Moonsorrow is no stranger to Slovenia and Tolmin. Back in 2011 they destroyed the place, as young people would put it.
Back then they were confined to the 2nd stage, but come 2014 and the Finns had taken hold of the main stage instead, without having to abandon their spot in the dark of night.

“Are you ready for some total fucking darkness?!”
- Ville ‘Seponpoika’ Sorvali (vocals/bass)

Moonsorrow started the show out mildly enough, with some low and enticing keyboards – the beginning of 1065: Aika from their debut album Suden Uni. Janne Perttilä, the band’s ever-present live replacement for Henri ‘Urponpoika’ Sorvali, was the one who got to handle much of the vocals in this one, as Ville Sorvali mostly handles the grim vocals which aren’t all too present in this particular song.
Apart from starting out with something of a surprise (for me at least) on the setlist, it was equally surprising, and a little unsettling, to see Sorvali with a shirt on, a first in my experience if my memory doesn’t fail me!
That’s a minor detail though, and something that had far less of an impact on the show than, say, showmanship and technical quality. Luckily for us, Moonsorrow proved to excel in both of these categories as well.
Their sound was, as with most of the bands this year I am happy to report, nearly impeccable given the circumstances (you know, live sound is rarely better than or equal to what you get in a studio), and this is band that really benefits from this as they have so many layers and details to draw on. It was a bit dark on stage as someone seemed to have forgotten to turn the front-lights on, but hey, can’t get it all, right? It also made them live up to the latest album title of course, which translates to English with “As shadows we walk in the land of the dead”, so maybe it was on purpose?

“Are you having a good time?! (yeah!) We’re here to put an end to it.”
- Sorvali (vocals/bass)

Also the stage performance showed a band running on all motors, where Sorvali lead them with a firm fist, and guitarists Perttilä and Mitja Harvilahti provided a nice contrast to each other with Perttilä providing a boastful playfulness of a master craftsman, and Harvilahti delivering the raw wildness of nature itself.
It wasn’t hard to understand why this was the act that had, without comparison, pulled the largest crowd of the day (another good reason to bump them up to the main stage)!
It was mostly a calm crowd, but that’s not to say that they didn’t like the show – fist-pumping action was ever present, and nearing the end of the show with Sankaritarina we also got a good sing-along going. Other than that there really wasn’t much space for anything else than just enjoying the ride that these Finns so masterfully provided for us.

“We are Moonsorrow, this is the land of the dead, hail Satan!”
- Sorvali (vocals/bass)

As I’ve mentioned in earlier reviews, this is a band that keeps growing on me, and again I felt that this could very well be the best show I have seen with them so far. The band had an incredible presence in the now and here from the first note struck to the final drum-stick thrown away, and the crowd was nearly mesmerized all the way through. This is how you fucking do it!

Setlist:

1065: Aika
Muinaiset
Kivenkantaja
Pimeä
Sankaritarina
Kuolleiden Maa