Entombed AD are a well-known band for anyone who goes to festivals in Europe, touring them extensively. On their own fall headlining tour, they brought Canadian prog-thrashers Voivod with them to Europe, smashing date after date. On Sunday, November 20th, the tour passed through Tilburg, and Metal Wani went to have a look.
Maybe it was the very early starting time, or that it was a Sunday, or maybe it was because Entombed AD had already played two shows in the Netherlands, but when we arrived to see Morbid Evils, the venue was pretty much empty. The three-piece from Finland wasn’t anything spectacular, but played a decent form of run-of-the-mill sludge by numbers. This meant that the few people who were there already milled about the foyer, waiting for the next band.
Even for the American Lord Dying, the audience stayed sparse. The band played an interesting riffy mix of thrash, sludge and blues, chugging along happily to solid riffs, impressive drum fills and scaling solos. The vocals reminded of a mix of Matt Pike from High on Fire and Dixie from Weedeater, and generally, the band played very well and deserved a much better audience.
By the time Voivod took the stage, the venue has filled up a bit to form a decently steady crowd. Known for their incredibly intense live shows, this was clearly the band most people came for. They managed to bring together the punk side of thrash, and mix in a good dose of 70’s prog weirdness – Interspersing fast-paced, hard-hitting punky protest song-like thrash with more spacey intervals and a wailing guitar solo. Frontman Denis Bélanger was an excellent performer, and managed to get this drowsy Sunday crowd to actually get into the show, and in general, the band showed more energy than most bands half their age can manage.
Finally, we got to Entombed AD. For those confused between the two different Entombed’s, this is the one with the original singer in it. Entombed AD played well and knew how to give a show, but after an act like Voivod, who were mind-blowing, they just felt a bit pale. Singer Lars-Göran Petrov clearly enjoyed his beer before the show, and while this didn’t really affect his vocals too much, it did affect his diction, and whatever he said between songs is lost in slur. Stumbling unsteadily over the stage, he still managed to give a pretty good show. The fans who stuck about seemed pretty happy with the show, but for me personally, they couldn’t top Voivod.
Bottom Line: We had a mixed batch on a good solid Sunday evening gig. Voivod were excellent and Lord Dying and Entombed AD were passable, but the almost non-existent crowd for the first few songs and Entombed AD’s singer’s clear enjoyment for a pint felt a bit like it was an off-date for the tour.
Also check out our Photo Gallery of the gig here!
