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Lordi @ Whisky a Go Go, West Hollywood, United States of America 8/2 -17

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized, United States of America 2017 with tags , , , , , , on February 8, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

So… The big day was here. Lordi. At The Whisky. I always knew I at one point in my life would get to catch a band live at The Whisky, but never in my wildest of dreams did I ever think it’d be Lordi, even if it was my dream. Seeing their name on the billboard outside… I can’t even describe it.

whisjy3

outfit

We got to the venue pretty late, again. I don’t know what it is with me and America – or perhaps it is because we actually got up so late (around noon), but we made it there about an hour before the doors opened, and there were two or three people there before us only, and very soon after we arrived Aly and Jeffery arrived, and we got to catch up with them! Lucky people had made it to Anaheim so they got to witness this amazing show one more time.

Around 19 they opened the door, and as you can see on the billboard, there were quite a few supportbands, and we calculated that we’d be seeing more supportbands than Lordi, in time. Interesting, huh?

And the stage was also interesting. Again, no barrier, so Nathan found himself having a monitor right in his face, and the stage at Whisky is also higher than it was in Santa Cruz, like, to my chest. We’re getting to see some interesting stage set ups, but gladly it didn’t stop my “It Snows In Hell” thing. But more on that later. Clock striked 19.30, and the first band got on stage.

Aeonic Impulse

Aeonic Impulse was first on stage and they delivered a pretty good set! I must admit that I personally wasn’t too fond of their music, but they got up there and did their thing!

aoenic

Danse dE SADE

Next band on stage was Danse dE Sade – and they were one of the two bands that I had actually listened a little bit to prior to the show, and I wasn’t sure at the time how I actually felt about them. And it wouldn’t get any easier when their show began – freakshow to say the least. Strippers on stage, bandmembers going all over the place, but sure as hell they delivered a great show. A bit overwhelmed here. BUT – and yes I do feel the need to point it out – two female members in the band. Loving it.

dds

Dûrion 

Third band for the night was Dûrion. WITH A FEMALE DRUMMER, CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH? And apart from that, this band was REALLY good. I really loved their music, and the show they put on was amazing. The singer in the band is extremely charismatic, and we had a lot of fun during their set.

durion

Tower Guard

Tower Guard is the band out of the four that I’ve listened to most before the gig, powermetal with a concept – about guarding the tower, basically. The whole show was a quest throughout, and I loved it. They had a female bassplayer too – I love the amount of female musicians we have seen on stage tonight. It made me extremely happy.

tg

Lordi

It was such a surreal moment when “God of Thunder” started, and I wasn’t ready you know. Wasn’t ready to see Lordi at the Whisky a Go Go, but before you knew it, Skeletor walked on stage and they hit it off with “Lets Go Slaughter He-Man”. By this time, the place had gotten packed which was good to see!

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“Babez for Breakfast” was the next song on the list, quickly followed by “The Riff”. Somewhere here – either before “The Riff” or before “Hellbender Turbulence” Mr L is talking about his balls, and as being someone who’s heard this speech like so many times, I obviously started to pretend to step on his balls, which led him to tell me that “Yes exactly, you girls can step on them if you want!”. Haha. Oh lord. After “Hellbender Turbulence” it was time for the bassolo – and for the third gig in a row, OX singled me out (London, Santa Cruz) in the crowd. It’s really becoming our moment.

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“Bite it Like a Bulldog” was the next song on the list, and again, what a live song. I hope they keep this in the list. Followed by, again, personal favorite “Icon of Dominance”, followed by Manas Drumsolo, which was as cool as ever. “Hug you Hardcore” was next on the list, and again. Even though the setlist came off as pretty boring at first glance, they really managed to pick out the crowdfriendliest songs, and the songs that makes it most amazing live.

“It Snows In Hell”… well. I got down again, and I guess we can say Mr Lordi has now fulfilled his first attempt at murder – he really kept all the water this time and poured it very evenly all over my face and chest, and the amount of water was so much I found myself choking and not being able to open my eyes for a good few seconds. He got me good this time. I guess it’s what happens when you are lying you know, ON the stage. I felt him doing something with my face as well with his fingers – it felt like he was pushing hairstrands out of my hair, but Nathan witnessed about otherwise.

water

After the medley Hella has her little moment before “Down with the Devil” began, and I’m just falling more and more in love with all of this – this song was already one of my favorites on the album, and it gets more so live.

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“Blood Red Sandman” was next on the list, followed by “Hard Rock Hallelujah” and wrapping it up with “Devil is a Loser” before leaving the stage.

They came back, started off with “Who’s Your Daddy?” much to my happiness – as you know, they scratched this one off in Santa Cruz because of time, so I’m so glad it happened. And I have now had Mr Lordi dryhump towards me. What a time to be alive, huh?

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They wrapped up the set with “Would you Love a Monsterman?” before leaving the stage for good. When Mr L threw out his towel, the audience went insane. To the point they knocked Nathan over so badly the monitors on stage got tore down, and this time we had had enough so we found ourselves losing it on the guy. COME ON ITS A TOWEL. Sorry but, watch the equipment!

Aside all of that, it was a really good show. Very intimate, again, and it’s very special. Whisky a Go Go guys. I cannot believe it.

We went up to the second floor to attend the meet n greet which went very quickly this time – some small chatting with the band before we reunited with Aly and Jeffrey and got outside. We spent a long time outside the venue chatting, catching up, spending some last couple of hours together before parting ways for this time.

monstersss whiskkkkyy

Thank you again, to everyone involved in this show – you made it the most amazing ever. Thank you!

// Sara

 

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Lordi @ The Catalyst Club, Santa Cruz, United States of America, 6/2 – 17

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized, United States of America 2017 with tags , , , on February 6, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

Because of the weather, and because we are lazy, we really only stayed in line for an hour. By the time we got to the venue, there was just one person there ahead of us, but as soon as we had come, more and more people started to come as well, so we really made it in exact time. We met up with some real cool people – Buddy, Alex and sadly a guy I never caught the name of and we had a good time catching up with each other!

Despite having the VIP which allowed us to enter the venue before the rest of the people, we decided to wait in line, because really, there is where all the fun is. That is where you meet new people.

When we finally got inside, we got our bracelets for the meet&greet and then got toward the stage…. or more like, pedalboards on the floor. The stage was so small that the supportband were forced to have just their drumset on stage, and the rest of them be on the floor in front of the stage. Interesting, huh? Like Galway, but instead of separate stages and all that shit.

Warcorpse

So, Warcorpse was the supportband for the night, an old school thrashmetalband from Santa Cruz. They were really good – and they put on a real good and energetic set getting you pumped for the show to come. Thank you guys!

warcorpse

After the band was done everybody waited for the band to get rid of their gear before everyone approached the stage. Unlike Galway, there wasn’t even a flightcase in front of the stage, making it real close and intimate. Crazy to think about. Then the LONG wait began. The supportband was done already at 20.30, and Lordi didn’t begin until 22.15 so… Long wait for sure!

