It is unfortunately not the first time that the Markthalle was not really crowded whilst pagan-/folk-metal bands were playing. Too bad, as two of the bands of the evening were worth more than their money.
CRIMFALL The Finns were for the first time on tour outside from Finland and had to deal with a 100 strong audience. But those were, however, after two songs succumbed by the charm of this band. The cute little singer, Helena Haaparanta delivered together with the hulking Mikko Häkkinen a beautiful vocal combination, although she was very visibly nervous. She dropped her microphone and moved her lips also in passages, where she wasn´t singing at all. The performance went really well nevertheless.
Photo: Samira Alinto
The mastermind of the band, guitarist Jakke Viitala, has composed some beautiful symphonic songs which sound typically Finnish, without copying anyone too hard. In "Frost Upon Their Graves" you can notice a strong influence of Moonsorrow, but then again – they are on tour with Moonsorrow and might catch some of their fans for themselves here. They aren´t epic - as the band describes their style themself -, but fans of bands like Leaves Eyes, and folk metal are definitely in the right place here and should keep an eye on this young band. Nice start of the evening!
MOONSORROW It was a little surprise to see Moonsorrow as next act on stage. Moonsorrow and Tyr were both headlining in exchange. The audience got their arses quickly to the stage and the number of people grew up to about 350 people while the first notes were played by Moonsorrow to celebrate them as they deserve it.
Photo: Samira Alinto
Here you can see what enthusiasm and professionalism – they played like it would be a sold out place – can do to an audience. There was a little mosh pit, and an enthusiastic Hamburg audience. Light and sound were almost perfect and the song selection from the haunting "Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa" and goose bump -like songs, as in "Jotunheim" allowed a peak at their full bandwidth, leaving no unfulfilled wishes. Okay, a little longer would have been nice, but there was still a band afterwards. The last song was worthy to be the final one. "Kuolleiden Maa", catchy and quiet, slowly building up to show in this exciting masterpiece Moonsorrow´s dark metal side. A really nice and - even one is sorry for the band because of the small number of audience - very intimate gig which delighted the Moonsorrow fans.
TİR A lot of the Moonsorrow-fans were returning to the bar to have a post party drink, which led the Gods of fight (translated plural of Tır) to face approximately 100 people as audience. Unlike their Finnish colleagues Crimfall and Moonsorrow (okay, Moonsorrow also had a larger audience), the Faroe Islanders did not just look super pissed off, but they seemed to really be it. As if it were some conspiracy against them, the sound was worse than poor. From song to song, the mood on stage dropped and as a reaction to this also audience got more and more upset. Only bassist Gunnar H. Thomsen gave his best by remaining cheerful and entertaining, so points for him.
Photo: Samira Alinto
The song "Shadow of the Swastika," was announced with the words "We´ll play this in Berlin also", by singer and fresh citizen of Hamburg, Heri Joensen. Most probably someone in the audience must have misinterpreted it once again. Just like it happened in 2008, when the tour of these two bands was verbally attacked, due to a general lack of knowledge and missing research. It´s really no secret that Hitler and his cohorts, used the old symbols, runes and letters for themselves and perverted them. They are way older and have different meanings. If one would think first before trying to slander and count 1+1 together: Pagan Folk Metal + runes =? Very annoying! In my eyes is the work of these organizations good and important, but such actions deprive them of their credibility. Very bad! I´ve copy-pasted the lyrics of the song "Shadow Of The Swastika" and a link to a video statement from Ville Sorvali and Heri Joensen of 2008 in order to have also the last one to understand that these bands have nothing to do with Nazis, the radical right wing or xenophobia. On the contrary!
But back to the concert. The song selection of Tyr was less than moderate. Only English titles, though most of Tyr-lovers are attracted by their archaic language in combination with their music. No Faroese song in the whole set and even towards the end, when everyone screamed for “Smiğur Regin," there was no concession from the band. With the rather banal "By The Sword In My Hand" ended a very unsatisfactory performance by the quartet.
Conclusion: The crappy performance of Tır lowered my score for this evening. If it would have been only about Crimfall and Moonsorrow, I would have given 9 out of 10.
Here is the video statement from Ville and the Heri as reaction of the accusation of BIFFF (Berlin Institute for Fascism Research) and Antifa (Anti-Fascist Action) from 2008.
And here you can simply read the lyrics of the song "Shadow Of The Swastika" :
You who think the hue of your hide means you are to blame
And your father´s misdeeds are his son´s to carry in shame
Not mine I´ll take no part
You can shove the sins of the your father where no light may pass
And kiss my Scandinavian ass
Pages of the past
How long will they last?
A lie lost in the legacy of fools left us this parody unsurpassed
Pages of the past
How long will they last?
The shadow of the Swastika by fools´ fears now for far too long has been cast
You who think the hue of your hide means you get to blame
The black for your own faults and so bring humanity shame
Make sure you count me out of the ranks of your inbred morons
With your sewer gas and kiss my Scandinavian ass
Pages of the past
How long will they last?
A lie lost in the legacy of fools left us this parody unsurpassed
Pages of the past
How long will they last?
The shadow of the Swastika by fools´ fears now for far too long has been cast
Pages of the past
How long will they last?
A lie lost in the legacy of fools left us this parody unsurpassed
Pages of the past
How long will they last?
The shadow of the Swastika by fools´ fears now for far too long has been cast
Samira Alinto
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