A family member told me I shouldn’t miss this one, as I would ever regret it. So armed with camera and notepad I trekked on over to the Asylum 2 ready to be blown away! Doors at 7pm and first band on at 7.15? Bit tight, I thought as most people would still be either coming in or getting their first beer. No matter, five guys who’d made the long journey down from Glasgow weren’t gonna let that small detail get in the way of their music. Collectively known as Farseer, this heavy rock/power metal outfit wasted no time in setting the bar for the evening, with front man David Bisset’s vocals in particular giving the PA a bit of welly! 
In a short thirty minute set, Farseer treated a small, but very appreciative crowd to some energetic stuff, mainly by way of tracks from their latest CD release “Fall Before The Dawn”, including the title track, which is also the first single release off the album.
A quick fifteen minute interlude allowed for the resetting of the stage, a fag break and glass refills, but before you knew it the lights had dimmed and the haunting tones of the “Overture: The Darkest Hour” filled the room, heralding the appearance of Birmingham’s own prog power metal specialists Dakesis, recently back from touring with Thunderstone in Finland. I’ve always enjoyed seeing this band, but I felt tonight would be a real indication of just how far they have come since their formation. The set list was a showcase of their latest album “The New Dawn” which was mixed by Thunderstone’s own Nino Laurenne in Finland and mastered by Svante Forsback, who has worked with Rammstein, Dragonforce and Apocalyptica, to name but three. Normally a four piece, Dakesis were, tonight, availing themselves of the keyboard skills of Jacob Underwood and I have to say these guys and gals absolutely nailed it tonight and in lead singer Gemma Lawler they have a real gem; a visual and aural treat. The six album tracks played tonight would, in my opinion, hold their own in any arena and the heavy, power base sounds have been given extra dimension and depth by skilful use of more progressive influences. And being a fan of James Horner, Hans Zimmer and John Barry, I’m a sucker for music that even hints at the presence of orchestral sounds in the way that Dakesis have managed to achieve. Add to all this, a guest appearance by the inimitable Matt Gore, vocalist with Mighty Wraith 
joining Gemma on vocals for “Betrayal” and we had a performance to which the man from Del Monte, he say YES, YES, YES! Nice touch as a last song was a cover version of “Holding Out For A Hero”, retitled “Holding Out For A Miiro” as a tribute and thank you to one of the Thunderstone crew, Miiro Varjus (I hope I got the name right!) the person who kept it all together for everyone; the voice of reason and calm! Nice touch.
And so to the main reason for my being at the Asylum 2 tonight! Having taken time to listen to some of their music, I’d got a reasonable idea of what Thunderstone were about and given that they are from Finland and I am a massive fan of Nordic/Scandinavian rock, I was really looking forward to seeing and hearing them. I’ve said it before, but there really must be something in the water in that part of the world, so abundant is the wealth of heavy metal talent that the region produces. After what appeared to be a couple of aborted attempts to run the intro track, the guys wasted no time in taking their places on stage to a warm welcome by the Asylum 2 crowd. Sadly, I guess the place was half-full, just, a far cry from their last Birmingham appearance at, I believe, a sold out Roadhouse, some years ago. From the opening salvos of “Veterans Of The Apocalypse” from the latest album “Apocalypse Again” the crowd was hooked and to their credit, the lads did not just showcase this latest album, but included tracks from previous releases, much to the fans approval. The set was eleven songs long and due to strict curfew times at the venue we got no encore! 
I wasn’t alone in not being impressed by that! The relatively small Asylum 2 stage probably restricts any sort of stage show, but there certainly wasn’t any shortage of band/crowd interaction, something that the up close and personal type of venue this is does help. I loved that there was an apparent lack of pretences and egos and that no-one was more, or less important than anyone else. Seemingly, the only hiccup was as the band started into “Through The Pain”. With everyone apparently playing dodgy chords, fingers were pointed at keys man Jukka Karinen, who was, in fact the only one playing the correct chords! T’was all a ploy though, as the band wanted to wish Jukka a happy 33rd birthday and present him with a cake, on stage. Happy birthdays out of the way, we finally got “Through The Pain”, which was one of my picks of the set. “10,000 Ways” off the Evolution 4.0” album featured Gemma and Amie from Dakesis, on backing vocals “ cos they know all the words and sing it better than we do!” admitted Pasi. Set closer “Until We Touch The Burning Sun” had the crowd singing, swaying, hands in the air, resigned to the fact that this was definitely the last one of the night. In fairness to the crowd, they had been singing and hand waving to pretty well every song in the set. This was the second of only three dates Thunderstone are playing in the UK, with just Sheffield’s Corporation to go before home beckons. Please don’t wait another six years before coming back to the UK, guys and, by the way it’s BIR-MING-HAM!
Thunderstone are
Pasi Rantanen – Vocals
Nino Laurenne – Guitars
Titus Hjelm – Bass
Jukka Karinen – Keyboards
Atte Palokangas – Drums
Set list :- Veterans of the Apocalypse, Forever More, The Path, Higher, Dirt Metal, Through the Pain, 10,000 Ways, Down With Me, Let the Demons Free, Tool of the Devil, Until We Touch The Burning Sun.
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