SATURDAY

Mikko: We arrived to the scene just as Witchery were some four songs away from their set’s end. Few days earlier, the band had again changed their vocalist. Emperor Magus Caligula was dressed up in his unholy war gear and serving the fans with praise, as bands wouldn’t be anything without people coming to their shows and buying their stuff. It seems like ‘gratitude’ from bands has really has raised its head in the past few years, as pretty much every band on every stage seemed to be thankful. Sharlee D’Angelo must have been thankful as well, performing with three acts in two days. Hopefully he had a good pay day.

• MM : We came just in time to hear “The Reaper” which was pretty much the only song that I really wanted to hear—being only familiar with the band’s first album Restless and Dead. I really tried to see their whole gig…
• MK : …but I caught you eating a veggie sandwich at the metro station, you fat fuck.
• MM : It was chicken BBQ panini. I am no purist but you have a point though. Every other metalhead that I saw near me had a salad or one of those other vegan thingies in their claws. Can’t really blame them though due to the weather. But it appears green is the new black. But yeah. The band seemed to be playing pretty tight and the sounds had improved from the day before for sure.

Mikko: Epica is one name that’s always dropped when there’s a Hottest Female Singer-thread going on in the Internet forums. Certainly Simone Simons has the looks and a good voice but aside from the few grunts here and there, provided by rhythm guitarist Mark Jensen, things just don’t stand much apart from rest of the similar acts. It should have been obvious, but I was surprised by the amount of young girls in the audience, trying to sing along; perhaps there’s still a huge need for proper female idols within the metal world. For a twisted bastard like myself, unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a yawn wide enough as far as the actual music is concerned.

• MM: Looking at the singing first row, I would have loved to hear what it would have sounded like had all the music been dropped. You also got to appreciate the huge wind machine that was dragged on the front stage—just to blow Simons’ hair for added drama.
• MK: Don’t forget it’s also to protect the perfect make up from the hard hitting sun.
• MM: You know she has a make up blog, right?
• MK: Sun is dangerous and can ruin your skin…
• MM: Okay. (A bit too late smart-ass. I am still shedding skin like a snake from the sunburns I got on the first day)
• MK: …and sunblock can leave an ugly stain on white clothes…
• MM: You really need to skip those Fabulous Five reruns…
• MK: …plus, it’s not cool when chicks sweat…
• MM: Unless it’s in a porno.

Mikko: Quite possibly Saturday’s best show award goes to Medeia—intensity, holy shit! Held indoors, the band obliterated the audience with their personal blend of melodic death and metalcore. Pummelling riffs, no holds barred performing—what’s not to like? The band took no prisoners as the opener “Cold Embrace” set the mood for the furious, neck-breaking and extremely exhausting gig from the get go.

• MM: Someone add Laura Dziadulewicz to the hottest female singer (slash keyboardist) discussion. She is hawt!
• MK: You know. I’ve got this friend who lent his bed to her…
• MM: Bullshit.
• MK: Nah. The sad part is that nothing happened.
• MM: That’s a truly lame story. Anyway. I have to disagree with your pick for the best show of the day, though. For me it was still to come.

Matti: Too bad I could not enjoy more than few songs from Medeia as I had to hurry to catch Moonsorrow, who were about to start on the other side of the wall. Moonsorrow is one of those bands that has walked a long road to establish themselves as one of the marquee folk metal bands hailing from Finland. Since the beginning they have been consistent on putting out proper, valid albums. Their latest release Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa introduced some new shades to their musical palette and in my mind put them head and shoulders above the rest at this point. Not only that, but they’re also a good live band and once again gave a good showing at Tuska’s third stage. Playing a good mixture of songs from new and past records, the show made it easy for people to chant and mosh for all their hearts’ content.

Mikko: There’s three or four bands in Finland that are common to all and every festivals: Mokoma, Amorphis (who’d be performing the day after), Stam1na and finally Tarot. The last one, with Marco Hietala fronting, climbed to the second stage and that’s the only recollection I have of it. It’s not that the band’s music sucks, but I personally wasn’t that interested in it at all so I did my thing in the photo pit and moved on.

