Next band to warm up for Dia Psalma, after The Headlines, was the not as local band Sparzanza, hailing from Karlstad in the middle of Sweden, otherwise known as the hometown of Sweden’s MacGyver; Bengt Alsterlind, and also a host of dance-bands.
Tonight was no time for dancing however (even though some of the more punky elements of the crowd gave it a brave try), as Sparzanza brought a dose of surprising chill and darkness to KB.
Their style was clearly into the metalcore / heavy metal genre which as a surprise at least to me, considering the theme for the other two bands.

On my part, I felt that the groove and power Sparzanza brought to the show was very easy to get into, but still the by now somewhat larger crowd seemed very calm and almost indifferent. Yes, as I said there were a couple or so punks who played around with some hopping and dancing in the beginning and there was also a bit of headbanging from the front row, but the partying died out after a short while, even though the band did not let up on the pressure from their side.
Actually I think the difference in style between Sparzanza and the other two bands is more to blame than anything else. The crowd had simply come for something else than what they delivered. Had they been put together with some of the harder bands of our time I’m sure the response would have been a lot greater than it was here. And that’s a shame, because Sparzanza really put the pedal to the metal with their music, which was also blessed by a very good sound, credit of KB’s equipment and competent crew.

Now, it wasn’t all that bad a response from the crowd as it might sound. For instance, the slower, calmer song My World Of Sin was greeted by quite a few raised lighters and lit cell phones, and as I said there was also some well-placed headbanging in the front.
As with said song, almost the whole set was taken from their latest release In Voodoo Veritas. Actually only two songs did not come off this album, they were taken from Banisher Of The Light which meant there were two entire albums that were left out. Ok, so they only had 30 minutes to play, but still this seems a bit odd, not wanting to present a more all-round picture of oneself on such a sales tour as this was.

I’m not sure I would sit down and listen to an album from these guys, simply because the style isn’t quite in the same direction as the stuff I prefer at the moment, but they can definitely hold their own on a live stage. This is the sort of forum where their music truly comes to its right.

Setlist:

Gone
Before My Blackened Eyes
Going Down
Methadream
Robota
Black Gemini
Red Dead Revolver
My World Of Sin
The Blind Will Lead The Blind