» Dark Tranquillity 2010 10 25  
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Reviewed by Martin
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Support: Insomnium, Avatar
City: Malmö, Sweden
Venue: KB
Date: 25 October 2010
Avatar set length: 20 minutes
Insomnium set length: 40 minutes
Dark Tranquillity set length: 80 minutes

Avatar

Youngsters Avatar has been around some time, releasing 3 albums. Their performance is nothing but the longest 20 minutes I've endured in concert. Marked by a desperate will to be hard and heavy, the members lack both the songs as well as the appearance to achieve this goal. The high pitched vocals from singer Eckerström make me cringe as they are poorly executed. I'll give him that his growling is far better, and he would be wise to stick to those in the future. As a whole the band's performance is marked by not being tight. The drumming is at times plain bad.

2 chalices of 10

(sorry, no setlist)

Insomnium

Finnish melancholy deathsters Insomnium are a definitive step up from Avatar's embarrassingly bad show. The sound is, to be honest, very good as the quartet unleashes their brooding and deeply satisfying death metal onto the growing crowd. Singer/bassist Niilo Sevänen is a consummate leader - easygoing with a very nice humble attitude. As one of the guitarists is having trouble with his guitar he simply starts screaming the names of some very well know Swedish skiers - who other than a Finnish band would do that?! Insomnium's music is marked by a dignity I very much appreciate - Down With The Sun, Devoid Of Caring and Where The Last Wave Broke are top notch songs and the crowd very much responds to the band's performance.

Like two bands that come to mind when listening to Insomnium - Amorphis and the early Paradise Lost - Insomnium have but one drawback; their songs are somewhat steeped in the same mould, and if the group want to be up on a bigger stage playing longer sets (as I think they should) they would greatly benefit from writing more up-tempo songs. Insomnium's concert still is very good, and I've could easily have digested a few more songs.

7 chalices of 10

Setlist: (might be slightly incorrect)

Equivalence
Down With The Sun
Where The Last Wave Broke
The Killjoy
Weather The Storm
The Harrowing Years
The Gale
Mortal Share
Devoid Of Caring
Weighed Down With Sorrow

Dark Tranquillity

Dark Tranquillity is one of those bands that have been around forever it seems, touring constantly. I've seen the band a fair number of times; often marvelling at just how good this band can be on stage. Singer Mikael Stanne is very enthusing and is often saluting the crowd with profuse humility and his performance and quality growl is truly giving the band's music that edge that lifts it from good to fantastic. I am therefore saddened by the fact that this night's performance is not one of the better ones. The band seems just to go through the motions, and although Stanne is as he often is, the concert doesn't lift to the heights the band is capable of.

Drummer Anders Jivarp keeps a stone face throughout the concert, and he isn't helped by the fact that he isn't properly warmed up, because he at times seem to be actually struggling with the songs. The sound is another thing that for me ruins the show - the kick drums sound way too much (and this is coming from a drummer mind you!) and aren't sounding all that great in themselves, totally dominating the sound when Jivarp brings out the 16-notes, drowning the guitars in a way that is not to be commended.

Although Dark Tranquillity isn't performing at the top of their game this night, they still have a few knock-out tunes that hold them above par. Personally I think that We Are The Void is something of a step back in quality from Fiction and the songs played off their latest release are simply put, less good than the other tracks: opener At The Point Of Ignition and The Fatalist are, well, not the opening of the show I desired. But then come the big guns - Damage Done, Lost To Apathy, Monochromatic Stains, The Gallery and The Wonders At Your Feet - a fleet of songs so massive in their impact that if DT were performing at full force would take the breath out of me.

Although DT can be way much better than this, they still have a pretty high lowest level that makes it very difficult for the band to totally suck, but considering that I (and a few others I imagine) know what a formidable force this band can be, the show at Malmö's Kulturbolaget this evening only renders a "O.K." from this reviewer.

5,5 chalices of 10

Setlist:

At The Point Of Ignition
The Fatalist
Damage Done
Lost To Apathy
Monochromatic Stains
The Gallery
The Wonders At Your Feet
Iridium
Shadow In Our Blood
Focus Shift
Icipher
Dream Oblivion
Misery's Crown
Haven
-------
Final Resistance
Therein
Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)

Related links:
www.darktranquillity.com
www.myspace.com/dtofficial
www.insomnium.net
www.myspace.com/insomniumband
www.myspace.com/avataronline
www.avatar.net