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Rating: February 2, 2007, at Transylvania Live in Milan, the Killswitch Engage concert is scheduled, supported by The Haunted and the new English sensation Bring Me The Horizon.
A good opportunity to see the headliners live after their new album "As Daylight Dies", The Haunted who will soon be doing a tour of their own (which will also stop in Italy), a highly respected band considering some members' previous experience with At The Gates, and to see the much-acclaimed youngsters called Bring Me The Horizon.
I arrive in front of Transylvania around 7:30 PM, for the meet&greet organized by Roadrunner with KSE, which happens around 8:15 PM. Having met KSE in person, they turned out to be nice but at the same time, I would say shy, especially Howard (singer). Adam Dutkiewicz was justifiably absent, having recently had back surgery, and was replaced on tour by Pete Wichers (ex Soilwork).
After the customary pleasantries, I enter the venue, which is slowly filling up, and around 9:15 PM, Bring Me The Horizon takes the stage, strong off their debut album "Count Your Blessing". Five teenagers no older than 20 who deliver death-black metal played remarkably for such young guys, although over time, the tracks reveal themselves to be quite similar.
The singer boasts a very powerful voice, but I have some doubts that during the typically black growls, it was really him singing and not a sampled voice.
At exactly 10:00 PM, The Haunted take the stage, warmly welcomed by the audience. A flawless performance, with great precision and technique mainly featuring tracks from their latest studio work "The Dead Eye". Worth noting is the amusing skit from the singer about boys, girls, and the use of condoms. The venue is now packed, and The Haunted’s performance concludes with much applause.
Change of stage, sound-check, and at 11:10 PM, the most anticipated stars of the evening, Killswitch Engage, make their entrance amidst the crowd's frenzy.
The opening is entrusted to "Bid Farewell" followed by (not in exact chronological order): "Fixation On The Darkness", "As Daylight Dies", "When Darkness Falls", "Life To Lifeless", "My Curse", "Breathe Life", "Unbroken", "Rose of Sharyn", "This Is Absolution", "The End Of Heartache", "This Fire Burns", and closing with "My Last Serenade".
Tracks taken from all albums (excluding the first self-titled one). KSE appeared to be in good shape, although some additional scenographic elements wouldn't have hurt, such as the classic backdrop behind the stage with the band's name and some more light effects. Apart from this, the band’s performance was practically perfect, tracks executed with surgical precision and clean sounds. Mike D'Antonio (bass) was headbanging from start to finish with enviable technique in handling the bass, Pete Wichers (guitar) fits perfectly into his assigned role even though he is an "outsider" and plays every note to perfection, Justin Foley is really impressive because, using a drum kit that I find quite minimal, he manages to produce astonishing rhythms, Joel Stroetzel (guitar) like his fellow instrumentalist doesn't miss a note even if he seems a bit detached and Howard Jones proves to be an excellent frontman who manages to involve and make the entire audience sing along during the choruses.
Worth remembering is "The End Of Heartache", absolutely everyone present sang the song with a final standing ovation for the band. Speaking further about Howard, aside from his voice which perhaps was less powerful than on other occasions, the only criticism that could be made is that he should take a few more risks in his role as a communicator with the audience without limiting himself to "Make some fuckin' noise", "Are you ready!?", "I wanna hear you" etc.
All things considered, a mature and precise performance from a high-level band, which still has something to improve to enter the metal Olympus, but by continuing like this, they will probably get there.
(sic)VII
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