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!

You never have to wear sunglasses past September here

I think one of the main stereotypes for Finland is that it's dark and cold. As much as stereotypes can be a bit annoying and untrue sometimes, like in Canada we do not put maple syrup on everything, they can be very true for as many times as they are untrue, I have proof via my international friends that Canadians, myself included, do say some words funny. When I told my Study Abroad Advisor at the university I did my Bachelour's Degree at, she immediately told me, “you know it gets really dark there, right? You'll have to deal with that. The last person that went there had to come home early because of it” and all I wanted to say back was “I know it's not the same but we are in Canada and it does the same here, not so extreme, but it's not like we live in Brazil.”. What Im trying to get at here is that it does get dark and cold here; the Finns even have a word for these “polar nights”, kaamos, so you know it's a big topic here.

As much as I hate to bring this up because it's annoying when that's all someone knows or talks about concerning Finland, but, it's something that has been on my mind lately, and definitely a topic among people I go to school with. Once October hits, it basically rains all the time here. I like rain, don't get me wrong, but when everything is damp almost 24/7 it kinda bums you out and makes going outside quite a chore sometimes. Luckily, October was busy for me and is actually one of my favourite months (read: I went to Helsinki and it has Halloween), but now that it's November, and it's getting dark around 4pm, I'm definitely noticing a change in things, mainly everyone is a bit grumpier. The Finnish word for November, marraskuu, translates to death moon so that basically sums November up for me. When I lived in Helsinki I don't think I noticed the change as much even though I didn't have nearly as busy a life, both social and academic, as I do now. I think I didn't notice it that much because the city lights brightened things up and I lived pretty close to the city centre/I was in the centre a lot because that's where school was. But now that I'm in Tampere, I don't live nearly as close to the city centre, it's a smaller city so that means less lights, and I'm not in the city centre as much because school isn't right downtown. I need to start going to the city centre more often because that means that I get away from being at school all the time; a change of scenery is a really good thing. I don't know if it's to help combat the darkness, but, Tampere does this cool thing in the winter months where they put lights up along the main street, Hämeenkatu, and some of the side streets. I don't think they can really be deemed Christmas/holiday lights since they are put up and turned on at the end of October and some of them are in no way Christmas themed, unless Tweety Bird and tulips are Christmasy. Either way, it's really nice when you come out of the tunnel that leads from Tammela (the area my university is in) to Hämeenkatu and as soon as you get out of the tunnel, BAM, pretty lights to fight the darkness!

Photo by me, lilacviking, Tampere, Finland. December, 2011.

Im just realizing now that this is a very Finnish picture. Marimekko advert and Lonkero advert in one shot. Photo by me, lilacviking, Tampere, Finland. December 2011. 

It's easier to deal with the darkness when there's snow on the ground. As much of a pain in the ass snow can be, it really is better than a winter with no snow. The snow really brightens everything up when the natural or artificial light reflects off of it and don't even get me started on sunny, clear days in the winter when it' just so crispy outside. I'd much rather have that than endless rain, I guess that means I shouldn't move to the UK. I'm not really bothered by snow or winter that much, it actually makes me feel closer to home *waves tiny Canadian flag*. I basically grew up on a ski hill north of Toronto because my brother and I were ski racers. Every weekend from when I was 3 till I was 14 was spent on the ski hill and my brother is a director of ski racing in British Columbia; snow is not an issue for us, but even I have a hard time with the short days and long nights. But I know it's really hard for a lot of foreigners to adjust to kaamos; it's enough of an issue that it gets brought up numerous times during orientation and we get lots of emails about sessions dealing with it for international students. They've got a few “light rooms” at the universities here, which are rooms with UV lights that you can go and sit in for 30 minutes to get your daily vitamin D dose, and there are countless activities happening to encourage people to go outside for something other than school. There's this mood disorder called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that really shows it's face during this time, my Mum's got it and it really affects her. This is one thing you've gotta be careful about in the winter time because it can be more serious than just having the ”winter blues”. My way to combat against the gross feeling between nice autumn weather and nice winter weather is to do something. It can be mighty hard to actually make yourself get out of your comfy bed, get dressed and actually go outside for no other reason than to get outside, but it's something that is completely necessary unless you want to become a grumpy hermit. Plan stuff with friends, it doesn't have to be anything more than going for a drink or a big group walk, go for a walk by yourself, go to the movies, SOMETHING. A good thing about kaamos is that you can see the Northern Lights, revontulet in Finnish, better! Hopefully I can catch some this winter and get pictures! If you think it's annoying your friends, ask anyway cause I'm sure they are feeling the same way. If it's really gross weather, i.e. it's rainy like crazy and really cold, have some friends over and bake a cake. There is a reason that people always comment on Finns being depressed (which I think is a required question or comment when interviewing Finnish bands), as much as it is over-exaggerated, because it is something that even the locals have issues with, and, a lot of Finns will tell you to drink because there's nothing else to do during kaamos (yay for more stereotypes!), but maybe you should stay away from falling into that statistic.

