Getting Psyched for Tyr

The Pagan Knights show - Tyr, Suidakra, and Alestorm - is this Sunday night. I was enthused about the idea of seeing Tyr again when I bought the ticket, but since then I've discovered a few things:

• I like Suidakra's most recent album enough that I'd probably go see them on their own anyway.
  
  
• Tyr is the pagan metal version of Soundgarden: every time I hear something new, it takes me a few listens to get it...and then I slowly grow to love it. It took me 30 minutes into their set last year to grasp where they were going, Eric the Red was a closed book that I only kept trying to reopen because I wanted to translate the magic of the live performance to the recordings, and Land seemed a difficult disappointment until once again something clicked. Now I wake up with "Eric the Red" stuck in my head.
  
  
• Now that I've heard Alestorm, I see how Pagan Knights is trying to be a better, more efficient Paganfest II. Alestorm and their pirate metal takes the place of Swashbuckle and Blackguard, Suidakra has the kind of pop energy to fill the Eluveitie/Korpiklaani portion of the bill, and Tyr's more intellectual focus is a stand in for Moonsorrow and Primordial.

Three more reasons to get psyched for Sunday. I can't wait!

Pulling Out of Paganfest II

Well, that settles that: "ELUVEITIE Pulls Out Of 'Paganfest America: Part II' Tour." I was already on the fence about going, and out of the remaining lineup, I know nothing about Swashbuckle, would love to see Moonsorrow, and - after a thorough review - have no interest in Korpiklaani, Blackguard, or Primordial, creating a negative balance of interest. Hopefully Moonsorrow will come around on another tour and I can enjoy their wonderful atmospheres in person. It's starting to sound like the Tyr/Suidakra/Alestorm show at the end of this month will be the true successor to the original Paganfest.

By the way: what kind of bullshit reasoning is "[The tour organizers] decided that it would be wiser to wait for the band to return in the fall since they've already played during Paganfest America 2008's touring cycle." It's been a year, guys. If you're worried about oversaturation, I think you're ok. If you're going to tour them anyway (whatever that means), as you say in the next sentence, why make us wait until the fall?