Dark Tranquillity / Wolfheart / Nailed to Obscurity
May 1, 2017, Nosturi, Helsinki, Finland
There should have been no doubt beforehand that this was going to be a great concert. Unless the bands had an extremely bad day – like singers losing their voices, instrumentalists breaking limbs, broken / out of tune instruments, a totally deaf sound person and no lights despite a few candles. Oh, and only 1-2 fans showing up to watch. Well, all pretty unlikely with this line-up that was about to attract quite a number of people.
Theoretically there was only one band to provide a surprise, Nailed to Obscurity from Germany. And well, it turned out a positive surprise. Melodic Death Metal with some Progressive elements and lotsa diversity, so that Singer Raimund Ennenga could show his variable voice between growls and clean. Something to be listened to attentively, therefore quite suitable for a Finnish audience. And I assume they found some new fans on their King Delusions album tour here in Helsinki as well. Bandwebsite
Setlist: (Intro) King Delusion, Protean, Devoid, Desolate Ruin
Wolfheart actually tried to tick off some items on the “extremely bad day” list: Due to unforeseen circumstances, they quickly had to find a replacement for guitarist Mika Lammassaari. Joni Lahdenkauppi (MyGrain, Pain Confessor) provided a more than solid performance, considering the short time he had to prepare! Then “no voice”, well, that was the case for Lauri Silvonen. As the Bass-man he did not have to use it that often for singing, though, and he tried his best to make somehow audible announcements. That was it then – surely stressful for the band, but the audience received once again a high quality delivery of epic and powerful songs; yet only 1 of the new album Tyhjyys fit into the (way too short) set. Bandwebsite
Setlist: Hunt, Strength and Valor, Aeon Of Cold, Boneyard, Abyss, Zero Gravity, Routa pt. 2
Well, and what to say about Dark Tranquillity? Those guys from Sweden not only have a lot of excellent songs, they also feature one of the best singers and most likeable front men you can possibly find in the Metal scene. And nothing of the abovementioned factors for a bad day (at least nothing that I knew of or one could perceive): The show contained a selection of new and old hits. Moreover, Stanne, Jivarp, Sundin, Brändström & Iwers offered some visual gimmicks on a video screen, e.g. artwork and graphics of the new Atoma album. Which most likely was not really of huge importance for their Finnish fans – I’m sure, the massive Nosturi crowd would have gone nuts even with just a few candles to provide light on stage …. Thank you once again for a delightful concert evening, and hopefully CU soon again on a Finnish stage!
Bandwebsite
Photos: K. Weber – and HERE you can find the photo gallery
