With “Wings Of Fire” being one of our favorite releases of 2019, it’s no surprise that the epic metal act BRYMIR is touring all over Finland frequently. The band was scheduled for On The Rocks at Helsinki on 28 February 2020, and because we just can’t get enough of their monumental music, we decided we had to be a part of it. The band had invited the thrash metal act, led by Mikko Herranen, MISTERER for the occasion to warm up the audience. Check out our photo gallery here.
We had been looking forward to seeing the thrash metal act from Helsinki, MISTERER live, especially after their successful debut album “Ignoramus,” released in 2019. The unique thing about a band like MISTERER is that their drummer Mikko Herranen, also takes care of the vocals, and therefore the drum kit, is placed in front of the stage. Herranen is flanked by his two guitarists and their bass player disappeared into the background, perhaps due to the small stage of the venue.
This not-so-traditional stage setup worked like a charm for the band. Even though it prevents them a little bit from moving around, MISTERER definitely engaged a lot with the audience and made the show as wild as they possibly could. With a mix of groove and thrash metal, the band warms up the audience pretty well, definitely a band to look out for!
Even though BRYMIR was set to play at 22:00, the band had a bit of a delay due to a quite long change-over. Eventually, the band started their intro at 22:20. The ambient and atmospheric intro already made the audience quite excited, but when the band came on stage to the starting notes of “Gloria In Regum,” the crowd exploded and welcomed the band vigorously. It was a surprise to see guitarist Joona Björkroth join the ranks again, considering he is currently touring “No More Hollywood Endings” with BATTLE BEAST. The band apparently had a very brief slot in between shows, so Björkroth could make it to the Helsinki show. Even though he had less than a week to prepare, he shredded his way perfectly through the show.
The band continued with “Ride On, Spirit,” but not before singer Viktor Gullichsen greets the audience and plays around with them, up until everyone is as excited as possible. We have seen the band quite much in the recent past, meaning that the setlist kind of has been similar, heavily oriented towards “Wings Of Fire,” and with every performance, the band has perfected translating these gems to the stage with incredible precision. The band dives into using blast beats during “Sphere of Halcyon,” the intense song entices the audience to erupt into a moshpit, even though the floor is pretty much packed, which made us feel relieved that we found a comfortable spot to watch the show upstairs.
The tempo slows down a little bit with the powerful “And So We Age,” showing just how wonderfully diverse this band is. The band returns to some older material with “Pantheon of Forsaken Gods” from their sophomore album “Slayer Of Gods,” which clearly is a welcome surprise for the audience. The song is followed by “Starportal,” which gets the audience to chant along with the band. The intense extremity of the songs slows down again with “Lament Of The Ravenous,” and takes an epic form with “Chasing The Skyline,” one of our all-time favorites. The band ends their set with the title track “Wings Of Fire,” which ended the show in a high note. The whole band, except drummer Patrik Fält, left the stage, but due to the enormous applause of the audience, returned with two more songs, the traditional epic “For Those Who Have Died,” which was then followed with the mandatory fan-favorite “Ragnarök.”
It comes as no surprise that we are left with saying that, except for the delay, there is very little negative to say about this show. The band is always dynamic, always transmits their energy to their audience, moreover, they’re very entertaining to see live. With their compelling performance and outstanding music, BRYMIR is probably one of the best modern melodic death metal acts coming from Finland. It’s only a matter of time until they conquer the rest of the globe!
Article and photos by Laureline Tilkin
Setlist
- Gloria in Regum
- Ride On, Spirit!
- Sphere of Halcyon
- And So We Age
- Pantheon of Forsaken Gods
- Starportal
- Vanquish the Night
- Lament of the Ravenous
- Chasing the Skyline
- Wings of Fire
- For Those Who Died (Encore)
- Ragnarök (Encore)
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