 Due to the tragic recent passing of Evile bassist
Mike Alexander, only two bands are playing on
this tour now, Entombed and Amon Amarth, I got
into the Wulfrun Hall, seems to be a second home
recently for me, no problem at all tonight, and
some how i could tell what sort of crowd this
is gonna be, a rather subdued crowd, the air seems
to hang heavy really, odd!
Entombed make there way to the rather stinky stage
tonight, im pretty sure something died on the
stage recently and i think it may have been the
personal hygiene of the entombed singer, as parts
of the stage smelled really bad and followed him
around. Boy did they put on a show, so good in
fact that after i had shot my three songs, i made
my way to the side of the hall and sat down, as
the constant grinding, repetitiveness and length
of there songs wore me down pretty quickly, and
i have to say the crowd was enthused as much as
i was. There was a few flashes of actual melody
and some decent riffs before going back to the
grinding boring live sound that they've lovingly
nurtured over the years. The crowd, there was
a few head nodding splashed with the occasional
proper head bang, then for some reason the crowd
erupts momentarily coming to life to the fact
that Entombed are going to tribute one of there
songs to fallen comrade Mike Alexander, this song
started decent enough before going back to its
boring ways, i was glad when the set finished,
more to my amazement was the lead guitarist, got
to the barrier and started shaking everyone's
hand, i let him pass me by, to a guy at the end,
who i heard him say to the entombed member, your
the worst band Ive ever seen, ballsy? was the
guitarist pissed off, no, he went and got a video
camera and recorded this guy, saying entombed
was his number one all time worse band ever! do
i agree not really no, although they were dire!
 Finally after the endurance test of entombed,
were viking metallers, Amon Amarth, starting off
brutally with tracks i know fuck all about, but
i know its heavy and viking themed, and the crowd
responded rapturously, the guys on stage spent
a fair bit of time head banging in unison, just
hair flying about, while blasting out there Nordic
melodic death metal, the vocals i could make some
of them out, other times the growls were lost
on me, i even caught the odd track title every
now and again, Twilight of the Thunder Gods, Guardians
of Asgaard and Cry of the Black Birds, which the
Johan the vocalist, dedicated to all the female
members of the audience, i wasnt sure what to
expect from them really, was it gonna be like
the usual melodic death metal crap, or something
decent, im happy to say it was of the decent variety,
although it had its peaks and troughs, the solos
in particular were sometimes hit and miss, but
im sure if the band had to inspire an ancient
army to fight, im sure they'd do a grand job as
they got the weaponless crowd whipped up into
a frenzy and on occasion a few pits broke out,
but the crowd was rather well behaved as there
was not beer throwing as normally happens at these
gigs and there was also a distinct lack of crowd
surfing, the crowd i also noticed was looking
rather old in places standing back letting the
new guard of fans as it were filling the front
near the stage, after the band were done im sure
the crowd could do with some mead and a sing song
around a fire instead they'll have to be content
with a good gig and the journey home.
Entombed – 2/5
Amon Amarth – 5/5
Review By Robert Lawrence |