And they were even further late. BUT, at 22.20 “God of Thunder” finally started rolling.

Lordi

Mana and Hella entered the stage, followed by Skeletor who pretty much declared war on He-Man, and the rest of the band followed as they started off with “Let’s Go Slaughter He-Man”. It was so good to see them again, and I must admit it felt really good personally to have Mr L wave to you from stage. I was a bit concerned at first, but all of it disappeared.

They followed up quickly with “Babez for Breakfast” and I had seriously forgotten what a riot of a live song this actually is – I hope they keep it for some time. “The Riff” was the next song on the list, followed by “Hellbender Turbulence”. And you know… Galway was one thing. Being this close to the stage, and the band, left us being able to even smell the band on stage. Imagine that, huh.

mrl

OX’s bassolo came up next – and just as in London I was the one singled out in the crowd again. Really funny though, because I do LOVE his current bassolo. It’s like being at the club. I wish more people would join me dancing.

The solo emerged into “Bite it Like a Bulldog” which is also one hell of a live song. I can’t even begin. Next song on the list is a song, that I mentioned during the European Monstour, being one of my absolute favorites. When Mr Lordi talks about the die-hard fans that wished for this song, he pretty much talks about me. I’m one out of many who consistently would ask for this song over and over again. And finally you know.. And I feel so blessed I’ve gotten to see it live so many times now. I love this song so much. Oh, it’s “Icon of Dominance” by the way.

oxyboy

Afterwards came Mana’s drumsolo, minus the dancing skeletons, and it emerged into “Hug You Hardcore” that is growing on me, soon becoming probably one of my favorite live songs of them. And then… of course.

“It Snows In Hell”. For this time, I had to get down on my knees on the floor and put my head on the stage, next to the monitor in order to do it – because I’ll promise you this – I will ALWAYS find a way to do it. Of course I got my fair treatment – a little bit of water, and a lot of fingering in the face from him. And the whole first part of the verse with him looking dead straight into my eyes. The song emerged into “The Children of The Night” which is also a song I have wanted for so long – this tour has really become THE TOUR.

After “Children of the Night” Hella had her little solo moment that emerged into “Down with the Devil”… This song you know. It’s good already on the album, but again – live song, live song, live song! “Blood Red Sandman” was next on the list, followed by “Hard Rock Hallelujah” before sort of wrapping the set up with “Devil is a Loser”.

mrlandpriest

Because they were running short, they had crossed “Who’s Your Daddy?” off the list and they went directly to “Would You Love a Monsterman?” before thanking for the night and going off the stage.

After this, we hung around a bit before Mark collected us all for the meet&greet, and we all got into this line where we basically lined up to have a picture taken and then get a signed poster at the merchandise.

Nathan and I decided to take the picture together to speed up time, and as we walked up Mr Lordi instantly started speaking Swedish to me, rambling about most things he could, and Amen started rambling too. It’s good to see them, right? Haha. The phone didn’t cooperate with Mark really, and of course Mr Lordis response to that was “ITS A SWEDISH PHONE THATS WHY”, and as I went to take out the phone out of it’s case, the sexual jokes emerged. Seriously. SERIOUSLY.

monsters

When we were about to leave Amen stopped us for a moment to ask us what other shows we were going to. I sort of… It got to me a bit that he asked “What other shows” we were going to, not “Are you going to more shows”. He just assumed, or well, knew, that we would be going to more shows. I just love that. We said good bye to the band and then we went up to get our posters, chatted a bit with Jessica before exiting the venue and talked a bit with our friends that we had made.

Seriously, this was such a great night. Thank you to each and everyone of you involved in this night, I love you all.

// Sara

 

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Lordi @ o2 Academy Islington, London, United Kingdom 20/11 – 16

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , on November 20, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

— WARNING. I sadly do not have many pictures at all from this show! Sorry about that! —

SO THE BIG FUCKING DAY WAS HERE. Getting to bed waaay too late of course, because of some CERTAIN people sending me pics all night. At about 6 or 7 in the morning Nathan gave me a call and made it to the hotelroom. Just as about as tired as me, he crashed in bed and we went back to sleep for a couple of hours until it was time to get up and start getting somewhat ready for Paula’s arrival.

As per usual, I had a hard time deciding what to actually wear, so of course, even after Paula’s arrival, we still wound up a bit late. Or well, late for my own personal taste. We headed off to McDonalds for some quick lunch/dinner whatever it actually is on days like these, before heading home, collecting the necessities and then headed off to the venue.

As we forgot to actually check the tube at home, it was a bit of a questionmark once down under, but gladly, Nathan, who’s been at the venue before lead us there with GRACE. And once there, yes, much to our dismay we discovered some people were already waiting, but what can you do?

The first people we run into though is Michelle and Alice. I haven’t seen Michelle since Powerwolf, and this was also my first time seeing Alice, and we started hanging out a bit, when the wonder of all women was coming around the corner. And I can honestly say, I don’t often run up to people and attack them with hugs, but when I do – it’s when I see Niki. Jesus! This is one of the girls I met at Extralordinary earlier this year, so I’ve been looking forward to see her again, and spend some proper time with her.

The line got divided in two – the people who have 02 and the people who don’t. Gladly, as an 02 holder, you could bring a couple of people with you, so all of us moved to the other line. We had a lot of fun in the line – catching up, running around for coffee, being on a look out, planning and joking around with a lot of things. I’m fairly certain Nathan might be scarred for life because of this queueing.

Sadly, some unfortunate things also happen – all of a sudden, the two people infront of us in the line became 12, and despite trying to question this, they kept on fighting. Like… When the guard asked “who has 02?” only two of them raised their hands, and all of a sudden, well they became six times as many. But they stood their ground, apparently. Good thing Karma is a thing, right? I’ll get back to this one later.

Anyway, time passed on, and as darkness came, the temperature dropped DRASTICALLY. I said that after a while like, “Now it can’t be just me” and everyone agreed. Thankfully, the guard eventually let us in, and for the unusual sake, we wound up on OX’s side. I haven’t been on his side for I don’t know how long, so, well, I guess change is good right?

And with that, it was time for the first band of the night: Silver Dust

Silver Dust

As per usual, the band delivered a GREAT set – however, a very short one. I was surprised to see exactly how short it was, a lot of the songs you’d be used to hearing – not to mention “My Heart Is My Savior” was cut out of the set.  But I guess what made up for it was that it got to be a proper show – including the mirror as well as actors. Very pleasant to see!

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They left the stage, and soon thereafter, it was time for Shiraz Lane.

Shiraz Lane

Shiraz Lane delivered a good and energetic set – even though, just as Silver Dust, they had to cut their set very short – but still enjoyable. Thank you for this last night!

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And then the wait for Lordi began. Oh by the way – remember how I spoke about karma? Well, one of the loudest and most bitchy out of the group got so sick from all her drinking she had to be evicted. Karma, bitches, karma. Anyway.

