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Who’s playing tonight big man? Gotta be somebody big eh?”…”It’s Monuments with VOLA as special guests”…”So it’s not Ed Sheeran then, eh?”… and with a look of disappointment, it’s back to watching the catfight, and the coppers doing their best to get through Bonfire night in Glasgow. VOLA are on the road touring their latest album, ‘Applause Of A Distant Crowd’, and judging by the crowd reaction, a fair few of them have said opus. The Danish-Swedish quartet play a brand of progressive rock that is, at times, both punishing and hypnotic. Vocalist/guitarist Asger Mygind has a smoother-than-silk, clean vocal style that whisks the listener away to a calmer place… then bludgeons them over the head with some crushing riffs. He also has great hair for headbanging. Truly great headbanging hair. It’s a sight to behold when he lets rip on moments like ‘Your Mind Is A Helpless Dreamer’ and ‘Alien Shivers’. As their set turns into the home stretch, they deliver the killer one-two of ‘Ruby Pool’ and ‘Stray The Skies’, and the neck muscles of the front few rows are getting a serious workout. The musicianship is, as you expect from a progressive band, staggering. It’s cool to see keyboardist Martin Werner pushed to the front of the stage. So many keyboard players are hidden at the back, but his layers are crucial to the VOLA sound, and let’s face it, who doesn’t love a headbanging keyboard player? Monuments have only been on stage for a few minutes, and already one poor sod is being helped out of the pit by security. As he hobbles out with his arm over a kind, caring security guard, it’s heartwarming to see that none of his mates care enough to check on his welfare. Well, the set had only just started, hadn’t it? Frontman Chris Barretto is in control of the ensuing chaos. He tells the crowd to scream, they scream. He tells them to kneel down, they kneel down, and when he tells them to jump back up again, they jump back up again. He points out the guy who shot his bolt a bit early and jumped up when everyone else was still kneeling, awaiting Barretto’s command. Very warm and engaging, Barretto is a charismatic frontman, with a powerful voice comfortable with both clean vocals and screams/growls. Current album ‘Phronesis’ (Ancient Greek for wisdom or intelligence, if you were wondering) is fresh in most people’s minds, and tracks aired from it are greeted vociferously. ‘Stygian Blue’ is dedicated to “anyone having a hard time”, and it’s a standout moment when the freaky, trippy intro gives way to some buzzsaw riffs. Another few highlights happen during older tracks, when Barretto tells the crowd during ‘Atlas’ to make some waves back to front, and the crowd duly oblige. As they do during ‘Empty Vessels Make The Most Noise’ when he urges them to get a circle pit going! Like VOLA, you would expect Monuments to be pretty decent musicians. As a genre, progressive Metal doesn’t tend to feature many sloppy players. So the level of playing was as strong as expected, but special mention has to go to bassist Adam Swan. In a band featuring someone as mesmerising as Barretto, it’s hard to focus on the other guys on stage, but Swan is a towering presence and, at times, I find myself watching him slack-jawed as he flies up and down his fretboard. Truly a stunning musician to watch. If you are planning on hitting any of the remaining dates on the Monuments/VOLA tour then get into training now. Warm up, do your stretches, you’ll need to be in shape for the pit. Review: Dave S Images: Dave J [gallery type='flickr' user_id='132278830@N06' view='photosets' photoset_id='72157701731822611' media='photos' columns='3' tag_mode='any' sort='date-posted-desc' photo_count='36' layout='square' caption='title' thumb_size='s' main_size='z' ]]]>
