First up were the modern/electro metallers of Ember Falls. And those who have seen these guys in a stage before, know that you’re in for a highly energetic and explosive set with catchy banger after catchy banger. Much to our surprise we almost didn’t recognize vocalist Thomas Grove without his signature dreadlocks, but none of his old energy got lost by cutting those locks off, luckily. They came in hard with ‘Falling Rain‘ and ‘The World Is Burning‘ and please me personally with a very well done rendition of In Flames‘ ‘Cloud Connected‘. Ending with the explosive ‘We Are Become Fire‘, you can pretty much say that they were the perfect openers and warm-up for a night like this!

Now Blood Youth was of a totally different caliber! While they also have a certain degree of catchiness in their music, they probably were the heaviest band of the night with some killer breakdowns and impressive harsh vocals from their latest vocalist Harry Rule. Just like the opening band, they had some electronic elements in their music and at times had a very nu metal vibe, which was very much appreciated by myself, having spend the better part of my teenage years growing up with that kind of music. The incredible high level of energy that came from every single member of the band was clearly infectious to the people in the room, because quite soon there were moshpits and circle pits, which is not all that common of a sight with Finnish crowds. A really nice discovery for me that I hope to see some time really soon again!

And then finally it was Dead By April‘s turn! Quite literally starting with a bang with fireworks, smoke and shooting off confetti canons, the mood was immediately right. I’ve caught part of a set of these guys before years ago at one of the editions of Finland’s biggest rock and metal festival Rockfest and remembered the high energy and dedicated fan base. And that energy was very present again this night. The combination of tasty metalcore riffs, proper screams and ridiculously catch clean vocals really shows where they got the tag “Swedish metal Backstreet Boys” from. Guitarist Pontus Hjelm even had the kind of mic headset on you often see with boys bands to be able to run around while still cranking out his vocal lines. Overall, this was a great night of modern metal and catchy metalcore and Dead By April proved yet again why they are such a big name and so popular around here! We’re already looking forward to whenever they come back to instigate another metal party!