King Satan and The Abbey live at Monttu New Level, Pori (Finland) 10.01.2025

Industrial metal band KING SATAN, known for their mischievous extreme metal and explosive stage charisma, released their fourth album “The Devil’s Evangelion” at the end of 2024 and in support they organized a mini-tour in Finland, including a date at Montu New Level in Pori on January 10th. The band, which is also gaining momentum in Europe, has a “death metal disco” that defies rigid genre definitions and combines influences from industrial, death metal, electronic dance music and symphonic black metal in their music. With their energetic live performances, the band has conquered Finnish rock clubs and the stages of Tuska, Nummirock and SaariHelvetti, among others, as well as concert stages in 17 different countries during their European tours.
The warm-up act for the Pori crowd was the doom metal band THE ABBEY. The band’s debut album “Word of Sin”, released in 2023, has attracted interest from the international rock press and has taken the band to the stage of Tuska, among others, and toured Europe twice.
Our reporter Cristina Gregori was there for the occasion, below is the photo gallery of the event.

Eartheria & Numento live at Meara Klubi, Pori 7.12.2024

The last Meara Klubi of the year saw three bands on the Winston Live stage: I, Cursed, Numento and Eartheria.
I, Cursed is a death metal/grindcore band formed in 2023 who already have a number of live shows and an EP under their belt.
Numento is a progressive melodic death metal band who express their point of view on psychological matters by introducing us to their fantasy world, their latest album “The Antimatter Fantasy” was released last summer.
Eartheria is an extreme metal band who makes precision, technicality, brutality and atmosphere their foundation, their latest album “Accursed In Sleep” was released last October and this was their first live performance after a 4 year break.
Our reporter Cristina Gregori missed the first band due to an interview, but she was ready to catch the moment with her camera of Numento’s first show ever in Pori and the great return on the stage of Eartheria.

Rats Will Feast & Soul Gutter live at Meara Klubi, Pori 23.11.2024

Meara Klubi Vol. 35 was supposed to have Surut as the headliner of the evening, but unfortunately due to illness they had to cancel their appearance in Pori and let the other two bands shine. First on stage were Soul Gutter with their pitch-black death metal. Next up were Rats Will Feast with their energetic hardcore. Below are some shots taken by our reporter Cristina Gregori.

King Diamond – 09/27/2024 – Chicago

After a 5 year absence, King Diamond returned to Chicago last night and delivered an incredible performance. The stage production was phenomenal, the band was tight, and King was vocally locked in, as always. A very well rounded setlist of classics, deep cuts, and new songs to boot. When we’ll hear these new songs on an album remains to be seen, but I digress. I really wondered how a show of this nature would work at the Chicago Theatre, and the answer was surprisingly well. Considering King’s shows are a mix of metal concert and theatre spectacle to begin with, it made sense to see him on a stage famously known for hosting Broadway productions. 10/10 Review by Joe Van Anthony

Countless Goodbyes “Lost in Waves” – release party w/Irvikuvat, Without Warning and Atlases

Finnish band Countless Goodbyes released their second full-length “Lost in Waves” on October 10th, for the occasion they organized the release party on Saturday, November 9th at Annis Culture House in Pori, the city where the band started their journey. The first concert after a break of almost 5 years, changes in the lineup and also changes in the musical style.
For the occasion, the band wanted to share the stage with Irvikuvat, Without Warning and Atlases.
The first to take the stage were Irvikuvat, a six-piece band of melancholic Finnish metal. Next up, Without Warning from Turku. The band defines itself as a sonic metal experience, born from fusion and experimentation through modern metal. The last guests on stage is Atlases, a post-metal band from Pori. The band took advantage of this evening to celebrate and say goodbye to the historic singer Jamppa Lamminpää who decided to retire and in his place as singer takes over Jesse Simola already part of the band and responsible for synths, samples, backing vocals.
Finally it’ss the turn of the hosts, the modern metal band Countless Goodbyes who brought on stage the energy and emotion that they have carried inside for many years, proving to be more charged than ever and ready to tread bigger and more important stages even outside the Finnish borders.

Setlist:

Intro+Unrivaled
Room Without Walls
Hourglass
Death Stood Before God
Hollow
Pages and Chapters
Trapped
Faith In Me
Oath
Who We Are
Hiding From Myself
Paralyzed
The Fallen
Come Alive
Lost In Waves+Outro

Here the photos of the show thaken by Cristina Gregori.

Terromania interview

Terromania is an Alternative Metal force out of Finland, ripping through the scene with raw power and emotion. Blending influences from Ghost, Lordi, Gojira, Spiritbox and even the wild energy of Van Halen & Devin Townsend, they take it even further by fusing their Heavy Metal base with synthwave, 80s hair metal, pop, and hard rock into a sound that’s unforgettable. With their professionality & clear vision, Terromania’s star is going to shine bright in the midnight sky. The band released their debut album “Nyctophobic” in 2023 and on November 13th a new single called “Dystopian Eyes” is going to be released.
We had the chance to meet the band before their show at Monttu New Level in Pori, and talk about the origin of the band, the debut album, the upcoming music and much more.

Hey guys, how are you doing?
Antti: Very good. It’s gonna be a blast. It’s our first time in Pori. So hell yeah, we’re gonna take over Pori!

Would you mind to introduce yourself and give us some biographical hints?
Antti: Of course! My name is Antti, I play lead guitars and also sing backing vocals.
Julius: My name is Julius and I am the lead singer.
Miro: My name is Miro and I play the drums.
Alex: My name is Alex and I play the bass and keyboards.
Jyri: I am Jyri and I play guitar and backing vocals.

How did you meet each others?
Antti: It was the summer of 2018, we’ve been playing with Miro already for on and off for like maybe a year, something like that. Then we went to his parents since they have this small cabin in their backyard. We started play there. I heard from my friend that there’s a weird dude called Jyri Julius and he sings, then we hit him up and he came there, it was a match made in heaven.
Julius: He sent me a text message on Instagram and I said yes, on that same day I came to practice and check out what type of songs you were writing. The next day I came back. Rest is Terromania’s history.

Your debut album “Nyctophobic” was released in 2023, what can you tell about its genesis and lyrics?
Antti: Lyrics are pretty monster-like, they tell about monsters and parting and there’s one song called “Fight the inner Darkness”, well Julius can tell more…
Julius: There’s all kinds of different lyrical things going on in the songs. I personally like to write about horror since I’m a horror movie guy, and I am pretty much inspired by  bands like Lordi, Kiss, Alice Cooper, and Ghost. So I pretty much like to write in that horror themed way, but of course, there are also some real life like human stuff as well, like in “Fight the inner Darkness”, which is about fighting our inner demons our own battles, and then there’s one song called “In a broken mirror”, which is basically about space and traveling around the universe. Antti asked can you please write a space song and I said okay.
Antti: And it turned out be shit. We don’t play it live because it’s a fun song, but we just don’t like to play live at least I don’t. I don’t know, it’s just doesn’t feel right.You know,  we got the bangers like “The pain makes you feel alive” and The desolation witness” and we just don’t think it’s on the same level as them.

Where was the album record?
Antti: We recorded it in my home, I have an apartment and I got a studio set up there so I recorded the guitars there.We used Alex’s dad’s rehearsals place for basically everything else and then Alex recorded all of the bass in his home and he can tell more about that…
Alex: Yeah, so the drums and the guitars were recorded in on Antti’s room, vocals were recorded at my dad’s practice room, and keys and bass I recorded at home where I also did the mixing and producing and all that so really DIY. But I think it worked quite well.
Antti: Yeah, DIY all the way we like to do stuff on our own.

Last year you also signed a record deal, am I right?
Antti: No, it was in 2021.
Julius: 2022
Antti: Yes, 2022 something like that. It took a while to record the album because of course it’s a lot of working especially when you’re doing it like on your own DIY. So I guess it was 2022.
Julius: We made a deal in like April 2022 if I remember correctly, we recorded the album in the summer of  2022, and then we announced the record deal in 2023, well at the same time when we also announced our debut album.
Antti: Actually, I think like the record deal announcement was in the same day we announced the first single release for the album.
It was something like that. It’s all a fuss in my brain, I just cannot remember anything.

Now you are working on new music and you are going to release pretty soon a new song, what can you tell about it?
Antti: We’re gonna release on November 13th, and it’s gonna be a kick-ass song. It’s a bit different, many people say that our music is like Lordi for example, and that’s not Lordi if it doesn’t sound like Lordi at all. It sounds more mature in my opinion and also there are more alternative elements, and we thought that we were gonna switch up our main genre from heavy metal to alternative metal. The song is called dystopian eyes, Julius is gonna take this.
Julius: What the song is about I’ll try to remember… Well, once again, I was inspired by movies, by Blade Runner and the Blade Runner 2049, the themes in that movie are basically humanity, morals and what happens when you are put in the in the situations where you are asking what is morally right and wrong for yourself. So basically dystopian eyes talks about that, this time very normal normal stuff.

So you are big on movie, what is your favorite movie, the one people need to watch?
Julius: That’s so difficult to answer because there are so many great movies but the first one that comes immediately on my mind is Bride of Frankenstein. What else? Suspiria remake from 2018 and maybe let’s pick another one from different genre, Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction. What about you Alex?
Alex: Those are great.
Antti: I’ll just say one The Wolf of Wall Street. That’s a great one in my opinion and interest.
Jyri: Kummeli Kultakuume.
Alex: Okay, I’ll add one also Her from 2013 with Phoenix.
Antti: Yeah, and Interstellar that’s also a good one and Kummeli Kultakuume.

Last summer you played in Tuska, how was that?
Antti: That was fucking awesome, it was the biggest stage we’ve ever played in it was the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to and it was just awesome. The Tuska crew were really nice and cool, we met a lot of interesting people. I’d say interesting people, there were good ones and then there were interesting ones. Then obviously playing under the name of Tuska is just awesome.
Julius: And also it was probably the hottest show that we did.

Yes, the Kvalt stage was inside a building and it was super hot inside and outside too…
Julius: Yeah, it was the hottest show that we did. It was almost like playing in a sauna.
Antti: It was horrible.

Horrible and amazing at the same time!
Antti: Yes, absolutely.

How do you get ready before the show?
Antti: I eat chips, I don’t know, I take a piss and drink water.
Julius: I get ready putting the makeup and the stage outfit, for it takes like one hour to put everything ready. I do a little bit of stretching, open up my vocals, drink a lot of water and listen some of my favorite metal songs.
Miro: Warm up shit like this (shows drums warm-up).
Alex: I usually try to make sure that all the technological stuff is working and ready to go and it can be brought in and out of stage  in the time that is given to us and I get a beer.
Jyri: I just warm up my guitar, do my makeup and drink some beer.

And what do you do when you get off stage?
Antti: Crack open a beer, obviously getting a proper hydration. I guess just chill out. Sometimes if we have time we watch the other bands. We make it like a thing, we absolutely try to watch all the bands we’re playing with but it’s not always possible because we have to load in all of the equipment and then we have to sell merch, we have to talk to fans and stuff like that. So it’s it’s not always possible, but we keep that as a priority and then we either head home or head to the bar.
Julius: I go to the merch table to sell t-shirts and all kinds of different merchandise that we have.
Miro: Fuck up the hotel room (laughs).
Alex: Same.
Jyri: Same.

You are going on tour in January, how many show ae you going to play?
Antti: That’s not public information yet, but a good amount of shows in january. Really we haven’t booked all of the shows yet, but definitely we are gonna. It’s a bit hard, it’s been hard because like the venues nowadays are really strict about who’s gonna get to play there, but we’re gonna book a lot of shows, like a shit ton of shows.

Have you booked any summer festival?
Antti: When the new single is out we’re gonna use that basically to promote us to the festival promoters and then through that we’re probably gonna get a couple of slots. But yeah, we’re gonna use the new single just as a gateway to get slots.

Talking about music. What are you listening nowadays?
Antti: I’d say The Cult. It’s a great one, like 80s hard rock, that’s like my favorite at the moment. I have this autistic traits that if I hear one song and I like it, I don’t listen to anything else than that and then I ruin the song for myself, then I move to the next one. That’s how I listen to music and I I don’t know if that’s healthy but I just I just do it.

I think is common for many people…
Antti: I ruin it for myself by listening too much it, putting it on the queue for like  20 times and then I hate the song afterwards, then I find the song again like in maybe a year and then I love it again. It’s the same cycle that goes around.
Julius: A good amount of Lordi, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, U.D.O., Udo Dirkschneider, some Pantera, a little bit of Megadeth, and then some 80s synthpop, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, some newer bands as wel, and also some Whitesnake.
Miro: Same.
Alex: At the moment I’m big into Leprous and Periphery, but I’ve also tried to find like this weird modern kind of jazz artists that aren’t stuck in jazz standards, to name one that I really like that is even more electronic The Comet Is Coming, maybe people could check out that’s kind of an interesting blend of stuff.
Jyri: My all-time favorite Ghost and some finnish band Mokoma and Stoned Statues.
Antti: I gotta say Eddie Van Halen and Van Halen, my all-time favorite guitarist and band.

Julius: And also I have to add one more band; Haloo Helsinki, Anssi Kela and some Vesa-Matti Loiri.
Antti: Heikki Silvennoinen.
Julius: I’m related.

A wide range. It’s important to listen to different kind of music because you cannot find your your way otherwise or you can get stuck on one style…
Antti: Yes, the only thing I really hate about music is if it’s boring. You get out of the boring square if you listen to different kinds of artists. For example for a metalhead  that wants to form a band and he only listens to Children of Bodom, the band is going to sound like Children of Bodom. But if he adds to that spectrum of songs he listens to or the artists he listens to, for example jazz or blues, it’s going to be like a wider range, he’s going to be able to do and he can switch things up and get things sounding interesting.

I am agree. But we are at the end of this interview, thank you so much for your time, would you like to say something to our readers?
Antti: Pre-save our new single Dystopian eyes, nothing else and thank you.
Julius: Thank you from the bottoms of our heart.
All:
Thank you!
Julius: See you on the gigs!

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Split Iris, What Awaits Us & Lowhill live at Meara Klubi, Pori 8.11.2024

Meara Klubi vol. 34 can be considered one of the best in terms of technique and energy. The bands present on the evening of Friday 8th November were Lowhill, What Awaits Us and Split Iris.
Lowhill is a new wave metalcore act from the Northern Finland. The music is best described as a mix of metalcore with certain deathcore elements, combined and wrapped up in a melancholic sound space.
Operating under the flag of modern metal, the Finnish band What Awaits Us is ready to test the limits of this genre by bringing together a unique musical blend. The band’s music combines melancholic melodies with hard hitting guitar riffs while taking elements from metalcore and melodic deathcore sub-genres.
Split Iris is a Finnish progressive metalcore band combining elements of djent, deathcore, thall and many other styles of modern metal, resulting in a very freshly unique mixture as their distinctive sound. The ambiences and massive soundscapes in the arrangements bring depth to the dark and driving down-tuned riffs, through which the mesmerizing and catchy vocal melodies soar pristinely.
All three bands brought to the stage performances worthy of bigger stages, proving that they are ready to cross borders and make their music known around the world.
Here some photos taken by Cristina Gregori.

AvAciA & Palehørse live at Meara Klubi, Pori (Finland)

On October 19th, AvAciA and Palehørse performed at Meara Klubi. We have seen both bands at Mera Klubi before so we knew that the show would be good and we were not wrong.
The opening act was AvAciA, a band from Turku who released their second album, “Minä Minä Minä”, in the spring of 2023, produced by the true legend Janne Joutsenniemi. The band offers technical live performances and is able to engage the audience with their energy and humor.
Palehørse took to the stage at Meara Klubi and delighted listeners with their versatile music and the vocal skills of frontman Lassi Mäki-Kala. The band is one of the most exciting acts in the Nordic metal scene, combining extreme technical skills, right-in-your-face attitude, desert-crossing roughness and multiple vocal harmonies in a way that is very hard to categorize but easy to give recognition.
Here some shots taken by Cristina Gregori.

Testament 09/27/2024 Chicago

Headlining and finishing of the Klash of the Titans tour was the almighty Testament. These Bay Area Thrash Legends came out strong and stayed strong through their entire set. Featuring the shredding guitars of Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson, the vocals of the only metal vocalist I know that was ever featured in the Smithsonian Chuck Billy and all tied together by the bass of Steve DiGiorgio and drums of Chris Dovas Testament really delivered one great set. Although I can’t speak for everyone out there, I think the Big 4 can step to the side, because for me a better thrash metal show (in no particular order) would be Testament, Kreator, and maybe Overkill. Either way, if you love thrash metal and don’t know Testament then it’s time to check them out.

SET LIST
Eerie Inhabitants
The New Order
Apocalyptic City
Raging Waters
The Preacher
The Haunting
Trial By Fire
First Strike Is Deadly
A Day Of Reckoning
Alone In the Dark
Do Or Die
Disciples Of The Watch
Over The Wall
Into The Pit

Kreator 09/27/2024 Chicago

So this Klash of the Titans tour pinned Kreator and Testament as co-headliners and both bands are legends in their own rights. However, I myself love Kreator. Having seen them probably close to ten times, they have never disappointed me to date. Although for a while there it did seem like I was cursed while trying to take photos of them. From the time they used heavy fog and no stage lights for the first three songs to the time that one of their roadies was being less than pleasant and jumped off the stage after picking a fight with a fan thus pushing me out of a good shooting place I always seemed to have bad luck trying to take photos of them. In recent years I’ve had better luck, this show included.

All that aside though, Kreator came out and delivered another phenomenal thrash set included one of my personal favorite songs, “Phobia”. With Mille Petrozza’s commanding vocals and Ventor’s crushing drums Kreator had the crowd flying high with crowd surfers and pit after pit forming in their wake. If you’ve never had the opportunity to catch Kreator live and you like Thrash Metal as much as I do, I highly recommend taking the time to catch one of their shows. And as always “THE KREATOR WILL RETURN!!!

SET LIST
Sergio Corbucci Is Dead (Intro)
Hate Über Alles
Phobia
Enemy Of God
666 – World Divided
Hordes Of Chaos
Hail To The Hordes
Betrayer
Satan Is Real
Mars Mantra (Intro)
Phantom Antichrist
Strongest Of The Strong
Terrible Certainty
The Patriarch (Intro)
Violent Revolution
Pleasure To Kill