Photo Reports

In the summer of 2024, Ankor has been really catching the attention of people all over Europe since they were at a majority of the summer festivals there. We were lucky enough to see them at both Tuska 2024 in Finland, Wacken 2024 and Alcatraz 2024 in Belgium. Clearly, the organization of Tuska was also quite taken by this group, because they brought them back to Helsinki as part of their “Shoganai EU/UK tour 2025”. It resulted in a very packed, completely sold out On The Rocks and with the addition of special guests Conquer Divide and openers A Dark Reborn, it was an absolutely great night that brought a glimpse on part of the future of heavy music. It was an absolute riot!

Indian Heavy/Folk metal powerhouse Bloodywood is currently touring Europe, presenting new material from their upcoming album ‘Nu Delhi’ that will be released soon! (March 21st). We caught up with the tour at Trix in Antwerp, Belgium for a great night of amazing vibes and music! Support acts were Calva Louise and -also from India- Demonic Resurrection.

“Nordic Power Metal Titans” is definitely a well fitting name for this tour, as with Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius it combines two of Finland’s most well known Power Metal bands. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of co-headlining tours thought as I feel it just leaves too little stage time for both headliners. All in all though, this evening proved to be quite a lot of fun.

Already during Arion‘s show, Tavara-Asema started filling up nicely. Unfortunately, the sound throughout all bands had a bit too much bass in the mix which resulted in parts of the music being lost underneath it. During Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius the place was absolutely packed with fans of all ages obviously having a great time.

In the beginning of the year, Eluveitie embarked on the first leg of their “ÀNV Rising” tour in Europe, taking with them their friends of Infected Rain as direct support and Ad Infinitum as the openers. A pretty exciting package of 3 popular, but also quite different bands with what felt like a bit of something for everyone. We were all too excited about joining this evening of modern metal excellence, and travelled down to the Culture House of Helsinki to catch one of the first stops of the tour!

TOTO recently played a gig at a full Nokia Arena in Tampere together with Christopher Cross. The gig marked the end of their ‘The Dogz Of Oz’ European Tour. With great sound and light execution, the gig delivered a feeling of nostalgia to me, even though I knew way less of the songs then usually when I’m on a gig. Both bands had a good vibe and that made for a good time for probably all the 8500 visitors of the gig.

The Convalescence had a ‘Feast of Flesh’ at Piere’s in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Sunday March 2nd, 2025! Who doesn’t love a little deathcore on a Sunday?! 

First up for dishing out a little death and destruction for the evening was the horror metal band Discard the Body, hailing from Muncie, Indiana. Their grueling sounds got the crowd warmed up and ready to bang their heads!

Next to hit the stage was a young band from right here in Fort Wayne, the hardcore outfit Nailed Casket! It is always great to see the younger generation involved in the music scene. I hope to see more from these guys!

Mantra of Morta hailing from East Central Indiana, always brings the energy along with their loyal fans! Vocalist Jessie Cochran brings an enchanting aggressiveness to the stage along with her powerful vocals. They are a hard-hitting band that I have had the pleasure of seeing live twice now! 

And closing out the night at this ‘House of Suffering’ (aka, Piere’s), the mighty The Convalescence! The band was formed in Toledo, OH in 2011, they have really got to see a lot of the country and world in their 14 years in the scene. I saw them live one other time in 2023, and I was definitely drawn to their powerful stage presence and tonight was my opportunity to capture the experience! The way they interact and connect with their fans is cool to see and speaks to the popularity they have here in the Midwest. The star of the show though was Timmy, the dismembered body (fake of course) who is a menace on the tour bus and his body parts get tossed to the fans at the end of show! I really love their intensity and their breakdowns, of course! I look forward to catching these guys again. If you get the chance to catch one of their shows, it will be worth your time!

Long-standing Swedish rock band Thundermother released their new album ‘Dirty & Divine’ recently, and kicked off an extensive tour to celebrate and bring the release to their fans all over Europe! The first leg of the tour brought them to Im Wizemann in Stuttgart, Germany for a night of great rockin’ out. The ladies of Thundermother gathered some of the best of the feminine side of the heavy metal and hard rock scene with Cobra Spell and Vulvarine for support, and we saw it was good!

Funeral Dress, a Belgian punk band formed in 1985, celebrating their 40th anniversary with a final tour after releasing their last album, ‘Goodbye?’. The album release concert featured two opening acts: Luna en De Maanstenen, a promising young punk band, and Belgian Asociality, another established punk band known for their humorous and energetic performances. Belgian Asociality had a setlist that included songs like “Bompa Punk”, “Boerderie” and “Morregen”. Funeral Dress delivered a high-energy set, including songs like “Punk’s back in Town”, “Death and Glory”, and “Party On”. The band’s performance was emotional, ending with “Goodbye,” marking the beginning of the end of their 40-year career.

If you’re in search for a good time, you can never go wrong with Turmion Kätilöt. Together with King Satan they turned Tampere’s Tavara-Asema into a sold-out, steaming hot party last Saturday.

The set list included several songs with additional vocals from Netta Turunen as well as one song in English, ‘Faster Than God‘. And of course also some of their most famous songs like ‘Vihko‘ and ‘Sikiö‘.

There were no shortcomings on that gig, if anything some fans might have had a little too much fun.

A couple of weekends ago it was heavy/power metal night in De Kreun, Kortrijk.

The Canadian power metal band Unleash the Archers is travelling through Europe with their “Phantoma tour”, and they are supported by compatriots Striker and Seven Kingdoms from Florida! A very nice lineup that resulted in a very successful evening for fans of the genre!