Rockhal, Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg 30th June 2019
Trivium, Fusion Bomb, Tenside
32°C on Sunday afternoon, 50°C felt in the Rockhal. 70°C in the spotlight. In addition there was a mixture of different Metal styles for the ears. After several appearances at well-known festivals like Rock am Ring / Rock im Park, Graspop, Hellfest and Vainstream, TRIVIUM made a stop again in the Grand Duchy. TENSIDE, a band from Munich and the local band FUSION BOMB were also part of it and were also allowed to heat up the Rockhal on this evening.
Tenside
TENSIDE is a German Metal band from Munich. They were especially oriented towards Nu Metal on their first albums, since ‘Mental Satisfaction’ (2008) there are more and more elements of Groove and Modern Metal, occasionally the band is assigned to Metalcore. There are repeated comparisons to bands like IN FLAMES, MACHINE HEAD, SOULFLY and EKTOMORF.
Music & Performance
At 7.30 pm, TENSIDE were on stage and started the evening such as their set with ‘This Is What We Die For’. In Germany, the band from Munich are no longer a blank page, some albums and countless gigs are already behind them.
Accordingly, the four guys approached their opening show with routine. Unfortunately the announcements between the songs were a bit short or not even present. For the opener act of the evening and such a big band like TRIVIUM, one expects a bit more. After all, front man Daniel managed to motivate the crowd a bit with simple gestures. Noticeable was that TENSIDE sounded sometimes like MACHINE HEAD, then again like EMIL BULLS. But this is not necessarily bad and let some people of the audience head-bang.
Setlist
01. This Is What We Die For
02. Eternal Contempt
03. Unbreakable
04. Reborn
05. Iron Will & Golden Heart
06. The Faceless
07. Faith over Fears
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.8 / 10
Fusion Bomb
Founded in 2010, FUSION BOMB form Luxembourg’s youngest Thrash Metal formation. After the release of their first EP, ‘Pravda’ in 2016, FUSION BOMB is drawn to Europe’s stages, which they have already shared with bands like MEGADETH and DUST BOLT. Bands like EXODUS, VIOLATOR and D.R.I. give the four musicians the necessary inspiration. At the beginning of 2019 the guys brought their first LP ‘Concrete Jungle’ over Iron Shield Records from Berlin to the thrash-hungry masses.
Music & Performance
After a short break, the audience became quite excited. Why? Because a local band would play right before mighty TRIVIUM.
At 8.20 pm, FUSION BOMB burst onto the stage and put a perfect opener with ‘Zest Of Scorn’. The young Luxembourgers made their point immediately clear and knew exactly what they want: being fast, wild and infectious! The riffs convince by their precision and hardness, the songwriting is varied and the vocals aggressive, but still easy to understand with an expressive voice. This is Thrash as it should be. With tracks like ‘Knuckleburger’, ‘Bird of Prey’, or ‘Slam Tornado’, FUSION BOMB prove that they can combine eighties thrash with a fresh, modern sound. They had a lot of fun and were in a good mood which was transmitted to all present. The atmosphere in the club heated up very well and the crowd was now definitely ready for TRIVIUM.
Setlist
01. Intro ‘Concrete Jungle’
02. Zest Of Scorn
03. Knuckleburger
04. Concrete Jungle
05. Blazing Heat
06. On the Fields of Katyn
07. Bird of Prey
08. Nycophobia
09. You’re A Cancer To This World
10. Burlesque Shootout
11. Slam Tornado
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12. Beertroopers of Death
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10
Trivium
TRIVIUM is an American Heavy Metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. After getting signed to Roadrunner Records in 2004, the band has released eight studio albums and over twenty singles. Their latest album, ‘The Sin and the Sentence’, was released on October 20, 2017. The band has sold over one million albums worldwide.
Music & Performance
The wait became unbearable but when ‘Run To The Hills’ started, the crowd knew that TRIVIUM were about to enter the scene. Starting with a bang with no less than the title-track of the last album, ‘The Sin and the Sentence’, the audience was immediately in ecstasy. It continued with ‘Beyond Oblivion’, taken from the same record, and then arrived at one of the inevitable classics of the band: ‘Like Light to the Flies’.
The set list continued jumping between tracks by ‘The Sin and the Sentence’, ‘In Waves’ and ‘Silence in the Snow’. It was already clear that their latest release outnumber all others, but the band didn’t let themselves be lumped to play ‘Pillars of Serpents’ from their very first record. TRIVIUM proved to be a mature band and master of the scene, managing to engage the audience song after song. Alex Bent on the drums was able to show his whole class and has bludgeoned away mighty. So it went on with a lively change through the albums. Matthew Kiichi Heafy was obviously anxious to encourage the audience, be it with announcements, invitations to circle pits or various gestures. And he did that job well, the Rockhal went with him and especially in the front area there was a lot going on. Many crowd surfers also enjoyed being carried forward during their favourite songs. Respect here to the two security men who had the whole situation well under control.
Passing through ‘Betrayer’, the band arrived at the classic of the classics: ‘Down from the Sky’, the anthem par excellence of the Floridians, reveals itself as one of the most intense moments of the entire evening, in which the audience found itself moving and singing as a single identity. After a return to the present with ‘The Heart from your Hate’ and ‘Strife’, there is time for one last jump back in time with ‘Pull Harder on the Strings of your Martyr’ which was also the last song of the night. But wait, where’s ‘In Waves’? It only took a little break of a few minutes, everyone was back on stage and giving their encore. The closing, as usual, was the long-awaited ‘In Waves’, a song criticized by many, but no doubt of great impact live.
To conclude, TRIVIUM is an excellent live band anyway, but thanks to the really great warm up by the local band FUSION BOMB and the Germans from TENSIDE the whole concert just was great. It quickly became clear that Matt, Corey and Co. had a lot of fun on stage and spend all their time the way they want it to be. Remarkable, after so many festival appearances lately! If you have a chance to see one of their concerts, do it!
Setlist
01. The Sin and the Sentence
02. Beyond Oblivion
03. Like Light to the Flies
04. Sever the Hand
05. Built to Fall
06. Shattering the Skies Above
07. Until the World Goes Cold
08. The Wretchedness Inside
09. Beauty in the Sorrow
10. Pillars of Serpents
11. Betrayer
12. Down From the Sky
13. The Heart From Your Hate
14. Strife
15. Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr
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16. In Waves
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total: 8.8 / 10
All Pictures by Elena Arens
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