock full of anthemic chants, crunching riffs and skilful Celtic flavoured harmony guitar work. They suffered a bit at the start of the set with a slightly thin lead guitar sound but soon overcame this with the sheer force of their compositions and execution. They all sing; Heri provides gruff yet melodic vocals and plays guitar, Terji provides lead guitar and eye candy for the women, Kari’s drumming is snap tight and he sings through a head set and bass player Gunnar is a great big ball of smiling enthusiastic energy. A big guy who simply oozes who-gives-a-f*** joie de vivre! Whilst they eschew the inclusion of traditional instruments, their mastery and understanding of both metal and folk music means that they find all the textures and sounds they need in their vocal and musical arrangements. These range from haunting four-part acapella to full fury balls-to-the-wall metal. They provided what may have been one of the high points of the day with the audience slaying ‘Hail to the Hammer’. Tyr’s is robust and “manly” Viking Metal, stripped to the waist, brilliantly executed and highly infectious. They took the opportunity to announce their new album ‘Land’ which will be released on May 30th. This is definitely something for the discerning metal fan to look forward to!

Eluveitie

Pagan Metal is largely about the rejection of bland globalised  pop “culture” and embracing with pride one’s own national or regional history. Nowhere is this more the case than with Eluveitie. The name means “I am Helvetian” in the arcane Gaulish/Celtic of that aboriginal tribe from what is now Switzerland. The members of this gruff hairy crew are highly knowledgeable and proud of their history, their musical traditions and their modern metal culture. They impress before even playing a note as there are no fewer than eight of them on stage. Aside from the usual guitars, bass and drums they play an assortment of flutes, bagpipes, hurdy gurdy, violin and mandola. The men in the band are hairy, festooned with traditional Celtic tattoos and look every inch like fearsome Gaulish warriors. By contrast their two female colleagues, both multi instrumentalists, are darkly petite. Don’t be fooled though, when it comes to furious head banging they are front and centre.  Chrigel Glanzmann the band’s founder and visionary handles lead vocals, flutes and mandola and creates a fearsome presence mid stage. His vocals are pure Gothenburg style death (although when you meet him he is rather softly spoken!). This is part of the secret of the band’s awesome power. The sheer numbers on stage, the traditional instrumentation and the ferocity of their metal attack is enough to stun the unwary. When you add to this the unbridled energy unleashed on the stage they are a truly monumental prospect and carry the audience along in a bowel loosening maelstrom of primal musical tribalism. Anyone who has experienced this band live will never look at a flute or a recorder in quite the same way ever again!  Brothers Rafi and Sevan Kirder on bass and wind instruments respectively (including bagpipes featuring a goat skull on the chanter!) are truly terrifying! Both have vast mops of dark curly hair, full bushy beards and are covered in tattoos. They never stop moving and stripped to the waist, sporting warlike scowls it’s easy to imagine their ancestors bellowing defiance at the invading Roman legions.  This look was further enhanced with judicious use of a blood capsule by Sevan. Nice! The crowd went absolutely bananas throughout their set with monster mosher ‘Your Gaulish War’ causing possibly the most frenzied slam dancing of the entire day. Eluveitie further endeared themselves to the audience by giving their sincere thanks to the tour manager, crew and all the audiences on the tour, this being the last show before Paganfest headed off to the USA. In short: what a band and what a show! Eluveitie are truly mighty and unlike their ancestors, they are set to conquer not only Europe but the rest of the world as well.

Moonsorrow

You have to feel a little sorry for any band that has to follow the sort of show stopping performance provided by Eluveitie. It all went well for Finland’s Moonsorrow though, starting with an incredibly slick ten-minute change over.  Much respect to bands and crew alike as although this change over was particularly smooth, the tight schedule was adhered to seamlessly all evening. Moonsorrow wasted no time in making their own impression on proceedings. They are another clan who favour playing stripped to the waist, but unlike Tyr Moonsorrow arrived caked in blood. Theirs is however not the neatly applied crimson of Turisas. The drummer Marko looked as though he’d had a bucket of blood dumped Carrie style all over his head as does live guitarist Janne (regular member Henry Sorvali wasn’t with them this time). Vocalist and bassist Ville favoured a blood red upside down cross on his torso, and guitarist Mitja had a fetching design with blood seeming to pour from all his facial orifices!  And they were loud!  Very loud!  Perhaps a little too loud at first, as the guitars were drowned out in a seismic thunder of bass and drums. They seemed a bit plodding after the Swiss whirlwind which had just swept through the building but once the eyes and ears had made the adjustment their skills and appeal did reveal themselves. They play a kind of doom tinged hybrid of classic and black metal with a light folk frosting and gruff “Pagan” vocals. Their heroic three voice choruses got the crowd singing lustily and Mitja entertained mightily with some frantic guitar histrionics. His windmill technique clearly owes plenty to Pete Townshend but the rate he was swinging his arm caused speculation as to whether his shoulder joint would survive the night! Talking of speed, drummer Marko demonstrated some absolutely blistering pace and control. The twin guitars wove some delightfully intricate harmonies and cadaverous bald Janne showed he possesses a fine metal tenor. Markus on the keyboards added a heroic element to the mix which was picked up on with gusto by the crowd as they chanted and bayed their way through the choruses. If there was a criticism to be made it was that Ville’s between song links were rather flat and lacking in energy.  Overall, though, this was another fine performance by a band which showed yet another facet to the rich variety of styles encompassed by the “Pagan Metal” tag. The set ended on a high note with Jonne of Korpiklaani and Tyr’s Heri arriving on stage to join in the final chorus.

