With the world in quarantine these days, more and more bands are starting to look into streaming to help ends meet, as well as simply to keep getting their music out to fans around the world. Among the very first bands to stream their live shows were Estonia METSATÖLL, putting on a Party Time During the Plague performance on March 20th, 2020.
Prior to beginning, the band’s logo was on screen with a text reading “Wolves will howl in…” followed by a timer ticking down to showtime. This cut away from time-to-time, showing some behind-the-scenes footage interspersed. There was clearly a bit of budget used on this stream as the angles and cuts were artfully done and really helped set the scene. These shots were also used when the clock had ticked down and “Toona” played as the intro.
The show then began with the thrashy and energetic “Katk kutsariks.” The light production for the show was quite spectacular and the visuals were immediately on point, bringing the viewer out of their living room and into a show at a venue. After a “good evening” from vocalist Markus Teeäär, this was followed by “Kange kui raud” with its fantastic pipes and surprisingly plentiful pyrotechnics, where he asked the people of the world to mosh. Teeäär then greeted the audience and asked everyone to help them burn the plague to the ground.
Hopefully the viewers had good sound systems wherever they were watching, as the band put on an energetic performance despite not having a live audience in front of them. Lauri Ounapuu is, as always, a wizard on any instrument he gets his hands on and easily makes every note count. They didn’t hold back in the set either, continuing on with songs like “Vaid vaprust,” “Saaremaa vägimees,” and “Vimm.” They also played a wide selection of new songs, including “Ebavere,” “Talvehambad,” and “Kurjajuur.”
If a livestream wasn’t enough excitement for fans, the show got even more interesting around two thirds of the way through, when guest vocalist Marta Laan appeared for another 2019 track, “Ballad punastest paeltest.” She gave the band a cheer for having celebrated their 21st anniversary last month and spread some positive energy in her greeting. The song itself was melodic and fun and Laan‘s vocals were deep, dynamic, and powerful, and she flowed in place atmospherically during the song.
After “Talvehambad,” the band invited their second guest to the stage: Estonian actor/singer Marko Matvere. The same as with Laan, Matvere‘s song “Koduhiite kaitsel” comes from their latest album and has a more galloping, heavy metal rhythm with, of course, plenty of folk flare. “See on see maa” followed and the band performed live favorite “Oma laulu ei leia ma üles,” a cover of a song by Heli Lääts. The stream began to wind down with “Minu kodu” and “Metsaviha 2,” before they closed out the set with “Lööme mesti.”
As someone who, to a certain degree, “got over” folk metal a few years ago, it’s nevertheless nice to spice things up and get nostalgic with bands like this. METSATÖLL‘s unique brand of authentic folk metal is unsurprisingly popular and it was nice to have the opportunity to see them live again after such a long time. The production value of the stream was very nice and the band performed as if they could feel the energy from the audience even though they couldn’t see the viewers. The stream was likewise free to watch, with donation options left conveniently in the YouTube comments where people could support the band and their team. It was a great production and highly worth watching if you were quarantining at home!
Watch the full stream below:
Setlist
1. Toona (Intro)
2. Katk kutsariks
3. Kange kui raud
4. Küü
5. Kivine maa
6. Vaid vaprust
7. Saaremaa vägimees
8. Tõrrede kõhtudes
9. Kurjajuur
10. Ebavere
11. Vimm
12. Ballaad punastest paeltest ft. Marta Laan
13. Talvehambad
14. Koduhiite kaitsel ft. Marko Matvere
15. See on see maa
16. Oma laulu ei leia ma üles (Heli Lääts cover)
17. Minu kodu
18. Metsaviha 2
19. Lööme mesti
Written by Bear Wiseman
Musicalypse, 2020
OV: 1637
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