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Echoes of Eternity Concert Review
What a difference one week can make at The Pearl Room. On the preceding Friday, this venue in Mokena, IL played host to gloomy goth rockers Katatonia, but for the very next show it turned right around to feature one of Germany’s most boisterous exports: Edguy.
Rounding out bill in peculiar fashion were Echoes of Eternity, Light this City, and Into Eternity. Originally, Norways’ Susperia were scheduled in the second slot, and it was only once I got to the venue that I discovered their replacement, but in the end Light This City were probably the more appropriate choice.
The show started fairly early at 6:00 with the Twelfth Gate, a local group who blend power, heavy, and some elements of thrash metal into a thick and aggressive hybrid. This sometimes worked in their favor, and at their best moments they sound not too unlike Nevermore; other times, the band relies too heavily on the crunch of their lowest notes (both guitarists had seven-strings and the bassist had five) and they begin to sound too sludgy. One of their guitarists in particular seemed to favor those heavier moments and would thrash about, playing his guitar with wide swings almost like he were a slap bassist.
Generally, though, they did a good job combining influences and sounded better than I would have thought for a band going through line-up changes. The band’s been around since approximately 2000, but they have changed drummers and had two vocalists in the past couple years. Aaron, their latest frontman, fit in well with a strong clean voice and the occasional high growl to punctuate a verse. The crowd wasn’t too large at this point, but they were very receptive of the band, and one member called out, “Fuck Megatron!” in response to the vocalist’s shirt, which drew laughter from both the crowd and band. Twelfth Gate don’t measure up to that Nevermore comparison yet, but they certainly did a fine job getting the show under way and it will be interesting to see where they go from here.
Next up were Echoes of Eternity, taking the stage at around 6:45. I had seen them before back in July with Symphony X, which made the eventual arrival of Francine Boucher’s on stage in her trademark bustier not quite as surprising as it had been before. That said, she certainly does know how to grab a crowd’s attention, both with her dress and attitude, and after the band’s brief instrumental intro she was the center of attention. Her voice and style of singing are not especially distinctive, and I must admit that I rarely find female vocalists compelling, but she did certainly keep the crowd’s energy up, and was very consistent with both her tone and pitch control. While challenging for any vocalist, this can be especially difficult for some quieter female vocalists, when they have to compete with the volume of their instrumentalists in the live setting.
More impressive to me was the band’s rhythm section. I remembered that they had been good from the last show, but this time I around I spent more time focusing on them. Their chemistry is outstanding for such a new band, and the quick, tight riffs they employ evoke favorable comparisons to Iced Earth.
After half an hour they left the stage to considerable applause, and within 15 minutes their successors, Light This City, were ready to go. In fact, they all expected to, and were milling about at 7:30 gesturing for the background music to be cut. After a minute, the stage technician came out to tell them to wait for ten minutes. After a bit more discussion they did leave, albeit not too willingly, and the audience could only twiddling is thumbs in confusion. During the extra wait, one of their guitarists played us a couple licks from offstage, including the classic opening riff of Death’s ‘Symbolic’ and a few bars of Edguy’s ‘Mysteria’. After maybe seven minutes of unexplained delay the band returned and this time their entrance was a little more dramatic: with lights down, arriving individually in single file, smoke machines going, and so forth. A relatively small but extremely vocal cadre of supporters had migrated to front and center and welcomed the band with upraised arms and patently fanboy cheers.
I, on the other hand, remained a little skeptical, since I didn’t recall much at all from my previous run-ins with the band’s music. Contributing to my wariness was their drummer’s kit, which was one of the most compact set-ups I have seen in a long time, featuring little more than the barest minimum. It did, however, have the band’s macabre album cover of ‘Facing the Thousand’ (a vulture in a barren landscape) gracing both of his bass drums. In suburban Chicagoland, that combination has come to be synonymous with broken-record breakdown metronomes—i.e. teenage metalcore bands.
However, once Light This City got under way, all my worries proved to be for naught. Light This City are indeed a modern metal band and one might argue that they feature some traits consistent with metalcore, but to label this California outfit as such would be inaccurate. Instead of chugging open E notes, they proudly show their Bay Area thrash roots and their guitarists spend more time on clean, smooth melodies than they do breakdowns. It’s nearly impossible to play melodic death metal/core without paying homage to Sweden, and Light This City are no exception, but they do so with an honest energy that separates them from many of their peers.
