KARMØYGEDDON 2016 – Day 3 – Kopervik

The final day of this good feel festival provided some amazing moments. From Rock n’ roll to industrial black metal. Absolutely an interesting note to end on!

HEATSEEKERS is, as the name suggests, an AC/DC tribute group. The band provided a somewhat soft and nice opening for the people of the audience that showed up early at the last day of the festival. The sound was ok, nothing extrodinary, and there were somewhat few people in the audience compared to some other gigs, but the band gave it their all and managed to give an absolutely enjoyable show for the people that actually did show up. A good mix of AC/DC eras combined with a good mood basically set the tone for the final day.

YEAR OF THE GOAT reminds alot about Angel Witch in some ways. They are both bands that use alot of satanic imagery on their cover arts, while being more rock n’ roll than anything else. Year of the Goat gave Karmøy a nice, melodic show that took the audience on a musical journey into the minds of these Swedish rockers. Psychedelic being the best keyword to describe the journey. The performance itself was absolutely solid and the fans responded nicely to that. Also, since the band relied alot on the 60’s-80’s kind of atmosphere, the sort of "muffled" sound of the Uno stage actually worked in favor of the band.

Karmøygeddon also had something special for the thrashers on their line up. SODOM is known as a legendary Thrash Metal band that always delivers and that definetly belongs in a European version of "The big 4". They had a good control of their fans and they were lucky with the sound. That being said, the songs they chose to have in the setlist could majorly have been switched out without anyone complaining. The material was not very interesting and the show on stage was standard thrash metal, aka. nothing really happening. In the end Sodom served their fanbase ok, but probably didn’t bring in too many new fans.

The doom group, CANDLEMASS, gave the audience of Karmøy a nice and atmospheric experience. The music is somewhat slow, but since the concert were placed in a better spot, timewise, than for example Katatonia, the slow, atmospheric aproach resonated better with the listeners. There were some kinks with the technical aspect of the show, but nothing that seemed to ruin the experience for the band or the audience. After all is said and done, this was a nice and deep concert.

SAMAEL can be seen as the Swiss children of Laibach, and thus it’s only fitting that Samael use a Laibach track as intro for their concerts. The band delivered a tight performance to a group of people that seemed somewhat unknowing about what they were going to get. Granted, Samael is very different from the other bands on this years line up. The band also looks very different on stage, due to a very interesting drum kit. Musically, Samael plays around with industrial music and black metal, and together it becomes a mix that seemed to intrigue more and more people from the start to the end of the show. The contact between the band and the audience was ok in the beginning, and it just got better as the concert went on.

Next up were the local heroes in EINHERJER. They came on to the stage and played music with a very strong "punch in the face" attitude. Everything from the drums to the guitars and vocals sounded crunchy, yet still direct. The setlist was nice, most of the songs worked well and the members of the band performed nicely. As a concert, it was a nice time, even though it didn’t break any records in the way of how big or "epic" it felt, but it didn’t let anyone down. Being a local band, the concert area was filled up, and Einherjer did not disappoint their audience.

This years edition of Karmøygeddon featured alot of Power Metal. And to top it off, German legends, HELLOWEEN, were to headline the last evening. The energy was through the roof and the band seemed happy to see their Norwegian fans’ eyes light up as they entered the stage. The music was a supreme blend of old and new material and the band performed it flawlessly. Helloween had a very interesting way to communicate with their fans. Very folky, yet still a hint of "rock star diva" is a good way to describe it. The band did everything right and they did it in a completely awesome fashion as well. The fans got everything they wanted to see and more. Few bands keep the energy as high as Helloween after so many years!

And then it was up ENSIFERUM to stick the landing of a great festival. The Finnish Folk Metal group delivered everything that the genre suggests: Folky tunes, folky atmosphere and folky attitude. They were amazingly enjoyable to watch, and the sound and lighting was close to perfect. Songs from a big range of Ensiferums collection were performed and the audience enjoyed it alot. There were more from One Man Army than the rest of the band’s albums, but that didn’t weaken the show in any way, seeing as it is a great album that was recieved nicely by fans and critics. Like Helloween, Ensiferum did everything right, from communicating with their audience to playing the right notes. It was a concert that embodied the word "fun" in alot of ways.

After alot of different types of bands were done playing, the curtains closed on Karmøygeddon 2016. A nice experience that showcased alot of different takes on a handfull of metal sub genres. The interesting thing about these kinds of festivals is that if you keep it less varied in terms of genre specter, it will be more apparent how different the bands in the same genre is.