Sounds> Wintersun kicks viking ass

He-heey folks! Another metal post! It's a great season for the darkest tunes of musical mayhem, and my ears are still numb from yesterday's Wintersun and Amon Amarth.

Wintersun is Finland's pride in the metal scene right now. Pure, distilled talent and catchy powerful tunes layered on top extremely fast drums. Jari Mäenpää and Kai Hahto are both absolutely stellar - Jari's vocal range and supernatural guitar skills are almost eclipsed by Kai's world-class drumming. Speed, accuracy and innovativeness create the extreme edge that Wintersun cuts with. I was a bit too excited to take a lot of photos, but let's see if I get this video up... I also had the pleasure of a quick chat with the guys in the foyer before they took off to Belgium.

Amon Amarth was solid as well, filled with tunes that have you standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the enemy with your sword by your side. Yeah, viking metal :). They took their audience like a headliner should, but didn't quite hold a candle against Wintersun. And it's not just a Finland - Sweden thing, I've been to plenty of gigs where our western neighbours have beat us easily. Not this time.