And you know – there’s something very special about when the light goes out and “God of Thunder” starts. At first you’re surprised, and then you feel the warmth on the inside spreading in your body and the heart starts racing and the excitment begins as the smile spreads across your face because now you know it’s about five minutes ’til stage time. And then – Opening Scene and Greyskull gets on stage.

Lordi

This is the third time I’m seeing Lordi this tour, and yet it feels like I’m witnessing a different show – this time, Greyskull actually brought us He-Mans head and put it on a pole. They continued on with “Babez for Breakfast” and seriously – and it’s time now for some serious music talk here – ever since Lordi got themselves a better skilled drummer, “Babez For Breakfast” has just elevated so much. I enjoy the live version of this song way more than the studio version.

The followed up with “The Riff” and “Hellbender Turbulence” before it was time for OX’s little bassolo. I have actually come to grow very fond of it – it’s just right down my alley with the funky and dubstep rhythms. And when OX singled me out in the audience to “Shake my ass” it felt even more like, yes, okay, here we go! Sadly metalnun comes and interrupts it, and the band continues on into “Bite it Like a Bulldog”.

Next on the list is one of the songs that I have personally been begging for for years to be played. Honestly, you guys have no idea how guilty as charged I feel whenever Mr Lordi imitates the begging fans for this song, because I sure as hell am one of them. You know it – “Icon of Dominance”. Seriously – I can honestly admit that I never thought I’d ever get to hear this song live, and having heard it live for the second time, it’s just… I cannot express enough gratitude to the band, nor can I ever be more satisfied.

Mana’s drumsolo was up next, and speaking about feeling like you see a completely new show – we got the dancing skeletons! Basically, three skeletons come on stage and they dances rhythmically to “The Unholy Gathering” as Mana plays it. The drumsolo levitates into “Hug You Hardcore” and you know, I might have had my ups and downs with this song, but this song live is just beyond amazing.

“It Snows in Hell” is next on the list, with “Children of the Night” parts of it. Mr Lordi coming over tilting his head and OX aiming pics at my cleavage always make it a bit more worth it, but at this time, I want to give a big hand and kudos to the security guard. We had talked to him beforehand about our little trick, and he said we could do it if he thought it was safe enough. So what happened is that he actually walked over to us when it started and became our personal security guard for the entire song, and then gave us all high fives for the show. That made me unbelievable happy.

Hella’s solo coming up next with the little baby, followed by “Down with the Devil”. This is also one of those songs who are just incredibly amazing live. Much better than on the album, I’ve found myself after Dublin and Galway to listen to it, and it doesn’t quite measure up to the live version. This, my friends, is a good thing.

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The crewmember comes back on stage, OX beating her down and we all know what it is time for – “Blood Red Sandman”. And after this, Amen guitarsolo. He’s had a pretty good one this time around – first starting off with some known riffs, and then going to a smooth, sultry, sexy kind of romantic atmospheric kind of playing with romantic lights going all about… and then… The missus comes on stage and just adds to the effect with her stripping. Absolutely perfect. Fits his character as well, don’t you think?

“Hard Rock Halleujah” is next on the list and then they wrap it all up with “Devil is a Loser” before leaving the stage. Later on, they return and wrap up the whole set with “Who’s Your Daddy?” and “Would You Love a Monsterman?” and with that, Monstour was over for this time.

It’s an empty kind of feeling that fills you up this time when “The Night the Monsters Died” comes on. I guess it’s because it’s the last gig of the tour that, no matter how much you want another show, this is it until next time.

We hang around a little for a while, head off to the merch to pick up some last stuff and say good bye to the Silver Dust guys. We head out, and walk around the block to make it to the tourbus, only to find Mr Lordi in costume! What a pleasant surprise. This meant Nathan and Niki could finally have their picture taken with him, after all this time!

nathanmrl

While waiting for the rest of the members to come out and say good bye for the tour, we met Valentina from Italy, and really just having a good time – waiting by the tourbus for the band (if they come out) is so much more than just hoping to meet the band – it’s the same as queueing, but at the end. It’s the last couple of survivors of the show, completely worn out running on pure adrenaline, but with hearts and minds full of joy, getting them drunk on life. That is the people you find outside the tourbus. The people with pure love in their hearts.

So, evening consisted of us getting a private show by Ralph Ruiz, getting a few good byes by some of the bandmates and crewmembers and awkwardly dancing and waving with “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. We could see that someone in the bus was actually waving back to us, which is very sweet although we do not know for sure who it actually was. And then off we went in the rainy night…

rainynight

After this, we were supposed to go to a McDonalds that were “1 minute away” but ended up walking like 20 minutes until we finally found one that was still open – and we had a nice late night dinner talking about how amazing this show was and how much we all loved being there together.

We said good bye to Valentina as she was heading a different direction, and we went to the carpark to pick up Niki’s car and she drove us home to the hotel. 10 intense minutes of headbanging to Lordi songs together in the smallest roadtrip ever, but it happened, and it was amazing.

We then said a heartfelt good bye to her, went back to our hotel and packed our things before crashing in bed.

What a night. Thank you all, all of you involved in this show and in this tour – you guys are the reason I live, and I love you all so much. Til next time, people!

// Sara

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An Intimate Night with Lordi – A tale of Spit and Ice cubes: Part Two

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , on November 10, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

**** Lordi @ Monroe’s, Galway, Ireland 10/11 -16 *****

So. The lights went out. And then the very very well recognized bass tunes from “God of Thunder” and we just… exploded. Most of the arena did. Execept the two people next to us, who had so ferociously fought for their spots… why? Bites me. And then… “SCG:VII” and they started off the set with “Let’s Go Slaughter He-Man (I Wanna be the Beast Man in the Masters of the Universe)”

And this was just so weird. All that was between us and Lordi, where a pair of monitors and all of our stuff. I have been to shows before where there have been no fence, but seeing LORDI like this, LORDI without a proper stage show, NOTHING was just pure weird.

They followed up with “Babez for Breakfast” before stopping. Stopping to tell us that, they have no stage show tonight becasue of the small stage. And that they do not have any setlist, so it was up to us to choose what songs we wanted to hear. This left me standing there confused, because I had no idea what songs I’d want to hear. So, essentially, let the mainstream crowd decide. And of course, the first song of choice was “Hard Rock Halleujah”. What else do you expect from a pub in a smaller Irish city? So, “Hard Rock Halleujah” was next, followed by “Bringing Back The Balls to Rock”.

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Next song was one of the songs that were actually cut in Dublin – “Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein”. I felt a little uneasy when Mr L stood and proclaimed “WANNA HEAR A SONG ABOUT RAPING?” but you know… what can you do. It was good to hear it again though!

“Hug You Hardcore” followed and… all eyes turned to Nathan. You see, on the evening of the Presidential election, Nathan made a bet. That if Donald Trump wins, he will take off his top and swing it over his head in “Hug You Hardcore”. And seeing that Donald Trump actually won, he had to own up to it. And fair enough, in the last chorus of the song we did indeed see Nathan take his shirt off and swing it over his head. I fucking loved it.

