In Flames
Swedish band, In Flames has been churning out their brand of melodic death metal for many years. Many fans are familiar with “Take This Life” off of the album Come Clarity. However, if you’re new to In Flames, you should dive headlong into all of their material. I saw them live at the Heavy MTL festival in Montreal. Their set was raw and electric. Singer Anders Friden builds incredible emotion into his range of vocal styles, from clean, soaring choruses to fiery screams. In the softer moments, when the guitars slow and mire themselves in delicious feedback, Anders voices speaks to you, crackling with intense, tragic emotion. You feel like you’re on the edge of insanity, looking into a world through his bone chilling lens.
Their set covered material from their latest album, Sounds Of A Playground Fading and reached back to albums like Colony and Whoracle. Sounds Of A Playground Fading is stellar release. The album churns and burns through thirteen tracks, covering every depth of emotion, imagery, and raw power the band can muster. Friden swerves between clean vocals and melodic screams. The end of the album could have contained a ballad or acoustic piece, fading away into forget tracks like so many other metal bands. Fortunately, synth effects and backing beats envelope the final tracks in an ethereal sound, cut from clean production and ebbing further from generic metal. My favorite tracks include “Deliver Us,” “Fear Is the Weakness,” “Where The Dead Ships Dwell,” and “Jester’s Door.”
Heavy MTL Set list:
1. Cloud Connected
2. Alias
3. Pinball Map
4. Deliver Us
5. The Hive
6. Only For the Weak
7. Where The Dead Ships Dwell
8. The Mirror’s Truth
9. The Quiet Place
10. Take This Life
Red Fang
Heavy metal act, Red Fang stormed onto the stage at Montreal’s Heavy MTL and threw down a short, but energetic set. The six songs were taken from their two albums: Prehistoric Dog and this year’s Murder the Mountains. With a gritty, heavy sound focusing on the simplicity of the interplay between guitars, drums, vocals, Red Fang reach back to an earthy feel often missing from some of the over-produced metal being released these days. Their sounds is as refreshing as it dirty with chugging riffs, driving percussion, and catchy vocals. Standout tracks from Red Fang include “Malverde,” “Wires,” and “Prehistoric Dog.” If that’s not enough, their videos for Wires and Prehistoric Dog are hilarious, not just cheesy film with background music, and act as another reminder that the better days are still alive and well.
Heavy MTL Set list:
1. Into The Eyes
2. Shark
3. Wires
4. Malverde
5. Good To Die
6. Prehistoric Dog
More to come...
Swedish band, In Flames has been churning out their brand of melodic death metal for many years. Many fans are familiar with “Take This Life” off of the album Come Clarity. However, if you’re new to In Flames, you should dive headlong into all of their material. I saw them live at the Heavy MTL festival in Montreal. Their set was raw and electric. Singer Anders Friden builds incredible emotion into his range of vocal styles, from clean, soaring choruses to fiery screams. In the softer moments, when the guitars slow and mire themselves in delicious feedback, Anders voices speaks to you, crackling with intense, tragic emotion. You feel like you’re on the edge of insanity, looking into a world through his bone chilling lens.
Their set covered material from their latest album, Sounds Of A Playground Fading and reached back to albums like Colony and Whoracle. Sounds Of A Playground Fading is stellar release. The album churns and burns through thirteen tracks, covering every depth of emotion, imagery, and raw power the band can muster. Friden swerves between clean vocals and melodic screams. The end of the album could have contained a ballad or acoustic piece, fading away into forget tracks like so many other metal bands. Fortunately, synth effects and backing beats envelope the final tracks in an ethereal sound, cut from clean production and ebbing further from generic metal. My favorite tracks include “Deliver Us,” “Fear Is the Weakness,” “Where The Dead Ships Dwell,” and “Jester’s Door.”
Heavy MTL Set list:
1. Cloud Connected
2. Alias
3. Pinball Map
4. Deliver Us
5. The Hive
6. Only For the Weak
7. Where The Dead Ships Dwell
8. The Mirror’s Truth
9. The Quiet Place
10. Take This Life
Red Fang
Heavy metal act, Red Fang stormed onto the stage at Montreal’s Heavy MTL and threw down a short, but energetic set. The six songs were taken from their two albums: Prehistoric Dog and this year’s Murder the Mountains. With a gritty, heavy sound focusing on the simplicity of the interplay between guitars, drums, vocals, Red Fang reach back to an earthy feel often missing from some of the over-produced metal being released these days. Their sounds is as refreshing as it dirty with chugging riffs, driving percussion, and catchy vocals. Standout tracks from Red Fang include “Malverde,” “Wires,” and “Prehistoric Dog.” If that’s not enough, their videos for Wires and Prehistoric Dog are hilarious, not just cheesy film with background music, and act as another reminder that the better days are still alive and well.
Heavy MTL Set list:
1. Into The Eyes
2. Shark
3. Wires
4. Malverde
5. Good To Die
6. Prehistoric Dog
More to come...
