SENTENCED existed for 17 years — and by now one can already speak of the band in the past tense, as the band has effectively disbanded. The collective began their journey in 1988 — the period when death metal was reaching its greatest momentum — and two years later their first demo was recorded in precisely that style. Miika Tenkula and Sami Lopakka — guitarists and co-founders of the band, alongside drummer Vesa Ranta and vocalist (and in the early years also bassist) Taneli Jarva — constituted the original SENTENCED lineup. Soon Sami Kukkohovi took over the bass guitar. The second album North From Here appeared in 1993, and in 1995 came Amok, which brought the band widespread recognition. That album was already far removed from the original death metal sound; the vocals remained harsh and growled, but melodic passages were introduced into the music. Sad melodies, ironic, black-humour-drenched lyrics with suicidal undertones — that became the band's calling card. What followed: the band changed vocalist; on the 1996 album we can already hear the raspy but clean vocals of Ville Laihiala. From 1996 onward, at two-year intervals, four genuinely hard-hitting albums arrived — Down, Frozen, Crimson, and arguably the band's most celebrated record, The Cold White Light. Many call the band the progenitors of so-called love metal, yet the band always played genuinely heavy music: harsh riffs, interesting solos, and versatile vocals with a memorable timbre brought them wide renown. This year a devastating piece of news arrived — Sami Lopakka officially announced that the forthcoming Funeral Album would be the last in SENTENCED's history, just as the Funeral Tour would see their final concerts. It is now known that on 1 October in Oulu the last farewell concert will take place — a concert for which the name of both the current album and the tour, rooted in the word Funeral, will be more fitting than ever.
SENTENCED had never been to russia — that was true until now; having played European festivals, the band's next stop is a tour of Finland, but before that they gave a single solo concert outside Finland within the framework of this tour — and that concert took place in moscow, at the DK Gorbunova, on 27 September, drawing no fewer than 1,500 of the band's supporters. Let us now describe that unforgettable evening in greater detail.
The concert was opened by the moscow band Repentance — and this was probably the main reason many people arrived late to the SENTENCED show, as nobody particularly wanted to hear this band from start to finish: in essence any single song said everything about the band in general — love metal on one string with decent vocals. Particularly amusing was the drum kit, which stood beneath the main drum kit set up for Vesa Ranta. They played seven or eight songs and then took their bow, and the minutes of anticipation began. Then the Intro sounded — the famous Albinoni melody — the house lights went out, the stage was bathed in grey-blue tones, and five figures appeared on it; a few more seconds and the 57-second instrumental piece from the latest album, "Where Waters Fall Frozen," rang out — a retrospective glance at the band's own work, in terms of style one hundred percent death metal. After which, to thunderous welcoming cries, one of the band's most celebrated compositions rang out: "Excuse Me While I Kill Myself" from the 2002 album — I'll kill myself / I'll blow my brains onto the wall / C U in Hell / I will not take this anymore! — these famous lines from the chorus of that song are the quintessence of the band's lyrical subject matter: suicidal themes, yet simultaneously saturated with black humour. It goes without saying that these lines were sung by the entire hall. The song ended, and Ville announced the next one — it should be noted he announced almost all the songs throughout the concert. "Nepenthe" rang out — in the original this was sung by the band's first vocalist Taneli (on the Amok album); then the first composition from the latest album to be played that day: "May Today Become The Day."
A few words about what was happening on stage — it was genuinely apparent that this band had an enormous amount of concert experience: everything was polished, without a single hitch. Sami Lopakka, who had filled out over the years, was positioned stage right at the back of the stage; Tenkula and the bassist (Kukkohovi — standing mainly toward the front) were on the left. As for Ville — he moved very dynamically across the stage, covering the entire space; he would begin a good half of the songs standing near the drummer with his back to the hall. Throughout the concert he drank beer — multiple cans of that wonderful beverage stood by the drum kit.
The first extended ballad of the evening was "The Rain Comes Falling Down." Then songs from various albums followed in alternation — including "Bleed" and "Sun Won't Shine" from Down (1996).
And people kept arriving and arriving, and soon the pit was quite densely packed, all singing along one by one to the band's songs, watching the muscular man in the red singlet and blue jeans who leaned over the monitors gripping the microphone tightly with both hands.
From that point the emphasis shifted primarily to the 2002 album, material from which, alongside the latest record, formed the backbone of the concert; "Brief Is The Light" and "Neverlasting" featured among others. A few more songs, "Despair-Ridden Hearts" from the Funeral Album, and then... the next song was not announced. If a person has come to a SENTENCED concert without knowing "Cross My Heart And Hope To Die," the question of why they are there at all naturally arises. The brief opening solo sounds, and the first riffs are almost drowned out by the hall — and everyone hears it: the, let it be said without exaggeration, defining hit of SENTENCED. "Cross my heart and hope to die / May my end come tonight / Across the dark, into the light / May death again us unite" — this chorus was sung along to by practically everyone among the crowd. The closing solo rang out — and one of SENTENCED's most melancholy songs came to an end. Honestly, it was a shame that Sami Lopakka did not leave his position at the back of the stage, as watching his solos was genuinely of interest (they merit it), which was made quite difficult by the lighting — deliberately arranged so that the back of the stage was not particularly well lit. "Noose" and "Farewell" concluded the main portion of the concert.
But of course that was not yet all — the musicians were back on stage shortly; to the great joy of all present, a cover of one of the most celebrated songs of the gods of heavy metal IRON MAIDEN rang out — "The Trooper." Then "Vengeance Is Mine" from the latest album, and the concert was crowned by "End Of The Road" — a most fitting choice in the circumstances. The band left the stage; the Outro sounded — the same Albinoni, playing so long that some held out hope the band would return one more time, but no, that did not happen.
So this concert took place — and took place brilliantly. Now one sincerely hopes that the band simply has some mundane disputes with their label, or that the break-up announcement is a PR exercise, because in that case we might yet hear new albums and see SENTENCED again.
Special thanks to SPIKA MERCHANDISING for the accreditation provided.
Report by Alan
Setlist:
Intro Where Waters Fall Frozen Excuse Me While I Kill Myself Nepenthe May Today Become The Day The Rain Comes Falling Down Bleed Ever-Frost Sun Won't Shine No One There Neverlasting Fragile Brief Is The Light Broken Despair-Ridden Hearts Cross My Heart And Hope To Die Noose Farewell
Encore: The Trooper Vengeance Is Mine End Of The Road Outro