For the second summer I decide to travel up north in August, destination Jalometalli, Oulu, where once again the organizers have gathered many interesting bands for the happiness of the Finns who are coming here from all over the country (not to mention the Australian guy who came all the way up here to see Archgoat!).
This is the last edition held at Club Teatria, which will be demolished soon, and it’s a pity that D.R.I. had to cancel their appearance, replaced however by the omnipresent Deathchain. The guys have yet another chance to promote their interesting new album, but the main attraction of the festival for many is certainly Slayer, for the first time in Finland without Hanneman, and with Bostaph replacing Lombardo at the drums. Anyhow, with bands like Orange Goblin, Voivod, Naglfar, Hobbs Angel of Death, Tankard, Lost Society, Holy Moses, there are the preconditions for a pretty good weekend, and it’s with this mindset that I head to the festival area soon after dropping my baggage at the hotel.
There is almost no time to even check the changes from last year (nothing major really, except the drinking area is bigger) as Impaled Nazarene is opening the festival when people is still queueing to enter. When watching IN "Suomi, Finland, Perkele" always comes to mind, and I must say they represent this saying pretty well. The band lead by Mika "Slutti666" Luttinen is a well known icon of the Finnish scene, and a very wisely-placed warm-up act to get things started here at Jalometalli. Entertaining gig as usual, with no big complains.
It has been really rare this year for me to check out the bands on the small outdoor stage, but I wanted to check out Ravage Machinery after some line-up changes that made the guys look for a new bass player when the vocalist stepped down, and the current bassist at the time took over vocal duties. The band also shifted more towards thrash influences in their death metal, making the music at least to me more appealing. Too bad the sounds were a bit fucked up.
Back now to the main stage where the Belgian Aborted carries on the promotion of their latest "Global Flatline". Honestly, I have never been much into the band, their concert was ok, but it didn’t really catch my attention for more then a few minutes. Also, the food stand was calling. But notably the singer’s poses and overall posture on stage reminded me of Meshuggah’s Jens Kidman.
Now it’s time for Lost Society, one of the revelations of this 2013, actually in the same day as the signer turns 18, these young thrashers from the city of Jyväskylä plays in the same festival with Slayer. Not bad as a birthday gift!
The energy and passion of these kids is definitely contagious, and every time generates a circle pit in the audience, although Finns behave surprisingly well in these occasions, if it were in central/southern europe there would be blood! In any case Lost Society manage again successfully to liven up the atmosphere, and once more I should stress that if you don’t know these guys yet, you should check them out!
Many bands coming from afar this year, first we begin with 3 Inches Of Blood, which sticks to your mind more for the name then the music. It isn’t actually bad at all, and being my first time to see them live, it was quite interesting, especially in noting the versatility of the singer Cam Pipes. This combination of power/heavy metal just maybe doesn’t fit in too well with the other bands of today, which makes it a bit on the minus side, but I’m sure in a different set up the guys could surely have a better impact on the festival. I will have to check them out again.
From the other side of the world, the Australian Slayer: Hobbs Angel Of Death! This I was really curious to see, and it actually exceeded my expectations. The newly reformed band seems will be releasing some new material next year, and in the meantime conquers the indoor stage with the classics from the self-titled album and the following "Inheritance". The band was a really nice addition to the festival line-up, and Peter Hobbs sure is a great, down-to-earth character, so much that he was hanging around talking with the fans all the weekend. For a moment I also manage to check out quickly Vorum’s show, but just a glimpse of it. Luckly I have their debut album with me, not bad for a death metal band coming from the Åland Islands.
But how do you top some good old-school thrash metal Slayer-style? with Slayer, of course! It’s clear how much of a more nostalgic impact has this concert after Jeff’s passing, the band though is a professional machine, and they don’t speak about it if not with their music. Obviously it’s many years that Slayer has started to lose its edge, as Araya is not 20 anymore, but just hearing those killer guitar riffs from Kerry King and Gary Holt is enough for the audience to get all fired up already from the get-go with "World Painted Blood", to explode then later after "War Ensemble". Tom Araya has a big smile on his face and doesn’t miss occasion to thank the fans, while King is just awesome by simply playing music. The set is quite varied, although "Reign…" and "Seasons…" are very well represented. Following "Raining Blood", the encore includes "South Of Heaven" and "Angel Of Death". The show ends with a projection on the backdrop dedicated to Hanneman, with his signature "Heineken"-like logo and the words "Angel of Death - Still Reigning". Respect, and one moment of silence for a musician who gave so much to the metal scene.
And now it’s time for some stoner metal, when Orange Goblin wraps up the first day of this year’s Jalometalli. It’s always a pleasure to see Ben Ward and Co. performing, and this time is no exception. The setlist is focused mostly on the latest records, and this year the band released the live album from last year’s Bloodstock gig to promote "A Eulogy For The Damned". At this point I start to feel the fatigue from the day (and some headbanging during Slayer) and so I decide to watch most of the gig quietly from the drinking area with a beer in my hand. The performance was overall pretty good, despite not so many people stayed actually until the end, heading towards the bars in the center. A very nice gig, including songs like "Made Of Rats", "Cozmo Bozo", "Quincy The Pigboy", and ending with "Red Tide Rising", and a suitable closure for this day.
As I look for a place where to get some food I’m still humming some Orange Goblin, but the main attraction of the day for most was obviously Slayer. Who knows for how long actually the band will keep going now… But the next day I look forward to more thrash, and especially Tankard, but also many other interesting acts!
See all the photos from Friday here:
Jalometalli 2013 - Day 1 (09.08.2013)
Report a cura di Marco Manzi
Siamo alla ricerca di un nuovo addetto per la sezione DEMO, gli interessati possono contattare lo staff di Holy Metal, nel frattempo la sezione demo rimane temporaneamente chiusa.