Tuesday night was a melodic death metal evening in Boogaloo Club. Two bands from the North, each for the second time in Zagreb. One from the generation that created the genre in the mid-’90s, the other from a new generation that continues the tradition and has the honor of playing on the same stage with their idols. As an opening act for the Nordic forces, a band from Croatia’s neighborhood. Inmate from Slovenia, with their vigorous and less melodic version of melodeath have been together for four years now. They went on stage at 20:30 and played a half an hour set-list consisting of some 5-6 songs (you can listen to some of them at: http://www.myspace.com/inmatemetal). Inmate was completely well chosen as the opening act, they are recognizable for the genre, and yet not too typical. But to be honest, it is difficult to attract and keep the attention of the audience who came to see two bands such as Dark tranquillity and Insomnium. I believe that we will have a chance to see them again in Croatia, since they are a relatively young band, and probably will continue to play before big bands and go on mini-tours in the neighboring countries. Insomnium, a band that was in Zagreb for the first time when they played as support to Satyricon in 2004, this time had a bit more appropriate company. The band’s popularity began to grow, as in their native Finland, where they won two prestigious metal-awards this year. They attracted many who have seen them already or have heard of they are worth seeing live. Insomnium had a great show from first to last minute. Their singer Niilo prepaired for the performance with a few phrases in Croatian, which won the audience over. It was not just a standard “Thank You” and “Good Night”, but “Zagreb, go crazy” and “Fuck, you’re great!”. The set-list was like the rest of the tour, with very little difference. They played a mix last of their last two albums: the first song being “Down With The Sun”. Insomnium continued with “Where The Last Wave Broke”, “The Killjoy”, “The Harrowing Years,” “Mortal Share”; they played a total of nine songs. Their part was finished around 21:10, no encore. A very good selection of songs, an even better performance, the only real problem was, as usual, the very bad sound in the club. The situation was a bit better in the second half of Insomnium’s performance and during Dark Tranquillity, but still have not as it should be. One of the three famous Swedish melodic death metal bands from Gothenburg, the ones that have created and defined the style that is today one of the most popular subgenres of metal, Dark Tranquillity visited Zagreb for the second time. Lucky for us, we definitely have a chance of seeing them in Croatia again. Dark Tranquillity rocks. Yes, so do many other good bands. What makes Dark Tranquillity really secial is their vocalist Mikael Stanne’s performance. The concert began at 22:35 with “At The Point of Ignition.” This was followed by “The Fatalist,” “Damage Done”, “Lost to Apathy”, “Monochromatic Stains.” The way in which Mikael goes from growling to smiling enthusiastically at the audience and interacting with them is fantastic. Dark Tranquillity is definitely worth seeing. A strong reaction from the fans came at the announcement of “The Gallery”. Then we had “The Wonders At Your Feet”, “Shadow In Your Blood”, “Icipher”, “Dream Oblivion”, “Misery’s Crown”, “Haven” and “Punish My Heaven” at the end. They left the stage at that point, only to return with “Final Resistance”, “ThereIn” and “Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)”. After that, the band left the stage, while Mikael remained for nearly five minutes saying goodbye to the fans. He shook hands with everyone in the front row, waving to those behind. If it depended on the crowd, the question is would he ever even manage to leave the stage.

Report: Sara Profeta
Photo: Elena Crnković