Last time we saw the mighty Finntroll they had jumped in on short notice at Tuska to replace Lamb Of God after Randy Blythe’s imprisonment in Prague. It was good, but not great - at least not by Finntroll standards. I guess it’s a bit cruel how easily one tends to measure a band by their highest marks. But that is the price for being great, and when you are Finntroll you have made yourself some mighty big boots to fill every time you hit the stage. So now, with a prepared one hour set under the unforgiving Slovenian sun, what would we get?

The show started at 18.30, Tuesday evening, and a healthy amount of people had turned up when the band marched on stage and tore into Skogens Hämnd from Jaktens Tid - a great choice for an opener that has all the trademark Finntroll ingredients. Apart from vocalist Vreth, who is always working the crowd hard, you don’t usually get much interaction from the band, so the key is in the energy and delivery of the intricate arrangements. It was clear early on that they had brought their a-game to Tolmin, and the sound guy was on top of things too.

A great thing with Finntroll is that they have never been afraid of mixing up their setlists so there is always a good chance of hearing some lesser known tracks from yesteryears. The second song today was Blodrök from the debut album, and later on we also got treated to Slagbröder from Ur Jordens Djup, which according to Vreth was only the second time ever.

The highlight of the first half was a great haunting rendition of Dråp from the most recent album, Nifvelvind, which saw the first hints of a mosh pit during the intense middle part.

During the second half of the set there were a few tracks where the crowd seemed to feel some fatigue from the night before, but a great version of Födosagan stuck out and lifted the spirits.

As the band approached the end of the set the crowd had grown considerably and when Vreth lined the masses up for a wall of death and announced Solsagan all signs of fatigue were gone. Mosh pit galore and enough spinning heads to make Don Quixote dizzy turned the front area into a battle field and Finntroll was winning. When Trollhammaren followed the game was already over and it was a pure celebration. Since we were just a minute or two away from the end of the set most probably assumed this was the end, but as a final salute we were treated to a shortened version of an already short (1:19) Bastuvisan to close the books on a strong Finntroll performance. Was it the best Finntroll show we’ve seen? No. Was it one of the best performances at Metalcamp? Yes.

Those damn big boots.

Setlist:

Skogens Hämnd
Blodnatt
Dråp
Ett Norrskensdåd
Under Bergets Rot
Slagbröder
Nattfödd
Födosagan
Korpens Saga
Mot Skuggornas Värld
Solsagan
Trollhammaren
Bastuvisan