The 27th of March was the day for Axefeast festival to take place at Kåren in Gothenburg. As it was my first real assignment of this kind I was kind of nervous and didn’t know how everything would work. I met up with a friend on the way there and after some time we where joined by another ditto.

When we came inside I came to know how small I always find the place and I figured it would be packed with people after some time. I saw Shadowbuilder sitting in the cafeteria and went to talk to them. We decided to take the planned interview right there at the moment and so we did.

Winters Gate: Unfortunately for the band they started only 15 minutes after the audience were let in so there weren’t that many who got to se them. And that was probably lucky, because Winters Gate invited to a ridiculous show and earned no response from the (few) people in front. When the singer asked to se some hands, there were 2 persons starting to clap but stopped almost immediately when no other begun. The performance was stiff and only fun because of the funny poses and grimaces the band used. It stood clear that this Rock-’n’-Roll they were playing was not what the audience was there for. The sound was good though except for the quite low solo guitar.

Fun thing: When they said that it was time for their last song and the people clapped their hands and cheered.

Somber: WOW! When Somber started it felt like a bomb exploding! I had seen this demo-band one time earlier on a smaller stage and they didn’t come out but on this scene they fit perfectly and the, now a little bigger, crowd started headbanging. What Somber delivered was pure energy and when the night was over it was clear that they were the most aggressive band at this party. And the audience liked very much to but when they finished of with Slayers “Raining Blood” it became a rush up with people that went wild and crazy and it seemed like everyone wanted to stand right on top of each other. Very competent death metal in the vein of early death-Tiamat, Grotesque and some American influences like Shadows Fall.

Fun thing: When the bass player stood with his feet right together playing the vertical and headbanging like a maniac at the same time.

Shadowbuilder: When Shadowbuilder started their show even more people had gathered among the stage and swung their necks. Though I thought that the loss of one of the guitarists made them sound quite weak even if the impact of the existing music was big. Maybe because of the evenings wildest drummer… After just a couple of songs had he wrecked one pair of drumsticks and the cymbals were constantly close to fall down. So, even is if there was one guitarist missing the concert is approved.

Fun thing: When the emcee (Martin Westerstrand from the, in Sweden, famous disbanded group LOK) presented the band and started laughing when he began saying what he’d been told. He ought to say that the singer was cute. “You can’t be cute if you play Florida Death!”

Moonlight Agony: Power Metal in the same vein as every other band that you’ve heard and probably dislike, or as we say in Sweden: “ett dussinband”. That is Moonlight Agony and I would be surprised if someone find them unique. They might be good musicians but the only thing that you could hear was the double basses pounding, the bass rumble (it was a nice bass though, and Ibanez SR-305 as I have) and some of the higher tones that the Greek singer was executing. Add to that their stage-performance that consisted of 4 stereotypes not moving an inch for half an hour. One of the guitarists though went from left to right within an area of 1,5 square meters and the singer strolled between the drum-podium and the stages’ front end. The only time the concert became interesting was when a nice-looking chick came up on stage performing additional vocals. After some though I saw Pathos’ drummer Esko and went to talk to him and we decided to do my evening's second interview back in their lodge at right away. Sorry Moonlight Agony, I think you work better on record.

The Blood: The first thing that I was told, as a representative of media, was that it was not allowed to take any pictures of The Blood. They are secret and only the crew knew their identities. I thought the whole thing sounded silly and geeky but sure, I promise not to use my camera during their gig. And, around 9 p.m. (15-20 minutes late) the emcee went up on stage again to present The Blood… As “The hardest band in Sweden“… “Oh, come on” I thought. “Stop showing off”. But did they listen?

No, they started with a playback keyboard-intro and stood perfectly still, all wearing black sunglasses, on the black stage with no lights on. Then the drummer set two drumsticks on fire and held them in front of him as an “x”, after some time the singer set one stick on fire from the drummers flaming sticks. Then they stood still for a moment with the keyboard still sounding. And so the singer takes a mouth full of paraffin and spit it out making a nice, warm cloud of flames. They’re repeating this a couple of times and then finally they put the fire out, the sound-guy fades the intro and The Blood starts playing. “Wow”, I said to myself. That was actually really cool. And the music was not bad either. I stood there for some time, inspecting the show, and after some time it stood clear: The Blood rocks!

They seemed to be very experienced and skillful. I was totally seduced by their way of playing. Their music could easily be described as Rock-‘n’-Heavy or something but it was really interesting. Though the band seemed to be very serious they made a fun thing and invited two oriental dancers. The audience liked this very much and me too. The choruses were quite good for community singing, it’s a shame though that it was not many that were able to do so. But there was leather, there was steel and roaring double bass and some Viking-sounding passages and a cool, unique show worth the whole entrance! “I like you, coz you like Heavy Metal. And if you’re true, there can be no battle”.

Fun thing: They said nothing between the songs. They just stood still on the black stage in neat poses… while a pre-recorded crowd was soaring! It was just as amusing every time!

Jaggernaut: Jaggernaut is a band with good musicians with much routine where the drummer is the most famous, Patrik Räfling – former member of HammerFall. They play some kind of harder Heavy Metal with harsh vocals. They sang songs with lyrics about the society and such. The people in front were banging quite hard the band had quite good contact with them. Their clothing and make-up – their image – though made the whole thing silly and at some times the keyboard was only and very annoying. A good show, no more, no less.

Fun thing: Nothing really… “George fucking W Bush. Fuck my ass!”

Pathos: Pathos was the biggest reason for me to accept and visit Axefeast. I love their albums and was very excited about seeing what they were able to submit on stage. But it wasn’t such a great gig that I’ve hoped for. There were maybe 10 people that seemed to have heard Pathos before and knew what they represented and the rest was standing and looked bored or wasn’t there at all. Pathos latest album, “Katharsis” is great and all songs but one (I believe) were taken from it but people gave almost no response at all. The guys in Pathos are good musicians and it sounded very much like they do on record so I was more than happy. It was the audience that didn’t fit for the show.

Fun thing: Nothing… Everything was as good as it could be, under the circumstances.

Transport League: The people who weren’t there at Pathos’ gig came back when Transport League started. And they started partying at once. But I thought they made a weak impression, it was quite much all the same through the whole gig. But the fans liked it and that is how it ought to be. I think I’ve liked it to if I were in to them and their music.

Fun thing: The people that seemed to want a moshpit but got pushed aside.

Finntroll: If there was people missing before they all had returned now! Everyone who’d bought a ticket for the evening were there and they got a really nice gift by a band that know how to entertain. Finntroll ruled Kåren! A lot of energy, humor, great songs played with great skill, good contact to the audience and a really good sound equals… a hell of a show!

Fun thing: In one song did Tundras’ (the bass player) bass strap brake and he “was forced” to play the rest of the song sitting on the floor. When finished the band took a break to let him fix it and the drummer and keyboard player started playing Christmas songs and some folk music. It was lots of cheering among the crowd.

So, first of all: I was wrong. The place did never become packed. Second: It didn’t matter! I had a great time. The people in the Axefeast-crew did a great job and the sound and lights was very well composed. It is hard to take out a favorite among the shows but Somber, The Blood and Finntroll is in the top. One thing that I reacted to was that all the drummers were great. I liked that very much and now I’m one experience older. I long for the next concert.

Thanks all friends who shared the evening with me, Shadowbuilder and Pathos for the interviews and of course Tuvalie, Majk and the rest of the crew at Axefeast!