Orden Ogan – To The End

Orden Ogan released their fourth full-length album a few months ago, titled To The End. The version to be reviewed here is the LTD Digipak which included two bonus tracks and a DVD – the latter shall be omitted, though it comprised The Things We Believe In video, its "behind the scenes" and Wacken 2010 live show.

In spite of the positive first impression (which began with the first single releases), the album turned out to be difficult to get a good grasp of. It sounds like Orden Ogan immediately, but it had to be played through several times in order to fully get into each individual song.

The album begins with an instrumental track The Frozen Few, which has some nice and simple guitars with a growing orchestral feeling, something which sounds very peculiar to Ogan. The opening leads to the title track To The End, which is catchy enough to be placed at the beginning, to introduce those choirs which are very typical of Orden Ogan.

Most songs on the album are strong power metal pieces, with some pleasant and occasionally fast guitars and—as already stated—some pompous choirs. Such vocals have been included in every track on the album, more—like in Till The Stars Cry Out with several different repeated sections with choirs—or less, like in the first ballad The Ice Kings, in which the chorus parts are relatively peaceful, less bombastic, with a nice and slightly swinging melody. Orden Ogan's habit to use choirs to such extent may be a bit debatable – on one hand it is like a trademark, sort of a vocal way of adding "power" to "metal", yet on the other hand it may become a burden as well, making one wonder what else could have been used to produce such powerful songs. Fortunately, the choirs have been used in varying ways, like at the very end of The Ice Kings, or in Dying Paradise, where they only repeat the name of the song every now and then.

The regular edition ends with the other ballad, Take This Light, which is very beautiful and comprises piano melodies recorded at the cathedral of Wildeshausen. On the limited edition, this song is followed by the bonus tracks, an original Ogan track Masks and a cover version of The Battle of Waterloo (originally by Running Wild). These are actually some of the most interesting tracks, and personally I would certainly have included Masks in the regular edition. The cover song is a respectful gesture towards Running Wild, carried out in the familiar Ogan way.

Even though the album consists of creative and strong tracks with variable sections, it still hasn't hit the goal of being nearly perfect. On one hand the album is very solid, consistent and harmonious, and on the other hand the tracks do, in spite of their versatility, sound rather similar to each other. Yet that is their style, something that defines Orden Ogan, but it would be refreshing to get to hear something slightly different, something to prove they are not confined to the elements which all the tracks share, maybe only one exceptional song to break the habit. Ogan's song melodies are interesting in their own right, but the decorations are usually the same. Perhaps an acoustic folk version of Mystic Symphony?

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Orden Ogan: Masks

Orden Ogan are at it again with a brand new music video titled Masks, which is actually a bonus track on the limited edition of the latest album To the End. We also have a review of the album lined up and it should hopefully be coming sometime in not too distant future! Suffice it to say if you are a fan of German power metal, To the End is one of the better releases in the genre this year.

As usual per Orden Ogan's style, effort has been put into the visuals and the theme, and once again it's not your traditional "we are a metal band playing metal music in an abandoned metal factory" (hi Spinefarm) video.

Like the song title, Masks, the video is also based on a story revolving around the mask concept: A theater actress discovers a mask and puts it on, after which creepy things start happening and insanity ensues. Towards the end of the video things get really anxious in a horror flick like way. The video actually reminds me of the movie Black Swan in some ways.

Personally I do wonder why the track has been listed as a bonus track, as it really is good enough to be on the regular album. Enough of my babble however, enjoy the song and video!

Heavy Metal Perse – Aikakirjat

The strange Finnish power and heavy metal band Heavy Metal Perse released their second full-length album Aikakirjat on November 16th. The reason why I'm dubbing the band as strange is the remarkable difference between my personal views on them: considering the prejudices I had, the first impression I got when hearing their first album for the first time was particularly positive – and positively surprised. Thus, yours truly was quite excited about the new album which saw the light of the day almost five years after the first one.