Even though it does get dark and cold here, don't let that dissuade you from coming to this lovely country. I know I rage when Finland is featured on travel shows, which is not often at all, and they go to Finland during the worst months and all they talk about is how depressing the country is; “well yea, it's depressing because you are from California and you are there in the middle of January.”. If you want to come here, even if you've never seen snow before but really want to, come in the summer. I like to think that the reward for dealing with the long nights in the winter are the long days in summer months. Like I've said before, I haven't been in Finland for a full summer before, and won't be here for the summer solstice, Juhannus, this year either, but it's so nice at the end of May when it's almost 10pm and it's only just dusk. There's a saying that's something along the lines of ”you don't get flowers without going through some shit”; Finland's shit is kaamos and the flowers are the long summer days. 

"Metal all the time, in every bar"

           Finland is known as being a sort of Mecca for metalheads. Sure, Germany has Wacken, the UK has the ones that started it all, and Norway is kvlt, where else can you go and easily find a bar that plays exclusively rock and metal music? And I don't mean just once a week or the possibility of one song a night. Or, where else can you find a country where most of the population can play at least one musical instrument and and a good few of them have been in a band at some point in their life? Where can you go and hear Nightwish or Sonata Arctica coming from the speakers in the lingerie department of a major department store (a Finnish version of The Bay or Macy's)? While I am not the most traveled person, hailing from Toronto, Canada, having only traveled to a handful of European countries in my short years, I think I'm pretty safe to say that Finland really is a haven for metalheads. That gif of Vreth (Finntroll) saying “in Finland its metal all the time, in every bar” is pretty damn close to the truth.

            I first found out about/fell in love with Finland through listening to music. Yes, I was one of those14 year olds who wanted to marry Ville Valo of HIM; probably one of Finland's best known musical artists. But before you close your browser window in a fit of “she's not metal” rage, let me finish. I was a diehard HIM fan, and still really appreciate their music even though I've stopped listening to only them, and through that band I was able to discover popular Finnish rock bands, some that have reach international fame and some that have only really been popular within Finland. The rock bands here have got a pretty strong fan-base around the world regardless of how small that fan-base is. But because I listened to so much music from Finland, it spurred me on to find out more about this little-known country which seemed similar to my own snowy homeland. As for metal, well I wasn't quite the metalhead back then as I am now; I only listened to a sprinkling of metal amongst my hardcore HIM listening. To be frank, half the vocals drove me nuts because they weren't Valo's baritone; ah, to be a pigheaded teenager. I was determined to go to Finland and I got the chance through my university as an exchange student at the University of Helsinki. In late August of 2011, I became a resident of Helsinki and the real fun began.

            Remember how I said I wasn't that into metal when I was younger compared to now? Well, since I was in Helsinki, basically the centre of the Finnish universe, there was usually at least one concert happening every week somewhere in Helsinki. To put it into perspective, between late 2004 and August 2011, I had been to eight concerts. Between September 2011 and May 2012, the time I lived in Helsinki, minus almost a month that I was back in Canada for Christmas, I went to 38 concerts. Some of these bands weren't metal bands, but, I did grow to love metal so much more because of concerts I went to just for shits and giggles because it was so cheap to see these bands compared to going to shows in Toronto. I was seeing bands I wouldn't normally see in Canada because it would just be too expensive for me; I live 2 hours from Toronto/a decent venue and normal concert prices for these bands would be around 35 Canadian dollars. I really was able to expand my listening repertoire while living in Helsinki. My friend would want to see a band that I had heard of but never listened to before and I’d agree to go, then I would come out with a new band that I was into. This is when my love of Folk/Viking/Pagan metal really ignited; I had always liked the idea of it but had only ever really listened to less than a handful of decent bands from those subgenres. It was from seeing these bands live that I was able to fully appreciate their music - for example Lauri “Varulven” Õunapuu of Metsatöll who made me dizzy from the amount of times he switched from guitar to a traditional instrument that I’ve never even seen before. If you can play bagpipes and make them sound badass, I’m pretty sold on your music.

