LIVE REVIEW: Dark Tranquillity / Moonspell / Wolfheart / Hiraes - O2 Academy, Islington, London 5th November 2024

What a night of metal at O2 Academy Islington! I got there quite early as I’ve made the mistake of turning up half an hour after doors before, when there have been four bands on and caught the last song of the first band. The venue was around half full when first act, Germans Hiraes took to the stage, and the people that were not there missed a treat. 

A rousing synth intro gave way to blast beats from drummer Mathias Blässe, and Britta Görtz let loose a vocal that sounded like Zed Yago mixed with Arch Enemy. This was heavy stuff, with quick frenetic energy crackling around the venue, as Through the Storm was belted out, and they embarked on a five-song set. There were some great little guitar motifs and dual parts from Oliver Kirchner and Lukas Kerk, especially in About Lies. 

The bass from Christian Wösten was driving solidly and the tone was good. The band looked like they were really having fun, and Britta truly engaged with the audience, as well as getting off the stage into the recess to greet the front row. She can sing as well as do the gutturals, and normally this mix isn’t something that I’m too keen on within the same song, but it was really well done. The band were tight; at one point they all stopped, waited for a second and started up again with zero delay from any player. Only two things detracted from a great opener, and both were not of the band’s doing. The lead guitar when soloing was occasionally low, the kick drum changed my heart rate, and vocals were drowned out at times, but all in all a very entertaining warm-up act. 

A mic stand lectern of what looked like a stag’s head with full antlers is brought onto the stage, bells toll and Wolfheart appear, to another synth intro, before the gothic doom hit! With the lead guitar mix remedied, hooky motifs are abound from Vagelis Karzis and Tuomas Saukkonen, who started the Finnish band as a solo project, with the latter also preaching gutturals from the front, as they launch into Strength and Valor. 

Most tracks start with a backing track of some kind, whether that be an atmospheric synth or acoustic guitar. This was used on an interlude on the second track, Zero Gravity, and it seemed strange having the music play while the band did nothing. When they did play it is crushing technical stuff, interspersed with melodic parts, discord, and slower doominess as heard in Burning Sky, embraces the Draconian Darkness of the new album title. The Hunt gives rise to a thrashy death number that has the whole-body vibrating, with Joonas Kauppinen’s drums pounding their way through your soul, and some sweeping shreds come into play. It becomes clear that Saukkonen is not the crowd interacting type of frontman, and is the antithesis of Görtz, with that duty falling mainly to bassist Lauri Silvonen. An eerily haunting intro with piano rolls and heavy as hell guitars kick off the penultimate track, Evenfall, which sees Karvis and Silvonen taking up some vocal roles, with the latter growling in the background. Kauppinen shows that he doesn’t just hit hard but can groove, too. At last, Saukkonen speaks, and challenges the crowd to get into the pit for "the fastest song of the night", I, even at the tender age of forty-nine, am not one to shirk from this, so dragged my old, injured body into the centre of the venue to indulge. There isn’t much I can say about the last track they played apart from it was quick; it was heavy, and a lot of fun. 

Two warm-up acts down and I staggered back to the safety of the side, with the venue now pretty much full. Portuguese doomsters Moonspell were the only act on the night that I had seen before, supporting Paradise Lost in February 2022 on their Obsidian Moon Tour. I really enjoyed their show that night, so I was looking forward to this, as they started an eleven-song performance from their substantial back catalogue. After a tape played intro Perverse... Almost Religious, Vocalist Fernando Ribeiro is straight into the crowd participation and carries it on throughout the set.

The songs are full of the classic arpeggios of goth and doom playing, with an 80s vocal style that is in sharp contrast to what has been before. Dynamics are shown from the off in the shape of Opium, with its reverbed drums played by Hugo Ribeiro echoing out. Pedro Paixäo and Ricardo Amorim show that they can play in all types of style from those arpeggios and ringing acoustic guitars to chuggy heaviness and thrashy/death metal tremolo. These were particularly showcased in Awake with its quiet cleans into chugs, and Night Eternal with its acoustic intro into double kick drum driven onslaught. 

