An odd package assembled on this tour, that took the stage in Theater Romein in Leeuwarden.

The opening band was the German death metal outfit Debauchery. Dressed in white and covered in blood, they played their 35 minute set of mostly mid-paced death metal. The band’s music is simple, straight-forward, and hundreds-of-times-heard-before death metal. Nevertheless they brought their music with loads of enthusiasm and some of the guitar leads were quite interesting.

The band I wanted to see was the Finnish doom metal outfit Swallow The Sun who had just released their third album Hope. And as such they started with the title track of that album – a quite odd title for the rather gloomy music. Now Swallow The Sun aren’t a band that brings a lot of originality, but their strongest points are their playing skills and their compositional craftsmanship. I was particularly intrigued by their drumwork, that displayed some very interesting touches. They guy is very talented. The singer on the other hand was very introverted. He spoke softly in between songs if at all and barely moved, his had covered by a hat. The band naturally played a lot of material off their new album, but fortunately did not forget their earlier work, particularly their debut album. All-in-all a very strong performance.

Lastly there was Moonsorrow. Another Finnish band, but they play lengthy folk metal. And like Debauchery they also were covered in blood – or was is war paint. I’ve never been a great enthusiast of folk metal. Although Moonsorrow has interesting sections, the more happy, humpapa-like parts quickly get on my nerves, particularly when the mellotron-synth kicks in. And the length of the songs doesn’t help either – keeping my attention to 20+ minute songs that aren’t all that interesting isn’t easy. However, most of the crowd seem to have come for this band and largely ignored Swallow the Sun. So lots of stagediving and such.

Set list Swallow the Sun:

1. Hope
2. Descending Winters
3. Out of this Gloomy Light
4. Don’t Fall Asleep
5. Too Cold For Tears
6. These Hours of Despair
7. Silence of the Womb
8. Deadly Nightshade
9. Doomed To Walk The Earth