Since their comeback, we have seen KIUAS a handful of times over the past few years, but the promise of new songs during their Reheated Tour convinced us that we needed more. The band was set to play a show at Tavastia in Helsinki on June 3rd, 2023, and we made sure we were there. Unfortunately, due to illness, support PSYCHEWORK canceled their performance.
Check out the photo gallery here!
Having been announced already back during their opening slot for BATTLE BEAST in February, this 4-day tour passed through Tampere the night before coming to one of the few remaining classic venues in town. We were surprised to find out that this show wasn’t sold out, but quickly recalled that this show unfortunately took place on the same night as one of IRON MAIDEN‘s shows in Tampere.
The show began right on time with the Conan the Barbarian intro, leading to huge cheers as the band came out one-by-one and kicked things off with “The Decaying Doctrine,” which is an outright banger and excellent starting track, followed by “Of Sacrifice, Loss & Reward.” The somewhat bluesy “No More Sleep for Me” was a rare pick, which Ilja said was one of the songs he had written, which makes perfect sense. They then returned to the familiar material with the somewhat thrashier “Aftermath,” which sparked up a hefty moshpit.
It was nice to see that either the crowds had warmed up finally or KIUAS is just that hot, because Tavastia was pretty heavily filled with enthusiasm that couldn’t be capped once that first pit unleashed. Naturally, vocalist Ilja Jalkanen told some stories, including talking about the show at Jäähalli (with BATTLE BEAST) earlier this year, while people shouted at him to take his shirt off and the crowd and band harassed him in encouragement, but he did not relent. This was followed by another certified megahit: “Of Love, Lust & Human Nature.” Atte Tanskanen took his time beautifully leading the song out and smoothly into “Of Ancient Wounds,” which is a natural fan-favorite and restarted the moshpit.
The band did have something new to share, affectionately entitled “No More Warrior Soul For You!,” which sounded very much like KIUAS, but with a dollop more traditional power metal in the mix – definitely intriguing and we look forward to hearing more! This was followed by a several excellent picks: “To Excel and Ascend” and “Heart and Will.” Ilja tossed some love to guitarist Mikko Salovaara before “The Visionary,” calling Mikko the visionary of the band. Man, you’ve just got to love the way the drums blast through you when they rock this one live. Afterwards, Ilja encouraged the crowd to cheer for the band – but not too much! When Mikko took over the mic, he naturally then got the crowd to cheer for Anni-Sofia Annala at the sound booth and their utterly legendary manager… Teemu Suominen. Of course, the crowd cheered for Ilja as well, once we were done having a laugh at least. “Lights Are Many” still might have the best keyboard solo of all time, while Ilja seemed to be hamming up the vocals a little. They amped up the heaviness with “Spirit of Ukko,” during which some poor fellow’s beer got blasted out of his hands by the sudden moshpit. They had an almost-encore-break before wrapping up the show with their two usual closers: “Warrior Soul” and “Across the Snows,” which naturally left the crowd only thirsting for more.
It’s really heartwarming to see that even during the IRON MAIDEN weekend, a band like KIUAS who reigned a decade ago can not only still draw a crowd, but also get them to expend some energy properly! A decade is a long time to take a break, so it’s going to be really exciting to see what direction they take with the music, but if their new teaser was any hint of what is to come, I can at least say that I’m enthusiastic for what’s next!
Written by Bear Wiseman
Photos by Laureline Tilkin
Tracklist
- The Decaying Doctrine
- Of Sacrifice, Loss & Reward
- No More Sleep for Me
- Aftermath
- Of Love, Lust & Human Nature
- Until We Reach the Shores
- No More Warrior Soul for You
- To Excel and Ascend
- Heart and Will
- The Visionary
- Lights Are Many
- Spirit of Ukko
- Warrior Soul (encore)
- Across the Snows (encore)
