Eluveitie and Wintersun at The House of Blues on 11/29

The House of Blues was SOLD OUT for Eluveitie and Wintersun last Thursday. I feel sorry for anyone who missed out on this ragin' folk metal party! I waited in line for about 25 minutes and completely missed the first band, Varg (not to be confused with Varg of Burzum). Hope I get a chance to check them out the next time they visit the states.

Apparently Wintersun had never played a U.S. show before so they had a huuuuge turn-out of eager fans. It seems like European folk-inspired metal is the most popular kind of metal in Los Angeles since every time a band from Finland plays, the show sells out. Good for them! It's great to see people support touring bands. I was totally new to Wintersun and they blew me away with their over-the-top sound and amazing performance. Lots of sweeping arpeggios, double bass, and a mix of clean and death growl vocals. If you're into Moonsorrow or Children of Bodom you'll probably also be a Wintersun fan. They played a pretty long set, too, which was very cool since there were as many people there to see them as there were for Eluveitie.

                                 Wintersun! So glad I remembered my camera.

Swiss band Eluveitie finished off the night with a truly epic folk metal set. If you're not familiar with this style of metal, Eluveitie is a great place to start exploring this myth-invoking genre. Since there are eight members in the band there are a lot of different instruments competing for your attention but they manage to pull it off really well, without it sounding like an orchestra or a bunch of noise. Flute and fiddle actually carry most of the melody in their songs but the band is definitely still metal, with the vocals split between a standard male death growl and clean female vocals. The band put on a tremendously high energy show and performed a lot of their new material, which happens to be totally bitchin. Can't wait for them to visit LA again!

 Frontman Chrigal Glazmann was leading the musical charge with some kind of crazy flute.

Be sure to check out Wintersun and Eluveitie on Facebook, Spotify, Pandora, or whatever it is that you use. And if you really like them both, you might also want to check out some other folk metal bands that are playing on the next Paganfest tour.

The next event on my concert calendar is 3 Inches of Blood on December 11th at The Whiskey (they're also playing a free show on the 9th in Fullerton). I'll be missing Megadeth in Pomona on the 7th because of an unavoidable work conflict. Noooooo!!