Insomnium & Conjurer, Thekla, Bristol
With it being a gloomy and rainy Sunday evening the perfect soundtrack was the Finnish melancholy merchants Insomnium who were bringing to an end a fairly extensive UK and Ireland tour. The final show of the tour saw them packing out the Thekla in Bristol with support coming from Rugby filth merchants Conjurer. It was a fairly late start with doors at 19:30 and the first band hitting the stage at 20:00 but the evening ran smoothly with no technical hiccups.
With no local support Conjurer (8) hit the stage at 20:00 and delivered roughly 45 minutes of absolutely sublime and crushing metal. I’ve gushed about how good Conjurer are live many a time and this night was no exception. They incorporate so many different influences into their sound from a splash of Neurosis to a sprinkle of Opeth and a big dollop of extreme metal. It is a recipe that fully delivers from crushing monolithic riffs to frenzied blastbeat assaults to more relaxed introspective moments. Conjurer are absolute masters of bringing a song right down to a chilled relaxing atmosphere and then dropping back into the heaviness with the subtlety of a lump hammer to the jaw. The set was a mix of material from their EP and album with Retch and Choke being particular highlights. There was a slight dip in momentum about two thirds of the way into the set but that was soon righted with a crushing finale.
After a short turnaround the nights headliners Insomnium (8) hit the stage to frenzied enthusiasm from the crowd. The band were clearly showcasing their new album Heart Like A Grave with six of the thirteen songs being taken from the new album. This was no bad thing though as it is a fantastic album and these songs translated to the stage phenomenally with And Bells They Toll and Heart Like A Grave ensuring that the hairs on my arms were standing rigidly on end. The rest of the set was a mix from their discography though nothing from In The Halls Of Awaiting or Since The Day It All Came Down was played and some of the setlist staples were replaced with some different songs from the older albums. We got treated to performances of Into The Woods, Change Of Heart, Ephemeral and one of my absolute favourites In The Groves Of Death. The band performed slickly and effortlessly performed complicated music and having fun whilst doing so.
The sound in Thekla is always a bit hit or miss but applause to the sound engineers for this show as they did a superb job. Conjurer sounded absolutely devastating and people up on the top deck could apparently feel them as much as hear them and Insomnium were perfectly balanced with all instruments and both vocalists having fantastic clarity. This was a great first gig to get 2020 going.
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