Sat 1 Sep – Amorphis

I had been waiting that gig for a long time. Amorphis was on my list for many years but somehow I always missed it until now. We arrives to the Tavastia-club early (knowing it was sold out) and got perfect places from the second floor right beside the balcony. Steadily room filled up and it was showtime!

Amorpihs's new vocalist Tomi Joutsen was quite impressive with his "rasta"-hair, excellent vocals (fluent changing from growlning to clean singing) and middle speaks that just once weren't swearing but a nice chattig with the audience. They played pretty…

I got an inspiration for this from one of my last.fm neighbour and his journal. These kinds of lists are besides fun to make.

Dark Tranquillity's Fiction is without a doubt the best album so far is.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dpAeFIbPL._AA240_.jpg

This record has it all: brilliant melodies one after another, catchy choruses, excellent guitar play and keyboards that acts in concert with the guitars in a way I haven't heard before. Mikael Stanne gives again an example of his clean singing abilities in Misery's Crown. Lyrics are also bright and somewhat topical (at least according to my interpretation). A perfect melodic…

Thu 7 Jun – Sauna Open Air

Traditional Sauna Open Air started oh Thursday, not the easiest day to attend to someone working the very next day. I had ticket only for that Thursday, since the weekend was reserved some family affairs. But hey, that day was the Megadeth-day! As a pleasant bonus Pain Confessor performed also on Thursday as did Stam1na and some other Finnish bands not worth mentioning^^

That day was particular hot and sunny and I was obligated to spend most of the time at the beer area (although drinking Battery, an energy drink like red…

Another survey to make:

Take your top 20 artists. For each of these artists, collect the top 5 similar artists. The resulting number of unique artists is your eclectic score. If the score is small (extreme = 5) your musical preferences are very limited, and if it is large (larger than 80, extreme = 100), then you have an eclectic musical preference. You can compute your own score at http://anthony.liekens.net/pub/scripts/last.fm/eclectic.php

My eclectic score is currently

68/100

The 68 related artists for my profile are 3 Doors Down, Adema, Alice in Chains, All That Remains, Arch Enemy (3), As I…

These kind of surveys or "tests" are always fun to make. Come on, follow the link below and find out what is your score.

[Last.fm-Mainstream-O-Meter result
-phage-'s top artists:

• 1 - Killswitch Engage: 19% mainstream
• 2 - Metallica: 71% mainstream
• 3 - The Haunted: 7% mainstream
• 4 - In Flames: 29% mainstream
• 5 - All That Remains: 6% mainstream
• 6 - Raunchy: 1% mainstream
• 7 - Breaking Benjamin: 19% mainstream
• 8 - Disturbed: 34% mainstream
• 9 - Cold: 8% mainstream
• 10 - Unearth: 6% mainstream
• 11 - Soilwork: 12% mainstream
• 12 - Darkane: 2% mainstream
• 13 - Flaw: 4%…

Here's something I've been listening lately and can really recommmend to.

Lamb of God - Sacrament
This album did not won those awards without a reason. A magnificent album, full of songs worth listening. Walk With Me in Hell is ome of my all time fav metal song and singer Randy Blythe was make his voice sounding so demonic that you can imagine listening this song right in the Downstairs. Redneck got a Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance 2006" and needs no more introduction. Third song that instantly popped up was Requiem, almost epic in its storytelling. When the…

Our local radio stadion has nice web pages (www.radiorock.fi) where visiting (finnish) musicians can tell their top 4 albums. This is actually one of the most challenging tasks since there's so much good music out there.

Here is current top 4 albums (in alphabetical order) which I can listen through over and over again.

1. All That Remains - The Fall Of Ideals
This record is a masterpiece and prominent classic.
One of the best metalcore album.

2. Killswitch Engage - Alive Or Just Breathing
This album is already a classic in the metalcore
genre. Although I like also newer…

Here are most of the bands I've seen in live gigs, mainly in Finland (some of them were in Sweden or Estonia). My favorite gig place is legendary Tavastia club in the heart of Helsinki. I hope this list will be long before I'll get too old.

3 Doors Down
The 69 Eyes
Abhorrence
AC/DC x3
Aerosmith
Agalloch
Alice In Chains
Alice Cooper
All That Remains
Amon Amarth x3
Amoral
Amorphis x10
Andy Cairns (Therapy?)
Anneke van Giersbergen & Danny Cavanagh
Annihilator
The Answer
Anthrax
Apulanta
Apocalyptica x2
Arch Enemy x4
Architects
Armour
At the Gates x2
Audioslave
Audrey Horne…

Mon 19 Feb – The Haunted, Burst

Again at the Nosturi the other legendary metal club in Helsinki. I went there to see The Haunted as their new album has spend a considerable time in my CD player, winamp and mp3-player not to mention their earlier production. Supporting artists included Abduktio (which I didn't see at all) and interesting swedish band Burst.

Burst played about an hour and it convinced me to buy their latest CD. Burst's lead singer was selling their merchandise by himself and I had an opportunity to chat with his for a while.

The Haunted…