Metal Temple's Paganfest Review with Photos

Dolamite S. Biffle · May 12th, 2008, 01:26 PM

Lineup: ENSIFERUM / TURISAS / TYR / ELUVEITIE / EARTHEN

My love for Folk Metal started with SKYCLAD and their excellent second album "A Burnt Offering For A Bone Idol" back in 1992. So, I was more than eager to cover Chicago’s ’Pagan Fest’ for the METAL TEMPLE with the help of my fellow templar Ian. I got at The Pearl Room and met Ian who told me that I had just lost the local band EARTHEN who were the latest addition to the festival’s billing.

(Ian talks) EARTHEN was the opening act and actually they were pretty good. An interesting mix of female and male vocals with the Folk Metal vibe that was consistent throughout the evening. It was in my understanding that the male vocalist was a fill-in since their original vocalist couldn’t get off work; whatever the case was I thought he did a great job. The female vocalist had all kinds of stage presence with headbanging and actually getting the crowd involved.

(Dimitris reports) ELUVEITIE was the first band for me to watch and I can say for the very beginning I was totally surprised. During the preparation of the stage I counted 8 persons that were setting up their gear! They had some non-Metal instruments (some of them I could not identify) like the custom made "Hurdy-gurdy" (I learned about this on their website), a gaita, a violin and several types of flutes. The 8 piece band was full of energy and was dancing all over the stage that turned to be too small to hold them. The strong melodic lines combined to the harsh vocals and solid guitars really heated up the atmosphere. I really enjoyed the catchy and up-lifting melody of "Inis Mona" and banged my head during the groovy and faster "Gray Sublime Archon". I am sure that the band earned some supporters that night and they totally deserved it.

(Ian adds) I agree with Dimitris 1000% on ELUVEITIE. Lots of moving, lots of energy and lots of rocking out done by the crowd. Everyone in the place was moving in some way. Its truly awesome to see people having fun at Metal shows without having to mosh and do stupid shit even though there was some moshing that I could see. "Inis Mona" was totally the highlight of their set, which is why they opened with it. I was only familiar to 3 songs from their set list so I didn’t enjoy the set as much as I could have.

(Dimitris speaks) Next, on the program were TYR a band that hails from the non-traditional Metal country Faeroe Islands (thanks Greg). This band was kind of unlucky to play after ELUVEITIE who had performed with that high energy and spirit. Although, they had a solid sound with some pretty good guitar leads they failed to follow the already high spirit by choosing mid tempo songs. This eventually held back the audience that seemed to have lost some of their interest. The only exceptions were the excellent "Hail To The Hammer" that made most of us sing the chorus lines and the Epic "Ragnarok". I bet that in different conditions the band would have a better luck. I will definitely check them out!

(Ian notes) I have been a fan of TYR for a long time and I was kind of afraid how they would go over after watching ELUVEITIE as well as the poor reports that was I hearing from the East Coast shows. I thought musically they were great, but they just followed the wrong band and lost the interest of the people. Though they did try to get the crowd involved with a decent amount of movement about the stage. The bassist made a variety of ridiculous faces that brought a smile to my face and a fist in the air.

(Dimitris’ words) I was kind of expecting to see live TURISAS especially after the very good impressions from "The Varangian Way" that sounded way better than their debut "Battle Metal". The band from Finland entered the stage in their barbaric outfits with leather and fur and painted with red based colors. The energetic entrance met the audience’s excitement and created a really heated up atmosphere. Mathias Nygεrd turned to be a very good frontman who built a straightforward connection to the audience. The songs were excellent to sing along and so we did, during "To Holmgard And Beyond" and "A Portage To The Unknown" while we danced our asses off with the accordion driven "In The Court Of Jarisleif". Mathias said some bad things about the US beers (I totally agreed with him!) and praised the European ones just before "One More". Of course, the hit of their performance was their cover version to "Rasputin" that was enthusiastically welcomed by almost everyone. Their setlist ended with "Battle Metal" leaving excellent impressions to everyone especially with their vigorous on-stage performance.

(Ian says) Can you say "stole the show"? That is precisely what TURISAS did. They were absolutely amazing from the face paint and fur to the chanting choruses and overall presence on stage. They were everything I could have hoped for and more except they didn’t play "Cursed Be The Iron". They redeemed themselves by playing "One More" and "To Holmgard and Beyond". The accordionist I was sure how that would work live, but of course it fitted just like a glove. You have to see this band if love to drink and have a great time at a metal show.

