Insomnium/Winter Nights

Live in New York City (2015)

Jason_Epstein

Ahhh, Insomnium, one of the most relaxing metal bands you can see live. More about that in a bit…

A Brooklyn-based metal band called Winter Nights opened up the show at the fairly intimate, ~500-capacity Gramercy Theatre. While they had some worthwhile grooves and a few moments of genuine atmosphere and excitement, they often fell into the tropes of what one would expect from a run-of-the-mill opening band at a death metal gig, complete with a singer who growled every word at the audience to keep from breaking “character.”

Moving along, the “relaxing” Insomnium, a mesmerizing live act that inspires moshing far less than absorbing the intensity of their musicianship and showmanship, stole the evening. Insomnium isn’t as big in the states as they are in their native lands of Europe, and more specifically, Scandinavia, and so fans always have to live with the fact that the band never plays long enough. That’s why it wasn’t surprising when the crowd chanted “ONE MORE SONG!” as the band exited stage right. What was surprising was their return to the stage to actually play another song. In the 200+ concerts I’ve been to over the last 16 or so years, seeing an opening band do an encore was a first for me. And you can bet it was well received. The crowd treated them like they were the headliners as they put on a phenomenal, but all-too-brief, 50-minute set. Sure, there were some audio mix issues and a couple of sour notes which momentarily broke the set’s atmospheric quality, but it was always easily forgotten. The melancholic strength of their Viking metal evokes scenes of epic battle from Lord of the Rings and Conan, and would serve as the perfect soundtrack to that crushing mayhem just as it would to scenarios of endless beauty. Bathed in sea foam green and angry crimson lighting, the four dudes nailed a killer set, storming the stage with the sounds of a thousand Finnish Vikings.

Check out their set list below, which focused heavily on their latest effort, Shadows of the Dying Sun:
1. The Primeval Dark
2. While We Sleep
3. Revelation
4. The Harrowing Years
5. Where The Last Wave Broke
6. Ephemeral
7. Unsung
8. The Promethean Song
9. The Gale
10. Mortal Share