LIVE REVIEW: In Flames @ O2 Brixton Academy, London

It is fair to say that in the pantheon of metal, Sweden is one of the holy places. A packed O2 Brixton Academy in London was fortunate to see some of its brightest missionaries, as a stacked bill of Swedish bands spear-headed by IN FLAMES, which blend the melodic and the extreme assembled to spread the good word.

Steadily making a name for themselves over the last decade, groove/melodeath outfit ORBIT CULTURE kickstart the evening with brand new single Vultures Of North – an industrial-tinged statement of intent that they are here to make some noise. They showcase a breadth of influences in their songwriting, from the folk-melodeath chorus of North Star Of Nija to the nu-thrash of Strangler. Frontman Niklas Karlsson keeps up the theme of variety, regularly switching between an astonishingly brutal growl and pleasantly raspy cleans. Despite the early hour, a decent-sized crowd has gathered to hear the Eksjö four-piece, including plenty of people sporting their merch, and their timeliness is richly rewarded with a feast of grooves and hooks. Allocated only enough time for five songs, ORBIT CULTURE make the most of it with an impressively confident performance from a band that is bound to keep growing in stature.

Rating: 7/10

For a night themed around Swedish metal and its far-reaching influence, it is fitting to feature a metalcore band, a genre that generously drew inspiration from melodeath as it came to dominate the metal mainstream in the late noughties. IMMINENCE take the classic tropes of that sound – sixth-string chugs, soaring melodic choruses and an emotive mix of screams and cleans – and add the violin of frontman Eddie Berg to the mix. Despite the innovation of the violin, the result nets out in familiar territory somewhere between ARCHITECTS and CALIBAN. Mainly playing songs from 2021’s Heaven In Hiding, their music is by all accounts well-constructed and capably performed. After a few numbers though, a skew towards a certain formula and mid-tempo rhythm becomes apparent. It doesn’t help that the spacious halls of the Brixton Academy filter the duet between downtuned open strings and double bass drums through a booming echo. The Trelleborg quintet are animated in their stage show, playing with visible determination to win over new fans, and in fairness to them they are not without their supporters in the building. Ultimately however, IMMINENCE fall short of leaving a lasting impression.

Rating: 6/10

After the showcase of relatively young Swedish blood, it is time for one of Gothenburg’s finest vintages to grace the stage. AT THE GATES are announced through the soaring guitars of Spectre Of Extinction which soon evolve into machine-gun riffs and military-precision drums. Reunited with guitarist Anders Björler after a five-year absence, the classic lineup is attacking the crowd with the same intensity as when they were still fighting to prove their name during the mid-90s. The setlist leans into their genre-defining classic Slaughter Of The Soul (which they recently performed in full at Manchester’s Damnation Festival), and their triumphant 2014 reunion record At War With Reality – likely because Anders is still tackling the material from the two album cycles he missed. This mixture of old and new shows how well their post-reunion material stands up alongside their evergreens, as the emblematic refrain of Under A Serpent Sun and the drama of Death And The Labyrinth are met with a near-equal enthusiasm. Even so, there are few sounds that can get an extreme metal crowd going as well as the cataclysmic riffs of Blinded By Fear. Having unleashed their Purgatory over Brixton, AT THE GATES declare that The Night Eternal has descended over the ruins that remain, and leaving their Gothenburg brothers in arms with a tough act to follow.

Rating: 9/10

Walking out under the sounds of a gorgeous acoustic intro, IN FLAMES burst into the galloping The Great Deceiver off next year’s much-anticipated Foregone. The sextet (joined by touring keyboardist Niels Nielsen) look and sound more energised than they have in many years. In all likelihood they are borne aloft by the overwhelmingly positive reaction which their new material has been receiving, praised for its echoes to their golden era as foremost innovators of melodic death metal. As if to signal that they are at last willing to embrace this legacy, the Gothenburg legends instigate a trip down memory lane. Seven out of the next eight songs come from their unmatched period up until 2000 – from the chilling tremolo harmonies of Behind Space, through the IRON MAIDEN-esque syncopation of The Hive, to the cathartic Only For The Weak which makes the whole of Brixton Academy jump up in unison. This feels like a joyous paradigm shift for frontman Anders Friden and guitarist Björn Gelotte (as sole remaining members from the classic lineup). No longer disregarding their history for the long shadow it casts, it appears that they are finally ready to bask under its halo.

As well as the song choice, there is a youthfulness in the performance. Friden’s deep growls are in wonderful shape, and he looks ravenous for the crowd’s adoration, which it duly grants him. Having undergone some significant lineup changes over the years, this current Swedish-American incarnation of IN FLAMES sounds like a fully gelled, tight unit. Further new cuts Foregone Pt. 1 and the bulldozing State Of Slow Decay fuel the fire of anticipation for the upcoming record, while Leeches and Alias remind that there is still plenty of quality in the material from the noughties (though the less said about Wallflower off 2016’s creative nadir Battles, the better). The razor-sharp riffage of Take This Life provides a fitting end for IN FLAMES’s biggest UK headline show to date – a triumphant celebration of their past, and the promise of a brighter future.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Sarah Tsang here: 

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