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Pre new years party review of winterhymn
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Pre new years party review of winterhymn Ok its a departure from my normal stories but given that I seem to be loosely connected to a few local bands I thought I would start writing a few reviews. Sunday night I decided to head out to the grog shop to see the local metal scene. I realize that the genre of said music is not for most people but the shows tend to be entertaining. The grog shop is not my favorite venue, it feels cramped and the sound system always seems to be slightly off. Add an $8 cover charge and $5 average draft prices and it is transformed into almost any Cleveland bar with the exception of the stage. That being said I think they actually washed the floor which is a plus when one is dancing or falling down. The current bar tender however was a surprise, he actually slid the bottles down the bar and was quick about filling orders not to mention that he was not stingy with the harder stuff while mixing drinks. I had the opportunity several months ago to see tyr (sweedish metal) and korpenkoloni (folk metal). What the heck is folk metal you ask? Imagine very talented fast guitars with a hard rock plus an electronic fiddle. I didnt think much of korpenkoloni as the fiddle player seemed more intent on impressing us with his ability to make a war face and fiddling as fast as he could than actually making a sound that fitted with the rest of the band. Enter winterhym, a folk metal band out of cincinatti. First the viking like<b> costumes </font></b>were better than average. The chatter in between songs was pretty funny, love a band that can laugh especially at themselves. They had a great metal sound, 2 guitars, 1 drummer and 1 base. But the real surprise was the fiddle player and the keyboardist (both female). The keyboardist was a petite white-blond and drop dead gorgeous. I had trouble appreciating her skill due to the sound system but she seemed to genuinely nice in conversation after the show. Hot girls tend to be pretty arrogant and trite so she gets high marks from me for actually being polite and able to carry on a conversation. The fiddle player was the one who really caught my attention. shes average looking and again polite and capable of carrying on a conversation again high marks for being a real person. The surprise was her ability to play with the band. Her fingers were definitely flying across the fret board as she sawed with obvious skill. But the real surprise was that the sound harmonized with the rest of the band. Some people think that metal is about loud screeching sounds that imitate a cat being tortured, but youll note those bands dont sell many CDs. After the show she was teasing the new rythm guitarist from dead iron about looking like he was having an orgasm while on stage. High marks for a out of the blue friendly insult! The lead guitarist and vocals was also a really approachable guy. He really likes the cleveland SCA scene so if your into armor and leather I suspect hell be your friend. He likes his old crow whiskey straight while the ladies like cherry bombs just in case you have the opportunity to buy them a drink. His guitar was fairly plain and had a great sound. I tend to think of guitars like a book the fancier the cover the worse the quality. The speed and clarity with which he transitioned between chords to individual notes was impressive clearly due to years of practice. I tended to like Winterhymns newer stuff better than their older songs suggesting that they are improving in their ability to create a musical sound pleasing to the ear as well as their stage show. During the winterhyms set there was a mock battle between two viking members of the local cleveland SCA complete with wooden shields chainmail, full iron helm, greves and actual iron swords. The smell of sandlewood and sweat really added an element to the show. Ill have to see if I can suggest that be a feature of future shows. Bottom line: I think they have improved a lot and I give them a B+. I shall endevour to set up a more formal interview. Your thoughts and suggestions on things you would like to know would be appreciated else you have to read what I wanted to ask. alex |
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