Having been responsible for a big portion of Finland’s most interesting underground metal gigs during the recent years, this summer saw KRK’s first attempt at arranging a two-day outdoor summer festival.  With almost half of the bill consisting of foreign names, several of which were playing Finland for the first time or are rarely seen anywhere at all, and the rest being a group of carefully picked domestic acts of quality, Hammer Open Air was undoubtedly to be one of the highlight events of the year.

While the official warm-up clubs for the festival took place at Dante’s Highlight in Helsinki, with Vomitor and Neutron Hammer from the festival line-up being joined by England’s Scythian and the Aussies Profaner, and Turku’s Cosmic Comic Cafe with two DJs spinning some appropriate underground tunes, Metalucifer from Japan was also playing in Tampere that same Thursday night.  However, in this crossfire of options, we chose to stay home and charge our batteries instead, both figuratively and literally, as an early awakening was necessary in order to catch the bus ride especially arranged for the festival attendees from Helsinki.

FRIDAY

After a quick stop at our accomodation place in Turku, we headed to the bus station from where the two varying-sized festival busses were taking people to Lieto every half an hour.  Unfortunately, the bus we were intending to catch in order to arrive in time for the first band was the smaller one, which got filled quickly, leaving us to wait for the next.  After being dropped off next to a local school, we had to take a short walk through the idyllic natural surroundings, comically reminding of our obscure journey to Kotka’s Dark River Festival, except that this time there were at least small cardboard signs to guide us the right way!

Upon arriving to the festival grounds, the last emphatic verses of Speedtrap’s “Cry of the Raven” were echoing over the small camping area from the Miasma stage outside, after which they wrapped up the set with the equally frantic “Redemption of Might”.  Despite having seen this speed metal quartet live several times in less than a year, missing them this time was a bit of a shame, as their energetic performing and strong song material result in shows that can hardly disappoint.  While Speedtrap’s Raw Deal EP was one of last year’s top outputs, new material seems to uphold the quality, making them a band I definitely want to keep my eye on.

The first band to play the Kvlt inside stage was Flame, offering the best in Finnish black/thrash metal.  Killer tracks like “Poisoned Kingdom” and the set-ending “Dark Demonic Domain” from their debut Into the Age of Fire were accompanied with some older strikes such as “Hellslaughter”, all performed with the same raw metallic fury as on record.  Towards the end of the set a version of Impaled Nazarene’s “The Horny and the Horned” was heard as well, again displaying Flame’s delightful ability to make innovative cover choices instead of raping the obvious classics over and over.

Neutron Hammer’s straightforward black/death/thrash metal wasn’t maybe in an ideal setting on the outdoor stage, but they played an enjoyable set spanning their whole catalog, with “Devastation Ritual” from their demotape reminding that those songs are of no lesser quality, and would deserve a re-recording with a stronger sound.  While Neutron Hammer’s song material is certainly memorable and catchy, what I feel really lifts them on a higher level is Kaosbringer’s recognizable roar and convincing stage presence.  Thumbs up also for the session(?) bassist Roni Ä’s Nifelheim-like hairstyle!

Pori’s dark death metallers Stench of Decay showed a little bit of improvement since we last saw them a few months back, or maybe it was the more enthusiastic audience that made them give their best.  [Or perhaps it was the smaller stage that made them look less awkward and uncomfortable. ~ed]  Jussi’s growls had even more deadly power to them, and the guitar players were actually nodding their heads to the music some of the time instead of just standing like statues.  The set list seemed to be pretty much the same as before, including the three originals from Where Death and Decay Reign and one track from the debut demo.

Tribulation delivered some more death metal on the Miasma stage, but closer to the familiar style of their fellow countrymen, creating stronger associations to the newer masters Repugnant than the obvious classic acts in my head, though.  Despite the problems Jonathan kept having with his guitar, these young Swedes surprised with a rabid show, which would’ve probably been even more crushing in an intense club environment.  While most of the time the anorexically skinny guitarists were screaming along to the words as if they were possessed, although they didn’t even have mic’s, Adam took over the vocal duties during my personal favorite “Sacrilegious Darkness”.  The set mostly consisted of the solid material from The Horror, spiced with a cover of Morbid Angel’s “Unholy Blasphemies”.

