I cannot understand what's wrong with people in Stockholm. Most of the time it seems like a better idea to stand in line and wait to get into a bar than to go and see a band. Ok, I admit, the entrance fee was a little too high this event and I guess that scared some away but come on, it wasn't that much...

DAWN OF SILENCE actually released their debut album Moment Of Weakness in 2006 but I've never heard of them before this gig. With a new album in the making this band was charged to the max. Their MAIDEN-styled Hard Rock is actually quite charming. They don't have genuine Metal looks and dressing up but it's hard to not love this band. They have a nice bunch of songs, they're quite skilled musicians and they give all they have. Keep in mind that this is a young band playing for a half empty hall and not get numb by the situation, says a lot about their passion for this. It is always nice to see people play straight from the heart, appearance don't matter, nor do the response, just the music. The material from the new album sounds like EDGUY meets MAIDEN and it's easy to draw parallels to both Tobias Sammet and Bruce Dickinson in the vocals too. The latter is their major influence underlined by a IRON MAIDEN-medley. If they only they dared a little more and not play it safe all the time by adding some different harmonies and some odd chords then this would be really interesting.

But what BLOWSIGHT did on this bill I don't know. Ok, they add diversity but for a concert that's seldom a good thing. I guess BLOWSIGHT is a good band in their genre but their emo_aggro_pop did not appeal to me at all. I actually tried to give them a fair chance this time, to look at them objectively but the vocalist Niklas Fagerstrom constantly was pointing with his index finger when holding the microphone was too annoying (it looks ridiculous too). And a Britney Spears-cover, done really seriously on a Metal concert? Perhaps a cool version of Toxic but it still doesn't belong here.

Nowadays, STEEL ATTACK is a sort of an all-star outfit. Having only John Allan from the original lineup this is a completely different band from just a few years back. Adding members from LACK OF FAITH, TAD MOROSE and MEMORY GARDEN gives a whole new perspective on an old power_thrash band. With every album since Enslaved, when adding singer Ronny Hemlin to the lineup, this band has evolved into a Dark and Progressive Metal band.

It was very impressive to see a band take on a stage, and not giving up even if the crowd is that small as it was this evening. Then to actually inspire the few metalheads in the room to come up to the stage and join in on the headbanging is far more than most bands can pull off. STEEL ATTACK did, and even managed to keep the crowd active for the remaining of the set.

Super-heavy Carpe DiEnd was released earlier this year and the material works really well live. The sound was pretty good, the guitars were as heavy as they can be but maybe a little bit too rough to give the more emotional parts the proper feeling. Unfortunately the backtracks were hardly listenable. On the other hand, most of the times I don't even think about it. The guitars were enough! I mean, having Simon Johansson in the lineup fills any void of lost backtracks, not only was he a lot of fun to watch on stage, he was a demon guitar player too.

(photos by Erika)

dawn of silence

BLOWSIGHT

STEEL ATTACK