We ventured to Turku on a Saturday night for the album release show of “Nightbringer, Lightbringer,” the latest effort from veteran black metallers ARCHGOAT. This was also our first time at the “new” Fuusio, or rather the renovated Utopia, formerly known as so many other things over the years. There have clearly been some changes, in the sense that the building itself is now divided into at least three (maybe even four, as we couldn’t check) different clubs, each of them kind of segregated from one another, or at least having their own separate entrance. Some of the biggest, more noticeable changes were at least the cloakroom on the second floor, and the bar in the main hall being moved from the right to the left side.
The first band of the night was HELLGATE NECROSODOMY, which is quite funny (in a good way), considering it’s a very “Archgoat-y” band itself. The young Helsinki-based trio took the chance to open up for one of the bands that has most heavily influenced their music, and must have been very happy to play here tonight. They have been quite good whenever we had the opportunity to see them live, and sounded pretty sharp tonight as well, while the venue was getting already quite full. The response from the audience was also very positive, and they can for sure be happy with how their night went.
Next was WOLFCROSS from Sweden, and we have to admit we were not too familiar with the band beforehand. They had something in their sound that reminded us of both WATAIN and NIFELHEIM, which isn’t really a bad thing per se. Especially the vocalist, J. B. Vorgoth, seemed very energetic and had clearly the strongest presence in the band. They were promoting their sophomore album “Wargods of the Underworld,” which clearly made up for most of their set, while among other tracks stood out “Svart Speed Metal” from the first record, and the homonymous “Wolfcross.” This wasn’t the first time Metallihelvetti brought lesser-known Swedish bands to Finland, given how easily one can travel by boat between Stockholm and the former Finnish capital; quite often they bring acts that work pretty well, so no complaints tonight either. It was also the last gig with the band for the guitarist Bathim, as he decided to focus on his other two active projects (CROWN OF DECAY and MYRONATH).
When finally ARCHGOAT took the stage, they did so by performing the title track of their new album. Soon the mayhem started, with the fans in the front going wild, the rest of the audience was more like your typical Finnish metal crowd, but the place was packed and hard to move around, and the band relentlessly blasted them with their satanic black metal.
Compared to their Swedish colleagues, ARCHGOAT took a different approach, so even though the show was in celebration of the new album’s release, they opted for a far more balanced setlist.
Their performance was tight, as we got used especially over their past few appearances; we still believe that the trio can be compared to a good wine, improving as they age. If there is someone who can very likely agree with this statement, it must be the guys from HELLGATE NECROSODOMY, as they spent a large part of the show headbanging it out by the barrier in front of the stage, just barely out of reach from the rest of the crowd. It was really nice to see the youngsters getting all excited while watching the show, which itself was certainly worthy of this 6th full-length release party. In this career-spanning set, of course they didn’t omit classics such as “Rise of the Black Moon,” “Hammer of Satan,” and “Angel of Sodomy,” which concluded the show.
The night actually ended quite early, so that people still had time to head towards a pub of their choosing for some after-show drinks. Despite the rainy, very autumn-looking weather, not the worst time in Turku!
HELLGATE NECROSODOMY
WOLFCROSS
ARCHGOAT
