Insense have decided to play a game of
musical microphones tonight, the number of microphones
actually exceeds the number of band members present.
5 of the damn things are spread across the stage;
there are only 4 members 1 of which that actually
sings, the other 2 provide from what I can tell
random crying at points. Maybe an attempt to not
be rooted to a specific spot due to vocal duties
is the reason here but I personally found the
whole thing rather confusing, especially when
various members collided trying to get to certain
microphones. Now there’s progressive metal
and then there’s a confusing mess of chord
sequences and timings, that’s more like
the type of music Incense produce; each song appears
to have some really intricate riffs and licks
but they’re surrounded by parts that just
don’t compliment them.
 Rise to Remain are the most energetic of all
3 support acts. I feel this is due to their youth
and excitement at touring with such prestigious
metal acts, I know for a fact they are giving
it their all tonight as when I spoke to the lads
a month ago they said they had to really put their
stamp on the night due to amount of acts they
had to contend with. After I struggled to come
to terms with Incense (and later would feel the
same with Ghost) it’s a great feeling to
have a familiar British band on the line up at
this point. Lead vocalist Austin Dickinson bounces
around the stage with his fellow band mates following
his lead, these lads have really matured as performers
since I first saw them perform and they’ve
found their own way of going about it rather than
mimicking the greats. Aggressive music is hard
to deliver any other way than aggressively, Rise
to Remain try to deliver other aspects by having
a laugh and giving a broader range of emotion
into their performance. That part was great, again
however whilst Austin’s voice is getting
better and better with each tour, tonight it wasn’t
as good as you would expect on such a large tour.
There were a couple of mistakes in the guitar
department also but nothing major, I just feel
they’ve still got a fair way to go yet.
 Ghost managed to entertain me for a while but
not very long, their gimmick is really unusually
and quite sinister but due to the nature of it,
they are restricted by what they can actually
do on-stage. Their dark natured on stage outfits
hide their identities but their vocalist’s
outfit is so flamboyant that he is limited to
what movements he can physically make. Regardless
of that they fully embrace the characteristics
of their personas and stick with it through to
the end. After a while however the slow satanic
material starts to become a bit boring standing
against all the other acts on this tour and their
performance suffers the same fate. Don’t
get me wrong they played their songs flawlessly
but it takes more than that to create the ultimate
live experience, I just feel when you’re
on a tour out of your comfort zone you desperately
need to push the boundaries.
 In Flames were one of the bands back when I first
started listening to metal that were one of the
biggest names in the business that cropped up
everywhere. With a string of incredible albums
under their belt already, the release of “A
Sense of Purpose” and their latest effort
“Sound’s of a Playground Fading”
were really quite disappointing with their lighter
approach. This has caused interest in the band
to begin dropping since 2008, tonight with a set
that’s built of a lot of newer material
this was never going to be the best set they’ve
ever given. One thing that did impress me though
is their crowd interaction, before now it’s
been near enough none existent but tonight was
a step in the right direction, “We want
you to stand still for this next song, and pretend
it’s really boring. Yeah, not really let’s
see this place get chaotic”. This is followed
by my favourite song of the night “Only
For The Weak” which was a really unexpected
yet brilliant surprise. After the usual closers
“Cloud Connected” and “Take
This Life” the band departs leaving me and
I’m sure many others with rekindled interest
in their music.
 Trivium finally take to the stage to conclude
a strange and interesting night in Wolverhampton’s
Civic Hall. After the huge range of acts have
given varied performances already this evening,
Trivium have to really pull something out of the
bag to make their presence felt tonight. This
was clearly very apparent to them as they give
quite frankly the best performance of the night;
where the other acts went wrong, Trivium have
succeeded. Striding out to their intro track “Capsizing
the Sea’s”, the band drops the first
few notes of “In Waves” and Armageddon
ensues. There set is filled mostly with tracks
from their critically acclaimed “Ascendancy”
album, including beautiful surprises in “Departure”
and “The Deceived”. Tonight is the
first time I’ve ever seen a  sign that Matt
Heafy and the lads slightly regret “The
Crusade” album as prior to playing “Ignition”
they explain that they don’t play tracks
from that album but give no reason as to why,
but Matt’s face said it all. Seeing as Wolverhampton
was the very first UK city that the band ever
played in, there’s a very special bond with
the fans here which may be why every spoken word
feels very natural, the reaction proves that the
crowd reciprocates the feeling. After a few tracks
from “Shogun” including the amazing
surprise in “Kirisute Gomen”, New
tracks from “In Waves” and a few more
from “Ascendancy”, the band leave
the stage not to return for an encore, but to
be fair Trivium never play encores for some reason.
Huge bursts of energy and a well rounded set,
no matter how what changes the band undergo with
their material, their live set is still as powerful
as it’s ever been.
Insense – 2.5/5
Rise To Remain 3.5/5
Ghost – 2.5/5
In Flames – 3.5/5
Trivium – 4.5/5
Review By James Webb
Photos By Robert Lawrence
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