Heavy Metal Perse's songs are generally very melodic, which is certainly a good thing. If that is what the listener is looking forward to, the first nine seconds of the first track, Paha Paavo, might make one's heart skip a few beats. What is this, thrash metal? Have no fear, after the initial shock it turns out to be the same familiar HMP. Paha Paavo is a very catchy song, with particularly hilarious lyrics, and its theme bears some resemblance to their older song Pahaksi Parkittu Lalli. It's an energetic way to open an album, a good choice despite the first seconds.

Although Heavy Metal Perse stands out from its peers in many ways, one of the most remarkable feature is their lyrics. The songs on the new album have just as brilliant lyrics as their older ones do. They can barely be overly praised; it is just a pity that the non-Finnish-speaking audience cannot understand the ingenious choices of words. Most of the praise goes to the main lyricist and drummer Heikki Romppainen, who has said – contrary to my initial expectations – that his lyrical themes are not derived from role play games or fantasy books. However, they tell interesting stories, they use the Finnish language in intriguing ways and every now and then they are so good they just make you laugh. But in spite of being occasionally very funny, they are not cheesy or ridiculous. Each track on the new album has strong and refined lyrics and it would be difficult to raise one above the others based on these merits.

And the melodies, well, they are also strong and enjoyable. Honest and melodic heavy metal. Vainolaista vastaan is an interesting track with its few a cappella lines, making it sound like a drinking song in a good way. Hornan koje is attractive because of its strategically placed pauses and a sharp ending to its choruses. And Matias Palm's boyish yet still slightly rough voice fits HMP's songs in such an excellent way and is a pleasure to listen to.

The last three tracks of the album are Viimeisen sillan taistelu, Vanhus ja meri and Vesikeuhko. The very last one is a cover version of Jethro Tull's song Aqualung, and it's quite a weird track on a Heavy Metal Perse album. Well, perhaps it is in the right place being the last track as it seems a bit separate from the rest of the material. In a way it sounds quite true to the original song, in a way it does sound a bit like HMP... But perhaps not enough. Personally, I'm picky – of course the translation is something already, but I find cover songs more interesting if they differ a lot from the original. And even though the song is not actually bad, it is something yours truly doesn't feel like listening when in need of some heavy metal. And when it comes to the last two original HMP tracks, I think they could have been swapped over: even though Vanhus ja meri is a nice, peaceful track, it does make the album fade towards its end, especially since followed by something as dragging as Vesikeuhko. Viimeisen sillan taistelu, on the other hand, is yet another catchy track, a genuine HMP song, and it would have been a good way to end the album with a bang rather than quietly sneaking away. Besides, the name of the song translates to "the battle of the last bridge".

Despite the slightly fading ending, Aikakirjat is a very good and strong album – at least as good as the previous one. One could expect bands to always exceed the expectations set by the previous release, though it does not happen too often. Heavy Metal Perse has at least lived up to those expectations, not leaving me disappointed. Keep up the good work, guys!

You can listen to the album on Spotify. See also HMP's Myspace and their website www.heavymetalperse.com

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LIVE: Sabaton, November 23rd

Sabaton's Swedish Empire Tour had three stops in Finland in November, shows supported by Dynazty and Raubtier.

We arrived too late to see Dynazty at all, yet heard most of Raubtier's gig anyway. With little knowledge of the band beforehand, the experience was surprisingly entertaining. Raubtier was actually a very good support act for Sabaton; in spite of representing a different genre to begin with, the band does sound a bit like Sabaton and seemed to excite the audience and certainly warm them up for what they all had come to see.

The venue was at least nearly sold-out, with roughly a thousand metalheads shaking their fists along to Sabaton's war inspired metal. The gig began almost on time too, starting out with Ghost Division (after The Final Countdown and The March to War). After the Panzer Elite had set the audience on fire, it was the time for Gott Mit Uns off of their newest album Carolus Rex.

