Despite it turning out to be a top evening, I think that it is fair to say that things did not get off to a great start. The venue was advertised as opening at 6pm, both on the venue's website and on the ticket app, so I got there just beforehand as I tend to do these days - but 6pm came and went without anything happening. 6:30pm also passed, and people were getting rather annoyed around me in the queue. We eventually started moving at around 6:50pm - and when I got to the ticket office the door time was advertised as being 6:45pm. I did hear the person in the ticket office apologising to someone about the timings - but really the website or the app should have been updated. Standing around for basically an hour is never fun - and the older I get the less fun it is. At least, due to the late opening, there was little time to waste once everyone got inside. The show was not sold out, but there cannot have been too many tickets left. I always prefer The Underworld when there is a little bit of room to move around, as it can be too hot otherwise, but last night there were plenty of people in attendance but there was still circulation space and the air con was thankfully working. Before the two bands I had come to see, though, the growing crowd was treated to just over half an hour from the Italian symphonic metal band Secret Rule. They were not a band that I was familiar with prior to them being announced as being a part of this tour - and I cannot say that their set persuaded me to check them out any further. I still like a lot of symphonic metal, even if I am not the fan of the genre that I once was, but I felt that Secret Rule's poppy take on the genre was a bit bland - and there was not really anything included to write home about. The band seem to essentially be a collaboration between frontwoman Angela Di Vincenzo and guitarist Andrea Menarini, with bass players and drummers coming and going pretty quickly, but I was not especially impressed with either - and the overall songwriting felt a little stale. For a guitar-driven symphonic metal band, Menarini's riffing was pretty boring overall, largely just focusing on power chords, whilst his occasional solos were also nothing special. Vocally I did not think that Di Vincenzo was especially powerful, either, and there seemed to be a lot of backing track heavy lifting going on during the choruses. There were occasional moments which hinted at something a bit better, such as the odd slightly more potent riff and decent chorus - but overall I felt that Secret Rule were pretty bland. They certainly did not feel like a band with 10 albums to their name - and I think that it is fair to say that the other two bands on the bill soon upped the overall quality and took things to the next level.
Both of the changeovers throughout the night were pretty quick, so following Secret Rule's set it was not long before the lights went down and Skarlett Riot took to the stage. For the next 45 or so minutes, the Scunthorpe-based four-piece delivered a strong 10-song set - which covered their three most recent albums and one of their older EPs. I last saw the band at the 2022 iteration of Bloodstock Open Air, but I have become a much bigger fan since then - and they have also released their fourth album Caelestia (which I reviewed here). Caelestia is easily the band's heaviest release to date - and four songs from it featured throughout their set. Things kicked off with two of those numbers, with the metallic Chemicals and the more atmospheric Spiralling getting the set underway. The sound mix and overall performance levels rose a notch with Skarlett Riot. Guitarist Daniel Oglesby churned out riff after riff from the off, throwing in quite a few melodic leads, too, whilst frontwoman Chloe Drinkwater was as assured as ever. She is a natural performer, and sounded strong vocally throughout the set. Whilst I really like the band's older work, and there are some real favourites of mine from those days, there is no doubt that the band have matured and grown naturally throughout the years. Their newfound heaviness works well - and they came across as a really assured metal band last night - with Daniel handling the occasional harsh vocals, whilst his brother Luke Oglesby (drums) unleashed plenty of fast-paced double bass patterns. Also along for the ride on this tour was former bass player Martin Shepherd - so the band made a point of including a few songs from his era. As such, Paralyzed was included early on - but it was perhaps the later double whammy of Voices and the particularly potent The Wounded which dug deeper. The band do not tend to look back to the past all too often, so it was a bit of a treat hearing these older songs live for the first time - even if much of the set was rightly focused on the now. In fact, given that I had only seen the band live once since 2015 - much of what the band played last night was new to me in a live setting. A few of the songs were also played at Bloodstock, but with Caelestia having dropped since then and the band switching things up the setlist felt fresh. There were more heavier moments, such as the riffy Limits, there were hookier, more anthemic moments, such as the shout-along Breaking the Habit, and there were also quieter moments - with the ballad Luminate perhaps an overall highlight. Drinkwater delivered a strong, emotional vocal during the ballad - and she also got the crowd to light up the room with their phones. It was a memorable moment of the set, adding some quiet as the set progressed, but it was soon back to business as usual - and it was left to two bigger crowd favourites to wrap things up, with Gravity and Warrior bringing a curtain down on an excellent 45 minutes of music. The setlist was:
