It’s great to see sub genres of metal sticking together as was the case tonight. All too often nowadays, their seem to be a lot of tours where the support are not even in the same sub genre as the headline act, which makes you wonder what why they were chosen?! But it was good to see that Finnish doomers SWALLOW THE SUN were chosen, and they really did serve as the perfect warm up act.

The last time I saw SWALLOW THE SUN was a couple of years back at Bloodstock, and while their set may have lost a little of its gloomy atmosphere given it was outside and the sun was out, that was certainly put right tonight. With the heavy riffs and keyboards bringing a certain aura to the set, coupled with the rough style vocals of Mikko Kotamaki, they really did create a great atmosphere in the venue and songs like ‘Sleepless Swans’ and ‘Swallow’ went down extremely well with the crowd.

Back on UK soil after a successful tour supporting PARADISE LOST late last year, Swedes KATATONIA were back, albeit with two guest musicians filling in. It was pretty much guaranteed we would hear more material from their latest album ‘Night Is The New Day’, I just didn’t expect so much of it to be played given the number of gems in their extensive back catalogue.

The only new track that got a showing in their set last year, ‘Forsaker’, opened up tonight’s set closely followed by another new one, the sublime ‘Liberation’ which sounded as good live as it does on record. Other highlights from the new material on show tonight were the impressive duo of ‘Onward Into Battle’ and the heavier ‘Day And Then The Shade’, while the first single, ‘The Longest Year’ was also received well by the Wolverhampton faithful.

There were a few surprise omissions to the set in the fact that nothing off the brilliant ‘Brave Murder Day’ album was played , whilst other set regulars like ‘Soil’s Song’ and ‘Consternation’ were also A.W.O.L. in favour of some of the material not usually played by the band, most notably, ‘Saw You Drown’.

Even with two substitute members in the band, the material sounded as you would expect it to with the regular members and it just kept on coming and before you knew it, the set was coming to an end with the excellent renditions of ‘Dispossession’ and ‘Leaders’. Even with a few surprise omissions (well you’re not going to please everyone are you?!), KATATONIA played an impressive set which went down brilliantly with everyone. It’s just a shame there wasn’t a few more people to witness these majestic Swedes in action.

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Photography By Alexander Shaw

(SWALLOW THE SUN Photos)

Opening with ‘Ghost of The Sun’, KATATONIA delivered an excellent 40 minute set of truly beautiful intertwined melodies with more heavy riffs, and the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, despite their being hardly anyone there. With a fantastic new album out, ‘Night Is The New Day’, it was a little disappointing to only hear one new track tonight in the form of ‘Forsaker’. Tracks like ‘Liberation’, ‘Nephilim’ and ‘The Longest Year’ would have definitely worked well in this environment.

Still, the rest of the set made up for the lack of new material with some note perfect renditions of ‘My Twin’, ‘Soil’s Song’ and ‘Consternation’, while the brilliant ‘Evidence’ went down superbly with those in attendance. The majority of the set came from the previous two albums, ‘The Great Cold Distance’ and ‘Viva Emptiness’, and set closer, the superb ‘Murder’ rounded off a wonderful performance from the Swedish doom/gothic metallers who will be returning to the UK in March next year. Get yourselves there, I will be.

Onto tonight’s headliners and the UK’s very own PARADISE LOST took to the stage with the venue just shy of half full, which was much to the contrary earlier in the year when I saw them at Hammerfest. I know PARADISE LOST aren’t as big over here as they are in Europe, but hey, even this was a disappointing turnout for one of the founding fathers of the genre. With one of the best drummers in the world being newly appointed, Adrian Erlandsson fitted in perfectly tonight and it hasn’t taken him long to get up to speed as the set was very tight tonight considering Nick Holmes seemed to be having some technical problems with hearing the songs (which seemed to be the reason for him leaving the stage at one point).

Plenty of new material from their superb new album, ‘Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us’, was on show tonight with the standout tracks being set opener ‘The Rise of Denial’, the brilliant ‘Frailty’ and ‘First Light’. There was plenty of old school songs in tonight’s set for the older fans in the form of ‘Pity The Sadness’, ‘As I Die’ and ‘Enchantment’ being some examples, while newer songs like ‘Erased’ and ‘The Enemy’ also got an outing and both were well appreciated by the fans.

A surprise omission to the set was ‘Hallowed Land’ and the opening track of the new album, ‘As Horizons End’, which I thought would be certainties, but they made up for it by playing ‘Eternal’ to many of the fans delight. Closing the main set with ‘Requiem’, before kicking into the encore with the title track from the new album, ‘Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us’, and then closing with the ‘The Last Time’ and their most famous song to date, ‘Say Just Words’, closed a truly wonderful set.

With a strong new album, PARADISE LOST are still at the top of their game both live and on record, even if Nick Holmes can’t sing the old stuff like he used to. Tonight’s performance was professional and excellent, given the technical problems they had during the set. It’s just a shame there weren’t more people in to see some quality doom and gothic metal.

PARADISE LOST Setlist: The Rise of Denial / Pity The Sadness / Erased / I Remain / As I Die / The Enemy / First Light / Eternal / Enchantment / Frailty / One Second / Forever Failure / Requiem / Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us / The Last Time / Say Just Words

KATATONIA Setlist: Ghost of The Sun / July / Criminals / My Twin / Soil’s Song / Evidence / Forsaker / Consternation / Murder

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Photography By Alexander Shaw (click here for Photo Gallery)