Finntroll

w/ Claim The Throne, Bane Of Isildur

Manning Bar, Camperdown (Sydney) – 26th March 2011

With all the thrash, black, and death metal that regularly makes it to our shores, it’s always a nice break when we receive something a tad out of the ordinary. Last year saw bands such as Turisas and Alestorm pillage, plunder and drink our nation dry. Now it was Finnish pagan folk metal group Finntroll’s turn! Emerging from the “deep woods” of Helsinki, Finland’s capital, Finntroll ventured down under for the first time in their 14 year career in support of their latest opus, ‘Nifelvind’, and they absolutely blew the Sydney crowd away!

Known for their superb choice in choosing fitting support acts for touring bands, tour organiser’s Soundworks chose two extremely suitable opening bands to support the mighty Finns. First up was Sydney locals Bane Of Isildur who recently released their debut full-length, ‘Black Wings’. Clad in their battle attire and war paint, Bane Of Isildur took to the stage with a commanding presence, kicking straight into their blend of triumphant war metal. The local lads did a great job of warming up the audience, which was already rather large for so early in the night, a great sign of an opening band doing their job right. They played a tight set that lasted around half an hour, and by the influx of Bane Of Isildur shirts I saw people wearing afterwards, they definitely impressed the crowd.

Up next all the way from Western Australia was Perth’s Claim The Throne who received the national support slot for the tour. Take a bit of folk metal and mix it with a bit of death metal, and you’ll get a great idea of what style these guys play which was the right blend for this show. Claim The Throne managed to feed the hungry audience who were obviously in the mood for crowd participation, seeing the nature of the show, and they were rewarded greatly. The band played a set that consisted of drinking medleys, battle hymns, and straight out folk jigs that quickly turned into crushing death metal. Vocalist Baronaxe managed to entertain the crowd in between each track in his hoarse, pirate-sounding speech and even had a few of the members partake in a beer bong which definitely enticed my parched mouth. Claim The Throne did a great job of working the crowd with hands constantly in the air clapping to each beat and shouting out the lyrics, even if some members of the crowd didn’t exactly know the words. After they finished, I’m sure Finntroll would have been satisfied back stage knowing they were about to face a well warmed up crowd!

Staring up at the stage with the dimmed lights showing an epic backdrop of a Medusa-esque troll-like creature dwelling in the woods, a crack of the PA coming alive with the intro song Blodmarsch suddenly sends the crowd into a frenzied machine, ready for the folk onslaught they’re about to receive. The members of Finntroll stroll onto the stage with grins on their faces and kick straight into the superb track Solsagan, the single from their latest album ‘Nifelvind’. Now while the venue wasn’t at capacity, there was definitely a decent sized crowd gathered for Finntroll. And it showed as from the moment they kicked into their set, the ground floor became an accumulation of amazing circle pits, crowdsurfers, dance circles and people doing little random jigs, which all blended into one crazy party of epic yet harmonious proportions.

To my surprise, Finntroll played a very vast set, encompassing a great amount of material from throughout their career. One album that received a lot of attention was ‘Nattfödd’ from which four tracks were played, all extremely well received, especially the fan favourite, Trollhammaren, which sent the already hyperactive crowd into overdrive! A good mix of old and new tracks were evenly played through the set, which is something I always love to see from a band when they visit our shores for the first time.

The band themselves were quite energetic, but none so much as frontman Vreth. The man is a machine! Endless headbanging, roaring out lyrics, and keeping the crowd singing and entertained in one seemless motion seems like an impossible task, but Vreth managed to do it the entire set. On the other end of the scales and my real beef with the show was drummer Beast Dominator. Don’t get me wrong, the man is absolutely insane on the drums, with both arms and feet never seeming to stop, but the guy just looks bored up there. Stage presence is a big thing I look for in live shows, especially when it comes to a folk metal band. But at least he didn’t miss a beat the entire show, and his drumming is unparalleled.

They ended the set with a favourite classic known as Jaktens Tid, which was the perfect farewell after a flawless set. Finntroll definitely received a crowd response worthy of wanting to return to Australia for each album tour from here on in. Let’s hope they remember us next world tour as I’m sure they’ll receive an even bigger response next time around.

Finntroll’s Setlist

Intro: Blodmarsch
1. Solsagan
2. Slaget vid blodsälv
3. Skogens hämnd
4. Den frusna munnen
5. Nedgång
6. Ett norrskensdåd
7. Nattfödd
8. Midnattens widunder
9. Eliytres
10. Grottans barn
11. Trollhammaren
12. Under bergets rot
13. Mot skuggornas värld
14. Maktens spira

Encore:
15. Dråp
16. Jaktens tid