With both Bal-Sagoth and Skyclad having last played Finland on separate mini-tours in 2008, this time they flew over together for just this one show that interestingly paired up two long-running British bands with styles of their own.  While Bal-Sagoth’s previous show at Nosturi was totally ruined for me by the terrible sound, the Skyclad performance I witnessed in Turku was a greatly enjoyable gig from a band that I hardly knew at the time.  Now, two years later, I was ready to give Bal-Sagoth another chance, and really looking forward to experiencing Skyclad live again, with knowing most of the songs this time.

Arriving to the venue straight from Gloria’s Curium festival, we missed some of Turku’s Frostbitten Kingdom, who were already warming up the stage before the quite nicely sized crowd, although seemingly not a single person wanted to be anywhere near the front.  Despite the immediate Immortal associations caused by the moniker and some of the riffs, their music also shows a strong death metal influence, and instead of wearing corpse paint, these dudes prefer to appear topless and covered in blood.  Their experience shows as much in the tight playing and skillful soloing as in the entertaining way of performing and the well-crafted songs, like the instantly memorable new piece “Warborn”.  The band also succesfully played covers from Dissection and Manowar, but considering the quality and quantity of their own material, I could have lived without them, and especially the latter appeared out-of-place, although it seemed to get some members of the audience quite excited.  A good start for the night’s show, but maybe next time the vocalist could leave his silly bandana home, and I’d again advise the band to change their cheap-looking mess of a logo to something more suitable to their style.  Seriously, guys, it’s bad.

While last time seeing Skyclad there was quite a bunch of happy little posers who had come just to see the warm-up act Korpiklaani , and left before the headliner even went on, this time the venue was nicely crowded, but not cramped even in the front.  Despite being rightfully credited as one of the first folk metal bands, nowadays I find the general vibe of their music to be closer to folky punk rock, while still having metal present in the riffs, and this is emphasized by their energetic and cheerful way of performing that you’d hardly expect from a metal band.  With the guitar player Steve bouncing furiously on the right, and the bassist Graeme headbanging on the left, Georgina was jigging from one side of the stage to the other with her fiddle, smiling like she was having the time of her life.  Kevin’s way of introducing the songs was also jovial and down-to-earth, with wisecracks like “is it just me, or is this the best show you’ve ever been at?”

The “Kevin albums” were showcased well with the four first songs from the new album In the... All Together and three from A Semblance of Normality, whereas the only “Martin album” that got more than one song to the set was the classic Irrational Anthems, with the unforgettable hits “Inequality Street” and “Penny Dreadful” being played right before the encore.  As the set time was limited, it’s understandable that not all twelve albums got represented, but I would’ve liked to hear something thrashier from their early days instead of the folkier mid-tempo tunes like “The Widdershins Jig” and “Spinning Jenny”.  While I’m sure some older fans would agree with me on that, I might be the only one who would’ve loved another tune from Oui Avant-Garde á Chance to accompany “Great Blow for a Day Job”.  A wholly enjoyable show nonetheless from a band that is still going strong on their own path even after 20 years.

Although Bal-Sagoth’s sound wasn’t a total failure this time, it was still far from perfect, which might be too much to ask, but considering the complex and epic nature of their music, a perfect sound would be a requirement for me to be able to fully enjoy them live.  However, I know these kings of long song titles are well aware of their music not being ideal for a live show, and when they rarely perform, they do it for the die hard fans, of which there are seemingly quite many in Finland.  Byron’s dramatic and charismatic narrations that I find to be one of the most essential characteristics of Bal-Sagoth, were spiced with a bit too many boisterous laughs, although not as ridicously often as last time.  I could also add that him waving his sword around got quite boring after a couple of songs, reminding me of Mayhem’s Attila and his noose at Jalometalli 2008.  Even if you can’t come up with more than one stage gimmick, it doesn’t mean that you have to be abusing it all the fucking time.  Despite these minor complaints, the show was surprisingly enjoyable, with my personal highlights being the title track and “The Dreamer in the Catacombs of Ur” from Atlantis Ascendant, which was my first acquaintance with the band.  If my observations were correct, each album was equally represented with two songs, with the exception of the debut A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria sadly getting only one song to the set.  While the total outcome was satisfactory, and probably a real feast to all the die hards, I’m certainly not one of those, and I’d take a new album of bombastic battle metal hymns from them over another live show any day. ~ Ossi Turpeinen