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Archive for the ‘Arkona’ Category

Arkona (Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ, February 25, 2026)

Posted in Ametropia, Arkona, Clifton NJ, Dingbatz, Аркона, Malphas, Mindrazer on February 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 25, 2026] Arkona

I saw Arkona (Аркона) open for Korpiklanni back in 2018.  I liked everything about them–their look, their sound and their lead singer, band creator, and primary songwriter Masha Scream (Maria Arkhipova).  The band were dressed in burlap robes, and they all had long hair.  There was a hand drum and skulls and all manner of arcana.  I assumed that they were huge (and I think they are in Europe).

So when they announced a show in Clifton, I just had to go–their first time in the States (otherthan NYC) since 2018.  It was my first time going to Dingbatz, a (mostly) heavy metal club. The place is really small (200 people) and the show was not sold out (yikes).  I felt bad for the band who I know has played festivals with thousands of screaming fans.  And here we were, about 75 people.  Yikes.  I hope they didn’t lose money.

The roadies came out and hung up the Arkona banner (I think at other shows they’ve projected images behind the band, but there was no room for that here).  It was pretty funny seeing them hang the banner while standing on chairs–again a whole battle of the bands feel.  (more…)

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Malphas (Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ, February 25, 2026) [ARKONA]

Posted in Ametropia, Arkona, Clifton NJ, Dingbatz, Malphas, Mindrazer on February 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 25, 2026] Malphas 

When I looked up Malphas, I learned that they were a Swedish death metal band.  But when the guys in the band took the stage, I thought, these guys aren’t from Sweden.  They look like they’re from New Jersey.  Turns out they are from Philly.  They’ve been around since 2012 and have an album and an EP out.

LIke the other two bands, there was a theatrical component to them.  The two guitarists and the bassist turned their backs to us and started a kind of creepy horror movie soundtrack.  But there was some kind of technical difficulty.  I think it had something to do with their drummer not being able to hear the clicktrack. After several minutes of trying to fix things, they gave up and their bassist said they were going to raw dog it.

So, like Spinal Tap, instead of doing a theatrical opening, they all just turned around and started playing.

But they wee really good as well.  The singer played some really good solos.  But once again, the mix was weird–the bass drums were really loud and overpowered the rest of the band.

The bass player was the joker of the group asking if we were sick of the snow.  He said too bad we’ve brought more and then said a song title that I didn’t get.

I always like it when growly singers talkin a normal voice.  And this singer did.  He sounded just like a guy from Philly–thanking the other bands and dedicating songs to them.

The vocals were mostly growly but they were largely understandable, which was good.

Malphas is the main opening band for this Arkona tour, with the other bands changing depending on the venue.  So I guess Arkona must like them.  I did.  Listening to their record, they have a lot more going on in the songs (choirs and keys) which I think i would have liked even more if they included it.

But like the other two bands it felt really … amatuerish?  And by the end of the set I worried that I made a bad call coming to this show–was it going to be just like a show where the audience is all the band members’ friends?

Thankfully, Arkona stepped up.

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Mindrazer (Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ, February 25, 2026) [ARKONA]

Posted in Ametropia, Arkona, Clifton NJ, Dingbatz, Malphas, Mayhem, Mindrazer on February 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 25, 2026] Mindrazer

I saw Arkona open for Korpiklanni back in 2018.  When they announced a show in Clifton,I just had to go. It was my first time going to Dingbatz, a (mostly) heavy metal club. The place is really small (200 people) and the show was not sold out (yikes).

I was wondering how come I never went to Dingbatz if it was 20 minutes from where I grew up.  I found out it opened in 2004, the year I moved away from the area.  How about that.

So the secondband up was from Hackettstown (which the singer pointed out was only known for making M&Ms (it’s the headquarters of Mars candy).

Unlike the rest of the lineup, Mindrazer plays mostly thrash metal–clean vocals (soaring vocals like the guy from Helloween).  Both guitarists played excellent solos–some serious skills on stage there.

But as with the first band, I felt like they were demanding a lot from the audience since no one knew them. The singer insisted that everyone there get on the floor and row.  I’m not exactly sure when or where this trend started–I assume with Amon Amarth, bit I could be wrong.  I’m all for it because I think it’s hilarious and is probably a lot of fun.

A song or two later, the singer jumped onto the floor and tried to get a circle pit started while he played and soloed.  No one was really into it, I think everyone was more intrigued that he was on the floor.  I know someone took a really close up video of him shredding which was pretty cool.

Again, demanding a lot for a band no one’s heard of.  I found them a little hard to take seriously because they looked really young and earnest.  There was a part where he told us they were taking us on a journey through the history of horror and the horror of history.  But they were a lot of fun and captured the sound of 80s/90s thrash really well.

After a couple of songs he asked if the crowd thought they were a thrash band.  Weird, but yes.  Did we think they could do death metal too?  Who knows, we’ve only hard three songs by you.  Anyhow, the bassist then stepped up and did growling vocals as they did a cover of the Mayhem song Freezing Moon.

The best part was when they played Crusader.  They had someone dressed like a crusader, complete with sword and skull mask (with snakes dangling from its mouth).  He wandered the stage threatening the band and then he jumped down onto the floor and started a circle pit.  This was easily my favorite circle pit ever–a guy with a sword as the central focus of the pit.

It was nice to have a different style of music since the other three were pretty much all death metal.

