Tivoli, Utrecht, The Netherlands
10th November 2013
Paradise Lost, Lacuna Coil, Katatonia
The English metal band PARADISE LOST celebrates its 25th anniversary with a triple tour featuring no one less than KATATONIA and LACUNA COIL. All in all a well filled evening with basically three headliners so I’m expecting the venue to be sold out or quite filled up at least.
Katatonia
KATATONIA is a Swedish metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The early KATATONIA albums, along with albums by bands such as MY DYING BRIDE, ANATHEMA and PARADISE LOST, are sometimes considered forerunners of the death/doom genre. In 1998, KATATONIA released ‘Discouraged Ones’, an album that saw them step away from more traditional doom-laden atmospheres into an increasingly distinctive sonic world. With Renkse focusing on his role as vocalist, the KATATONIA sound became more intense on 1999’s ‘Tonight’s Decision’. Through extensive touring and a steady stream of studio releases, including 2001’s classic ‘Last Fair Deal Gone Down’ and ‘Viva Emptiness’, the Swedes spread their baleful gospel across the globe, refining and redefining themselves with every step into new territory. KATATONIA successfully moved more into the progressive rock realm with their 9th studio album ‘Dead End Kings’. In September 2013 the band released another studio album called ‘Dethroned and Uncrowned’: their first album for Kscope, the sister label to Peaceville, the band's home for the past 14 years. As the 21st century has progressed, KATATONIA have become one of the most revered and cherished of all bands in the modern heavy music firmament. Through extensive touring and a steady stream of superlative studio releases, including 2001’s classic Last Fair Deal Gone Down and its coruscating 2003 follow-up Viva Emptiness, the Swedes have spread their baleful gospel across the globe, refining and redefining themselves with every step into new territory. With 2006’s ‘The Great Cold Distance’ and, in particular, 2009’s universally acclaimed ‘Night Is The New Day’, KATATONIA have stretched beyond their roots in the metal scene and drawn in fans from all across the musical spectrum, not least in the progressive rock realm that has also embraced peers like OPETH and ANATHEMA in recent times. 
In August 2012 the band released ‘Dead End Kings’, their ninth studio album and their most successful to date. The album marked another step in this journey towards a more progressive sound. ‘Dead End Kings’ was recorded with a new line-up, in which Renkse and Nyström were joined by guitarist Per Eriksson, bassist Niklas Sandin and drummer Daniel Liljekvist. Together they created a rich, adventurous and endlessly evocative masterwork that exhibits all the Swedish quintet’s established traits while absorbing countless fresh ideas into that monumental sonic brew. “‘Dead End Kings’ represents progression and taking things to the next level,” concludes Renkse. ”The writing was a little more intense and spontaneous for this one. I think that’s the biggest difference. But it was made with the same mindset as the last few albums. It just had a little more fire involved. We don’t want to repeat ourselves. We are still hungry for new music.” The band return in September 2013 with Dethroned and Uncrowned, their first album for Kscope, the sister label to Peaceville, the band's home for the past 14 years. ‘Dethroned and Uncrowned’ allows them to explore the progressive elements of Dead End Kings further as they have reworked the album, creating new moods and textures while still staying truthful to the core of the songs. Guitarist and founding member Anders Nyström explains how the band have revisited the album, “the synopsis is simple and album title won’t lie; the drums will be dethroned and the distorted rhythm guitars will be uncrowned! Instead, we’ll place the emphasis on the many layers of ambience, with the melodies staying central and the vocal harmonies representing the heart of the album.” KATATONIA are Jonas Renkse (vocals), Anders Nyström (guitar), Daniel Liljekvist (drums), Per Eriksson (live guitar) and Niklas Sandin (live bass). www.katatonia.com / www.facebook.com/katatonia
Music & Performance
With quite an early start at 6:00PM, Tivoli was already filled up with obvious fans wearing T-shirts of their favourite band of the evening. It turned out that not only PARADISE LOST had something to celebrate with this tour. KATATONIA celebrates 10 years since the release of their album ‘Viva Emptiness’. Their set list comprises a backward tour through this album, starting with the instrumental ‘Inside the City of Glass’ and ‘Wait Outside’. Jonas’ beautiful melancholic voice is striking, though we can hardly see him hiding behind his long black hair. Standing right in front of the stage, sound was quite unbalanced with too much bass and drums. Walking around in the hall during their show unfortunately didn’t improve this. Also there seemed to be a disturbing fluctuation in the vocal volume every now and then. Fully devoted to their performance, Jonas, Anders, Daniel, Per and Niklas did a great job however guiding us through one of their masterpieces and I can’t point out any moment in their one hour performance where I was bored or distracted. Though it was quite unfortunate that their complex and subtle sound didn’t come to full effect during this show, their dark, melancholic music is simply fascinating.
