INSOMNIUM LIVE IN DUBAI [REVIEW]
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| Insomnium at The Music Room. Photo credits: The Music Room Photographer. |
by Habib T
However, if you want the long and more detailed answer,
which I feel does the performing bands and the organizer more justice, I would
tell you that, from the start, I knew it was going to be out of this world.
Insomnium, a band on a musical journey more than 18 years in the making, have
come a long a long way from their humble roots to become a band renowned in the
worldwide metal scene. Smouldering in Forgotten, the Bahraini band that warmed
up the stage for their Finnish counterparts, stood proud as one of the first
and most recognized extreme metal groups in the region and have been around for
more than 10 years.
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| Smouldering in Forgotten rocking the stage. Photo credits: Metal Bell Magazine. |
Soon after the fans filled the Music Room’s relatively small
albeit comfortable and welcoming space, Smouldering in Forgotten took to the stage
to unleash musical chaos and darkness from their desert homeland, combining a
variety of metal styles such as black, death, and thrash, along with their own
touch. The band played some of their older tracks such as “Dread Messiah”, “Reincarnation
of the Judgment Star” and “I, Devourer”, as well as unreleased ones from their
upcoming album, which were “Cult De Aur”
and “Tartarus”. They also played their recently released single “Siren of Truth”.
Their performance, especially in the last two songs, resulted in extreme
moshing and headbanging, echoing memories of their show in last March’s
Resurrection Metal Night. I was particularly glad I could hear their black
metal elements well in their songs, allowing for an atmosphere of musical
destruction and reconstruction with well-timed riffs. Their performance
affirmed my assumptions that they are, quite indeed, an underrated band.
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| Markus Vanhala of Insomnium on stage. Photo Credits: The Music Room Photographer. |
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| Insomnium on stage. Photo Credits: The Music Room Photographer. |
When it was time for Insomnium to ascend to the stage, the
crowd fell silent as the opening for “While We Sleep” rang through the venue,
but what followed next was beautiful chaos that echoed the deadly beauty of the
Finnish winter, as the mesmerizing riffs tore through the audience, with all of
the band’s members headbanging in unison. The choice of the next song they played
surprised us, as the ever-magnificent and melancholic “Daughter of the Moon”
was not played by the band in their last few shows. The brilliant riffs of that
song as well as the song’s saturnine atmosphere put the crowd into a trance of
surreal musical beauty. The Finnish quartet also played crowd favorites such as
“Mortal Share” with its addictive introductory riff and headbang-incuding
tunes. Songs such as “The Harrowing Years”, “Where the Last Wave Broke”, and “One
for Sorrow” demonstrated the sheer beauty of blending Ville Friman’s cleans
with Niilo Sevanen’s growls and the magnificent keyboard sounds that dominated “Down
with the Sun”. Another powerful song they performed was “The Killjoy” that destroyed
the crowd with its brutal, yet majestic sounds. “Unsung” gave me goosebumps as
it, in my opinion, is a song that perfectly portrays Insomnium’s take on
melodic death and doom metal. In addition, “Weather the Storm” was another
wonderfully-performed song that would have been even more amazing if Dark
Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne was around to do his part of the song’s vocals,
but Niilo’s vocals were equally as haunting and menacing in their own way. Among
their relatively quieter songs, their performance of “The Promethean Song”
takes the cake in its beautiful acoustic sounds and dark ambience. It was a
beautiful yet haunting, a powerful yet dark, and brutal yet melancholic performance
that transcended the meaning of music, and brought us into the heart of the
Finnish woods and frozen lakes.
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| Insomnium thanking their fans after their set. Credits: The Music Room. |
Finally, it is safe to say this was the best show I’ve
witnessed so far in Dubai, and Insomnium’s promise of their return here as well
as Swallow the Sun’s impending performance next month mean one thing: The
Middle Eastern metal scene is alive, and both local and international bands are
going to benefit from this, and the fans here will be happier than ever!
If you missed it for whatever reason, then I feel very sorry
for you. It was an unforgettable experience.
Here’s to more awesome shows like this one!
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