Dark Tranquillity Signals The Endtimes In London With Moonspell, Wolfheart And Hiraes

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Dark Tranquillity Signals The Endtimes In London With Moonspell, Wolfheart And Hiraes

It’s been an exciting month for metal fans in the UK. Not only are we getting the same great new releases as the rest of the world, but there’s a number of huge shows happening in London in November. We already saw what happened when Kamelot came to town, but Turkish giants Mezarkabul (aka Pentagram) are performing their first British show this month and Sepultura will be saying farewell to the British isles. If that wasn’t enough, one of the pioneering names of melodic death metal, Dark Tranquillity, rolled into Islington to promote their stellar new album, “Endtime Signals,” and they brought one hell of a lineup with them.

Fans poured into the Islington Academy as quickly as they could, all excited by what promised to be a fantastic night of music and sure enough, things got off to the perfect start when German quintet Hiraes opened proceedings. Having not long released their sophomore album, “Dormant,” a record well worth your time and a great improvement on their debut, “Solitary,” I was eager to see how the band were in the live setting. Right off the bat, they attacked the crowd with a pulverising sound, thumping the chests of all in attendance. It’s clear that this isn’t just a new project for the members, it’s a work of real passion and they demonstrate that whole heartedly on stage, with Britta Görtz engaging everyone wonderfully through a mix of warm humility and death metal furor, before bringing the music right to the audience by climbing the barricade and screaming at them. This was a great advert for the band, with whom no doubt a good chunk of the crowd were unfamiliar with, putting themselves over big time and making them a new addition to many playlists.

Hiraes were a hard act to follow but Finnish stalwarts Wolfheart, (a name we’ll be revisiting later,) were more than up to the task. Like Dark Tranquillity and Hiraes, the Finns have a new album to promote, “Draconian Darkness,” released two months ago through Reigning Phoenix and they were more than happy to draw from it, pulling “Burning Sky,” “Evenfall” and set closer, “Grave” from the record to perform. Frontman Tuomas Saukkonen cuts a stoic presence, glaring out at the room as the band pounds away, delving into their acclaimed debut with such songs as “Strength And Valor” and “The Hunt,” as well as “Zero Gravity” from their equally beloved sophomore effort, “Shadow World.” When it comes to the manner of the performance, I found Wolfheart to be quite similar to Rotting Christ; very professional, intense and powerful. Crowd interaction is mostly left to bassist Lauri Silvonen, with guitarist Vagelis Karzis also conversing a little, though Saukkonen himself did take the time to say thank you at the end. A thoroughly entertaining set from one of Finland’s best metal bands in recent history.

There was a double dose of legendary metal bands in store tonight, and the first was Portugal’s premier headbangers, Moonspell. The Iberian Gothic metal heroes focused largely on more classic material, with the most recent song being the title track from 2015’s, “Extinct,” which itself has become a staple of their live shows, as well as “Breathe (Until We Are No More)” from the same record. The fan favourite album, “Irreligious” was well represented tonight, beginning with “Opium” and “Awake!” opening their show, while their seminal debut “Wolfheart” (told you we’d be seeing that name again,) was visited once via “Alma Mater,” which was preceded by vocalist Fernando Ribeiro joking about the band before them having a great name.

Having seen Moonspell a number of times, usually with other iconic names such as Rotting Christ or Paradise Lost, it must be saids that their ability to put on a great performance can never be underestimated. They always bring a strong game and tonight may have been the best yet, at least in terms of the Moonspell sets I’ve seen. The audience were practically rabid for the quintet before they even walked on stage and not one of them would have gone home disappointed, with more superb songs like “Everything Invaded” and “Nocturna” given a good airing. As Moonspell fans no doubt know, their shows almost always conclude with another “Irreligious” number, “Full Moon Madness,” and tonight was no exception. It doesn’t matter how many times one sees Moonspell, or how familiar they are with the material, they guarantee a stunning display of musicianship and flare every time.

Finally we come to the men of the hour, Dark Tranquillity. In the four years since their previous album, “Moment,” there’s been some changes in the band, in particular the departures of guitarist Christopher Amott, bass player Anders Iwers and drummer Anders Jivarp, but with a new rhythm section consisting of Christian Jansson and Joakim Strandberg Nilsson, the Swedish veterans crafted another excellent work in the form of “Endtime Signals.” The band are clearly very proud of the release, playing no less than six of the twelve tracks tonight, including “The Last Imagination” to kick things off. Though other bands may find performing new material a bit daunting, these fresh tracks went down very well with the London crowd and vocalist Mikael Stanne could barely stop smiling throughout the set. Their ranks are filled on tour by live guitarist Peter Lyse Hansen of HateSphere, who did a superb job with the new music, as well as the classic.

Of course, there was no shortage of vintage tunes in store tonight, though fans may have been taken aback by the lack of material from “The Gallery” in the setlist, with the oldest represented record being, “Projector” from twenty five years ago. The 2002 full length, “Damage Done” has seen something of a reevaluation by Dark Tranquillity in recent years, most notably by bringing the excellent “Cathode Ray Sunshine” back into the setlists, while “Final Resistance” and “Hours Passed In Exile” were also included. Elsewhere more recent albums like “Moment” and “Atoma” were visited, alongside other work from 2000s such as “Lost To Apathy” from “Character” and three songs from “Fiction,” including the finale, “Misery’s Crown.” Dark Tranquillity has always made sure that fans enjoy themselves at shows, bringing something of a more traditional heavy metal vibe to the live setting than the more vicious or brutal dynamics of their death metal contemporaries, and it makes for a fun night out, as was the case in London this evening.