We once again visited Lepakkomies for a sweaty night of heavy metal to the tunes of RANGER, HEXHAMMER, and GREEN KING. The venue was packed like in the old times, and there was a certain excitement already when GREEN KING opened the night with their doom-influenced metal. We had the chance to see these guys perform just a few months ago together with DUST MOUNTAIN. That show left a positive first impression and tonight confirmed the earlier judgment of this Helsinki-based band. Having just released an EP (“Rock Alley Tapes”), this was also the perfect opportunity to try it out on a live audience, especially that one guy enthusiastically sitting right in front of the stage.
HEXHAMMER had a more aggressive approach, mixing heavy/speed metal with extreme and even punk influences, which is clear from the attitude of their vocalist, who often took it upon himself to roam among the fans in the front. They have also a fresh new release (their second full-length, “Sign of Metal”), on which tonight’s show was obviously focused. This was an energetic performance that further charged the waiting audience for the main act.
When RANGER was about to start, the basement of Lepakkomies was – or at least felt – as crowded as it can be. The anticipation for this show seemed quite high, with the band not being able to perform in front of their home crowd for quite a while. Now that the chance finally came, they unleashed all their pent-up energy on an excited crowd who kept headbanging from start to finish. Some guy even attempted some crowd-surfing (with arguable results), and it felt like in the early days of the band, filling local venues with metalheads going wild at what now can be considered the classics from the band.
Clearly, this was a good way to get the weekend started, and as a bonus, there was a DJ night right after the event.
GREEN KING
HEXHAMMER
RANGER
