Concert Review: Insomnium @ Foufounes Électriques, June 20th 2018

June 20th brought us one of the most epic, memorable nights that rocked the Foufounes Électriques. Starting off with the night by wandering around Montreal, on a hot Wednesday afternoon, enjoying the sun and listening to soilwork and gojira, I heavily anticipated the show with high expectations of amazing musicianship and pure craft that is Winter's Gate by Insomnium.

Upon waiting for the first band, Hands of Despair, I was interested to see how they were live, since I played a song of theirs on my show and they sounded good. To my dismay, when I saw them live, I was unfortunately disappointed by the same riffs being played over and over again, with the band members not being alive or energetic at all. They felt like they were not even on stage at the show, which is something they need to fix, Their long songs don't really tend to catch the listeners' attention for a set, and I was disappointed and was wanting to hear them but they were not my cup of tea. 

Next up was Sanguine Glacialis, which I heard from a lot of people was either a mixed bag of chips or a very good band. I unfortunately got the mixed bag of chips where the band seemed a bit off from their performance, and that their song structures did not flow well with the music. It somewhat felt forced, as if they are supposed to be playing along with their singer—who, by the way, was really good at what she does; those vocals sound like angels are singing. But the music was not really up to par.

The drummer was completely off for some songs and I was confused of what was going on for the most part. The guitar tone was very muddy and you couldn't really hear anything much out of the band. The opening band sounded much more clear than this; Sanguine Glacialis needs to tighten up their performance more. I felt disinterested throughout the whole set and that I was looking at the drum kit kick drum halfway through. Honestly, it was a bit painful and I almost left until they were done with their set. 

Next up was Oceans of Slumber, who brought upon us a very beautiful, melodic atmosphere and amazing technicality with everyone who was on stage. With their amazing stage presence and killer riffs, I enjoyed a fresh new band that I have discovered seeing live and that had me hooked throughout the set. I applaud them for putting on a marvelous performance; most of the material was played off their new album Winter

At last, we have Insomnium, who entered the stage surrounded by fog and setting a cool vibe, getting on stage to the Police Academy theme before kicking into "Winter's Gate". I thought they were going to use The Winter's Gate's intro, but this was more fun to see.

Now entering Winter's Gate, the 40-minute long epic...

I do have to say that the transition from studio to live setting destroyed all my expectations. I was in glee of how amazing this album is live compared to the recording, I honestly love how the dynamics and transitions live are so seemless. Insomnium treat Winter's Gate as a live album that is meant to be performed. Some of the killer riffs were more powerful and crunchy, as well as the solos, which were so epic they melted my face off in pure sheer shreddism. 

Throughout Winter's Gate, hearing some of the most heavy and melodic elements they pull off was bonkers to see. The amount of creativity shown by using a old Norse story from one of the members' old stories (written when he was in high school), compiling it into one big song, was something amazing to experience live. 

Overall, Winter's Gate was something to see live. Compared to other albums I've already seen performed live, it easily puts it up there as one of the best. 

The encore was a bunch of best of's, hearing them after Winter's Gate was a real treat, especially "While We Sleep" which was epic and had me going throughout the whole song. 

Sadly, the Winter's Gate tour is almost over; if you haven't seen Insomnium yet, go see this tour and you won't be disappointed.