At this point, giving my legs some rest by sitting down and having a beer sounded more appealing than watching Solitaire, but their lively speed metal surely worked as a fine soundtrack to that.  While they are an undeniably entertaining and energetic band on stage, I haven’t gotten into their recorded material that much, and can’t exactly relate to the praise some people give them.  The non-album compilation track “Exterminator” was the most memorable moment of the set with its infectious chorus that I still can’t get out of my head...

Enochian Crescent were announced as celebrating their 15^th anniversary with a surprising special show, but I can’t say I detected that many unusual elements in the performance, as Lord Sargofagian and Hellwind Inferion’s additional percussions in “Hendekagrammaton” and Spellgoth’s perverse (re)baptismal rites during “Väkisinkastettu” I had seen before, not to even mention the regular self-mutilation, feathers e(t)c.  This is not to say that the show wasn’t impressive both musically and performance-wise, I just expected something even more bizarre.  Notable was Sister Wrath’s fearsome Grim Reaper look during the first songs, which made me wonder if the scythe was the same as in some old promo and live photos I’ve seen, and the guest appearance from Behexen’s Torog in “Grey Skin”, although I could barely hear his backing vocals.  The bloody handprints on Victor and Vilhelm’s faces were also a memorable detail.  Majority of the set consisted of material from NEF.VI.LIM and Black Church, with one brand new tune “Tuhkaa” also added, whereas I would’ve expected an anniversary set to be a bit more retrospective.  A compelling performance anyway, and possibly the first one of the festival to really captivate the audience.

Having skipped Vomitor’s Helsinki show, I was really looking forward to seeing these Aussies hammer their violent black/death/thrash live, but at this point the capacity of the festival area started meeting its limits.  The indoor side was uncomfortably full, it was hard to see anything, and there were lines to both drinking areas, as neither of them could take more people in because of fire security restrictions.  I suppose staying at home the night before had been a bad decision after all...  Well, at least the band got a really enthusiastic response from the audience [so much so, that the photo pit began to collapse in on itself, and me taking photos, with only one security dude between me and the unholy howling mob ~ed], but I was enough distractred by the inconveniences that the maniacal screams of “Devils Poison” were the only musical thing to leave a memory trace.

While some raindrops had been falling from the sky throughout the day, Pagan Altar got the worst of it as the second-to-last band playing outside.  Having seen these British heavy/doom metal veterans already twice a couple of months earlier on their Finnish tour with Isole, and not even being into their material in particular, we didn’t find it quite worthwhile to stand in the pouring rain and watch their set, but sought shelter under the Miasma tent outside the festival area instead.  At least the Pagan Altar fans didn’t have to stand in the rain for the whole 90 minutes the band were originally scheduled to play, as they had to play a shorter set due to a last minute drummer change.

Based on the couple of listens I gave Celestia’s newest album, their brand of melancholic black metal didn’t appeal to my taste, or seem like the kind of stuff that works in a live setting unless you know the songs, so seeing this French group was not a priority either.  A quick look at their performance confirmed my assumptions, and it didn’t seem like most of the audience cared for them any more than I did.  However, as I know some people had come to the festival especially to see Celestia, I hope they got what they came for.

It might seem funny to some that a headliner at a festival like this doesn’t even play metal, but in the case of The Devil’s Blood, I can understand what the hype in metal circles and elsewhere is about.  While I’m not familiar with most of their inspirators, or psychedelic rock as a genre in general, this Dutch group channels the unspeakable through their music in such a noble way that most metal acts can’t even dream about.  The title track and “River of Gold” from what I consider their best effort, the Come, Reap EP, started the set very promisingly, but the rest of it didn’t satisfy me wholly.  It wasn’t the rain or the boring stage maneuvers of the singer The Mouth of Satan that bothered me, but rather their leaving highlights like “Queen of My Burning Heart” out, and instead playing less interesting songs like “House of 10 000 Voices” as long versions with lots of psychedelic jamming that I just couldn’t get into.  Then again, hits like “The Graveyard Shuffle” and “Christ or Cocaine”, and the mezmerizing “Voodoo Dust” were plain excellence.  However, the heavy day had taken its toll, and I was somewhat glad they didn’t play the whole 90 minutes.  Tiredness was at such a high level that attending the afterparty was out of the question, and we headed to bed instead.

