Living in Finland, by Lady Enslain

TUSKA 2009 – Pt.2: Candlemass Still Lives

August 1, 2009 at 12:18 pm (Gig & Festival Reviews)

As the Tuska Festival is located in the heart of Finland’s capital, there are noise restrictions to follow, and music is to stop playing by ten (earlier than most normal Finnish gigs begin).  This gives the opportunity (and almost the responsibility) to arrange after shows, or jatkoklubit, with bands who could have easily been booked on the open-air stages, but instead perform an intimate, though usually sold-out, club gig.

The official jatkoklubit were held at Nosturi, Tavastia, and Dante’s Highlight.  Independently arranged and unsanctioned aftergigs were also happening, among other places, at Darkside.  For Thursday, June 27th, the day before Tuska’s main stages were opening, some gig choices were Kotiteollisuus at On the Rocks, Norther debuting their new singer at Virgin Oil, and Candlemass at Tavastia.  Knowing there will be other opportunities to see homegrown talent, Candlemass was today’s winner.

The gig began quite late for a work night, but that’s to be expected.  Opening was Scott Kelly, Neurosis’ vocalist.  Playing guitar.  By hisself.  Perhaps that would have been cool to watch for a minute or two, but I had no interest in finding out, and I’ve heard later that it wasn’t quite so captivating after all.  When I did arrive, just in time to miss the yawn-fest, I was pleased and overjoyed that, by showing our Tuska press passes, we were allowed in to Tavastia without paying for narikka (coat-check entrance-fee).

I didn’t come to the gig with much pre-knowledge of Candlemass, other than their being a classic epic doom metal band, and having influenced decades of similar-genred acts.  That’s enough to demand some respect, and for me to overlook as a handful of old guys appeared on the stage.  I suppose that’s what naturally happens when you’ve been in a band for 25 years, your hairline is gonna be affected.  But it’s also really inspiring to think that there’s still life and passion left when you’re that old.  (Damn, I sound like a little brat!)  And although they were visually nothing special, surely the fans weren’t giving a damnicus.

Vocalist Robert Lowe, also vocalist of Texas’ Solitude Aeturnus, had only recently joined this Swedish band, but sounded like he was destined for Candlemass.  His powerful lungs emitted clean, soaring notes, reaching straight to the soul of anyone who had one.  These loud, strong melodies above heavy, heavy riffing made for an excellent mix, as many later doomish bands surely noticed and replicated.

Lowe also had an interesting look and act, with his wispy long white hair and black nail polish, and his creepy habit of rolling his eyes back and showing the disturbing whites as if in some kind of trance.  Stranger was his two-finger-pointing thing (think flight attendant), that you did not want directing towards you.  He might know some dark rituals or such that you don’t wanna be the victim of.

What I liked were his speeches, which I knew that most Finns were not at all understanding.  Being a Texan, or an American in general, it’s easy to think that everyone understands your accent or colloquial phrases or slangs.  They don’t.  They didn’t know what he was talking about when he said something, and then said “psyche!”.  They didn’t know what he meant when asked, while suffering from the joint’s extreme temperature, “what would you think about an A.C. unit in this place” (why would a Finn need to know what A.C. is?  We don’t condition our air here).  But hey, America taught us to be that ignorant.

There were some particularly amusing incidents during the gig.  During “Hammer of Doom”, some shirtless guy climbs to the stage, jumps into the crowd, and the sparsely filled front area parts even further, and the guy thuds audibly on the hard floor.  Or maybe it wasn’t audible, but I certainly felt it from the other side of the room.  Then, before their encore, some chick from the audience gets on stage and practically mauls the vocalist, hugging him and not leaving until the end of the song!  He took it like a champ, though.

And finally, the encore: “Solitude”.  How cool was that, and how great of a tribute, for Candlemass to come to Finland and cover a Swallow the Sun song.  Wait, what?  Ohhhh, that’s StS that covered Candlemass!  Well, still cool.  I guess cool doesn’t quite cover it, as the crowd was enveloped in this moment, and it was a perfect ending to the night.  Overall, the gig and the songs were great, and I was surprised by how impressed I was with this band; but I shouldn’t have been.  I just should’ve jumped aboard their boat o’er a decade ago.