After the first two songs Joakim Brodén introduced the following song by saying it probably needed no introduction in Finland at all – as it was White Death. It was followed by Carolus Rex and then Karolinens Bön, which was actually performed in Swedish. Sabaton had asked in advance on Facebook whether their fans in Finland wished to hear their new songs in English or Swedish. English was the leading option in the poll, yet obviously comments and other requests had resulted in a compromise solution. In spite of the change in language, there were many people singing along in the audience anyway.

Songs such as 40:1, Cliffs of Gallipoli and Uprising kept the audience on fire, singing along and throwing their fists in the air until a brief, calm moment when a keyboard was brought onto the stage for Joakim and most people in the audience fell silent to concentrate on listening to The Hammer Has Fallen. Those few minutes were certainly the most peaceful during the whole gig, with some matching purple lighting to create a dramatic yet serene atmoshpere – with a couple of cigarette lighters waving among the audience to compliment the performance. The peace did not last long though since soon enough Berlin was burning with Attero Dominatus.

Although the band did leave the stage for a few minutes, encore came soon enough with The Art of War, Talvisota – to the Finns' national entertainment (or is it just pride?) and naturally, Primo Victoria, to which the audience was also jumping wildly. And last but not least, with the war theme abandoned, Metal Crüe to remind us not to take this genre too seriously.

Altogether the one-hour-and-a-half long gig was energetic and engaging. The setlist was good, yet a few magnificent tracks were missed – Coat of Arms, The Final Solution, Panzer Battalion and Wolfpack to name a few. And to keep us all excited still, Sabaton revealed they would be playing at Sauna Open Air metal festival next summer. I bet Tampere is eagerly waiting.
– cm_

* * *

For me it was the second time I got to see Sabaton's full live performance. I originally saw them in Sauna Open Air 2007 but merely from the bar area, and I only recognized Primo Victoria anyway. Tuska 2009 was my first proper show, and a damn good one at that. Unfortunately, in 2010, I missed out on the Coat of Arms tour despite really wanting to go, so it was about the time I got to see Sabaton again.

The gig was held in Pakkahuone in Tampere (Finland), which is a venue well-known in the Pirkanmaa region. As noted at the start, the venue was nearly sold-out with around 1000 infantry troops showing up. Since it was an under 18 gig, the area was split into two halves: one for the alcohol-thirsty battalion and the other one for the kids and drivers of the aforementioned battalion. That also meant the beer queues were fairly long, with only 4–5 lines to serve all the thirsty panzer corps.

As noted above, we skipped Dynazty and arrived to witness some of Raubtier's performance, and their live act indeed was pretty good, with some short speaks completely in Finnish between the songs! Musically they were somewhere along the lines of industrial metal. Pretty good live act, but probably not as tempting on a studio album.

Sabaton played a solid set with not many surprises. The set list perhaps left a bit to be desired (as always), and I'd have liked to hear Into the Fire and Coat of Arms also. Cliffs of Gallipoli is not a bad song, but in its stead the similarly-arranged The Price of a Mile would've been more to my liking.

White Death is a great tune and I was certain we'd hear it (since it's about a Finnish sniper in WW2) and I was happy about it. I can't say the same about Talvisota which as a song doesn't live up to many others, but due to its patriotic theme for Finns they just "had to" play it I suppose.

The Hammer Has Fallen was an oddity I didn't expect. While it was fun one time, I hope it's not a permanent addition to the set after the tour is over. Some people also have criticized Art of War as an encore song but I'll disagree. I thought it fit in well and I don't find it a dragging song like some people have described it.

All in all a good gig, but I'd rate the Tuska 2009 gig higher. The band seemed to have fun and it was great to see Thobbe Englund on the stage, and not to mention the one and only Snowy Shaw who filled in for the drummer boots while Robban Bäck was away due to family matters. Hopefully the set list gets a bit of a refresher for Sauna Open Air 2012, and we'll get to hear songs like Poltava or Killing Ground  (and naturally more of Coat of Arms)!
– dw_

Machinae Supremacy – Redeemer

From the northern Sweden hail Machinae Supremacy, a band renowned for their "SID metal" sound which incorporates synthesizer sounds from a device known as SidStation – a device capable of "mimicking" the MOS 6581 aka SID sound chip found on old home computers such as the famous Commodore 64.