SATURDAY

After a good night’s sleep and a hearty lunch, it was too late to make it to the festival in time to see Saturday’s first band either, Lahti’s blackthrashers Evil Angel, so Crosswrecker on the Kvlt stage got to be the first dose of metal of the day.  While they were going for an old school thrash sound on the first demo under their previous moniker Sacrificial Dagger, it seems like nowadays they’re drawing more from the same Australian pool of influences as the vocalist and guitarist’s other band, Neutron Hammer, but with a bit more melody.  Well, as long as the song material stays this good, I don’t really mind the similarities in sound.  The set list was comprised of songs from their brand new Black Flame Divination EP, along with the Sabbat and GG Allin covers, “Darkness and Evil” and “Bite It, You Scum”, respectively.

Whereas Crosswrecker’s new MCD had made it in time from the pressing plant, the other No Sign of Life band Frostbitten Kingdom had to play their record release gig without having any copies of their new album Infidel Angel to sell, so they threw some copies of their previous CD to the audience instead!  The small attendance wasn’t that surprising, as the band was clearly more modern in their style than most others on the festival bill, but the lack of audience didn’t prevent them from offering one of the most energetic stage performances of the weekend.  The speeches between the songs seemed to have a bit of an anti-Islam theme to them, with one of the tracks being dedicated “to the pedophile prophet Muhammad and his beautiful memory”.

I haven’t witnessed a bad show from the Turku thrashers Axegressor on those half a dozen occasions I’ve seen the band live, and their set on the Kvlt stage was no exception.  The songs from Command were played as tight as on record, but with even more rage and intensity, and a new song was also heard that Johnny Nuclear Winter dedicated to the festival organizers, this time naming it “Total Raisio Madness” for the occasion.

Goatmoon’s performance outdoors was not so surprisingly the first one of the day to attract significantly more watchers, as this one-man act from Lappeenranta has stormed its way to the frontline of Finnish underground black metal with two (white)powerful albums and a set of smaller releases.  While not being a frequent live act, this performance had been especially announced as the only one Goatmoon would do in Finland this year, and differing from their previous gigs.  As this was my first time seeing the band live, I can’t exactly tell how it differed, but at least there was a full-line up on stage, also including keyboards handled by Satanic Warmaster.  This enabled the Finnish Steel Storm material to be performed in its full majestic vigor, contrasted by the harsh primitivity of catchy Death Before Dishonour hymns such as “Blackmetal Winter” and “Kunnia, Armageddon!”.  BlackGoat Gravedesecrator is also a charismatic frontman, spewing his hateful message with impressive conviction and wrath, also inspiring his audience to controversial salutes throughout the gig.  [In reaction to these intolerant but oh-so-solidaritous gestures, the inside drinking area began to increasingly fill up with those of us who don’t support nor appreciate these ideals. ~ed]

While most funeral doom acts don’t seem to have much to offer to my tastebuds, Tampere’s Profetus are one of the exceptions that I’ve had the pleasure to come across.  Although this slowest band of the festival didn’t seem to attract much of an audience to the Kvlt stage, they did their best to drown the attendees in crushing, consciousness-devouring melancholia.  Despite the lack of a bassist, A. Mäkinen’s cavernous growls added plenty of low-end into the musical spectrum, completed by the funereal sound of S. Kujansuu’s organ.  The inclusion of Profetus certainly contributed a refreshing dose of a different kind of heaviness to the festival line-up.