(Dimitris...)The headliners were ENSIFERUM a band that also hails from Finland. I was quite surprise to realize that this band had some pretty solid fan base here at Chicago who were anticipating to watch them on stage. The five piece band entered the stage wearing something like kilts made of the Finnish flag. Even though their on-stage presence was nothing really special (especially the singer was kind of stationary) their performance and sound was solid as hell. One exception from the mediocre on-stage presence was the beautiful keyboard player that disappointedly remained on the back during the whole show. Without many or long pauses the band played songs like "Token of Time", "One More Magic Potion", "Victory Song" and "Dragonheads" that gave an the US metalheads the perfect excuse to form some mosh pits and sweat a little bit more. and "Battle Song" that comes from their debut album was the last of their setlist that I think satisfied everyone (including me).

(Ian talks) The Finnish Folk Metal masters ENSIFERUM were fucking great as well to continue the trend that was the entire evening. Easily the highlight was "One More Magic Potion" getting everyone that was in attendance (approx. 700) on their feet and shaking their asses. Their presence is where I have to disagree with Dimitris, I thought they did a great job even though there was little movement. Even when they were stationary they were still ripping apart their guitars. I would have liked to see the keyboardist come to the forefront though.

(Dimitris concludes) To sum things up Paganfest was way better than I expected with some of the leading bands in the growing Folk Metal scene. As a conclusion I can say that this kind of music is million times better to listen live since you can sing and why not dance to.

(Ian closes the report) ’Paganfest’ was one the best concerts I have been to and I thoroughly hope there will be a another ’Paganfest’ tour soon. And according to the rumors that I heard stirring about the venue was KORPIKLAANI will be headlining a tour this fall. :crosses fingers: I also want to thanks CR&J Promotions for bringing the show to Chicago and putting our metal asses on the guest list.

nailz · May 12th, 2008, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolamite S. Biffle

Oh god put on a shirt, please.

Seriously, whats with all the guys without shirts playing to a house of mostly guys?

PurpleCrayonWriter · May 12th, 2008, 03:37 PM

Nice photos!

A solid review of a fantastic evening.

My wife and I spent time with Eluveitie the afternoon of the gig. I briefly recapped some of the highlights on my MySpace page. I also uploaded a bunch of Eluveitie photos to a photo album on my page. I have some awesome clips (with bassist Rafi Kirder's blessing) from that night, too, including the entire "Inis Mona" opening number. As soon as I figure out how to compress 468MB into something that can be uploaded to MySpace or YouTube, I'll do so.

AngraRULES · May 12th, 2008, 03:39 PM

I hate you all for being able to go to this tour.

I usually don't bitch about not being able to go to shows, but this one you'll hear me whining for a long time.

TBJ · May 12th, 2008, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolamite S. Biffle

(Ian closes the report) ’Paganfest’ was one the best concerts I have been to and I thoroughly hope there will be a another ’Paganfest’ tour soon.

I second this.

TBJ · May 12th, 2008, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nailz

Oh god put on a shirt, please.

Seriously, whats with all the guys without shirts playing to a house of mostly guys?

Whats the big deal? do shirtless guys stir up some weird feelings that you are not ready to address?

Hooray for beer-gutted metal heads.

AngraRULES · May 12th, 2008, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolamite S. Biffle

(Ian closes the report) ’Paganfest’ was one the best concerts I have been to and I thoroughly hope there will be a another ’Paganfest’ tour soon. And according to the rumors that I heard stirring about the venue was KORPIKLAANI will be headlining a tour this fall. :crosses fingers: I also want to thanks CR&J Promotions for bringing the show to Chicago and putting our metal asses on the guest list.

I hope your balls fall off.

rms · May 12th, 2008, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngraRULES

I hate you all for being able to go to this tour.

I usually don't bitch about not being able to go to shows, but this one you'll hear me whining for a long time.

