Fagerlund's reviews

 

Second time I see these guys. All though the first time they were support to Dismember at some bar, and I didn't bother to stand up from the table so...

So they play Death Metal, which makes them the really odd ball on this bill. I must say they had a really nice and atmospheric intro. Setting the mood from the start! However, this venue is terrible for this kind of music. It's an old dance room, with really high ceiling and sounds just bounce around everywhere. Which means that if you're playing fast Death Metal with two guitars your guitars will just become noise pretty much...

But despite the horrible sound they put up a pretty nice show. They had some good songs going, and they kept the pace up knowing they didn't have much time on stage and not wasting time on speaking or breaks. They also had a guest appearance from Pelle of Watain (I believe, couldn't really hear what he said but I saw the rest of Watain in the crowd so) on vocals for one song. Pretty nice all in all!

 

 

 

So much hype about these guys lately, with their new Heavy Metal and what not. I had actually not heard them before this, just heard about them a lot so I did have some expectations.

They came on stage with lots of energy which they kept up for the entire set pretty much, but I don't know - it was certainly not bad but I can't say I really understand the hype? They had some good tunes, but to be honest, after around 30 minutes I was starting to get pretty bored. They were also suffering a lot from the bad sound though, so I don't think I can give a very fair opinion on these guys. I mean, I couldn't even really hear the singer in between the songs... So I'd say an all right show never the less!

 

 

A cult band still around! To be honest I hadn't heard that much from them beforehand, but was still looking forwards to it since they're one of those bands that has been around forever. Usually I'm not a big fan of Doom, but these guys have a lot more influence from NWoBHM rather so it makes it more interesting to me!

Terry Jones came on stage dressed in a long black coat and a tophat. You just know there will be some class when the show opens with a tophat...

Needless to say, Alan Jones endless guitar solos and Terrys haunting voice made this show very, very atmospheric. I was simply drawn into the sound and floating around in their occult world pretty much. I don't know if the sound guys finally got their stuff together, or they raised the volume enough or if Pagan Altar simply fit with some extra echo... perhaps a combination of the three? Either way they were not affected by the poor sound earlier in the evening for sure!

This was a very long set (almost two hours!), and like I wrote I was a bit worried I'd get bored of this style - but no, I enjoyed every minute of it! This seems to be one of those bands that really comes to life when played live. There's a lot more feeling in the music live than I ever heard them on record. Perhaps that is why they never really got famous? You just have to hear them live.

So I'm happy I decided to go see them after all, despite not really having listened to them beforehand! I don't think there'll be that many more chances to see them. Terry is getting old after all, not that it affected their sound though! But you could tell they needed some extra time between the songs sometimes.

Only thing I'm a little disappointed by is the crowd actually, as about half the venue left before they were done. It might be because of the weird mixture of styles I suppose but it felt a bit silly when the back half of the venue was mostly empty when it had been almost full earlier... Anyhow, still a really great show!