The temperature was rapidly falling, dipping well below 0° Fahrenheit, with the wind chill shooting even further into the negatives as the tall buildings lining Main St. in Worcester, MA funneled the stiff wind down the street’s narrow corridor. Fitting weather for a metal show, indeed. In fact, New England seems to always conjure up something interesting to welcome Swedish melodic death metal titans Dark Tranquillity to the area, as last February when they played the very same venue it so happened to dump 2 feet of snow only a few hours after the show ended. This time there wasn’t any snow, just an icy chill that signaled not only Dark Tranquillity’s presence, but also the long-awaited return of Insomnium to North America. I missed their last stop in New England in 2007 when they played at a now-shut strip club in my home state of New Hampshire to support Above the Weeping World, so seven years later I certainly wasn’t going to miss this tour.

It’s arguably the greatest melodic death metal duo in the world, making this tour arguably the greatest melodic death metal tour ever, so I eagerly awaited the show. Before the doors opened at 6:30 I walked a few blocks down the street to the local pizza place to get something to eat, and to my giddy dismay I recognized two familiar faces as soon as I walked in the door. Insomnium vocalist Niilo Sevänen and guitarist Markus Vanhala were sampling some mediocre, greasy pizza, and after ordering some myself I went over and quickly said how much I was looking forward to their performance. After eating, I stepped back into the cold and went over to the venue to catch the opening acts and browse the merchandise offerings.

The Palladium is the de facto metal venue for acts swinging through New England, and offers two stages. The downstairs stage is large, making use of an old theater still holding onto its decaying woodworking and offering a cavernous space for the crowd to either stand up front and mosh, or hang further up and back by the bar and appreciate a drink along with their music. This show, though, was in the more claustrophobic upstairs, featuring a long, thin floor flanked on two sides by a balcony where people could watch the show from above. The bar jetted into the long main floor, and the stage was small and cramped, with no gate or security presence up front, allowing you to get face to face with the band as they played on the low stage. It offers more atmosphere at the expense of being extremely tight, with the venue holding what must be a max of a few hundred people cramped shoulder to shoulder. Tonight the place was, not surprisingly, near capacity, and the entire room was filled with anticipation.

The two opening bands were both unknown local acts. Seven Spires played a female-fronted brand of symphonic metal and were the first to take the stage, followed by a melodeath/metalcore hybrid My Missing Half. Energetic and full of life, their eagerness to open for the two headliners was obvious in their enthusiasm on stage, despite the fact that their material was overtly amateurish. Still, Seven Spires proved to be a fun act that got the crowd primed while My Missing Half got the crowd physically ready as they incited a mosh pit or two during their startlingly brief 20-minute set. My Missing Half’s final song was the best one from either opener, and offered a rolling melody that translated well across their heavier approach. What matters most, though, from the openers is not whether they are actually good, but whether or not they truly want to be there, and both acts showed that they were having an absolute blast. That attitude in and of itself makes their music sound better than it would if they stood like stones up on the stage, so they did their jobs admirably.

The 30-minute wait for Insomnium to get set up was brutal. I had seen Dark Tranquillity 3 times prior to this show, so I was mainly going to see what Insomnium were like live. As most of you know, I have a hopeless fanboy attachment to the band, and their mournful, doom-laced brand of melodeath is arguably my favorite approach. Hoping for a good showing from their first three records, I readied myself. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how the crowd was going to reply, because Insomnium aren’t necessarily about mosh-inducing heaviness, and indeed carry a large portion of flowing acoustics, clean vocals, and winding melodies through their sound. As they took the stage, it became apparent with their choosing “The Primeval Dark” to open the show that things may trend more toward their newer material, but at this point I didn’t care. Drummer Markus Hirvonen (a criminally under-appreciated drummer, I might add) took the stage alone to lay out the rolling introductory beat using Anders Jivarp’s kit, unleashing a torrent of anxious anticipation throughout the crowd.

The band entered to a rousing applause and humming undercurrent of cheers, still swallowed by the cacophony of Hirvonen’s drumming. The guitars shot in with a heavy rhythm of chords, and at this point Sevänen began to bellow in the mic…

… or at least it looked like he was. For the entirety of “The Primeval Dark” and the beginning of their next track “While We Sleep” the mic wasn’t working, but that didn’t stop the crowd from breaking into continuous headbanging as the harmonized leads took center stage in the vocals’ absence. Halfway through the first cleanly sung verse, the mics kicked on and Ville Friman’s singing rung out over the guitars. A sarcastic round of cheers ensued as Sevänen took command with his deep, bellowing growls. Insomnium’s set consisted of almost entirely new material, but considering this tour was in support of Shadows of the Dying Sun I shouldn’t be so surprised. I do question their addition of “The Harrowing Years”, as it is arguably the weakest track on Across the Dark, but in a live setting everything sounds better than it does when you have time to be pessimistic on your computer. Their sound was well-mixed, so I must give credit to the audio engineer who allowed the vocals to still be heard while keeping the guitars high in the mix, giving their live sound a full-bodied feel that drives home the impact of their heavier passages.

