Tour Of Dimensions - XANDRIA Gig Review from Seattle, WA! 5/22/17
Xandria
Kobra and The Lotus
Once Human
What Thou Wilt
Vesuvian
May 22, 2017
@Studio Seven
Seattle, WA
Greetings!
The Tour of Dimensions rolled into Seattle on an unseasonably hot (mid to upper 80's - hot by Seattle standards) Monday at Studio Seven. Eclectic Arts was there to cover the action!
Locals Vesuvian were first up to get the night going. As fans were still on their way to the show, the local band played a tight opening set. Musicianship was solid and they received a respectable applause from the crowd.
What Thou Wilt were up next. Two different people outside in line told me that they were really good so I was looking forward to hearing them for the first time. I enjoyed their set. They looked and sounded the part (i.e. thought had been put into their presentation). The vocals were a wide range of styles that I enjoyed. The songs were hard to describe. They don't really fit into any one genre. They definitely had fans and friends in attendance during their performance. Good stuff.
Next up was the first of the touring bands - Once Human. The five piece play a brand of perhaps melodic death metal? They are another band that has multiple metal influences going so it's hard to say which genre they fit into best. I think it's better to just say they're Once Human.
Lauren on vocals gives the songs the guttural and growl approach. This is off putting to some but not me. I like all sorts of metal. Logan is also a known commodity from his time with Machine Head and his production credits. The band was high, high energy. It was hard to not like them. A little bit of fun as well thrown into their too short 30 minute set, Once Human made some new fans after their performance for sure, me included.
Kobra and The Lotus have been working for quite a few years now. This being their fifth or sixth trip to Seattle, the five piece got up there and played their brand of straightforward metal with other influences. Led by Kobra Paige, the band brought their own energy to Studio Seven. Strong vocals (even though she was under the weather) throughout the set, along with head banging musicianship, Kobra and The Lotus had their own fans at the onset of the show, that only grew after their set as well (just like Once Human). Touring in support of "Prevail 1", the band will continue to work hard throughout 2017 before they drop "Prevail II" later in the year. Hopefully they will return to Seattle in a special guest slot or even as a headliner so we can get a longer set. Check them out, folks!
Xandria. This is their first North American headlining tour. They opened the show back in 2014 (on tour with label mates Delain and Sonata Arctica). The three years that has passed between that show and this one were heavily evident. As good as they were the first time, you could see that they are functioning as a band now. Dianne van Giersbergen had just joined the band prior to the earlier tour. Many, many shows later, along with lyric writing, you can tell that Dianne is 100% comfortable in the band.
Starting off with, "Where The Heart Is Home", the crowd at Studio Seven responded enthusiastically. The fourteen-song set relied heavily on the last two studio albums, also dipping back to "Neverworld's End" with "Euphoria" (thank you for playing this) and "Valentine" as well as further back with "Ravenheart".
The band was clearly having a great time playing for their US fans and they responded in kind. We were very fortunate to be one of the stops on this headlining run. I hope they return sooner next time!
Misc:
All three lead vocalists, while different in vocal styles, were equally impressive. It dawned on me the next day just how good all of them were.
The bands had strong musicianship - top to bottom.
This is one of those tours that I hope warrants a return to Seattle sooner rather than later for all of the bands.
Very down to earth folks in all of the bands - always a plus!
Cheers!
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts
Special Thanks: Jon and Katy for the credentials! Dianne and Kobra for doing the interview prior to the gig. Sorry for sweating on the end of your table on the tour bus! Cheers!
Video Interview with Dianne and Kobra Paige
Once Human
Kobra and The Lotus
Xandria
All photos are websized resolution. Full resolution images will be coming to the official site soon!
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