Baconmusic » Academy 1

Live: Children of Bodom + Amon Amarth – Academy 1, Manchester – 02/04/2011

Adam — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:17:41 +0000

Upon arriving in Manchester, you could sense a feeling of excitement around the already packed venue as Finnish maestros CHILDREN OF BODOM returned to the UK after their headline performance at Bloodstock last year, bringing along with them Viking death metal warlords AMON AMARTH for the party.

AMON AMARTH have been a huge success since they hit the metal mainstream in the UK a few albums ago, and it has been great to see them develop and evolve their sound, as well as earn the credit they deserve over the last 12 years or so since I first discovered them.

With new album, ‘Surtur Rising’, being released the Monday before the gig, the fans had a few days to familiarise themselves with some new material before their set tonight. Three new tracks were on offer tonight and set opener ‘War of The Gods’ is one of the best opening songs to an album and a live set I have heard in some time, whilst the impressive ‘Destroyer of The Universe’ also sounded excellent in the live arena.

Unfortunately, with only a 45 minute set to play with, a lot of material was going to be omitted, and classics such as ‘Death In Fire’ and ‘Cry of The Blackbirds’ were the ones to miss out. The majority of the set was made up from their last opus, ‘Twilight of The Thunder God’. The title track of that album along with ‘Varyags of Miklagaard’ and ‘Live For The Kill’ were set highlights as the fans literally couldn’t get enough.

Their set flew by, and before you knew it, Olavi was playing the intro riffs to ‘The Pursuit of Vikings’, a song that has become the final entry in their set for the many tours I have been to see them on in the past, which brought a close to decent set, with only a couple of minor drawbacks for me. One was there seemed to be slightly too much reverb on Johan‘s mic, and another is a personal opinion really. I really love the old material, and it would have been nice to hear just one early track, but I guess when in a support slot, it’s hard to please everybody. Let’s just hope a headline tour is around the corner where this is more likely to happen.

Having lost count of the number of times I have seen CHILDREN OF BODOM, I have always walked away from every single one of their sets having been entertained by both their music and by their antics on stage, and tonight was no different. Let’s face it, it must be awesome being in a band who no matter what, can deliver a killer set whilst also having a good laugh on stage.

The chants of ‘Bodom, Bodom’ swept around the venue and soon enough, the fan’s idols took to the stage opening up with ‘Not My Funeral’, one of a number of tracks played tonight from new album ‘Relentless Reckless Forever’. Credit must be given to the sound techs as it was clear from the off that the guitars were too low in the mix, with them being easily overpowered by the bass. This was fixed pretty much half way through the opening song, and the rest of the set was spot on sound wise, as this would have deterred the set’s enjoyment given the technicality of BODOM‘s music.

As with any new album tour, there was plenty of new material to show off, and the likes of ‘Shovel Knockout’, ‘Roundtrip To Hell And Back’ and ‘Was It Worth It?’ all sounded superb live as the crowd lapped up every second of shredding genius from Alexi. With songs from all but one album being given an outing in the set tonight, set regulars in the form of ‘Needled 24/7′, ‘Hate Me!’, ‘Angels Don’t Kill’ and ‘Downfall’ all played their part to make up a great set, despite the apparent omissions of classics such as ‘Silent Night, Bodom Night’ and ‘Everytime I Die’, whilst a real set highlight was a blistering rendition of the self titled ‘Children of Bodom’ getting a rare outing, as well as the fist pounding ‘In Your Face’.

Janne usually messes about with some cheesy tune intros on his keyboards at some point during the set, and tonight’s treat was a bit of BON JOVI. The set was rounded off nicely with the headbanging anthemic jewel that is ‘Hate Crew Deathroll’, with everybody joining in to sing the chorus which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. CHILDREN OF BODOM are one of best live bands out there, and are still going strong based on tonight’s exceptionally tight performance, which every single member of the Manchester Hate Crew enjoyed. So, until we welcome those crazy Finns back to our shores, Silent Night, Bodom Night!

Ratings:

AMON AMARTH: 4.1/5.0

CHILDREN OF BODOM: 4.8/5.0

Review By Adam Fredericks

Photography By Alex Shaw (Children of Bodom Photos )

Live: Lacuna Coil + Dirty Little Rabbits – Academy 1, Manchester – 31/01/2010

Alex — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:29:17 +0000

You know, my dearest mother used to tell me that “if you cant say anything nice about somebody don’t say anything at all” Well it’s a shame for DIRTY LITTLE RABBITS that I never listened to my rather crazy mother. DIRTY LITTLE RABBITS are confused, confused in sound and confused in direction with pretensions to artiness. They sound like a motorway pile-up of different musical styles with misdirected jazz/psyche noodlings and tired and banal Alt-rock. I know all this sounds very negative but to be honest experimentation without an overarching vision or direction is pretty inane and pointless. It was suggested that they have a passing resemblance to the PORORPHANS and you know what I can’t disagree, because they suck too.

LACUNA COIL on the other hand proved to be a different proposition. I never really rated them much on CD; they always seemed a little tame and “nice” for my tastes. Well my previous closed-mindedness was well and truly exposed this night as they are a real revelation live. Opening with ‘Survive’ off their 2009 album Shallow Life they proved finally that they do have the balls that I haven’t previously heard on their recorded output. They followed with ‘Underdog’, ‘Closer’, an excellent ‘I Am Not Afraid’ and ‘Fragments of Faith’.

Next was ‘Tight Rope’ from the Comalies album with this first part of the show finishing with ‘Fragile’. The band takes a break at this point in what essentially turned out to be a very long set and re-emerge complete with a change of stage clothes (why?) to ‘Wide Awake’, ‘To the Edge’, ‘The Maze’ finishing with a good rendition of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’ complete with cheesy audience sing-along participation. They came out once more unto the breach for ‘Not Enough’, ‘Spellbound’ and ‘Our Truth’ with an enthusiastic crowd virtually prostrating themselves at their feet. Lacuna were one of the slickest and most professional bands I have seen, not loaded with catharsis or angst but taken on the level in which they operate they have at least made a semi-convert of me, live at least.

Rating:

Dirty Little Rabbits 1.5/5.0

Lacuna Coil 3.9/5.0

Review by Lee Bullock and Photography by Alex Shaw (Lacuna Coil Photos)

Live: Staind + Seether – Academy 1 Birmingham – 25/01/2009

Alex — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:15:22 +0000

I have to confess it has been many years since I saw STAIND and I wasn’t sure how many punters they were going to pull in on a cold Sunday night in Birmingham. As for SEETHER their heavy melodic rock sound managed to get them on the Download Festival last year, but I couldn’t see that many people getting that excited about it. Well not for the first time I was wrong! As a substantial queue greeted us upon arrival although you could still buy tickets on the door, it was clear once inside this was very nearly a sell out crowd.

We were through the doors only just in time to catch SEETHER come on, I wish venues could get people through the doors fast enough so they can actually see the bands they’ve paid to see, gripe over and it was clear to see that SEETHER are more than just the support getting a very loud applause as soon as they set foot on stage. Set opener ‘Gasoline’ reminded me of PUDDLE OF MUDD’s ‘Come Clean’ a bit whiney but satisfying none the less. After a brief respite back to the self pitying ‘Breckdown’, at this point I’m beginning to fashion a rudimentary noose out of my camera strap as the thought of an hour of this followed by an hour and a half of STAIND will push me over the edge. Thankfully the second half of the set contained their best material with ‘Rise Above This’ and ‘Fake It’ which got a particularly enthusiastic reaction from the crowd. I was surprised by ‘Remedy’ with a pleasing little touch of NIRVANA style grunge to it. A good set by one of the more interesting bands I’ve seen of late.