           

I think that could be where Finland has such a strong connection to music. You may or may not know, Finns are NOT Vikings (Finland is a Nordic country not a Scandinavian one. Educate yourselves) so that means they don’t have the same Viking lore as the Scandinavian countries. Which means their mythology is not centered on warriors. Without going into it too much, Finnish Paganism has lots of nature (birds, lots of birds) and lots of music; the stories were passed down orally through runo songs for centuries before Elias Lönnröt wrote them down in The Kalevala. The main character in The Kalevala, the shaman Väinämöinen, who has been identified as one of Tolkien's sources for the character of Gandalf, is portrayed as having an amazing voice and carrying a kantle made of a pike's jawbone with him everywhere he goes. A kantele made of a pike’s jawbone? Sounds pretty metal to me. I took a class at the University of Helsinki that was called The Kalevala in Music. In that class we focused a lot on the classical composers that wrote music based around the Kalevala, but we also talked a lot about modern day Finnish musicians that use the Kalevala for inspiration, like Amorphis and Korpiklaani. How cool is the idea that Amorphis can play the main stage at Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, the biggest Metal music festival in the Nordic countries, and all they do is sing about centuries-old myths of their home country and a large number of people in attendance won’t have any idea that Mermaid is actually about Väinämöinen being a creep about marrying Joukahainen’s beautiful sister, Aino, who had been promised to him if he saved her brother, so she turns herself into a salmon. The mythological Finns fought with songs and spells rather than relying on swords and other weapons all the time. It’s not surprising that music is such a part of Finnish life that it’s basically second nature to Finns.

I haven't yet been fortunate enough to stay in Finland past May, so I've missed the Finnish summers which means I haven't had the chance to attend the copious amounts of festivals that happen here in the summertime. But if Wacken, in Germany, is the biggest metal music festival, Finland has to take the cake for the most metal music festivals. Tuska Open Air, Sauna Open Air, Provinssirock and Nummirock being some of the big names, along with a host of smaller festivals; you could probably do a festival a weekend if you had the time and funds. I’ve only ever been to one metal festival, and I guess only one summer music festival, and it was this past summer when I went to Mayhemfest at Ontario Place. If you want to know how tiny the metal scene is in Toronto, the bands at Mayhemfest were complaining that it wasn’t worth it to do a Toronto date because it was the smallest turnout on that tour, a measly 7000 people. A band like Children of Bodom can easily sell out, or at least pack a house, in Finland, and probably most other places, like Germany, but as one of the bands at Mayhem, they were on a side stage. I went to see Finntroll in Toronto before I moved back to Finland this summer and there were probably just over 100 people there. It was lovely because it was an awesome small show but that would never happen in Finland. I think it’s threat to future decent metal shows in Canada because the bands and their management and whatever other powers that be don’t see the point if no one is going to show up if they can just focus on places where they are assured a big turnout.

