These boat trips start to get world famous by now and similar arrangements pop up a little here and there. For example you have the 'Metal Cruise' in Koblenz, Germany, 'The Rock Cruise' departing from Fort Lauderdale and of course 'Vince Neil's Motley Cruise' that takes you through the Caribbean Islands and down to Mexico before going back home again. Now the Silja Cruises aren't that fancy even if archipelago in Stockholm is almost painfully beautiful. This season though makes it look barren and uninviting with its naked cliffs and leafless trees. This was the premiere for Metal on brand new Silja Galaxy. About the double size of its predecessor Silja Galaxy takes 2800 people and of course it was sold out.

First band up on stage was Stockholm's pride in Old School Death Metal, DISMEMBER.
Sure ENTOMBED were the first ones to break it big but DISMEMBER are the ones sticking to their roots and has been so for 20 years now. I'm always fascinated when the PA-system can take a treatment like this. The volume was extreme and the sound was massive, it had so much power that my legs were vibrating while watching the band. Still it wasn't painful to be there, just pleasurable. Death Metal needs power and volume to fully come to life, it also need a tight band. If it's not tight it normally turns into a big blur and is absolutely not a boost for the party mood. DISMEMBER had it all this night and they were awesome to watch. And I doubt I've ever seen a Death Metal band getting panties thrown up on stage, but there's a first for everything I guess. The comments from the band were about the same as my thought, bass player Tobias Christiansson reaction was haha, how Death Metal is this? But one thing was absolutely sure, these few minutes they were allotted weren't enough. It felt like they quit in the middle of the set and the share of classics was very scant. And So Is Life is a great tune, sure but it just left me wanting more.

Danish Dynamite on Finnish water, could that be a good concept? Danish veterans PRETTY MAIDS were second out on this journey. The good thing with this boat is that there's a real stage, a big one with decent lights and all conveniences bigger bands need so from here it can only get bigger. Well, nothing can really fail on a cruise like this so of course it worked. Perhaps the crowd had been a little too many rounds to the bar by now because the sound was terrible, at least in the area in front of the stage but that didn't seem to matter for anyone. The funny thing is that PRETTY MAIDS were the only ones with their own sound-guy and they got the worst sound. It never got fully straightened out but vocalist Ronnie Atkins shone over all anyway. He sounded absolutely great and was absolutely sparkling with energy. Unfortunately, that energy never spread to Ken Hammer (guitar) or bass player Kenn Jackson, they looked bummed out and stuck to their corners of the stage.

That's such a shame because if they'd joined in with Ronnie and rocked as hard as he did they could have won this. I can't say I'm completely crazy about PRETTY MAIDS entire catalogue but when they're good they're absolutely amazing. Back To Back gave me goosebumps and that part of PRETTY MAIDS is absolutely the one that appeals to me the most. Those classic Heavy Metal tracks are classics. Even if I don't approve of every song on the bill I think the mix was good. There was a little from most of their career and both soft and hard songs. What more can you ask for? Well, some action I guess!

I could probably refer to all bands on the bill as one of my favorites but that would be pretty pointless I suppose. CANDLEMASS first 4 albums though were spinning more frequently than any other album in my collection in the first half of the 90's.

These are absolute classics and I still refer to these ones as some of the best albums in Swedish Metal history. The departure of Messiah Marcolin has divided the fans in two camps, the ones that can't see a future for CANDLEMASS without Messiah and the ones that support the decision fully. I'm with the latter. Of course I wondered who would be able to take the place after Messiah and I doubted anyone would be able to fill his shoes. Musically I think CANDLEMASS outdid themselves with The King Of Grey Islands and I was happy to see them back stronger than ever. Visually it took a little longer to get used to Rob Lowe though but now, after 2 years it would be equally strange to have Messiah back on stage as it was the first time with Rob.

That massive wall of sound that was served during the DISMEMBER-gig was back and that's a necessity to do these songs justice, heavy and massive but still really clear. The best thing with this boat was that it has a real stage, with a real sound system and lights. I've seen CANDLEMASS on a lot of different places but this is the least they deserve. The spontaneous headbanging around in the venue and the number of people who sang along to tunes like Samarithan, At The Gallows End and A Sorcerers Pledge (which Rob actually nailed completely this time) shows I'm far from alone with my likings of this band.

One thing that was a little turn-off though was Leif Edling's comment about the review they've gotten for Lucifer Rising in issue #55 of Sweden Rock Magazine with Chief Editor Thomas Vδδnδnen completely slaughtering it. Even if I agree more with Leif, that Thomas is a deaf bastard (just quoting Leffe's words) it's still nothing I want to hear from a band on stage. The tune Lucifer Rising was a mean bastard of a song, a lot rawer than the older material, really fast too. This song featured a guest appearance from Mats Levin (from KRUX, ex-THERION, SWEDISH EROTICA to mention a few). It's just a shame they didn't make more of a show out of it. Mats and Rob were just sneaking around behind Mappe (Bjorkman, guitar), Lasse (Johansson, Guitar) and Leffe.

EVERGREY blew me away the first time I saw them and they managed to keep that up for a couple of years. It was around the release of In Search Of Truth which is an absolutely great album. After that they've been going down and my interest for this band has gone the same way. Until now that is.

Brand new Torn is a lot heavier, more intense and absolutely more metal than EVERGREY have been for a while. I'm not complaining at all about this, absolutely the opposite. Watching EVERGREY in the middle of the Northern Sea was a pure pleasure. New bass player Jari Kainulainen (ex-STRATOVARIUS, KOTIPELTO) had a quite unique way of playing his instrument. Michael Hekansson was more laid back and kept the bottom and base rhythm in the music, Jari did too but he also brought a lot of new energy and color to the band. First time I saw him I thought he was playing too much, this time he blended right into the music. Guess it was just a matter of getting used to the change. Guitar-demon Henrik Danhage looked almost a little too pleased on his flank of the stage but he has the right too. His guitar playing on Torn is nothing but amazing. What I really like about Torn is that it's still EVERGREY but they've taken many steps outside the box without losing their identity. This concert would have been absolutely great if it wasn't for one tiny detail. In the middle, in everyone's field of vision Tom S Englund standed and of course he was a little locked down at the microphone. But the positive energy that spurred out of stage didn't come from Tom, he just felt really distant and actually nonchalant. And that took down the whole impression of this a couple of steps.

Sure, these boats are about more than music and that showed the closer to the coast of Finland we got. People were passing out a little here and there and the bar hanging was replaced by more private parties in the cabins. But one thing that's sure, the night passed way too quickly, there were just too many cool people to talk to. Lucky enough there's another day of party going back to Sweden.

(photos by cruising Erika)

DISMEMBER

PRETTY MAIDS

CANDLEMASS

EVERGREY