Next up was STAIND, which I saw last at the Apollo Manchester many moons ago were Arron Lewis came on and left without any crowd interaction and spent most of the set shoe gazing. So as long as the ever melancholy Arron could muster some personality I would go away satisfied. Like many, I imagine, I haven’t kept upto date with STAIND’s career, to say the least. From the set opener ‘Suffocate’ it’s fair to say their sound hasn’t progressed alot. Not being too cynical but it’s one of those bands that you just want to hear a couple of songs then bugger off to the pub *cough* ‘Its Been A While’ *cough* ‘Outside’. Its only right to give them a fair chance, but it’s evident Arron hasn’t gotten over his woes. With a truly manic guitarist Mike Mushok who seems to be listening to another band completely, Arron has developed slightly more personality to his performance. The new songs ‘Pardon Me’ and ‘Believe’ off their 2008 release ‘The Illusion of Progress’ show the band has found its niche and is well dug in. Which from the crowd reaction everyone is happy, in a way.

Ratings:

SEETHER: 3.8/5.0

STAIND 3.4/5.0

Review and Photography by Alexander Shaw(click here)

Live: In Flames + Gojira – Birmingham Academy – 28/09/2008

Adam — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:39:26 +0000

Upon entering the venue, I arrived just in time for the start of GOJIRA's set. I was looking forward to getting a glimpse of SONIC SYNDICATE and their delicious bass player Karin Axelsson – but the huge queues outside the venue meant that I missed their entire set. Oh well, I'll have to wait until the next time for such delights. GOJIRA's style of metal is very heavy, dark and brutal, and according to IN FLAMES frontman Anders Friden, the French Metallers are the heaviest band he has ever heard. Credit has to be given to GOJIRA for putting on a decent performance, and drawing quite a crowd which probably was just shy of the amount of people for the headline act and served as an apt warm up.

Opening up with the opening track of upcoming album'The Way of All Flesh', 'Oroborus' was a good intro to people of what GOJIRA are all about. A couple more of the upcoming album were played in the 40 minute set tonight of which I particulary enjoyed 'Toxic Garbage Island'. The rest of the set was made up of the bands previous two albums with set closer 'The Heaviest Matter of The Universe' going down a storm with the crowd. One minor point is the fact that they played a bit of a drum solo in their set. Now with a 40 minute set, it seems a bit pointless to waste valuable set time on a drum solo when another song could have been played. Still, this is only a small drawback in what was an very good showcase for GOJIRA who will surely win more fans on this tour.

IN FLAMES are one of these bands now who have such an expansive back catalogue, which makes it impossible to pick a set that will keep everyone happy. There are always going to be some surprise omissions from the set, but IN FLAMES more than make up for this by playing material that you would not expect to hear, and this was the case tonight. The majority of the tracks tonight came from their latest album 'A Sense of Purpose', with other tracks coming from their vast back catalogue, even though some albums did not feature in the set at all.

Surprise set opener was the 8 minute epic that is 'The Chosen Pessimist'. To me, I didn't think this was a good choice of opener for a set, however I can see where the band were coming from with the use of a white sheet to cover their entrance to the stage whilst the song slowly built up. Following this was what I thought would have been a far more appropriate set opener in the pacey number of 'I'm The Highway' which whipped the crowd right up as they started jumping up and down.

With the crowd lapping up every second of this show, it was great to here some of the older stuff included in tonight's set from 'Colony' in the form of 'Insipid 2000' and 'Zombie Inc' whilst 'The Jester Race' got a rare run out too. Surprisingly, 'Behind Space' was nowhere to be seen in the set, and this was among other surprise omissions like fans favourite 'Only For The Weak' and 'My Sweet Shadow'. Still, set regulars like 'Pinball Map', 'Cloud Connected', and 'Trigger' were all headbanged to in syncronisity, whilst Anders Friden got some help from the crowd with the chorus to 'Come Clarity' which the band seem to love to play.

Out of the new tracks on show tonight, the ones that sounded the best live were the outstanding duo of 'Move Through Me' and 'Sleepless Again' and the band seemed as tight as ever whilst putting on a very professional performance which has become expected from such a great, experienced band. There's no doubt that IN FLAMES are becoming ever more popular and as the final notes of the 90 minute set came to a close with 'Take This Life', the crowd left extremely happy and reflected on what was an awesome night for metal, with IN FLAMES yet again raising the bar for metal excellence.

