In Flames + Gojira + Sonic Syndicate @ Birmingham Academy – 28th September 2008

I managed to arrive at the Academy a little too early tonight and found myself milling around in the queue that had formed outside, with hundreds of fans all eagerly awaiting entry to the gig. Everyone seemed in good spirits and having chatted to several of the crowd there seemed to be a clear split of who people were here to see — I had guessed the majority of the crowd would be here for the headlining band but it seemed a core following of Gojira fans were here too.

By the time I got inside the venue, Sonic Syndicate were closing off their set with the last couple of songs — Roland Johansson and Richard Sjunnesson both on vocals energetically bursting into ‘Psychic Suicide’ and having scanned the room I could see the crowd were really lapping it up.

I am not sure anything could ever have prepared me for the pure onslaught to all my senses which were Gojira. Outside earlier, I was promised a pulverising experience by the Gloucestershire Trio and they weren’t wrong! From the opening bars of ‘Vacuity’ to the high point of ‘To Sirius’ they pounded through each and every track with moments of pure frenzied guitar work laced with waves of pure melodic harmony.

The band did a great job of whipping their fans into a frenzy from an initial sluggish crowd reaction with vocals/guitar front man Joseph Duplantier raising some appreciative whooping with his statement of “It is an honour to play in the land of metal” going on to cite Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.

Quite frankly, Gojira were all that I hoped they would be and more — and that split in the fan base was clear to see — around a third of the room were up front moving around and punching their fists in the air while the remainder were stood around looking on in astonishment! Having said that it seems you can never have too much of a good thing — from the mid-section of the set the enthusiasm started to slide a little after an over-indulgent drum solo intro.

Overall though Gojira delivered the goods – it was a shame there were not more fans to show their appreciation but I guess it is a good way to leave an impression before the imminent release of their new album The Way of all Flesh and who knows, maybe in the near future, a tour with the band in the headlining slot?

There seemed to be a distinctive thinning out of the crowd during the break before In Flames took to the stage. However, once they were up there I was in no doubt who the majority of this crowd was here to see. The fans had started stomping even before they had really hit the stage with vocalist Anders Friden adding to the heat by screaming out “C’mon Birmingham, let’s go” and instead of seeing a small core of fans at the front, the whole room was moving en mass.

The band churned out song after song including ‘Chosen Pessimist’, ‘Resin’, ‘Satellites and Astronauts’ and ‘Cloud Connection’ before moving on to what I can only describe as the crowd-pleasing section of the set, playing some firm favourites in the form of ‘The Jester Race’, ‘Come Clarity’, ‘The Quiet Place’ and ‘Take This Life’. The sheer volume of songs played would be enough for any avid fan bearing in mind this band have a hell of a lot of material to choose from since the band’s inception in 1990. I know many In Flames fans will have left feeling they had had their money’s worth tonight.

But in balance the Whitchurch Two, who I had spent most of the night discussing the bands with and had come especially to see In Flames, did express some disappointment at the lack of vibes in the room tonight, having compared this gig to when they had seen the band once or twice before. And I agree there was something missing for me during the later stages of this gig. Maybe it was due to the gig not really being sold out and hence the place just did not seem as packed as other gigs I have seen here or perhaps it was just a touch of Sunday evening apathy — who knows?

However, if I had to pick on any one thing which was a bit of a let down tonight, it had to be the poor quality of sound which at times just bordered on distorted. The last couple of songs I caught by Sonic Syndicate were overpowered by the sound of drums almost drowning out the rest of the band. The very start of Gojira’s set suffered with some distortion which seemed to get better throughout and again when In Flames came on, there was just a blast of bassy chugging which momentarily made it feel as if the roof was caving in!

Besides that, this was your normal, everyday metal gig with teenagers passing out and being carried off to be resuscitated and grown men slumping into an alcohol induced coma on the floor before even the second band had started playing and of course no gig would be complete without the odd girl or two walking around in just a pair of jeans and a bra!

Review – Amanda Jones

Photos – Dave Musson

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