Being an all-ages show there were pre-teens running amuck with looks of joy on their hardcore little faces acting as if it were Christmas morning all over again. I must admit the adults were fairly giddy as well, myself included.
Tonight was the night we basked in the Swedish metal glory that is IN FLAMES. With well over a decade of mind blowing material, lead vocalist Anders Friden lead us through a heavy hitting journey of a career spanning from 1997’s “Whoracle” album straight through to the recently released “Come Charity.”
Moving back and forth through their alive and kicking catalog we never knew what era to expect next. Greeting their fans with the 2000 hit "Pinball Map" was a good opener. In comparison to the rest of the set, hard as it is, it was mellow. It could only escalate from there. Cue the smoke machine. Through the smoke came the heavy grind of "Leeches" which threw the crowd into a frenzy, "Trigger" that may have the fastest hardest double bass that could put a drum machine to shame, and "Worlds Within The Margin" that brought us back again to "Whoracle.”
From here on in we were on a fist pumping, mosh pitting, crowd surfing journey through musical time travel. The set list was quite extensive but the crowd screamed for more while worshipping with "goats" in the air to songs like "Crawl Through The Knives", "Take this Life", "Drifter", "Gyroscope", "Only For The Weak" and "Scorn" to name just a few. The energy displayed on stage made it hard to believe they had just come off of a European tour. No holds were barred, no album left unrecognized and no fan left disappointed.
Nearly 20 songs later at the end of this musical history lesson we were left with "Vaccum", "A Quiet Place" and "A Touch Of Red" and bid farewell with the much anticipated encore "My Sweet Shadow".
Leading up to In Flames up was Devil Driver. I was soooo ready for this having been a fan of Dez Fafara from back in the Coal Chamber days, I felt that Devil Driver was every bit as impressive as CC but, HEAVIER.
That voice is as undeniable as a thunder roar following a lightening bolt and the music is equally as electrifying. Devil Driver’s ability to take classic guitar riffs, thick baselines and produce what I can only describe as "hard core doom" just proves that they have what it takes to "bring it" for their audience.
Starting their set with "End Of The Line" from their 2005 release and moving straight into "The Mountain" from their self titled 2003 album the audience was definitely entranced by the commanding presence that is DEZ. By the time they reached their seventh song, "Grinfucked" from the new album (which I must admit reminds me somewhat of Stuc Mojo) a mosh pit had developed that spread from front to back and wall to wall. Closing their set they left us (under protest) with "Meet the Wretched" which was a fabulous ending to an amazing set.
Devil Driver DOES NOT disappoint. This was just the right prelude to the Swedish metal assault of In Flames.
|
Great review!
Written by Guest on 2008-09-12 23:03:38
Well it was!  |
Powered by AkoComment 2.0!
Entertainment
