So then, this event took place at the Relax club on 27 April. At around 7 in the evening I arrived at the club, whereupon a serious and dramatic procedure of gaining entry ensued. This went on for a very, very long time, so that by the time I reached the hall WINTRESS had already begun their set. I will not conceal it — like many people, I had genuinely hoped that THE NEVERLAND would be the support act; when it emerged a couple of weeks before the concert that they would not be there, I was somewhat disappointed — and the WINTRESS set served to catalyse that feeling.
The WINTRESS vocalist tried diligently to produce operatic singing — the result was ghastly. Despite possessing vocal material to work with, there is a great deal of work still to be done on it. The band's sound was extremely eclectic and dissonant: the guitars were playing black-death, the drummer was mercilessly pounding away at the kit, and this was accompanied by attempts at singing. The quality of the playing also left much to be desired. One cannot say the band was received badly, but there were no thunderous ovations either. Of the support act in general one can say it was an extremely poor choice.
Over the next hour people kept arriving steadily; periodically some operations were performed on the equipment on stage; the hall grew progressively hotter; people staked out "advantageous" spots and refused to move from them, fearing to end up stranded somewhere in a passageway. Your humble servant modestly took up a position upstairs, right by the bar. From the front rows over the course of an hour-plus every fine word possible was said, the collective sense of which was that everyone was tired of waiting. The agonising waiting procedure continued until almost nine in the evening, when at last what everyone had come to the club for took place: the lighting on the stage came alive, and shortly five people appeared upon it. In fact, before their appearance, Ferrum Aeternum — the first track from the band's second album — began to sound. Then the Finns appeared on stage — stripped to the waist, faces painted (not heavily, of course — this is not true black metal; war paint in the form of lines under the eyes, nothing more) — and within the next few seconds the hall went into frenzy as the band launched into the title track of the second album: "Iron". And immediately "Guardians of Fate" rang out. Already one could assess the clean vocals of Markus and Sami, which were on top form. The situation was being undermined by the appalling sound — not a single lead guitar line from Petri during the first songs was audible. In the final 20 seconds of the song, when the guitars are accompanied by clean vocals, one could hear a very clear shout from Petri directed at the sound engineer: "My guitar" — after which the sound improved, if only marginally. Then the band's longest song rang out: "Lai Lai Hei". A gorgeous ballad that incredibly accelerates at its centre; played magnificently, it flowed smoothly into one of the band's most beautiful songs — "Windrider"; then "Tale Of Revenge" — slow rhythms, and then an accelerating finale under which the hall was already in genuine frenzy; all spots occupied, yet room for a pit was somehow found... The musicians' faces were satisfied and joyful, and the audience's... the hall was growing hotter by the minute, but no one cared — everyone was celebrating. Then "Old Man" — a slow song, an extraordinarily beautiful ballad from the first album. But the musicians did not allow the crowd to relax — immediately after the "old man" came "Slayer of Light" — one of the band's fastest and most aggressive compositions. Then another ballad with extensive use of acoustics — "Token of Time". Then some minor problems with Petri's guitar; while these were being resolved, one could not help but note how excellently Markus and the keyboardist filled the silence with beautiful folk passages, after which she rang out — "Into The Battle" — arguably the band's most virtuosic composition (not for nothing had Petri been tuning his guitar), played brilliantly and transitioning into "Treacherous Gods". Whereupon the band left the stage (quickly — only an hour had been played), but shortly returned; the intro from the first album rang out, transitioning into "Hero In My Dream" (by this point I had nearly despaired of hearing my favourite song, so my joy knew no bounds). Petri exchanged words with the hall, which was reluctant to let him go, after which "Battle Song" rang out — and the musicians left the stage for good.
Shortly afterwards the ceremonial exodus of the audience from the hall began — needless to say, releasing five hundred people all at once is no simple matter, given the extremely narrow corridors of Relax, but everyone was in excellent spirits. The concert had been superb; the one thing that disappointed many was that it lasted only 1 hour 15 minutes; personally I was disappointed that they had not played "Abandoned" from the first album, among a number of other songs. But in general this did not change the overall picture — the magnificent event fully compensated for the sound problems, the uninspired support act, the unbearable heat; the faces of those leaving the club were happy. Everyone discussed the concert with animation; everyone had a brilliant time.
Now all that remains is to wait for ENSIFERUM's next visit, and also to hope that WINTERSUN and NORTHER will pay us a call.
— Ferrum Aeternum — Iron — Guardians Of Fate — Lai Lai Hei — Windrider — Tale Of Revenge — Old Man — Slayer Of Light — Token Of Time — Into Battle — Treacherous Gods
— Intro — Hero In A Dream — Battle Song