ARCH ENEMY w/ Suffocation, Winds of Plague

Saturday night was truly an amazing night. The crowd were slowly coming in to the venue as it started earlier than expected.
 
WINDS OF PLAGUE were the first band to play showcasing their classical influenced deathcore sound. I was unaware that kristen left the band. Lisa marx was suppose to fill in for the tour but she was nowhere to be seen so they used a backing tape for the keyboards. There were a few people there just to see winds of plague, which consisted of a very young, but enthusiastic crowd. They started off with decimate the weak which grabbed the audience into a frenzy. Continuing through their set they played a fair few songs from their latest "the great stone war" which has been getting a lot of good reviews. They played tracks such as soldiers of doomsday, battle scars and the great stone war which attracted attention from the new fans and old fans alike. A highlight of their set was playing "the impaler". Johnny Plague got the crowd to sing the words to the chorus and the crowd reacted very well to his metal authority. Obviously there were a few circle pits going on which was predictable of a band in their style. They finished with "one body too many" which sounded a bit strange without kristen on keyboards. It’s a very keyboard orientated song so it needed that effect. Aside from the lack of keyboardist, the band pulled a very tight set and would’ve grabbed a bit of attention from a lot of new fans.
 
The almighty death metal legends SUFFOCATION were to destroy the stage with their intense and monsterous sound. You could feel the energy in the crowd and by far, frank mullen is one of the most amazing death metal vocalists of our time. His stage presence was amazing. During the song changeovers, he reminded me of mick muir how he tends to talk a bit during their set. He seemed focus though on getting a point across. Playing a few tracks from their latest album including "Cataclysmic Purification" and "dismal dream" showed that after 20 years, the band still has the energy to perform at its peak. They broke into a few of their classics as well including "abomination reborn", "infecting the crypts" and "pierced from within". Mike was amazing on drums showing his precision as a tech death drummer and delivering the crowd their moneys worth! The band were kind enough to hang out after the gig and get some photos with the fans.
 
After an anticipation wait of about 45 minutes, ARCH ENEMY hit the stage with a blast kicking into "blood on my hands" from the rise of the tyrannt album. Not wasting any time, they went straight into "ravenous" which is an all time classic sung by angela. Angela proved that she can still hold the voice of a demon. Her voice sounded incredible by far as they continued to leap into hits such as nemesis, we will rise, my apocalpyse and even a few songs from their latest album. It was interesting hearing angela sing the songs from the first 3 albums which were sung by johan. She pulled it off really well hearing tracks such as "beast of man", "pilgrim" and "bury me an angel". Michael ammott on guitar showed his thorough intense guitar playing throughout the entire set. This band never ceases to dissapoint as a live act and overall, the night was a success with arch enemy pulling the biggest crowd and proving that swedish metal does live on through the ages.