2010年 Nov 25日 Thursday, 6:46

Wed 24 Nov – Arch Enemy, ChthoniC, Grand Magus, Malefice

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Sweden really is the home for metal. Add a really metal chick from Germany and you have the recipe for one of the best melodic death metal bands ever.

This was actually the first time my schedule had let me see Arch Enemy, so I was rather excited < /understatement>

I missed the first band ChthoniC, but was fortunate enough to catch Grand Magus, who put on a great show. I'd never heard anything by them before, but I'll certainly be checking out the album they were promoting, Hammer of the North! A great energetic set which appealed to those loyal fans and new converts alike.

After a lengthy wait, Arch Enemy took the stage. All 5' 3" of blonde ass-kicking Angela Gossow takes the stage and the aural assault begins. The band powered through classics such as Dead Eyes See No Future and I Will Live Again, and my personal favourite, the great hulking metal monolith My Apocalypse. The set was rounded out by a rather impressive drum solo from Daniel Erlandsson, and an instrumental from the rest of the band that was oh-so-temptingly close to kicking into Hybrids of Steel…. but didn't much to my disappointment…
However, the disappointment was short-lived, and I was rewarded with the crowd unifying Nemesis as an encore.

As always with a metal gig, some of the complexities of the guitars are lost in the maelstrom of drums and vibration, but as a whole the sound was reasonable, and the Garage makes up for that by being a pretty decent venue - 8/10. For the band itself, I think the set could have been longer (for both bands), but it was a technically sound setlist, and did exactly what it promised on the tin - 8/10.