Timeblog.net

So, in my hometown, two bands I really wanted to see, one band that sounds like a mixture of both of them. Well, and Caliban, but more on that later.

As I didn’t have a long drive, I could comfortably start at 19:00 and arrived just in time so I didn’t have to wait in line up front and the concert started just 10 minutes later. The Substage is a rather small club, I think it once was a subway to cross the street, so it’s narrow and long. It’s usually very crowded and very hot, and this evening there was added kiddie entertainment (moshpits), so it became extremly cramped from time to time, but well…only thing to survive that, if the guy before you bangs his head, you have to stay synced with him or you risk your nose
The first band were Sonic Syndicate, a young band (really look more like a school band…), that sound much like Soilwork, but from the direct comparison you could hear that they still have a way to go, but lots of potential. They have two singers, one scream/growl guy who was really great, and a clean singing guy who was mediocre, he didn’t seem to be really fit and sang quite low. In addition, during the first four songs, his mic was turned down and only during the fifth song it became better. I don’t know where the keyboard sounds came from, I guess they were recorded? Whatever, next album try to choose less cheesy keyboards. They played seven songs, and I liked them best during the (short) more aggressive moments. That really suits them, and I hope they will record some more aggressive songs in the future. Good opener, the potential is there!

After a short break, it was time for a grand old Melodic Death band. Looking at how the audience comprised of mostly kiddies and young students, that knew the lyrics to most Sonic Syndicate songs, this was the band for the more mature audience. I have really underrated Dark Tranquillity in the past, that has to change. They were the best band this evening. Before the concert, I wished for two songs, and guess how happy I was when “The Treason Wall” came as the third song and “Misery’s Crown” as the fith or sixth. They mostly played new material, but also the opener from their first album, The Gallery. The singer, Mikael Stanne, has a great presence on stage, is honest and happy, and just seems like a great guy. His voice is amazing, especially how he manages to growl, but still stay melodic - you can even understand the words in the growls! Sometimes the songs are not very accessible, as the patterns that build the songs change often and sometimes incomprehensible. But especially the fast parts, and the overall dense atmosphere show the greatness of this band. A great gig, and of course way too short!

But - only ten minutes later Soilwork had to show where the hammer hangs. Oh, and they did. Dark Tranquillity certainly were the best band, but Soilwork the most fun! Speed controlled the audience, always crying for horns, for singing, for jumping and for gigantic moshpits for the younglings. Even though the songs aren’t that diversified, in contrast to Sonic Syndicate the pure energy they radiate while playing is enough! Way too short, they had to stop way too soon, they should have played at least twice that long. Like Speed put it, let me agree: “Time is running out, and that suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!”

Why? Because some guy somewhere decided that in Germany not Soilwork, but Caliban played as headliner. Oh yeah. After waiting for 40 minutes, they finally came on stage. Ok, during the first song I thought, maybe it’s not that bad. Ok, the indifferent screaming of the vocalist was bad, but at least the song sounded fast and aggressive. But then, during the second song, the guitar player did the clean vocals. “I rahaaaape myself.” Oh my god, how embarassing and just bad. The songs have no structure whatever, the screaming is annoying, so I did what I thought I would do, I listened to three songs and left, having had enough power for one evening already, no need to have it wasted by this generic uninspired piffle. And - to make things worse, after the second song the singer said they were sorry for being 20 minutes late but their plane had only landed an hour earlier. Surely someone had known that they would be late, so why didn’t Soilwork just play 3-4 more songs?

Still, a great evening, two days of neck pain but very much worth it! Go Soilwork, go Dark Tranquillity, and way to go, Sonic Syndicate!

Other incidents:
- Best microphone testing text: “Young boy’s ass - ass of a young boy:” … then for the next tests, he just switched to Swedish I think, sounded like a Chinese trying to talk French.
- What would a metal concert be without people crying “SLAYER!!!!” in between songs. I’d prefer them screaming SOILWORK!!! during the whole Caliban-Gig - Worst concert clothing ever: Bright red (!) Queens of the Stone Age shirt, generic blue jeans, white shoes, and a checkered baseball cap.
- Merchandise got the demand right, I think: T-Shirts from Caliban 15€, all other 20€. I would have bought a Dark Tranquillity shirt, but they didn’t have one that wasn’t full of skulls. I’d preferred a plain one, just a logo and tour dates, maybe.