Despite arriving early a mix up over press passes meant that I caught only the last few minutes of Iron Swan’s set as I made my way down the long hall of the corporation, fighting through a dense crowd who were nodding appreciatively to gloomy doom offering. Cramped right to the front of the stage by several bands worth of kit they were difficult to see through the thick wall of dry ice. I didn’t hear much but I liked of Iron Swan what I heard and made a note to try and catch them again.
Hot on the heels of Iron swan were Sweden’s Soilwork drawing a large enough crowd to make this seem as though maybe it should have been a joint headline tour. Taking to the stage with a big crowd response they waste no time in starting an energetic performance which seemed also stifled by the amount of Arch Enemy kit which was taking up the back of the still notably cramped stage.
Quite notable was the poor sound quality throughout the set, quite muddy and bass heavy it seemed to lose many of the nuances of Soilwork’s sound. Despite a passionate performance the guitars and keyboard could be difficult to hear. The combination of dry ice and pillars throughout the venue made it also quite difficult to see the band.
There was consistent sound throughout for the pummeling drums, and animated bass playing and fortunately Björn’s vocals were clear throughout. He put on a good display of clean singing and menacing growls, although it must be said that he especially looked incredibly cramped on the corporation’s tiny stage: often having to avoid banging his head on the ceiling when interacting with the crowd. There was no shortage of crowd interaction and Half an hour into their 50 minute set they got a pit going.
This was a great performance from the band however they did seem to be hampered quite a lot by the tiny backlit stage shrouded in dry ice coupled with some pretty hit and miss sound of the venue itself. However it must be said that didn’t dim the enthusiasm of either the band or the appreciative crowd who by that point had the venue literally dripping with sweat.
Arch Enemy take to the stage close to twenty minutes late after what felt like an eternity standing in the sweltering heat whilst the stage crew messed around with sound cabling.
They were greeted by a rapturous audience who were rammed in right to the back of the corporation.
It must be noted that all of the messing about with sound cables must have done something as Arch Enemy had far better sound on stage than Soilwork, not brilliant with the guitars occasionally too low in the mix, but still a vast improvement. Unfortunately the same can’t be said of the lighting with the band once again obscured from view throughout most of their set. Call me old-fashioned but when I go to see a band I’d like to actually be able to see them not just their outlines. They played a strong mix of the popular songs such as we will rise, war eternal, my apocalypse and nemesis, and also plenty of songs from their new album war eternal.
Largely hidden in the mist and occasionally low in the mix the guitar work of Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott is absolutely top-notch stuff. Putting on displays of fretboard gymnastics that should see them place highly in the medals should there ever be a guitar olympics.
Of particular note the drumming from Daniel Erlandson is an absolute tour de force, beating the drums with plenty of energy which seemed only to add to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the corporations sweatbox of a venue. Working well with the bass to provide a potent rhythm section which demanded the crowd clap along.
It was my first time seeing Arch enemy with Alissa White-Gluz so I was not quite sure what to expect from the replacement for the somewhat iconic Angela Gossow. Of course the fact that I haven’t seen them means absolutely nothing to the band themselves and they’ve played enough shows with me not watching that they care not about my apprehension.
Alissa has gelled well with the band and is more than confident on stage delivering those guttural growls which landed her the job in the first place with enough confidence to leave me wondering why I bothered to doubt, Good stage presence, and was rewarded with good strong crowd responses. A thoroughly enjoyable performance.
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY RICH PRICE
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