I’m going to apologize right here – I didn’t keep proper tags on the setlist, so some of the songs can be a bit out of order. Next song on the list was “Blood Red Sandman”, and I think that somewhere along here, they also threw in “Rock the Hell Outta You” and “Bite it Like a Bulldog”. And also, somewhere along here, we had ice cubes coming our way, because apparently, one bandmember thought it was time for us to “cool down” a bit. Seriously, I love this band.

After “Blood Red Sandman”… it was time for our little moment. “It Snows in Hell”. Since there were no actual fence, what happened is that we created pillows and matresses out of our stuff, and simply laid down on it, like as on the floor. And as soon as we got ourselves comfortable, we saw a very familiar face getting very close to us, having water dripping, or more like, spilling out of his mouth all over us, drenching us worse than he has ever done before. He then proceeded to dedicate the first line to us, as per usual.

And then.. “Children of the Night”. And this people. This is where it got fucking serious alright. Lordi had no stage props. Nothing. So, I guess, Mr Lordi saw an oppurtunity and he took it. He used us in the song. He showed us off to the audience, that he hid us under the floor, because us being here made him sore, and that we still gotta be there, that we are not going anywhere…. At first I thought he was just singing the first line to us as usual, but soon enough I noticed he was actually fucking USING US AS PROPS. What a rush! What an absolute rush, to be used as props, completely unexpectedly. I loved this song so much already from the start, but now the song is just closer to heart than it ever was before.

“Who’s Your Daddy?” followed, “The Riff” next before they did “Down with the Devil”. We tried out our new little trick for “Down with the Devil”, which will probably only work for this show because of the flightcase, it was funny.

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As we notice the band getting ready to wrap up their set, we start chanting “HELLA! HELLA! HELLA!” Because yes. They didn’t have any stage show. But they had one thing they could do. Or she could do. And after we chanted a bit, she indeed started stripping for us.

And I guess this is what made this show so special. Sure, it was a very special, weird and odd show to start with, but what made it even more special for us, is the fact that it felt like we were the only fans that existed for the band. So much interactions, so many “inside jokes” with the band, out of nowhere, so many things they wound up doing for, and to us. I can’t really get over this.

They wrapped the whole set up with “Devil is a Loser” and “Would you Love a Monsterman?” before they left the stage and we just stood there in awe. What an amazing show. What a fucking show. It was so good, and weird to see them like this. The only fucking minus though, is all those people who created fake mosh pits. You know, those people who think that just because they are at a metal show they can behave any way they want. It hurt us a couple of times, especially those times we almost knocked over Lordi’s monitors. Nice, huh?

After the show, we hung around a bit trying to comprehend it all, before making our way down to the merch. Myself, I picked up on the “Hug Me Hardcore” shirt, and Paula on some other things. I think Sophie also got some stuff. We had met up with a Polish guy, Kacper, before the show, so together with him, and with Mike of course (the angel brought us water bottles!!) made our way back to Lordis stage to take one last picture together, to treasure this moment forever.

allofus

We said a last good bye to everyone in the venue, Kacper leaving early before me, Soph, Paula, Nate, Mike and Gavin made our way outside the tourbus for some more hanging out and catching up. After Mike had went to bed (hehe) we went over to Lordi’s tourbus to say good bye to everyone… but only to regret it. A stupid group of drunk people had made their way there, knocking on the tourbus, even trying to BREAK INTO the tour bus a couple of times, making us very very embarrassed to be there. Gladly, they weren’t with us.

After some time, we said good bye to Gavin and went back home to our hotel – but at this time, it was already 4 in the morning, and having a train leaving at 5 we saw no point in trying to go to bed, so we spent one last hour together, on the floor in one of the bedrooms talking about how much we love this silly little band from Finland, and how amazing this trip had been.

hangingoutaftershow

paulis

Thank you guys. So fucking much. This trip was beyond amazing.

// Sara

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An Intimate Night with Lordi – a tale of Spit and Ice cubes: Part 1

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , on November 10, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

**** Lordi @ Monroe’s, Galway, Ireland 10/11 -16 *****

So, we got up at about 8 in the morning to get ready to leave for Galway, which was easier said than done. Gladly, I had gotten a really really cute Leap card – their buscards with FROGS on them, so getting to the busstation was actually easier than it could have ended up being. We got on the train.. And you know, I got flashbacks from Clermont-Ferrand earlier this year.

It was the same group of dead-tired pathetic looking crowd that got on a train sitting there staring deadly at each other. After a while, we one by one drozed of to sleep, or well, not all at the same time but… You know, we slept like three hours, and despite that, it’s difficult to fall asleep. I don’t know if it’s the excitement or if I’m just waay too used to sleeping very little, but hard it was.

fuckoffmate irishnature sleepynathan tiredpeople

After some time, we finally made it to Galway and the first person we run into at the trainstation is no one less than Gavin himself! Good seeing him again. We got out on the road, or well, out in the small little village that is Galway and found ourself a really cute little pub to sit down and eat in. We decided to try the Galway Hooker beer, because I swear to God – ever since I came to Ireland, I haven’t been able to NOT sing “Galway Hooookerrrrr, hot little motherfucker”

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Once done with lunch / dinner / whatever it was, we headed off to check into our hotel, or, our SUITE. Because, despite being one million stairs, there was indeed a good nice suite waiting for us at the top, and holy hell. We sort of wish this was the suite we had when we were in Dublin. The balcony alone was bigger than our room in Dublin! And this hotel was even CHEAPER than in Dublin! What are the odds.

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Anyway. We started getting ready for the show. Reluctantly. Very, very reluctantly. WE HAD A SUITE GODDAMN IT, WHY WOULD WE WANT TO LEAVE?

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But of course, we also need to be in line, because seriously, if we went this far, why would we let those front row spots get lost? So, said and done, we headed off toward the venue. After some walking, we finally made it there, and we were greeted with a small little pub. Mike came out and greeted us, and informed us that the supportbands would play on a different stage than Lordi. Which made us feel rather… uncomfortable. What do we do? We really wanted to see Silver Dust, but then what? Nathan then so graciously offered to skip out on Silver Dust, and we managed to hook up a girl, named Paula, to also help out as she was only interested in Shiraz Lane. That was super, super nice of her!

So, the queueing went on. We got to dance around to “SOWCA” a bit while the rehearsed, hung out with each other, got superkind gifts from Mike in the shape of drinks, chocolate and an album with his old band Monstersound.

After a while, Paula, Sophie and I went back to the hotel for a bathroom break, but also to collect my phone and dinner for everyone who wanted it, and then back to the venue for some more hanging out before the show, as another guy had joined us. Seriously.

I was asked, why do you go to the venue so early? What is the point? And this is the point. The point is that we are all there together, with only each other at the only company and entertainment. No TV to distract us, no computers, nothing. We do have phones, sure, but they are sooo rarely used when hanging out like this. I promise you that.

As the clock approached 21, the guards got ready to finally open the door, only to be told by the manager that they had to wait another half an hour. We were sort of taken aback from the late opening hours. 21.30. For a Lordi show? It felt so odd, but getting it really confirmed from reliable sources, it had to be it. BUT FINALLY, the clock hit 21.30 and we were let in.

