I wanted to post this concert review but I had no clue where to post it here. Please move to where it should be by all means but until then I figured here would be ok since it said anything you like.
On Monday 18 May I went down to London to catch Stratovarius, Firewind and Eden's Curse live at the O2 Academy in Islington. Been to this venue before last year to see Kamelot and Firewind there, I knew it was a good sized intimate venue.
Now to be quite frank it's been a while since I've been to a full on power metal show and wasn't too sure whether I would enjoy this quite as much as previous shows I've been to. First thing I noticed was there were a lot and i mean A LOT of girls there, which was a bit disconcerting because hey PM ain't that soft! I was no stranger to the two main bands playing, having seen Stratovarius 3 times before and Firewind twice before I thought I knew what to expect. Let's just say Stratovarius delivered but Firewind fell real short.
Anyway the first band that played were a band I had not heard of before called Eden's Curse led by lead singer Michael Eden an American who looked very much like Rob Halford except with a squeaky voice when he spoke. They played melodic metal which of course you all know interests me and these guys played really good I must say. Some original riffs in there, good drumming and varied bass lines. They had some good addictive riffs and the 3rd song they played sounded a lot like Stand Up and Shout by Dio. Their whole sound was actually very reminiscent of Dio, Rob Rock and old Firewind I would say. They got good reception from the crowd and were a good warm up band.
The most amazing member of the band was the lead guitarist Thorsten Koehne, FUCK man this guy could shred for a left handed guitarist playing a Dean guitar to, he had some brilliant use of scales, arpeggios and sweep picking going on. Honestly I think his guitar playing was perhaps the highlight of the night for me, very impressed by him. I will be looking into this band's albums. Check them out:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Next up were Firewind who the crowd were eagerly awaiting. Mark Cross their drummer had some cool cymbals on his kit shaped into Iron Crosses. They started off by playing Head Up High off their last album The Premonition and then played to my surprise Tyranny off of Forged by Fire (one of my fav albums). Apollo then started talking to the crowd which was a turnoff, I think he is a real idiot and wanker to be honest. They then went into to play the following songs Maniac, Destination Forever, I Am the Anger, Mercenary Man, Warrior and Falling to Pieces. They also played a new song off of their album to be released next year, was called Losing Faith in You or something, it was a pretty crap. Overall I was very disappointed with Firewind and they continue to slip down my list. Their lead singer Apollo is such a crap vocalist his voice sounds horrible and has very limited range especially live. I actually heard his voice just cut out and it wasn't the mic I can tell you. He is terrible as a front man to, the look in his eyes is one of a madman and someone not in control which he certainly isn't, he didn't even know the setlist he had to keep asking Gus G what they were playing. Gus G was good but not exactly on top of his game. Firewind's last two albums have been really bad because they are overwrought with keyboards. I especially hate the Premonition for this. Allegiance was ok cause you still had some guitar based songs like The Essence, Dreamchaser and Ready to Strike but now Firewind (and their fanbase) seem to like these almost techno dance metal type crap mid paced songs with little more than strumming, no technical riffing and very basic short lived solos. I personally hate this. What happened to songs like Kill To Live, The Fire and the Fury and Firewind Raging? Gus do something about this crap, kick Apollo and Bob Katsionis out of the band.
After being dissatisfied with Firewind's performance I really needed something to lift my spirits. Stratovarius were the perfect bit of medicine. Now everybody was eager to see how the new replacement guitarist for Timo Tolkki who left the band last year would fare. He did a damn good job! Timo Kotipelto (vocalist) and co. stormed the stage and started off by playing an old favourite Hunting High and Low. "I am Hunting High and Low" could be heard through out the venue, brilliant song and performance! They then went into the next song with Timo saying, we're going to play a fast one now, then bang into it they played Speed of Light which is a fast PM song. It was great to see the godfathers of Power Metal up there playing so well and cohesively together again. Timo Tolkki had always brought unwanted disruption and chaos to the band with his outbursts and mental illness. Strato then went into playing one of their new songs off the album Polaris which the tour was promoting, Higher We Go which was a great song. Strato then played one of my very favourite songs of theirs The Kiss of Judas, love it! "The Kiss of Judas!". Timo then told the crowd "We haven't played this song in about 8 years this is Will the Sun Rise" this is a very good song. Next song was A Million Light Years Away, very fast song. They then went on to play another new song called Deep Unknown which was quite spooky but pretty cool Next song they played was a ballad called Forever which was very well played by the new guitarist. And then they finished off the set with Phoenix. They came back to do an encore with their fan favourite Eagleheart! Great song. They then played a song called Winter Skies, a favourite topic of Strato is winter and the elements. Lastly they finished off the night with the most well known Stratovarius song, Black Diamond which was absolutely fantastic. I'd give Stratovarius a 10/10 for the setlist I mean it honestly wouldn't get much better than what they played than night I don't think.
Overall concert experience: 7.5/10
Comments:
Eden's Curse, glad I got introduced to them enjoyed their material their guitarist totally wowed me and I want to get some of their albums now.
Firewind, no exaggeration really bland.
Stratovarius, hit the stars that night!
Hope you enjoyed reading this review.
Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:17 am by metalfutte
Subject: Stratovarius Concert Review 
