Another travelling tour hits London and after selling out massive shows on mainland Europe, the bands find themselves in the 600 capacity Relentless Garage after hugely overestimating that they could sell enough tickets at the HMV Forum – where this was originally meant to be.

The very early start of 4:45pm meant Omnium Gatherum were just finishing when there was life inside The Garage, but with another 5 bands to come there is still plenty to see.  Gurd are next up with their first visit to the UK in 13 years and they play a fairly enjoyable set of groove based thrash metal that sounds like it has been stuck in a time-warp since the mid 90's.

Varg look like Turisas trying to play Amon Amarth’s songs – they sit comfortably among the other also-rans in the over saturated folk-metal genre.  Strangest moment of the set comes in the form a cover of Rammstein's ‘Links 2-3-4’ which although is performed adequately, they could have at least put a folk-metal spin on things.  "This song means lot to us so I want you to bang your head until you're fucking dead" frontman Philipp Seiler shouts to the audience before set closer ‘Wolfskult’ which just happens to be the best thing they play.

Denmark’s Mercenary are celebrating their 20th Anniversary although the band have downsized into a vastly different beast these days after musical differences took their toll in 2009.  These death metal veterans put on a solid set of songs mostly taken from their current album ‘Metamorphosis’.  Some excellent guitar work from lead axeman Martin Buus and a tight performance from the rest of the band make this the most memorable of the sets from the bands before ‘the big 2’ , and a fair few members of the audience will certainly look forward to their promised return to the UK.

Another folking metal band is up next, but Eluveitie get it spot on with a perfect blend of Nuclear Blast-flavoured melodic death metal, flutes and hurdy gurdys.  With their eight members crammed onto the small Garage stage, there isn’t a lot of room for them to get around, but the performance is explosive nonetheless.  Much loved ‘Inis Mona’ gets an outing early on in the set which pretty much everyone sings along too before being taken on a trip though Eluveitie’s back catalogue with the likes of ‘The Song Of Life’, ‘Your Gaulish War’ and ‘Kingdom Come Undone’ sounding simply awesome.

Considered by many to be the Godfathers of the melodeath scene, Dark Tranquillity hit the stage with proverbial guns blazing.  While excellent on record, the DT live experience is a lot more enjoyable backed with excellent visual projections and a spot-on sound quality.  Vocalist Michael Stanne is full of energy rushing around the stage, posing for the photographers and even getting in a quick crowd surf during ‘The Treason Wall’.  Their two most recent albums provide the songs for the majority of tonight’s set with almost everything from the ‘Fiction’ album sounding absolutely awe inspiring.