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| NIFELHEIM & MASTER ‒ Nosturi, Helsinki ‒ April 17, 2010 |
Having started already in 1983, Chicago's Master are undoubtedly one of the first and longest-running death metal bands, but one that hasn't gotten much attention despite their steady pace of releasing albums after Paul Speckmann's relocation to the Czech Republic at the turn of the millennium. Metal Warning had originally scheduled Master for Finnish dates of their own right before the release of their new album The Human Machine, but apparently after they heard of SSG putting up a concurrent Nifelheim tour, the two were combined. While Master were first supposed to play Helsinki two days in a row, the new tour plan had them playing twice the same night; not only at Nosturi with Nifelheim and Lie in Ruins, but also at Darkside with Fleshred, Damngod and Spirit Disease!  Due to my alcoholic and social commitments elsewhere, I missed the opening act of the tour, the Olari old school death metallers Lie in Ruins, but it's not like I'm not gonna see them in a couple of weeks anyway. Well, at least I finally picked up a copy of their crushing debut. The first unmissable band at Nosturi for me was Master, who were apparently playing their first ever Finnish dates, despite some earlier attempts to get the band over. Although I am not familiar with a lot of their material, the set was a fine dose of straightforward death metal, spanning from the new shit back to Death Strike's 1985 demo Fuckin' Death, showcased by "Mangled Dehumanization" and the great "Pay to Die". While I found the early stuff to be the most enjoyable, no newer song seemed out of place, showing that even after almost three decades Master is still going strong. Going strong is also nearly 50-year old Paul Speckmann, who hasn't lost his killer voice or relaxed down-to-earth attitude. Respect!
 Despite Master having many more years and albums behind them, the Swedish maniacs Nifelheim were the headliners of the night, and seemed to be the band that most of the audience had really come to watch, with lots of possessed headbangers screaming in the front. The place appeared to be quite nicely crowded, although it was still far from packed, as the upstairs bar side of the venue didn't even get opened. While I knew to expect a great performance based on previous live experiences, this time Nifelheim blew me away even more than before. They performed with such insanely raging energy and intensity, storming away with blasphemous strikes such as "Black Evil" and "Storm of Satan's Fire", spiced with some newer more melodic attacks like "Storm of the Reaper". Although Nifelheim are one of the very best live bands I've had the pleasure to witness, I'd like to see them release a new album before coming over for another visit, as this was already the third time they've played Finland since the release of Envoy of Lucifer. Then again, if it's gonna take another seven years, just keep them coming...
Having already missed all of the warm-up bands of the Darkside gig due to the overlapping schedules, I didn't at least want to miss any of Master's set, so I left during what I assumed to be Nifelheim's last song to avoid the rush at Nosturi's coat-check. Apparently they came back for another encore, and once I got to Darkside, things were nowhere close to even starting, as everything was happening even later than scheduled. Well, what the heck, that's nothing new when it comes to this shithole... But when Master got onto the tiny stage, it became clear that it was all worth it. If Nosturi seemed a bit too big for the three-piece, this intimate setting was ideal for the band, and for us drunken death metal fanatics banging our heads off at this late hour. As the whole performance pretty much fused into one big blur of frantic ecstacy in my inebriated mind, details or complaints are hard to present, other than that I was left craving for the ultimate old school classic "The Truth", and I wasn't alone... An awesome night anyway, crowned by me falling face first to the street while trying to run for a bus. Now if that's not death metal, then what is? ~ Ossi Turpeinen |
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Full photo galleries from this gig: Nifelheim & Master
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