So, we ran up the venue only to get very confused. I asked the merch girl that, where the hell do I go? And she showed the way. But first, we went up to Lordis stage and it was the most pathetic and adorable thing I have seen. The only thing even rescembling a fence was a flight case, on which we nailed up the flag and put our stuff before getting into the hall where Silver Dust was playing. Seriously. So cute. So intimate. And how do we do “It Snows In Hell”?

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We went into the second room, only to noticing it being completely empty. Also without any sort of fence. We went up close to the stage, where the drummer was already waiting for the show to start, and you know, it always feels so awkward. We just stood there and smallchatted with Mike before the show finally started.

Silver Dust

So, for the day, they actually got to use their magic mirror! It showed us an enchanted opening scene, that I barely dared to look at in case of surprise moments, but it was all good! So, the rest of the band joined him on stage, and they fired off yet another amazing show. Seriously, it’s so mindblowingly good, I can’t get over this band – where have they been my entire life? I’m especially fond of the finale – where everyone is playing the drums. I love it. I love this band. Holy hell. Thank you!

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After Silver Dust, we went back to Lordis arena – I didn’t really WANT to skip Shiraz Lane, but what can you do? When we came back, we noticed some very special people had tried to claim our spots. We tried arguing with them, but stupid people are stupid – and apparently, these people have never been to a metal show before, so we gave up. In the end, it doesn’t matter, because we still got good spots, and all was fine.

Once Shiraz Lane was over, the people started gathering in the Lordi section and then… Lights out…

To Be Continued

// Sara

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Lordi @ The Button Factory, Dublin, Ireland 9/11 2016

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , on November 9, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

Finally, FINALLY the purpose of our trip – Lordi. I do have to briefly talk about something else though very quickly. As you guys know, the American election was going on as we were going to bed, and at first we did follow the voting, but then went to bed. We hoped we’d wake up next morning to see Hillary Clinton win, but as you guys probably know, she did not. It was a very very uneasy feeling waking up and reading that Donald Trump had indeed won the election, so I can’t exactly say we had the best of moods to start off this day.

We started off by having breakfast before Nathan headed back home to shower (he takes forever to shower) and the rest of us did some quick shopping before getting back and getting ready for the show. Obviously, or, as usual when it comes to Lordi, we always want and try to be first in line, so around 14-15 we headed down to the venue, and of course, there was no one there. A little while later, Gavin, a guy I met through Lordi Army facebook page joined us, and it all turned into a cozy little party. We played some cardgames, talked, danced around, jumped around, listened to music – you know, ordinary queueing stuff.

As it got closer to opening time, finally other people arrived, and as soon as the doors opened we claimed our spots in the frontrow and started to await the first supportband of the night, Silver Dust.

Silver Dust

First band of the night was the Swiss theatrical metallers Silver Dust. I wasn’t sure at all what to expect from the show, even though I was looking forward to the show after hearing their album. And boy, what a show! I was blown away! It may sound harsh, but seriously, this was soooo good. A combination of charismatic bandmembers, thematic music and an amazing stage show left us all blown away. Thank you, Silver Dust!

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After they left the stage, the wait for Shiraz Lane began, which wasn’t too long.

Shiraz Lane

Shiraz Lane is an 80’s hairmetal band from Finland, fittingly enough, and it’s pretty good band if you ask me. They delivered a very enjoyable and energetic set, which really got us in the mood for Lordi.

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And then… the eager wait. Wait for what we actually came there for. Lordi. And right when we thought we’d wait longer than needed, the lights went out and “God of Thunder” started.

And you know… When “God of Thunder” starts, that is the exact moment when all the built up excitment in you starts boiling, not bursting, but boiling, and you feel the adrenaline pump in your vein. Whether you are a KISS fan or not, you will absolutely love it.

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Then, “SCG:VIII: Opening Scene” started, Greyskull came on stage and the band started off with “Let’s Go Slaughter He-Man (I wanna be the Beast man in the Masters of the Universe)” and you know, THIS, THIS is when you absolutely BURST. You feel your soul blow up to a big balloon and as you hear the keys of Hella starting it shatters, shatters into a lot of pieces of glitter all over the place.

They followed it up with “Babez For Breakfast” and I can honestly say I’ve really missed this song in the set – especially since it got a lot heavier with a new drummer putting their stamp on it. Ultimate headbang song. “The Riff” followed, next “Hellbender Turbulence” which, you know, it was a great surprise for us to see it back.

Next up, was OX’s bassolo, and it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. So basically, he’s going through all kinds of bassoriented genre’s, spiced with a “SHAKE THAT ASS!!!” “ASS!!!” which left us all laughing. A nun came on stage trying to stop him from playing this ungodly music, but naturally, he slayed her. The bassolo soon emerged into “Bite it Like a Bulldog”, and oy vey am I glad to see some Deadache songs back on the list! Ultimate!

And next.. And this my friends. I’m going to just… “Icon of Dominance” was the next song on the list, and this is, as you may not know, one of my absolute favorite songs Lordi ever made. And I never in my life thought I’d get to hear this song live, ever. And seeing it on the list, and then hearing it live, I can’t… I can’t even… put words into it. This moment. This one moment.

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Next up was Mana’s little moment with the drumsolo, merging into “Hug You Hardcore”. Seriously, this song is such a song to just go crazy to. I love it, and next, our little moment. “It Snows in Hell”. Down we go, and so does Mr Lordi. It’s always so cute when he tilts his head over to mimick us. But then… what came next…

“Children of the Night”.

At this point, I’m at loss for words. This song. You know, “It Snows in Hell” is far away from being a favorite song with Lordi, far far, and I always complained about them playing this one particular song, and always said “Can’t they just do Children of the Night or something”. And now. Finally. At last. They do this. This is also one of those songs I never ever thought I’d ever hear live, and it was such an unreal moment

This was followed with a keyboard solo, with a gigantic baby coming out on stage together with it’s mother. Hella’s baby, you know. It was a nice little moment, followed up with “Down with the Devil”, which is also one of those, just, nice fucking songs. I don’t even know how to put it properly.

“Blood Red Sandman” was next, followed by a very interesting guitar solo. So, Amen goes about, playing his guitar doing his thing… when Hella comes up. Walking foxy toward the center of the stage, she starts a strip tease. Swinging her vest around. That… was sexy. Sexy as fuck.

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“Hard Rock Hallelujah” was next, followed by “Sincerely With Love” before they wrapped it up with “Devil is a Loser”. They walked off stage, came back and wrapped it all up with “Who’s Your Daddy?” and “Would you Love a Monsterman?”

After this, the band thanked for themselves and walked off stage, to the tunes of “The Night the Monsters Died”, ironically. Damn. This show was just sooooo good. Like, beyond good. After the show, we headed for the merchandise to pick up some goodies, like Silver Dust’s album and a backpatch, after ALL THESE YEARS. We hit it off pretty well with those guys, and moved on to a pub all together to spend some good quality time together before getting back to our hotel and sleep for like, three hours.

