Written by:	Angelique
Published:	November 16, 2006
Event:	Unholy Alliance Tour Chapter II
Location:	Jahalli, Tampere, Finland
Galleries:	The Unholy Alliance Tour - Tampere, Finland by Angelique (19)

It has been stated in many occasions that Finland is one of the top countries within metal music genre, yet until the start of the 21st century, most of the big tours only stopped in Helsinki for one or two shows leaving metal freak Finns craving more from these international super groups, but today all that is history. Sauna open air/ Partysan production has done a great deal of work with getting another city, Tampere, added to these tours and once again we got to see how all this work has paid off. Finally the day of The Unholy Alliance II has arrived and whole city held it's breath.

I must admit, 5 metal acts on Monday night sounded quite exhausting and that it was indeed, in a good and bad way. Unfortunately I missed the two first bands, Thine Eyes Bleed and Lamb of God, I can assure you I broke every single speed limit on my way from Turku to Tampere to get there in time but considering Thine Eyes Bleed played only 20 minutes and LoG 30 minutes I just couldn't make it, by the end of the night my disappointment had faded away though.

Tampere ice hall was packed with metal fans of all ages, the majority of which were wearing Slayer shirts and chanting "SLAYER, SLAYER" even though the headlining act was hours away. It was obvious what the crowd wanted and a lot of them tried to get the time go by faster at the ice hall's many bars drinking beer and waiting for the ultimate thrash metal gods impatiently, needless to say, a large portion of the crowd was hammered by the end of the night.

CHILDREN OF BODOM

Finland's own boys, Children Of Bodom, definitely had their fans in the crowd, I bet they also brought a lot of girls to this event as I've never seen so many teenage girls at a Slayer concert before. The vocalist/guitarist Alexi Laiho is known as a showman but that night he seemed somehow tired, I don't know if it's the long tour or maybe the band has suffered some kind of inflation in their home country and that way they seemed a bit reluctant and sloppy. Unfortunately the sounds and mixing didn't make it any better.

For a fan, COB's set list was a dream come true, they played a 40 minute set full of hits, for example Follow The Reaper, Silent Night, Bodom Night, Hate Me!, Needled 24/7, In Your Face and an odd sounding version of Angels Don't Kill so for sure they can't be blamed for not giving what the fans demand but the whole act left me cold and also Alexi's typical cursing and cussing between songs is beyond ridiculous. It actually made me feel ashamed for him, I wished he'd just kept quiet as he obviously didn't have anything to say.



IN FLAMES

After a quick changeover the theme of 'Knight Rider' filled the ice hall and Swedish In Flames took over the stage. In the 90s this band was one of those who brought the term "Gothenburg Metal" to our knowledge, whether a fan of their music or not, no one can disagree with In Flames being a living legend of that particular genre. Since those days their style has changed dramatically and most of us fans have nothing left but a few excellent albums, such The Jester Race and Clayman, and the warm memories of early days of this genre so honestly, I wasn't expecting anything from this gig... In front of all you, my fellow MetalStormers, I admit I was so wrong.

I have always liked the singer Anders Friden, he's such a easy going happy guy, he flirts and chats with the crowd, even the most fanatic metalheads might think this kind of behavior should be punished among metal bands, I think it makes the whole show a lot more entertaining! Also In Flames had decided to play their hits and that way we got to hear for example Cloud Connected, Pinball Map, Egonomic, Graveland, Resin, Trigger and of course Only For The Weak which set the audience in flames, no pun intended, for a while. The whole set was full of energy and managed to get the crowd moshing and jumping up and down, there is absolutely no doubt that In Flames was the very best choice for a band playing right before the main act of the evening!



SLAYER

After a fiery and explosive 50 minute set by Gothenburg's boys the audience was more than ready for the headliners. Finally we were about to get what we were there for, all the long waiting and money wasted on beer was paying off, Slayer was about the step in. The atmosphere in the ice hall was electric, chanting got louder and demanding, it felt like suddenly there was three times more people and the adrenaline was floating in the air. When the first hostile notes of Disciple filled the place it became clear, we had just handed out our souls to the cult called Slayer and they were not going to show any pity on us.

It was so loud, extremely loud and the constant strobe lights made it feel even more chaotic, on a side note, kind of funny how such a devout catholic man could convince 5000 people in less than four minutes that God really hates us all. Talking about Tom, his appearance with his grey-tinted beard and messy hair made me think of one of those Taliban leaders; he looked old and tired but only looked, in his performance there was absolutely no sign of tiredness or aging.

Slayer is known of their minimalist show on stage, there's not a lot of movement going on, songs keeps following each others without blabbering nonsense between them and that's how they were this time also, only man really moving around the stage was Kerry King. Watching King play guitar is an experience unto itself, it's almost too intimate to watch, like you'd be watching a couple having rough sex together! Anyways, Slayer really isn't a show band in the strict sense of the word but they sure can put up hell of a show, all they need is 4 guys playing absolutely hostile and angry thrash metal, crazy light show and "ears bleedingly" loud sound mixing, it will leave no one cold.

The stage itself was also very simple, instead of static backdrop they used a visual one feeding us flickering images of skulls, blood, gunfire, war torn scenery, historical war leaders and most entertaining for me personally, their old logos and other band graphics from their early days. On each side of the stage was huge pile of Marshall amps, arranged into a special racking the way that they made up two gigantic inverted crossed that went almost all the way to the ceiling, very impressive!

Slayer has magical ability to increase the atmosphere, it's like a volcanic eruption, when you think it can't get more intense and hostile the next song takes the whole deal to a totally new level. The setlist was absolutely delicious, with at least War Ensemble, Jihad, Cult, Die By The Sword, Chemical Warfare, Mandatory Suicide, Eyes Of The Insane, Supremist, Seasons In The Abyss, Dead Skin Mask, Raining Blood, South Of Heaven and Angel Of Death they drove the crowd deeper and deeper into insanity.

The mosh pit was going on since the first notes but during Seasons In The Abyss it got absolutely crazy and looked like someone was going to get killed within moments. Two brave security guys decided to walk through the crowd and tried to calm people down, to everyone's surprise they even managed to do it. All my respect and credit to these two courageous security dudes, I must say I wouldn't have gone into that pit even my life would have depend on it!

To be totally honest I feel almost ridiculous to even try to explain the atmosphere during Slayer's set, there is no words to describe how adrenaline smells, it's just something you should experience yourself to understand. Now all this being said and to close this article I'd say this was a very mediocre gig from Slayer, nothing spectacular nor surprising but even in a low night they are the true kings of thrash metal, still in the upper echelons of all-time great live bands!





Special thanks to Jaana for accredation and Ronja for kindly hosting us journalist/photographers during the concert.