Bassist Aires Pereira brings a solid low end, and once again the tone is really good. Finisterra keeps the tempo up, before Everything Invaded brought it down again, with an almost Rammstein feel to the music and vocal. The lighter Nocturna adds a break from the full on heaviness and Breathe (Until We Are No More) gives the bass time to breathe, and at times has a Depeche Mode, even disco like feel to it. Fernando Ribeiro, clutching his head, gives a pained performance to the almost Hammer Horror riffed, Mephisto. Anthemic Alma Mater gets the crowd singing along with the backing chant, and they could end here easily, but one more is to come in the form of Full Moon Madness. Clean guitars with chorus and reverb lead to classic heavy doom goth for this final track. It really has everything. Picking, synth, slow heavy sections into fast kicks, with melodic solos and shreds. 

With just the headliner to go we have already had around two hours plus of great music, and these will be a hard act to follow. Enter Dark Tranquillity, touring their release Endtime Signals, to an air raid like siren and atmospheric synths like out of a sci-fi film, a crunchy guitar riff slow builds into a heavy doom which then speeds into the pounding relatively short track, The Last Imagination. Mikael Stanne growling his way through, and Joakim Strandberg-Nilsson powering it along behind the kit. Some of the arpeggios were a little lost in the mix as were crashes. An intro from the rhythm section, with Indians style drums and a grinding low end provided by Christian Jansson, is soon joined by the guitars, and the pace quickens with a hooky riff. Timing changes and tempo changes are so smoothly done, with some staccato parts allowing the keyboards from Martin Brändstrom to have room. There is some nice dual guitar work by Johan Reinholdz and touring member Peter Karmark. 

Wayward Eyes showed how Stanne can sing live as well as growl. The synth is high in this track and a little bit of feedback creeps in for the first time in the night. By the brutal Unforgivable, Stanne is really enjoying himself. Travelling all over the stage with a smile on his face that has been there since the onset of their set. There are some great motifs in this song, but a couple of times they are lost in the mix and the feedback returned. The lead guitar volume dropped off a little like it did for Hiraes. The riffs of Hours Passed in Exile intertwine, and when it slows in the middle of the song you can feel the tension build. Thankfully the lead guitar has returned to the mix in time of the solo. These guys can play, and they can write music that is well orchestrated for use of the keyboards, with the motifs cutting through The Dark Unbroken. The clean vocals were not so clear in this track.

Final Resistance brought some crowd participation with some ‘heys!’. This one had a bit of groove to it. Loud cheers came at the end. By Cathode Ray Sunshine, an older track with a NWOBHM feel, the feedback had gone. There were seamless timing and tempo changes in this. A huge roar greets Atoma when the keys start up. Again, Stanne shows how well he can sing clean without strain and effort. This song really demonstrates how there are riffs in these tracks, but they do not dominate, and it seems more about the songs that are crafted around them. 

By Shivers and Voids, the mix seems to be locked in, though the bass seemed to be masked by the kick at times. A synth pop like intro to Not Nothing gives way to a heavy guitar like an Erasure with chug song. Bassist Jansson seems to start to enjoy himself getting animated around the stage. Empty Me brings a proggy nature to the night. A tremolo guitar and double kick turn into a syncopated timing section. This is my favourite musical part of the night, but not song wise if you can understand that. A drum roll is played on this track that a marvel at. 

Energy levels are really high from the band, and I marvel at it now that we are thirteen songs in, and I’m starting to flag even though I’m just standing around. Our Disconnect is loved by the crowd and I can see why, with its stirring keyboard and guitar interplay and lead solo. The anthemic intro to Phantom Days gives way to gallops, and a sonically dynamic track gets the crowd going again. A bit of virtuoso tapping is unleashed in Therein, and again keys are well worked. 

The main set is done, and the crowd wants more, which is given in a three-song encore. The Wonders at Your Feet was a wall of noise that made my body vibrate, was followed by the all-out speed of Lost to Apathy and its melodic motifs, before closing with Misery's Crown, which sonically oscillated between soft and a barrage of noise. Rapturous sounds of approval concluded a night of high-octane noise.

Review by Rich 'Tricky' Hudson

Photos by kind permission of Artur Tarczewski - https://www.facebook.com/ARTURTARCZEWSKIphoto

Crowd photo by @leticiacontreiras