Christmas in Santaland

Just so we are clear, Santa is from Finland, look it up or watch Rare Exports if you don't believe me. 

Anyway, as you may or may not know, I didn't go back to Canada for Christmas this year. I have friends here in Finland that would have welcomed me for Christmas and Christmas back in my hometown can get a bit hectic sometimes going between two parents and my brother being in B.C., so I planned on staying here. Over the summer, my mum decided that she would come to Finland to spend Christmas with me. I for one was not holding my breath until she had a plane ticket in hand and my dad said that I was not allowed to spend Christmas alone so he would fly me home if she didn't make it out here. In September I got a message saying she had booked her flight for December 16 to December 30!

December 16, which is also the day I was extracted from the womb, comes and Im on a train from Tampere to Helsinki-Vantaa to pick up my mumma. She has never been to Finland before, even though she has been to basically every European country before I was born. I was mega excited to show her around the city I used to live in, especially since she is the one person that was subject to my full on Finnophile ways. I felt sorta bad since there is no snow in Helsinki and it rained almost the entire time she was here, but I think she had fun. She kept telling me how much she liked Helsinki and how she understood why I liked living in Finland so much. My birthday evening was spent at a wonderful restaurant on Pohjois Esplanadi called Aino, which specialises in Finnish food. I had moose neck and sausage (yum) and, since it was her first meal in Finland, Mumma had reindeer and wanted to start a long term relationship with it. The night of the 17^th was a belated birthday present for me because I got my socks blown off when I went to see one of my favourite bands, Satyricon, perform at Circus. I could ramble on about how awesome the concert was, but I won't and you can just go look at the photos I took. 

My birthday dress. A present from Mumma that she got from a Canadian shop called Blame Betty!

It didn't feel very Christmasy, probably because of the lack of snow, but we had a little Christmas tree complete with Canadian themed ornaments, and even though my dad wasn't there, he sent me some gifts that were also Canadian themed. We didn't have an oven at the little apartment we were renting so we couldn't make a proper Christmas dinner or bake cookies, but we had as close as we could manage for Christmas Dinner, which actually ended up being eaten on December 26^th. In Canada we celebrate Christmas on the 25^th, but I know most of Europe opens their presents on December 24^th. Our typical Christmas Eve is to have a ridiculous amount of finger foods and Mumma makes a huge pot of mussels in white wine. We couldn't find any fresh mussels, we didn't look that hard), so we just had loads of smoked salmon and the usual amount of finger foods, and of course a lot of wine. Since my parents have been split up since I was fifteen, I've always opened presents from my mum on the 24^th so that part wasn't strange to me. What was strange is that hardly anything was open on the 24^th, nothing on the 25^th, and nothing on the 26^th. I don't know about other countries, but in Canada, the 24^th is one of the biggest shopping days because of last minute shoppers. There are a number of business open on Christmas Day, especially in the bigger cities in Canada, mainly because there is a much larger number of people that don't celebrate Christmas in Canada compared to Finland. Boxing Day in Canada is a massive shopping day; a wonderful day to go to the Eaton Centre if you have a death wish or are feeling dangerous (the Eaton Centre is a large mall right in the centre of downtown Toronto).

The Leafs aren't my favourite but there is a player on their team with the same last name as me so my dad had to get it for me. I know what I'll be wearing when I go skating this winter!

Christmas Eve dress! You can't see our decorations very well but that IS an RCMP Beaver as our tree topper

