On 15 November 2019, the melodic metal act CYHRA is releasing their sophomore album “No Halos In Hell”, and started their tour already before the album’s highly anticipated release. First stop of the tour was in Ääniwalli in Helsinki. We knew we had to be a part of it, so we packed our gear all the way to find ourselves in Vallila.
I had never been in Ääniwalli before and was surprised to see that the band had been booked for the smaller stage, both bands by now feel a bigger stage, On The Rocks worked perfectly last time. A small stage, however, meant a more intimate evening, which we will get back to later.
The first act of the evening was OCEANHOARSE, we have covered the heavy metal act quite often already, but we’re still not tired to see them play their by now traditionally energetic set. This time around, the set included a couple of surprises for me, first of all the songs they played were quite varied, so there was a little bit in there for everyone, the kick-ass opener “Feed the Sirens”, to the heavy “The Intruder”, to the more groovy “Waves”. The biggest surprise, however, were the two last songs of the set, including a SLIPKNOT cover of “Duality”, and a brand new song “Maze of Death”. “Duality” was very well done, I am perhaps not the biggest SLIPKNOT fan, but the band managed to make their own version of it, which to be honest, appeals to me a lot more than the original. The last song of the evening was “Maze of Death”, which perhaps is the heaviest and most aggressive OCEANHOARSE song up-to-date, and might be arguably one of my favorite songs. Although, of course this is just my first impression. I was a little bit sad to find out that the guys had cut out their self-titled track from the setlist, because that one works so well live and is also deadly catchy, but all the other typical OCEANHOARSE elements were still present, meaning a bombastic show with greatly skilled musicians and their very own mascot!
Setlist
- Feed the Sirens
- Fading Neons
- The Intruder
- Waves
- Death Row Center
- Duality (Slipknot Cover)
- Maze of Death (new songs)
Then it was time for CYHRA to kick off their fresh tour. I have to admit here that I personally was already familiar with CYHRA’s new songs as I received the advance promo of their new album due to an interview. So, when the intro track “Blood Brothers” came on I was immediately super excited. What a great way to start an evening, unfortunately, the band didn’t play that song, but they transitioned into the heavy “Letter To Myself”. Alex Landenburg was replaced by Ade Larsson again due to his touring commitments with KAMELOT, and Jesper Strömblad, who was also missing from the stage, was replaced by Marcus Sunesson. The two fill-in members, however, were warmly welcomed by the audience, and seemed by now to be a part of the CYHRA family.
CYHRA continued with “Muted Life”, but also had promised the audience to play some new songs, starting with “Dreams Gone Wrong”, and the emotional “Battle From Within”, which he dedicated to his later brother, who passed a way 10 years ago. The band had explained some of the songs of the debut album to be party poopers in an interview we conducted with them last year, and in our upcoming interview explain how the new songs are all made to fit in a live show. I can definitely vouch for that, since the songs were definitely energetic and I’m sure when the audience knows these songs better they would have included a lot of fist pumping and headbanging.
The best part of CYHRA’s show is always the unexpected things that happen, the introductions, Jake E trying his best to speak Finnish, Euge getting excited for being Finnish and them interacting with each other during the show. Due to a technical issue there was a little break before “Inside a Lullaby” which the band solved neatly by Euge Valovirta by showing his shredding skills. The band continued with the title track from their new album “No Halos In Hell”. Another thing we perhaps didn’t see coming was the South American fan who mounted the stage, and partied alongside of the band, probably having the time of his life, and this is precisely what I meant in the beginning that Ääniwalli provided a unique intimate setting which otherwise may not have happened.
All-in-all it was an excellent evening, filled with brand new songs that seemed to be received overall positively, even though perhaps this was not their tightest show ever, the band clearly had a lot of fun, and because their energy was so infectious, I also had a perfect night out! Look out for “No Halos In Hell”, it’s going to be a wild ride!
Setlist
- Intro: Blood Brothers
- Letter to Myself
- Muted Life
- Dreams Gone Wrong
- Heartrage
- Battle From Within
- Dark Clarity
- Inside a Lullaby
- No Halos In Hell
- Holding Your Breath
- Here to Save You
- Out of my Life
- Closure
- Karma
- Outro: Forever
