Insomnium & Omnium Gatherum
August 27, 2015
Whisky A Go-Go- Los Angeles, CA
After getting many requests from fans, Finnish melodic death metal band Insomnium set out on their first USA headlining tour. With them, they brought along fellow Finnish melodic death metallers, Omnium Gatherum. The world-famous Whisky A Go Go was their stop on this tour where melodeath fans all gathered to see two great metal acts back to back for the Shadows Over North America tour. Being a member of both bands, guitarist Markus Vanhalla would perform double duty on this tour.
After a few opening acts, Omnium Gatherum took the stage with an already packed venue. They were out on support for their sixth album, Beyond which was released in February 2013. Fans screamed with anticipation as Omnium Gatherum came out and greeted everyone in attendance. They started the show with Everfields from the previous New World Shadows album. Fans were ecstatic to see the band’s return from their previous 2014 tour with Swedish melodic death metal band, Dark Tranquillity. The followed the opening song with New Dynamic and The Distance. For the fourth song, frontman Jukka Pelkonen told the crowd that they WILL head-bang to this next song. That song was The Unknowing and once it started, the sound of the song gave everyone the feeling of needing to start headbanging in slow motion. Hair started flowing everywhere, in synch to the guitar and drum playing. It’s one of the best sights at a metal show.
While performing, Pelkonen would regularly put out the metal horns with his hands, but put them side to side next to each other to form the band’s logo. Pelkonen announced that the band has a new song and is available at their merch stand as a 7″ vinyl with Insomnium’s new track on the other side as well. The band proceeded to play that new song titled Skyline. Mosh pits would come and go with each song as fans were treated to songs from all six of the band’s discography with positive responses from the fans. Pelkonen would interact with the crowd by connecting his metal horns with a fan’s horns so together they formed the band’s logo.
The band continued the show with two more songs, The Sonic Sign and Chameleon Skin. Fans were clearly over-joyed with Omnium Gatherum as they went wild and sang along. Sadly, it was time for their 45 minute performance to come to an end. Pelkonen told the crowd that they’ll be back with their 7th album and ended their show with New World Shadows. The band finished, shook hands with fans and left the stage to make way for Insomnium.
A few weeks prior to the tour starting, Insomnium ran into some unfortunate events. First, guitarist Ville Friman was unable to join Insomnium due to his busy work schedules. For his replacement, Insomnium brought in Nick Cordle formerly of Arch Enemy to fill in for the tour and add an onslaught of guitar shredding. Secondly, singer/bassist Niilo Sevanen had to also sit out this tour and any shows until further notice due to a family emergency. Insomnium had a choice between finding a temporary replacement or canceling the tour altogether. After searching, the band found Los Angeles musician Mike Bear to fill-in. In the minds of the band and fans, half the band was better than no band. When Insomnium came on stage, they were greeted with thunderous cheers from their loving fans in a packed venue. They were out on support of their sixth album, Shadows of the Dying Sun. The band opened with The Primeval Dark, the first track from the newest album. That track helped set the tone as an opener as Bear did a fine job with the deep growls and harsh vocals that Insomnium‘s music requires. The next song was the second track from the newest album, While We Sleep which continues directly after the first track making it sound like a two-part song. Cordle also did a fine job as a stand-in guitarist as he shred away at the music with no problem which could mean he could maybe play with just about any band on the planet. The third song on the setlist was Revelations, the third track from the newest album. Fans were very grateful to have Insomnium return even though they recently toured the USA with Dark Tranquillity at the beginning of the year. Insomnium continued the show with the songs Down With the Sun, The Elder, Black Heart Rebellion, and Drawn To Black. Bear announced to the crowd that they too had a new song out and was also available as a two-sided 7″vinyl with Omnium Gatherum‘s new song on the opposite side. They proceeded to play their new song, Out to the Sea. The fans welcomed the new song as fans familiar with the song sang along and the rest just headbanged and raised their fists in the air. For the next song, Bear asked the crowd, “Who’s ready to move around some more!?” The fans all yelled as Bear announced Every Hour Wounds as the next song which brought out the mosh pit in the middle of the floor area.
Before playing what was supposed to be the last song, Bear explained the situation to fans that were not aware of Sevanen’s situation and family emergency. He asked the fans for a round of applause in support for Sevanen and the fans gave him just that. Insomnium dedicated The Promethean Song to Sevanen and his family. This song also gave Cordle the chance to sing background clean vocals and he did a mighty fine job handling guitar and vocal duties. The band finished and left the stage, but the fans stayed and demanded more. After a few minutes, Insomnium came back out and delivered a three song encore. The first encore was Ephemeral from the newest album. Bear told the crowd afterwards, that their setlist contains songs from all six of their albums, but they haven’t played anything from their second album, Since the Day It All Came Down. The song from that album was Bereavement. During the middle of the song, Bear asked the fans to scream with him and on his signal, everyone screamed along. For the final song, Insomnium picked Weighed Down With Sorrow and the fans couldn’t be any happier with that choice. Insomnium finished the show and the crowd kept cheering for them as they were showing their love for the band. Insomnium shook hands with fans, threw setlists at the crowd, and guitar picks then left the stage. Fans were satisfied despite the lineup change and will surely not miss them when they come back next time whenever that may be.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
Insomnium
Omnium Gatherum
