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Finntroll
If Satan held an Oktoberfest party, the house band would be Finntroll.
The group's mad mix of extreme metal and humppa -- a Finnish folk style that sounds like the inbred cousin of polka and German oompah music -- is the perfect soundtrack for throwing down brews and brats.
The Finnish sextet brought its guttural guitars to Jaxx on Wednesday -- and, amazingly, nobody in the crowd ended up a bierleichen (beer corpse). The spirited crowd bashed away the night to the speedy humppa rhythms, with mosh pits giving way to hair-swinging circles, but no blood or hops were spilled.
The devil horns salute was well represented between Finntroll's 19 songs, and there were even some audience singalongs -- if only phonetically, as vocalist Vreth growls the band's myth-and-violence-filled lyrics in Swedish, Finland's other official language.
While Finntroll is on tour to support its new CD, "Ur Jordens Djup," the band's approach to music was summed up by the performance of "Nattfodd," the title track from its 2004 album. The waltz-metal intro was punctuated by shouts of "Hey, hey!" from Vreth (and the crowd) before the song kicked into a sea-shanty swing, propelled by Trollhorn's set-to-accordion keyboards. The riffs were heavier and darker when the vocals came in, and soon the double-bass drums were flashing. Later, the tune breaks down into minor-key guitar arpeggios, and as the song slowed it felt like a couples-only number for a goth high school dance.
Finntroll's music is such a bizarre hybrid -- although two other Finnish bands, Turisas and Korpiklaani, are working along similar lines -- and its lyrics so over the top ("Kitteldags" is about cooking priests) that the group can't help but come off a bit gimmicky. But Finntroll's musicianship is tops, and these hairy lads are deadly serious about their ultra-fun music. Satan should get to party planning.
-- Christopher Porter
