In Flames - Bristol Review

Three-gig weekends are long and tiring, but when travel in and out of the South West can be expensive it often makes financial sense to do them! After excellent shows in London (UFO) and Sheffield (The Quireboys and FM), the final stop of the weekend was Bristol. Coming from Plymouth, Bristol is the closest city that gets decent bands playing there with any sort of regularity so I often find myself there for a night out. I like the city a lot, and there are a good mix of venues of all sizes dotted around that can cater for just about every type of band. The only thing it is really missing is an arena-sized venue - but with a couple of good mid-sized halls and a few choice smaller rooms around there is often somewhere for most bands to play. It was also the perfect stop-over on my way home from Sheffield the night before, and the third gig of the weekend helped to break up what would have otherwise been a rather long journey! The reason for the stop-over was the Swedish metal five-piece In Flames, a band who I have been a casual fan of for some time but not a band I have ever truly loved. I am not sure I would have made the effort to travel up to Bristol purely to see them, but it made sense to tie the gig into the already-planned weekend of gigs. Some extremely cheap accommodation helped to sweeten the deal, so I purchased a ticket for the show. I had seen In Flames once previously supporting Avenged Sevenfold back in 2017, and I have to say that I was not impressed with the band on that night. The live sound mix was awful, and the band seemed to be going through the motions a bit. It seems that In Flames are a bit of a hit and miss live band judging by some of the reviews I have read over the years, but I was prepared to give them a go at one of their own shows - where I assumed they would have their own gear and sound crew making them sound as good as possible. The venue for the show was a new one for me, the SWX in the centre of town. It was a good-sized place, with a big stage, and the sound throughout the evening was pretty good - not something guaranteed at a metal show! There was a great turnout for a Sunday evening too, and the place was packed! In all honestly, I felt that the place was a bit too packed. I expect things to get a bit 'close' down at the front, but I was stood back by the sound desk and even there it was hard to move - and behind me towards the exit it did not look much better! This made for a bit of an uncomfortable experience at times, and it made the venue's strange decision to not use the two side balconies for the public more noticeable! I have a couple more shows booked at the SWX over the coming months, but thankfully I do not think that either set of bands will attract quite the crowd that In Flames mustered up!

Before In Flames took to the stage, there were two support acts to warm the crowd up. The first was Light the Torch, fronted by ex-Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones, who impressed the growing crowd. I am somewhat familiar with the band's debut album, which was released under the name Devil You Know, but beyond that I had little idea what to expect. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Light the Torch's sound was mostly taken from the 2000s metalcore songbook, but elevated with Jones' powerful vocals to drive everything forward. Known for his harsh as well as his clean vocals, most of Light the Torch's material was sung clean - although he still let out a few ferocious roars here and there when the material needed a bit more of a kick. Having such a well-known frontman, it was easy for Light the Torch to win the crowd over. I did not think the songs were as catchy as they could be, but the riffs from guitarist Francesco Artusato were pretty groove-infused and Jones did his best to really get everyone going. The best part of the set however was getting to hear Jones sing live. I used to listen to Killswitch Engage a lot back in the day, so it was fun to finally get to see him perform. His voice is still as good as it ever was, although sometimes he had some strange effects on his voice that made him sound like he was singing from another room! By the end of their set I think it is fair to say that most in attendance had enjoyed Light the Torch, and I would not have minded if they had decided to play a couple more tunes.

The same could not be said for the American five-piece Norma Jean who were up next. I remember hearing about this band in the past when the only metal that seemed to be talked about was the breakdown-infused death/metalcore of the late 2000s, but before this show I had never heard any of their songs. From the moment they started their set, I knew I was going to hate every minute of it and that sentiment is not far off what actually happened! Every riff was that downtuned staccato drone that the deathcore scene was built on, and the vocals from frontman Cory Brandan were just endless, monotonous screams. I am big fan of good harsh vocals, but vocalists like Brandan - in my opinion - are the reason why a lot of people cannot get into heavier music. The whole set was a tuneless endeavour, with each song sounding exactly the same as the next with no dynamics, obvious melodies, or any kind of interesting riffs to latch on to. This is the sort of music that vest-wearing men with neck tattoos like to punch each other in moshpits to, and it really serves little purpose beyond being the backdrop to a beating! This might seem like an uncharacteristically harsh review for me to write, but I simply detest this type of music and it is - I believe - partly the reason that modern metal has such a bad name in various quarters. I had hoped that this kind of music had not made it past about 2013, but clearly I was wrong - and a relatively muted crowd reaction compared to that that Light the Torch enjoyed showed that - at least - I was not the only one thinking this.

After the Norma Jean horror show, I was really hoping In Flames would pick things up make the evening something to remember. While this show was not as good as the two that immediately preceded it during my weekend away, it was still strong and In Flames put on a powerful 90 minutes of music that included songs from all throughout their career. The band took to the stage behind plenty of smoke, and launched into Voices from their newly-released album I, The Mask which immediately went down well with the crowd. The new album seems to be somewhat of a return to form for the band, and they acknowledged this by playing five of the new tracks throughout the evening. Frontman Anders Fridén did not sound great at the 2017 show that I saw, but in Bristol he sounded strong. His harsh vocals in particular really filled the hall, which helped the heavier songs to really stand out. As with the Soilwork show back in February however, there was a lot of vocal 'help' going on in the form of backing tracks. There were a lot of times when he was singing along to a harsh vocal backing, or screaming along to a clean singing backing, which did look and sound strange. Bassist Bryce Paul did help him out occasionally with some backing vocals, but lots of the backing vocals - as well as all the synths and keyboards - were on a track. This was a bit of shame, but lots of bands use them - it was just really obvious here! That being said, the band still put on a great show. The early anthem Pinball Map went down a storm, and guitarists Björn Gelotte and former Megadeth man Chris Broderick (who is currently filling in for Niclas Engelin) teamed up perfectly for the classic melodeath riff. Where the Dead Ships Dwell was another early highlight, with the crowd really helping Fridén out with the vocals. The crowd were loud and involved throughout the night, with Fridén often engaging in entertaining banter with them between songs, and encouraging them to sing during the more anthemic pieces such as (This Is Our) House. The only song that I did not really enjoying hearing live was The Chosen Pessimist, which in my opinion is an overlong dirge that crawls along with few redeeming qualities. It was the low point of the set, but the band exploded back with two faster, heavier numbers in Leeches and Colony - the latter getting a big cheer as it is 20 years old this year! The last portion of the set was mostly filled with the band's better known songs, although the new I Am Above also went down really well. It is one of the heavier songs from the new album, so unsurprisingly it got everyone moving - as well as singing during the anthemic chorus. Cloud Connected and The Mirror's Truth have become fan favourites over the last decade or so, so also saw plenty of movement, but it was left to the more mournful The End to close out the set. There was no encore, and after a nineteen song set I doubt anyone seriously expected one. The band took their bows to big cheers from the crowd, who had clearly enjoyed their time with the Swedish metal legends! The setlist was:

Voices
Everything's Gone
Pinball Map
Where the Dead Ships Dwell
Call My Name
Monsters in the Ballroom
All for Me
(This Is Our) House
Deep Inside
Here Until Forever
The Chosen Pessimist
Leeches
Colony
My Sweet Shadow
The Truth
I Am Above
Cloud Connected
The Mirror's Truth
The End

I may not be the biggest In Flames fan, but enjoyed their show in Bristol. The sound was clear, and the band were really tight - especially the two guitarists. It would have been nice to hear a few more songs from earlier in the band's catalogue, but they seem to have largely moved on from that sound now which is fair enough!