I have to admit I don’t get out to metal shows often (as I think I should!). So, when I heard that Dark Tranquillity, Sentenced, In Flames and Killswitch Engage were on the same bill, I thought: “It is now or never”. You see, the first three bands are among my all time favorites, so the show was shaping up as a “can’t miss”.

As all other companions dropped out, it was only the two of us, myself and my bro-in-law, who went. Funny thing, my bro-in-law isn’t much into metal, much less death metal, but he was a good soldier throughout and enjoyed it even with my annoying explanations of who is who and who is singing what.

We got to I-Rock in Detroit, MI around 6 – 6:30 pm as they were just starting to open doors. I-Rock is a nice, dedicated nightclub which probably would fit about 500 people when filled to capacity. If I were to guess there were probably around 400 people gathered for the show. At the last moment I heard that there would be a few local bands playing prior to the scheduled show. I am all for letting the young talent showcase itself, but unfortunately there wasn’t much talent on display. Drainer, Supercharger and a couple of others (I missed the names) didn’t impress me one bit. While hanging closer to the bar I noticed a man quietly smoking in the corner. It was none other than Sentenced bassist Sami Kukkohovi! He was very approachable, I offered him a bottle of Heineken which he gladly accepted and we chatted about this and that. Among the topics covered were his joining Sentenced, Sentenced origin, his opinion on the state of metal in the US, the beautiful nature of Finland and the Northern Russia region called Karelia where I had gone to a couple of times as a kid. Sami also was not ecstatic about all the local bands playing. In his words: “Is this a f*cking Metalfest or what?” I can see completely where the man is coming from. A botched experience Sentenced already had at the New Jersey Metal Festival a few years back aside, how can you let Sentenced and Dark Tranquillity only play for 30 minutes while the not-so-good kids get 20 minutes? These established bands, 6-7 albums strong, flew across the Atlantic to do a show and we cut them short. What a shame!

The only local band worth mentioning was Lansing’s Summer Dying. Somebody, please, give these guys a deal! I tracked their vocalist, Kerry Cripe, and got their 7-track CD which I hope to review for our site.

After stage clearing and equipment rearranging Dark Tranquillity took the stage around 8:30 pm. I know I am very biased, Dark Tranquillity is one of my favorite bands, so just getting a glimpse of them would make my evening. They opened up with Wonders at Your Feet off Haven. To all of you who think keyboards are redundant and “pollute” DT’s music – you are dead wrong. They add unique, almost gothic, atmosphere to their albums and enrich their live performances. Mikael Stanne was a demon in a black shirt. His slender frame is extremely flexible, so he would writhe as if in pain while spitting out the lyrics. I do know the words to many of DT’s songs (without pretending to understand them), so singing, or more like yelling, along was so much fun. They continued with extremely hooky Treason Wall and headbanger White Noise - Black Silence off the new album Damage Done. The live version of the title track off Haven seemed so much heavier live. While on the album it was somewhat atmospheric, live it was mid-pace groove dominated. I was already in heaven, so when Punish My Heaven (pun intended) came on, all I could do was yell “Hell, yeah!” After Monochromatic Stains (a hit off the new album) and Sun Fired Blanks (an aggressive cut from Projector), DT finished off with Final Resistance, a new album opener. Not much for stage antics, Dark Tranquillity is serious music for serious people. Guitars blaze the sky, and Jivarp’s drumming propels it along. An awesome band that touches every fiber of my body, I almost get physical pleasure listening to their music. While catching some air outside I ran into Niklas Sundin (guitar) and Stanne. Both of them commented on my Dark Tranquillity T-shirt which Niklas sent to me a few weeks prior. The conversation wasn’t long as they were drenched in sweat and it was chilly outside. So, while saying how happy they are to come stateside they ran to the tour bus. My copy of Haven is now autographed, and I will not sell it on eBay for no matter how much.