            Let's get back to the metal culture that thrives in Finland. Remember how I mentioned Vreth saying that it was metal all the time in every bar? That's because there is a scene for it, meaning that more than one bar can survive on catering exclusively to a specific subculture, even though people outside the subculture go to these places as well. You don't get that in Canada, or at least I haven't found it. We might have Hot Topic (cue mass eye-roll) and the odd struggling shop that sells band merch and albums, poor HMV, but in Finland, at least in the bigger cities, you can easily find a record store that is stuffed full of the albums you are looking for; Music Hunter in Helsinki and Swamp Music Second Hand in Tampere, my favourite second-hand music shops: CDs and vinyl galore. I can sit in the main building of my university, Tampereen Yliopisto, and probably see 10 metalheads walk past me within an hour, no problem. Every Christmas season there is a musical event called Raskasta Joulua, which roughly translates to Heavy Christmas, which is a bunch of well-known Finnish metal musicians, including Marco Hietala of Nightwish, Tarot, and Northern Kings, Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica and Northern Kings, Ilja Jalkenen, ex-Kiuas, Ari Koivunen of Amoral, JP Leppäluoto of Northern Kings, Harmaja, Charon, and ex-Poisonblack, as well as a host of other Finnish musicians, singing Christmas tunes with a metal twist. They do quite a few shows in Finland and they get a huge turnout. I went to one of the Helsinki shows back in December 2011 (it's so popular that they have to do two shows in Helsinki) and it was fantastic. It really showed how metal is pretty mainstream in Finland because among the metalheads there were business people in suits and ties and other "ordinary" people who you'd never see at a metal show in any other country. In fact, I think this is the perfect example of just how metal Finland is. Maybe it’s because Finland is quite a small country compared to Canada, in both geography and population, so everything is a bit more concentrated here. Unlike in other countries where the top 40 radio playlist are lacking in metal-ness, in Finland, it’s perfectly normal to hear one of the many Finnish metal acts on mainstream radio and to know loads of people who are into metal bands across all age groups. If metal is a subculture of outsiders, I think they can find a home in Finland. 

Don't forget to comment! You can also send me questions to my Tumblr and you can check out my Flickr, which consists of many pictures of Finland!

One Monthiversary

Hello! As of today I have officially been back in Finland for a whole month! It's been a month of nostalgia and new discoveries. I remember everyday how freaking lucky I am to have been able to come back here to study and, in a way, start a new chapter of my life.

We've finally been seeing some proper autumn weather here in Tampere, after about 3 gorgeous weeks of sun and cold in the morning but then being hot by afternoon temperatures. Now we've got chilly temperatures and it's been rather moist (ugh, what a horrible word). But it's making for some lovely picture taking weather and I'm loving it!

School has been going swimmingly. I have Finnish language class 4 days a week and while it's basically all the same stuff that I learned for the half year that I took Finnish at HYU, it's a really good course and my teacher is adorable, unlike the ice queen that was my last Finnish teacher. I only have class for my actual Masters program one day a week, but boy do we have a lot of work! I've got one 5 minute independent presentation next Wednesday, for which I've gotta read a whole book which I should be doing right now since Im less than 30 pages in and have got about 200 pages to read. Then I've got a group presentation for next week and then another group presentation for November. Also add in the fact that I need to start thinking about thesis ideas and do any other work he sends our way in the mean time. But I do really love my program and it's EXACTLY what I wanted.

While Im procrastinating actually doing important work, I wander around Tampere. Like yesterday, my friend and I (Hi, Fede!!) went to Messukylän vanha kirkko (but I honestly think it just gets called kivikirkko. Which makes sense since it is a stone church). It's the oldest church, and building, in Tampere. It was built in the 16th century to replace a 15th century wooden church dedicated to St. Michael. I pass it every time I take the bus to school/the city center and I've been dying to go check it out and snap a few photos. Unfortunately, we couldn't get inside, which is very unfortunate because I later saw pictures of the inside and HELLO GORGEOUS. But it's a really beautiful church from the outside and really unique compared to other buildings in Tampere and Finland. It also made me really sad I didn't see any Stave churches while I was in Norway in 2011.

All photos were taken by me, lilacviking at Messukylän vanha kirkko in Tampere, Finland on September 20, 2013

I'm hopefully gonna go to one of the lakes close to my apartment soon and then to my favourite cemetery AND Im in Helsinki in less than 2 weeks. More adventures and pictures to come!!

