NOVEMBER 26th, 2024
DARK TRANQUILLITY & GUESTS
Review by Dmitry Sukhinin
Photos by Polina Kulikovskikh
Photo Gallery: http://www.metaltitans.com/concertpics/dark-tranquillity-guests/

I live in Norway, and I go to gigs. I counted - living in Norway, I have seen (waaaaaaay) more bands from Sweden than from Norway. Dark Tranquillity will now make this score even higher.

The evening of 26th of November listed four bands, and, considering the local strict curfew rules, the schedule was supposed to be tight. I got a little bit stuck in traffic, so I entered the Vulkan Arena about seventeen minutes after doors; Hiraes were already playing the first song. Unfair for the opener, but someone has to get their slot.

The blast beat I heard as I was going up the stairs was just ultra brutal. The second thing was these growls and windmilling. Britta Görtz fronting the band is very charismatic, but she also has better growls than most of the bands with harsh vocals. Hiraes was something new to me, and I would compare their sound to Arch Enemy (but much better vocals and fewer scaled down solos) and Amon Amarth.

I figured it out later, - it seems that Vulkan has an issue with sound. Every band had close to zero bass guitar sound in the audience, and guitars varied widely by readability in different places of the venue. The opener had a 3-Kemper rack (these guys are from Germany, what else should they use?), and to me that the guitar profiles had a bit too much gain that makes the guitar sound great alone but making it lost in the mix.

A really good opener! Smoke machines, headbanging. I would only wish the venue had better sound and the lights made more sense - for the first two bands the lights were blasting in the spectator’s faces making the musicians look dark. Light engineers, do not be like this - it also makes the pictures worse. And also the set was just 30 min.

The changeover was only 15 minutes, which is very fast. Wofheart used the same drum kit, but it seemed like they had more microphones. Wolfheart had a better sound and very nice solos (Vagelis Karzis), heavy backtracks in between the songs, but, unfortunately, equally bad lights that I blame the venue for. Despite being the frontman, it was not Tuomas Saukkonen, who was announcing the songs, but Lauri Silvonen on bass duties (also, anyone could instantly guess that the band is from Finland by how Lauri speaks).

I enjoyed the set, despite it being quite short (35 min). Very good back vocals and places with lead clean vocals by Vagelis were very refreshing too. Not without glitches, one place saw Vagelis’s guitar disappearing for a few seconds, the performance was very good and I recommend checking them if you have a chance.
It seemed like most of the audience (also including those who had tights on their hands) came to see Moonspell. They masked the keys with pipes so that Pedro Paixão’s office space looks like a mini organ. The band has managed to do a light speed changeover and line check in 20 just min.

I have not seen the band for many years, so before I heard vocals, I thought that the frontman was someone else - he has changed so much. To me, the best part of the set was Fernando Ribeiro’s perfect vocals. Great growls and very firm cleans.

Moonspell is a big thing! The audience, who also had a lot of Portuguese, knew every word. Despite a very good setlist that included Opium, Night Eternal, Finisterra, The Future Is Dark, mandatory Alma Mater, the sound did not do the band any justice. There was precisely zero bass (no sound from Aires Pereira’s Vigier Excess) in the audience, and it really does feel when most of the set has one thin guitar. Pedro was playing guitar in one song. An hour setlist, I wish it was longer.

Swedish headliner Dark Tranquillity has a bigger production: huge lights and screens behind their backs. Having managed to do a very fast change, they are just one minute behind the schedule with a loud intro. I assume that today has issues with the mix either because of the club, or because there is nothing onstage - no cabinets and amps - every output goes straight to the PA.

Mikael Stanne looks super happy - like if he is at a birthday party. On the 4th song Unforgivable, Johan Reinholdz’s guitar shows signs of being out of tune and this is definitely audible to smiling Peter Lyse Karmark. Johan runs back for some fast tuning, but has to be back onstage for the Hours Passed in Exile, and only then can change his guitar to another. Stressful, but in time. Every band on today’s show deserves a bigger stage, and so, of course, do Dark Tranquility. I have just seen them at Brutal Assault where they took the biggest stage, and these guys do need to play big places. I am happy to hear them playing a lot of usual suspects including Final Resistance, my all-time favorite. Both my favourite records, Projector and Damage Done, were presented, which is a sign of a successful gig to me.