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LIVE FROM THE PIT: Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum

Will Freeman

Bands choosing to play an album in full can be a risky move for a headline tour, yet Insomnium prove how it was the right choice to celebrate Shadows of the Dying Sun.


It’s a Tuesday in January; the streets of London are cold and relatively quiet. Throughout the streets an hour before the doors open, the queue of excited metalheads keeps growing for Insomnium’s only UK date this tour. The venue fills up fairly quickly after doors finally open, with the crowd ready to see the first band of the evening Omnium Gatherum play their album Beyond in full. The album works well in a live setting due to how well sequenced it already is. Each song has time to fulfill its potential. It almost comes across as odd that Omnium Gatherum is only an opening band tonight as the end of the set is satisfying in a way that only usually headline acts can come close to. The crowd are ready for the actual headliner for tonight, the first album played in full tonight was loved by all metalheads in the crowd.





The crowd ready and wanting more now await Insomnium. The venue fills up further, the front now dense with metal heads on edge waiting to hear a classic album for the first time live in full. As soon as the band hit the stage they start with pure energy and passion. What’s even more impressive is that guitarist Markus Vanhala is playing in both bands tonight yet you can’t tell he just played another record in full before.


The crowd take the album opener 'The Primeval Dark' well, the crowd stood in awe of what’s about to happen. People grab their friends and head bang together. As soon as they transition into 'While We Sleep' the mosh pit opens, and the crowd goes to another level of intensity. The song is arguably the most popular by Insomnium and playing it this early in the set may not work all the time but for an album tour it works brilliantly as the fans know they already love every song. The fans sing along to that iconic guitar riff while doing a mixture of jumping and headbanging. The set only just started yet the crowd is already ecstatic with the music.





As Insomnium carry on playing 'Shadows of the Dying Sun' in full it’s clear how much this album means to people. The crowd is clearly emotional to finally hear many of these songs live for the first time. The band asks a few times throughout the set what the next song will be and the crowd gets more enthusiastic each time shouting out the name of the next album track. Every song gets a chance to be celebrated in a live context. The pit shows no signs of slowing down, waves of crowd surfers compliment Insomnium’s excellent stage presence.


'Ephemeral', another fan favourite, sees the crowd fully embrace the heaviness of the song with the pit growing even further. Even those not in the pit are moving along in some way to this song. When the band play the title track there's a sense of dread in the crowd that this set will be over soon. On the original release of 'Shadows of the Dying Sun' the title track is the final track, yet tonight we end the set with 'Out to the Sea', a bonus track. The band blazes through the album in full bringing the set to an end. As they leave the stage the crowd take a little time to gather their breath back as tonight they have just seen one of the best melodic death metal albums played in full.




The fans still want more, chanting Insomnium over and over till the band return to the stage for a two-song encore. The band open the short encore with Lillian from their most recent album. The shredding guitars and heavy vocals instantly bring the crowd back to life, you wouldn’t be able to tell the band has briefly left the stage. Plenty of fans air guitar along to the riffs while the pit continues. The final song tonight is One for Sorrow. It’s one of the calmer songs tonight as the pit finally slows down as the moshers grab each other and wave their horns along. That brings tonight to a close. The band seem to have loved the crowd, and the crowd were happy to hear such an album played perfectly in full. Metal fans at their most wholesome.

 

Words: Will Freeman

Cover Photo: Ben Blisset


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