In Flames + Vexed + Defects

@ Scala, London

27th March 2022

Review and pictures by Dovalde Gaidelionyte

www.instagram.com/dova_photography/

On the last Sunday of March, a bunch of metalheads were headed to a venue in London, Scala, to see the band they’ve longed to see: In Flames.

Originally, the event was to take place in May 2020, but as we all know, Covid-19 happened and took all the gigs away from us. But the wait is over and the crowd is heading to the stage, all excited about the concert.

The openers of the night were Defects, a quite young modern heavy metal band, currently promoting their new music video “End Of Days” and playing they first ever tour together. In my personal opinion, the sound of the band wasn’t unique, but they started the concert with a right energy and set the vibe straight.

People were gathered near the stage singing along and cheering all the way through and you could see that the band was giving it their all, to which the audience was extremely supportive. As their time on stage was coming to the end, the vocalist came down from the stage to the crowd and started to sing while there. And even though this wasn’t really my cup of tea, the performance was great.

Enthusiastic, energetic, performing well and not afraid to communicate with the crowd, Defects showed that they were well prepared  to share the stage with upcoming metal veterans. From the first look, you wouldn’t even think that the band is new as all the members communicated well with each other and their time on stage looked flawless.

After a short break, the second band of the night, Vexed appeared on the stage.

A modern metal band from Hertfordshire, UK containing Megan Targett delivering vocals, Jay Bacon as guitarist, Al Harper as bassist and Willem Mason Geraghty behind the drums. Signed with Napalm Records, the British metalheads are promoting their new album, “Culling Culture”.

The band started strong and gathered even more people closer to the stage. Compared to Defects, their sound was heavier, which made the overall experience more interesting.

The outstanding vocals of Megan once again proved that women definitely can growl, and they can growl good! Alongside with heavy, brutal riffs, the band made the audience bang their heads throughout the performance and gave no time to rest as they carried one with a heavy and powerful show.

After the strong performance, the long awaited Swedish melodic death metal veterans In Flames were about to enter the scene. At this point, venue was packed and everyone was waiting with anticipation. This was my first time seeing them and I was beyond excited to finally sing along to the songs I have known for years!

With a line up consisting of Anders Fridén on vocals, Björn Gelotte on lead guitar, Niclas Engelin on rhythm guitar, Bryce Paul on bass guitar and Tanner Wayne on drums, you know that the show will be amazing.

The band appeared on stage and everyone started to scream with joy and you could feel the excitement as the riffs of “Everything’s Gone” started playing. Songs followed one another rapidly and there was no time rest as the whole performance was filled with the bands’ greatest hits. Everyone was banging their heads and surfing the crowd as In Flames delivered a tireless and fulfilling concert.

When I entered the venue, I was quite surprised for its small size but as the evening went on it gave more charm to the whole event and made everyone to feel closer to the band they waited to see.

As the performance reached its second half, frontman Anders Friden mentioned that the band will definitely be back this year, leaving everyone guessing when and where it will happen. Just before they finished, he thanked everyone who came and everyone who joined the UK tour, including the supporting bands and the team behind it all. They ended the event with “Take This Life” from “Come Clarity” and you could see everyone just giving in.

The night was truly amazing with all these talented musicians and I hope will be able to see In Flames again soon.

In Flames setlist:

Everything’s Gone
Call My Name
Where the Dead Ships Dwell
Cloud Connected
All for Me
Behind Space
Graveland
The Hive
Colony
Pinball Map
The Chosen Pessimist
Monsters in the Ballroom
Burn
The End
The Mirror’s Truth
I Am Above
Take This Life

In Flames We Trust!