Charming The Saltiest City, In Flames Bring Down The House

In Flames
February 25, 2015
The Complex- Salt Lake City, UT

        With the debut of their self-titled album, Wovenwar appears as the first supporting act of the Charming America Tour. Right off the bat, vocalist Shane Blay greeted the crowd asking if they were ready for one hell of a show. Starting their set with All Rise, everyone started head banging to the rhythm. By the mid-point of the song the instrumentals really picked up, both guitarists had great chemistry and to top it all off Josh Gilbert’s emphasis on his bass proved how ready Charming America Tour_2/25/15;SLC,UTWovenwar was to rock the house. Not one to let the energy die down after one song; they kept it going with Death to Rights, Tempest, and The Mason. After playing deeper into their set they left the stage with one last song to remember: Prophets. As the light guitar picked up so did the emotions. The crowd started clapping their hands to the intro; as the song picked up speed it swelled and broke into a fast, charged and emotional rendition. By the end of their song everyone was ready for more, good thing this was the start of the night.
Keeping the emotions running high, the next band up was All That Remains. The moment they got on stage the drums started kicking and Philip Labonte’s voice swept through the crowd. The heavy bass made it feel as if the floor was rumbling with thunder. The song itself was called No Knock, off of their newest album: The Order of Things. As the song finished Labonte asked the audience how they felt about ballads, the reaction was pretty strong. It turned out that their next song was What If I Was Nothing; it was a slow but collected song, starting off with a good acoustic intro. It built up emotion in the crowd with everyone chanting the chorus, “And we can keep this going on, we’ll make it work some way, and every step it makes us stronger every day.” It was definitely a performance to remember, but it wasn’t over yet. The last song they were going to play was a nostalgic one from their album Overcome; Two Weeks. The instant the first note broke, the crowd was in an uproar, moshing broke out a as the song built up into its first verse. Heads were banging, the crowd was singing and the sounds of melodic heavy metal filled the venue. As the lights dimmed on their final set they took a bow and left the stage. Charming America Tour_2/25/15;SLC,UT
Finally after leaving the stage nice and warm for them, the moment had arrived for In Flames to show us what they got. As the electric sounds of Bjorn Gelotte’s guitar filled the air the room started getting more and more packed, fans rushed in to catch every note of their opening song Colony. The build-up was great and moving, practically everyone had their hands raised with either a closed fist or the horns in support of their raw sounds. After the first few songs front man and lead singer Anders Friden wanted to say a few words to the crowd, “Let’s hear it for Wovenwar, let’s hear it for All  That Remains. Thank you, thank you and let’s hear it for the best crowd on our tour so far SALT LAKE CITY! I may say something different down the line here but know that we haven’t had anyone rock out that hard on this tour yet; so let’s hear it for you guys.” They continued playing songs from different albums one of which being Clayman, followed by Another Day In Quicksand. Their fast heavy riffs heated up the crowd even more, if All That Remains was the storm, then In Flames was the hurricane that brought it all down. As the show was about to draw to a close In Flames had one last thing to say, “Don’t waste your time on fake things, life is too short for that.” Finally they ended their set with Bullet Ride.
    As the house lights turned off the crowd left with sore necks and content expressions. There was talk all around of how awesome the show was. So the next time you’re debating on whether to sit in on such a fantastic line up, think again.
Review by: Max C. Prada

In Flames


All That Remains
Wovenwar