MaSu originally rose to fame by covering old game tunes such as The Great Giana Sisters or the Sidology medleys using metal-like approach backtracked by the SidStation. These tracks would then find their way on the MaSu website in the early 2000s for redistribution – a method which proved immensely popular at the time.

Following their internet-based success MaSu released their first album titled Deus Ex Machinae in 2004 via a UK based label MDB Records. In autumn 2006 one of the better known metal labels Finnish Spinefarm took MaSu under their wing.

Redeemer was released in early 2006 – first as a self-release (titled Underground Edition) – and later in 2006 officially by Spinefarm, simply dubbed as "Retail". This review is about the retail version, and it's worth pointing that out as its tracklist is different to that of the Underground Edition's.

Redeemer follows in the Deus Ex Machinae vein but takes things one step further, a natural evolution process that is. The musical genre is still glued to what one could well describe as power metal with SID-like synthesizers. The singer and main songwriter, Robert "GaZ" Stjärnström, still has his easily identifiable, somewhat creaky voice, which one will either love or hate, and the guitar melodies and synthesizers are just as high-blazing as on Deus Ex Machinae. The main changes stem from slightly more serious lyrical themes as opposed to writing tracks (mostly) about video games. In fact, one of the clearest video game reference tracks, Fury, was indeed left out of the retail release which is a huge shame as it's a very good song.

Most tracks are fairly mid-tempo with some faster beats here and there, but one thing they all have in common: memorable choruses. The songs are very easy to get into despite their musical prowess and showmanship of instruments. The album ends with the slow, darkly atmospheric and perhaps a bit sad Reanimator which is also the 3rd installment in the March of the Undead series.

Lyrics mostly deal with individuality and choices in life, often times telling a kind of a story while leaving the exact meaning and background open for listener's interpretation. Some political criticism (Seventeen) is up in the air as well.

Overall Redeemer is a rock solid album, standing on its own from the first seconds on until the end, with only small bows inbetween. To me Redeemer defines what Machinae Supremacy are about, and I would wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone with keen interest in (old) games and (new) metal. Once you've been bit by the MaSu bug it's difficult to let go – and why should you, there are other albums like this one waiting for you out there, including the brand new Rise of a Digital Nation, of which a review is coming up within the next weeks!

You can listen to Redemeer and other Machinae Supremacy albums on Spotify.
Through the Looking Glass musicvideo.

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Battle of Songs: Instanzia vs. The Clan Destined

In the Battle of Songs we both choose a song for each other to listen and review. Each battle has a theme, however random we decide. The purpose of the battle is to introduce such individual songs which may not get much attention otherwise. Feel free to suggest themes!

Theme of the battle: A song about a person who lived in the 20th century.

For cm_ to review:
Instanzia – The Desert Fox
On seeing the length of the given song, over 11 minutes, I felt like 'woah', perhaps a bit prejudiced as well; it's not easy to compose a song so long, not everyone is Matt Smith.

So the song is about Erwin Rommel, who was widely known as the Desert Fox. If you don't know much about this man, well, the song will surely teach you something. The lyrics tell quite a story, and it seems to be rather accurate as well (without actually checking out the details).

The lyrics, yes... Such a concept could have been carried out much better. The lyrics contain a lot of information, but occasionally they are so awkward it's horrible. Some parts of the song are lyrically just anything but beautiful or interesting. Personally I like rhymes a lot, but they are not the key to interesting lyrics. Some parts sound just like they were listing the most important facts and merits of Rommel, perhaps in a chronological order. However, some repetition, that of the chorus, saves the lyrics from being thoroughly awful. The C part closer to the end of the song is relatively good already, though the beginning left me upset.

The song certainly gets better towards the end, and much to my surprise, it's not too long with its remarkable length. The melody is nice, but not breathtaking, and the awkward lyrics and strange lines spoil the beginning. The best parts of the song would be very good material for an epic power metal piece, yet there would have been a lot to refine.

