Supports: Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum; Venue: Baroeg, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
By: Elvira Visser & Sabine van Gameren
On a rainy friday evening it was time for a Finnish metal evening at the Baroeg club in Rotterdam. The three Finnish bands Swallow the Sun, Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum are currently touring around Europe.
| The first band this evening was Omnium Gatherum that plays gloomy death metal, founded back in 1996. This bands is influenced by the Finnish melancholy, the melodic metal and the brutal from death metal, fusing this together you will get their sound. Their last album dates back to 2008 and is called “The Redshift”. On stage they bring forth lots of changing atmospheres, moods from sorrow to joy and from hope to despair, all with a catchy undertone. People who heard them for the first time were pounding their heads or legs due to the catchy-ness. There is also a lot of aggression and pride on stage, an attitude that set forth a form of arrogance which does fit with the music but it was a little overdone. |
| Second up tonight was Insomnium, that was welcomed on stage with a lot of cheering. The people that came to see the bands tonight clearly knew not only one band as they sang the lyrics with sometimes even all the bands. In the tiny venue it created a very intimate evening. Insomnium has recently released their fourth album “Across the Dark” and tonight they played many tracks from this album. The band brings their metal in an intense way that it will suck you in and will not let you go until the band leaves the stage. A sound that that mixes melodic leads, doom-inspired riffs and a melancholic atmosphere with the vocals. The songs have no overwhelming amount of layering, which make the melodies feel more direct and pure. Mix Amorphis with Swallow the Sun and Insomnium might be what comes out. The band got the crowd going wild and singing and screaming along their lyrics. The atmosphere was really good as was their performance. |
| It was up to Swallow the Sun to end this evening with their performance and Insomnium got the crowd more than ready. The band was looking forward as this was the venue where they played their first performance on their first tour. On this tour they are promoting their new album “New Moon” which is their fifth album. Swallow the Sun mixes a lot of melody with a more dark melancholic atmosphere. Crushing gloom, beauty and despair is what they bring on stage. Mikko Kotamäki’s growls are a lot sharper then Insomnium’s Niilo Sevänen. The use of Mikko’s clean voice has developed over the years and sounds great on this last album. Somehow the crowd seemed a bit more timid, but that is probably due to the fact that Insomnium has more moments to go wild on. Swallow the Sun is building it up, slowly and dark with beautiful guitar melodies. Only it does not explode that much as Insomnium, but when it does it really sweeps you off our feet. Their set ended with a two piece encore and their last track was “Swallow” which is still one of my favourites and I could not have imagined a better way to end this evening. |
More pictures of this gig available at sabinevangameren.com
Links:
Omnium Gatherum MySpace
Omnium Gatherum Official
Insomnium MySpace
Insomnium Official
Swallow the Sun MySpace
Swallow the Sun Official
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