LIVE REVIEW: Amaranthe & Beyond The Black @ O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
Tonight’s double-headliner of symphonic and power metal heavy hitters BEYOND THE BLACK and AMARANTHE definitely isn’t for the lactose-intolerant.
Say what you will about openers BUTCHER BABIES‘ music (and indeed, their edgelord, “that’s bait” name) but the simple fact is the front rows love them. In spite of their twin vocal spectacle from Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey, they’re mixed bafflingly low and often get buried under the drumming, though that does disguise the often thin melodic singing that veers close to off key at times. The nu-metal tinged groove is derivative and uninspired and they certainly lean hard into the two vocalist approach and the spectacle that entails. But even when your riffs are utterly forgettable, the crowd reaction speaks for itself – though the less said about the ill-advised, cringeworthy cover of rapper SAWEETIE‘s Best Friend, the better.
Rating: 6/10
BEYOND THE BLACK waste no time in bringing the evening back on track; the anthemic Is There Anybody Out There? roars out the gates replete with extravagant lighting (including vocalist Jennifer Haben dual wielding a pair of lightsabers herself). Blinding the audience at the soft opening to third song Songs Of Love And Death is certainly a choice but it doesn’t dissuade the singalongs or the bouncing pit. The mix is also considerably better, giving Haben‘s voice ample breathing room without stifling the searing guitar solos, nor do the drums drown out the band or their backing symphonics.
Frazzled eyeballs aside, there’s other questionable choices like two ballad-adjacent slower numbers in their opening third, that robs them of any momentum built from their strong opening duo. Dancing In The Dark picks up the pace all too infrequently, but the additional stagehands waving huge banners is a nice touch for its rousing chorus – though the drum solo is, as ever, totally unnecessary. To their credit though, the level of showmanship is remarkable and they command the crowd with ease throughout their hour-plus set, even the very back rows getting involved with whatever the band might cook up, from claps to woah-ohs. With a little more to distinguish most songs from each other, they’d be a force to be reckoned with, but by opening with the best song of the set, they do somewhat hamstring themselves.
Rating: 7/10
As much as BEYOND THE BLACK occasionally channelled power metal cheese, AMARANTHE are the real masters of that tonight. Their triple-vocal, Europop-meets-power-metal is precisely engineered to plaster grins on faces and get people dancing. Bounding onstage with a rousing Fearless, even a flat mix, almost bass-less can’t dampen their spirits or energy. New screamer Richard Sjunnesson acquits himself well and – most importantly – looks to be having a blast, as does everyone on stage. New song Find Life dials up their R&B elements but doesn’t shy away from chugging riffs for its choruses; it’s not quite up to their usual power pop standards though and gets something of a lacklustre reception.
Make It Better also feels off-kilter in its verses but they recover it for choruses – again falling victim to the unfortunate burying of bass in the mix. That’s a constant undercurrent to the set, that moments don’t feel as impactful as they should, like the rousing call to arms that is Strong simply doesn’t feel as empowering as it should. Ultimately though this is a minor niggle when the atmosphere is so electric. AMARANTHE conjure a near rave with Maximize, the crowd jumping and waving arms with wild abandon, and fan favourite The Nexus detonates spectacularly. Despite recovering from a bout of stomach issues that forced the cancellation of last night’s Manchester show, they’re a band still intent on giving their all and are firing on all cylinders, guaranteed to leave the O2 Forum Kentish Town with fond(ue) memories.
Rating: 8/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Karolina Janikunaite here:
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