METALTOWN – DAY 2

w/ In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Soulfly, Amon Amarth and more!

Frihamnen, Gothenburg, Sweden – 19th June, 2010

Thanks to the late start at Metaltown, I managed to get a good nights sleep in ahead o f what promised to be one hell of a day. T he only thing that could ruin it was the predicted rain showers to fall throughout the afternoon, or a dodgy festival kebab. Luckily though, neither were too bad!

I planned to start my day with the scheduled appearance of Unleashed on the main stage. However, contradicting schedules and festival posters actually meant that Sodom had replaced the Swedes sometime in the last few days. Somewhat surprisingly, the crowd was near abysmal and the way too loud sound was atrocious, meaning that my first actual band for the day was Raunchy from Denmark. A guilty pleasure of mine, the bands brand of ‘pop metal’ had a little more balls to it than expected live, as the band made their way through tracks off ‘Death Pop Romance‘ and ‘Wasteland Discotheque‘, plus the old classic and personal favourite track ‘Join The Scene‘.

A quick dash to the red stage as the rain fell in time for Finntroll to grace the stage. As expected, the crowd jogged and moshed to the folky tunes with more vigour than most bands on day 1 received. And when it was time to bring ‘Trollhammren‘ out of the bag, the band joined the festival elite with the crowd joining only Rammstein so far in managing to shake the entire pier! Amon Amarth were up next and justified their next to headline billing with a dominant performance. Playing to a huge audience in front of their immense backdrop, the band blended their hour long set with the best of their new tracks and some old classics including the epic ‘Victorious March‘. Fireworks and crowd singing completed the package and left the crowd baying for more. Unfortunately, time restrictions prevented the encore, so the masses made their way over to the red stage to see an enlarged (see photo below) Soulfly play without the energy and  atmosphere that one expects from the Brazilians.

A very much packed out Close-up Stage tent greeted local gods Dark Tranquillity who, in reflection 3 days after and after many years waiting to see them live, probably played the most enjoyable hour set I’ve seen. Vocalist Mikael Stanne was captivating as he moved around the stage with boundless energy, the rest of the band performing a great set of tracks both new and old, and a fantastic and knowledgeable mosh pit.

If anyone were to top DT for the day, then it was to be the other gods of Gothenburg – In Flames. With the band taking over the big screens and dubbing the festival ‘In Flamestown’, they kicked off with Alias from their latest offering before embarking on once again a set perfectly blended from new and (relatively) old.

Reportedly in an attempt to outdo their 2008 performance, In Flames hired out Gothenburg’s Scandinavium ice hockey arena to perform a rehearsal for the fest with complete pyrotechnics so that they could make the night “one to remember”. Whether this was true or not, the visual display was spectacular and choreographed to almost exacting standards that delighted no doubt the biggest crowd of the weekend. In fact it was quite an experience being part of a massive local crowd for IF, a crowd where everyone knew almost every lyric and got involved in creating a great atmosphere – especially in tracks such ‘The Quiet Place‘ and ‘Only For The Weak‘. (Check out our video on YouTube below!)

Again, the friendly baiting and joking between vocalist Anders Friden and the audience meant the band skipped the encore chanting due to the midnight curfew, busting into their final track ‘My Sweet Shadow‘ amid a frenzy of flames, thus closing a great two days of metal.

This year was Metal Obsession’s second visit to Sweden for this festival, and once again we recommend it highly. Organisers have corrected the issues from last year around entering the festival gates, and the food queues weren’t as bad as either the kebab quality or Swedish prices. However what really marks Metaltown as a quality festival is it’s stellar lineup, relatively small crowd size, and its great location in the heart of Gothenburg.

Amon Amarth setlist

Twilight of the Thunder God
Runes To My Memory
Guardians of Asgaard
Varyags of Miklagaard
Asator
Thousand Years of Oppression
Death in Fire
Live for the Kill
Victorious March
The Pursuit of Vikings
.

Dark Tranquillity setlist

At the Point of Ignition
The Fatalist
Focus Shift
The Wonders At Your Feet
Final Resistance
Misery’s Crown
Iridium
The Lesser Faith
Dream Oblivion
Lost To Apathy
The Grandest Accusation
Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)
.

In Flames setlist

Alias
Crawl Through Knives
System
Leeches
Bullet Ride
Pinball Map
Trigger
Satellites and Astronauts
Come Clarity
Only For The Weak
Take This Life
Dial 595-escape
Cloud Connected
Delight And Angers
The Quiet Place
My Sweet Shadow
.

Reviewed by Brendan Amos.
Photos by Jess Day.