21.10.2011 Battlelore

Metal Female Voices Fest IX

Oktoberhallen Wieze (Belgium)

(Pentax k-x with Tamron SP AF 17-50mm 2.8 XR Di II LD Asp IF and Sigma AF 50-150mm 2.8 EX DC APO HSM II)

At 22:00 the Finnish band Battlelore entered as mainact of the evening the stage. I did not know the seven musicians around front woman Kaisa Jouhki and Tomi Mykkänen beforehand. Never mind, really! The band recalled their 12 years lasting band history with meanwhile five studio albums.
The music is settled at the Tolkin's oevre of Middle-Earth. The band itself describes their style as epic fantasy metal and I think that matches it quite well. They sang about heroic battles and stories as well as persons from the fantasy world of the British author. Also optically the band knew to stay with that topic and so Tomi stormed onto stage properly wearing a leather jerkin and a sword. His forceful grunds interacted perfectly with Kaisa's clear vocals. Not only on stage there was much energy but also in front of it. In the middle of the concert Tomy suddenly intonated a short birthday serenade for one of the fans after which they continued even more energetic with their own songs.
Towards the end of the concert it was getting a little bit sentimental as obviously moved by the cheers of encouragement Tomi came to the front and announced that this would be the last Battlelore concert for a longer period of time as the band was taking a timeout. But who knows how long this would last, perhaps already next summer you would see them again, whatever that should mean. The promoter Phil had a heart for the band as he allowed them to play as long as they wanted to. Nobody said anything against it at the venue and so of the originally planned 60 minutes finally became more than 80 minutes before the band left the stage followed by loud and lasting applause.
For me the band was completely new and I had a lot of fun with them. It is a pitty that they will not play any concerts for the time being as they are really worth it. But overall a really great ending of the first festival evening.

Setlist:

Sons Of Riddermark
Storm Of The Blades
Men As Wolves
Iron Of Death
The War Of Wrath
Buccaneers Inn
Ghan Of The Woods
We Are The Legions
Third Immortal
House Of Heroes
The Star Of High Hope
Last Of The Lords
Kärmessurma
Moontower
Journey To Undying Lands
The Great Gathering
Pallando - Forgotten Wizards I

Weblinks:

	Battlelore Homepage of the Finnish band Battlelore.
	Metal Female Voices Fest Homepage of the Metal Female Voices festival at Wieze (Belgium).
	Oktoberhallen Homepage of the Oktoberhallen at Wieze (Belgium).