Of course, their vocalist Laura will probably always be what most people remember them for. To their credit, Light This City play together, as a band ought to, and do not exploit Laura’s femininity for the sake of attention. Besides, someone listening to the band with no prior knowledge of them might have a hard time recognizing that their vocalist is female. As fits the music, Laura uses exclusively harsh vocals, generally in a middling range with a few accents in higher and lower registers. Her live performance was not quite as strong as she is on record (to be fair, very few are), and the only difference for Laura was a little additional breathiness. In retrospect, this was probably due in large part to how constant the vocals are in their songs; there are plenty of instrumental passages, but when she is singing the stream of words is nearly constant. I can’t help but wonder how much her vocals might improve, both in delivery and in their impact, with a handful fewer lines per song.
Overall, the band’s set was a very pleasant surprise. Admittedly, their music isn’t the most original, but their enthusiasm and, more importantly, guileless attitude made it enjoyable. It’s refreshing to see a band in the ‘New Wave of American Heavy Metal’ who play music simply for its own sake and aren’t competing to see who’s got the biggest chip on their shoulder. During their set, Laura announced that they would be coming around again soon with Vader to the Logan Square Auditorium, and considering the pedestrian support bands that venue tends to attract, Light This City will be a more than welcome change.
Following them were Into Eternity, scheduled from around 8:30 to 9:00. As has become the standard for Canadian bands, Into Eternity feature some serious technical chops, but their breakout success in the past couple years has come more from their catchy melodies and Halford-esque wails, the latter courtesy of their newest vocalist, Stu Block.
This year the band has toured relentlessly in support of their newest album—as Stu put it, “we practically live in this country of yours,”—and I had seen them once before with Dark Tranquillity in April. Their show this time around was much the same, with Stu seeming even more comfortable with his position as the band’s frontman. His harsh vocals are strong and his ability to stir the crowd to chants and claps is commendable, but when he unleashed his shattering falsettos it was clear why he got the job. Particularly during such songs as ‘Timeless Winter’, these air raid sirens were what really got the crowd singing along. During the material from ‘Buried in Oblivion’ (the band’s 2004 releases with Chris Krall on vocals instead), he wasn’t as sharp during the clean sections, which were written to be smoother and not as brusque, but he performed both ‘old’ and new with comparable eagerness, as did the rest of the band.
Stu’s ego showed through sometimes between songs when he would brag a little, but he did pass off the spotlight to his bandmates whenever a solo came up, which for Into Eternity is quite often indeed. Lead guitarist Tim is as fast and precise a guitarist to come out of Canada in recent years, and he could also be heard supporting Stu’s vocals with his own from time to time. Their bassist, Troy Bleich, also supplied some backing growls to add yet another layer to their complex assault.
As a live outfit they really seem to be hitting their stride and this show was the better of the two I’ve seen, but ultimately I still wasn’t as compelled as I would have been a few years ago. With their confidence has come disconcerting cockiness, and ‘The Scattering of Ashes’ material, however high-octane it may be, lacks their erstwhile depth.
Finally, it was Edguy’s turn. Since the show occurred rather early on a Sunday, there was plenty of time left in the evening and the half-hour layover passed by easily. The televisions around the bar were showing the Bears being trounced by Dallas on Sunday Night Football, the crowd was chatty, and the general atmosphere while we waited was a pleasant one.
9:30 came quickly enough, the lights promptly went down, and the band were ushered in to loud cheers. Although all received warm welcome, the band’s vocalist Tobi Sammat received the loudest of all when he catapulted onto the stage, looking for all the world like a youthful Jon Bon Jovi, with the feathered hair, tight (really tight) pants, and a pink handkerchief dangling at his side.
Questionable wardrobe choices soon became irrelevant, though, as over the next ninety minutes Edguy would deliver one of the finest rock and roll experiences I have had the pleasure of experiencing. At times I couldn’t help but laugh along with them at how brash and silly the whole affair was, while at others I was simply enjoying it too much to care. While not all the band were Tobi’s equal for boundless energy and garish dress (although Dirk did try with his own skintight breeches), they were all consistent in their dedication to having as much fun as the law would allow.
