Report

Live Concert Report: Black Anvil, Insomnium, Enslaved

After a night of Gojira and Mastodon, I found myself in Berkeley the following night for another tripleheader.

First up was Black Anvil, the only band I hadn’t seen multiple times before.

Black Anvil’s 2022 release, Regenesis, made my list of best albums of the year.

Their quick set did not disappoint.

Insomnium, like Gojira the night before, is a band that I’ve always liked, but they’ve never quite crossed the rubicon into a band I would purposely play or follow with great interest.

The first time I saw them live, they were missing some key members—including Niilo Sevanen. That venue was miserable as well, so that evening didn’t leave a great impression on my mind.

The second time was at a festival, and I think their time slot overlapped with another band I wanted to see. Many other bands were more on my radar that day (Opeth, Bloodbath, Dark Funeral, etc.) so once again, not a huge impression from the partial set I witnessed on that 2017 day in Sweden.

This Berkeley show, though, was a whole different story. I thoroughly enjoyed their set from the outset until completion.

Insomnium has earned a place in my permanent music rotation.

The setlist was heavy on their new album, Anno 1696. The album is great, but it only came out a few weeks ago so I wasn’t super familiar with all of the tracks.

Enslaved is one of my favorite bands and have been for more than 15 years. I’ve seen them many times and in several different countries. Between Insomnium and Enslaved, Blue Oyster Cult's "Secret Treaties" was played in its entirety over the PA. That's one of my Top 10 albums of all time so it put me in an even better mood. I didn't notice the rest of the audience appreciating it quite as much as I did.

I was very disappointed when Enslaved announced at the beginning of the tour that Ivar wasn’t going to be joining them due to a family emergency. I thought the sound would be way off without him—especially since they weren’t temporarily replacing him. Rather, they were going to go with just one guitarist, Ice Dale.

Ice Dale is a great guitarist, but when you listen to Enslave you can easily hear two different guitars frequently doing very different things. How was this going to sound good without Ivar?

The band members came out one at a time. Ice Dale went to the side of the stage without a microphone which was very odd given that two were on the front of the stage. My puzzlement was quickly solved when Ivar walked out last. Happiness filled me as I verbally welcomed him back. Grutle did the same, into the microphone for the entire audience to hear, a moment later.

This was my favorite Enslaved performance to date, eclipsing the time I saw them at the 2011 Getaway Rock Festival in Sweden.

Like Insomnium, Enslaved spent a large portion of their set on their new album, Heimdal. I suppose my only complaint is that they didn’t play for a longer period of time. I would have also loved to have heard tunes off of Ruun, Vertebrae, Aximoa Ethica Odini, and RIITIIR.

Another stellar evening! I drove the six hours home the next day with a smile across my face.