Frozen 

Sentenced tribute band
Bald Faced Stag, Sydney – 19th February 2010

Tonight was the big night for all those that consider themselves fans of Sentenced; an honorary tribute show organised by Dave Balfour to a fallen Finnish warrior of metal – Miika Tenkula. Enter Frozen, a band comprising ex and current members of some of Australia’s best known metal bands such as Nazxul, Lord, Darker Half, Lycanthia, Anno Domini and Rampage. These seasoned performers were sure not to disappoint.

Sentenced are one of those bands that I’d always heard cited as an influence by many bands I’ve seen and listen to. The band has been held within Australian metal circles with diehard reverence. I must admit that I am rather new to the phenomenon that is Sentenced, however upon being introduced to them in the latter half of last year I knew that we were in for something pretty special on the night of February 19th, 2010 at one of one of Sydney’s cosiest and most well received venues.

The metal scene in Sydney seems to be plagued with an extremely radical case of Murphy’s Law in the sense that there are either no gigs on a particular night or at least three. Unfortunately the force of this was extra strong on this particular evening and I was unable to witness the opening bands The Veil and Requiem of the Damned both of which I have experienced and heard good things about first hand and from a majority of the devout punters that attended the gig. Luckily I was able to arrive in the nick of time for Frozen’s set.

The ever-atmospheric opener ‘Kaamos’ had the rather packed Stag audience pumped for the Sentenced fest to come, as evidenced by the screams and manic shouts of mental fans all around. From the moment the drums kicked into ‘Farewell’, I knew that we would be in for a great show. Being familiar with most of the members of Frozen, I was very curious as to how singer Tim Yatras (Grey Waters, Ex-Nazxul, Ex-Lord/Dungeon) was going to handle Ville’s gruff and raspy vocals. As soon as his mouth opened, the crowd’s collective tension dropped (if there was any) and heads banged, fists pumped and copious amounts of alcoholic beverages were consumed to everyone’s delight. I was rather impressed with how similar Tim and Ville’s vocals were on the night and I am sure this was a major drawcard for how much everyone enjoyed the show on the night. The tribute was so convincing at times that if you shut your eyes you’d thing you were in Oulu, Finland witnessing the real thing.

Song after song of Sentenced classics pounded away by a comprehensively tight rhythm section consisting of Andrew Craig (Lycanthia, Hemina and Ex-Nevetherym) on drums and Daniel Kendall (Anno Domini) left the audience loud and proud to sing along to all the fist-pumping and deviously catchy Sentenced material; some of which had rarely been played live by the band in the entirety of their career. The music held back its intensity for a short moment when Frozen kicked into the dirty ballad ‘Despair-Ridden Hearts’ which was conveyed through an emotive performance by Yatras. The entire setlist was presented in a professional manner and with such mid song banter such as “No one leaves this place sober” which would have left Miika with a proud smile. It was great to see such a full band room at the Stag with everyone mirroring every one of Yatras’ words with profound gusto. I can still hear the crowd singing ‘Broken’ and the hair of many in the air during ‘Ever-Frost’. I am finding that I haven’t spoken enough about the axemen of the night. The guitar performances by Vo Simpson (Darker Half) and Chinch (Rampage) were really pertaining to the loose but right philosophy that can be heard on any Sentenced live recording that the fans know and love. The somewhat strange guitar lead parts sounded very true to the original recordings which instilled me with a great sense of respect for the dedication of these fans of Sentenced, putting on an admirable and accurate set for us all. Not to be ignored were the backing vocals by Simpson which really added to the sonic experience especially towards the tail of the set. Probably the thing that made me happiest was the sense of brotherhood that was shared amongst Frozen. They were all smiling or appropriately not and getting into it every second. Their individual and collective love for Miika and his music is undeniable.

There was a brief interlude which paved way for an encore segued with the instrumental track ‘Karu’. I felt as though the gap here didn’t quite leave the audience craving more songs as much as it could have. Despite this, the audience didn’t seem to mind skipping the mind games of a perceived end of set and were cool with the encore kicking in right away. An intriguing medley of the ‘Suicider’ and ‘Excuse Me While I Kill Myself’ had the fans right back into sing along territory with the choruses being screamed with an intense longing by all those that knew the words (and the ones that didn’t cared to give them a go). Concluding with ‘Noose’, the set seemed to end rather suddenly which is one of my only true criticisms for the entire show. I chose to explain this myself as Frozen letting the music speak for itself and not trying to take credit for any of it but merely offering it as a tribute to the band and a gift to the mourning fans of Miika and Sentenced. Notwithstanding the set ending feeling a bit anticlimactic for my liking, I think the show went of fantastically with all musicians holding their own in making this night a memorably one for all of those that have loved and still love a true gem of the Scandinavian metal world; Sentenced. The veterans loved it, the newcomers to the band were converted and Miika and the eclectic selection of the band’s back catalogue were honoured with due respect.

One thing I came to realise was that although Sentenced emerged from very heavy beginnings, it was not their sole motive to be ‘metaller than metal itself’. Miika and his boys just really wrote simple catchy songs from the heart which stick in your head indefinitely.

You will be remembered, Miika. I hope you would have loved that you’ve touched so many people from the other side of the globe and around the world with your music.

Setlist:

Intro: Kaamos
Farewell
Bleed
Vengeance is Mine
Blood & Tears
Dead Moon Rising
Despair-Ridden Hearts
Nepenthe
Broken
Ever-Frost
Bleed In My Arms
I’ll Throw the First Rock
No One There
Dead Leaves
May Today Become The Day

Encore

Intro: Karu
The Suicider/Excuse Me While I Kill Myself
Noose

Reviewed by Dougie

Videos courtesy of Dea @ www.mysticmetal.net.