Hell / Carcass / Amon Amarth Trädgår'n Gothenburg Tues 3rd Dec

Hell (8) unfortunately began right on time. Unfortunately as in typical Swedish fashion, the doors had opened late, so the queue was still large and I was still in it. Luckily, I only missed half of the first song and joined the rest of the faithful down the front for the remainder of the 30 minute set...and what a set it was. In true Hell style, this was as much a visual, theatrical performance as a live show and by the end of it the venue had filled nicely and the band left the stage to a commendable applause. Dave Bower must be the most under-rated vocalist / frontman in metal today. Just don't call them retro.

Next up, Carcass (8) made their presence known courtesy of some typical Jeff Walker wit as he addressed the (now near-capacity) crowd with "Good evening Gothenburg. So, I believe Melodic Death Metal was born here. Is that right?" This got a loud cheer from the crowd, most of whom I suspect failed to notice the sarcasm in his voice. The set was good, if not spectacular, and spanned their entire career with live staples "Corporeal Jigsaw Quandary", "Heartwork" and new track "Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System" being the highlights tonight. Jeff kept up the banter throughout, delivered in his own special, sneering way and the crowd were whipped into a near frenzy with hair windmilling in all directions and beer being spilled all over the floor as the English legends wrapped up their set.

Amon Amarth (9) hit the stage as the conquering heroes they are in Sweden. The sound was near-perfect and Johan seemed to be in a great mood, stomping around the stage with a huge smile across his hirsute face as he bellowed and roared through the band's trademark Viking-themed Death Metal classics. What followed was a pretty much flawless 90 plus minutes of live music from a band right at the top of it's game.

Set highlights were "Deceiver Of The Gods", "Guardians Of Asgard" and the superb "The Pursuit Of Vikings".

All in all, this was an evening of varied, but equally great, confident performances from 3 veteran bands. Definitely worth the trip and if you had the opportunity to be there and missed it, then more fool you.