Their set began with newer material, which I admit I’m not as familiar with, but even so I was nodding along with the rest of the crowd quickly enough, and later on in the set they did reach back to ‘Hellfire Club’ for a few songs, also to ‘Mandrake’ and even ‘Vain Glory Opera’. It was pleasant to see that the band can revamp their image as a hard rock group while still incorporating and appreciating their roots. It did not seem at all as though they were playing the old songs for the sake of the crowd—Tobi leapt in the air and belted out the chorus to ‘Tears of a Mandrake’ with the same vigor and focus as he crooned the refrain to the new ballad ‘Save Me’.
Aside from those few down-tempo minutes, Edguy’s set was in constant high gear, led by their exuberant frontman, who skipped, swayed, and otherwise channeled as much Mick Jagger hip-sway as is healthy for a straight man. Throughout the set he took plenty of time to chat with the crowd and play singalong games, making the most of the convivial atmosphere and Edguy’s natural affability.
Behind him, the rest of the band seemed to be having just as much fun. Each had his own microphone and would chime in during the choruses an octave lower or so than Tobi. Otherwise, they would engage the crowd in their area or trot over to the other side of the stage for a while. Numerous times throughout, they all got together in front of the drum riser for some cheesy but fun coordinated moves reminiscent of ZZ Top’s playful shuffle-step.
About halfway through the set, Tobi stopped the music to introduce a cover song. He said it was from an up-and-coming band some of us may recognize, and that maybe someday they, too, would get to tour the stages like Edguy were. All of this he delivered in a very sly, tongue-in-cheek way, the inspiration for which became clear as soon as the band started the song—Iron Maiden’s one and only ‘The Trooper’. Tobi’s voice can ben rather reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson’s, and once combined with the rest of the band’s impeccable performance, their version was an exhilarating success with nearly everyone in the crowd singing along, even though they only played the first half of the song.
A song or two thereafter the rest of the band departed to let the drummer, Felix Bohnke, show his skills. The last German drum solo I’d seen was the incomparable Marco Minnemann of Necrophagist, so my expectations for Felix weren’t quite as high, but he certainly did prove me wrong. While not as technically jaw-dropping as Marco had been, Felix played with a strong rock drive that was perfect for the context. After a couple minutes of solo performance, the lights suddenly went down and a recording came over the speakers of Darth Vader’s echoing breath (yes, the Darth Vader), Emperor Palpatine bidding him, “rise”, and the incomparable bombast of the Imperial March, now capped with a slow groove from Felix. It was an entirely unexpected twist, but the sheer cheek of the trick was definitely in keeping with Edguy’s style. Some drummers may show off more glamorous fills or wilder polyrhythms, but it takes a special kind of clever to toss John Williams into your drum solo at a metal show and be cheered for it.
The second half of the set carried on with much the same enthusiasm and flair, and the band didn’t appear to be flagging one bit. When they reached the end, Tobi introduced the final song as, “probably the heaviest Edguy song we have ever written”, and claimed that, “Jens’s fingers hurt when he plays it, it is so heavy.” Jens went along good-naturedly, feigning first surprise and then acknowledgement before kicking into a powerful rendition of ‘Mysteria’. Once they were through with the ending flourishes and bows they turned to leave the stage, but we were chanting for more before the last of them had ducked out of sight, and they took only a couple minutes to return for the encore. All of them, Tobi in particularly, looked thrilled and surprised by how supportive the crowd were. Tobi admitted that we were not the biggest crowd on the tour, but did say that we were one of the best, and added that, with our continued support they might even be able to tour the states again within the year.
For their encore they played ‘Avantasia’, one of the evening’s catchiest songs, and finally ‘King of Fools’. While their closer may not be my favorite Edguy song, it does encapsulate the band’s recent career well, as they continue to blend heavy metal and rock ‘n’ roll. This transition has caused them to lose some fans and attracted some significant criticism, but after seeing them perform it is hard for me to side with the skeptics. Yes, Edguy don’t gallop along or soar into the upper registers as often as they once did, but they are still playing the music they want to and are doing so with admirable gusto. While the success of Helloween is obviously what any German power metal band could ever dream of achieving, Edguy have not forgotten the more mainstream heroes of their country, such as the Scorpions.
And, really, who among us can deny the band their will to change, especially when they are clearly enjoying themselves so much? Heavy metal is inextricably linked to rock music, and Edguy are taking grand strides to prove that the combination goes far beyond the embarrassing commercial ventures of nu metal. Power metal can take care of its own—Edguy are in a different realm now and have all the skills to succeed. Long live rock ‘n’ roll, I say, and long live Edguy.
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