We start the evening off with acoustic solo artist DANIEL BAY, there isn't much known about this gentlemen besides the fact that he is an acoustic musician to whom seems to dabble in the field of Doom styled music as well as very blues based music, from the start Daniel seems to start with more slow jams which from experiencing this has a very chilled effect of myself and some of the audience, what I thought was a bit unfair was the fact that there were not as many people giving this guy a chance, but personally I think he deserves an audience that can appreciate his style of music and talent. All in all I thought that DANIEL BAY was a very interesting and very calmed type of musician, as well he seems to have a very concentrative type of sound based on experiences in his own life, from the way he plays and sings he seems to be telling a tale of his life or the experiences he has come across.
 

By far this was one of my favorite sets of the night, a band that without a doubt stands on their own and have some of the most impressive songs out there, BEASTMILK are a newer band hailing from Finland, in two thousand thirteen the band released their first studio album "Climax" and since then we have all been under their control, from me I have no complaints about this as their set was by far one of the best shows I have seen in two thousand fourteen and with any hope I wil get the chance of seeing them again, that is if Manchester ever gets them again. The band started their set off with the track "The Wind Blows Through Their Skulls", a very powerful track filled with soul and heart and without a doubt the audience agreed, through their set I noticed one specific thing which kept me wondering, the band had an old fashioned TV with the band's name on it through the whole set, in one thought I thought that they were going to smash it as a stunt but instead using it as a standing piece, so to conclude I will say this, check them out if you want some groovy powerful music because trust me when I say you will not and I mean NOT! be disappointed.
 

Set List:
1. The wind blows through their Skulls
2. You are now under our Control
3. Void Mother
4. Fear your Mind
5. Ghosts out of Focus
6. Surf the Apocalypse
7. Children of the Atom Bomb
8. Nuclear Winter
9. Death Reflects Us
10. Genocidal Crush
11. Love in a Cold World

So we conclude the evening with the main band themselves In Solitude. This band has proven that they are a force to be reckoned with, a dark and melodic art of evil hymns put together to form a sound and stage presence that will bring you to the edge of sanity, through their entire set I witnessed a band that has a unique style of playing and involving the audience in this Black mass of musical construction. Before the show I found that the band had a very interesting request of a back stage rider, Incense, White Lilies and Weed, put these together and you get one hell of a show folks, and trust me I was there ha-ha. The band played a set comprised of songs from all three of their studio albums, by far my favorite of the night was their track "Lavender" a smooth dark and sinister jam with some very relaxed melodies. To conclude I had fun, so much fun ha-ha, a band this incredible live can only be admired more for their efforts in what they have done recording, as well to see such power and presence is rare to see in modern bands, so if you haven't checked these guys out I would definitely say check them out you will not be disappointed folks.
 

Set List:
1. Death Knows Where
2. Witches Sabbath
3. Lavender
4. A Buried Sun
5. Demons
6. Jesus I Betong (Cortex Cover)
7. Sister
8. To Her Darkness
9. Horses in The Ground
10. He comes
 

IN SOLITUDE have a wide appeal. They attract fans of genres as diverse as retro Heavy Metal and Black Metal. In the year since the release of their third record, "Sister", they have shared the stage with such acts as WATAIN, BEHEMOTH, CRADLE OF FILTH and PENTAGRAM. Metal Temple's Mike Coyle and Danny Sanderson spoke to the band about their inspirations, maturing as musicians, and the Decibel tour of the US that introduced them to a wider audience.

We are with Henrik and Niklas from In Solitude. How are you guys going?

Henrik (Palm, Guitars): Yeah, we're doing fine. We're as bit hungry, actually, but otherwise fine.

How's the tour going for you so far?

Henrik: It's all going well, yes. We've got a week left now, so we're two weeks into it, and only have one left.

Niklas (Lindstrom, Guitars): It's been good.

"Sister has been out for just over a year. How do you think that fans have been receiving the new material?

Niklas: Well, I think it was received pretty well. A lot of the response that we've gotten has been a little bit different than we thought, but it was all positive. Obviously, we've had a few haters, but they make up maybe five per cent of all the opinions, so yeah, we've felt confident in it.

