It’s without question that Finland has been delivering some seriously amazing Metal bands to the scene for the last few years and while there are numerous favorites among the fans, I have to cite that Nightwish was my first foray into their provisions. I first heard of the band in 1999 and was not even doing my Metal Scribe thing yet but they remain one of my own personal top picks to this day.  From this point I began to look into some of their other groups such as Sonata Arctica, Finntroll and so on. All of these wondrous sounds would come in handy to my mental musical palate once I began to write about it. Since becoming the Master and Commander of the PiercingMetal universe I have attended a score of concerts that the Finns have brought to our shores and based on the coverage on the site have been fortunate to meet a lot of wonderful musicians from this faraway land.
Today this bountiful provider of Metal celebrates their 94th Independence Day and I just wanted to send them all a hearty “Happy Independence Day” and raise my glass with a very loud “Kippis”.  To celebrate the occasion I copied the tag for “Finnish Metal” which was used on every concert piece that features one of their bands. Clicking the Finnish flag below will launch that search and you can enjoy the findings. My hope is that most of you know all the bands already but if you do not, then it is high time to do a little research and eventual purchasing. I am pretty sure you will like what you hear.  The core website can be searched for those bands via the main page.
Click The Flag To See "Finnish Metal" Postings
One day I will get myself over there and absorb a little more of their culture. Having seen some of my friends photos and knowing there is even more cool music makes me pretty firm in this idea. When I do that you can be rest assured that there will be both Metal and Personal blogs written up about the journey. Of course I will need to learn a little Finnish but luckily I have Sammy The Ambassador to help me along in that regard. Stay tuned.
When my good friend returned from Finland and brought me a whole stack of Finnish Metal bands I would never have anticipated my enjoying a group that dresses like Barney dinosaurs and plays some catchy Heavy Metal music but I did. As my album originated in Finland, it would come out earlier than here in the United States and thereby get a quick review that you readers can peruse HERE. I did the best that I could since the entire thing was in Finnish in terms of the song and the enclosed booklet but I did really get a kick out of that album. Now for those who aren’t even remotely tuned in to what I am speaking about I have the bands video for the song “Jee HeviSaurus” which I learned was the third single from that album. Take a look at the clip, enjoy it and be aware that you are not at all hallucinating.
PiercingMetal Thoughts: Amazing right? Absolutely mind-boggling and fun from beginning to end. I loved the idea of the band playing a giant arena and I think that this is actually a possibility over there as opposed to here where the attention span is steadily fleeting by. I loved the whole idea of this and am hopeful that some of the regions promoters get on point and bring this to our side of the ocean. This can easily play in the Irving Plaza or Best Buy Theater since they have sufficient room for the production. As much as I love my B.B. King’s and the smaller Mercury Lounge, this kind of show would be lost in them. Let’s face it, this is a band made up of dinosaurs so we will need to go big and watching the younger generation rocking out to it just made me smile. You know you liked it as well.
Artist: Hevisaurus Title: “Jurahevin Kuninkaat” Label: Sony Music Release Date: 6/29/2010 Genre: Dinosaur Metal Rating: 4/5
When I began listening to the debut release by Hevisaurus, I felt that I really needed to start learning how to speak Finnish because it would make an album such as this all the more fun to absorb, especially when you realize exactly what is going on with it. It’s a piece of music that answers the oft-asked question in regards to what exactly would a Heavy Metal band sound like if the music was done by dinosaurs. OK, so maybe this is not a question that we hear all that much but despite this, the band is fronted by a Dragon and the rest of the musicians are assembled in four Metal maniacs from the Mesozoic era. Their first album is called “Jurahevin Kuninkaat” which translates to English as “Kings Of Jurassic Metal” and of course – the band is Finnish. The quick origin is that this was started by the drummer of Thunderstone (Mirka Rantenan) who had attended a children’s music concert with his own kids and it inspired him to form a Metal band for kids – using dinosaurs as the characters. I’m not sure just how the skin basher went about finding the members of the group in this modern day and age, but perhaps the powers of paleontology inspired the percussionist in the quest. Without making you wait until the bands “Behind The Music” comes to be, here is the lineup: Herra Hevisaurus (vocals), Milli Pilli (keyboards), Komppi Momppi (drums), Riffi Raffi (guitar) and Muffi Puffi (bass). Collectively they bring millions of years of Power Metal experience to the table and in the end it’s a whole lot of fun and here are some thoughts about what is to be found on the album. Continue reading “Jurahevin Kuninkaat” by Hevisaurus→
