Hanzel Und Gretyl live in Helsinki
Dorothy Polonium, Hanzel Und Gretyl
On The Rocks, Helsinki, Finland
27th May 2016
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Helsinki. The last time I was there was late November last year when I walked through some heavy snowfall to see Cradle of Filth live. Since then, I either didn’t have the money or the time to travel even if there was some interesting concerts happening in the city. Then a few weeks ago I discovered that Hanzel Und Gretyl were coming to play two shows in Finland. I’ve been a fan of their music for some time now so I decided that it was worth going to Helsinki to see them live. The gig was at a rock bar/ nightclub called On The Rocks. Like many of gig venues in the city, this one had a good atmosphere but it was fairly expensive.
First up was a Finnish alternative rock band called Dorothy Polonium. I really struggled to get into their music. The guitars sounded decent at times but the vocals were just plain weird. The singer’s melodic vocals sounded ok, but then for some reason she decided to start shrieking and shouting. It went from pleasant-sounding melodic metal/rock to some weird experimental/progressive rock with mismatched and downright odd-sounding vocals. 2/5
Hanzel Und Gretyl were fantastic. They played the newer songs first. I’m not too familiar with their latest album, however. Based on what I heard, their new material seems to be leaning more towards extreme metal rather than industrial. It’s still good but nowhere near as catchy as the older stuff. Luckily they played the hits as well including: ‘Third Reich From the Sun’, ‘SS Deathstar Supergalaktik’ and ‘Fukken Über Death Party’. It was apparently Kaizer von Loopy’s birthday, so the crowd sang something akin to the birthday tune and treated him to some beer. There was lots of funny stage antics which made the whole show great to watch even with some minor problems with the sound system. The best part was ‘Das Boot’ when they invited a few guys from the audience come on stage with them and drink beer from a massive New Rock boot. 4/5
After the show I got to meet the singer Vas Kallas and I had my photo taken with her.
Overall it was a really good show and I had a great time. Even my husband, who isn’t too familiar with Hanzel Und Gretyl’s music, admitted that they were entertaining to watch.
Iza Raittila
Valkyrian Music 
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