The crowd was relatively still through much of their set, keeping moshing at bay yet showing their enthusiasm through constant headbanging, making Insomnium feel quite welcome back here in the Northeast. “Ephemeral” turns out to be a brilliant live tune as its high energy diffuses immediately into the crowd, and Friman’s rendition of the chorus of “Where the Last Wave Broke” was an admirable imitation of Jules Näveri, who provided session clean vocals on Across the Dark. The real show-stealer, though, was Markus Vanhala, who is without doubt one of the best live guitarists I’ve seen. He was the most active band member in terms of crowd interaction, basically soloing in the first and second rows, angling his guitar so that all could see that Insomnium aren’t some technically-devoid melodic death metal husk. His tone was thick and rich, while the highs rung out in a fantastic wailing that got the crowd cheering heartily every time he raised his guitar for a more flamboyant lick.

Insomnium’s sound translates very, very well to the live setting, and by the time they were just coming back on for their encore the crowd was primed and ready to unleash. Fitting, then, that the charging intro “The Gale” began to unfold, providing the single most enjoyable song of the night from any band despite the fact that it was simply an intro. The pacing is masterful, and by the time Niilo growls “When it rains, it pours like hell” the entire crowd was beginning to change from an appreciative buzz to a roaring torrent. As soon as “Mortal Share” began a huge mosh pit erupted, and I eagerly leapt in as Insomnium hit their stride, providing what I consider the best encore duo (“The Gale” and “Mortal Share”) I have had the pleasure of hearing. It was perfect in every sense or interpretation of the word. My only complaint, if anything, was that Insomnium’s set ended just as it was truly reaching its prime. They deserve more than 10 songs – hell, they could have played double that and not a single person would complain.

After the mosh pit subsided and Insomnium bid their final farewells, I found myself in the second row, and firmly planted myself there for Dark Tranquillity’s set. They are masters of the live show, and Mikael Stanne is arguably the single best frontman in metal when it comes to getting the crowd pumped and actually interacting with them. DT’s 18-song set was its usual lengthy self, but lengthy in the best possible way as they have over two decades of material to go through. Playing once again without a live bassist, Dark Tranquillity took the stage and immediately started on a high note, seguing from “The Science of Noise” into the vicious duo of “White Noise/Black Silence” and “Damage Done”, two Damage Done heavy-hitters that had the crowd spinning. If Insomnium’s sound translates well to a live setting, then Dark Tranquillity’s was absolutely made for being played live. Donning two flying-V guitars, Martin Henriksson and Niklas Sundin are masters of their craft, executing each riff without flaw and managing to throw in slight deviations to certain riffs that make old classics feel alive again on the live stage.

Keyboardist Martin Brändström commands respect for his atmospheric dominance, and drummer Anders Jivarp never misses a beat as yet another criminally under-appreciated heavy metal drummer. Stanne’s growls are sharp and his cleans are bellowing, making the band a force to be reckoned with when it comes to accuracy of sound when comparing their live presence to that on their studio records. Unfortunately, the crowd was so enthused by their brilliant performance that things became a bit rowdy, with heavy moshing transitioning into constant, uncontrollable crowd surfing and stage diving as the set progressed.

Let’s talk for a minute about crowd surfing. I’m all for showing appreciation for a band’s effort and not standing still in the crowd, and whether that translates to moshing or crowd surfing is fine with me. What I DO NOT condone, however, is being a guy (or girl, as there were several during this show) who crowd surfs and stage dives not once, not twice, but at least 5 times during a band’s set. There were more than a few who must have done this, and for not only the other crowd members but the band as well it became maddening. Dark Tranquillity tried their best to deal with these idiots in a polite manner, but by the time “Terminus” was playing it was obvious that they were extremely frustrated with the volume and frequency of stage divers, especially in a venue where there is next to no up-front security presence and no gate between the stage and the crowd. Stanne was constantly pulling people from the crowd who were surfing their way up to him, and it got to the point where it was beginning to interrupt the show. A friend of mine was even kicked in the face by a crowd surfer, causing his glasses to shatter. So, if you crowd surf more than once at a show, to the point when it is painfully obvious you are angering the band, injuring others in the crowd, or interrupting the performance, I have two kind words for you: Fuck Off.

I digress, though, because despite the sadly typical New England crowd rowdiness, and despite the fact that DT didn’t play any songs from Skydancer, The Gallery, or The Mind’s I, their performance was incredible. Their set was different, with some live rarities like “Through Smudged Lenses” or “The Lesser Faith” making their way onto the ticket. Since this is their second time in North America in less than a year, they needed to shake things up, and the absence of an encore as well as these setlist changes made for a re-invigorated performance.

As the end of “Misery’s Crown” faded and the lights flipped on, I couldn’t help but see the show as a massive success, despite the crowd’s tendency to be quite disrespectful of the band’s already constricted space on the small stage. Still, DT and Insomnium played a show that will be remembered for years and years, on a tour that will likely go down as the best melodeath tour ever. I was soaked in sweat and quite sore, but by now the -30 degree (-35C) wind chill felt nice as I walked out to my car, already dreaming of the next time I’ll get to see either of these melodic death metal titans again.

Dark Tranquillity’s Setlist

Insomnium’s Setlist