Written by:	Doc G.
Published:	June 11, 2010
Event:	Dark Tranquillity + Threat Signal
Location:	The Republik, Calgary, AB, Canada
Galleries:	Dark Tranquillity At The Republik by Doc G. (3)

Mutiny Within

A great, wise man once compared this band to the aural equivalent of involuntary sodomy. Now, as much as I enjoyed seeing them the first time, in a nice, big hall where I had plenty of space to stand back and...you know...not have to sit through it, I thought to myself; "Trapped in a small club with nowhere to go sounds even better!" The amount of tours that Roadrunner is buying these guys into is disproportionate to the amount of fans this band actually has. I pray to whatever deity that hasn't given up me yet I never have to witness another Mutiny Within performance, unfortunately law of averages projects that I'll most likely be bombing them in at least 3 more concert reviews before the year is up.



Threat Signal

Yes, awesome, more metalcore! This is when I start to suspect whoever puts these tours together is some old fuck who has no concept of how the metal scene actually works. Yes, there is harsh vocals, yes, they have long hair, yes, there is heavy guitars - that means metal fans love metalcore? Right? Fuck. Put the opening acts on an As I Lay Dying tour or something - that would make sense. For the first 2 bands it didn't seem like anyone noticed them playing, as if me (not voluntarily), and the two other people paying attention were merely hallucinating bad music being played on stage.

Ok, so Threat Signal were slightly better than Mutiny Within in almost every aspect. Unfortunately, being slightly better than a terrible band doesn't make the show any less forgettable. It also doesn't help make the same 3 riffs repeated over and over sound any less recycled.



Dark Tranquillity

Thank God! A decent performance! I can't tell whether this was just a mesmerizing performance merely out of contrast to the other garbage I had to listen to earlier in the night, or if it was great in it's own right. The small club setting created a strange atmosphere, moshing was kept to a minimum - the dense crowd in front of the stage had all eyes glued to the performers. From what little I do know about the band, I could recognize a few songs spanning what I believe to be most of, if not their entire discography. Despite the fact that I find the bands studio work to be fairly unexciting, the show was not regrettable. The energy from the actual fans made the atmosphere of the show enjoyable and everyone seemed to go home satisfied.

A truly great way to end an otherwise shitty concert.



Apologies for the lack of photos, due to poor lighting & backdrop, as well as lack of space, capturing decent photos proved to be a great difficulty.