LIVE REPORT: Where’s My Bible & Machinae Supremacy
Sammiosali, Lahti; March 5th, 2022
March in Finland means that Black March Events in Lahti are putting on a show! Usually a small festival, this was a bit of a simpler event this time around since COVID restrictions are still lingering in many places. Personally, there’s absolutely no better band to awaken the stage for me than one of my all-time favorite live acts, Machinae Supremacy. I was doubly excited, for Lost in Grey was also announced for this date, but due to the aforementioned coronavirus, they had to cancel at the last minute. After rearranging the lineup and adding in Thurifer as a replacement, the show indeed went on at the new Sammiosali venue in Lahti on March 5th, 2022, though I was unfortunately only able to get there in time for Where’s My Bible and the headliner.
Check out the full event gallery at Tuonela Magazine or read the interview with Nicke Karvonen & Andreas “Gordon” Gerdin from the before the show here.
Sammiosali, as mentioned, is a new venue in Lahti, which meant that there was something fresh to explore. It seemed to show some promise, featuring a long, narrow hall that brought a smaller Pakkahuone to mind (Tampere’s most popular club venue). The sound quality seemed to be a bit tricky, but fortunately, the sound guys were willing to accept a bit of a challenge.
As mentioned, I had to return to town to run some errands, making it back to the venue in time to get a bottle of water before Where’s My Bible started. I was informed that the first two bands put on decent performances, but the crowd was very hesitant to move close to the stage. Sounds like that Finnish shyness holds true, at least outside Helsinki—if the show had been down south, surely the gig-starved masses would have sold the venue out on the first restriction-free weekend.
I’ve since learned that Black March Events usually hosts Maaliskuun Musta Messu in March (aka the March Black Mass), which is obviously a black metal festival, so it was interesting to see that they had stepped outside of their usual roster of doom and gloom for bands like progressive Pressure Points, theatrical Lost in Grey, and of course, their headliner. In hindsight, I learned that Lost in Grey shares a drummer with Where’s My Bible—Teppo Ristola—who also happens to be in charge of Black March Events, so those bands were explained, while Machinae Supremacy never was… not that I’m complaining, but at least now I know why MaSu had their weirdest opener pairings yet.
Speaking of Where’s My Bible, their name has been cropping up more and more lately. I would place them as a black/extreme metal band, with some pagan/folkish hints, not unlike some of Moonsorrow’s work. There was a decent crowd gathered by the time their set started, so it seems they have some local fans, as the attendees came to the front of the stage and responded with cheers between songs. The sound wasn’t all harsh and dark either—the set boasted some nice melodic moments, decent guitar parts, and pleasant clean vocals under all the black clothing and corpse paint.
Photos by Juho Jokimies
As per the schedule, Machiane Supremacy’s set started right around 21.30. Unfortunately, I made a mad dash to my car to see if I had spare earplugs and missed half of my new favorite song, “Pendulum.” This was followed by another personal favorite, “Edge and Pearl,” which still ironed out a few starting sound issues before the band took their first break and vocalist Robert Stjärnström declared that Sweden has Finland’s back in the current state of the world, and that Russia will not pick us off one-by-one if they decide to move west. Then bassist Andreas “Gordon” Gerdin got a taste of power when the mic was given to him, where he said he would usually say something in Finnish; Lahti local guitarist Tomi Luoma came to put him in his place with some native Finnish teasing.
“Dark City” elicited some heartfelt gestures from Rob, as the sound began to balance a bit (moving towards the sound booth also made it so I didn’t need my earplugs—curses!). A nice SID intro got the crowd revved up for “Laser Speed Force,” where guitarist Jonas Rörling got to take his rightful place at the mic for the first half of both verses, belting it out loud and proud. The guitarists (and often bassist) were all having a ball on stage throughout these songs, with some good shred-fests, coming to play together on many occasions. They moved on to their new cover of “Empire of Steel,” (originally by Essenger & Scandroid), which featured one of Rob’s best vocal performances, as he really put some strength into his lower register. I would perhaps suggest they swap this with “Pendulum” in the future—it would allow for more freedom and space to warm up his voice, even if it is a little bit less energetic.
Another industrial intro led to “Truth of Tomorrow,” one of the older songs on the set for this night, which seems to tickle the fans of the band’s earlier material, always thirsty for those classics. There was another intro, more of ambient music and radio vocals for “Rocket Dragon,” one of the de facto live songs from “A View from the End of the World,“ as well as another song where Jonas gets to sing a bit. The “as I burn down and murder” part is always chill inducing, oh man.
Rob asked if the crowd had gamed as much as they did over the past years, declaring the present to be the best time to be gaming as an introduction to “Republic of Gamers.” The crowd had no trouble activating for these guys, always willing to throw fists up or wave their arms back and forth. Luckily, the punchy setlist was full of great music to dance or rock to.
Rob gave a shout-out to the toughness of the Ukrainians and dedicated the “Renegades”-“Nova Prospekt” song duo to their resistance. As some more of my favorites from these guys, the current standard playlist is pretty tight. This led into an ode to the people you choose to keep around you via “All of My Angels,” which really got the sauced-up people on the floor moving and dancing—there was one couple who had created a vast distance between themselves and the rest of the audience due to the sloppy intensity of their dancing. Seemed like they were having a great time! This song was killing it, at least until a little accident where the venue lights came on, though props to the band—they didn’t miss a beat!
MaSu finished off the main set with their latest single, “We Are the Ones Who Will Change the World,” which is currently undergoing the process of having a fan-submission music video put together. All of the new songs were easy highlights of the night and worked really well live, especially in with the dark shadows on everyone’s mind these days. The song ended, giving the guys a bit if a break, allowing the crowd to call them back for “Rise of a Digital Nation” and another classic older track, “Player One,” before they closed up shop to “Through the Looking Glass.” These were a great selection of encore songs: a fan-song, a classic fan-favorite, and their biggest radio hit made for a grand ending to a really fun night.
This gig felt very much like a gentle step back into the gig scene. For an old(ish) fart like myself, I quickly realized how old I felt at a free-rein live show. That said, there were people of all ages at the show and it was really heartwarming to see some people who were clearly 70+ rocking out and enjoying the music. The setlist was comprised of the three new tracks, plus the band’s tried and true live hits—a safe bet, but a warm and welcome return to live shows for us regular MaSu attendees. The new tracks added some worthy spice into the mix and I, for one, can’t wait for them to have a new album to tour. It’s been quite a long time now, so fingers crossed we’ll get an announcement sometime this year!
Setlist
Pendulum
Edge and Pearl
Dark City
Laser Speed Force
Empire of Steel (Essenger & Scandroid cover)
Truth of Tomorrow
Rocket Dragon
Republic of Gamers
Renegades
Nova Prospekt
Force Feedback
All of My Angels
We Are the Ones Who Will Change the World
Encore
Rise of a Digital Nation
Player One
Through the Looking Glass
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