Leaves Eyes, Blackguard, Borealis, Unleash The Archers Live review

Arriving at the Opera House I could already tell that Kamelot’s cancellation had done some serious damage. Instead of having a full venue, the night would only see no more than maybe 75 dedicated metal fans. This was possibly the one MAJOR disappointment of the entire night. All that aside, it was a great Sunday night, and to all those people that decided not to come due to Kamelot cancelling, you missed one of the most talented concerts of the year.

The Vancouver based band, Unleash the Archers, was the first band to take the stage. Before the concert I knew absolutely nothing about the band, or the Vancouver metal scene for that matter, so I was eager to see what the West Coast had produced. What I was introduced to was a sound so unique that I’m not sure if my writing can describe their sound effectively. The only thought that comes to mind is take some elements of every metal genre from Power Metal, to Black metal, throw it into a blender and that’s, Unleash the Archers. However, there was a sound problem with their performance. Their playing was flawless, their singing was top notch, they engaged and it was great. The fundamental flaw was the balance of volume. For most of the set I found myself unable to hear the vocals of Brittney Hayes, and Brydan Dyczkowzi (the female and male singers). To be fair, though, this could very well be a side effect of the nearly empty Opera House. The guitars and drums echoing off the walls with nothing to absorb the instruments could have lead to the instrumentals totally over powering the vocals. Overall, they played a powerful set.

Following, Unleash the Archers, one of my personal favourite bands took the stage. The 5 piece power metal band from Orange-Ville, Borealis, took the stage and showed all 75 of us that they were here to lead the power metal charge. The biggest surprise overall was how much their sound had evolved. Playing almost entirely new material, followed by some old songs clearly showed that they were not just a power metal band. If anything, they have moved in a very progressive direction, incorporating more of a heavier and faster sound with Matt’s vocals being able to rally the energy produced by the instrumentals and deliver it to the fans. The band was full of energy, the band was in sync, and they were nothing short of awesome. By the time Borealis played their flagship song “The Afterlife” all I could say to myself is “They might as well be Finnish”. (Correction: I lied; the biggest surprise of all was when Paul, the lead singer of Blackguard, joined Matt on stage to perform a song; while in his boxers.)

Now, to be honest, I love Leaves’ Eyes, they produce beautiful music. However, in terms of a live performance, Blackguard, stole the show. From the first song to last, Paul (The Lead singer) and the rest of Blackguard poured their entire essence into their set. Paul’s energy was infectious, so much so that I felt it was a crime not to mosh to the music. So your humble narrator took it upon himself to start the first moshpit of the night, and promptly demolished a blonde metal head by the name of Demetri. The moshing would continue for the rest of the night with no more than 6 dedicated warriors thrashing about. Although the majority of the audience wasn’t moshing, after several songs everyone in the building was responding to Blackguard. The band was constantly engaged with the audience, encouraging chanting, screaming, moshing every chance they could. Paul made sure that he covered every part of the stage. It’s refreshing to see such a hardcore, yet down to earth front man who clearly enjoys what he’s doing.

Instrumentally, Blackguard, were nothing short of mind blowing. There were way too many feats of instrumental talent that I won’t go into them all. However, there was one song (I forget the name, shame on me) where, Kim (the lead guitarist), would windmill while playing a complex sweep picking riff over the full length of the neck of his guitar. Insanity is the best word to describe it. Finally, Blackguard ended their set with their anthem song “This Round’s On Me!” To which the audience was more than willing to sing the chorus. Ultimately, to sum up Blackguard’s set: get drunk and see them live! The experience they create is what should be found in every concert.

From heavy and fast music, the atmosphere of the Opera House would soon change into that of tranquillity. The Opera House would see the beautiful Liv Kristine take center stage with her band Leaves’ Eyes. I was extremely interested to see how Leaves’ eyes would sound live. Power metal and gothic bands have a notorious reputation of the quality of vocals changing from the album to live. (A great example would be Christina Scabbia, of Lacuna Coil.) Liv Kristine, does not fall into that reputation. Leaves’ Eyes sound exactly the same live as they do on their albums. By the time the band played their single “My Destiny” it was clear that Liv is an incredible vocalist, with her voice sounding just as beautiful live, as it sounds on the albums. The combination of instrumentals along with Liv’s melodic and haunting voice gliding over guitar and drums, created an absolutely beautiful performance.

Most of Leaves’ Eyes set were songs taken from their newest album, Njord. This makes sense, considering the male vocalist, Alexander Krull, has a larger presence on that album. The set list was good; I just wished they had played some more stuff from the Lovelorn album. That’s just my personal selfishness though, and not hearing my favourite songs took nothing away from how incredible the Norwegian band was that night.

So overall, at the end of the day I look back at the bands that took the stage, and the concert as a whole and think to myself “That was well worth it”