Guest Reviewer: Lord Konrad Chaos
Band(s): Turisas and Abgott
Venue: Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, UK
Date: 23 September 2007
Website: www.turisas.com/, www.abgott.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/turisasofficial, myspace.com/abgott
Label: Nuclear Blast
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Guest Reviewer Exclusive

I went to the show, at the tiny Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, knowing an appallingly small amount about the band. I'd only heard three songs, To Holmgard And Beyond, In The Court Of Jarisleif and Cursed Be Iron. I also knew they were 'officially' Viking Metal, although fans of the band much preferred the term Battle Metal, after the song by Turisas of the same name. I knew even less about the support band, whose name I only learnt that night.

Anyway, I got there with about an hour to go before the doors supposedly opened. I was at the front of the queue, save about four or five people, including my 'good friend' Tony, who I met at Cradle of Filth in April, I swear he only goes to these gigs to abuse the bands. He hates Cradle and Turisas, and only went for the supports, that's when I found out something about this fabled band. They were called Abgott, and were the first Black Metal band to ever play in Portsmouth. So I was technically watching a Black Metal landmark band here.

While waiting to actually get inside, it rained, but that didn't stop us! It actually encouraged some random bloke in the queue, who only ever seemed to yell out 'Battle Metal!', or some form of it ('Cattle Kettle' was my favourite). There was also some guy offering to do some war paint, for free, because he was told to by a friend. Because of the atmosphere, I thought why not, and got my face painted.

Eventually, we got in. I bought a t-shirt, and the album, The Varagian Way. I walked about the tiny venue, got myself a drink, and listened to a party cover of Motorhead's Ace Of Spades until the lights dimmed. The crowd, as you'd expect, roared and the chant of one man was heard, Tony, yelling for Abgott. When they came on stage, I was surprised, but not too much, at how obviously Black Metal they were. Corpse Paint, black leathers for most of the band, the vocalist wearing a battle skirt, and how gothic the band's logo was. Things were promising. What followed was about thirty to forty minutes of almost standard Death Metal screaming, thunderous riffs and some amazing solo's in there (although the lead guitarist looked like he broke wind each solo). Personally, I was glad they finished when they did, but that's not to say they were bad. Quite the opposite, I'd go see them again, but they weren't what I wanted to see.

The lights came up, and the bar became crowded. It took a fair while for them to go back down, but I wasn't too bothered. I went out and looked at the t-shirts again, only to be overjoyed at seeing the vocalist and lead guitarist of Abgott there, talking. I went up, and the vocalist left (<_<) but I shook the guitarists hand, congratulated him on an awesome show, and some general banter before all I could hear was a massive chant of 'Turisas! Turisas!', which meant only one thing, the lights dimmed again.

Thankfully, when I came back in, they hadn't turned up yet, so I got into a good position, and got my camera (phone) ready. The crowed were deafening when Tuomas "Tude" Lehtonen ran on stage, and sat down on his drum kit. Then on came Hannes "Hanu" Horma, on Bass. Last of all, was Jussi Wickström, on guitar. They played a small intro song, basic stuff really, until on ran Mathias "Warlord" Nygård, and they broke into Five Hundred And One.

About half way into the song, both Olli Vänskä, with his violin, and Janne "Lisko" Mäkinen, the rather crazy accordian player, walked calmly on stage, and stood still, through most of the song. And then, they both stepped forwards, while Mathias stood back, so they both blasted out an explosive riff each, on both instruments.

Then, order resumed, and they played To Holmgard And Beyond second, unfortunately, I would have prefered it later on myself... But no matter, they played the song flawlessly, and everyone in the crowed had their fists in the air all the way through the song. That's the thing about Turisas, they are just so damn epic!

Anyway, back on track. They played through a set of songs, before splitting the crowd in half, for a little game to see which side can make the most noise, which was a lot of fun. It was about this point that I realised that although some of Turisas' songs demanded huge mosh pits (the biggest I've seen at the Wedgewood Rooms), most of them didn't. Mostly, they had mock battles, fans clashing plastic toy swords, axes and daggers. I suppose that's a hazard of being an avid fan of a Viking Metal band...

Again, more amazing sounding songs, including a lot of crazy-ass dancing during In The Court Of Jarisleif, and a hyperactive set of strobe lighting (and amazing fist pumping from the Warlord) during The Dnieper Rapids. Olli's violin solo's were better than most of the guitar solo's you could ever hear! Then they played what must be a highlight, well, one of them anyway... They played their new single, a cover of the disco song, Rasputin, which I highly recommend you download, even the original, because it was begging to have been covered by a Metal band!
When Turisas left the stage, apart from the unending chant of 'Battle? Metal!' Battle? Metal!', I noticed Olli talking to a few sound guys, which, I don't know why, but it caught my attention. All was explained when they returned on for their encore, because Olli has broken a few strings in his violin bow, which meant, until repaired, he couldn't play well. So, the rest of the band improvised! This lead to THE highlight of the night! Tude, Hanu and Jussi got on stage, and jammed for a bit, until Lisko joined them, and said something to the others.

I found out what he was on about within seconds. Lisko had told the others to play a song. And it proved, indefinitely, that it is entirely possible to play Slayer's Reign In Blood on the accordian! It was about this time, I met up with Abgott's vocalist again, shook his hand, congratulated him on his performance. He said, and I quote; "Hang on, thanks, I'll be right back", and then ran, jumped the security barrier, leapt up on stage, and started screaming to Slayer! Mathias also joined him, and they dueted for a bit, until they just lost the plot, and just went crazy. Jussi broke into a sheer amazing guitar solo, Abgott's vocalist caught the Warlord in a headlock, and took him to the ground, Hanu just stood there, confused, and Tude just continued, in vain, to play Reign In Blood. Lisko, however, totally lost it, and started throwing his accordian about!

When they got their act together, Mathias explained (needlessly) that what just happened was totally improvised. Olli rejoined them, violin bow repaired. They then said their journey in the UK would end there, in the Wedgewood Rooms that night, with the truly epic Miklagrad Overture.