Korpiklaani

In the United States of Metal Korpiklaani is nothing short of a national treasure and we were hugely looking forward to this set. The decibel level from the now jam-packed venue rose as their intro tape of a jews harp fuelled “hoedown” wafted from the speakers. The cheers rose to a roar as the Finnish back woodsmen arrived on stage. Jarkko waited stoically with his bass, Juho looked serious on the accordion and E’ittavainen was inscrutable on violin. Cane prowled impishly with his guitar; Jonne grinning behind his antler bedecked mic stand, shouted “Let’s Drink”, Matson hit the beat and we were off. The crowd reaction was immediate and glorious; there was singing, smiling, head banging and dancing.  They ripped through their hits; ‘Beer Beer’, ‘Korpiklaani’, ‘The Hunting Song’ , ‘Happy Little Boozer’ and ‘Tervaskanto’ all got an airing as did new tunes including ‘Kipumylly’ and ‘Metsamies’ from the recent ‘Korven Kuningas’ release. At one point the band left the stage leaving Jonne on his own with a drum between his knees. He sang a traditional song learned in his youth which was haunting and quite mesmerising like a shaman’s chant or something that a native American medicine man might sing. It provided a moment of magic for the audience and a breather for the band. The rest of the set was back to full on party mode including some shamanic dancing from Jonne, cheery cavorting from Cane and exchanges of beer and cigarettes between the stage and the front row! It’s wonderful when a band comes along which really communicates with the audience so that both crowd and artists gain energy from each other. Korpiklaani is certainly such a band.  Whereas so many “Pagan” bands revel in bloodshed, battle and glorious death, Korpiklaani’s music is entirely life affirming. They love life, music, booze and their homeland. It’s entirely infectious and thank the gods for them! If they didn’t exist they’d have to be invented. As their set and their tour came to an end and they took their bows, they trumped their own lunacy by playing out to Ivor Biggun’s ‘I’m a Wanker’. A stroke of comedy genius which had many of the German audience completely baffled and two Brits singing at the tops of their voices through fits of giggles. Is metal allowed to be this much fun? You bet your boozy arse it is!! Utterly Brilliant.   

Ensiferum

Topping a bill of the quality and energy of Paganfest is a big ask. It would need to be a band riding high in popularity, at the top of their game with the songs and charisma to drive a tired but expectant crowd to the very limits of metal frenzy! Warrior Finns Ensiferum are the men (and woman) for the job. With four releases to their credit and riding high with their latest offering ‘Victory Songs’ it feels very much that this is “their time” and in headlining the Paganfest tour they are out to prove it. If Batschkapp was distinctly cosy during Korpiklaani’s set, for Ensiferum it was like being in a can of rather excited sardines that had been left out in the midday sun!! Hot, claustrophobic and rather wiffy in parts! As the band hit the stage in war paint and customised Finnish flag kilts, the crowd let out the biggest roar of the night, which given the noise they’d made before was pretty impressive. Led from the front by gruff vocalist and guitar player Petri, they launched into their repertoire of songs about battle, conquest and beer with the audience singing every syllable. The sound was a bit “splashy” and Petri’s guitar was all but inaudible but it didn’t seem to matter a jot to anyone. The keyboards were epic, the bass thundered, main composer and founder Markus gurned enthusiastically and Janne on drums was extremely impressive. He also provided comic interludes by occasionally firing toy arrows into the crowd! Although Ensiferum are scary warrior types they maintain a twinkle in the eye. Petri announced “this next song is dedicated to my hangover” and they tore into ‘Magic Juice’ a song, oddly enough, about beer. ‘Tale of Revenge’ provided an epic sing along opportunity and signalled the start of a crowd surfing epidemic (of which more anon…). The gaps between songs seemed rather lengthy then it became clear that there was actually a technical problem which they were trying to rectify as they went along. In short, Petri’s guitar wasn’t working. He went off stage and his band mates were left in a state of some befuddlement. Janne fired another arrow into the crowd and they all looked at each other wondering what to do. After some fumbled jamming they had a go at ‘Breaking the Law’ which bought just enough time for the front man to return to centre stage with a working instrument. From that moment on we could tell just what a good player he really is and metal triumphed right up to the “so called last song” the mighty ‘Blood is the Price of Glory’. Of course it wasn’t the last song and the encores lasted another half an hour, this was partly because the stage was invaded during ‘Treacherous Gods’ by members of all the other bands in various states of fancy dress (a bin bag and a mummy wrapped in toilet paper!!) and inebriation, joining in the choruses and causing general chaos. Petri, all pretence of being a hard man dropped, sang with a grin on his face having been crowned with a punk wig in the colours of the German flag and couldn’t resist a giggle as Korpiklaani’s ever-smiling Jonne mooned him. They finished on a high with ‘Battle Song’ which the faithful roared along to and showed their appreciation with much crowd surfing. It has to be said that crowd surfing in Germany is a very civilized affair. It seems to consist of the prospective surfer presenting themselves on the stage and offering themselves to the crowd. Once enough hands are outstretched the thrill seeker cautiously lowers his/ herself down and is passed gently and carefully around the room like a hippy commune trust exercise. Compared to the death defying leap of faith which is surfing in the UK (usually banned anyway) this is all very … nice!

As the stage and the venue cleared tiredness took over. It had been a long day but thanks to Frankfurt’s outstanding public transport system travelling across town to our hotel (which had a beer machine in the lobby!!) was easy even after having hung around to exchange words with a couple of very pleasant folk who we met, renew acquaintance with the Korpiklaani guys and congratulate Chrigel Glanzmann on having one hell of a band. Paganfest was tremendously well organised and featured a spectacular line up of stunningly talented artists. The circus is off to the USA now and with Ensiferum, Eluveitie and Tyr joined by Turisas the show is certain to create a huge splash across the pond. May Thor and Odin go with them!