Setlist
01. Inside the City of Glass
02. Wait Outside
03. Omerta
04. Evidence
05. Complicity
06. Walking by a Wire
07. One Year From Now
08. Wealth
09. Burn the Remembrance
10. Will I Arrive
11. A Premonition
12. Criminals
13. Sleeper
14. Ghost of the Sun
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 7 / 10
Lacuna Coil
LACUNA COIL is an Italian metal band from Milan. Since their formation in 1994, the group has had two name changes, being previously known as SLEEP OF RIGHT and ETHEREAL. Inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music, the members have been known, musically, for composing mid-tempo songs consisting of prominent guitar lines and contrasting dual female/ male vocal harmonies to help create a melodic, detached sound. Much of the band's recent material, however, sees a heavier and more down-tuned style, featuring a more distinct bass line and a higher mixing of the guitars within the songs. The band's 2012 release ‘Dark Adrenaline’, peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200. As of March 2012, LACUNA COIL has sold over two million records. LACUNA COIL is Cristina Scabbia (vocals), Andrea Ferro (vocals), Marco Coti Zelati (bass), Cristiano Migliore (guitars), Marco 'Maus' Biazzi (guitars) and Cristiano 'CriZ' Mozzati (drums). www.lacunacoil.it / www.facebook.com/lacunacoil 
Music & Performance
Running a bit late on schedule, the audience in front of the stage were already getting impatient when Christina and Andrea finally entered the stage. Their late arrival was easily made up for with ‘I Don’t Believe In Tomorrow’ from their latest album ‘Dark Adrenaline’. Soon after, it was time for an old song ‘Heaven’s a Lie’ where the audience eagerly took the chance to sing along loudly. With two singers, two guitar players and a bass player, the stage is quite crowded. Like a well-oiled machine though, team LACUNA COIL moved around the stage without any problems. Trouble seemed to be again with the sound unfortunately: varying vocal volume and a couple of strange hiccups in the sound. Fortunately this didn’t seemed to bother the band and the audience, who all seemed to have a great time. Charismatic vocalists Christina and Andrea are excellent entertainers who grab the audience by the throat and don’t let go until they’re done. They finish their set with ‘Spellbound’ from their 2009 album ‘Shallow Life’ and then it’s finally time for PARADISE LOST. 
Setlist
01. I Don't Believe in Tomorrow
02. Kill the Light
03. Fragments of Faith
04. Heaven's a Lie
05. The Game
06. Our Truth
07. Upside down
08. Without Fear
09. Swamped
10. Intoxicated
11. Trip the Darkness
12. Spellbound
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 6
Light: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
Paradise Lost
PARADISE LOST is a dark rock/ metal band formed in 1988 in Halifax, England. Their first three full-length albums are examples of the death/ doom style inspired by amongst others KREATOR, CELTIC FROST, CANDLEMASS and MORBID ANGEL. With the release of the albums ‘Icon’ (1993) and ‘Draconian Times’ (1995) PARADISE LOST also became known as the pioneers of gothic metal. With their change in musical approach, vocalist Nick Holmes also changed his singing style from death grunts to more clean vocals. PARADISE LOST also experimented with electronic styles but after four albums reverted back again to gothic metal. Over the years, the band has known a steady line-up and has only changed drummers. In 2009, PARADISE LOST’s 12th studio album was released, entitled ‘Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us’, characterized by the heavy doom metal sound PARADISE LOST became famous for. In 2012 PARADISE lost released their 13th studio album ‘Tragic Idol’. PARADISE LOST is Nick Holmes (vocals), Greg Mackintosh (lead guitar), Aaron Aedy (rhythm guitar), Steve Edmondson (bass) and Adrian Erlandsson (drums). www.paradiselost.co.uk / www.facebook.com/paradiselostofficial
Music & Performance
Though this evening has had a fantastic line-up with all three headliners, this is the moment most of the audience had been waiting for. With a video screen on the back wall, their performance instantly gets dynamic as they take off with ‘Mortals Watch The Day’ from their 1992 album ‘Shades of God’. Celebrating 25 years of PARADISE LOST, creating a set list that pleases all must be an immense challenge. Fortunately, we are guided quite well throughout their career with beautiful old and recent work like ‘Enchantment’ and ‘Tragic Idol’. Problems with the sound seemed less during this performance, despite of a few hiccups/ noise. Though being sarcastic as usual, Nick and the other band members seemed to enjoy themselves quite a bit on stage. Never a dull moment with charismatic lead guitarist Greg who interacts with his guitar as well as the audience while throwing his long dreads in the air. Not every PARADISE LOST fan could appreciate their more electronic sidestep, but most of the audience immediately started dancing around on the up-tempo song ‘Isolate’. 
After a short break, PARADISE LOST treats us to another four songs from their long career. With ‘Rotten Misery’ from their debut album and two other songs from their early career, the show ends with the dark, powerful tunes from ‘Over the Madness’. Each and every song announced by Nick was enthusiastically received by loud cheers from the audience, making it very clear that another 25 year of PARADISE LOST would be most welcome!
Setlist
01. Mortals Watch the Day
02. So Much Is Lost
03. Remembrance
04. Gothic
05. Enchantment
06. Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us
07. Tragic Idol
08. Never for the Damned
09. Isolate
10. Say Just Words
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11. Rotting Misery (1992)
12. One Second (1997)
13. True Belief (1993)
14. Over the Madness
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 7.8 / 10
All pics by Ruth Mampuys (www.ruth-less.nl)
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