Without going into too much detail about the rest of the trip, since I can't really remember everything we did the whole two weeks, Helsinki with my mum was awesome. I was a bit on edge for a few days for some reason; I think I'm still dealing with school stress, lord knows I keep thinking of all the stuff I have coming at me in January. Mumma wanted to go to Tampere, Turku, Tallinn, and even St. Petersburg and was kinda bummed we didn't manage to get to those places. I like to stay away from the touristy places anywhere I go, so I tried to take her to the places I liked to go to when I lived in Helsinki in 2011/2012. I'm not sure which her favourite was, but she really liked the Christmas Market, Kaivopuisto, and Suomenlinna; I know, I know two of those three places are very touristy but you can't go to Helsinki without seeing Suomenlinna and we don't have Christmas Markets in Canada on the same scale as Europe does. The rain sorta slowed us down most days, but we walked a ton, something Mumma isn't used to since it's pretty hard to get around without a car in my hometown, but I think I showed her a lot of Helsinki and I think she enjoyed herself a lot. I definitely enjoyed myself and I'm overjoyed that both my parents have now seen the country I love so much and understand a bit more why I love it so much. I did miss being back in my hometown for Christmas, which apparently has a ridiculous amount of snow right now and thankfully didn't get blasted by the major ice story (one of my best friends that lives east of Toronto was without power for over a week), and I did miss seeing some friends and family (and kitty cat!) during the holidays, but I'm quite happy I decided to stay in Finland for Christmas; what is Skype for if not connecting with people at times like this?! Mumma is going to Scotland in May and said she wants to come visit me in Tampere and that there had better be nicer weather then!

I've got photos from my holiday in Helsinki on my Flickr as well as myInstagram! You can also follow me on Tumblr and Twitter!

Blerk Mertl

 I’ve never really liked Black Metal all that much. It always sounded like it was recorded in a tube, at too fast a tempo for my brain and ears to keep up with, by people that take themselves far too seriously. Both artists and fans, at least more than other genres, can seem elitist at times. I've always felt that some of them think that their tube music is just too intellectual for the mainstream scum; do I need a doctorate to be able to read your band’s logo? However, I always been aware of the Norwegian Black Metal scene, but not necessarily because of the music. If you’re in the metal scene, you know about the Norwegian Black Metal scene because of Varg Vikernes, church burnings, and other such shenanigans outside of the actual music making. I remember when I got into the Oslo train station in 2011 and I immediately saw five Black Metallers, complete with bullet belts and mega-sized Burzum backpatches; gotta love when countries live up to stereotypes. I really think that certain members of the Black Metal community, like Varg, and fans of Black Metal, have made the genre into a sort of farce. I’m all for a bit of cheese now and then, some of my favourite bands pour paint on themselves and jump around on stage singing about Vikings, but at least those bands know they are being ridiculous.

So if I think Black Metal is a bit of a joke, why am I even talking about it? Well, for one, I think it is the most interesting sub-genre of Metal because there is so much controversial history surrounding it. If there is a documentary about Black Metal, I'll enthusiastically watch it and talk about it to the point of annoyance. I also know how much Black Metal has been an influence on my favourite sub-genres, Viking, Folk, and Pagan Metal, especially with regards to the vocals, and I appreciate Black Metal for that reason above all else. Despite what could be perceived as bashing in the above paragraph, I do like some Black Metal bands like Watain, Darkthrone, and Mayhem. While I enjoy the aforementioned bands, Satyricon is the one Black Metal band that I will always sing the praises of. I had always known who they were, mainly because of Frost's appearance in a performance art piece in the documentary Until the Light Takes Us, but I only really listened to them since they released their new self-titled album in September. I might get groans of “but they're not Black Metal anymore” and “you only like them cause you find Frost attractive”, which is far from the truth, but I stand by with my support. I think Satyricon is quite ingenious and do stick to the Norwegian Black Metal sound even if people say that they are too commercialzed; I'm sorry, I thought the second most important point of being in a band, after making the music you love, is to make good money while making the music you love? Or am I missing something here? But I think that they are able to retain their traditional Black Metal roots while still being able to advance themselves musically and be good business people.

