The past few years have opened my eyes to the depths of metal that Europe has to offer, not to mention the vast number of metal festivals that they have each year. Of course, I have not taken (nor had) the time to truly dive into the glories that are just waiting to be found, but I have uncovered a great way to have a sampling of said bands come to me.
Metalmania is a festival held in Katowice, Poland, each year. For the past t21 years the promoters have put on a show of varying size, although this decade has seen the fest grow larger and larger. Bands come from all over the world to perform and to benefit those who are unable to attend, Metal Mind Productions releases a two-disc collection for each year. Disc One is a DVD focused on the bands playing on the main stage, while Disc Two is a CD featuring studio recordings of those playing the second stage. However you want to cut it, it is a great sampler of metal, many bands which American audiences are probably completely unfamiliar with.
The 2007 festival got off to a great start with a group called Korpiklaani. I was reminded a bit of In Extremo as I listened to these guys. I must say though, it is not often that you find a metal band perform with an accordion, bagpipes, and violin, with a vocalist/guitarist that has fuzzy antlers attached to his microphone stand. The band hails from Finland and plays its own brand of folk-metal, a genre I must admit I find intriguing. The combination of new and old sounds is rather fascinating. They are represented by a trio of songs.
Following them is a black metal band called Crystal Abyss. Hailing from Russia, the members bring the requisite speed and keyboard aided atmospherics however, I cannot say I was all that impressed with their performance. The music, the one song included, sounded uninspired and their stage presence was a rather lackluster.
Next up is a band I have only heard one album from, but have quite impressed me. The band has this big symphonic black metal sound, full of drama and bombast. All of it comes through in their live performance. The Polish sextet delivers on the two-song sampling here. Featuring male and female vocals, they offer plenty of texture and depth over the heavy guitars, driving drums, and keyboards. This is definitely a band to pay attention to.
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