Live Reviews : Turisas (Melbourne) – 23/05/2010

TURISAS
w/ Be’lakor and Dead Letter Opener
Billboard The Venue, Melbourne – 23rd May 2010

Fans of folk or viking metal don’t have it easy in this country. There aren’t many local bands doing it, nor are there many international acts touring here. Earlier in the year we had Ensiferum break the drought, and now Turisas follow that up.

I’m sure most of you will agree that support choices never seem to actually be appropriate, but that was certainly not the case on this tour; with two superbly chosen national supports. First up, Brisbane’s Dead Letter Opener were met with a fairly cold response to start with but definitely had a few new fans by the end. Being right up the front I obviously wasn’t expecting perfect sound, but unfortunately from where I was, the guitars were almost completely buried behind the massive drums and bass, with only the higher cleans being easily audible. While it was a shame that the intricacies of such a creative death metal band were hidden because of that, their set was still quite enjoyable. They could not have been any tighter and the quirkiness of their music really comes across in the live setting, with their varied sound making for a thoroughly entertaining set.

Melbourne’s Be’lakor hit the stage next, and after some extremely odd sound issues (mainly with the drums) in the early part of the set, they fired through a great set of tracks with the power and ease that fans have come to expect from them. Again, the sound was a tad unbalanced from where I was, but chances are it was better a bit further back. With a great choice of tracks and clearly a lot of fans in the audience, it was a set that’s hard to fault. While I’m sure most Metal Obsession readers are well aware of the band, if you aren’t, why the fuck not?!

After an all-too-long break with a hell of an intro track, Finland’s Turisas blasted onto stage with “To Holmgard and Beyond” kicking things off.  With smiles across the faces of everybody in the room, both on stage and on the floor, and a real buzz of energy, it was obvious that it was going to be a fun night. To put it quite simply; few bands are more fit for the stage than Turisas. Every band member looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves with frontman Mathias and accordionist Netta in particular constantly interacting with the crowd. They were constantly moving and enticing the crowd to sing and dance, which unsurprisingly tended to turn into more of a mosh. I don’t think Australian crowds are really used to the concept of actual dancing.

The setlist was a great set of old and new with the focus clearly being on having a good old jig. Both the epicness of tracks like “Miklagard Overture” and the pure thrill of “In The Court of Jarisleif” and their famous Boney M “Rasputin” cover (which had the crowd dancing in circles) were mindblowing in different ways. Surprisingly, the closing track “Battle Metal” (the bands trademark song) was actually one of the least exciting, and really showed how much the band have developed their songwriting between albums.

It’s hard to truly explain the joy that folk elements really bring to the live setting, but it really is an experience. Their sound was absolutely huge with a thick layer of keyboards giving the band and almighty presence that really did feel as monstrous as the battles their music is based on. While the crowd definitely wasn’t the biggest I’ve seen at Billboard, hopefully it was just enough to encourage more bands of this nature to tour our shores. It really is a genre meant for the stage, and Turisas proved that. Kudos to Soundwave Touring for saving this tour, we all owe you a beer.

You can view more photos at http://www.metalobsession.net/gallery?album=8&gallery=137#

Turisas setlist:

To Holmgard and Beyond
A Portage to the Unknown
The Messenger
One More
In the Court of Jarisleif
Rex Regi Rebellis
Miklagard Overture
Sahti-Waari

Rasputin (Boney M. cover)
Battle Metal