LIVE REVIEW: In Flames @ Roundhouse, London

Despite a patchy spell of form over the past few releases it goes without saying that Gothenburg’s finest IN FLAMES are and always have been a dominant leading force in metal and the quality of their live performances can never be disputed. In the early to mid nineties along with bands such as AT THE GATES and DARK TRANQUILITY the band helped to define a brand of melodic death metal that would forever be known as ‘The Gothenburg Sound’ which still has a very clear influence in plenty of young metal bands that we love to this day.

Tonight sees the band bring their latest work I, The Mask to these shores for the first one since its release this spring and they have brought some pretty heavy hitting friends along for the ride. LIGHT THE TORCH (formally known as DEVIL YOU KNOW) bring their heavy metalcore stylings to show with former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Howard Jones at the helm and the boys in NORMA JEAN with their more frantic and punk-edged version of metalcore completing the bill.

LIGHT THE TORCH take to the stage first with the room filling slowly and set about doing what they do best which is delivering hard hitting slices of melodic metalcore infused with frenzied drumming, intricate heavy guitar riffs and the instantly recognisable voice of Howard Jones. And it is in that final ingredient that we see LIGHT THE TORCH’s ace in the hole. We all know that Jones has a superb voice, he has proved that time and time again, but it is in his charismatic and harming stage presence that he truly wins over the crowd. He seems revitalised and genuinely enjoying every minute of his time on stage and the fact that the band have some excellent songs in their arsenal, filled to the brim with catchy hooks and soaring melodies makes them the perfect openers for tonight’s proceedings.

Rating: 7/10

NORMA JEAN take to the stage and give it everything they’ve got to a crowd that frankly looks bewildered by their off kilter time signatures and ferocious delivery. The band run through classic tracks such as Disconnecktie: The Faithful Vampire and The Anthem Of The Angry Brides but for the most part stick to their later albums for their set (which is by no means a bad thing). By the end of the set the venue is packed to the rafters and the boys have done a sterling job and cranking up the energy levels with their brutal sonic assault and impassioned delivery, with vocalist Cory Brandon sounding better than he has done in years and the rest of the band playing their complex tracks with the steady hands of neurosurgeons. Perhaps the inclusion of their classic track Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste could have added another level to the performance but when you have a back catalogue as strong as NORMA JEAN do, you can pretty much play whatever you want to an unsuspecting crowd and it will always go down well. An interesting, yet effective choice to play under a band who are virtually their polar opposite nowadays. Well played lads.

Rating: 8/10

By the time the headliners hit the stage the atmosphere is at fever pitch and the beer has been flowing all night. It is noticeable that the ages of the audience members in attendance vary from young teenagers to seasoned metal veterans and that is a testament to a band the likes of IN FLAMES who appear to transcend generations. However, tonight will mostly be focussing on the latter stages of their career, particularly the I, The Mask.

The band take to the stage bathed in light a jump straight in to Voices. A noticeable absence is that of guitarist Niclas Engelin who has been sitting out of all of IN FLAMES’ upcoming tours due to ‘personal issues’ which would normally be an issue, but the the boys have roped in an elite replacement in the form of Chris Broderick who has played for some genuine heavyweights in the metal world. The band then head straight from a decent rendition of Everything’s Gone before dialling up the intensity with a ferocious rendition of the classic Pinball Map. A song that still sounds as fresh and exciting as it did when it was released nineteen years ago and invoked the first real mosh pits of the evening.

The track Where The Dead Ships Dwell sounds brilliant in a live setting with its grooves rhythmic sections and use of electronic samples, proving that the harsh critical reception that the album received upon its release may have been ill conceived now that time has passed for people to digest it properly.

In the second half of the set the band embrace a lot of their older material to great reception. The wonderful, progressive slow burner of a song The Chosen Pessimist changes the pace of the evening wonderfully and throws back to the band’s stellar album A Sense Of Purpose and gives the band a chance to breathe and show of another side to their sound. They then follow it up with an incredible combination of Leeches from Come Clarity, Colony from the album of the same name and the stonewall classic song My Sweet Shadow. I Am Above then follows up these tracks and shows that the band’s latest studio release would happily sit in and amongst any of the band’s stellar releases from the nineties and early noughties.

The band then close out the show with Cloud Connected which sees the whole crowd jumping along and singing back every word emphatically to frontman Anders Fridén who is showing off just how experienced and charismatic he is tonight with the capacity crowd resting comfortably in the palm of his hand. The Mirror’s Truth gets the crowd whipped up in to a frenzy before the band close out the set with the rather aptly titled song The End to ensure that the evening is finished on a melodic and all-inclusive note.

The performance from IN FLAMES is second to none and proves that even with minimal production (the stage show is limited to just lights) they can keep the attention of a capacity London crowd at ease and do not rely on all of the bells and whistles that many bands of this size do in order to get themselves over. The only issue with tonight’s set is some of the notable omissions, which will leave a lot of the long/serving fans of the band a little disappointed when you bear in mind the size of the bag of tricks that IN FLAMES have to choose from.

A successful night in the capital for a classic band who seem to have discovered a new lease of life with their latest release and long may it continue.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in London from Karolina Janikunaite here: