Estonia, Finland, Romania, Norway, Germany, Latvia, Russia and BW&BK; were amongst scores of representatives at the third annual Finnish Metal Expo, held in Helsinki. A veritable metallic United Nations! In addition to discussing global improvements for touring, marketing and promoting the music, FME introduces outsiders to homegrown talent, while entertaining the natives with top-flight international bands, like Amon Amarth and Dragonforce. It’s a win-win situation for all involved.

Thursday night’s opening party saw Tarot (featuring Nightwish’s male throat, Marco Hietala, voted vocalist of the year at the Finnish Metal Awards) headline Tavastia Klubi, showcasing material from Crows Fly Black as well as a career retrospective, much of which is now contained in a new two CD collection. VIPs hung in the small balcony, bottles of Czechvar (the original “Budweiser,” although nothing like the inferior American brand, who “stole” the name and prevented the Czech brewery from exporting their better beer, until they changed the name) alternated with Koff drafts, lonkero (sort of like Fresca & gin) and the hard stuff. When in Finland, be prepared to drink well into the next morning!

Friday afternoon, the serene sounds of female-(elf)-fronted Battlelore commenced the live activity, drawing four cuts from the excellent new release, Evernight. Their set was heavier than on disc, without losing the uniqueness. The costumes are not over the top, even with diminutive Kaisa Jouhki’s pointed ears and broadsword-wielding co-vocalist Tomi Mykkanen. Waging his own battles, Jussi Rautio, the blond, dreadlocked guitarist was covered in “blood.”

Between shows, people browsed the stalls, took in a clinic (courtesy of named players) or checked out mini-sets by bands not playing the large main stage. A new entry, Misery, Inc. came next, consisting of six youngsters with two singers, even though most of the lyrics were delivered cleanly. That being said, the sound is something akin to Fear Factory, minus the gruff vocals. A blood-drenched Moonsorrow took the stage afterwards and their bombastics won them unofficial band of the day honours. Shame about the sampled acoustic guitars though! Shirtless Ville Sorvali, claw marks visible on his blood stained chest, bellowed out ‘Pimea’ and a surprising (given its length) ‘Tuleen Ajettu Maa’, the latter off their forthcoming Havitetty (out in North America April 17th).

Following the awards ceremony, the vendors closed up shop, for the final twosome of the evening. First was Suburban Tribe, a melancholy outfit mixing Depeche Mode and Faith No More, skirting the broadest definition of metaldom, then Dragonforce. As everywhere else, the appeal is largely a pre-teen phenomenon, but the Brits had the crowd eating right out of their quickly moving hands. No girls on trampoline action (as elsewhere in Europe), but the hair-blowing fans and wild stage runs proved a kinetic performance, start to finish.

The final day begins three hours earlier, mid-afternoon (even though the liquid consumption goes well beyond the Kaapelitehdas’ 2AM closing, bands, fans and conference attendees all heading off to Inferno bar until at least 4 AM, if not back to hotel rooms after that). As such, there are more bands (plus no awards show). First up was a train-wreck of a solo artist, Turmion Kätilot, whose claim to “fame” was donning a micro-mini skirt-length kilt, nothing underneath and leaving nothing to the imagination. The first real band of the day was Insomnium (hinted to debut on this continent, come Oct.). Bassist/frontman Niilo Sevanen bears a little resemblance to a young James Hetfield. Standout was newbie ‘Drawn To Black’.

Tacere are a new heavily-touted, female-fronted, dual singer group: a plump femme and suit coat-wearing rhythm guitarist supply the words, including ‘Deep Tears Of Tragedy’, from their Beautiful Darkness debut, released just days before this appearance. In Gomer Pyle/Pete Steele military cap, the singer in Before The Dawn shouted into the mic, overcoming an unceremonious introduction (as the wrong band!) and proved themselves the find of the weekend. Not really a new outfit, what with a trio of albums via Locomotive (plus DVD), but now with locals Stay Heavy, a revitalized importance surges through the aggressive, yet tuneful melodic death metal, including new Deadlight album (out April 4th). In addition to the pre-release ‘Deadsong’ single, there was the Big Country/Paradise Lost-inspired guitar sound of ‘Unbreakable’ (off 2003’s My Darkness) and a pair of newbies, ‘Morning Sun’ (a less brutal, more mournful cut) and ‘The Black’. Check ‘em out.

Swallow The Sun filled the smaller stage, offering a teaser for Hope. Back in the main room, Brother Firetribe (with Emppu Vuorinen, Nightwish, on guitar) brought everyone back to ‘80s hard rock, somewhere between Pretty Maids and White Lion (courtesy of Mike Tramp-looking frontman Pekka Ansio Heino). Funny to see pink hair, multi-facial pierced girls and squat, bald, leather-vested guys sway to the saccharine sounds. Amon Amarth was an eagerly anticipated headliner, myself having missed the opportunity to hear With Oden On Our Side material live. As if not to disappoint, they opened with a one-two kick-off of ‘Valhalla Awaits Me’ and ‘Rune To My Memory’. Later, we got the new title cut, ‘Death In Fire’, ‘Fate Of Norms’, ‘Asator’, ‘Cry Of The Black Birds’ and a finale of ‘For The Stabwounds In Our Backs’ and ‘Pursuit Of Vikings’. Sure Coldworker came on after the beer-bellied Swedes, but the majority had already headed to the bar. Some things never change!

For photos from the weekend, click here.