Crimson Sun + Amberian Dawn + Diabulus in Musica
The request from Metal on Loud was the last thing I needed to decide to go on a Sunday evening to Patronaat in Haarlem. It was in my agenda because my friends of Diabulus in Musica would play. They played at FemME last year and joined the FemME club Tour in November. So it would be nice to meet them again, Nevertheless it was on hold because the full schedule.
Anyway, I didn’t regret it. The line-up seems a little bit confusing. Crimson Sun and Amberian Dawn are from Finland. Why combine it with Diabulus in Musica from Spain? Obvious reasons would be; they have a female singer and they play symphonic melodic metal. If that was all, it might to much of the same. Luckily, symphonic melodic metal represents more than one style. And each of the bands represents a different style.
Crimson Sun, for me a new name, opened the evening with a very energetic set. The modern melodic metal with rock links was pretty catchy and the dynamics on stage helped the audience to warm up for the main course. Singer Sini Seppäla interacted with the crowd and the visitors reacted very well. Better than usual with a first band. As it was the last gig of the tour, the usual fun is part to the show. In this case a crew member dressed up like a chicken ran over the stage. It helped to create a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. Songs from the debut album “Towards The Light” dominated the set. Crimson Sun did very well as opener and made clear why they are support for Epica in Helsinki later this month.
Diabulus in Musica represents the more bombastic and melodramatic symphonic metal. As there is already a hint to Epica, with the first album some people had the impression that Epica has move to Spain. Nowadays DiM developed a more authentic style and that’s good. The last album “Dirge For The Archons” released at the FemME Club Tour was present but also songs from previous albums were on the set list. The bass lines were out of the box (player was not present) which limits the shows a little bit. Zuberoa Aznárez was, as usual, solid as a rock with her vocals. The occasional harsh vocals of Gorka Elso could create a ‘the beauty and the beast’ perception but it’s so well balanced that seems almost natural. They could play a very decent size set and were able to bring a varied well-chosen set of songs.
From the South back to the North. Amberian Dawn offers again a different style in melodic metal. They are more in the fast power metal. With Capri (real name Päivi Virkkunen) on vocals they have a great voice on board. As a vocal teacher, she shows how easy it is to sing when you know your basics and techniques. OK, you have to have some talents too. The set list comprises mostly songs from the albums she where Capri was in the band. The first album she joined was “Re-Evolution” (2013), a kind of best of … from the previous period now with vocals of Capri. By aligning the singing-lines with the new voice, Amberian Dawn made live more easy. Tuomas Seppälä, key and brain of the band, and the rest is quite productive and released after the compilation already two albums of which “Innuendo” is the last one. It was clear that they are the most experienced band and that matches the naming of the tour being the “10th Anniversary Tour”.
Interesting was that all three bands had in addition to the backing track but also a keyboard player present on stage. Live orchestration is not feasible, with a real keyboard player at least more acceptable.
At the end of the show Capri thanked all the musicians, crew and audience. It was interesting to see how to get everybody in sync on stage for a photo with the audience in the back. It took some time but the end it was successful. After the show all bands could be found at the merch for singing albums and photos. This is something that is very relevant for creating and maintaining your fan base. And it makes visiting a concert more special.
Thank you Metal on Load for pushing me to Patronaat. I enjoyed it.