You can listen to The Desert Fox on Youtube.

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For dw_ to review:
The Clan Destined – T. C. Lethbridge
For the Battle of Songs I was given a track called T.C. Lethbridge by The Clan Destined (a band formed by ex-Skyclad singer Martin Walkyier).

I'll be honest and admit upfront I'd never heard of anyone named T.C. Lethbridge prior to hearing the song, but apparently Thomas "Tom" Charles Lethbridge was an archaeologist and an "experimental scientist" with notable interest in occult-like pursuits.

While much remains in haze (without really extensive background checking) about the character himself, The Clan Destined draw upon his apparently rather ridiculed image in their fairly straight-forward heavy metal song about the man in question.

I've always been a fan of being straight-forward, and I must say I like the song. I'd heard A Beautiful Start to the End of the World by The Clan Destined previously, but wasn't really sure what to expect from this particular song.

There are no amazing guitar tricks, super-groovy bass lines or audacious drum beats, but simple, genuine, good-hearted heavy metal. I've always liked Walkyier's rough voice, and it fits The Clan Destined sound very well. The chorus is clever in all its simplicity, even if it's basically just chanting the letters "T.C.L.E.T.H.B.R.I.D.G.E". There are added female vocals during the chorus, but the song would've been just fine also without them.

At 3:06 minutes the song's length remains quite optimal. Like this, it's easy to get in to, easy to grow fond of and easy to listen to every time you'll need another reminder of yet another wrongly understood scientist, whose legacy will undoubtedly live on among the wiser of mankind.

You can listen to some of Walkyier's other work, including the song in question, at his Myspace website.

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Grayscale - When The Ghosts Are Gone

Album of the week is not necessarily an album review, nor the album presented a new release, but it's something that has impressed lately, for whatever reason we say.

At the beginning of the 2000s a band called Grayscale took off from the dark forests of Mikkeli, Finland, playing melancholy and slightly gothic metal. Prior to Grayscale, at the end of the 1990s, the band was known as a quartet called Four Bitches, but on the only full length album the band ever released, When the Ghosts Are Gone, the crew comprises six people. Grayscale was buried apparently after the demo Interior World, which was to be their last, in 2004. Later on some of the band members have appeared in such bands as Crimfall and Enthrope.

Basically, Grayscale is Four Bitches taken onto the next level. After using merely harsher vocals during the Four Bitches era, clean vocals have been added beside them, leading the album more towards gothic metal, reminding one of older Entwine and To/Die/For. The same feeling is also prompted by synthesizers which were not yet used during Four Bitches.

Some tracks on When the Ghosts Are Gone are remakes of songs found on Four Bitches' demos, others are previously unheard, newer material. Old songs have been transformed into excellent adaptations for Matti Hämäläinen's clean voice, while some contrast is provided by the guitarist Miika Partonen with his rough voice – just like on the demos. The songs flow delicately accompanied by keyboards and melodic, albeit fairly simple, guitar lines. Melancholy self-destruction theme is present in most songs, and I would hazard a guess certain Lopakka's lyrics notebook has been open somewhere in the background.

It's difficult to point out individual tracks above others, but the most memorable are straightforward and melodically simple The Fire Inside Me, which is about a fading will to live, and musically more saucy Shape In The Shadows. Otherwise the style of the songs throughout the whole album is quite similar – a feature which could be considered a flaw as well.

Grayscale is probably quite an unknown act outside Finland, and hardly particularly famous even when domestically speaking. When The Ghosts Are Gone is still very high-quality material for the lovers of gothic metal, and it's still available for a reasonable price at least in Finnish record stores. All in all, Grayscale is an excellent combination of Sentenced, To/Die/For and Entwine, and quite recommended to the fans of the genre.

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Dreamtale – Epsilon

Album of the week is not necessarily an album review, nor the album presented a new release, but it's something that has impressed lately, for whatever reason we say.

