Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Hovet in Stockholm (next to Globen, sorry I mean Avicii Arena) is an old ice hockey venue where Djurgården plays its matches. This was apparent from the fact that in my seat there was a form filled with hockey stats. I thought that was of little significance, more maybe on the fact that cleaning sometimes misses quite large objects as well. Happens to the best of us as well!
The venue seats many thousand spectators but for some reason it was not quite filled to the brim even though the Swedish representation was at full tilt. Evening’s first proceedings were handed to Soilwork, which was a bit of a letdown, but perhaps the order of business was set already at the beginning of tour. I would have thought that the young ones aka. Orbit Culture were the opener, but that was not the case.
Soilwork has done the melodic death metal thing for about 30 years, so there’s no surprise that the band is tightly knit group of professionals led by the charismatic singer Speed (Björn Strid). It’s never an easy task to be the first act of the evening, but experience showed to me atleast, that the order should’ve indeed been other. The set was a greatest hits kind as there’s not a new album out yet for the band, but older favourites such as “Distortion Sleep” and “Stålfågel” went over like a sack of potatoes! Which is my way of saying the crowd loved them.
For Finns, there’s atleast a chance to catch Soilwork on Kaaos festival next summer. Rumours are that they will have a new album out by then, also a longer (headlining?) slot to perform would allow more songs and a better concert flow.
Soilwork setlist:
Intro: You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (Judas Priest song)
Outro: Morgongåva/Stormfågel
I have absolutely nothing against “young” upstarts like Orbit Culture. They have their own, very strong following and were favourites of the dedicated crowd. Band is from Eksjö and have been active almost 15 years. If I have complaint it would be that this is a Swedish version of Bloodred Hourglass. All melodic death, but no melodies that I can remember after the gig or after listening through a record. That is to me quite unforgivable lack of songwriting quality, but I also understand the huge following and a great work these bands do on the metal circuit. This was my first Orbit Culture gig, and the crowd was much more into it that me, so it may well be that I need to rinse and repeat when possible. “The Tales of War” was maybe the best song to my ears.
Orbit Culture setlist:
But the clear reason to come to Hovet was to see and hear Amon Amarth on homesoil. The Vikings of Stockholm were on the long tour pillaging and raping around Europe. The setup was massive, with huge sets with many changes and background screens with plenty of fire to boot. Their latest album “The Allfather Awakens” has been released just now in October, has proven to be a great-selling album and their first trek is in Europe like mentioned.
Funnily enough, last soundcheck before the start offered a bit of technician humour as in the halls of Hovet you could hear final mic check happening in Finnish. Why are us Finns never mentioned with Vikings? Perhaps because we would’ve stomped their asses as we did with crusaders, cossacks, nazis (eventually), and assorted criminal nations like Russians past and present.
Setlist was varied and had lots of new songs, and good balance was found alternating between them. Odin and Loki also popped in for a visit at strategic points during the show. The AI-enhanced backdrop lived its own life, with changing images and effects which looked really nice in live venue. In the middle of the set we got a little campfire break when the acoustic Upphaf was performed in front of the stage. Before that we had a song dedicated to Tompa Lindberg of At The Gates and Disfear, who was sadly lost about a year ago to cancer. Fuck cancer!
Amon Amarth setlist:
All in all this was a very good night of homegrown metal for the masses. Amon Amarth takes and holds the crown for tonight until the next challenger awakens.
Tour is still ongoing around Europe, so if you have a chance to see them, please “make it so” (RIP Patrick Stewart).
https://kaaosfestival.fi/en/front-page/ (For those Soilwork enthusiasts)