In early September, to help coincide with the release of their first album in five years, Satyricon organized a performance with the Norwegian National Opera Chorus after playing one song with them last spring. When I first heard that Satyricon was doing a concert with an opera choir, I really wasn't sure what to think. I had no idea how the songs were going to meld with the classical singing. Sometimes opera vocals can seem really obnoxious to me, which is the main reason I don't enjoy older Nightwish very much, and combining opera vocals with Satyr's vocals, as well as the traditional fast tempo of Black Metal, could be like an aural punch in the face. I think I listened to Mother North first and as soon as the song started I probably had a look of utter shock on my face because of how utterly amazing it sounded, despite being recorded on a viewer’s point and shoot camera, which I suppose is sort of the beauty of Black Metal, it doesn't sound that much different in shitty quality. Granted, the original version of Mother North, from the 1996 release Nemisis Divina, had chorus backing vocals, so it is a bit more suited to the performance with the Opera Chorus, but the beginning of the song sounds just so epic and haunting with the operatic vocals supporting it. Then I remembered that Heavy Metal is incredibly influenced by classical music, and by default so are its sub-genres, so why shouldn't Black Metal sound great with this sort of support vocals? They've done Mother North with an orchestra before and the song sounds so Wagnerian with the lower brass section booming away at the beginning that it could fit perfect into parts of The Ring Cycle (you might know one of the pieces from The Ring Cycle, The Ride of the Valkyries, that was in an episode of The Bugs Bunny Show); it makes my high school orchestra nerd tremble with glee.

They played other songs from their new album as well as age old favourites like Now, Diabolical, The Pentagram Burns, and my all-time favourite, K.I.N.G., but I think one of the stand out performances was Phoenix, a song from their new album. I know this song has been getting some flack since the album’s release because the guest vocalist, Sivert Høyem does not have traditional Black Metal vocals like Satyr. People over the internet have been saying that the album shouldn't be considered Black Metal because of this song, but I think people need to get their thumbs out of their asses and listen to the songs more, and listen to what the artists have to say about the songs. Had Satyr done the vocals himself, it would have sounded like every other Satyricon song. I think the song pushes the boundaries of being able to call itself Black Metal, but there are so many Black Metal elements still in it that people can’t seem to find a midst Høyem’s vocals. I've played the original for friends of mine that are in no way fans of Black Metal and they've loved it and then are shocked when I tell them which band it is, sometimes I've got to tell them who Satyricon actually is but once the words “Black Metal” come out, they are blown away by the fact that they like the song. Phoenix is that much more brooding in its atmosphere compared to its recorded counterpart and the song oozes ambient Black Metal when played with the Opera Chorus.

Besides the music aspects of this performance, I think Satyricon and the Norwegian National Opera Chorus performing together is really interesting from a cultural standpoint. It's like bringing two worlds together; the high culture of the Opera Chorus and the low culture of a Black Metal band. Granted, the majority of people in the audience were probably Satyricon fans rather than being a mix, but I think something like this shows that high culture and low culture do not have to stick to their respective corners. It would be interesting to interview some of the Opera Chorus members to see their points of view. Some of the performers look very excited to be there and some really don't. Satyr said in an interview for Roadrunner Records that he was fighting a very conservative system when he was trying to arrange a longer performance with the Opera Chorus after the band performed with the Opera Chorus last year, but goes on to say that there are open minded people once you weed through the conservative ones; which I think is something that happens in both high culture and low culture. People get scared when they can't put something into a genre no matter what genre it is that they prefer to listen to. And there's also the terrifying idea of letting “trashy” looking into Opera Halls or the equally terrifying idea of letting people wearing suits into shitty metal clubs or festivals (if you think this way you should probably go read this). The whole point of things like this are that people learn and grow; your influences don't have to agree with everyone's influences.