Dreamtale's Epsilon may be picked up for two reasons: firstly, it is a particularly good album to be an album of just any week. Secondly, it was officially released in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux countries a few days ago by Rock It Up Records. Although the album was first released in Finland in 2011, its release in the aforementioned European countries is remarkable as well. While I'm looking forward to their next album and hopefully a lot of gigs in local bars here, I also wish the guys could gain success abroad as well – they have all the potential.

And what makes Epsilon so fancy? It's Power with a capital, Erkki Seppänen's magnificent power metal voice and Rami Keränen's grand and creative compositions, backed up by a talented band. And by saying "particularly good" I meant "particularly strong" – none of the ten songs on the album are weak. Lack of speed doesn't add to the lack of strength, and while some tracks—such as Angel Of Light—keep releasing energy right from the very first second, others build it up for a bit longer to be released later, like Lady Of A Thousand Lakes or Reasons Revealed. And something has to be said: the combination of energetic and vigorous (guitar) melodies and moments of nearly perfect silence works very well.

The album has many songs which make awesome live songs too – so many of them are likely to set you in motion one way or another, whether you feel like banging your head or even dancing. (Yes, Epsilon has actually dominated the playlist I listen to when exercising.) One of the most ingenious parts is the C one of Fly Away, being something that reminds one of something else but metal, but is still very... metal. And most melodies are just simply very catchy and nice. Firestorm opens up both gigs and the album equally well, Where Eternal Jesters Reign has excellent synthesizers and backing vocals, Mortal Games rules with its interesting drums and chorus.

Hopefully Dreamtale's next album will be at least something equally stunning – and if it's much better, it has to be something... woah.

Orden Ogan: The Things We Believe In

I'm not an avid music video fan to begin with: while some of them are truly interesting and worth watching, most of them are simply too boring to appeal to me. I am rarely excited about new music video releases, but I encountered an exception on Monday: Orden Ogan released a video to their new single The Things We Believe In off of their new album which is to see the light at the end of October (or should I say, to see the darkness). Well, at least yours truly has been looking forward to the said album!

And yes, on Monday I found myself truly excited to see a new music video. Orden Ogan's We Are Pirates is probably the best music video I know – well yes, I am slightly biased because of pirates, but it is really interesting in its own right. Since the song is relatively long, the video is almost like a short movie with a lot of fascinating events. Now that Orden Ogan released something new, I didn't expect the theme to be so dear to me anymore, but I was looking forward to seeing another good quality music video anyway.

My first impression in brief: snow, ice, cold. Homeless people, miserable people, people in serious trouble. Musicians resurrecting those who didn't quite make it. Hm, I think I've seen this all before. But the song was good.

My second impression: strange tubes. Is that an oxygen mask? What's with that city in an apocalyptic state? Seeb, what are you wearing, cyberpunk gear? What's with that oxygen mask guy's gun, does it shoot laser rays? Who's that guy with a top hat and a torch? What, a strange portal to another dimension? Seeb, why are you glowing, are you sure you are alright?

But the song is good. It sounds just like Orden Ogan, with pompous choirs supporting the chorus. The song didn't quite blow my brains onto the wall, but it was enough to make my nose bleed and make me wait for the album. I guess the video wasn't so bad either... It's full of clichés and unoriginal ideas, but the strange additions make it seem peculiar enough to be worth watching again. The story remained vague to me, but then again... the song was good. And visually the video was fascinating enough, yet I tend to support music videos with strong storylines.

How about you see and hear for yourself?

LIVE: Ensiferum, support: Brymir, A.R.G September 6th

At the end of August Ensiferum released a new album, Unsung Heroes, and consequently toured in Finland with Brymir and A.R.G. In spite of the tour hitting Tampere on a Thursday night, the venue had pulled in relatively big crowds of metalheads.

The evening kicked off with a show from Brymir. Brymir play very distinguishable pagan/folk/melodic death metal akin to Ensiferum, and apparently they were originally called Lai Lai Hei – a song by Ensiferum indeed.

