| Tour Report | |||||
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| Easter Magic Doom 2010: ISOLE & PAGAN ALTAR Klubi, Turku ‒ April 1, 2010 + Dante's Highlight, Helsinki ‒ April 4, 2010 |
Embarking on a four-day mini-tour were England's Pagan Altar, making their first appearances in Finland, and Sweden's Isole, who came over for the second time, having made their impressive Finnish live debut at the West Coast Holocaust indoor festival in Turku last August. Neither of the bands were rookies, with Isole's roots going to the early 90's, and Pagan Altar being the real veterans, having started as far back as in '78. While the Brits were rightfully headlining, both bands were given the opportunity to play a lengthy set, with no extra warm-up acts included. As the Easter holidays freed us from working duties for two extra days, making it much more convenient to attend these shows, we decided to check out this doomy pairing both in the old and the new capital.  Although Turku is not known for being a good ground for gigs, I was surprised by how few people were present at this first show of the tour, and especially Isole had only a handful of people in the front, with us two being the only headbangers. Despite the melancholic vibe of their music and the small unenthusiastic crowd, the band performed with energy and excitement, just like I remembered from last time. And if their previous set list left room for complaints about the small representation of the first two albums, this time they came close to perfection. While "The Watcher" and "Deceiver" gave us a good taste of the debut, my Isole favorites from their second album Throne of Void, namely "Autumn Leaves" and "Demon Green", took the jackpot with their somber riffs and catchy choruses, the latter giving the set a perfect end. The dark album openers "By Blood" and "From the Dark" also reminded us that their rapid pace of releasing albums hasn't resulted in decreasing quality on the latest two.
 When it was time for Pagan Altar's witching hour, the audience still wasn't that big, but at least it was clear who they had come to see. The front of the stage was crowded with devoted fans, who were treated to a lengthy set spanning all three albums. While I am into a fair bit of traditional doom and heavy metal, Pagan Altar are among those praised cult acts that haven't impressed me much on record so far. Although solid riffs are present, the amount of soloing seems often excessive to me, and I simply don't enjoy Terry Jones' voice and vocal melodies most of the time. However, sometimes they manage to strike a nerve in me as well, like with the compelling riffing of "Samhein", or the striking rhythms of "Judgement of the Dead". While it was no surprise that these were also played live, "Walking in the Dark" from their split with Jex Thoth would've added another highlight to the set for me. The live setting also worked in their favor, making the material hit heavier with more power and energy, and resulting in a strong and convincing performance that I believe left no fan unsatisfied.
 Two nights and shows later, it was time for the fourth and last date of the tour that took place in Helsinki, and a meeting with the Isole lads was in order after they were done with the soundcheck. While the founding members Daniel and Crister chose to have some Guinness with us at Helsinki's true beer enthusiast bar Kaisla, despite Crister's groaning of his undoubtedly drinking-related stomach pains, Henrik and Daniel went backstage for some beauty sleep instead. As was later revealed at our chat with the whole bunch, beauty was quite far from the few moments of sleep they got, thanks to a certain flatulent Englishman that had been presenting his gassy talents in the tour bus as well. Whereas they felt that Pagan Altar had been nice touring companions otherwise, none of the Isole guys were much familiar with their doings beforehand. Bass player Henrik admitted that their stuff had started growing on him with each show, while "Karhu and Karjala" had started growing on Crister! Although most people attending the shows hadn't really had earlier knowledge of Isole, the band had surely gained some new followers in Finland, and gave a hearty thumbs-up to their "hobosexual" tour manager for giving them an opportunity like this.
 Instead of taking the easy way of playing the same set every night, Isole presented quite a different selection of songs this time around. While my two Throne of Void favourites were still there, "Deceiver" was accompanied with two other cuts from Forevermore, "Age of Darkness" and the epic "Moonstone", and they also gave us some fresh tunes from the latest in the form of "Soulscarred" and "Hollow Shrine", which I actually remember a member of the audience requesting in Turku. While there was still no horde of Isole maniacs screaming around, a nice bunch of hopefully soon-to-be fans were watching these doomed sons of Gävle give their best. The old Brockley devils gave no less, offering the delightfully large amount of supporters another extensive set filled with strong heavy metal spirit. Despite their impressive performances, Pagan Altar didn't quite convert me yet, but I'll be sure to give them another shot at it when they're headlining Hammer Open Air in Lieto this June.
As a matter of fact, we enjoyed the show so immensely that Dante's had to throw us out just to get us to leave. Or maybe that was for other reasons... ~ Ossi Turpeinen |
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Full photo galleries from these gigs: TURKU - April 1, 2010 Isole & Pagan Altar HELSINKI - April 4, 2010 Isole & Pagan Altar | |||||
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