The dutch black metal overlords Heretic were one of the bands I was looking forward to the most, as their venomously black rock’n’roll seemed ideal for a live situation.  I didn’t have to be disappointed as they launched an energetic set of a dozen unholy songs, including newer sing-along favorites such as “Gods n Slaves” and “Seven Hails to My Unholy Master”, as well as older classics like “Hellfire Satanist” and “I Bring Chaos”.  Whereas I don’t find the primitive harshness of Heretic’s early works very interesting, those songs stand strong among the newer ones when performed in the band’s current style, as shown both live and on re-recordings.  Playing “Gods n Slaves” for the second time as an encore was a bit confusing, but what the heck, for me this was still the most satisfying performance of the weekend.

Having just released their debut album, Vitsaus are yet another raw quality act of the Finnish underground.  As Heretic’s destructive show had sucked out most of my energy, I wasn’t feeling very receptive, and my unfamiliarity with Vitsaus’ songs didn’t help either.  Unlike at the previous gig I had seen them play at Gloria, this time the setting was much more in the band’s favor, though, with everything being in place soundwise as well.  Now that Horna’s future seems a bit uncertain, Vitsaus appear as a worthy successor to carry the torch of Finnish-sung black metal for years to come.

I wasn’t expecting much from the traditionally and strikingly simply-named Wolf, as these Swedes hadn’t really impressed me on record, despite having some enjoyable tunes here and there.  While their songs have a fair deal of juicy heavy metal riffs to offer, my dislike for some of the vocals had tended to come in the way.  However, with the lively and compelling show they gave on the Miasma stage, I think they just won me over!  The powerful execution of some of the catchiest Wolf tunes like “Hail Caesar” and “Evil Star”, along with the delightful energy and excitement easily sensed from the stage, made for an irresistible combo.  The bassist Anders took his energy and excitement off the stage as well, joyfully jamming around the audience with his instrument – they don’t call him “Tornado” for no reason!  [Along with the previous day’s Tribulation, Wolf gave perhaps the most charismatic performance of the festival, proving again that Swedes just do it better!  ~ed]

Next it was time to head inside for another highly anticipated Dutch act, the intoxicated black metal occultists Urfaust, whose last Finnish visit I had had the misfortune to miss.  While on their albums the band also has a fair share of instrumental ambient and orchestral sections, live this duo concentrated on what they do best: slow and hypnotic black metal with unique clean vocals.  This performance was clearly not about entertaining the audience with wild stage action, but filling the room with Urfaust’s one-of-a-kind atmosphere of madness and dread.  For the last song of the set, the band had a guest screamer doing a more aggressive and traditional style, and after exiting the stage, the duo soon returned to play the derangedly ecstatic “Drudenfuß”.

Grand Belial’s Key didn’t care to offer much of a “show” or “image” either, but knowing their statements about the “black 'glam rock' metal scene”, I wasn't even expecting one.  This US trio, enforced with Unhold of German Absurd on vocals, played their set with a rude attitude from start to finish, and let the songs do the talking.  Indeed, the band’s primary musical standout element is Gelal’s striking and original riffs, offering a wide range of different atmospheres, and keeping even lengthier tracks interesting.  While The Black Lourde of Crucifixion still remains my favourite GBK vocalist, Unhold had more strength in his voice than the now late Grimnir, and did a fairly good job at interpreting songs from throughout the band’s career, with the absolutely sacrilegious “Pimps of Gennesaret” marking my highlight of the set.

Italian Ad Hominem were the last band to play on the Kvlt stage inside, but having only been somewhat familiar with their debut, and not at all with the rest of their discography, seeing the band live didn’t seem like the best starting point to get deeper into their genocidal propaganda.  There wasn’t anything really wrong with Ad Hominem’s fast and precise black metal, but even at a festival like this, it’s hard to get excited about everything.  At least they were able to present a contrast to the couple previous acts' visually plain performances.

Saturday’s headliner Aura Noir, then again, was something that I knew even a novice like me would enjoy live, as this kind of black thrash attack was meant to be received loud and intoxicated.  This “the ugliest band in the world”, which I find to be more true in terms of their dirty musical expression than their looks, was playing Finland for the first time in their over 15-year long career, and covered all of it in their set.  Something was heard from all four full-lengths, with a good deal of older songs included as well, not forgetting the debut EP Dreams Like Deserts either.  While the dark outside setting was fairly suitable for the Norwegians’ filthy mangling, this weary hour wasn’t the right time for me to get overly excited about anything, so hopefully I’ll get another shot at it in a club environment some time...  After the last echoes of Aura Noir faded into the night of Lieto, we felt we had experienced enough of a festival already, and answered the dreamking’s call.

