Sunday, January 19, 2020

Insomnium: at the Waterfront, Norwich, England

Niilo Sevänen, vocals, Insomnium
Insomnium at The Waterfront, Norwich, during the Tour Like A Grave tour
All the way from Finland to Norwich's Waterfront venue, by way of about a million European cities - and with a North America tour beginning in March - Insomnium. With several UK dates still to go - including London tonight. Their eighth studio album, Heart Like A Grave, released in November last year, this tour is aptly named Tour Like A Grave - but the music is very, very much alive, and the band are clearly enjoying themselves.

Markus Vanhala, guitar, Insomnium
Insomnium, Norwich, England UK
Vocalist Niilo Sevänen's growls flow like warm honey over a bed of rusty nails, entwined with the melodic riffs of guitarists Markus Vanhala and Jani Liimatainen (Ville Friman is not touring), and the throbbing, drubbing heart of drums driven by Markus Hirvonen. And headbanging is a must, a must.

Jani Liimatainen, guitar, Insomnium
Insomnium, The Waterfront, Norwich, January 2020
Heart Like A Grave is at the same time melancholic and beautiful; the hour-long album is one to be listened to many times to hear all the nuances, the layers, the depth... and to explore Finnish poetry and folklore. Here's a taster, the title song, in case you haven't heard them yet:


If you have seen the "Scandinavian death metal" categorization of Insomnium, (I so detest genre labels), don't let that label define they for you nor dictate whether-or-not to listen. Check out the band's influences and a picture will form... whether you like your metal progressive, or your prog more metal, or your hard rock melodic, or your folk heavy-as-hell: Insomnium should fit well with your collection. (And note: the artbook version of the CD is a sombre collection of bleak, gorgeous photos and the lyrics to all the songs. It's a keeper.)

Insomnium
Insomnium and fans, Norwich, UK
Keep up to date with Insomnium on their Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.

More tour dates here: http://www.insomnium.net/news/42/68/EURO-TOUR-BEGINS-UK-Ireland-and-NORTH-AMERICA-will-follow

More photos from last night's show in Norwich, UK: http://www.alisontoon.com/-/galleries/music/insomnium/insomnium-norwich-2020

Niilo Sevänen, vocals, Insomnium
Insomnium

Friday, January 17, 2020

Band to look out for: Those Damn Crows: preorder Point of No Return now!


Hailing from Bridgend, South Wales, Those Damn Crows not only have an intriguing, listen-to-me-now name, evocative of a horde of persistent, characterful creatures who once you've noticed them are ever-present, no matter where you look... they have a distinctive sound with songs well worth a listen.  Hard rock but very melodic - with wonderful vocals.

While they've been making their presence known here in the UK, with appearances at Download last year and other festivals, they'll no doubt appeal to a worldwide audience - are they on a Sirius XM Octane playlist yet?

Their debut album, Murder and the Motive, was released in October 2018 and the new album, Point of No Return, drops on February 7th. Available for pre-order now and with a subset of songs already available for listening on Spotify. Check out the latest, Set in Stone:



Those Damn Crows are Shane Greenhall (vocals), Ronnie Huxford (drums), Ian 'Shiner' Thomas and David Winchurch (guitars) and LLoyd Wood (bass). Find out more on their website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also - several interviews with the band on YouTube, including this one with Total Rock Radio.

Take a listen!