The Raven Age had the unwelcome task of supporting Apocalyptica on their Plays Metallica Vol. 2 tour - I say unwelcome, as there is truly no band that can match Apocalyptica, so regardless of whom you’d throw in the mix, they’d be an odd fit.
Still, this is a band we’ve seen go up against the odds in the past, and they were obviously ready to do this again.

“Are you feeling good out there? Are you feeling alive tonight?!”
- Matt James (vocals)

An acoustic intro melody announced the start of the show, after which the band kicked into gear with Serpents Tongue, a fittingly energetic track from their latest full-length, Blood Omen.
Since their last visit to Copenhagen in 2022, the band had acquired a far more goth inspired look with their black painted necks and Matt James’ less eccentric Robert Smith hairdo.
The music was recognisable enough however, and as their time on stage was limited, the band was intent on not mucking about but rather get as many songs out as possible.
This didn’t stop James from trying to fire up the half filled room however, as he tried to get people to shout along already from the first song. There wasn’t much to pull from the Copenhageners however, and this was reflected in the performance of the band - I can’t say if it was the chicken or the egg that came first of course, but the band was far from as energetic as I remembered them to be. Sure, they were smiling somewhat and nodding their heads along, but I wasn’t exactly taken aback.

This gave me more time to look at what was happening on the periphery of the show, like the use of the video screen in the back. For instance, while the band was playing No Man’s Land, the video was playing there, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that the protagonist was looking somewhat similar to American author H. P. Lovecraft. While the lyrics don’t necessarily support this theory, you can’t tell me that especially the end of the video wasn’t inspired by his story The Outsider.
An inspiration that wasn’t at all hidden came later in the song Grave Of The Fireflies, obviously based on the 1988 anime feature of the same name, from Studio Ghibli. The song isn’t quite the tear jerker the film is (which is a near impossible task), but the mood was there, and it was only enhanced as the crowd got their mobile flashlights out, after a request from James.

Yes, the crowd got a bit more into it as the show went along. Nothing big, but more enthusiastic than at the start of the show.
The band, too, obviously got warmed up and more into it, as the musicians began posing more, and visibly having more fun performing. Tommy Gentry was showing off some fun tricks in The Day The World Stood Still, and all of them got more into playing off of each other, making the show feel more present.
Something that took me out of this present feeling however, was the fact that the guitars effortlessly changed between clean and distorted sounds - without there being a single effect pedal on stage! Look, this wasn’t playback, that’s not what I’m saying, but the sound was obviously manipulated by someone else than the musicians, and honestly, that felt weak to me, and took me out of it every time I noticed it happening. C’mon, you can do better than this!

All in all, The Raven Age gave me pretty much what I was expecting. I’m still not hooked on their music, but that’s personal preference, but they gave an alright performance. It worked to loosen the crowd up a bit, but it’s not exactly something anyone will remember down the line.

Setlist:

Serpents Tongue
Nostradamus
No Man’s Land
The Day The World Stood Still
The Journey
Essence Of Time
Grave Of The Fireflies
Fleur De Lis