Chthonic & Turisas - Live Review
Manchester Academy 3
Thursday 17/11/2011
The opening notes of the intro track filled the room as the hordes of Turisas fans waited for support act Chthonic to begin. The Taiwanese black metal outfit slowly took the stage in their trademark attire (a combination of gothic clothing, masks and face paint), before springing into life with an unrelenting audio assault. Vocalist Freddy Lim dominated the stage, firing up the crowd as they powered through tracks from their latest album 'Takasago Army'. The high tempo brutality of their music is not without substance, with intricate Erhu melodies flooding
their sound with a melacholic eastern influence, taking new listeners by surprise. Chthonic's music is rich in Taiwanese culture and their emotional delivery on stage shows just how much the subject matter means to them. Throughout, bass player Doris Yeh could be seen aggressively mouthing every word, and this highly charged performance was channelled through to the audience who were captivated, showing their appreciation with a thunderous reception.
Chthonic's 50 minute set was partially let down by poor live mixing as the guitar was far too low, often completely drowned out by the machine gun drums. However this was a tiny flaw in what was an epic live performance, a unique blend of extreme metal intertwined with Taiwanese heritage, brought to life through explosive live performance.
And if Chthonic had got the place fired up, Turisas were about to raise the roof. The Finns had sold out the moderately sized Academy 3, and you would think that if another band hadn't have been playing the larger Academy 2, then an upgrade in venue would have been on the cards. This mattered not as the opening notes of 'The Varangian Guard' from their third album 'Stand Up and Fight' whipped the crowd into a frenzy of moshing and fist pumping. Turisas infuse epic symphonic metal with Finnish folk music, with high octane crowd participation a key factor in creating the atmosphere. Pulling classic songs, such as 'One More' and 'Five Hundred and One' from their back catalogue along with the more bombastic tracks from their latest album gave their set an excellent ebb and flow.
The recent line-up changes, which saw the introduction of new bass and keyboard players, appeared seamless as the band displayed a togetherness in both sound and spirit. In a genre dominated with guitar players, the soloing is set aside for the technically excellent violin player Olli Vänskä , providing a breath of fresh air. The fans had been chanting for it since the start of the show and in the encore their request was finally granted when the band launched into a barnstorming rendition of 'Battle Metal', the anthemic title track from their debut album.
There were smiles on the faces of the whole band as they took a bow, on what had been the final show of a great tour. Both bands had created an electric atmosphere, and seemed to have had a genuinely good time in the process.
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