One of the Coolhead Live shows that was highly anticipated was the combination of Finnish traditional black metal act QWÄLEN, symphonic black metal outfit … AND OCEANS, melodeath act BEFORE THE DAWN, and finally EMPEROR‘s Ihsahn‘s self-titled solo project on July 12th, 2024.
The evening started with QWÄLEN, who had the honor of opening the festival. The band had a traditional Norwegian black metal sound and gave it their all. Admittedly, this sort of black metal isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but their energy was soaring, and they delivered a solid show, offering an excellent start to the evening.
… AND OCEANS were up next. Ever since their comeback, these guys have been an undeniable force on the scene and have been performing extensively. Watching a black metal show in bright sunlight is always a little odd, but regardless of the weather, the band delivered an outstanding performance with many highlights. They played a varied set of 8 songs, focusing on their last two albums, “As In Gardens, So In Tombs” and “Cosmic World Mother.”
Next up was BEFORE THE DAWN. After their excellent show at Tavastia, we were really looking forward to their performance, and they knocked it out of the park again. Bass player Pyry Hanski had double duty, having already given his all during … AND OCEANS, but he totally crushed it again with the same amount of energy up until the very end. The slot allowed the band to play 11 songs, including “My Darkness,” which is always a pleasure to hear live. The set was very tight, and we enjoyed their show with the band’s 4:20AM beer in our hands. This led to some conversations about why they named the beer 4:20AM instead of 4:18 (which is also a song they played!), which would have made more sense for a reggae band or something like that.
After that, it was time for IHSAHN to start playing. Admittedly, we weren’t super familiar with his solo material, despite having heard good things about it. We were impressed by how well the material stands on its own. It has a slight proggy undertone but is undeniably the work of Ihsahn himself. With great musicians alongside him on stage, the songs sounded fantastic live.
Since he had recently released his new self-titled album, most of the set was dedicated to these juggernaut tracks, including “A Taste of the Ambrosia,” “Pilgrimage to Oblivion,” “The Distance Between Us,” “The Promethean Spark,” and “Twice Born,” all of which left us super impressed. Especially “A Taste of the Ambrosia,” made a significant impact on us.
After the 3-song photo pit time of our photographer, we decided it was time to grab a bite since we were relatively hungry. Unfortunately, we were left out in the cold when they closed the stand right in front of our eyes (despite clearly still having some food available—I hope it wasn’t wasted). This was a minor setback of the evening, but thankfully IHSAHN‘s wonderful and convincing set made us forget about our hunger and gave us energy.
Written by MC & Laureline Tilkin
Photos by Laureline Tilkin