Looking back at the practical circumstances of the festival, it was overall respectably well-arranged, especially considering the event was taking place for the first time.  The festival bus system transporting people between Turku and Lieto worked fairly well, with the price of a roundtrip for each day being a reasonable five euros, and the ride being free for media people [maybe someone could have actually told us about this before we paid for it ~ed], although it would’ve been better if both of the busses were big, as the smaller one held fewer than 20 people.  Reasonable was also the ticket price, taking into account what an exclusive one-time line-up of underground metal was presented.

Whereas bringing your own alcohol to the festival grounds was naturally not allowed, it became clear already on Friday that the drinking areas should’ve been bigger, as they reached their maximum capacity during the later part of the day, even without the festival being sold out.  It also seemed that if you left to take a leak or photograph the band, they couldn’t “keep your spot”, but you had to go to the back of the line again if the bar area was full when you came back.  This was especially impractical as there were no bajamaja’s (=porta-potty’s) in the drinking areas.  At least the beer was nicely priced, costing five euros for half a liter, including a one euro pantti that you got back upon returning the empty can, and when other people were too lazy to take back their own, one could collect some more drinking money by cleaning the table of the empty abandoned cans...  Whereas the view to the stage from the inside intoxication box was decent, watching bands outside with a beer in your hand was quite impossible, as the drinking area was so far back and somewhat enclosed, which muffled the sound as well.  At least those who were okay with missing bands, as long as they could drink their own alcohol, could go back and forth between the festival and camping area as much as their thirst encouraged them to.

The food supply outside was disappointingly limited to one stand that was therefore able to charge somewhat unreasonable prices, not exactly making you want to buy anything, unless you were drunk enough to spill half of your miniature portion of pyttipannu onto the ground anyway.  Apart from that, a couple tents were selling records and shirts, including festival-themed rags with a nice design, and under the same tent with the optional coat check was a special little booth put up by some aryan out-of-towners selling swastika shirts and other related merchandise not probably found at your local rock shop.

Something that isn’t a given at a festival is a good, or even a decent sound, but in this sense I think Hammer did well.  It also seemed that some thought had been put into the dividing of bands between inside and outside, as acts like Profetus and Urfaust surely benefited from the darker and more intimate atmosphere of the Kvlt stage.  That side had a minor flaw, though, as its white back wall made the setting look somewhat industrial, and caused the pictures from that stage to turn out mostly dull and amateurish.  With every other band playing inside, and there being at least a five minute transition between all acts, the changes happened smoothly, and delays were avoided effectively.

For someone actively going to underground metal gigs, the festival wasn’t only an opportunity to see a bunch of interesting bands, but also a big social event.  Despite the fact that it was held on the same weekend as Sauna Open Air, the attendance was barely affected, as one could see nearly every one of those gig regulars gathered in the same place at once.  Therefore, balancing between mingling and watching bands wasn’t that easy, but maybe if we had camped, the dark hours of the night could’ve been spent on drinking with friends and strangers instead of wimpy activities like sleeping.  Camping might have seemed like a good option, indeed, if it hadn’t been for the...

Weather – can’t be blamed on the organizers, but it still sucked.  While Saturday turned out quite decent and bearable, on Friday the heavy rain made watching Pagan Altar seem very uninviting to a non-fan, whereas the heavens gently crying out for The Devil’s Blood added a suitable extra touch on their show.  Well, hopefully the weather will be more favorable next time, if there’ll be one.  At least I would gladly welcome Hammer Open Air to the group of yearly summer festivals as the one offering the most intriguing foreign underground acts along with Jalometalli, and completing the picture with first-rate Finnish bands in a way that makes for a groundbreaking event where every band is worth watching.