IN FLAMES Setlist: The Chosen Pessimist / I'm The Highway / Vanishing Light / The Mirror's Truth / Insipid 2000 / Satellites And Astronauts / System / Pinball Map / Delight And Angers / Sleepless Again / Zombie Inc / Cloud Connected / The Jester Race / Egonomic / Come Clarity / The Quiet Place / Move Through Me / Alias / Trigger / Take This Life

GOJIRA Setlist: Oroborus / Clone / Backbone / Remembrance / Flying Whales / Toxic Garbage Island / Vacuity / The Heaviest Matter of The Universe

Ratings:

IN FLAMES: 4.3/5.0

GOJIRA: 4.0/5.0

Review By Adam Fredericks

Photography by Alexander Shaw

GOJIRA

IN FLAMES

Live: Dragonforce + Turisas – Manchester Academy 1 – 26/09/2008

Adam — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:42:33 +0000

The brand new DRAGONFORCE album 'Ultra Beatdown' has literally just hit the streets, and hot on the heels of that release, the band are launching their corresponding world tour. This is only the second of circa 80 shows which will see the power metal heroes play Australia, USA, Japan, Canada and all over Europe. Joining DRAGONFORCE for the majority of their trek are Finnish nutters TURISAS - hardly a similar style power metal act, but certainly an entertaining band nonetheless.

With a good proportion of the crowd arriving early, TURISAS endorsed the reason why as they ripped through such classics as their ode to drinking alcohol, 'One More'. The BONEY M cover (ra! ra!) 'Rasputin' is aways an enjoyable number, but the highlight of any TURISAS show is their anthemic war cry 'Battle Metal'. Finally, 'To Holmgard and Beyond' rounded off 45 minutes of highly entertaining, tongue-in-cheek metal, and this set would have been a perfect warm-up for any act.

Every time I see DRAGONFORCE, I wonder how the hell they have got to the level they have when there are certainly some superior power metal bands out there. Only 2 nights ago I saw an awesome display by FIREWIND only half a mile down the road, in front of a tenth of the crowd – a show that I have to say I enjoyed more than the DRAGONFORCE show tonight.

OK, DRAGONFORCE have got a handful of great songs (I'm talking 'Valley of the Damned', 'My Spirit Will Go On', 'Fury of the Storm' and 'Through the Fire and Flames') all of which I enjoyed tonight – but they've also got plenty of mediocre stuff which unfortunately has to be played to pad out the set. The hyper-speed melodies do make some of the songs difficult to enjoy live. However, the over-the-top solos of speed obsessed guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman are extremely entertaining, even if they often sound like the noise you get when trying to tune into a radio frequency.

As for the new material, it just sounds like same old, same old, with only set opener 'Heroes of Our Time' coming close to the standard of the previously mentioned highlights. The awful keyboard solo by Vadim Pruzhanov was cringe worthy, but it was a necessary evil as it allowed drummer Dave Mackintosh to take a much needed breather. Mackintosh is the hardest working drummer you'll ever see live as he has to pound the drums at a ferocious speed, forming a key element of the DRAGONFORCE sound.

DRAGONFORCE like to make a lot of their show very light-hearted – but at times I find it a bit of a parody and a lot of it I don't find funny. Still, judging by the reaction of the sell out crowd tonight, it seems that my opinion is the minority. Still, I have to admit, with the excellent sound in the Academy tonight, for the first time ever, I did actually enjoy a DRAGONFORCE show.

DRAGONFORCE Setlist: Heroes of Our Time / Operation Ground and Pound / Reasons To Live / Fury of the Storm / Revolution Deathsquad / Soldiers of the Wasteland / The Last Journey Home / My Spirit Will Go On / The Warrior Inside / Valley Of The Damned / Through the Fire and Flames

TURISAS Setlist: Battle Metal / A Portage to the Uknown / One More / In the Court of Jarisleif / Rasputin / To Holmgard and Beyond

DRAGONFORCE Rating: 3.8/5.0

TURISAS Rating: 4.0/5.0

Review by James Allman

Photography by Alexander Shaw

TURISAS

DRAGONFORCE