When a thunderstorm had ended the festivities of the main event of Puska festival on Saturday, July 11th, at Malmi airport, it was time to head to the festival’s afterparty event taking place at the legendary rock cave Lepakkomies in Kallio, Helsinki. The afterparty’s lineup had had a few changes since it was first announced, with SUITSUKE and DIÄB SOULÉ having to withdraw. However, with the original duo of MÖYHY-VEIKOT and G.A.Z.E., accompanied by MOUNT PALATINE and the German visitors EXCREMENTORY GRINDFUCKERS the lineup was delightfully underground, weird, and out of the box, so the expectations for the evening were high.
The night was opened by MOUNT PALATINE, a heavy psych metal band who delivered the gloomiest and most serious show of the evening, as the crowd was still starting to arrive at the Lepakkomies basement. The trio managed to pull out some big soundscapes, and the show was, all-in-all, kind of a hypnotic experience.
Next up was G.A.Z.E. – very much a classic hardcore band to its essence. They do, however, deliver some nice melodies in their music as well. The bottom line is still with raw energy, tight pace, and aggression packed in a tightly knit unit.
The third band of the evening was the German band EXCREMENTORY GRINDFUCKERS, a grindcore (kind of) band, with several spoonfuls of smirk in their delivery. The band spread themselves well out of the small stage of Lepakkomies and in the midst of the audience. They managed to create nice contact with the crowd, and the show put a smile on pretty much every face and left the cave moist and warm with dancing sweat.
Last up was the audio-visual extravaganza that is MÖYHY-VEIKOT. The band has made a trademark from their backing visuals, backing track bass lines, and the guitar-drums duo playing live. The backing videos draw from the oddities of old-time television, some occult and UFO stuff, and entertainment moments accompanied with commenting textlines, all packed in a retro VHS-outlook. The new thing was that there was a third member on stage on this show: a second guitarist/vocalist. There was some new depth to the recognizable root MÖYHY-VEIKOT sound with the added instrument and vocals, so a welcome addition here.
The party lasted well into the night, and afterwards, there was a stream of smiling faces and sweaty shirts strolling out of the Lepakkomies premises, so a job well done for the bands of the night.
Mount Palatine
G.A.Z.E.
Excrementory Grindfuckers
Möyhy-Veikot