SETLIST
1453 (Doom of the Eastern Crown)
Seeker
Unnatural Rebirth
Freezing Moon (Mayhem cover)
Crusader ♠

♠ A Thing of Nightmares (2023)

 

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Ametropia (Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ, February 25, 2026) [ARKONA]

Posted in Ametropia, Arkona, Clifton NJ, Dingbatz, Malphas, Mindrazer on February 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 25, 2026] Ametropia

I saw Arkona open for Korpiklanni back in 2018.  When they announced a show in Clifton,I just had to go. It was my first time going to Dingbatz, a (mostly) heavy metal club. The place is really small (200 people) and the show was not sold out (yikes).

So if Arkona was the headliner and not many people knew of them, you can imagine how unknown the openers were.

Heavy metal is a great genre if you want to learn about obscure words.  Like Ametropia which is a general medical term for refractive errors—including myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism—where the eye cannot properly focus light directly onto the retina, resulting in blurred or distorted vision.

How about that.

The band Ametropia is a trio from south central PA.  They released an album last year.  When they came out on stage, the lead guitarist/singer was wearing a read hooded robe.  They played heavy and fast and the singer was a standard growling evil death metal type of voice.

I thought the sound was pretty bad–couldn’t really hear the bass.  I’m not sure how clearly he sings the growly vocals, but I couldn’t hear them clearly. Mostly it was snare drum and low rumble.  One of the songs was a big middle finger to the Catholic church and the pedophiles that are in it (it was creepy, for sure).

It makes me laugh when opening bands insist that people act like they’re the headliners.  There were about 30 people in the room when Ametropia went on and they were insisting on a circle pit.  When it started there were about 9 people in it.

I though the robe was an effective way to present the band because as soon as he dropped the hood and you could see his face, he was just a dude growling.

I liked them more than I thought I would–they had some real grooving parts and some nice time changes.  But it almost felt like a battle of the bands show.  For all three opening bands, actually.

But there were some teenagers there and they loved it–full bodied headbanging and first entrants into the pit.

I’m not sure what their setlist consisted of, but they were pretty fun even if the sound wasn’t great.

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Frost Giant (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, June 26, 2019) [ASTRONOID]

Posted in Arkona, Astronoid, Frost Giant, Korpiklaani, Philadelphia, PA, The Foundry on June 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 26, 2019] Frost Giant

Can you be epic in a tiny space?

If you are Philadelphia’s Frost Giant, the answer is hell yes!

I was supposed to see Frost Giant play with Arkona and Korpiklaani at the TLA, but the promoters put Frost Giant on before the start time of 8PM (!) and I missed their set entirely.

I have wanted to check them out, so when they were listed as playing the Foundry with Astronoid, I figured I’d go.  Even though I didn’t yet know Astronoid.

So I arrived early (just in case) and took my place in front of the stage when the band came out.

I was delighted by Armen Koroghlian’s intense drum kit and Matti Frost’s look.  And then I was impressed by their power.

The band played four songs, starting with the almost lead off track from their new album The Harlot Star. (more…)

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Korpiklaani (The Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), Philadelphia, PA, November 25, 2018)

Posted in Arkona, Folk Metal, Frost Giant, Korpiklaani, Philadelphia, PA, Poetry, Theatre of Living Arts, Tuomas Keskimäki on November 25, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 25, 2018] Korpiklaani

I’m not even sure now what inspired me to go see Korpiklaani.  I know I’d never heard of them before this month.  But I somehow saw their name and t heir genre and heard that their shows were just inspired lunacy.  The fact that they were from Finland made it even more interesting and exotic.  I watched a video or two and decided I’d like to see them.  And then, lo and behold they were playing in Philly in like two weeks.

So I rearranged my schedule and got a ticket.

The crowd at TLA was relatively small, but it was incredibly intense.  Nearly everyone there knew the band really well.  Some were in kilts, there were lots of beards.  And that small crowd even got a raging mosh pit going.

Some people feel that they are not really heavy metal, and I can see that.  Even singer Jonne Järvelä, said “Korpiklaani’s music would be seen as “old people’s music with heavy metal guitars” in Finland.

I really had no idea what to expect, so I was delighted when the band came out as a kind of Nordic Folk Village People.   (more…)

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Arkona (The Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), Philadelphia, PA, November 25, 2018) [KORPIKLAANI]

Posted in Arkona, Folk Metal, Frost Giant, Korpiklaani, Pagan Metal, Philadelphia, PA, The Office, Theatre of Living Arts on November 25, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 25, 2018] Arkona

This was an early Sunday show.  Doors at 6, bands on at 7.  It was billed as three bands, headliners Korpiklaani, with support from Arkona and a Philly band called Frost Giant, all of whom played Folk Metal–a genre I had only recently even heard of.

Parking was a drag (I was foolish in my arrival time) and so I got into the theater a little after 7.  There was some buzz in the room, but I never would have guessed that was because Frost Giant had already come and gone–leaving no trace.  After the show someone told me that they went on at 6:35 and were good.  Sorry Frost Giant, that’s poor information from the venue, but I’ve just listened to some of your stuff on bandcamp, and you guys rock.  I hope to see you again around Philly.

I didn’t know Arkona (Аркона) at all.  I looked them up before the show and learned that they were Russian, which I found really exciting and intriguing.  Korpiklaani is Finnish, so it would be a night of no one singing English at all. (more…)

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