The new Finnish doom collective The Abbey got the opportunity to share their music live as direct support for these sold out Insomnium shows, and it was a true pleasure to be able to attend to one of the first shows of this promising new band. Having just released their debut full-length ‘Word of Sin’, it seemed like a lot of people were already showing up early to catch them take over the stage. And what we got was a mesmerizing serving of doomy music that brought a magical atmosphere into the legendary venue. The songs are both catchy and intricately composed, managing to captivate everyone who was there. With the caliber of musicians in this collective that didn’t really come as a big surprise, having members linked to bands like Sentenced, The Man-Eating Tree, Poisonblack, Shape of Despair, Hexvessel, and more. Despite not having the longest of playtime, they managed to squeeze in almost the whole tracklist of their recently released debut album, closing the set with the over 12 min long epic ‘Old Ones‘. And you could see that a lot of those who hadn’t picked up on The Abbey‘s existence before, were enthralled by what they had seen and heard, turning them into instant fans of the project.

And then finally it was time for Insomnium. The venue was absolutely packed to the brim with excited fans and while they obviously could have filled a much bigger venue, there was something about the atmosphere at a completely full Tavastia that just doesn’t have a match anywhere else. The stage was outfitted with some banners fitting with the ‘Anno 1696’ theme, some really cool looking old school Insomnium logos made out of wood, and a special mic stand for Niilo, which was more stage production than I’ve seen in quite a while from these guys. When they came on stage, they immediately kicked off with the first 2 tracks ‘1696‘ and ‘White Christ‘ from the new album and the room exploded. Heads were banging, and hair was flying around like there was no tomorrow. It was really good to see the band in its complete form again now that Ville was able to come over to play shows, and there is just something special in the air when they all are there. The setlist had a bunch more tracks from ‘Anno 1696‘ like ‘Godforsaken‘, ‘Lilian‘ and ‘The Witch Hunter‘, but we also got to enjoy some of their classics and our favorites sprinkled throughout with ‘Valediction‘, ‘Pale Morning Star‘, ‘While We Sleep‘, ‘Heart Like a Grave‘ and much more. A great way to celebrate the release of yet another great Insomnium album, while at the same time a set that celebrated as good as every version of the band. What a show!