A new month, a new venue, and a couple of new acts! With the fool’s day of April now behind us, it was time to check out the prog metal onslaughts of HAKEN and BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME on their Island in Limbo Tour at the relatively newly-minted Vanha Ylioppilastalo in Helsinki. Having never seen either of these acts live before, this seemed like a great opportunity to enjoy some sun ‘n’ snow and check out two extremely different-sounding bands.
We weren’t able to make it into town in time to see more than the end of the first act of the night, CRYPTODIRA, but we made sure to get to town in time to find parking in the city center before BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME started their set. Being our first time at the venue, it was somewhat reminiscent of Ravintola Kiltakellari, which is a restaurant-turned-venue (at least for the raves they host), and the old student house seems very much like a banquet hall-turned-venue in that same style. This meant, in theory, that the sound would be very dependent on the engineer behind the desk.
The first act of the night was the heavier of the two. BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME‘s last album, “Colours II,” was released back in 2021 during the pandemic, so it seems they weren’t able to tour it properly before now. The lights flashed between murky and bright as the band performed “Extremophile Elite” and “Revolution in Limbo.” Not being hugely familiar with the band, the diversity of sound that they had on display from early on was very fun. It was certainly heavy and hard, with brutal growls, but there were funky moments of guitar wankery, times when the lights went out and a marimba-like instrument played the melody in the dark, and other weird things that just served to keep the show more and more interesting. We were pleased to see that the crowd was pretty into it as well, clapping along whenever the beat allowed.
The band showed more energy than I somehow might have expected from them, based on the band’s sound. They greeted the crowd and mentioned that they were having some technical difficulties, shouted out CRYPTODIRA, and then said we’d sit in awkward silence until the problems were solved. The crowd murmured away as a blue light was the only thing visible on stage, cheering instantly when the band returned. Then, continuing talking as if they hadn’t left the stage, the vocalist asked if anyone remembered the last time they we there. They then asked what the deal was with the Stockholm boat. Still not knowing what the technical issue was, the crowd harangued the bass player into playing a 7-second solo. Some annoying guy started to obnoxiously shout at the band, so luckily they were able to interrupt him by blasting into a wonderfully aggressive track.
Perhaps the first word that comes to mind on hearing these guys live for the first time is “intriguing.” They don’t seem to be afraid to touch on anything for a mere moment or for a long stretch, be it flamenco, industrial, western, horror movie organs, blast-beats, a drum solo… there was plenty to entertain and each of the band members was given time and space to show off their skills. Overall, they put on a pretty impressive show!
Between the Buried and Me Setlist
- Extremophile Elite
- Revolution in Limbo
- Fix the Error
- Never Seen/Future Shock
- Dim Ignition
- Famine Wolf
- Bad Habits
- The Future is Behind Us
- Voice of Trespass
It was interesting that the set times were at 20:05 and 21:35 – how much extra space does that 5-minute slot really allow? Well, if it helps, it helps, especially since BTBAM played quite long into the stage changeover. What we were not expecting was the use of “Who Let the Dogs Out” by the BAHA MEN for HAKEN‘s intro – what a kick in the nostalgia pants. The mood took a dark and glitchy turn as the intro faded into that now-familiar HAKEN sound. Their visual style involved collared shirts with bright colors that looked like the pattern from their album art – we heard a few requests for those to be added to their merch lineup! The lights were a little less dark this time around, which is appropriate with the growls being gone.
There were some pretty bad sound imbalances in the first song, though “Prosthetic” made for a fairly heavy opener and the crowd was loud when it ended. Ross Jennings got to take the spotlight (not that there was any literal light – he was hidden in a fog of blue) for “Invasion,” where the sound began to balance out a bit. Their performance seemed more centered around owning the stage than running around. Quality did seem to be the name of the game, after all.
Ross gave the crowd a warm welcome and confirmed that they would also indeed be making up for lost touring time for “Virus,” which came out in 2021 during the pandemic, but there was, of course, a new album since then: 2023’s “Fauna.” This led into the interestingly club-influenced “The Alphabet of Me,” which had a hugely unexpected sound that worked weirdly well. The lighting was kept interesting, with some choice pairings (like dark purple and bright orange), while the band explored weird, proggy territories, much in the same bold way BTBAM did.
“Taurus” and “Lovebite” were also included from “Fauna,” resulting in surprisingly few songs from their most recent album, but the band also included “Carousel” – it seems this tour was far more in support of “Virus” than “Fauna,” especially considering the last huge chunk of HAKEN‘s showtime was dedicated to the five “Messiah Complex” songs from the former. Only a few older tracks, like “Falling Back to Earth” and “The Endless Knot,” were included, though they were interesting cuts. If we were sad about anything, it was not to hear “1985.”
If you had asked us beforehand how well BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME and HAKEN would work together, surely we would have had no idea. However, despite being quite different prog bands, their styles worked surprisingly well together. For those who like some heavy progressive music, this was certainly an interesting way to spend a Sunday night! Hopefully both bands won’t be strangers.
Haken Setlist
- Prosthetic
- Invasion
- The Alphabet of Me
- Falling Back to Earth
- Taurus
- The Endless Knot
- Lovebite
- Carousel
- Messiah Complex I: Ivory Tower
- Messiah Complex II: A Glutton for Punishment
- Messiah Complex III: Marigold
- Messiah Complex IV: The Sect
- Messiah Complex V: Ectobius Rex
Written by Bear Wiseman
Photos by Laureline Tilkin