I recently got to see Satyricon live at Circus in Helsinki on December 17, a belated birthday present to myself. They were just amazing musicians to watch and there was a special feeling about seeing them; maybe it was because I went by myself and didn't have my Canadian concert buddy to talk to, or maybe it was because I've been listening to tons of Satyricon since September, whatever the reason, I was impressed and it is now one of my favourite concerts. Satyr is one of the better front-men I've seen; he made a point of thanking the crowd after every song and was a lot more talkative than I expected; Frost was Frost, too kvlt for everyone there and generally acting like a robot, a Frostbot, if you will. Other than a couple technical difficulties, everything they played was as tight as Varg's hand on the knife that killed Euronymous and the crowd was digging it. I know Satyricon is labelled as “black and roll” now and have gotten flack about being part of commercialising Black Metal, but really qudos to them for being the first Black Metal band to get signed to a major record label (four for you Satyricon, you go Satyricon), but I really like this band and I think that they are amazing performers that still has enormous potential. I think that they are a wonderful band to introduces Black Metal to the masses, which they clearly showed with their performance with the National Opera and their latest album.

Even though I find Black Metal laughable at times because everyone seems to be trying to out kvlt each other with their tube music, there are ways that it can surprise you, like Satyricon playing an amazing show with an Opera Chorus (there are rumours of it being released as a DVD in the future), or Watain releasing a song that sounds like Black Metal and Goth music had a love child. From my standpoint, there are two kinds of Black Metal; the traditional and the stuff that isn't afraid to change. I think that if there are bands in the Black Metal scene that keep surprising us like Satyricon does, Black Metal will become more accessible to everyone. I get why the purists want to keep it underground and how the commercialisation of it is totally against the traditional ideals, but music does come down to creating art for a reason and I think there is a lot in Black Metal that can be shared with the world and stuff that is being released now is beginning to make it less about the amount of corpse paint on your face, bullets on your belt, and how much you hate Christianity, and start to be more about the quality of the music.

I took some photos at the Satyricon concert in Helsinki last week that you can check out here. You can also follow me on Tumblr, Instragram, and Twitter!

lilacviking's favourite albums of 2013!

2013 was an interesting year for metal. There were some great albums and some not so great albums *cough* Turisas2013 *cough*. For me, it was a year of musical second chances; all the bands on this list, with the exception of Watain, are bands I've known about for years but never been properly into. It's nice to actually listen to ”new” bands for once. I love hearing stuff from the bands I already love, but it can be come reptative. When I get into a band I really get into them, and that has happened with all the bands on this list because of the albums they've released this year and I'm quite stoked about it.

1) Blodsvept by Finntroll

True to form, Finntroll delivered another awesome Troll Metal album with Blodsvept. It hammers you from the beginning like the troll attacking Aragorn in The Return of the King, only Blodsvept actually beats you to a pulp. The biggest thing for me when listening to an album is that the songs flow together well; there can't be super abrupt endings followed by long beginnings and vice versa. I like to think of an album as a book, the chapters have got to flow to be able to make sense and allow for a good story and I think that was something Finntroll did very successfully with this album. The cohesion of the album is even more successful because Im sure a lot of their listeners don't speak any Swedish, myself included, so obviously there isn't much that one can get out of the lyrics; the band has to rely on their ability to musically tell the story that is being talked about and I think they did a really good job in accomplishing that with Blodsvept.

As I mentioned earlier, I only seriously started to listen to Finntroll this past year. I've known about them for years and of course knew Trollhammeren, but had never been properly into them until my good friend Caitlin informed me they were playing in Toronto in August and we had to go. Since I hadn't been listening to them much before, most of the songs were new to me and the songs from Blodsvept translated to live performance wonderfully. Seeing them live was also how I discovered my favourite of this album, Mordminnen. It has the dark carnival-esque feeling to it that the rest of the album has, along with the usual trolly-folky Finntroll sound, and it has so much extra energy when it's performed live. I definitely love when I can go to a show and love the songs I've never heard before more than the hit songs, which is definitely something that happened with the songs on this album.

Finntroll is number one of this list because it made me a much bigger fan and I think the band was able to really blend their old stuff with something new; I really enjoy their new take on the music by introducing those steampunk/twisted carnival elements. The biggest reason this album is number one is because it is absolutely stunning when the songs are performed live; these songs, and the old ones they played, made the Finntroll show I went to back in August one of my top five concerts. They really breathed new life into their music with Blodsvept and I cannot wait to see what they do next!

