First up, to warm up the already quite filled up room, Blood Command came to take over the stage. Last time I had seen them, was when they were opening for Kvelertak in Helsinki, and I was really looking forward to experiencing their energy in this smaller club show setting. As soon as Nikki and the guys ran on stage, they immediately hit hard with ‘Praise Armageddonism (Awake Theme)’ from their latest release of the same name and never took their foot off the gas pedal. Those who have seen Blood Command before, know to expect a boundless kind of energy from literally every single member of the band, but especially their present vocalist Nikki (ex-Pagan) is an absolute whirlwind on stage. To the tunes of their crazy blend of R&B, punk and pop/disco, they danced, jumped, did high kicks,… and we danced, sang along and brought a kind of energy you usually don’t see with the opening band at a concert, especially not coming from the crowd as it was tonight. This time around, some of Nikki‘s usual antics, like crowdsurfing or going around the venue on the shoulders of someone, didn’t happen, but nevertheless this was a bombshell of a show, and I can’t wait to see what comes next from them. I suspect they’ll take over the world if they continue like this…

Time for the main event of the night, with a room that was absolutely packed to full capacity! No wonder, since the night had been sold out for quite a while, showing yet again how popular the Swedes of Imminence are. With the stage drowning in smoke and some extra lights, they created the atmosphere they’re known for at live shows, and immediately kicked off with ‘I Am Become a Name…’ and ‘Ghost’ from their latest full-length ‘Heaven in Hiding’ of which they just recently released a deluxe edition with some extra tracks, new ones, and acoustic and live renditions of the tracks that were on the original release. And they actually played most of that album with ‘Surrender’, latest single ‘Jaded’, ‘Chasing Shadows’, ‘Alleviate’, ‘∞’, ‘Heaven in Hiding’, and ‘Temptation’ all coming by.

But of course there was plenty of room for some of their older tracks, even going back all the way to their very first release with the ‘Wine & Water’ track, and dropping in an acoustic rendition of ‘This Is Goodbye’ somewhere halfway in the set to give the crowd a bit of a breather. Their brand of metalcore is just something special, with vocalist Eddie playing live violin on some tracks, really giving it that little extra that makes them stand out among the rest. And just like when we saw them before supporting In Flames, the energy of the whole band absolutely went through the roof. But it felt even more visceral and intense because of the closeness of this club show. Vocalist Eddie regularly bend down, getting close to his fans, while he was screaming and singing his lungs out. And the entire crowd there was seemingly pulsating to the music, and crowdsurfers could be spotted quite often, something you don’t experience all that often at concerts in Finland. With this show, Imminence convinced me even more of their capabilities than ever before, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll do at a festival this summer at Tuska!