This event was many months in the making, as Katatonia was already in my heart since their last visit, while Insomnium and Swallow the Sun were more recent discoveries of wonderful newer bands that were ready to rival the older bands that defined the genres they were exploring.

Our local Enshrined was up first to excite the crowd with their 3-guitar onslaught. This time hearing them play was extremely enjoyable, as I've seen them live before, and actually knew the song titles, and could recognize the music. Enshrined continues to amaze with their use of intertwining melody and harmony, intricate arrangements, and fantastic vocal delivery. While sounding a bit like the early works of Dark Tranquillity, this band is able to conjure their own sound and being memorable to anyone who listens to them. Aaron and Chris informed me of the fact that Enshrined will be releasing an album soon, for which I am quite excited and will be there to purchase it as soon as it is possible, along with any other merchandise available.

The next band on stage was Seared, another local act. This band was unimpressive to me the last time I saw them, and this time was no different, still containing the screechy vocals with clean sung choruses, and those annoying predictable arrangements. They did, however, provide an instrumental, their first, as their singer informed, and it was the best piece of music played that night, despite it too having a predicable arrangement. The audience seemed to like them and they seem to have more then one album out, so they must be doing something right.

Swallow the Sun was the first of the international performers (hailing from Finland). They literally blew me away from the first note of their opening song "Descending Winters." This band was extremely tight and seamless, playing songs from their entire catalog, while focusing, as expected, on their newest release titled "Hope." This being the bands first tour in the US, not many knew of them prior to them performing. (I myself got into them because I researched all of the bands on this bill, and fell in love with it.) Despite this, they were making instant fans out of the audience with their heartfelt vocal delivery and delightful melodic approach to doom metal. Swallow the Sun ended their set with one of my favorite songs of theirs – "Swallow," during which, I must admit, I shed a tear or two through the sweat from headbanging along with their entire set.

Insomnium came out next and continued to give my ears the live concert pleasure they've been lacking for quite some time. This Finnish outfit created a new take on the melodic metal sound honed by the likes of In Flames (only the older material) and Dark Tranquillity, adding on intricate acoustic passages within their songs. This band I discovered while randomly switching to Headbangers Ball and being shocked to hear good music on that show. It is so rare to see a good artist on that program that I've given up on it, but something with a higher knowledge of these things was guiding my remote button pushing finger that night. The live performance of Insomium was excellent as they, while focusing on new material such as "The Gale" and "Mortal Share," they ventured into their earlier work, giving "Daughter of the Moon" a nice introduction. This band spent a little more time talking to the audience then Swallow the Sun, and also used that band's piano player, who's hand I shook after this set. Overall, a great performance, and I expect this band to return, as they promised. From what I gathered from the screams of the crowd, there are a lot of Insomnium fans here.

After Insomnium left, the crowd changed up a great deal. It was as though someone kicked all of the people up front previously and all new people entered. Most likely this was because of the band Scar Symmetry was next to take the stage. This band was like a cheap version of Soilwork with the rhythmic riffs that lack melody and sung choruses that sound almost like an alternative song. I have to admit that Soilwork, despite me not liking that band, is much better at this style then Scar Symmetry. Also, the southern moustaches, sported by the singer and one of the guitarists, were just a bit out of place in my opinion. At any rate, this band really won the crowd with their moving around and complete craziness on stage, while leaving me unimpressed and yawning, annoyed with off-key soloing and boring song arrangements.

The only reason I stayed up front through Scar Symmetry was to retain my spot to enjoy Katatonia thoroughly. There is no other band that has contributed as much to the doom metal genre then Katatonia. From their early work until now this band, while changing their approach to songwriting, continues to create amazing music. Their performance was a testament to this. Playing such wonders as "Leaders," "Evidence," "Wealth," "Chrome," "My Twin," "July" and others, this band got me so overwhelmed I didn't quite know what to do and ended up doing the obvious – singing and headbanging. The only thing that bothered me was that there was actual moshing going on during this band. It just didn't make sense. This feels to me like the type of music to just enjoy peacefully. As is traditional with headliners, this band came back for an encore, and blew me away completely by playing "Murder," a song they haven't included in their repertoire for over 5 years, from what I understand. It was an amazing rendition, proving that Jonas Renske still has his growling abilities, despite the rumors that circulated around. This performance had me saying for the entirely of the next day "They played 'Murder!" continuously, making the people around me a bit annoyed.

There were some grievances with the concert overall, however. The setup was done a bit wrong, in my opinion. There were times when the lead guitar was not heard. This was evident during some of the songs done by Enshrined, Swallow the Sun and Katatonia. Insomnium seemed to get through this fairly well, despite their having an abundance of lead parts. Regardless, this was an amazing show, and I am already awaiting the return of these terrific bands.

By Mathew Udodovsky