When going to a venue for the first time you never know what to expect but my anticipations of Nalen were really high. The place is legendary in Stockholm's entertainment scene. Right from the start, in the late 1880's it has been used for public arrangements and from 1930's and 35 years ahead it was thee place for amusement in Stockholm.
The venue is striking with its vaults, pillars, huge mirrors and velvet drapes on the walls but I admit it felt quite strange to walk through the magnificent entrance hall before reaching the stage area.

Opening for THE HAUNTED were PATH OF NO RETURN and the specification of their music I read on different sites said Metal-Core and Hardcore. I would like to add some Emo-influences to that as well. Their music was really technical and well played, just because of that high quality they caught my interest right away. Even if I'm not particularly fond of this type of music I always appreciate a good performance. Random rambling from side to side of the stage is a part of the music but it felt more like an unstructured mess than an actual performance. When they calmed down a little bit they were very amusing to watch and because of their absolutely flawless musical performance I got enticed to check PATH OF NO RETURN out a little further. Though I wonder how this would look on a small stage because most of bass player Adam Holmkvist's and guitar player Daniel Cederborg's moves were really aggressive and violent and if one of those throws they did with their instruments had hit someone else on stage... Maybe not a fatal blow but it surely would mean the end for that concert.

It's always kind of nervous when it's time to see one of my favorite bands. Of course most of the tension is excitement of what's coming but the question if they'll live up to their standard as usual also spins through my head. THE HAUNTED have never disappointed me and they weren't going to this night either. As usual it was full speed from the first second. Peter Dolving's way of inciting the crowd was very contagious. He has the arena qualities of a front-man but it still felt very intimate and personal. He got down on his knees or was sort of crawling over the monitors and stirring the front row straight into their eyes. That kind of connection is very rare for bands of this size and it made me feel special, noticed sort of.

Some might prefer the more back to basics Old School Thrash songs THE HAUNTED delivered with Marco Aro at the front but no one can deny those newer songs work perfectly live. The Medication with its groove and drive encourages to the first mosh-pit of the evening and then everything just escalated. Moronic Colossus from brand new Versus got a warm reception too and judging by the size of the crowd and the fact this was a Monday evening THE HAUNTED must have done something right. The place was not sold out, but still quite crowded. Sure Versus is one step backwards towards their old sound but without losing the diversity and dynamic groove they've built over the years.

The reactions on the album have been divided but looking at the response here and the nature of the crowd they've taken another step towards the league of the big bands and recruited a new bunch of fans. The parquet floors were soaked in beer and booze, the floor also got a substantial doze of beating because when the crowd got started the circle-pit's kept coming and grew to quite impressive sizes a couple of times, for D.O.A and 99 for example.

One thing I didn't get though is that people looked annoyed when being bumped into. Isn't that something you have to count on when standing in the middle of the crowd at a Thrash Metal concert? Nalen is a fancy place but the clientele for the evening was regular concert-goers and then it can't have been that big a surprise that fans of the headlining band got stir crazy when their favorite songs were played. Even if I try to be really open minded there are always a few songs that gets to me more, those are the old ones. But in my defense, who can say that Dark Intentions and Bury Your Dead aren't classics already? THE HAUNTED did their job in an amazing way once again, perhaps 45 minutes wasn't enough because it felt like they gave priority to the old songs instead of promoting Versus. But unless they had added another 15-30 minutes of play time the set-list was great as it was.

(photos by DOA Erika)

PATH OF NO RETURN

THE HAUNTED