“Electronica nonsense … not fussed at all.” These were the words of a friend when I posted on social media that I was attending this Vola show with Charlotte Wessels at SWX Bristol. I am not sure that he knew what he was talking about, for although there was plenty of keyboard action, all three bands on the bill provided plenty to enjoy and very little nonsense at all.
Vola – Charlotte Wessels
SWX Bristol – 26 November 2024
Words And Photography: Paul Hutchings
Rapidly approaching 20 years as a band, like so many these days, Danes Vola are amongst the likes of Haken and Leprous who are making their presence felt in the Progressive Metal scene. It has been a slow and steady rise, no Sleep Token escalator here.
But the band’s elevation from a sold-out show at The Fleece just over two years ago to a healthy gathering in the much larger SWX is evidence of Vola’s growing popularity.
In Friend Of A Phantom, the band has delivered one of the most impressive albums of 2024. It is a tour to promote that release, so understandably, the focus is on tracks from said opus. They arrive to a sparsely lit stage, but it is subtly placed with several light columns strategically placed at the rear and around drummer Adam Janzi. It might be cool outside, but Janzi is soon stripped to the waist, his high intensity producing enough heat to keep him warm. 
I have seen Vola a few times before, and their ability to craft atmosphere to match the tone of their songs is incredible. It is rare we catch them in glorious open lighting, for it is the moody light show that enhances the songs.
They open with two from the new album, vocalist and guitarist Asger Mygind hitting his stride immediately on I Don’t Know How We Got Here, which sees Janzi flanked on either side by bassist/synth player Nicolai Morgansen and keyboardist Martin Werner, Morgansen adding additional percussion.
“We’ve got a new album out,” quips Mygind before assuring the old-school that there will be older stuff as well. The set is beautifully paced. The crushing heaviness of Those Black Claws sparks the first of several brutally violent mosh pits, later in full frenzy during Cannibal which features a guest vocalist stepping in for the parts sung by In Flames’ Anders Friden on the album.
This is not Thrash, yet the Danes can bring the heaviness in spades, and they do at various points of the show, much to the pit crew’s delight. Vola keep their promise and bring us Alien Shivers from 2018’s Applause Of A Distant Crowd as well three from 2015’s debut Inmazes, including a blistering Gutter Moon.
Despite sitting under the Progressive Metal tag, there are not elongated, self-indulgent passages. Sixteen songs in 90 minutes seem perfectly paced to me.
It is captivating stuff with ample punishing heaviness to counter the delicate passages. Mysgind’s voice is crystal clear and hits deep with his evocative delivery. The band are at the end of their UK dates, and as one might expect, are flawless in every part of their performance.
Still time for one last jump around, or even more perhaps, as Paper Wolf, one of seven from Friend Of A Phantom, shows its teeth. Straight Lines ends the set with much booing to the announcement of it being the last song.
We know it isn’t, as the band return once more for the fan favourite Stray The Skies which has a euphoric response.
Little electronica nonsense, plenty of quality from a band whose affinity with this part of the world is huge. The Academy circuit is next, and this band will deserve every moment of it.
Charlotte Wessels
Departing from a band you have been in for 17 years and which you joined when you were 17 years of age is likely to cause some psychological impact. Yet after Delain, Charlotte Wessels dusted herself off and restarted with her own solo project. Tonight, she shows all her confidence and vulnerability.
Confidence is in her songs, her band and her material. This is not a set which rests on any past glories but instead draws almost exclusively from latest album, The Obsession. Indeed, only the thumping Soft Revolution from her debut solo record, Tales From Six Feet Under, is not from the new release.
It does not impact the performance, which builds from opener Chasing Sunsets to a climatic and epic conclusion with the raging The Exorcism, one of several songs that sees the band flick into full power mode.
We also see the fragility of the singer as she talks about her anxieties of doing the very thing she loves. She produces a t-shirt with I Love Crying emblazoned on it and puts it on to perform The Crying Room.
“As I like to capitalise on my anxieties, this shirt is available at the merch stand,” she says. It is a clever way of breaking a moment which has seen the singer open in a way one rarely sees.
Perfectly choreographed, this is a set that increases in tempo and tension with each passing song. By the end of their 40 minutes, the applause is deafening. It is a highly charged show, intoxicating in delivery, with Wessels’ trained vocals soaring high into the venue’s roof space.
There are times when you find yourself staring with awe at her ability.
Backed by a highly talented outfit, this could quite easily have been the headline set. Substantially heavier live than on record, it is unsurprising that the band ends up taking several bows for an adoring audience.
