This November weekend has certainly been eventful. The tragic events in Paris sadly foreshadowed it, but two megashows across London spanning different shades of metal music showed the resolve, spirit and unity of metalheads and the support they showed for their fellow humans. The second of those megashows featured three titans – Epica, Eluveitie, and Scar Symmetry – and they were here to give their all.

[date]15th November 2015[/date]
[venue]The Forum[/venue]
[city]London, UK[/city]
[support_bands]Eluveitie, Scar Symmetry[/support_bands]

Scar Symmetry

It’s not too often that Scar Symmetry play live these days, but they were given the opportunity to showcase the phenomenal album that was ‘Singuality – Phase 1: Neohumanity‘ and other classic tracks.

The band were a welcome sight in London tonight as the fanbase stretches back to albums past, evident from the number of horns in the air when the grandiose notes of ‘The Iconoclast‘ rung in. That technical and well produced sound resonated on stage exactly as it did on record.

Vocal flurries of Roberth Karlsson and Lars Palmqvist are in perfect sync with hard hitters such as ‘Morphogenesis‘, and the sharp leads of Per Nilsson cut through the PA like a hot knife through butter in tracks like ‘Neuromancers‘.

The band have every potential to headline a show, and definitely impressed old and new fans alike showcasing that highly technical prowess that has shot the band to popularity in the last decade. With ‘Singularity – Phase 2‘ on the horizon, we hope to see them back in a headline capacity, there’s a few songs I would love to see this band play live!

Eluveitie

If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Eluveitie live before, it is simply an otherworldly experience. The band have built their career on their as virtuoso’s of traditional instruments into a unique brand of folk metal, and has propelled them to the top at an unparalleled speed. Seeing this live matches that incredible musicianship with a war-like energy that always gets fans motivated.

One thing that I simply must mention every time I see bands of this caliber is how incredible the mix is – with so many instruments in the band, some of which hard to amplify over the speakers, the sound is perfect throughout. Every whistle, string and pipe is heard in the opening epic of ‘King‘, and as soon as the violin shredding begins and the tempo picks up – fans are pouring their entire energy into the band.

With a co-headline set time available, the band have built-up a setlist tonight to span a good part of Eluveitie’s career, as well as bringing some of the wonder that was the more recent ‘Origins’ album to the stage. Classics such as the folky ‘Tegernako‘ got fans into a jig, while the Swiss-German version of ‘The Call of the Mountains‘ taught us English speakers some words in, well, Swiss-German!

There was never a dull moment in this Eluveitie performance, with the visual feast of all the instrumentals always providing something incredible to watch, and the diversity of the music always something fantastic to listen to. After the final notes of ‘Inis Mona‘, it would be hard to believe that fans had anything left in the tank for the headliner tonight, but they are ready to give 200% for everyone tonight…

Epica

Just before the performance of Epica this evening it had suddenly struck me that the first time I saw this band live was just over 10 years ago in the small Camden Underworld just down the road. My how things have changed – from playing a show to 100 people to almost selling out the 2’300 capacity Forum tonight. It’s easy to understand why though, the band have continued to release brilliant album after brilliant album, and without fail bring a phenomenal performance to the live stage. As European ‘The Quantum Enigma‘ tour comes to a close tonight Epica are ready to give it their all again.

That stored energy of the fans begin pumping as soon as the lights dim and ‘Originem‘ sets up the scene – and then the band flash on the stage in all their valour to the bombastic ‘The Second Stone‘. White lights continue to flail around the stage to the heavy tones of ‘The Essence of Silence‘, where all falls silent to the namesake of the track when guitarist Mark Jansen asks for a moment to remember those affected by the tragic events in Paris. Even with the excitement of the show it is only right for us all to give what we can as respect to the time.

Following the silence and a huge horns up for our Parisian brothers and sisters, the band continue the evening with a setlist that again makes a diverse stint through Epica’s career swiftly moving from older classics such as ‘Sensorium‘, to modern favourites like ‘Victims of Contingency‘.

What makes Epica one of my favourite bands to see live is the complete package they consistently deliver. A perfect atmospheric sound visualised with stage theatrics and technical ability. Progressive tracks such as ‘The Obsessive Devotion‘ were the epitome of how the band create such an immense experience, grandiose vocals stretching all spectrums and guitar shredding and furious drumming providing magnificent interludes.

The band tapped back into their epics of ‘The Phantom Agony‘ and ‘Consign to Oblivion‘ to sign the evening off, and to say the performance was great would be an understatement. It’s not even arguable anymore to say that Epica are at the top of the game. Performances that bring everything to the table are rare, but it is completely evident that nothing less than perfection will do for the band, and perfection is what we got. Epica were brilliant solstice to an excellent evening, and a rare London megashow that won’t be forgotten.

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