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Unicorn lake

So I don't know if you know this, if you are reading this blog you probably do know this, but Finland has lakes. A lot of lakes. A fuck ton of lakes. around 200 000 lakes to be a bit more exact (there is even a Finnish lake wiki). Something that you also might not know, Tampere, the city where I currently live and go to school, is in between two good sized lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjarvi, with Tammerkoski connecting the two of them. I think Inari up in northern Finland has around 3000 lakes. Plain and simple, it's not hard to find a lake here. That's why I've sorta taken up a bucket list challenge to visit as many lakes as I can (and when Caitlin gets her butt back to her homeland, we will visit as many as we can and jump in all of them). On Saturday I found one of the lakes closest to my flat, with the help of one of my new friends, and it was a really lovely place, just a 20 minute or so walk from where we live. It was actually right near a mess of apartments and there is a football pitch on the other side of the trees from it but once you get there, you sort of forget that there is a Koti Pizza and S Market around the corner. My friend said it best when we finally found it on Saturday (we got a bit turned around) "so where are the unicorns?". The place looked like something from Middle Earth (I was hoping Legolas or Haldir would pop out somewhere.....maybe atop the previously mentioned unicorn? A girl can dream) and just so quiet. As someone who grew up in a rather quiet small town but just spent 4 months living at the Harbourfront in downtown Toronto, I really did miss silence in the outside world. While it was wonderful to find the lake, I was sad I didn't have my camera working. I know I've got people back home that have never been to Finland before that I want to show how beautiful Finland is, and also people back home that have never been to Finland and really want to go so I really do try to take pictures whenever I can. And I absolutely love taking pictures, especially of places like Isolammi. But I couldn't take my camera because my memory card had decided to protest and not work correctly. THANKFULLY, Anttila (a department store. sort of like a more upscale Wal-Mart) was having a sale and I manage to get an 8GB card for 10 euros! Once I snagged that I went back to Isolammi and snapped as many pictures as I could! We've been granted some really nice weather lately (minus the cold rain ona Sunday) and the sunset tonight was wonderful; there was some lovely pink colours coming off the lake. I think my friend and I are gonna try to find Kaukajärvi this weekend, which is a much bigger lake past Isolammi, and I'll be sure to take pictures there. For now enjoy some pictures from Isolammi. Please don't use the pictures unless you have permission from me. All photos were taken by me, lilacviking at Isolammi in Kaukajärvi, Tampere, Finland on September 2, 2013.

BOOM you even get a picture of me being a daredevil by sitting on branch over the lake. I did not fall in

Remember! You can follow me on Tumblr (which I update much more) and Instagram (which is not currently being used as I still haven't gotten a new smartphone) both under the username lilacviking

If you have any questions about living and studying in Finland, feel free to leave a comment on this blog or send me an ask on Tumblr (I have my anonymous ask turned on so you really shouldn't be afraid to ask. Rude people will be eaten though, keep that in mind)

Kanukki

Guess who's back, back again? Biz is back, tell a friend.

Yep, it's true! After just under 2 years, Im back in Finland! I arrived on August 21 but I've been so damn busy that this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and write a post about it! So since I've been doing a lot since I got here on Wednesday, let's have story time. I'll wait while you get a comfy blanket and a cup of tea....ready? okay, let's go.

I left Toronto on August 20 and shed a few tears because my Dad was tearing up. He's not the type of person to do something like that but I think he was just sad about not seeing me at Christmas time since I'm going to be staying here and my Mum is coming for my birthday and Christmas. I had a good summer living with him and I think he was just sad that he wouldn't see me till April or so when he and his girlfriend possibly come over to visit (and I secretly think he was sad that he was also losing his cleaning lady). Anyway the flight was as most flights are, long and boring. THANKFULLY I was dead tired so I slept most of the flight (yay for flights that leave at 2230!) and I think I woke up when we were over Norway or something. I was in a strange mood the entire day before I had my flight. I think it was just weird excitement cause I definitely wasn't nervous about anything but, like I said, I was dead tired. I landed in Helsinki and had a little while before my connecting flight to Tampere (scoff at me getting a flight to Tampere from Helsinki but YOU try lugging 3 bags plus a purse and backpack on a bus for half an hour then on a train for 2 hours. I was not about to do that to myself. Both Tampere and Helsinki have cobblestone sidewalks which are enemies of rolly bags). I landed in Tampere, managed to get a taxi to the city (yay for sharing taxis with a bunch of people that were in Tampere for an international doctors conference!), and then I managed to get all my luggage into lockers at the train station in about an hour which meant I was able to catch a train to Pori to see one of my best friends, Lily!

