I hadn’t seen COB in a few years, and now that the band is touring to promote the new "Halo Of Blood", I thought it was a good opportunity to check what they have been up to, or at least to remember those early records I used to listen to back when I was a teenager.
The Circus is unusually set up in such a way that the upstairs is now the drinking area, while downstairs is full of kids all excited to see Alexi and the others, and later in the evening it will be so full that it will make it really hard to move around!
But it was nice to see that already quite a few people were inside in time for the first band, Lost Society. These young boys from central Finland are truly something live, you can seriously see how much fun they are having on stage, and this is affecting the audience, especially the younger ones going crazy and starting some circle pit in the middle of the venue.
It’s rare to see a young band having so much effect on the crowd, and I must say every time I see them now I am expecting a good show. This gig was no less, and to be honest I believe they are even getting better as they gather live experience. Next they will embark on a European tour with Suicidal Angels and Fueled By Fire, I’m sure they’ll do great!
Next on stage is For The Imperium, a band which I am not so keen on, and honestly I never followed much. The band has just released their second album this year, "Hail To The Monsters", and they have been generally well received by the local critics. For me their music just doesn’t match with the hype, and especially the more clean parts fail to convince me. The show in itself is ok, but in my opinion this gig brought the mood down a bit after the energetic opening act, although this should be taken more as a compliment towards Lost Society. Too bad anyhow, because with a different atmosphere it might have been working better.
In a way now for a change of pace I was waiting for Children of Bodom to start, and the beginning wasn’t really the best. With Alexi spitting around as always and with some screens on the back showing images from the new record, most of the set is focused of course on the new album, kind of "meh", given it sounds like something in between the previous and "Hate Crew Deathroll". But there is very few space for the classics, which is what was interesting me the most.
Also performance-wise the band gave me the impression that they weren’t in their best shape, last time in Helsinki at Jäähalli it was far better for me. "Bodom After Midnight and "Lake Bodom" raise the spirit a little, while the teens in the front rows are ecstatic to say the least. Then the gig goes without anything particularly noteworthy, up to "Towards Dead End", and finally my personal favorite "Downfall", before the encore with "In Your Face".
In any case this is far from the good old times when I was really looking forward to see COB. Maybe it’s just me, and at least the youngsters seems to love it still, but I think they have lost that original grip they had on their fans. Still the old albums are great stuff it their genre, it’s in the live shows which the band appears to be lacking that passion of the early days.
Setlist:
01) Transference
02) Needled 24/7
03) Living Dead Beat
04) Halo of Blood
05) Scream for Silence
06) Bodom After Midnight
07) Lake Bodom
08) Hate Crew Deathroll
09) Shovel Knockout
10) Dead Man’s Hand on You
11) Are You Dead Yet?
12) Blooddrunk
13) Angels Don’t Kill
14) Towards Dead End
15) Hate Me!
16) Downfall
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17) In Your Face
Photos:
Children Of Bodom
For The Imperium
Lost Society
Report a cura di Marco Manzi
Siamo alla ricerca di un nuovo addetto per la sezione DEMO, gli interessati possono contattare lo staff di Holy Metal, nel frattempo la sezione demo rimane temporaneamente chiusa.