Metal Takes Over Harpos

On Friday night, fans braved the cold and snow to head out to Harpos in Detroit for a night of hardcore metal with Daniel Lioneye, Turisas, Nachtmystium and Cradle of Filth.

The tour, Creatures From the Black Abyss, is Cradle of Filth's first tour since 2009 and the band is out in support of their latest album Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa.

The evening began on a sour note as it took awhile for people to get inside of Harpos and once they did the venue felt like a ice box with most people donning their jackets throughout the show.

With doors supposed to open at an early 5 pm, the show was expected to get off to a early start but that was not the case with the actual first band not taking the stage until well after 7.

The tour's crew looked confused as they started to set up as soon as doors opened but were unable to perform any solid sound checks as an unexplained band set up on the venue's small second stage and began to play over top of what they were trying to do.

This continued throughout the evening and once again proved that despite Harpos' great sound and unique stage, it's management still has not figured out how to treat it's bands and clientele.

Luckily, once the show actually began the discomforts were forgotten.

Daniel Lioneye, the HIM side project, were up first playing to a small but loud crowd consisting of many HIM fans who came out to show their support.

The band recently added vocalist Manu and drummer Seppo and it was interesting to see how well they were received.

Manu has a pretty powerful voice for such a small man and his funny antics on stage kept everyone entertained.

The band stuck to the black metal music off of their second album Vol. II including "I Saw Myself" and "Neolithic Way".

Up next was Finnish metal band Turisas who were the surprise hit of the show.

The band was not very well known and not many people were down on the main floor when they came on but by their second song people flooded down and packed in to yell and jump along.

Turisas has a interesting mix of power and symphonic metal with a Viking twist and their use of the electric violin make them unique.

The band is getting ready to release their third album Stand Up and Fight and they played a number of songs off of the album including a stand out performance of the title track with everyone raising their fists along with the band.

Vocalist Mathias Nygard seemed to be impressed by the crowd and spoke about wanting to return to the area as soon as possible.

Extreme metal band Nachtmystium took to the stage before Cradle of Filth and did nothing to impress.

When the band was just jamming by themselves they actually sounded pretty good but as soon as their vocalist Blake Judd began singing it was downhill again.

Most people seemed to be happy when they left the stage and annoyed when the band returned for another song that seemed to drag on and delay the moment the band that everyone had come to see would take to the stage.

Luckily, it didn't take too long for the Cradle of Filth crew to set things up and it wasn't long before the band took to the stage, which was set up as Frankenstein's laboratory with Ashley Ellyllon's keyboard featuring test tubes filled with bubbling lights and flashing strobe lights.

Behind the band, their projection screens alternated between displaying the Cradle of Filth logo and showcasing scenes from the band's most popular videos.

The band's sound is a bit extreme for many people but you can't argue that their stage show is one of the best out there and the sharp contrast between Ellyllon's calm vocals and lead vocalist Dani Filth's harsh screams and growls is even more amazing live.

Filth's ability to hit all of the highs and lows on their songs despite his small stature is pretty impressive.

The band opened with "Heaven Torn Asunder" and proceeded to move through songs off of all of their nine albums.

The set highlight was back to back performances of two of their most popular songs "Her Ghost In The Fog" and "Nymphetamine".

After closing with "The Forest Whispers My Name", the band returned to the stage for a powerful encore of "Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids" and "From The Cradle to Enslave".

Cradle of Filth Setlist:

Heaven Torn Asunder
Funeral in Carpathia
Honey and Sulphur
Lilith Immaculate
Her Ghost in the Fog
Nymphetamine
The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
Under Huntress Moon
Ebony Dressed for Sunset
The Forest Whispers my Name

Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids
From the Cradle to Enslave