Dream Evil – Underworld 2008

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Dream Evil’s live headline dates across Europe were somewhat sparing between festival appearances, so a short three-date UK tour with Conquest of Steel was a little unexpected, but not unwelcome.

Very often bands like Dream Evil fail to include UK dates on their tours because of the costs associated with transporting equipment and personel from mainland Europe, so headlining dates here aren’t that common. Certainly not outside of London, meaning the other two dates in Edinburgh and Leeds were very well received.

This was one of the band’s last headlining shows of the tour before the Summer festival season began, so whether or not tiredness was to blame is unknown, but their performance, and in particular that of vocalist Niklas Isfeldt, seemed lazy and unenthusiastic.

The Underworld stage is small, which certainly limits movements, but none of the band members made much effort at all to put on a show, and although they played all of the songs perfectly, they seemed to be lacking in effort. Isfeldt not only seemed not to care very much about engaging with the audience, and didn’t crack a single smile for the whole set, but didn’t seem to be putting much effort into his singing either, avoiding most of the highest notes.

The chosen set was solid, although it contained no surprises, with the title track from The Book of Heavy Metal, saved for the second encore, being a definite highlight. The crowd make up for the band during the anthemic chorus, and similarly during The Chosen Ones and Children of The Night, both also included towards the end of the set, where Isfeldt was clearly running out of energy.

Although musically derivative for the most part, Dream Evil’s songs are fun sing-a-longs for power metal fans, and their live reputation is strong, so perhaps this show was a low point for reasons unbeknownst to the audience.

“ lazy and unenthusiastic ”

Setlist: United / Blind Evil / Fire! Battle! In Metal! / In Flames You Burn / Crusaders’ Anthem / The Prophecy / Higher On Fire / Let Me Out / Made of Metal / Heavy Metal In The Night / The Chosen Ones // Children of The Night / Chasing The Dragon // The Book of Heavy Metal

Photo(s): Johan Eriksson | www.rockersdigest.com

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gigs, Power Metal, Dream Evil