Korpiklaani
Tyr
Swashbuckle
White Wizzard
Blender Theatre
New York City, New York
February 26, 2010
Tony Pijar
Pagan Metal, Pirate Metal, Viking Metal and Traditional Metal invaded New York City and were welcomed open arms by their adoring fans. The Blender Theatre was almost at full capacity to witness Korpiklaani’s first major tour of the States and after almost four hours of diverse metal, the masses were left in a sweaty heap of denim, leather and beer.
White Wizzard, one of the leaders of the new traditional metal movement, opened the proceedings and went down well. To my ears, they’re a cross between very early Maiden and Angel Witch. Their single and title of their debut album, “High Speed GTO”, is classic Maiden with riffs firing off the fret boards of Eric Kluiber and Chad Bryan. Vocalist, Wyatt, sounds like an amalgam of Geoff Tate and Rob Halford and bassist, Jon Leon, has Steve Harris’s bass runs down solid.
Pirate metallers Swashbuckle were up next and the trio was unique to say the least. Their music is a combination of death and thrash with, of course, the overt pirate theme (although I’m not sure why they had a blow up palm tree on the stage!), and it’s brutal to say the least. Bassist/vocalist Admiral Nobeard, equipped with his trusty parakeet resting uncomfortably on his right shoulder, led his band of seafaring malcontents through the likes of “Back to the Noose” and “Cruise Ship Terror” to the delight of their pirate hordes. Ahoy mateys indeed!
Tyr is from the Faroe Islands and play what many would consider Viking/Pagan Metal. Certainly with titles such as “By the Sword of my Hand” and “Hail to the Hammer” it’s easy to see why. They sound like Manowar, especially with the relentlessly pounding beat of those cannon drums courtesy of Kari Streymoy. The choruses are, too, reminiscent of modern day Manowar. Vocalist/guitarist Heri Joensen is the real deal. He led his band through several anthemic songs with the familiar lyrical content of Viking soldiers forging into battle with evildoers. Tyr scored the best with the audience; they knew every chorus and sung with them resoundingly, so much so that they almost blew the roof off the Blender!
That just left the headliners Korpiklaani. This is their first proper tour of the US and by all accounts it’s going according to plan, and when their roadie took Jonne’s carcass mic stand from the back the crowd roared with anticipation. Touring on the back of their new release, “Karkelo”, the six piece band assembled onstage and ripped into the latest drinking anthem “Vodka.” From there, we got representation from the abovementioned “Karkelo” and all of the preceding releases as well. “Hunting Song” and “Beer Beer”, particularly, raised the roof! Who ever thought that accordions and violins would find their way into a metal band!?