Lily lives up in Pori (I guess up and over in Pori cause Pori is almost on the west coast of Finland) and I've known her for almost 2 years and even though she has been between Finland and Portugal for the past years and I've been between Finland and Canada for the past years, we've remained great friends and I was so excited to see her! I was just going to get a hotel room in Tampere for the night that I got there cause it was too late to get my apartment keys, but, Lily would hear nothing of that and basically demanded that I come up to Pori to stay with her and her boyfriend. I got there and she was waiting at the platform and once she saw me she started to play What is Love? (Baby Don't Hurt Me) by Haddaway on her phone (it's a sort of inside joke between us). As soon as we got in the car I was handed karpalo Lonkero (if you don't know Lonkero, which you might not know unless you've been to Finland or maybe Estonia, just think of alcoholic carbonated juice. Karpalo is cranberry and the best kind), which is probably the best way to be welcomed back to Finland (I also got some pulla from Lily once we got to her place). I don't think we did anything that night, other than ate yummy food made by Lily. Jetlag is a bitch and I hate it.

Thursday was quite busy for me. I had to go with Lily in the morning into Pori cause she has Finnish class in the city centre and then I had to catch the bus back to Tampere so I could get the keys to my flat then take all my stuff to my new flat (remember, my stuff was in a locker in Tampere and the lockers are only good for 24 hours so I had to go back on Thursday or else my stuff might get taken away!). There was/is track work being done at the Pori railway station so VR (the train company in Finland) had buses going from Pori to Tampere, which is the only route anyways cause Pori=tiny place. Regardless of the fact that Pori is a little city, I still managed to get lost and missed the first bus but, I made the next one. Then came the uneventful trip to Tampere where I then proceeded to get lost trying to find TOAS, the student housing organization in Tampere, thank goodness for internet on phones and my program having a Facebook group and wonderful people in my program helping me out. Getting my keys was no problem and I just bit the bullet and paid for a taxi to my place cause there was no way in hell I was going to take all my bags on the bus to try to find my apartment (my apartment complex feels like it's in the woods, I never would have found it let alone even find the bus that took me up there). I got to my apartment, which is so so much nicer than my apartment in Pasila aka the concrete trashy jungle (I NOW LIVE A 20 TO 30 MINUTE WALK FROM A LAKE. which is actually no different than my hometown where I lived 15 minutes walking distance from a freakin bay), and couldn't get the key to work in the room I was assigned but my key worked in the room next to it so I just basically threw my stuff in there and went back to the city center to catch the train back up to Pori for the weekend. I arrived in Pori and I met some of Lily and her boyfriend's friends (I think only like 2, actually) and I made fajitas and had to teach the one friend how to roll it. Finland, get on the fajita craze, you're missing out. We drank a bit and watch tv I think.....then came Friday

I think the three of us just kinda blobbed for most of the day. I basically made chili all day cause it tastes better when cooked longer and Lily hadn't had it since I last saw her when I lived in Helsinki and it is a wide known fact that my chili is the bombdiggity. Later in the day more people came over and we started drinking (or just continued drinking if you were one of the Finns) and then ended up playing  boys vs. girls trivial pursuit and it was a shit show cause I was getting tipsy and I just get loud, but it was so much fun. I have no idea at what time, but at some point we all piled into someones car and went to some pub that is close to Lily's house cause I had to lose my Pihlava bar virginity. It was basically a building in the parking lot but it had beer and good music so all was not lost. Lily and I played pool and I sucked hardcore and a creepy dude was watching us. We walked back to their place and continued to drink and it was the first time in a very long time that I have been quite drunk but it was a special occasion! This is also the day I earned my new nickname which is also the title of this entry. A few of Lily's boyfriend's friends can't speak English/can't speak English very well, and my name is actually quite hard for Finns to pronounce. So, rather than attempting to say my name, they dubbed me Kanukki because Im Canadian. I actually think it's adorable and have no problems with that as my Finnish nickname...at least it means they won't call me Piz cause they can't say Biz. It also means they can make fun of my accent more now.

Saturday=hangovers. Mine wasn't too bad but Lily didn't want to move all day. I met some people and I sorta wish we could have gone to the lake or something but I didn't want to fuck off and leave Lily to wallow in self pity.

Sunday morning we went into the city centre early cause I had to go to Anttila to get stuff for my apartment (like a blanket, etc cause they give you a bed and a desk and that's it) and then I was back to Tampere where I found out that the room I had thrown my stuff into was actually not mine and my flatmate who belonged in there was not too happy about it. Whatever, simple mistake based on the fact I couldn't get my actual room open with the key I was given. Sunday night I met almost everyone from my degree program, as well as a few others, at a bar (Cafe Europaa for those that want to know) and it was great and all the people I met are awesome! Im really excited to start school with these people and I've already made good friends with one Italian girl (hi Fede!).

