The Ankea Festival presented the most ass-kicking festival lineup of 2026 with their post-rock and prog banquet in Tampere on the first weekend of June, one which I sadly had to skip altogether. As luck would have it, the festival organisation also offered a couple of special treats, before and after the main event, in Helsinki. I had barely recovered from the mind-melting EARTHSIDE gig on Thursday at On the Rocks, when it was time to witness something no less earth-shattering on Sunday at the same venue as Norwegian blackgaze queen Kathrine Shephard took the stage with her band SYLVAINE for their first-ever club date in Finland, just a day after their (stellar, I heard) performance at the Ankea Festival. The old Scandinavian folklore is full of stories about mermaids whose melancholic singing could drive fishermen out of their minds, or even to an untimely death, and Shephard‘s voice would certainly fit the description – with a twist, of course; she can also scream like a banshee out of hell, and her harsh vocals are top of the class when it comes to black-metal-tinted shrieks. I’m not sure whether it was due to the highly unique nature of SYLVAINE‘s music or some other, a tad more practical matter, but there was no support act at this show; in fact, in the Finnish alt-metal scene, there is only one act that I could imagine being a good fit, in terms of atmosphere and the overall vibe – the one-woman doomgaze project named SHEDFROMTHEBODY. As far as I know, she does not do live concerts at all. So, the main dish was served right away on this special Sunday evening. While the venue was far from sold-out, the band had pulled quite a good crowd – it was no small feat, considering it was a Sunday night, after all. Of course, given the amazing quality of SYLVAINE‘s music, the venue should have been packed to the full if there were any decency in the world, but I guess the word-of-mouth has not yet worked its magic on the general metal public.
The set kicked off with “Earthbound” from SYLVAINE‘s 2016 Season of Mist debut album “Wistful,” and the song set the tone just perfectly for the show. The music is all about the delicate balance between the light and the dark. The French hipster black-metallers, ALCEST, are largely responsible for the whole blackgaze movement, and you could easily spot similarities in SYLVAINE‘s music, too. What adds a nice, unique touch to their post-rock and shoegaze-inspired takes on black metal is the occasional side-step into the Nordic folk realm. I think ALCEST‘s frontman, Neige, actually played drums on one of the tracks on this particular SYLVAINE album, so there is a kinship of sorts, for sure. Both bands definitely know how to evoke the whole spectrum of emotions through music.
The setlist was a nice cross-section of SYLVAINE‘s albums released on the pedigree metal label, Season of Mist. If I recall correctly, her first EP, “Silent Chamber, Noisy Heart” (2014), was an independent affair, which initially prompted the label to get this fantastic group on their roster, but we heard no songs from this release. What we did get was a haunting cavalcade of choice tracks from the three full-length albums released so far, with the highlight of the set being the monolith of a track, “Mono No Aware,” from the 2022 album “Nova.” (Juanma, this is the track you asked me about) I think it was the final song of the actual set before the encore numbers, and it was a truly epic journey, during which drummer Dorian Manslaux showcased how you can play even blast beast with a solid groove. His playing was quite sublime throughout the evening, but on this song, his chops were out of this world. And speaking of the band, the other members were of no less caliber: guitarist Florian Ehrenberg‘s guitar tones were absolutely delicious, and the visceral basslines provided by Maxime Mouquet were right on the money, too. They both offered some backing vocals, with Mouquet doing some harsh leads here and there as well. Shephard herself did most of the lead vocals and played the electric guitar on the side, too – one that looked like a hollow-body guitar from a distance, which I reckon is not that usual as a weapon of choice for music that’s inherently closer to metal than, say, vintage blues-inspired rock. Then again, that type of axe does have the kind of tone that fits lush and immersive music of this kind just perfectly. During the most post-rockish sections, in particular, the guitar tones were pure candy to my ears.
The encore ended with Shepherd‘s solo rendition of a traditional Norwegian folk song, “Eg Er Framand,” which was released on SYLVAINE‘s 2024 EP by the same name as well. She introduced the song as a traditional folk piece that’s so old no one knows where it comes from, who wrote it, or even how old it really is. She also mentioned that the song had positively traumatized her at a very young age, which was the reason behind her decision to cover it in the first place. Well, her solo rendition of the song turned out to be nothing short of an enchanting closure for the evening, which was pretty haunting to begin with. Shepherd seemed just as genuinely moved after the song as the audience. The feeling was very close to that evoked by Eivør‘s heart-piercing live rendition of “Falling Free” at the Tuska Festival tent in 2024, when I witnessed some metal goblins burst into tears even. I didn’t see anyone crying their eyes out at On the Rocks, but it’s been a while since the last time I’ve seen the whole audience hold their breath like this at a rock venue. What a great way to end a show! SYLVAINE‘s first-ever club date in Finland also unlocked for me the achievement of seeing all of the Nordic fairy queens – that is, Myrkur, Eivør, and SYLVAINE– and I must say that they all have the utterly amazing ability to transport listeners to some otherworldly realms through music. The mesmerizing duality of SYLVAINE‘s music works wonders on those albums and EPs, but if you really want to feel the resonance of something beyond the tangible, I’d highly recommend going and seeing SYLVAINE on stage whenever you get the chance. I certainly hope that the band will return to Finland sooner rather than later. I’ve seen some top-of-the-class live performances already this year, but this show went right to the top 3 of 2026.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Setlist
- Earthbound
- Abeyance
- Fortapt
- I Close My Eyes So I Can See
- Nowhere, Still Somewhere
- Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone
- Mono No Aware
Encore:
- Severance
- A Ghost Trapped in Limbo
- Mørklagt
Eg Er Framand (trad. song)
