Kalmah with Vesperia, Trollband, Mongol
April 19th, 2016
Starlite Room
The Starlite Room contained a surprisingly decent sized crowd early in the evening to witness local support acts Mongol and Trollband. Mongol, in typical fashion, played an energetic set that was genuinely enjoyed by the audience. Rising through the folk metal ranks, they also shared a new song with the horde (The Mountain Weeps). Trollband further pumped up the crowd, many of whom were already quite familiar with the band’s interesting mix of blackened folk metal. Vesperia, hailed as “epic death metal from the frozen north” were a perfect segue from the more folkish stylings of the first two openers to the more deathish stylings of Kalmah.
After waiting nearly ten years to see Kalmah live, the Finns didn’t disappoint. Emerging from the swampy depths of Oulu (which is probably not that swampy at all, but it sounded good), they tore up the Starlite. While one typically doesn’t think of a melodic death metal band and a sense of humor going hand-in-hand, vocalist Pekka Kokko cracked a few jokes throughout the night and genuinely seemed to be enjoying the gig. Kalmah played a good mix of old and newer material. This was to the liking of many of the fans although Kalmah is one of those bands who has never released an album that could be recognized as anything less than strong. ‘Pikemaster’ came off sounding particularly awesome as the energy of the band never seemed to wane through the set.
Personally, I would have loved to hear ‘Wings Of Blackening’, but with such a strong repertoire of material to choose from, it would have been impossible to fit all of the favorites into the length of a single set. Perhaps it was one of those songs Pekka Kokko forgot how to play, which was another humorous quip from the frontman. Amidst a dismal spring filled with uncertainty for many metalheads in this province, Kalmah provided the perfect dose of melo-death, proving that the wait to see the Finns live was more than worth it.
