Metsatöll

Live at The House of Blues

Hollywood, California

October 2nd, 2014

Review and Photos by Travis Baumann

Metsatöll are a folk metal band from Estonia. They combine metal guitar based music with traditional instruments such as pipes, lyres, bagpipes, jaw harp and other lesser known musical devices. They also feature lyrics and vocal styles that utilize mythology and tales from the past.

Metsatöll were touring as opening acts for Eluveitie's "Origins" world tour along with Tyr as direct support. I had not encountered Metsatöll previous to this event, so they were an exciting new discovery for me.

The band consists of four members; bass and drums make up the rhythmic backbone of the band, and the principal metal singer also handles guitar duties.

Their fourth member plays multiple instruments composing the traditional and medieval portion of their sound.  He would also sing as well as narrate at points between songs in a deep booming voice that sounds like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie.

On certain songs the stringed instrumentalists and the musician on pipes would all sing together building a strong male choir which lent strength and impact to these pieces.

They sang and spoke entirely in Estonian, apparently some of their lyrics are from old forms of the language and much of the subject matter revolves around ancient tales and battles.

The word Metsatöll itself is an old euphemism for wolf, and there are lots of references to wolves, pack leaders, and canine forms of attack. It would seem that this would revolve around werewolves but from what research I was able to do, Estonian forms of werewolves are not quite the same as our typical tales of shape shifters so it would almost translate as "One who regularly engages in werewolf business".

They were really cool to see live, especially the deep vocalized parts, the singer's voice being incredibly deep and impressive. It felt like an ancient tale being woven and even though I could not understand what was being said, it definitely took me on a journey.

The audience reacted in kind and were very enthusiastic during the performance. They did about seven songs before their time was up, a few of them were apparently off of their newest album "Karjajuht" which according to their website means "Pack Leader".

I will definitely add these guys to the list of bands to watch out for from now on and check out their releases as well.

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