Chemicals
Spiralling
Paralyzed
Limits
Voices
The Wounded
Luminate
Breaking the Habit
Gravity
Warrior
Even the changeover between Skarlett Riot and Ad Infinitum was only around 20 minutes - so the lights were soon down again and some synth music filled the room. Ad Infinitum might not write the longest nor the most progressive pieces, but a 20-song setlist is still pretty impressive - and for the next 90 minutes the large crowd was treated to anthem after anthem from one of the most interesting symphonic metal bands on the scene today. Essentially the whole of Abyss featured, save for one song, whilst all three of the band's previous albums were also represented. It was a forward-looking set, but old favourites were included, too, and it was actually one of the slightly older tracks, Upside Down, which kicked things off. As had been the case for Skarlett Riot, too, Ad Infinitum's live sound was great. Frontwoman Melissa Bonny was high in the mix, and sounded excellent throughout. She showed no end of tour fatigue at all - and was full of energy on stage, belting out the lyrics with a good mix of power and a delicate melodic approach; whilst sounding raw and aggressive during her brief bursts of harsh vocals. Her poppy and light/shade approach to vocals is one of Ad Infinitum's selling points, but I also think the guitar approach of Adrian Thessenvitz is another. Unlike most symphonic metal bands, Thessenvitz does not just chug along. His eight-string riffs are the main driving force of the band, always cutting through the spacey synths, whilst many of the songs also feature hooky leads and shredded solos. Even his more textured, restrained playing during quieter moments of the set stood out - and his angular riffs make the band as interesting as they are. The whole band was tight, though, and they looked like they were having a great time from the off. Niklas Müller (drums) was a bit hidden at the back of the triangular stage, but Korbinian Benedict (bass guitar) was all over it - interacting well with the crowd and generally having a lot of fun. None of this would have mattered if the band did not have the songs to back up their individual talents - but they do. Whilst I like the band a lot, I am not fully familiar with each and every song yet - but I remembered each one as it came along, which shows the strength of the riffing and the melodies that the band have come up with. Some early highlights for me included the poppy Eternal Rains, the more atmospheric and floaty My Halo, and the soaring Follow Me Down - all of which showcased a slightly different side of the band. I liked how the band largely let their songs do the talking. Bonny did take a few opportunities to speak to the crowd, and there were occasional audience participation moments, but these were kept to a relative minimal - with the band clearly wanting to cram in as much material material as possible. Some bands would have only managed 15 or so similar length songs given how much time they can waste - but Ad Infinitum's crowd were treated to many of their best cuts instead. The energy never let up as a result, with older cuts like Animals and See You in Hell sitting nicely alongside newer numbers like Outer Space and The One You'll Hold On To. The band might have changed their style in recent years, but the old material still felt at home in the set - with the contrast of their first single Marching on Versailles, which Thessenvitz introduced with a solo, and their latest stand-alone single, the juddering, tech metal Regicide, showcasing this later on. The quality and amount of material which was on show really helped the night race by - and soon it was time to say goodbye, with Into the Night acting as a powerful closing statement. The setlist was:
Upside Down
Aftermath
Somewhere Better
Eternal Rains
My Halo
Anthem for the Broken
Follow Me Down
Surrender
Dead End
Euphoria
Animals
Architect of Paradise
Outer Space
See You in Hell
The One You'll Hold On To
Guitar Solo
Marching on Versailles
Regicide
Unstoppable
Live Before You Die
Into the Night
Whilst Ad Infinitum have toured around Europe a number of times before, this was their first headline run to include shows in the UK. They played a healthy number of UK shows for a European metal band, too, with some of them selling out or coming very close to. There is certainly an audience here for this kind of music, and it takes bands like Ad Infinitum taking a chance to discover such. I had a great time with the band, and hopefully the tour has been a success financially so that they can come back - likely with album number five in tow. It was great to catch Skarlett Riot again, too, after a few years - and the night was another great one overall.
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