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Drumstick is from Mr Killjoy, the unknown album is from a local band.

This day was soooo good, from start to finish. I can’t even explain how amazing this day was. Thank you everyone!

// Sara

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The Monsterican Dream

Posted in Christmas Metal Meeting 2011, Concerts, Finland, Italy 2013, Music, Paris 2010, Thiz Izz Djermani, Travels, Uncategorized with tags , , on September 19, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

On this day, September 19th ten years ago, 2006, I witnessed my very very first Lordi show. It was in Gothenburg, the arena was Lisebergshallen and my company was Lina, who actually to this date was also my very very first “internetfriend” ever, a girl I had met through Wig Wam the year prior.

We were at the venue early. Like, ten in the morning or something like that. I can’t even remember properly. And it was a show worth waiting for. Seeing my heroes for the very first time live (and also a mysteriously military clad band singing about going through the gates of hell on their way to heaven…) was beyond words to describe. This was the The Arockalypse tour, so unlike the more recent tours it was a big show – a lot of theatrics, pyrotechnics and a massive show. The setlist was perfect, the night was perfect, and it got even better by the facts that I’d managed to score backstagepasses for me and my friends.

Meeting Lordi for the first time wasn’t exactly the easiest thing for a shy little person like me, and Kita had to convince me to come forward to even dare to walk up to them. I owe him for that.

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But that was ten years ago. And this is what this marks. Ten years of monsterloving. It’s been ten years as a Lordifan, and I honestly thought this day would never come. That I’d lose interest in them one day, but no. My love for this band grows bigger and bigger for every day. It hasn’t been easy, there’s been times where it’s hard to defend the band, but that is the point. You stand with the band through thick and thin, and never give up on them. And I have never.

Thanks to Lordi, I have met some of my absolute best friends.It goes all the way back to the groupconversations and family constellations and weddings we used to make in 2006 – Where I married Ghostrider, also known as Sergio, and he’s still one of my best friends today. I remember Lozzy16, Lauren, was the “chapel master” and Monster-girl, Suncica, KittyCat, Anna and Pride_of_Finland, Ville was our best men / bridesmaids. FallenOne, William was my father who walked to the alter, and BeautyOfTheBeast, whose name fails me, was the priest. This was all of course happening on MSN, but still.

Fast forward a few years to Kita’s departure where we met Thomas – in the midst of planning a new monster and the “penis monster” came to be, and I became “B. A. Nana” because of all the bananas I used to give to the funny people. And of course, how can we forget that one night – Me – Ida, Martine (GoodToBeBadGirl) Thomas (Thomas), Martin (martinmaniac), King, Jonathan (Monsta), Michal (NightmareWingsHell) and Jordan (Mooneyman) had a basic riot in the Misc babbling section that ended with “King, you just said you wanted to have some gaysex with me and Martin“. Most iconic line from that times of riots.

But it doesn’t end there. We have PoliceLineDoNotCross who was always a pleasent person to have to deal with, AmericanMonsterMan (I’m sorry if I misspell your usernames people!) miss_brutality, Sooooophie, Maddy, CB Studios, Miss-Elodia – I specifically remember when she randomly joined in me and Martine throwing fake Lordi lyrics in the Misc babbling, MarkusHasADeadache, Stude, Nillan, Kitawa, Judge-death, Erina, I could go on forever with this list! It’s a whole load of amazing people that you’ve met on this one little forum called Monsterboard. And we all united there for one reason: The love for Lordi.

Thanks to Lordi, I’ve been able to see a big part of Europe I probably never would have seen, and I’d want to say the world because really, we did wind up seeing Epica in Australia and New Zealand, but it was because of Lordi we even went there to begin with.

It hasn’t always been easy. On the contrary, it’s been a rollercoaster and different occasions. It’s been everything:

My first trip to Finland was because of them, which included Pippi Långstrump and Moomin madness – and a hairbrush that broke.

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It has been shouting “Mr Porn” out towards the streets through a window in Paris, where we had a large get-together of Monsterboard people (Soooophie, FairyOfDarkness, Isa, Angel_Of_Death, LIVINGDEADDOLLIE, mummy-, Thomas, GoodToBeBadGirl is a few of the people who were there), and dancing around in the wild snow that appeared.

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It has been yelling inapropriate things on trains in Germany (Lichtenfels), living like royals in the large rooms and finding questionable pig-porn art in the middle of the townsquare.

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It has been walking along an Italian highway (Rome & Milano) for so long your feet are bleeding in a 30 degree heat, only to hours later crack your knee on the stone stairs forcing you to jump on one leg for the rest of the stay. This Italy trip was a basic nightmare from start to finish, with the questionable drivers on the first night, the hotelroom who all of a sudden lost all lights, and not to mention the hell in getting home – took us 36 hours because of a train accident. The trip from Hell.

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It has been witnessing the coolest of releasegigs, spending the late night in the hotelroom with Soooophie, eeesti999_ and Anthalerero talking about everything and nothing ’til 4am in the morning, meeting up with Monstermaniacs from all over the place.

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It has been a spontaneous trip to Germany (Frankfurt) where we couldn’t even feel our legs because of the cold, and a four day stay in Spain(Madrid) where we had the most questionable of hotel rooms – It was a large square with Jesus on the cross on the wall, two beds, high roof and a sink. It felt like we were in a horror movie.

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It has been going through a damp and cold English harbor village (Southampton) where we randomly offered this guy chocolate cake, because why not? And it was probably the best decision made ever, seeing that is how we met Nathan. It has been traveling to beautiful Brighton living in a hotelroom that was made for Royals.

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And not to mention: That one day we threw Mr L completely off his game at Sabaton Open Air! All hail us, the Swedish Lordi Crew: Paula, Hanna, Michelle, Me, Ludvig and Jonathan.

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Thanks to Lordi, I’ve gotten to experience some of the most treasured moments with my best friends. Like the New Year Celebration in 2012, where a group of Lordi fans (PEML94, GoodToBeBadGirl, Thomas, FlameCurry and me) gathered at GTBBG and celebrated the new year together.

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It was been those “GroupieBFF’s” weeks where we have just randomly gone somewhere. It has been all those nights spent with The Awesome Threesome, where we went to bed at eight in the morning and spent all the night recording stupid videos about seigemenn and superdupermegamojängen. One of my favorite memory is the Tuska weekend. Ten years after The Arockalypse tour, I was allowed to witness almost the same identical set with Sophie and Nathan under the burning Helsinki sun. That day, and the whole weekend was amazingly perfect in a way that I can do nothing but smile when I think about it. Even with the pepperspray.

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As you can see, you who read this… Being a Lordi fan has been so much more than just simply liking their music and going to a show here and there. I practically owe my life to this band. It’s because of them that I’ve gotten to experience all the amazing stuff that I have, and I couldn’t even thank them enough for all of it. And all of you who were mentioned in this, I thank all of you for in one way or another, making these years the best.

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And here’s to the next ten years: May they be as amazing as these first have been!

// Sara

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REVIEW: Lordi – Monstereophonic (Theaterror vs Demonarchy)

Posted in CDs, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , on September 12, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

Two years has passed since Lordi’s most recent “Scare Force One” hit the shelves, and after a few ifs and buts, setbacks, delays and change of producer, the eight Lordi album has finally arrived, and it’s with great pleasure I found myself digging into it. Seeing that the album is sort of split into two, I’ll also split this review into two to begin with, starting with Theaterror.

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To put it very simply, “Theaterror” is very old school Lordi, mixed with a major 80’s influence – to the extent you’d think this album was taken straight from the 80’s, with heavy keyboards and light guitar riffs. The album starts off with a phonecall, voicemail from what I assume is Hella’s murderer Ralph Ruiz (read the To Beast comic book) threatening us on the phone before a divine melody line signed Hella which launches us into opening track “So.W.C.A”*, and it continues that way – catchy melodies with the strong prescence of a keyboard being what ties it all together. Lyricwise, it’s very similar to what we’ve heard before – leaving “So.W.C.A”, which is about Masters of the Universe, and “Hug You Hardcore” with more of a parental advisory kind of lyrics being the only two exceptions.

This album IS taken to the next level – no doubt about it. Even though I feel I could fit most, if not all, of these songs onto “Babez For Breakfast”, it’s still done a little better, with a little more finess – and I’d like to think that this is the magical work of Nino Laurenne – “Theaterror” is basically what “Babez For Breakfast” should have sounded like. 

However, it’s a little bit predictable. It’s not Sabaton-plagarising-themselves kind of predictable, but the album follows the same schedule we’ve seen on all of their previous albums, and some songs directly draws the thoughts to some older songs (“Mary is Dead” to “Missing Miss Charlene”, “None for One” to “Loud and Loaded” to mention a few)

“Theaterror” is a very fun album. I’ve found myself bouncing around the room to almost every track of this album, dancing, headbanging, jumping, almost trashing things because of the happy emotions it fills me with. It’s a party album. And if Lordi keep making albums like this, they sure as hell are on the right track. And – bonus points for no curse words! Way to go! I must give a special shout out to my personal favorite on this side of the album – “Sick Flick”. It’s absolutely amazing with the big choruses that makes you dance around the room as if you were being cast in a sick flick.

Demonarchy

I will admit right upfront – When learning about the album, and how it was to become with two sides – one being a more fun side, and the other being more of a story and closer to “Deadache” as far as style goes, I was more interested in this side, and let me tell you this – it did not, I repeat – it did not disappoint.

When the opening track, “SCG:VIII” starts and… The first time I listened to this album I was out walking in the trails in the forest, and it was rather close to midnight. And when this opening track started, and the enchanting notes of it reached my eardrum, it felt like I stepped into an enchanted forest, like the world Pandora from the Starshine games. It felt like I could see and even feel the magic purple glittering mushrooms pop up, fairies waiting around every corner, see glittering rays of light slipping through before the threatening guitars starts, which made me look over my shoulder out of fear. Now this is how to properly compose music.

The album starts off in a way we have never heard Lordi before – heavy riffs with pounding drums, I had to make sure I was actually still listening to Lordi and not some average powermetal band and I basically stood there with jaw dropped in awe. This is beyond amazing. Seriously, holy hell! It didn’t get any worse when I noticed the song, and the whole part of this album, has a bit of Avantasia vibes – changes songs within the songs to move on with the story.

The album continues on like this – moodchanges in the various songs, mostly to accompany the lyrics. I’d want to say that the whole album is a lot in the style of Avantasia – as far as composition and structures are made, so if you’re a fan of “The Metal Opera” I’m pretty sure you could appreciate this, especially seeing this album is also a lot heavier than what Lordi usually does.

So, as most of you may know – Demonarchy is the tale about a group of monsters – The Witch, The Vampire, The Werewolf, The Zombie and Nosferatu, to mention at least a few, that are all coming together to work in the great Demonarchy – the unholy gathering. The story goes through the entire album with it’s ups and downs, and with plottwists that will make your eyes pop, despite being a fairly short tale to tell in only seven songs.

But, with that said, this is what they should do. Seriously. “Theaterror” is all fun and games, but seriously, albums like “Demonarchy” is what Lordi should do. They should write albums based on stories and have comic books come with them. That could really be their call. “Demonarchy” is absolute perfection from start to finish, and I just love this side so much. I want to give an extra shout out for the songs “Demonarchy” and “The Night the Monsters Died” – simply amazing.

Lordi has finally, finally landed with this one. I never thought I’d ever say I liked an album more than “Deadache” – but here it is folks. “Monstereophonic” is slowly, but surely claiming the top spot, and I’d dare to say that this is one of their best works to date. For once, I can very very warmly recommend you without any shame to get this album – you will not be disappointed. Nino Laurenne, he’s a magic worker. The magic he’s done on this album is amazing.

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(Label: AFM Records)

CDON I Amazon I Ginza

// Sara
* = So.W.C.A (Song Without a Cool Acronym) = “Let’s Go Slaughter He-Man (I Wanna Be The Beast Man in the Masters of the Universe)”

 

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The Sacred Vow & Hug You Hardcore

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , on August 26, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

What an interesting day it has been. So, Lordi did finally release their new music video for “Hug You Hardcore”… and well…

First and foremost – I’ll give you the censored version. I’m not at all a fan of the uncensored version… which makes me not so much a fan of the video at all in all honesty. I mean… I like the parts where you see the band play. But aside that… it’s too much for me. It’s like, it doesn’t make sense anymore. Who here remembers music videos like “Blood Red Sandman”, “It Snows in Hell” or even “Would You Love  a Monsterman?” – both versions of it? It just… it’s like… they are just trying to shock in a way that it just becomes tasteless and boring. Sounds horrible to say, but it’s the truth.

However, the song on the other hand I love! I love the riff and the groove, I feel this will be one of those songs you go really crazy to on the shows!

And then, yesterday, HammerFall released a lyric video of the first single of their upcoming album, “Built To Last”, “The Sacred Vow”

I’ll give you this link to Decibel Magazine, since they are the one who has the “right” to publish the song.

It’s a very typical HammerFall song – much in the veins of “Templars of Steel”, lyricwise, about them defending the sacred vow that is the heavy metal lifestyle. The lyrics seem to made up of a lot of old HammerFall lyrics or songtitles, which just adds up even more to what I already said – it’s basically a homage to their own vow to defend heavy metal, to show the way like they did way back in 1998.

Musicwise, it’s also that very HammerFall – big choruses, heavy riffs and even some speed thrown in the mix. Very, very HammerFall’ish.

This song makes me really excited for the new album, I honestly can’t wait! Sadly, I have to wait A LONG TIME, since I won’t even be home when this precious little album will be delivered to my doorstep. Luxuary problems, huh?