Monday and Tuesday were just school orientation that I had to go to cause we get credit for it but it was really catered to exchange students. I think on Tuesday night one of my flatmates and I went to a barbeque type party near our flat and it was lots of fun and I got to meet some more new people and even met another Canadian (who is from Quebec/Nova Scotia). It was my flatmate's birthday and someone even made her a cake, how sweet!

Wednesday was orientation specific to my program and it was a lot of information but I got to meet the professor in charge and just imagine Colonel Sanders from KFC and that is what my head prof is like, and he's even from Kentucky. We had a welcome dinner for my program at a place called Telakka (yummy salmon soup which I NEED to learn to make ASAP) and were given a lot of free drink tickets so I got a tiny bit silly. It was really great that most of our program had already met for drinks on Sunday (and via the Facebook group we created back when we all got accepted. Oh social media how I love thee) cause it made the dinner that much more relaxed cause there was no need for awkward introductions.

Thursday and Friday I think I just kinda bummed around and got my room set up. I think I went out with program people on one of those nights, I wanna say it was Friday, and we found a bar that has 2,50 beer, which is a big deal where the average price is 5,00, I can't remember the name of it but it had good music and we played table football. And Thursday I went to Jack the Rooster, which has the best terrace btw, with my Italian friend and her friend that was visiting and some friendly, albeit slightly intoxicated, Finns chatted with us for awhile

Saturday Fede and I did stuff in town then went on an adventure and found one of the lakes by our flats! Sunday we ventured to Ikea and I bought the last of the things I needed for my apartment (but didn't get any 50 cent meatballs cause ew, long lines) which leads us to Monday, which is today! well, I guess Monday was yesterday since it is now 00:44 on Tuesday. Monday was officially the first day of school and I only had 1 class which was Finnish class. I've got some friend in it so it should be a good one! I only have class for my program on Wednesdays and Finnish class runs from Monday to Thursday. After class Fede and I ended up going to the city and grabbing something then we went back to the lake we had been to over the weekend so I could take pictures since I picked up a new memory card. I'll be sure to write a little blurb about my lake adventures, complete with pictures. I found out today that Finland has a freakin' lake wiki page called jarviwiki. Go check it out.

Whew! That was a lot of stuff to word vomit out! I promise I won't make a wall of text like this again! Anywhoooo that was my first week and a bit being back in Finland! Im really so happy to be back here once again and while I'd change some things, like my apartment since I can't make it my own, I am truly so excited to even be here and back in the place I love and meeting wonderful new people, both from Finland and abroad; I'm so lucky.

Remember, you can follow me on Tumblr (which I update lots more!) and Instagram (which is not currently being used cause I don't currently have a smartphone in which to use) both under the same user name, lilacviking.

PLEASE, if you want me to talk about anything in particular about living/studying in Finland (or something else), don't hesitate to leave a comment here or leave me an ask on my Tumblr (I have the anonymous turned on so you can ask even if you're shy), I don't just wanna talk about what I did during the week, BORING. I will do my best to answer any and all questions!

Golden Anniversary but way more metal

Does anyone know what a Golden Anniversary is? It's to celebrate 50 years of marriage. Well, Im not married, but, I had a sort of Golden Anniversary last night (I feel like "golden anniversary isn't very metal sounding. Can I just call it a "Bloodiversary"?). I went to my 50th concert! I've been going to concerts since I was 13 and like most people that love music, I love concerts. The first concert I went to was to see HIM at Kool Haus in Toronto (it may have even bee their first concert in Canada which is neat) way back in 2004. My friends and I went to a signing at HMV on Yonge Street and waited in line for a long time and didn't even get inside the building before the band had to leave. For a HIM obsessed teen, I was quite sad, but I remember the concert was amazing. The second concert I went to was HIM, again, and I remember it being just as good. I didn't go to many concerts 1) because no bands I liked ever came to Toronto 2) I lived 2 hours from Toronto and didn't get a driver's license till I was about 18 3) the majority of bands are foreign and therefore play shows on random nights of the week, Wednesday seeming to be the most popular 4) for the most part I had my head, and ears, shoved far too far up HIM's musical ass and didn't listen to a ton of other stuff half the time. This was in the days before Youtube was around so I couldn't easily listen to "unknown" music from Finland.