• MM: Tarot out there for the second time in a row, what are they now…
• MK: The house band on Love Boat?
• MM: No. They’re the new Trio Niskalaukaus. The ominous band that haunted Tuska’s mainstage every year in the early days. Oh the chills.
• MK: Oh yeah. Tarot played at Tuska last year too…
• MM: …and also at Sauna Open Air…
• MK: Hell, I think they played at Sauna this year too. Missed that. On purpose.
• MM: Having seen my own share of Tarot live for God knows how many times, I simply can’t agonize for missing them this time around.
• MK: There’s always next year.
• MM: I did some useless statistics on frequent performers at Tuska Festival. Trio Niskalaukaus, in various forms, has the lead with seven performances…of which six were in a row. Tarot has been at the festival only meager five times, while Amorphis takes the second place with six shows. Actually, for quite a few acts this year, this wasn’t their first appearance at this festival.

Mikko: Katatonia were having issues with the weather, making Jonas Renkse frown for a second; three or four songs into the set, the rain ceased from pouring and the clouds cracked enough to bring back the memory of the shining sun. Somewhat surprisingly, seeing the band live was a first for me. For reason or another, I’ve lived with the understanding that the band has a somewhat shoddy track record on stage, but from where I stood, things looked to be in proper, working order. The band was active and aforementioned Renkse was in a good mood, cracking up jokes here and there whilst claiming love to Finland (“When interviewed abroad, I like to claim we come from Finland” or something).

• Playing “Ghost of the Sun” while the weather started to change, was one of those nice mental Kodak moments that you sometimes get to experience at outdoor festivals. While they were not disappointing by any means, I think that I still would have enjoyed them more up, close and personal—in a club-like setting. Despite being a big fan of their music, mid-day and sunny outdoor setting doesn’t seem like a good fit to them.

Mikko: It seems like everyone’s been waiting for the up-and-coming new Wintersun album for ages and to my surprise, that wait clearly manifested within the band’s audience on the second stage; ravenous, murderous and anxious for a melodic bloody shredding. I didn’t know the band commanded such a devout, high energy crowd. I don’t think any of the fans was left hungry, the band performed with such devotion and pure skill it made even me crack a smile—even if I’m not the biggest fan of their tunes on CD. When I saw Jari Mäenpää perform with Ensiferum around ten years ago, it didn’t leave me with any sort of a memory stain, but in 2011, the guy’s an avid showman and completely bonkers on guitars and vocals. As for Kai Hahto. Well. Kai Hahto, ladies and gentlemen.

Matti: Church of Misery were playing at the same time and put Inferno stage on fire, and by doing so, were one of the definite highlights of the whole festival experience. Hailing all the way from Japan they walked on the stage and rammed in a gig that was full steam energy from the beginning to the end.

In sound, their inspiration from Black Sabbath was apparent but for a small Japanese guy, the singer, Hideki Fukasawa carried a big voice that to my ears sounded a lot like Phill Anselmo. No signs of burnout, rehab or other kinds of physical problems here though, because this guy was going out with all guns blazing, dishing out Ninja Warrior-like stuff throughout the show; swinging the mic stand around like it was some kind of a Bo-staff, doing flips, kicks, jumps and crawls across the stage and even climbing to sing from an over two meter high speaker tower that was shaking like hell during his Spiderman re-enactment.

At a Tuska festival that had an unprecedented amount of stoner-related bands on the roster, Church of Misery stole the prize for kicking out the best grooves and jams of them all. In short: a great mosh ‘n roll show with a ton of crazy energy. Kiitos, thank you and arigato, guys.

• MK: I took a sneak peek halfway through Wintersun‘s set. As entertaining as the shredding was…I have to admit that you definitely got the better end of the deal here.
• MM: No doubt. I don’t have much to say about Wintersun but Church of Misery was frigging awesome.