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Sabaton Open Air – Day 2: Saturday 20/8 2016 pt.2

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , on August 24, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

So. The wait begun. It was six very very excited and happy Monstermaniacs that eagerly awaited Lordi. It’s always so weird for me to see their backdrop, to see their crew and everything appear in Sweden. I’ve gotten so used to see them overseas that the mere thought of them being at home is just so strange. I can’t quite grasp it. And this was the first time Jonathan would ever see them, and it was great to get to enjoy it together with Martine as well… It was just.. perfect.

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And even more perfect did it become when “Estimated Time of Arrival” started.

I swear to God, the guards looked very suspiciously at us when they saw me and Michelle lip synching the entire thing, but you know… heard it so many times now. They got on the stage, and set off with “Nailed By the Hammer of Frankenstein”.

They quickly followed up with “Bringing Back The Balls to Rock” and then “Get Heavy”, which was a supernice surprise! Ever since I heard it again at Tuska I’ve been asking like literally every Lordi fan where the hell that song was, because it’s absolutely killer! “This is Heavy Metal” – With the heavy metal dude – and “The Riff” where the next songs on the list, I am not a hundred percent sure about the exact order as I didn’t write down all the songs, but.

And then. Somewhere around this part of the setlist, one of the major surprises for me came: “Scare Force One”. As you all know – this is my absolute favorite song on that album, like it’s not even fun how much I love that song, and to hear it again… It’s like, Lordi did everything right with this era for me. They brought back “Deadache” for the regular tour, and they played “My Heaven is Your Hell” on Sweden Rock and now “Scare Force” was back. It was so amazing. And most amazingly of all was acting out the song together with my original GroupieBFF Martine. Seriously.

Then of course, the highlight of the night “It Snows in Hell”, and according to Jonathan, the guards had looked so confused at us. That they weren’t sure what they were supposed to do. And for the first time forever, Mr Lordi even turned his own head upside down to us. Speaking of that. The band interacted so much with us. It was almost like the six of us where the only fans that existed for them. It was.. a nice feeling, but also odd. I’ve never seen them so on their game before as today. It was nice to see.

“Devil is a Loser” was next, followed by “Hard Rock Halleujah”… and then.. exit and Mr Lordi came back, asking us if we wanted more. And that’s when we did it. What we’d waited for to do. He asked us if we wanted more and we said…

“FACE DOWN, ASS UP, FACE DOWN ASS UP!”

Mr Lordi looked so confused at us, going “What…?” and we started yelling “HUG YOU HARDCORE, HUG YOU HARDCORE!!!”

And he just shook his head, “no no no” and we yelled back, “OH COME ON!!! COME ON!!! PLEASE!!!” and he just said “No, that is not going to happen” and we gave up. It was worth a shot, and we have also now finally managed to completely freeze Mr L on stage. Fantastic.

Lordiii

The encores were the usual ones – “Who’s Your Daddy” and “Would you Love a Monsterman?” And then they left the stage. Jonathan actually got Mr Lordis towel!

It was an amazing set. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing this set felt. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Lordi so on top of their game as I did today. Thank you so much for a mindblowing show guys!

Right after this show, we wrapped Jonathan in the Swedish flag and sent him off to his meet & greet while we headed off towards Sabaton.

SABATON

The runtimes on the running schedule were a little confusing, as it never mentioned if it was any breaks between the bands, but clearly it was. We got ourselves some good spots in the back, and I must admit, because of the break, I started to question myself if perhaps we should have gone to the meet&greet as well, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Then, “In The Army Now” started, and I started to get excited, feel my adrenaline pump… intro started… “Hello FALUN! We are SABATON, (…) and this is GHOST DIVISION!” and off we go… but it wasn’t until after this, when Jocke says “ARE YOU READY FOR SOME CAROLUS REX” where I knew that no. I was exactly where I was supposed to be. “Carolus Rex” is honestly one of my jams. “Carolus” and “The Art of War”. Those are simply my jams.

“Ballad of Bannockburn” was third song, and as Jonathan hadn’t gotten back from the meet&greet yet, I decided to record it for him since it’s his favorite, but just then he came back, so all good! And then.. jumpfest deluxe: “Swedish Pagans”. Seriously, I had a little circle around me, because no one wanted to stand close to me. Probably because I’m jumping back and forth, side to side and my hair has quite a radius when headbanging.

Then, “The Diary of an Unknown Soldier” started and I just stopped breathing. Like I already told you, when these orchestral kind of arrangements starts… I just stop for some reason. This was of course followed up by “The Lost Battalion”, and god I just love that song. “Soldier of Three Armies” was next on the list, it’s like every band is just doing it for me tonight!

After this, the show stopped up for a moment to take a moment to appriciate and thank Thobbe for his time in the band. It was, after all, his final show. To do this, they had put together a little video of him. It was… emotional to say the least to see this. It was just.. it’s so weird to think about that this was the end.

Right after this – “Cliffs of Gallipoli” was brought back. And seriously… First and foremost, I simply love this song and this album, but it also became monumental because all of this festival, because of some things happening right before departing, I’ve had the line “broken promises they won’t be coming home”. All festival. And to then have Sabaton play the song live just became… very emotional.

“Counterstrike” was next on the list, followed my other jam “The Art of War” before something big happened. About guitarist. And a little blonde fellow was invited on stage.

Tommy Johansson. 

Better known as, Sabaton’s new guitarist.

160820sabatontommyfalun

It was amazing to get to see the new guitarist being introduced to the band, seeing him brought in, and get to see his very first show with the band. So, I can know say I’ve heard “Resist and Bite” with four guitars, and the rest of them with three guitars.

“To Hell and Back” was next song, followed by live premiere of “Sparta”. I’m not a big fan of this song on the album, but it DOES make a VERY good live show I must admit. Holy hell.

“En Livstid i Krig” was brought out before we had a bit of a breakdown on stage, Hannes accusing Tommy of being a bit cocky for “having been in the band for like 15 minutes” so they dared him to sing a song. And that’s when we knew. “Gott Mit Uns”.

And this was just soooo good. I’ve missed this song since “Noch Ein Bier”, so it was great to see it again. And Tommy is one hell of a guy!

After this, they left the stage and my personal favorite moment of the show started. You know what I’m talking about.

Lights out.

Helicopter siren. 

Redlights. 

Orchestral arrangements.

“Nightwitches”. 

Seriously. I can’t describe to you how amazing this is. It’s like I said many times before – these guys, they know how to paint with music. Like Pocahontas paints with the color of the wind, Sabaton paints with music.

Next song on the list was “Shiroyama”, seriously, I love this one. “Primo Victoria” and “Metal Crüe” with the fireworks from hell rounded up the show, and the boys thanked for themselves and left the stage.

While I do miss some songs – “The Last Stand”, “Winged Hussars” to mention a few, I enjoyed this show so much. And I love this band so much. Everytime I go to a Sabaton show I remember why I love these five men so much, and why I have devoted my life to them. Sabaton, again, I love you.

Sabaton

Right after this, Jonathan and I headed back to the car for some late night drinks talking about Sabaton and Lordi and whatnot and then going to bed.

What a day it was!

// Sara

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