Finntroll Live at the Chance Theater!

So on the 21st of September my buddy and I set out in my beloved Volkswagen Golf on our epic quest to see the kings of folk metal, FINNTROLL!!! An hour and 20 minutes later (including a stop at party depot for war paint), we arrived at the hellhole that is Poughkeepsie, New York. The car was parked and War paint was applied, so we promptly made our way through downtown Poughkeepsie amid stares and muffled laughter (we slay em, metal to the bone!), and arrived at the tiny Chance Theater. There was a small gathering of about 10 trollmetallers already at the entrance, and good banter was thrown around until 8 PM when the doors were opened. I ventured in and checked out the club for myself. First impression: Holy jesus this is going to be great. I am partial to the atmosphere of tiny clubs, and this place met the criteria so well that it made my loins tingle. The pit area was tiny, and packed full it could probably hold about 100 or 150 people which makes for a DAMN good time! After treating myself to a Finntroll tour shirt and a chat with a few dudes at the stand, it was time for the first opening band. The 4 opening bands (WAY too many in my opinion) were for the most part shitty ass local bands so I'm just going to talk about Lazarus, the only good opener of the night. In addition to starting a heroic "FINNTROLL FINNTROLL FINNTROLL" chant with the crowd, they played around 6 songs of AWESOME maiden-esque power metal, and they were all great dudes to hang out with. Funny enough, every one them looked like they had worked at Guitar Center at one point in time. Mega lawl. Anyway, they kicked ass so check them out at http://www.myspace.com/lazaruslongisland.

Right, on to the epicness of Finntroll. I elbowed my way against the barrier and held my fist high as the epic ambient intro track "Gryning" blasted from the PA. The light show wasn't great due to the limited resources of the club, but it set the mood perfectly as the intro came on and the stage was bathed in murky green light that made me feel as if I was standing surrounded by trees in a dark Finnish skog with trolls creeping out of the shadows. The intro came to a close and the trolls (Vreth, Skrymer, Tundra, Routa, Beast Dominator, and live keyboardist Virta) stalked out onto the stage clad in leather kilts and war paint, and launched straight into the the opening track of Ur Jordens Djup, Sång. Immediately bodies started churning in the pit and I did what I could to get up against the barrier to the stage (not a fan of moshing), raised my horns high and began headbanging my sweet ass off to Finntroll's frenzied humppa (finnish polka) rhythms and chanting their swedish lyrics along with Vreth. I was covered in sweat and had warpaint dripping down my face by the 3rd song but kept on trolling in the name of folk metal till the very end!



The most enjoyable song of the night in my opinion was the Caribbean influenced song off Ur Jordens Djup, "En Mäktig Här", complete with a hilarious steel drum part, frequent allusions to the "Monkey Island" game soundtrack, and the single most catchy melody on the entire album. It was during this song (I think) that my somewhat aching neck (from headbanging without rest for an hour and a half) became more than somewhat injured, but I decided to throw caution to the winds and carried right on headbanging and dancing the polka like a bastard.

One of the things I was slightly worried about before the gig was the constant accounts of Finntroll having absolutely dismal live sound. There is some definite truth to these claims as I've heard decent quality bootlegs where there were significant problems in the mix, but it seems that they have remedied their live sound since then. Other than the keys being too low in the mix (this always happens though, poor keyboardists), their sound was epic and very tight. The troll's sound was mostly shaped with Mesa Boogie amps and Amfisound Guitars, a great new finnish guitar company that are endorsed by the likes of Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Sodom, and Anathema to name a few. So aye, the gig was quite a treat for myself, being a guitar/gear nut.



All of the guys were great with the crowd and kept the energy running high throughout the whole performance. Vreth started a very enjoyable "F*ck Priests" chant, and entertained all of the crazy bastards (myself included) that couldn't keep their mouths shut in between songs. One hilarious moment came in the middle of the set when Vreth combined not so good english with good old fashioned trollishness....

"Hey people, do you like priest?"
...."confused looks, intermittent halfhearted cries of "F*CK YES!" or "F*CK NO!"....*
"You know what we do with priest? WE EAT THEM!"
*crowd roars*

The highlight for me came towards the middle of the set in between songs when Vreth said "Now this next one is off of the Nattfödd album". I had been calling out songs for the entire set, so I decided to spout "URSWAMP" at the top of my lungs. Vreth then turned around, pointed at me and yelled "What did he say!" and held down the mic to me, into which i roared "URRSSSSWAMMPPP" in my best growl. Twas quite a cool experience for mei, and fulfilled some of my (admittedly) fanboyish desires, so cheers Vreth!



The encore began with a "One more song!" chant, which I desperately tried to turn into a "Five or Ten more songs!" chant. Hey, ya can't win em all. But they returned for a fiery electric version of the acoustic classic "Försvinn Du Som Lyser" and an epic rendition of "Det Iskalla Trollblod" (the ice cold troll blood - coolest song title EVER). Consequently the show came to a close, and I had never before wanted a show to continue so badly, but alas, such is life. After some MUCH needed water and some quick banter with Vreth, Skrymer, Routa and Tundra outside the tour bus, it was time to journey home to rest and then make quest once again! Beware weak Christian souls, for when Finntroll come round, they leave no god fearing man alive!

Setlist:
(the order might be wrong in some parts)
Gryning (intro)
Sång
Korpens Saga
Fiskarens Fiende
Jatkens Tid
Manniskopesten
Nattfödd
Kitteldags
Aldhissla
Blodnatt
Trollhammaren
Nedgång
Slaget Vid Blodsälv
Urswamp
Ormhäxan
En Mäktig Här
Segersång
Encore:
Försvinn Du Som Lyser
Det Iskalla Trollblod

10/10

-Jack Deming

(pictures taken from Summerbreeze Festival, Germany)