History was made this past Wednesday, July 27 and Thursday, July 28 in Lahti and Helsinki, Finland, respectively.  These were the days when my thrash metal band, Angel of Sodom, performed the only two gigs we will ever potentially play in history, period.

Now, I will address the question “why”, which has been on everyone’s lips, as the news spread about the rarity of these events.  The answer is simply that our guitarist/songwriter/founding member Eero Tertsunen moved to the USA last year, and only this summer did he plan to come back to Finland to pull off these two special shows.  Other than that, Eero is not planning on coming to Europe in the next four years.  That said, Angel of Sodom will still release a second album, which we are preparing as we speak, but we will not tour.

Angel of Sodom creating havoc in Lahti at Ravintola Torvi

If anyone out there questions why we will not tour, the answer lies in the sad state of the music industry at large.  We will not be buying on to any larger tours as a support act for a potential headliner.  That is simply not economically feasible.  For those who are unaware, only established large acts have a chance at making any real money with touring and shows.  Everything that remains local has little to nil chance of making any real turnover.  Therefore, the financial arguments are not in place for Angel of Sodom to plan gigs in the interim, while our guitarist Eero lives in the USA.  The price of airfare alone would have to be covered and justified by monies coming in from potential shows, and as anyone who is in the music industry knows, that would require a set of larger stages and a considerable number of monetarily healthy shows.

Yet, for those who were on hand this past week here in southern Finland for these Angel of Sodom concerts, you witnessed something special.  I have heard it from pretty much every single person that came out to witness the sonic devastation that we left behind.  The Helsinki show was filmed with four cameras and footage will be upcoming down the line, as we wanted this on tape for posterity.

My good friend and ace photographer Kari Helenius of MetalPhotos.com took these stellar shots from Helsinki at Semifinal.  Enjoy!