Photos by: Dhruv Kumar
Words by: Kunal Singh
Webster Hall was the scene of a somewhat juxtaposed metal sounds this evening. From the straight-ahead raw style of Starkill to the melodic synth and composition based sounds of Epica, the night had a little something for everyone.
Starkill started just before 8 pm, and took to the stage with “Detonate” to the packed crowd. The Chicago based band was hitting all the right notes, and working the audience. Lots of calls and shouts to The Grand Ballroom audience, and a warm welcome. The band has gone from being the gritty old school style to a more mature base with a noticeable grace on stage. Starkill performed well, and I believe was received in kind by the almost capacity floor. An excellent showing for the body painted rockers from Illinois.
Epica soon followed, as the last date of their Design Your Universe album tour came to be. The band has gone through a few years of living in the shadows of Within Temptation, Nightwish, and a few other melodic synth metal bands, but this night they proved they were not to be slept on. Epica’s set was mainly based on their latest studio effort, but they had time to treat their dedicated fan base with songs of The Holographic Principle and their first studio effort, The Phantom Agony. Fans of the band were loud, as the crowd did the usual band chant and screams. The show was overall a solid and well-polished night, but I have to give a little special attention to Epica’s awesome keyboard player, Coen Janssen. That man was running around the stage like a true champion. From little jump kicks from his rotating keyboard station to his curved mobile board and coming to the front of the stage, that man was on a mission. You can tell there was a celebratory feel to his stage presence. I’d be willing to bet it is due to this being the last night. The band represented their sound well, and the audience went home with smiles on their face. All in all, a good night for metal.
http://www.epica.nl/band
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