2) Valkyrja by Týr

I think that Týr really hit the nail on the head with this album. Before Valkyrja came out I never paid that much attention to this band. I knew Hold the Heathen Hammer High,and I didn't dislike them, but everything was a bit too Power Metal for me. I'm not sure exactly what it was but I know they didn't do anything for me at the time. Then Valkyrja came out and smacked me in the face for not giving Týr enough credit before! Plain and simple, the album is just tight epicness from start to finish.

Just like with Blodsvept, Valkyrja plays like an album rather than a playlist. This is probably because it is a concept album; in short it is about a Viking warrior leaving his woman to go to battle to win the favour of the godess Freya and he Valkyries so as to get into Valhalla. While the album played really well as a whole, I don't think it was the best of the list in terms of transitions, some of the them are rough and I think the two cover songs on this album are a bit out of place. I think they are great covers, but considering this is a concept album, Cemetery Gates and Where Eagles Dare seem like they were just thrown in there to make thirteen songs; I've listened to the album via Spotify so maybe the covers are not actually included on the regular physical release and therefore what I just said is bullshit? If they aren't included, ignore that last part.

Transitions aside, what stands out about this album and get it on my 2013 list is that the songs aren't typical battle songs. I adore Viking Metal, and which ever other sub-genres you want to add in there, but hearing the same lyric themes like go to battle, slay thine enemy, go home and drink mead then do it all over again, get a bit repetative after awhile. My favourite song, Mare of My Night, is definitly different from the tried and true battle songs that made me not like Týr before. Lyrics aside, Mare of My Night is just sexy sounding. It's got a groove to it that I haven't heard in Týr songs before and definitely something that is missing from Viking metal.

Valkyrja definitely managed to get me to like Týr more and I couldn't be more willing to become a more dedicated listener rather than a casual one. Heri's vocals came off as confidently powerful rather than being obnoxious and cocky and the band sounded tight as fuck thoroughout the entire album. Valkyrja really shows that Týr is growing up and I am more than excited about it.

3) The Wild Hunt by Watain

I've recently started to get more into Black Metal, after a while of being primarily interested in the culture of the genre rather than the music itself. Since Satyricon's album came out in September, I've been delving more into Black Metal. I came across Watain and The Wild Hunt recently while wading through various Black Metal to find some stuff that stuck with me like Satyricon does, and I cannot say enough good things about this album. I haven't noticed if The Wild Hunt is getting flack for ”straying” from the typical Black Metal standards like Satyricon has, but it definitely doesn't follow any of those pre-determined Black Metal ”standards” that have caused me to stay away from the genre in the past. Watain really showed their versitility and ability to grow as musicians with this album. The obvious stand out song is They Rode On because singer Erik Danielsson grants listeners with clean vocals. It seems that ”ballads” are a bit of a trend for the albums on this list, all of the albums except Blodsvept have them. While I like all the ballads from three albums that feature them, I enjoy They Rode On the most. Danielsson's sleep deprived, whiskey soaked clean vocals, combined with Anna Norberg's mournful vocals, and the way the rest of the band are able to slow everything down and mesh typical Goth sounds with Black Metal atmosphere make this song perfect to play on a cold winter's night, but I don't think it's the stand out song on the record. Outlaw, which now has a claim to fame of being the first song to be made into a music video for Watain, was the stand out song for me since I first heard the album. Outlaw is so full of primitive passion that it is very hard to ignore. Outlaw is definitely the definitive song on The Wild Hunt, and I could even go far enough to say that it is the definitive song for Watain. From now on, anytime I'd want to show people this band, I'd make sure they listened to Outlaw first. It is so full of primitive passion and makes me think of Alice falling down the rabbit hole in the 1951 Disney version...except this rabbit hole consists of every demon and general bad thing in the unvierse and Alice is never going to get home again.

Overall, the songs on this record live up to the record title the best out of anything I've heard in a long time; I'm always a little let down when albums don't live up to their title. But The Wild Hunt really managed to pull of a wonderful astmosphere, especially with Outlaw and The Child Must Die , you feel like you are on a sort of wild hunt while listening to this album and I am more than eager to get people to join the ride of insanity.