Brymir's approximately 35 mins long show was so good that I spent my merchandise money for the night solely on them. I would even go as far as to say Brymir's show was the best of the night. I wasn't familiar with their material before, but I'm getting into it now. They have one full-length album at the time of writing this called Breathe Fire to the Sun.

A.R.G. performed after Brymir, and where Brymir were full of surprises, A.R.G. were full of disappointments. Their oldschool thrash metal just didn't strike out to me, and I resorted to watching parts of the gig from afar (Ensiferum pun intended) enjoying my beer. After a few songs I'd seen and heard enough -- unfortunately, for I was hoping to enjoy a decent thrash metal gig, especially from a band so cult in the Finnish thrash metal scene. Alas, no dice this time. After A.R.G. finished, it was getting time for Ensiferum. -dw_

Yours truly had contradictory feelings about the upcoming gig: on one hand Ensiferum have made plenty of songs which sound fierce when played live, on the other hand none of the new songs had exactly made such a strong impression beforehand. Being more into their older material, my song wishes comprised those from their self-titled album.

Not that the new album wouldn't have any songs with great live potential; In My Sword I Trust at the beginning works fine to set the audience on fire and get them engaged. The song works better live than it does on an album, being an easy singroar-along catch with its simple chorus.

Not every song from Unsung Heroes does have the same live potential. While Pohjola may be quite an epic track in its own right, it's merely an awkward addition to a setlist. Vesa-Matti Loiri's deep voice heard on playback seems out of place when a bunch of metalheads are either concentrating on their pints of beer or eagerly waiting for the next moshpit. (Speaking of which, even moshpits quickly suffer from inflation if your encourage people to do it too often.)

All in all, each of their albums was presented with more than one song, yet the selection could have been better. It was to be expected that their newest album would get the most attention, but many particularly good live songs were omitted. Studies show that Into Battle or Stone Cold Metal haven't been on the summer festival setlists either, which is a great pity. The lack of Treacherous Gods left me quite disappointed as well, yet it could be excused with Battle Song, which was, along with another gem from the first album, Hero in a Dream, the best part of the gig.

The most enjoyable thing about Ensiferum's gigs, however, is the fact that the band really seem to be enjoying what they are doing. They are having fun on the stage, they're showing it, and they're spreading that mood into the audience as well. -cm_

Mad Hatter's Den – Dark Wheel EP

Mad Hatter's Den, who in all likelihood owe their name to the tales of certain Alice, are a quintet from the Pirkanmaa region of Finland. The group has previously gained fame as one of the more prominent Finnish Iron Maiden coverbands called Coverslaves. The MCD, dubbed Dark Wheel, is the band's first published record, although they have been somewhat active on live stages prior to the release of Dark Wheel, most often "warming up" for their more established Coverslaves act.

Dark Wheel is a prestigious and polished release for a debut CD. Taage Laiho of Kilpi/Ghost Machinery fame has lent his voice to all songs on the album but is apparently not a permanent member according to the website. The lyrics were contributed by Erkki Seppänen (Dreamtale, Ку́рск, Coverslaves) for all tracks apart from track 5, the lyrics of which were written by Pekka Snellman (Coverslaves). All compositions have been handled by the band's guitarist and leading character Jaakko Hänninen. The musicianship presented throughout the album is on a professional level both in terms of sound and handling of instruments: these guys have definitely played together before. The biggest gripe ironically is the person with the greatest experience, i.e. Taage, but not to the point where it would become distractingly obvious; however, at certain points he sings a little too high and it doesn't sound very good (portions of Drain the Fountain spring to mind).

Iron Maiden are a clear influence here with the twin guitar harmonies and the trademarkedly galloping to an extent, followed up by some more generic straight-forward melodic heavy metal lines and a sweet scent of power metal. Add 70s-80s synth sounds in the mixture and we've arrived at Dark Wheel. In fact, if Iron Maiden + Kilpi (and perhaps Altaria) were combined, this is what it would probably sound like.

Dark Wheel is not reinventing the wheel by any means, but it is a strong show from Mad Hatter's Den and leaves a promising trail to follow up to what hopefully one day will be a full album release.

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