Children
Of Bodom headed to Bristol Academy tonight with
Napalm Death, Insomnium and Medeia in tow as support,
due to car trouble I missed Medeia but managed
to get into the venue just before Insomnium took
to the stage.
Now Insomnium are a four piece death metal band
from Joensuu Finland who have released 5 albums
and various EP’s in their 16 year career
so far and tonight they had a 25 minute set and
were on top form and really showed what they were
all about with their massive heavy sounding jamming
and dirty sounding gruff vocals from frontman
Niilo Sevanen.
Insomnium
played a set which span right through their career
with songs from their latest album ‘One
For Sorrow’ right back to songs from their
early EP’s and the great thing about Insmnium
was the fact that each and every song they played
maintained the same high standard throughout as
the band really came together playing their instruments
with pure speed and passion right up until set
closer ‘Mortal Share’ left us all
wanting more.
Next
up were Birmingham based grindcore legends Napalm
Death who really brought the noise tonight as
from the off the band layed down some seriously
heavy sounds whilst front man Mark Greenway constantly
ran across the stage screaming his bollocks off
like he was doing a bleep test on speed and what
made things more insane was the fact that they
played in pure darkness apart from a mad flurry
of fast paced strobe lighting which made the whole
Napalm Death experience that little bit more intense.
During
their 45 minute set Napalm Death had the mosh
pit flowing with fans bouncing off each other
to their short hectic songs and it was the likes
of ‘Multinational Corporations’, ‘Narcoleptic’,
‘The Wold I Feed’, ‘Leper Colony’,
‘Siege Of Power’ and their Dead Kennedys
cover ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’ which
really got the crowd moving tonight and when Napalm
Death left the stage I was left comparing Mark
Greenways stage presence to that of Letlive frontman
Jason Aalon Butler who always puts on an equally
hectic show.
Finish
metal gods Children Of Bodom took to the stage
at 9.30pm and since the last time I saw Children
Of Bodom live their stage show has got that little
bit more impressive with big screens hanging at
the back of the stage which showed various different
short videos and also displayed the bands initials
every now and again, and not to forget the crazy
amount of lighting set up and straight away they
got down to business playing the likes of ‘Transference’,
‘Silent Night, Bodom Night’, ‘Sixpounder’
and latest album title track ‘Halo Of Blood’
and for the majority of the show I really did
not know where
to look as all five members of Children Of Bodom
are solid musicians who’s talent really
shined tonight with Jaska Raatikainen aggressively
smashing the hell out of his drums whilst Janne
Wirman was showing off his beautiful keyboard
work which really set’s Children Of Bodom
away from the majority of metal bands on the scene
at the moment and as for frontman Alexi Laiho
I have never witnessed a guitarist play as technical
and fast as he did tonight and with such ease.
As
the show progressed Children Of Bodom played fan
favourites such as ‘Lake Bodom’, ‘Towards
Dead End’, ‘Hate Me!’ but it
was the likes of ‘Hate Crew Deathroll’,
‘Are You Dead Yet?’ and ‘Bloodrunk’
which got the biggest reaction from the crowd
tonight with so many people singing and fist punching
along to the heavy yet melodic sounds of Children
Of Bodom.
The set came to an end with ‘Downfall’
and within seconds of the band leaving the stage
the crowd started chanting “Bodom, Bodom,
Bodom” louder and louder until they came
back onstage to play the fast paced show closer
‘In Your Face’ and even then you could
tell that the fans wanted more as Children Of
Bodom are masters of melodic metal who seriously
know how to put on a first class live show.
Insomnium 4/5
Napalm Death 4/5
Children Of Bodom 5/5
Review By Trigger
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