03-02-2019 Obscura

The very first formation we got to see was First Fragment. Technical Death Metal from Canada with a debut album that came out in 2016. The guys have been around since 2007 though.

While they are on the road with Obscura they reach an audience that may very much be interested in their music and with the show of this they seem to succeed in getting people’s attention. Compositionwise they throw in some interesting moments, especially when the bass is stepping more to the front. As a show they are however a bit generic. Executed well, but lacks a bit of excitement here and there. The classical approach could be of help for them, perhaps in future releases a bit more stress on that will give them a bit more of an own face.

The story of the American Allegaeon is almost similar, founded in 2007 and their latest dates back to 2016. Previously they have been on tour with Ne Obliviscaris and so they are not strangers to the audience.

The band starts with “All Hail Science”, a song which tells you right what they are up for. A modern approach, playful styles and comprehensive compositions that go a bit more in depth than the opener of the evening. The band also gives us some brand new material tonight, a song called “Stellar Tidal Disruption” is played. It seems much in line with the other songs they played but somewhat more rough, going a bir more vehement on it. No idea if this will be its final shape but it seems to fall well with the audience.

Closing their set is the older track “Behold (God I Am)” which people seem more familiar with. To us it looks like their stagetime was a tad bit too short. Maybe two more songs would have fulfilled us more, but let’s say: Bring on that new release!

Fallujah is bringing us some more spectacle tonight. The guys have a dark style and prefer to be on top speed at all point. Where previous act would balance things a bit more carefully, these guys seem to be the risk takers.

With an album up to be released in March the guys have something to heat up their audience for. Bringing a lot of the energy of the music also back onto the stage in their passionate performance the guys have the strong attention with the audience. Some movement goes on and all what is given gets returned.

But besides the selectively chosen songs, the guys are throwing in some good skills to observe, not because it they want to boast it, the songs are composed in such a way that they don’t need to overly promote it. It is there to impress and that is what speaks most for this band. It feels all natural. Their show was a highlight for sure.

Headliners Obscura released a new album called “Diluvium” last year. They are taking it on the road and with the titletrack they start their night. As they are from Germany I was not really surprise to notice quite a few Germans took the trip to Haarlem to see the guys play tonight.

The guys started their journey with this band in 2002 and with now five full lenght releases they have plenty to choose from. They built their set carefully, the right amount of playfulnes is it, having the energy bursting out halfway their set. When a song like “Mortification of the Vulgar Sun” hits the audience one simple grasps the essence of the band. It seems to bring all together.

The audience by now is fully into it, but the older songs of the band seem to hit most ground. “Incarnated” is one of the highlights of their set. The band gives one more song as an encore and then they leave us hoping for more. A good set played by the guys, an act that we hope to see at many festivals this summer.