Machine Men

Thursday June 9, 2005 Sauna Open Air Festival sure did live up to it’s name this year with three steamingly hot days, and an even hotter line up to increase the steam. So far Sauna Open Air has been unknown to most, concentrating on homegrown talent. Trying on bigger boots and making a go for the title of the “Metal Festival of the Year” was a bold move, which proved to be a successful one. Looks like the main Metal festival in Finland, Tuska, has finally gotten a serious rival. From Thursday to Saturday, the Metal Fan Army in their black t-shirts took over the town of Tampere, and the streets of the town were swarming with all kinds of Metal shirts. On the site, Slayer shirts dominated on Thursday. For the rest of the days, it did not seem to matter what shirt you wore as long as it was black. This probably went a long way to hammer home the name of the festival for each punter. Finnish Thrash band Mokoma got the honor of being the first band on main stage, and were no doubt excited to be on the same stage as their heroes Slayer were going to be later on the same night. Despite being the underground Metal darlings of the nation, Mokoma has still kept their workmanlike approach to playing, which in layman’s terms means working their butts off, which they did once again. Singer Marko Annala amused fans with his remark that the best reaction their song has ever got was the yawn a girl in the front gave. Pain was the next band on main stage. Their set started strong enough with “The World Coming Down.” This time their line up had stayed the same, so they still had the female guitar …READ MORE