Well, you're always bound to get people like that, you just have to brush it off. I mean, this is your second or third album…

Henrik: It's our third. Yeah, I didn't know what people expected really, we just did an album that we liked and hoped that others would like it too.

If I may ask, what was the writing process like for "Sister" in general?

Niklas: Well, I think that it's the same for every band. We brought in a lot of our ideas and then decided to pick the best out of all that. But our process is pretty straightforward; we rehearse, we eat Pizza, sit around and talk, nothing fancy really. It's not like we try to make any… you know, supernatural effort to try to make good songs.

So no Black Masses and shit like that?

Niklas: No, no.

When the band started you were all obviously quite young, and now you are all in your twenties. Do you think that the music has changed as you matured?

Niklas: Well, it's certainly developed. I was there from the start.

Henrik: Obviously, it has developed in a lot of ways. I mean, if you all learn to play it together and reach the same level of playing, you'll definitely develop and get better. I mean, we do all of this together.

I mean, you guys have done a lot of big shows, like the tour with Watain, Behemoth and the Devils Blood.

Niklas: You're from the US?

Yes I am. So I wanted to ask how that tour was for you guys?

Niklas: Well, obviously, we already knew Watain, they were friends of our from before that tour. And we had opened for the Devils Blood and Watain before that. And Behemoth, yeah, we got on great with them, they were really nice people. It was like about a day of touring and then everyone's on the same level, you know. I really liked that tour, it was a very long, painful tour, but it was very good as well.

And Erik Danielsson has always gone out of his way to support In Solitude as well? I mean, he was doing a lot of promotion for the new album just before it came out.

Niklas: Yeah, he also did the layout for it as well. Pelle did a lot of the artwork, but he helped out on all the other aspects of the albums layout. He's been really supportive of us. And we even toured with them way before "The Blood, The Flesh, The Devil" came out. For the second album, we played with them on bigger shows, so they've definitely all been very supportive of us. I mean, we've done two US tours with them. And we are from the same town as them as well, so we are pretty close to them.

It might be better to ask Pelle this question, but what are the main lyrical inspirations behind In Solitude's music?

Henrik: I think it's more like his experience in daily life, basically. I think it's stuff like that, as well as dreams. But questions about that kind of stuff are best answered by him.

In February you released a single called "The Serpents are Rising". Is this a taster of new music to come?

Niklas: No actually, it's an old song, it's from our previous album. And we did that because we were supposed to release that when we did the second album, but for some reason, it didn't come out until recently. It also featured a cover of "Mother of Mercy" by Samhain that was previously unreleased as well, but then we managed to get it out on Flexi-disc through Svart Records. It's only available through a magazine in the US, so a lot of people over here might not have heard about it.

So is there new material on the way?

Niklas: We have some stuff, but it's a long way to go before anything gets done. So we'll see what happens, we might have a bit of touring left to do, but we're taking a break after this tour, and stuff might get started then to some extent.

What do you think that you've achieved as a band since "Sister" was released? Are there any goals that you've had for yourself?

Niklas: I think the biggest thing that we've managed to achieve through this album is that we are now finally ended up doing some headlining tours. So that was the main goal for us, and now we're here a year later on a headlining tour. That was the main thing we were aiming for when the touring for the album began. I think we have a few more goals that we want to reach, so we're focusing on them next!

After this tour is done, do you have any plans for your immediate future?

Niklas: We have like one festival booked for next Summer. And then after the tour we are playing Eindhoven Metal Meeting in December. And we have some ideas for the Spring, but we'll see what happens. Nothing is written in stone yet, so we'll see what happens.

Quickly, before we got, do you have any messages for your fans?

Henrik: Erm… Fuck the World!

One final question. If you were stuck on a desert island and you could only have one food dish and one physical item, what would they be?

Niklas: A toothbrush and… Something like vegetables.

Henrik: I'd go with…

Niklas: Hamburgers and Cocaine? (laughs)

Henrik: Hamburgers would be right, yeah. And I imagine I'd bring socks.

Thank you very much for your time guys. This has been Michael Coyle and Danny Sanderson, and you've been listening to Metal Temple.