There's a new one(and the Euro version is way better than the Euro paganfest) coming later this year...hopefully better bands will be on it! It's called Heidenfest(atleast the Euro one) and Primordial/Manegarm/Equilibrium are touring Europe, gotta say thats a fucking amazing lineup...and 2 other bands but I think it was like Turisas and someone else idk

AngraRULES · May 12th, 2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rms

There's a new one(and the Euro version is way better than the Euro paganfest) coming later this year...hopefully better bands will be on it! It's called Heidenfest(atleast the Euro one) and Primordial/Manegarm/Equilibrium are touring Europe, gotta say thats a fucking amazing lineup...and 2 other bands but I think it was like Turisas and someone else idk

I heard about it and am excited about that one too. But I want to see this Paganfest!

TBJ · May 12th, 2008, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngraRULES

I heard about it and am excited about that one too. But I want to see this Paganfest!

Where do u live dude, the tour isnt over, you still got a chance!

May 12th, 2008, 01:26 PM	#1 (permalink)
Dolamite S. Biffle Biffliest Person Ever Join Date: May 2005 Location: Atlantis Posts: 2,799	Metal Temple's Paganfest Review with Photos Lineup: ENSIFERUM / TURISAS / TYR / ELUVEITIE / EARTHEN My love for Folk Metal started with SKYCLAD and their excellent second album "A Burnt Offering For A Bone Idol" back in 1992. So, I was more than eager to cover Chicago’s ’Pagan Fest’ for the METAL TEMPLE with the help of my fellow templar Ian. I got at The Pearl Room and met Ian who told me that I had just lost the local band EARTHEN who were the latest addition to the festival’s billing. (Ian talks) EARTHEN was the opening act and actually they were pretty good. An interesting mix of female and male vocals with the Folk Metal vibe that was consistent throughout the evening. It was in my understanding that the male vocalist was a fill-in since their original vocalist couldn’t get off work; whatever the case was I thought he did a great job. The female vocalist had all kinds of stage presence with headbanging and actually getting the crowd involved. (Dimitris reports) ELUVEITIE was the first band for me to watch and I can say for the very beginning I was totally surprised. During the preparation of the stage I counted 8 persons that were setting up their gear! They had some non-Metal instruments (some of them I could not identify) like the custom made "Hurdy-gurdy" (I learned about this on their website), a gaita, a violin and several types of flutes. The 8 piece band was full of energy and was dancing all over the stage that turned to be too small to hold them. The strong melodic lines combined to the harsh vocals and solid guitars really heated up the atmosphere. I really enjoyed the catchy and up-lifting melody of "Inis Mona" and banged my head during the groovy and faster "Gray Sublime Archon". I am sure that the band earned some supporters that night and they totally deserved it. (Ian adds) I agree with Dimitris 1000% on ELUVEITIE. Lots of moving, lots of energy and lots of rocking out done by the crowd. Everyone in the place was moving in some way. Its truly awesome to see people having fun at Metal shows without having to mosh and do stupid shit even though there was some moshing that I could see. "Inis Mona" was totally the highlight of their set, which is why they opened with it. I was only familiar to 3 songs from their set list so I didn’t enjoy the set as much as I could have. (Dimitris speaks) Next, on the program were TYR a band that hails from the non-traditional Metal country Faeroe Islands (thanks Greg). This band was kind of unlucky to play after ELUVEITIE who had performed with that high energy and spirit. Although, they had a solid sound with some pretty good guitar leads they failed to follow the already high spirit by choosing mid tempo songs. This eventually held back the audience that seemed to have lost some of their interest. The only exceptions were the excellent "Hail To The Hammer" that made most of us sing the chorus lines and the Epic "Ragnarok". I bet that in different conditions the band would have a better luck. I will definitely check them out! (Ian notes) I have been a fan of TYR for a long time and I was kind of afraid how they would go over after watching ELUVEITIE as well as the poor reports that was I hearing from the East Coast shows. I thought musically they were great, but they just followed the wrong band and lost the interest of the people. Though they did try to get the crowd involved with a decent amount of movement about the stage. The bassist made a variety of ridiculous faces that brought a smile to my face and a fist in the air. (Dimitris’ words) I was kind of expecting to see live TURISAS especially after the very good impressions from "The Varangian Way" that sounded way better than their debut "Battle Metal". The band from Finland entered the stage in their barbaric outfits with leather and fur and painted with red based colors. The energetic entrance met the audience’s excitement and