SOILWORK with Buried in Verona and Paradigm

This truly was a massive night worthy of being remembered for many years to come. The crowd was comprised of fans from all ends of the metal spectrum, disposing of all elitism and bickering as can be expected nowadays. Fans from either death metal to hardcore, black metallers to grinders and just plain and simple rockers all in the one place and all with positive attitudes - no trouble makers. There was a great sense of brotherhood there which is something that really speaks out in the modern metal scene.

The first band up was Paradigm. It was my first time seeing Paradigm live and I was very impressed by what I saw. They have their own style of melodic metal - crunchy guitars that seemed to slice though you when they were playing hard, continuing to brilliant slow guitar solos with a very atmospheric and melodic feel, and further into half time semi-acoustic sections, even delving into punchy and technical breakdowns.

The vocalist's style fit in perfectly with their sound, sticking to powerful mid range screams, adding a very tough vibe to their sound and diving into very passable clean vocals to diversify it all. The crowd responded well to the outfit and their onstage persona and movement made it easy for fans to head bang along and get into. Paradigm is a band I will be on the look out for in the near future and were a great choice for the opening slot.
 
The change over between the first two bands made for ample time for punters to head to the bar, refresh their drinks and converse between each other. At some point during this time, a man approached me, tickled my beard and told me I was "number 40". Then the crowd all poured in to see the second band on, Buried In Verona.

I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this band at first, but I have to say that for what they do, they do it well. The six-piece metalcore outfit played a very tight and energetic set, and I really enjoyed the way they worked together on stage, with unison moshing and head banging. The crowd overtly got into Buried In Verona, not only for their tight performance and great stage energy, but also for their general antics and laid back fun loving attitude.

Personally, I am not into their style of metal, but I can honestly say that I respect them for their showmanship and their obvious enjoyment in what they are doing. The band operates with three guitarist and a bass player, making for a very full-on live sound, the only downside to which in this particular show was that it made the lead guitar work hard to decipher when it was supposed to cut though.

The last interchange was mostly spent in front of the stage for a large number of the fans, most I assume being unwilling to give their spots near the stage for any reason.

At this point, The Manning Bar was absolutely packed. From the front near the stage, to the back of the in doors area, even to out the back where the smoking area is, there was little room to move around and it was all getting very exciting. The curtains remained closed in front of the stage for the change over, and fans spent the majority of the time chanting for the band to come out and clapping their hands in fervor. This was to be Soilwork's 4th time out in Australia and it was already boiling over in anticipation.

As soon as the curtains drew the crowd exploded and the band casually walked onstage and got straight into it. The sound was incredible, both their precision and experience combined with an obviously talented sound guy made the songs come out as clean and decipherable as if someone was just playing a CD of theirs at high volumes. Their stage presence was amplified by a great light show, which made the whole experience both visually and aurally massive.

The moshpit for Soilwork was massive, heads were banging all the way from the front of the stage to the back windows of the Manning Bar,  and it was quite a sight seeing how many fans could sing along with every word of every song and all mosh in unison for the big choruses, which the band is well renowned for.

The star of the show was obviously singer and front man Bjorn Strid, whose clean vocals were spot on and screams never wavering. The way he controlled the crowd between songs was great, he really has a way of connecting with the audience and getting everyone excited, even at one point engaging the crowd in an "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant.

But really, you have to give credit to this band. Forming in '95 under a different name, continuing though to now, and still all carrying great looks of enjoyment on stage. Soilwork clearly got into their performance and worked off each other in the stage presence, which was made lucid during 'Deliverance is Mine', arguably the most aggressive song of the night. I loved the way the guitarists Peter Wichers and Sylvain Coudret moved around the stage and occasionally stood next to each other during main riffs or solos. The keyboardist Sven Karlsson showed great enjoyment and energy form behind they keys, head banging where he could. Bassist Ola Flink seemed the least active but still very good in his playing and onstage delivery.

The band as a whole operates brilliantly and creates one hell of a show; I’d go so far as to say even people who aren’t big Soilwork fans would enjoy seeing them live. Toward the end of the set, Dirk Verbeuren, who truly has a lot more talent than one would assume by just listening to his songs with Soilwork, presented us all with a drum solo that blew most away whilst completely engaging the crowd. Many screams and cries were heard from the pit, and as he brought it down the band returned to the stage and began with one of the fan favourites of the night "Follow the Hollow", translating into nearly every person in the room raising their fists and singing along.

After the mandatory encore song the fans left the Manning Bar in a daze, this was a night of great energy and it was a very comfortable and easygoing atmosphere, I will be sure to catch them any other time the come out to Australia from now on.