PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
On a chilly November Tuesday, warmed by burritos from the best rock bar in Glasgow, Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, we headed across the road to The Garage to see Lacuna Coil and their two support bands on the Delirium World Tour. With doors at seven and a ten pm curfew I couldn’t see how it was all going to fit in. The answer is there was no messing around and some of the fastest stage turnarounds I’ve seen. The show started only fifteen minutes after doors with a set from Italian symphonic death metal outfit Genus Ordinis Dei. They’re on this tour promoting their soon to be released album Great Olden Dynasty. Their Lacuna Coil connection started last year when LC bassist Marco “Maki” Coti Zelati produced their self titled EP. The venue was far from full at this point but the people who were there seemed appreciative enough, even if the band did seem slightly out of place on the bill. Their style is heavy and well constructed, yet some songs meander and plod at times. They were musically unsuited for the touring package, but then again, if all the bands were the same, what’s the point? G.O.D. were genuinely excited to be playing in Glasgow and their enthusiasm and self belief is to be commended.
After a quick break it was on to rising Danish outfit Forever Still; the complete opposite to Genus Ordinis Dei, much more suited to support Lacuna Coil and lucky enough to play to a venue that was by this time almost full. Forever Still are a female fronted metal band from Copenhagen led by the enigmatic Maja Schønning (Shining), who is surely destined for great things. Their heavy songs filled with heartbreaking melodies are emphasised to great effect with Shining‘s dynamic vocal range. Soothing, gentle and soulful one moment, bestial and cacophonous the next. She looks like she’d fit comfortably in your pocket but her vocals are ferociously huge. ‘Miss Madness’, ‘Feel the Fire’ and closing belter ‘Scars’ were highlights in a set that set a hell of a challenge to the headliners. PlanetMosh have been saying it for a long time now – Keep your eyes on Forever Still!!!!!
After a slightly longer break to put the stage set together, which included wire mesh cages and overalls topped with Michael Myers style masked mannequins hanging on the walls to create a sanatorium the band took to the stage looking every inch the deranged escapees. From corpsepaint to a bullet hole in a forehead and frontwoman Cristina Scabbia’s straitjacket style outfit they played their parts very well. Cristina arrived on stage shining a lamp into the crowd, representing a searchlight scanning the area for an escaped inmate.
Highlights included ‘Spellbound’, ‘Heaven’s a Lie’ and ‘The Ghost Woman and the Hunter’, being played on this tour in a new arrangement, which was quite haunting and their cover of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence, which has become a staple at their shows, sparked a mass singalong.
It all seemed to have gone wrong at one point as the show came to a sudden and complete stop. The house lights came on and Cristina explained that a member of the crowd had taken ill and then jumped off stage to help while Andrea, I’m sure accidentally, nearly started a riot when he tried to fill in the time by asking if people preferred Rangers or Celtic. He then announced that AC Milan is best and shortly afterward the security guards carried the sick girl out and the band launched straight back into the show with no let up in intensity. The new material from Delirium is spectacular live and Lacuna Coil’s progression from Gothic to nu-metal leanings has culminated in roaring songs like ‘Blood, Tears, Dust’ which are impressive on the stage. As if in affirmation of their belief, Cristina, Andrea et al. conclude with ‘The House Of Shame’, the opening track from Delirium. Not many bands are brave enough to end their evening with a new song and I applaud this move.
