Pain / O2 Academy Islington / London

A trip down to London and a new venue for us, as we head to the O2 Academy in Islington. Unusually located within an arcade, it’s a great place, welcoming and friendly. With four bands in the line up tonight, it’s early doors at 17:00 with first band on at 17:30 and there’s a healthy sized crowd in tonight to see Swedish industrial metal band Pain, led by Peter Tägtgren (Hyprocrisy).

First up we have Ryujin, Samurai metal from Japan, managed by Trivium’s Matt Heffy. Formerly known as Gyze, they make a striking visual on stage, in traditional Japanese garb as they bow to the crowd. It’s a great opening, mixing the harshness of metal with the Japanese culture in their writing with tracks like Samurai Metal. Singer and guitarist Ryoji Shinomoto is a striking character with his long blonde hair shirtless in traditional black trousers, and he can belt out the lyrics like the finest. Shinkai on guitar provides the heartbeat of their sound. A thoroughly enjoyable set from a band with planet of potential, delivered with energy and passion.

Setlist

Asian Chaos

Eastern Spirits

Samurai Metal

Dragon Calling

Raijin & Fujin

A quick turn round and next up are Eleine from Sweden, formed in 2014 who have a symphonic sound (something along the lines of Epica), with a noticeable dark, black and death metal influence. The crowd are excited for this one, cheering and shouting as they walk out onto the stage. Madeleine Liljestam strikes an imposing character, dressed in black with long black hair, and gold jewellery creating a gypsy like persona. Her vocals are fantastic flying high and at times angelic in tone, set against Rikard Ekberg’s sections of growling course vocals over the pulverising heavy guitar riffs. This kind of soft and course juxtaposition is used by so many bands, but there’s something different, and I can’t quite put my finger on what Eleine do that’s different…. But it works better than most.

Setlist

Unavailable at time of review

Next up are what are billed as ‘special guests’ Ensiferum and there’s as many Ensiferum t-shirts in the crowd as anything else. On any other night, they could well have been co-headliners.

Hailing from Finland, the name means “Sword Bearing” and they plan a blend of melodic folk metal. Ensiferum are pure entertainers, as they bound out onto the stage and the crowd roars back at them and they OWN the stage from the first riff to last. Their sound is huge, but at the same time, clever and intricate, each element being identifiable in the mix.

Petri Lindroos on guitar and vocals delivers a stunning performance, with soaring riffs and solos, while Sami Hinkka, resplendent in black kilt bounds round the stage on bass, fists in the air, driving on the crowd to cheer and chant, always with a huge smile on his face. Markus Toivonen (only remaining founding member) provides the sonic heartbeat and soul to their sound.

The folk element of their sound is noticeable and yet subtle throughout, and a very enjoyable aspect to their sound. A more recent addition to the line up is Pekka Montin on keyboards. A couple of songs in, Pekka comes out to the front of the stage and delivers an incredible vocal performance. Powerful and able to hold long tones without any tonal wavering, it was quite impressive, and any power metal would be proud !

Heavy riffs, powerful bass and impressive drumming from Janne Parviainen all combine for a top-notch performance, honestly worthy of a headline slot.

Setlist

Andromeda

In My Sword I Trust

Run From the Crushing Tide

Twilight Tavern

For Sirens

Heathen Horde

One Man Army

Lai Lai Hei

Two of Spades

The crew work furiously to switch it all round now for headliners Pain. The covers are lifted on the drumkit and an eerie glow emanates forth as the smoke machines go into overdrive. The place is pretty packed now and the crowd are ready.

The lights drop, and silhouetted in the blue light and smoke, out step Pain. Led by Peter Tägtgren, from Swedish death metal band Hypocrisy joined by David Wallin on drums, Jonathon Ollson on bass and Sebastian Svalland on guitar. This isn’t some kind of side vanity project, Pain have been around in various forms since 1997, and allows Peter to mix that heavy metal sound, and infuse it with elements from electronic music and techno, creating something quite unquie.

The stage is dominated by that drum kit, pulled forward it takes pride of place centre stage, the drum heads all lit up with rows of LED lights, reflecting off the cymbols.

The result is visually stunning performance with Peter dressed in a striking outfit, reminding me of Numan on “Savage”, and a definite post-apocalyptical feel to the stage, with the drum kit lit up and blue / red lighting with sharp white spots beaming out from the back of the stage.

Maybe track of the set for me was Same Old Song which is a blast, one to raise those metal horns to and punch the air from start to finish.

Sonically its intense too, loud and heavy, a kind of dark industrial metal, dripping in overtones of the likes of NIN. There are also softer moments too, such as in Coming Home and Have a Drink on Me which almost feel bluesy. As the main set finishes, we also get a brilliant cover version of the Rolling Stones track Gimme Shelter.

The set goes down well with the crowd, and has a surprising amount of variety in it’s sound. The electronic influence adds another dimension to their metal sound, giving it depth and density.

Pain were on incredible form tonight and the cherry on a four layer cake tonight. Each layer better than the last. Ryujin, Eleine, Ensiferum and Pain, while all being (of course) metal bands) all delivered something different to the mix, and I like that – each element is great in its own right, but the selection of bands for this tour was outstanding.

Setlist

Let Me Out

End of the Line

Nailed to the Ground

The Great Pretender

Call Me

Walking on Glass

Revolution

Zombie Slam

Suicide Machine

Monkey Business

Coming Home