Mikko: Sauna had Helloween and Tuska brought in Blind Guardian to compete. I bought Nightfall in Middle-Earth ten years ago, or so, by recommendation—this was when I still held at least some trust in people. I don’t think I’ve revisited the album in eight or nine long years and I have no recollection of why it didn’t click with me. Thus, the band on stage was at a disadvantage: I simply didn’t care, aside for the sense of obligation. But no. The Germans were casting their good spirited metal magic, singing J.R.R Tolkien fan fiction on stage to a crowd that sang along effortlessly. It certainly wasn’t bad, just not for me. And it did make me dig up and spin Lost Horizon‘s excellent debut later on. Mmmm….cheese…

• MM: Where’s the hair Hansi? You look like my elementary school guidance counselor! I do not own even that single Blind Guardian record. As stagnant as the power metal scene feel to me it has never truly strike anything in my rotten potato-like heart. For many of my associates this might be THE BAND, but for me it was “meh” time. All in all, it was not hard for me to take up on your offer to go and enjoy some overpriced refreshments that the VIP-lounge had to offer.

Matti: Having to choose from two band whose last releases have dominated my power playlist for the past year, I picked Ghost over Enslaved. For me Ghost was the band to see in this year’s Tuska and they certainly did not disappoint.

Everything worked pretty much perfectly; the sound, the lights and the Scooby-spooky-Doo theatrics. Playing live, Ghost sounded as good as on the record, with the band being able to play around with the melodies and songs so that the music wasn’t a note-by-note experience with the CD. The full set went through the Opus Eponymous in slightly different order, including their moody cover of The Beatles “Here Comes The Sun” that was presaged by the cries of a newborn.

The gloomy but sugar-voiced Unholy Pope figure also had to comment the Oslo incident in his own way, by saying something along the lines: “When we thought that the world could not be more evil, we are to be proven wrong. Now, let us rejoice.” Or something like that. In all, it was the best show of the day—if not the weekend—for me.

Mikko: Enslaved wore black makeshift armbands on their arms to remember those that had fallen the day before. The event seemed to paint the band’s performance with even more intensity—if not a channel to relieve some of the anxiety. The band had canceled most—if not all—of their interviews too. There’s just something mystically collective about Norwegians. None the less. Despite the warm weather, the sunlight and the tragedy, Enslaved provided one of the festival’s better gigs.

Mikko: Within a year, Devin Townsend has performed four times in Finland—three times at Tuska Festival including Saturday’s headliner spot. Performing with the expected DTP combo and spiced with an extensive visit from Anneke van Giersbergen, the show should have been a surefire hit but it wasn’t—even though the band, as expected, gave their all and played with dedication. Devin’s a charismatic frontman, but he appeared to be somewhat jetlagged this time around.

The good effort was ruined by the not-so-interesting setlist, as it was mainly a rehash of his gig back in March. Devin outed two albums a while back, but “Stand” and “Juular” were the only tracks to be played from Deconstruction. Plus, he has such an extensive discography that it’s a bit of a let down for him to keep it almost intact to his previous gigs.

• MK: Should we call this the festival’s biggest disappointment?
• MM: Yup, I think so. I mean it was not bad by any standards, but a big disappointment none the less.
• MK: And Anneke…
• MM: While I love Anneke (She will be mine. Oh yes, She will be mine), her presence was sadly sandbagging the show. Especially those people who already got Addicted out of their system on their spring gig.
• MK: Yeah. Devin seemed to have a craving to utilize her at all times…
• MM: …thus letting her presence dictate the setlist. We also got Ziltoid last year and it was part of the set in spring too.Only two songs from Deconstruction, too, felt a bit out of place on the set.
• MK: The setlist was simply far too familiar and just didn’t work out too good—especially after having seen all the guy’s gigs within a year. Devin should have mixed it up… a lot.
• MM: It started out with a bang and then kind of slowed down.
• MK: Considering Meshuggah were playing as well, I was surprised not to see Fredrik Thordendal on stage and a bigger emphasis on Deconstruction.
• MM: For me, it was clearly the worst gig of the four he has had here. Maybe it is a bit lame to blame these guys, for hitting the rounds so hard, making new albums in between and thus not having the time to learn and revamp the setlist for those stalker fans that creep out to see all their shows.
• MK: No excuses!