created a really heated up atmosphere. Mathias Nygεrd turned to be a very good frontman who built a straightforward connection to the audience. The songs were excellent to sing along and so we did, during "To Holmgard And Beyond" and "A Portage To The Unknown" while we danced our asses off with the accordion driven "In The Court Of Jarisleif". Mathias said some bad things about the US beers (I totally agreed with him!) and praised the European ones just before "One More". Of course, the hit of their performance was their cover version to "Rasputin" that was enthusiastically welcomed by almost everyone. Their setlist ended with "Battle Metal" leaving excellent impressions to everyone especially with their vigorous on-stage performance. (Ian says) Can you say "stole the show"? That is precisely what TURISAS did. They were absolutely amazing from the face paint and fur to the chanting choruses and overall presence on stage. They were everything I could have hoped for and more except they didn’t play "Cursed Be The Iron". They redeemed themselves by playing "One More" and "To Holmgard and Beyond". The accordionist I was sure how that would work live, but of course it fitted just like a glove. You have to see this band if love to drink and have a great time at a metal show. (Dimitris...)The headliners were ENSIFERUM a band that also hails from Finland. I was quite surprise to realize that this band had some pretty solid fan base here at Chicago who were anticipating to watch them on stage. The five piece band entered the stage wearing something like kilts made of the Finnish flag. Even though their on-stage presence was nothing really special (especially the singer was kind of stationary) their performance and sound was solid as hell. One exception from the mediocre on-stage presence was the beautiful keyboard player that disappointedly remained on the back during the whole show. Without many or long pauses the band played songs like "Token of Time", "One More Magic Potion", "Victory Song" and "Dragonheads" that gave an the US metalheads the perfect excuse to form some mosh pits and sweat a little bit more. and "Battle Song" that comes from their debut album was the last of their setlist that I think satisfied everyone (including me). (Ian talks) The Finnish Folk Metal masters ENSIFERUM were fucking great as well to continue the trend that was the entire evening. Easily the highlight was "One More Magic Potion" getting everyone that was in attendance (approx. 700) on their feet and shaking their asses. Their presence is where I have to disagree with Dimitris, I thought they did a great job even though there was little movement. Even when they were stationary they were still ripping apart their guitars. I would have liked to see the keyboardist come to the forefront though. (Dimitris concludes) To sum things up Paganfest was way better than I expected with some of the leading bands in the growing Folk Metal scene. As a conclusion I can say that this kind of music is million times better to listen live since you can sing and why not dance to. (Ian closes the report) ’Paganfest’ was one the best concerts I have been to and I thoroughly hope there will be a another ’Paganfest’ tour soon. And according to the rumors that I heard stirring about the venue was KORPIKLAANI will be headlining a tour this fall. :crosses fingers: I also want to thanks CR&J Promotions for bringing the show to Chicago and putting our metal asses on the guest list. __________________ Visit http://www.metal-temple.com, for the latest album reviews and metal headlines. “Its all about escapism,” says Scott Waldrop, guitarist for Twisted Tower Dire. It’s the antithesis of bands like R.E.M. or Pearl Jam. For me, Power Metal, or traditional Metal, is like a soundtrack for slaying the singer of Creed." "Dude, can you shut the fuck up for the next 3min and 12 seconds so I can play the next fucking song?!?" - Jon Oliva

May 12th, 2008, 03:37 PM	#3 (permalink)
PurpleCrayonWriter Just a Kid at Heart Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan Posts: 762	Nice photos! A solid review of a fantastic evening. My wife and I spent time with Eluveitie the afternoon of the gig. I briefly recapped some of the highlights on my MySpace page. I also uploaded a bunch of Eluveitie photos to a photo album on my page. I have some awesome clips (with bassist Rafi Kirder's blessing) from that night, too, including the entire "Inis Mona" opening number. As soon as I figure out how to compress 468MB into something that can be uploaded to MySpace or YouTube, I'll do so. __________________ Visit Metal-Zen for ProgPower USA IX (2008) Interviews Visit Dark Rhapsody for ProgPower USA VIII (2007) Interviews Visit Notes From The Other Side for ProgPower USA VII (2006) Interviews Proud Member of the Glenn Harveston ROCKS Fan Club MySpace MetalWyrd

May 12th, 2008, 03:39 PM	#4 (permalink)
AngraRULES In Absentia Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Asgard Posts: 4,460	I hate you all for being able to go to this tour. I usually don't bitch about not being able to go to shows, but this one you'll hear me whining for a long time.