It was a weird night in Athens. You could feel the Sahara sand all around you and it wouldn't strike me as something out of the ordinary if it started raining camels as well. Most people were locked inside their homes, watching football.
It was hot for a March day (some porn scripts start this way) and even hotter inside the venue that was doing its due to the environment and had the air-condition off. So a night dedicated to Finnish metal was really the best thing one could choose, especially if one of the bands playing is amongst the top (and in my opinion, the best) our brothers from the land of a thousand lakes have to offer.

POISONBLACK were the opening act and I was expecting something close to SENTENCED, considering their main man is Ville Laihiala, so that would at least guarantee a certain degree of quality, even if I never listened to more than a couple of their songs before. Damn, I couldn't be more wrong, only way to top that would be to support the war in Iraq. Boring. Seriously boring. AIDS serious boring. Maybe if I listened to them 10 years ago, I'd be like hey, they're decent.
They're far from the worst acts that I've ever seen, but they had no identity, it was a boring mix of the worst moments of SENTENCED with the other Finnish band, the ones with the vocalist that meows on stage about slashing his wrists while having intimate moments with his teddy bear and shares the first name with POISONBLACK's vocalist. I won't even mention their name, it is said that Lemmy loses a hair off his moles every time you do that, and you don't want to hurt Lemmy, do you? I think you get the point by now; I won't even bother with what songs they played.

If I see another front man afraid to move his neck because he'll mess the hairdo while the keyboard player is acting as if he's having an orgasm in front of a huge blowing fan (I mean the mechanical kind, not someone from the crowd who likes to blow...), I will personally pay tickets from Germany to Greece and bring over Kreator to beat everyone up, play Flag of Hate and fly back home.

So after a much needed but way too long sound check, the Finns that everyone has been waiting for appeared on stage. I was really curious to see how their new vocalist Tomi Joutsen would work live, since the last time I saw them was with Pasi Koskinen. Eclipse was an amazing album and Silent Waters was good, I knew that Tomi is a great vocalist and what followed was nothing short of what I expected. Dude can sing, can grunt, can headbang. He's what a metal frontman is all about; some other band that was in the general area could learn a lot of things just by watching AMORPHIS perform.

Sound was surprisingly good, it's been a while since I didn't have any complains in that area. The venue wasn't full, probably around 600-700 people, but it was 2-3 times more people than the last time I watched AMORPHIS so that was great. Typical Greek crowd, singing and chanting along; eventually becoming part of the show. The band was truly flawless, they delivered everything from their entire discography in its best form, music and vocals-wise.

Since my head was emulating the fluid movements of Jamie Oliver's hand while squishing garlic for most of the time, everything is kind of hazy so don't expect me to remember the exact playlist, but these are some of the songs they played; Drowned Maid, Against Widows, Divinity, Alone, Better Unborn, The Smoke, Silent Waters, Vulgar Necrolatry, Towards and Against, The Castaway, My Kantele, House of Sleep, Leaves Scar, Into Hiding, Black Winter Day. I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple more songs, but don't blame me, blame the evil midget aliens that were bouncing around my skull, making noises with their tiny sledgehammers.

Highlights of the show? Of course epics such as The Castaway, Better Unborn, Against Widows, Vulgar Necrolatry and what should be the national anthem of Finland, Black Winter Day. Seriously, they should consider that.

Well, to be honest their entire show was a highlight in everyone's life, at least those of us who were lucky to be there. Did I mention that Tomi can growl? I guess I did but I just needed to point that out again. They hit the jackpot when he joined the band, that's all I can say. And a side note; if this dude's hair grows any longer, soon they'll need a second stage just for him to headbang on. Pure fuckin' metal. Seriously. I really hope they'll be back soon again. All I can say after this show, is SUOMI FINLAND PERKELE!

And since Easter is almost upon us Greeks, the lyrics of a song they should have played come to my mind, probably because they fit the warm and fuzzy feelings you get these days.

Not thirsty am I for the blood
Of redeemer of thy creed
My hunger can't be satisfied
With flesh of thy Nazarene
No gilded streets of heaven's grace
Entice me in thy speech
No holy mother doth condone
All your pillage war and GREEEEEEEEED

PS: Lots of thanks to Orph.

PSS: Elina!.... Glub glub.