soilwork_2010_12

» Soilwork 2010 12 09

Reviewed by Martin
----------------------
Special guests: All That Remains, Caliban, Neaera, Bleed From Within
City: Malmö, Sweden
Venue: KB
Date: 9 December 2010
Bleed From Within set length: 20 minutes
Neaera set length: 30 minutes
Caliban set length: 30 minutes
All That Remains set lengt: 40 minutes
Soilwork set length: 55 minutes

Bleed From Within

The room is not by a long shot fully packed, but not completely empty when Bleed From Within from Glasgow take to the stage. The massive onslaught from the audience that the band has gotten used to if one is to judge the videos at YouTube is not to be found at KB tonight. Singer Scott Kennedy still works furiously to get the crowd moving as much as himself, and is rewarded half-way through the show with a wall of death.

Musically the band focuses strongly on heaviness - at times I stand thinking that some of the tunes consist almost entirely of breakdowns interlaced with faster sections. Opener This Is Our Legacy suffer somewhat from this fact - at a time that you desperately want the faster paced section to go on, a slower half-paced tempo is introduced. Nevertheless, the band works on beautifully and in Bring Me The Horizon-flavoured The Healing I'm really enjoying Bleed From Within's music and the band walks off stage with something of a victory.

5 chalices of 10

Setlist:

This Is Our Legacy
Servants Of Divinity
Last Of Our Kind
The Novelist
The Healing
Damnation

Neaera

If you're from Southern Sweden, it's very easy to joke about the fact that Neaera's name sounds confusingly much like the word for "close" in Swedish pronounced in a very heavy accent. What you can't joke as easily about is the band's music. The aggressiveness is raised considerably when the band, led by, to say the least, enthusiastic singer Benjamin Hilleke, launches into Heaven's Descent from latest release Forging The Eclipse. There is better response, but not by much, from the crowd who seems very satisfied in just checking out the band than to mosh. One who completely ignores this fact is drummer Sebanstian Heldt who's enjoying himself to the fullest. It's just great to see such obvious joy.

The band's latest release took some time for me personally to enjoy, and the crowd doesn't seem to have ingested it fully which of course has a effect on the show. The band is working hard, but doesn't go the distance fully, and it remains to be seen if this fact remains if the band returns to Sweden. Hopefully people will have by then discovered that Neaera is a good band that has some killer songs in their catalogue.

6 chalices of 10

Setlist:

The Forging
Heaven's Descent
Armamentarium
Eight Thousand Sorrows Deep
Walls Instead Of Bridges
In Defiance
Spearheading The Spawn

Caliban

The audience definitely has a better knowledge of Caliban's music. The level of moshing that I witnessed the last time I saw the band at KB, when the band almost killed the crowd, doesn't occur tonight - but pretty close. Caliban is the first band of the evening that gets the crowd to mosh when asked to. To No One Is Safe the wall of death is massive! Caliban is really good at connecting with the audience, and they are really enjoying themselves on stage. The band delivers a good show without totally flooring me.

6 chalices of 10

Setlist:

Love Song
My Time Has Come
It's Our Burden To Bleed
No One Is Safe
I Will Never Let You Down
Walk Like The Dead
Sonne (Rammstein cover)
24 Years

All That Remains

All That Remains's singer Philip Labonte leads the audience into the heaviest onslaught of the evening - the fact that there are quite a number of people that have looked forward to the show becomes pretty evident, haha! I'm very much enjoying seeing the love Oliver Hebert displays for his guitar. You can easily see the sheer joy this man displays at playing solos and being on stage. When Labonte's stage act is more focused on power and aggression, Hebert oozes of a love of being in a band and playing live. Hebert also walks straight off stage to the bar to hang out with the fans. Respect. I'm also surprised, as a drummer myself, that Jason Costa is playing with the traditional grip. He is also very good in switching from furious double kickdrum action to much groovier playing with total ease.

Furious blasting sections in Six, shares space just beautifully with some truly melodic stuff, and that the band really has written some strong tracks that hit the target spot on is evident. I'm not totally floored by a song as Hold On, that has a decent chorus but really leans to the softer side of music too much for me. On the whole, All That Remains delivers a very convincing concert.

7 chalices of 10

Setlist:

Now Let Them Tremble
For We Are Many
Six
Hold On
Aggressive Opposition
This Calling
The Air That I Breathe
Forever In Your Hands
Become The Catalyst
Some Of The People

Soilwork

When Soilwork walks onto the stage they are greeted as heroes by the audience that seem to have waited to the limit of desperation to see the band. And rightly so since the band has returned with force with latest album The Panic Broadcast. Soilwork opens strong with Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter and it sounds, well, fantastic. The fact that the members of the band are pulling in the same direction not only writingwise but performancewise becomes very evident tonight. Björn "Speed" Strid is in one hell of a good mood, displaying great confidence on stage and Ola Flink is in hip-swinging mood. Soilwork's show is marked by a relaxed mood, that I would have liked to be just a tad smaller, giving the concert that edge that is missing now.

The fact that the ears have taken their toll during the night can also have something to do with the fact that the usual ecstatic feeling that I normally get when seeing Soilwork is absent. The battle for the loudest singing-along Soilwork wins by a landslide, and although I get denied my favorite track, The Chainheart Machine, Soilwork easily has one of the best backcatalogues in the business; The Flameout, Nerve and The Crestfallen sure do the job of getting the crowd into a frenzy. I have seen Soilwork quite the number of times, and never have I've seen them perform poorly. Although this night isn't the best show, it's still a very good performance that is displayed on stage.

7 chalices of 10

Setlist:

Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter
Night Comes Clean
As We Speak
The Flameout
Nerve
The Crestfallen
Two Lives Worth Of Reckoning
Let This River Flow
Bastard Chain
Stabbing The Drama
Follow The Hollow