PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
I was looking forward to the tonight’s gig at King Tut’s with Paradise Lost, Insomnium and Vreid gracing the stage. Paradise Lost had just released their 13th studio album ‘Tragic Idol‘ that day so was really looking forward to hearing some more of the new tracks live and as well the ones from their extensive back catalogue. bring it on \m/
Vreid started off this evening entertainment with ‘Helvete’ and ‘Arche’ King Tut’s is about half full and the crowd are a bit lacklustre in their response to Vreid, which is a shame as they guys are playing away encouraging the crowd to join in head bang along. You can spot the Vreid fans in the crowd and they are having a superb time. they play ‘Disciplined’ next. All the tracks sound great a combination of growly vocal, blistering bass, driving drums and some fantastic guitar work.
Sture, the singer isn’t giving up and he keeps on encouraging the crowd in-between singing so when the guys play ‘Svart’ the crowd are starting to warm up or maybe its the booze kicking in and making them want to party. The crowd have definitely warmed up now and are moshing, bouncing about to ‘Raped by Light’ and ‘Pitch Black Brigade’ goes down even better with a lot more of the crowd getting into it! It’s been a bit tough for the Vreid guys however they conquered it in the end.
Vreid Selist
Helvete
Arche
Disciplined
Svart
Raped by Light
Pitch Black Brigade
I’ve never seen Insomnium before however my pals said they are great alive so I was looking forward to seeing them. As Insomnium’s intro starts the crowds shouts out for the guys and this keeps up until the guys take to the stage, there is even a few members of the crowd with signs made up for the band with ‘I love Finnish Metal and the Finnish flag on them!
They start their set off with ‘Through The Shadows’ and then ‘Only One Who Waits’ about quarter to half of the crowd are singing along which is great to hear. King Tut’s is filling up nicely and its about ¾ full at this point.
The guys are on great form tonight and are serving up a delicious blend melodic and doomy style riffs, ballsy bass lines, foot stomping drum beats and caliginous vocals. 
‘Down With The Sun’ and ‘The Killjoy’ go down well with the crowd, they banter along with the crowd and we’re loving it. They close their short set off with ‘Unsung’ they had to cut a song for their setlist as they had 5 minutes less tonight which is a shame however all the 5 tracks where great
Insomnium Selist
Through The Shadows
Only One Who Waits
Down With The Sun
The Killjoy
Unsung
Their new album ‘Tragic Idol’ was released that day (23rd April) so for a lot of the fans this was the first time hearing any of the new tracks live. I seen the guys at Hammerfest in March where they played ‘Honesty In Death’ and ‘Crucify’, plus I had reviewed the album the week before the gig so knew that new album was sound great on cd as well as being played live!
Once the stage has been set up for Paradise Lost, King Tut’s looks near to capacity, which is great going for 22.30 on a Monday night, which is when their hour-long set starts.
They start off tonight with ‘Desolation’ which is sounding fantastic and then they play the first of the new tracks ‘Honesty In Death’ which sounds even better tonight than it did at Hammerfest! A quick trip into their extensive back catalogue they play ‘Widow’, ‘Erased’ both these songs are very well received by the crowd. Lots of folk are bouncing and singing along, especially me(spot the PL fan girl!), before they play ‘Forever Failure’ and ‘Soul Courageous’.
Greg and Aaron are not holding back tonight, their fingers are flying over the fret boards and they twist and turn their guitars to make them reach their distinctive sounds and styles. Aaron looks like he is having a ball; he’s doing his normal bouncing around however this is a small stage and a few times bumps into Steve who is standing behind him. Steve is banging out some awesome bass lines and Adrian is pounding away on drums driving the songs forward.
A song I’ve been waiting to hear live since I heard the album is up next ‘In This We Dwell’ it’s sounding stunning tonight then ‘Praise Lamented Shade’ I’ve not heard this track in ages and it’s still sounding fab.
Nick comments that “As usual it’s always nice and cool on stage” and then he introduces a track that they “Have been playing for 30, 40, 50 or maybe 60 or 80 years then shouts out As I Die”, then “You have to sing it as I don’t sing it on Mondays!” No more encouragement was need as by then everyone was singing along, hair flying and fists in the air! This is my all time favourite Paradise Lost tracks and it never fails to deliver!
Nick says he would tell us what they are going to play next however he can’t see the setlist, well it is rather dark onstage. A guy in the crowd shouts out “fuck the menu” Nick banters back in what is meant to be a Scottish style accent “I need to see the menu, I can’t fuckin see it” before he introduces ‘Tragic Idol’ in the same accent! Who says Nick is all moody and no fun ;)
Both ‘The Enemy’ and ‘One Second’ are sounding fantastic. Then we have the last new track that they play ‘Fear of Impending Hell’ which is one of my favourites from the new album and I just say this wow it’s even heavier and punchier live than it is on album, this brings us to the end of the main set. The crowd is shouting out for more.
The band comes back on for a quick 2 song encore with ‘Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us’ and ‘Say Just Words’ both these tracks have the crowd bouncing about singing along, hair flying and fists in the air! It a great end to a sublime set that has literally just flown by.
All three bands where fantastic tonight, they all had King Tut’s rocking away. It was a good combination of styles for me, however a few people weren’t too keen on the growlyness of the support bands but they enjoyed Paradise Lost, which is the band they came to see. I definitely want to see Vreid and Insomnium again and hopefully longer set for them both. Paradise Lost I’ll see at Wacken in August and I am looking forward to seeing them again already!
For pictures taken at the gig by Neil click here
Paradise Lost Selist
Desolation
Honesty In Death
Widow
Erased
Forever Failure
Soul Courageous
In This We Dwell
Praise Lamented Shade
As I Die
Tragic Idol
The Enemy
One Second
Fear of Impending Hell
Encore:
Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us
Say Just Words
My interview with
Nick from Paradise Lost CLICK HERE
Niilo and Ville from Insomnium CLICK HERE
‘Tragic Idol’ Album Review CLICK HERE
Special podcast Interview Nick from Paradise Lost featuring tracks from ‘Tragic Idol’ CLICK HERE
Band Links
Vreid
www.facebook.com/vreidofficial
www.myspace.com/thepitchblackbrigade
Insomnium
www.facebook.com/insomniumofficial/info
Paradise Lost