Sentenced’s frontman Ville Laihiala is a big man, especially compared to Stanne. Easily 6’4” with long black hair he reminded me of an evil hero from the Highlander movie. He was a lot of fun introducing the songs. For example: “You all know that Sentenced perceives life as a series of disappointments. However, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel … or is it headlights of the train coming straight at you??” They started with the hit Cross My Heart and Hope to Die from the new album The Cold White Light. The next song I missed, unfortunately. Noose and Sun Won’t Shine from Down followed. In the latter song there is a part when Vesa Ranta goes into a full driven double bass drumming. It sounded good on the album, and it kicked total ass during the show. After revisiting the new album with Brief is the Light, Sentenced went waaay back in their catalog and played Nepenthe from Amok. The song is about alcohol and Ville appropriately took a good sip of Budweiser and kissed the bottle. Knowing the fans would want to hear this beloved favorite, Sentenced played Suicider from Frozen. They finished their set with Excuse Me While I Kill Myself from the new album. I knew they would play it talking to Sami prior to the show, and he divulged this song has slowly become one of their most popular live songs. Sami Lopakka’s rhythm guitar was very tight and Miika Tenkula was trying to get his soloing as close to the album versions as possible. I also believed they used some samples during the show. I know that some people are saying that Sentenced lost it, and they have become so much more commercial. I can only speak for myself. Whenever I feel down Sentenced music just soothes my soul, so for me they are the cure.

I am not a big fan of hardcore, so I went to the back of the bar and loaded up on more beer while Killswitch Engaged played. I give it to Killswitch that their music is extremely energetic and leaves no room for wussies. A fight actually broke out during their set as the youngest in the crowd became quite excited by Killswitch. I find their music (and the whole hardcore genre) quite repetitive, therefore they could only hold my attention with the first three tracks. Killswitch were given about 40 minutes to play which, no offense to Killswitch, is an insult to Dark Tranquillity and Sentenced. No doubt the US crowd is much more hardcore oriented than European, but you have to respect the longevity and professionalism of the above bands.

In Flames took a long time adjusting their equipment with their sound engineer (could it have been their producer Nordstrom as he had a T-shirt saying Dream Evil on it?). I guess they understand that they are supposed to be the stars of the show, so they wanted their sound to be perfect. While I liked the sound by Dark Tranquillity and Sentenced, I thought they could get vocals a little louder, so we could hear them better. In Flames, honestly, did a better job with the overall sound. They got up on the stage all wearing white buttoned shirts – a departure from the grey overalls attire. Anders Friden was a hell of an entertainer. He could crack a joke and excite the crowd. In some songs, especially from the new album where there is much more of a clean singing they used some vocal effects, but when Anders went all out and just screamed his lungs and esophagus out he was the best. They started with Bullet Ride and non-stop transitioned to Embody the Invisible. Two fiery openers! Then came Behind the Space. I understand that they play this song at every show as it is also on the latest Live album. The crowd went completely nuts in the start-stop riff section of this song. Later on they played another song from the first album, but I failed to get the title. Cloud Connected was the first song from the new album Reroute to Remain. I only had a few listens before the show, and those few listens didn’t hook me onto the new album completely (sorry, Chris). So, honestly, I wouldn’t have been brokenhearted had they played mostly their old material which I love. I kind of didn’t want my first good introduction to the new songs to come from their live versions. Later on they also played Trigger, Drifter (thrash yet lives, my friends!) and Black & White, which is undeniably catchy. Clayman wasn’t my favorite on the eponymous album, but Only for the Weak was (best song on Clayman in my opinion). That album was heavily represented with Pinball Map in addition to the two aforementioned cuts. It may have been that In Flames felt that Clayman already had enough air play in peoples’ CD players, so the songs would be instantly recognizable. I am still more of a fan of their earlier work, so my time came with Gyroscope and Episode 666 (“Would you like to call the Devil?” – asked Anders). Strangely, nothing from The Jester Race. In the middle of Pinball Map Anders invited people to join him on stage which about 50 crazyheads promptly did. After the complete mayhem for about 5 minutes stage diving took place. Having rested a tad with Ordinary Story (definitely used some samples here), the band finished with Colony which riffs simply took the roof off the building. My special compliments to Daniel Svensson, the drummer. After a show like this he must be losing 5 lbs at least. No wonder the stage crew was cooling him off with a fan. Also memorable were moments when Jesper and Bjorn joined their guitars in twin harmonizing. One girl climbed up one of the speakers and simply sat there headbanging for the last 15 minutes. Jesper kept looking in her direction and shrugged his shoulders as if not getting how she could withstand this barrage of sound.

When everything was said and done we left at about 1:30 am, totally deaf with our heads ringing, but I was approaching ultimate satisfaction.

Your devoted reviewer,
Alex