Music fans in the Washington, DC area are always up for a good metal show. That’s what they got Friday night (4/4), when Swedish metalcore outfit Imminence stormed the Fillmore Silver Spring on the band’s Return of the Black tour. The trés international lineup on this tour includes France’s Landmvrks and Japan’s Jiluka.
It was pandemonium right out of the gate when Jiluka hit the stage at 7:30 PM. I’ll admit to being a bit unprepared for the energy from both the band and the already large crowd, despite being given a heads up from both security and a fellow photographer that things would be wild. The foursome took the stage to massive enthusiasm from the crowd and wasted no time serving up its self-proclaimed brand of electro-gothic metal. The band is led by Riko; her death metal vocals were the dark gothic icing on the band’s death metal cake.
While drummer Zyean pounded away at the back of the stage, Riko, along with guitarist Sena and bassist Boogie, towered over the Fillmore crowd on risers situated at the front of the stage while lit garishly. Jiluka’s music is dark, heavy, and brutal, a perfect accompaniment to the raging crowd surfing on the Fillmore’s floor. Jiluka smashed their way through five tracks, which included their newest release “Kvlt.”
Batting second on the tour is Landmvrks (pronounced “Landmarks”). This metalcore band (Florent Salfati, Rudy Purkart, Kevin D’Agostino, Nicholas Exposito, and Paul Cordebard) hail from Marseille, France, and is promoting their upcoming album, The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been, set for release late this month.
Landmvrks kept the night’s explosive energy going by opening with “Creature,” from the band’s latest album. The rest of the set was divided between the newest material and tracks from 2021’s Lost in The Waves. Led by frontman, Salfati, Landmvrks’ set was just a relentless 45 minutes, and the crowd was there for it all, moshing and crowdsurfing, keeping the Fillmore security staff on their toes.
The Fillmore’s floor was packed by the time Imminence took the stage. Founded in 2009 in Trelleborg, Sweden, Imminence (Eddie Berg, Harald Barrett, Christian Höijer, Peter Hanström, and Alex Arnoldsson) are sometimes referred to as “violin-core,” a nod to front man Berg, who plays violin.
The result is a one-of-a-kind sound, one that underlies the band’s latest release, an extended version of 2024’s The Black, titled The Return of the Black, which dropped just last month. The Black was described by Imminence as their “most conceptual” yet, with lyrics addressing mental health and depression. They say it’s soaked in “fear and darkness.”
The set on this tour is pulled mostly from this album, and stoked fans at the Fillmore loved it. Again, I was unprepared for the energy coming from both the crowd and the band. The photo pit was a disorienting swirl of other photographers, security guards, and the bodies of crowd surfers sailing over the rail. We were creating art amidst the trench warfare.
Live, Imminence is raw, heavy, and dark, led by Berg’s devastating vocals and haunting violin work. The stage production is a well thought out spectacle, with dancing lights, moody lamps props, and church-like windows at the back of the stage. Additional lamps add to the dark mood. The set weighed in at 18 songs, wrapping up with “The Black” and tearing up the audience in the process. There is no doubt that Imminence is a band to watch on the metalcore scene and it’ll be interesting to see what comes next for this band of Swedes.
The Return of the Black tour wrapped up in New Jersey on April 5. Imminence will make the rounds at the European festival this summer.
LANDMVRKS
JILUKA