4) Satyricon by Satyricon

Out of all the albums on this list, I think Satyricon pulled off making an album sound genuinely cohesive rather than a playlist out of all four on this list. Maybe it's because I saw them live recently so Im still in the post concert mode of ”everything they do is wonderful!”, but I've really grown to enjoy Satyricon thanks to this album. Just like with all the other bands on this list, Satyricon is the album that really got me into this band and has made Satyricon my overall band of 2013. I'd known about them for years but being at a different musical stage in my life, I'd never given them a good listen. I think I heard Phoenix when the album had just come out because of everyone talking about it and how it was so far away from black metal that the album shouldn't be ”allowed” to be considered black metal; I don't think people were listening to the rest of the album which has all the trappings of traditional Satyricon with a wonderfully grim atmosphere.

Just like Blodsvept, this album is just awesome live. Voice of Shadows and Natt are both perfect to open and close the album, and I was so pleased that they used the same songs to open and close the concert. All the songs they played from the album, which is quite a few compared to other bands I've seen live, fit perfectly in with the old favourites like K.I.N.G, The Pentagram Burns, and Mother North; the crowd didn't miss a beat even if they didn't recognize a song like Walker upon the Wind straight away.

I've heard frontman Satyr say that The Infinity of Time and Space is the definitive song on this album, and it's a great song, but I think the most Satyricon sounding song on this self titled album is Nekrohaven. Other than the super kvlt name, this song just sums Satyricon up for me; it's melodic and dirty with the catchy riffs that have made Satyricon one of my new favourite bands. Maybe a few people will scratch their head about this choice cause Nekrohaven isn't anything super special, but I really like the simplicity of it.

I know a lot of people haven't liked this album that much because they can't seem to get their heads out of their asses about Phoenix, and I have read a couple reviewers say that it was recorded horribly (I question how well those reviewers know Black Metal if they think Satyricon isn't recorded well). I applaud the band for taking the analog route and I can't wait to be able to hear this album on proper speakers. If you haven't given Satyricon a listen before, definitely check this album out; you won't regret it.

Basically, all the best albums this year, at least the best ones in my opinion, had a few basic similarities. Almost all had ballad type songs (which is strange since I'm not really into ballads), they actually sounded like cohesive albums and not playlists (which is the biggest thing for me), they all had awesome artwork (which was something I didn't discuss but The Wild Hunt and Valkyrja being my favourite cover work), and at least half of them sound great live (this is a bit of a unformed opinion since I haven't seen Týr or Watain play live). Maybe this list comes off as me hopping on the trend, because Watain is getting much more attention since they've signed with Century Media, and both Watain and Satyricon have both made albums that are less traditional Black Metal sounding and therefore less kvlt, but I truly think that all the albums on this list were incredibly well done and will continue to be some of my favourites far into the future.

I may have had four top albums that I could talk about at length, but there are some runners up for best albums of 2013! Which basically just means I really liked these albums but didn't listen to them enough to love them and therefore justify my reasoning for picking them. In no particular order:

Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor by Rob Zombie

Horns and Halos by Michael Monroe

Circle by Amorphis

Bu-Tik by Chthonic. I just saw them open for Satyricon and they are awesome live!

There should be some awesome albums coming next year but these are some I'm looking forward to!

Untitled new Zico Chain album. If you haven't heard this band GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND GO LISTEN

The Satanist by Behemoth

Time II by Wintersun

I haven't posted in awhile because school has been mega busy! I'm spending Christmas in Helsinki with my mum and I'll hopefully bust out some blog posts over holidays. Besides school stuff, I have also been able to update the crap outta my Flickr with photos from the Satyricon concert as well as past photos, and I've created a Deviantart account as well. I also just got a new phone and have Instagram once more! You can follow me there as well as on my Tumblr and my new Twitter account! ALL THE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS!