Turisas - Rock City Nottingham

Turisas… Rock City… Nottingham… 19:03:11…
Spring is almost in the air so it’s time for some mad March Battle Metal, not strictly a subgenre of heavy metal but try telling that to the hundreds of Turisas fans mustered here in Nottingham tonight. The Finnish masters of folk/symphonic/power metal who have taken their name from the ancient Finnish god of war are over here in Britain on a fleeting Viking raid, rampaging their way to a trilogy of gigs in London, Prestatin (Hammer Fest) and here in Robin Hood country rounding off their pillaging at rock city. Tonight’s gig is the third year running that I’ve seen Turisas, in 2009 I caught up with them at Bloodstock Open Air and last year they were on the bill of Sonisphere at Knebworth.
Support tonight comes in the form of fellow Scandinavians Crimfall also from Finland musically they’re in the same genre as Turisas but more melodic and orchestral. Crimfall sport not one but two lead singers, Helena Haaparanta belts out a good tune and wouldn’t go amiss in Wagner’s Die Walküre while Mikko Häkkinen treads the boards like a marauding barbarian growling and screaming his way through the macho bits of the songs. Storm before the calm, frost upon their graves and the crown of treason are just three of their ‘epic’ songs worth checking out online http://www.myspace.com/crimfall
With rock city’s sword and axe wilding armour clad hordes well and truly warmed up after the support band have departed the stage for Asgard or their tour bus (I’ll let you decide) it’s a brief respite before the main invasion. They come from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow and hit the stage in dribs and drabs, we’re into the second song before Olli Vänskä (electric violin) walks into the fray and Netta Skog (accordion) has been left behind in Holmgard or wherever as she isn’t even on the tour but I digress. Mathias "Warlord" Nygård leads from the front and resplendently clad in leather and war paint he stomps about singing numbers like as torches rise, the march of the Varangian guard, stand up and fight (the title track of their new album) and to Holmgard and beyond. The rest of Turisas all play their part, Jussi Wickström (lead guitar) Jaakko Kunnas (bass) Tuomas "Tude" Lehtonen (drums) and the afore mentioned Olli Vänskä are all in the vanguard of the battle. The crowd have travelled from far and wide for tonight’s show and are well entertained by a band at the top of their game if more metal bands bothered to put a show on instead of just standing around the stage playing their songs then maybe they’d be rewarded with a loyal following which Turisas enjoy. Encore time with no less than three numbers, hunting pirates also from the new album is followed by an old favourite, the Boney M cover Rasputin all together now, Rah Rah Rasputin… to round off the show it could be none other than the title track of their debut album battle metal a mantra chanted by the crowd all evening long finally brings the curtain down on an epic night of Vikingesque shenanigans. Check out Turisas online http://www.myspace.com/turisasofficial… GD.

Turisas - Hunting Pirates

Saracen - Crusader

Witchfynde - Give em' Hell

Saracen - Rock of Ages

Witchfynde - Cloak & Dagger

Saracen - We Have Arrived

Witchfynde - Stagefright

Terrorvision - Rock City Nottingham

Terrorvision… Rock City… Nottingham… 27:02:11…

Tequila it makes me happy… Not really, the stuff makes me wanna puke but it’s great to sing along to the Terrorvision song Tequila, their biggest hit single having reached the dizzying heights of number 2 in the UK charts at the end of the nineties. I first saw Terrorvision at this very venue right at the beginning of the nineties way before their chart topping TOTP TV appearance, I went on to see them several times more during that decade including their Castle Donnington Monsters of Rock appearance in 1994, observing them grow from playing in ‘disco2’ (the basement) in front of a handful of people to selling out rock city’s main stage the scene of tonight’s show. This evening isn’t a sell out but to say Terrorvision have been ‘away’ on and off for about ten years this comeback tour along with a brand new album super deluxe it’s very well supported by the boys from Bradford’s loyal fans.
First up tonight is the support band Gentlemans Pistols who also hail from Yorkshire, this Leeds based band are a throwback to the sixties with their hair, clothes and sound. The songs The Lady, Widow Maker and Parking Banshee have a distinctive Cream/Hendrix sound to them whereas Living in Sin Again and Heavy Petting have a Sabbath/Purple thing going on. I would definitely go and check out this four piece rock band again, they are worthy openers for tonight’s show.
It’s a Sunday night so I’m taking it steady on the old sauce and cramming myself at the front of the stage in anticipation of seeing Terrorvision again after such a long time. Last year they were on the bill of Sonisphere festival at Knebworth, I caught a glimpse of them as I failed miserably to squash into the packed out marquee in which they were playing right at the end of a very long day. I did hear them however as I skulked off back to my tent in exhausted disappointment. Tonight it’s about nine o’clock when they hit the stage and open up their set with D’ya Wanna go Faster a song from their 2001 album Good to Go which is received enthusiastically from the large crowd but not as enthusiastically as the next song, Formaldehyde’s, My House. The third song, Discothèque Wreck from their seminal album How to Make Friends and Influence People (1994) gives front man Tony Wright some tongue twisting moments before he launches into the first of no less than eight songs from their new album. All the Girls Wanna Dance followed by Neighbourhood, dedicated to us Nottingham folk (hood! Get it?) are both good songs, I confess to not having heard Super Delux yet but on the strength of hearing the songs live I’ll be rushing out to buy it sometime soon. Terrorvision have constructed a well paced set interspersing the new material with old classics such as Some People Say, Celebrity Hit List, Josephine, Dog Chewed the Handle, Middleman and Oblivion.
Terrorvision these days are made up of original band members, Mark Yates (lead guitar) Leigh Marklew (bass) Tony Wright (lead vocals) and two ‘new’ boys Milton Evans (keys) who’s been in the band a few years now along with Cameron Greenwood (drums) who is replacing drum legend Shutty. Front man Tony Wright, who’s only a few years younger than me must have been on the monkey glands or something because for an hour and a half he never stops running and jumping around the stage as he sings the at times complex lyrics of Terrovision’s sings. Just about everything tonight is ‘shit hot’ according to the bluff Yorkshire man, he and his band seem pleased by the reception they receive. With Tequila having been played early on it’s down to Terrorvision’s only other top five hit single Perseverance along with Babylon (Super Delux) and the classic Alice What’s the Matter to make up the three song encore, making a mammoth twenty four song set, now that’s what I call a show! With some new fans in the audience tonight seeing Terrorvision for the first time the regular urban survivors from Bradford definitely know how to make friends and influence people… GD.

Terrorvision - Middleman

Terrorvision - Josephine