Before I went to Finland I had only been to a total of 8 concerts (HIM x2, Apocalyptica, Lady Gaga (don't judge cause she is fantastic at what she does and Im still more kvlt than you), Semi Precious Weapons, Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper, and 30 Seconds to Mars) and since we all know how much I love the majority of Finnish created music, I kinda hit the motherload when I went there for 8 months. My first concert was Negative, with Private Line opening for them, both two of my all time favourites, and it was only about a week or two after I arrived in Finland. Talk about hitting the ground running! During the time that I lived in Finland in 2011/2012 I think I went to 38 concerts. Keep in mind this is just single concerts i.e. bands playing at different venues, Im not going to count the individual bands I've seen cause that's just ridiculous, and I've seen a lot of bands more than once but at different venues. I think that works out being at least 1 concert a week (I went home at Christmas time for about a month so I don't count that month) but in reality sometimes I'd go a month with only one concert and other times I'd have 2 in one night of 3 in a weekend (thinks back to Easter weekend 2012 where I had a concert a day, in two different cities, and need to sleep for a year after that but it was so worth it).

I went to so many concerts not only because I love going to them and I wanted to see as bands of my favourite bands as I could, but also because they are so inexpensive to go to in Finland! I normally just had to stay in Helsinki and could have my pick of who I wanted to see, I went to Tampere a few times for shows and to Jyväskylä twice but that also combined with seeing friends as well. Quite a few of the shows I saw were for free or between 6 and 12 euros. I think the most expensive one was Nightwish for 48 euros, to be fair it was at Helsingin Jäähalli which is a hockey rink, and Michael Monroe (but he was at Tavastia both times and that is an expensive venue. Go there for at least one show but it's not the BEST venue and it's expensive), Wednesday 13 and Stratovarius were all over 20 euros. Plain and simple, Finland is much more of a concert country, at least for "local" bands, and even then some bands from Finland rarely play in Finland, but it's still better than bands doing North American tours and going to almost everywhere in the States then only hitting Toronto and Montreal, and MAYBE Vancouver if they have a Washington state date, Im sure Canada's east coast concert goers weep all the time. I understand it's not the bands that decide where they go, insert *come to Brazil fan scream right here* but booking agents and the powers that be need to understand that for a band to gain more of a fanbase and, more importantly, keep existing fanbases, they've got to hit some places that they might not be so big in. 

So then that takes us to my 50th. I saw Finntroll last night at the Opera House in Toronto. I went with my friend, and fellow trollhag, Caitlin and it was our last concert before I head to Finland. Kind of hilarious to me that my last show in Canada for a long time is a Finnish band. I'v been lovin' all up on folk/pagan/viking metal for the past 2 years so finally getting to see Finntroll, who I don't listen to THAT much right now, but will more now since last night, was amazeballs. I hadn't been to the Opera House before but I liked the venue, best one out of the ones I've been to in Canada, and it reminded me of a tiny version of Virgin Oil Co. in Helsinki. There was a Charles Manson look alike that Caitlin and I legit thought was going to kill someone, I found Caitlin's future husband, I watched a girl try to pull a guys beautiful hair off, and the main observation of the night between us was "Vreth has no butt" (Caitlin and I are butt conoisseurs, fyi) and all in all it was a fantastic end to my Canadian concerts. I'll miss having Caitlin as my trollhag concert buddy and she needs to get her ass to her homeland soon so we can go to more (I KNOW YOU'RE READING THIS. MAKE IT HAPPEN).

Finntroll at The Opera House on August 12th in Toronto, Canada. Photo by Caitlin

If I can manage, my first concert back in Finland, which I leave for in just 6 days, will be Korpiklaani at Klubi in Tampere on September 5. Im hoping to make it happen, even if I won't have anyone to go with, cause I've already missed them twice, in two different countries, and Im dying to see them. Fingers crossed!

As mentioned earlier, I fly out in just 6 days! So excited to handle it but also going to be so busy and tired this week! Don't forget to follow my Tumblr and my Instragram (which is currently not being used because my Smartphone died and I have yet to get a new one)!