Children of Bodom - Amon Amarth - 9 Apr 11 (The Forum)

The bill for tonight's show was excitingly promising with two giants(literally for one, not so literally for the other) of Scandinavian metal and with the sun shining high, the metalheads came in numbers for it. With the release of Surtur Rising and Relentless, Reckless Forever everybody was quite eager to hear the new material! First to showcase their might were our favourite Vikings: Amon Amarth. With eight studio albums in their bag and with a very small set time to fill, the band had to chose the songs to perform carefully and I am a bit disappointed from the choice. Would had definitely liked to hear more new songs and in general more Amon Amarth. The sound was quite bad which is something surprising since I remember that in general the sound in the Forum is quite good, even for support bands. However the band was up there and seemed to be in a very good shape and this is definitely a great warm-up for the big US tour they're heading of to. Amon Amarth are said to be coming back to do a headline tour here in the UK, so all we have to do in order to hear some new material live is just wait a few more months! Up next: Children of Bodom who attacked the stage with great might and aggression. These guys really know how to give a show although sometimes Janne Wirman(Keyboards) seemed a little bit bored. Alexi Laiho(Guitar,Vocals) proved once again that he is a great front-man and a great shredder. Once again however the sound was not that great. Better than Amon Amarth but it seems as if some speaker blew out at some point and the sound was really unworthy of a venue such as the Forum. Overall a very nice gig with a good atmosphere but unfortunately not a great sound.

Children of Bodom: 17/20 

Sound: 4/5

Ambience: 4/5 
Presentation: 5/5 
Performance: 4/5

Amon Amarth: 15/20 
Sound: 3/5 
Ambience: 4/5 
Presentation: 4/5 
Performance: 4/5

Posted by Nick 

Devildriver - 13 Nov 2010 (The Forum)

Welcome to the crowd surfing and circle pit’s paradise! With a bill listing bands such as 36 Crazyfists and Devildriver you can be sure that the crowd will be amazingly crazy and aggressive. First on stage were 36 Crazyfists and I have to say that this guys know how to put up a great show. The band lifted up the crowd with an amazing energy on stage, especially by Brock Lindow(Vocals) who didn’t even hesitate at jumping inside the pit from the stage just to say hi to his friends down there. The band prepared an amazing set list that included tracks such as Slit Wrist Theory, Bloodwork or The Heart & the Shape. The crowd was amazing and the crowdsurfers didn’t stop for a second and so did the pits which were very aggressive and probably very fun too. I say probably because this time, being tortured by this cold that’s been haunting me for a week now, I decided not to join the pit and sit on the upper level of the Forum. On one hand I missed the intensity of the pits which looked awesome but on the other hand I got to witness all the frenzy that went through when Devildriver came on. What I saw from up there was something I haven’t seen in a while now. The crowd went absolutely mental for Devildriver. The band came up and ripped everything apart. They delivered songs from all Pray for Villains, The Last Kind Words and The Fury of our Maker’s Hand albums. Songs such as Clouds Over California or Forgiveness Is a Six Gun really made it for everybody. Dez Fafara(Vocals) seemed to have a great night and made sure to give a hand to all the crowdsurfers that made it to the security pit. I have to say that the last time that I saw so many crowdsurfers was probably at the Lamb of God gig last February where, according to Metal Hammer, there were 234 crowdsurfers coming over the barriers. I’m very interested in getting some numbers for this gig so if by any chance you get them just leave them in the comment section! Also one of the things that couldn’t be missing from a Devildriver gig is of course the massive circle pits. Despite the fact that the venue was packed and that the space was somehow limited, the pits did get quite big and aggressive and it was definitely very nice to watch them from above. Of course when you are Devildriver and you are playing London you have to play the song that is written about London so “let’s start a riot” and play Another Night in London. The song was amazing to be heard in this context and I’m sure that Dez, the crowd and everybody in the Forum did enjoy it a lot(maybe not the security guys). Overall a great gig and a message for the future: Do not miss the next Devildriver or 36 Crazyfists gig!

Devildriver: 19/20

36 Crazyfists: 19/20

Posted by Nick