I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did grant an audience to Vreid, Insomnium and Paradise Lost, at the Scala, London, on 29 April 2012, and hereby bring my report. Of Vreid, I saw but a little, having been delayed by an extremely long queue, the Underground, and an entirely new station having been erected at Kings Cross. They were playing a little marching music when I arrived, with growling vocals. I could not make much of it. Next up were Insomnium, a melodic death metal band, melodic being a relative term in this sort of company, referring to the inclusion of audible chord changes and lead guitar solos, both of which this band did include, and rather well. I thought they were extremely good and particularly crushing towards the end with a number "one for sorrow". They did not get to the joy, but this is also not unusual. I shall certainly look them up in future, though their headbanging could be better synchronised.
The main act were Paradise Lost, who seemed to take a long time to get on stage. They were OK, though I would not have known they were a "doom metal" band had I not so heard previously, since a surprising number of the songs resembled covers of Depeche Mode. The singer appeared to have a sore throat, and was not projecting very well. I heard them once before, when they were outclassed by the support band (Ghost), here I am afraid I also felt it was Insomnium's night. Paradise Lost suffered from a lack of killer numbers, which, considering how long they have been around, is probably irremediable. I have four of their albums, and can only remember one track, actually, "As I Die", which isn't really very good either. Here they played it somewhere in the middle, which left the audience audibly musing what they would finish with. Also this was one of the few times I have known a crowd stand in bored silence waiting for the band to return for the "encore". Could be everyone's favourite support, though.
Let you kneel before the ears of Melachi!
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