LIVE REVIEW: Amorphis & Eluveitie @ O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
It is a special feeling when a package tour comes together in which the prospect of seeing each band generates palpable excitement. This is the feeling shared by many on a cold Friday night in London, as a co-headline tour of ELUVEITIE and AMORPHIS, backed by DARK TRANQUILLITY and NAILED TO OBSCURITY – a four-band run that would elevate any metal festival – arrives to grace the stage of the O2 Forum Kentish Town in London.
Opening the night are German death-doom outfit NAILED TO OBSCURITY who attract a sizeable crowd despite the early start. Their music combines drama, harrowing melodies and catchiness, making them a perfect fit with the dark melodicism that unites all bands on the bill. Vocalist Raimund Ennenga towers over the stage, showcasing his thunderous growls in Black Frost and increasingly confident cleans in the Protean, over soaring guitars that carry gorgeously in the typically great-sounding Kentish Town Forum. But it is when the quintet present their new material that they truly stun. Latest single Clouded Frame could proudly sit as a lead-single on a modern-day KATATONIA album, while Liquid Mourning feels like a post-metal twist on PARADISE LOST. Both songs are enthusiastically received from the crowd, and the German five-piece can be confident of having executed the job of an opening act with aplomb. Closer Desolate Ruin puts the finishing touches, with its majestic extended outro which is bound to raise the hairs on the back of one’s neck. On the strength of this performance, NAILED TO OBSCURITY are, contrary to what their name implies, a band worthy of a meteoric rise.
Rating: 9/10
It would be a natural reaction to do a double-take at DARK TRANQUILLITY’s place in the bill, as second opener to two co-headliners, both of which they are arguably bigger than. Regardless of this, the presence of the Gothenburg veterans on this tour gifts fans a relatively rare opportunity to see them on UK soil. Positioned in front of an impressive digital backdrop, they deliver the opening one-two punch of Identical To None and Lost To Apathy, and the beaming smile of frontman Mikael Stanne betrays his delight at being on stage. Alongside him is a bit of a new-look lineup, with the past few years having seen four touring members promoted to permanent mainstays – including Christopher Amott of ARCH ENEMY fame. The five instrumentalists appear to be a fully gelled unit, weaving cutting melodeath riffs and impactful drums against the dramatic soundscapes of experienced keyboardist Martin Brändström. The Swedes land a few surprises with their song choices, most notably the first-ever tour cycle that includes Cathode Ray Sunshine off 2002’s cult classic Damage Done. This along with the strong representation of 2020’s Moment makes the setlist light on stone-cold classics, but the broad appeal of their modern-day material is evident in the warm reception for the gothic-laden singalongs of Atoma and The Dark Unbroken. That said, the final song Misery’s Crown is as classic as they come, and with that DARK TRANQUILLITY close a special guest appearance that sets the bar high for their co-headline colleagues.
Rating: 8/10
Few bands set out to deliver a spectacle in the full sense of the word when they step on the stage of a metal concert, and fewer still manage it. ELUVEITIE signal the intent to tick both of these boxes, as they come out to an elaborate stage setup for nine musicians and at least twice as many instruments. Opener and brand new single Exile Of The Gods faithfully represents their eclectic blend of catchy yet aggressive melodeath with traditional Celtic folk. Vocalist Fabienne Erni projects its earworm of a chorus with character and tremendous power, her soaring voice capable of carrying pop radio hits – which, in fairness, many of ELUVEITIE’s songs could be under a different arrangement. The arrangements they do have, however, are exactly what makes the Gallic ensemble so impactful. The blend of downtuned distorted guitars and aggressive drums on one hand, and the clear voicings of all manner of whistles, pipes, violins and harps on the other, filters gloriously through the open space of the Kentish Town Forum. It has the potential to sound thin or weak, yet the reality is anything but.
When he’s not tinkering with said whistles and pipes, bandleader Chrigel Glanzmann barks his growls into the microphone or just soaks up the elaborate sonic world that his colleagues create. Whether it’s the singular hurdy-gurdy of newest member Annie Riedigier in Thousandfold, or the IN FLAMES-esque twin guitar attack of Nil, ELUVEITIE manage to sound simultaneously familiar and fresh. There are no elaborate backdrops other than a nice lightshow – the sight of nine musicians moving, interacting, and regularly switching instruments is enough to keep the picture engaging. A stark contrast comes with Anu, a haunting folk-ambient drone piece over which Erni delivers a stunning acapella vocal in the ancient language of Gaulish. The crowd of over two-thousand can do little else but listen in hushed silence. A three-song encore, capped by their signature Inis Mona, calls curtain on a majestic performance that delivers the full package – musically, visually, emotionally.
Rating: 10/10
It is not unusual that the metal bands that undergo the most change in sound over the years can end up as the ones which are most instantly recognisable. This is certainly the case for Finnish masters AMORPHIS who take over as the fourth and final act for the night. Opening duo Northwards and On The Dark Waters offer a compressed smorgasbord of their musical palette, combining aggressive doom-death, memorable melodic metal, and majestic 70s folk-prog-tinged passages. As if witnessing one master of the dual harsh and clean vocals was not a treat enough for one evening, we get to enjoy the vocal prowess of Tomi Joutsen who expertly switches between a demonic growl and a pristine tenor. Both sides shine brightly in the Finns’ modern classic Death Of A King – one of several examples of their usage of Middle Eastern-inspired scales, a technique that can always elevate a metal riff from great into the positively mind-blowing. As they are drawing from an extremely prolific discography (fourteen studio albums since 1992), it is easy for huge parts of the AMORPHIS canon to be overlooked in the setlist.
Special dispensation applies for songs from their highly influential Tales Of A Thousand Lakes, represented by In Hiding which sounds like a jam between CANDLEMASS and DEEP PURPLE thanks to Santeri Kallio’s innovative keyboards. Whilst the Finns are musically captivating, there is little provision made for flare in terms of stage show – they offer a mostly static light show over a mostly static group of performers. This is felt ever more keenly when contrasted to their co-headliners, making it less a show to let loose and be immersed into, and more to stand back and take in the music appreciatively. Thankfully, there is much to appreciate there. Wrong Direction and Seven Roads Come Together see the ever-present Esa Holopainen weave his signature delay pedal riffs, answering the question ‘what if The Edge from U2 were to write some melodic metal?’. A further serving of nineties classics comes with the elegiac Black Winter Day and the beautiful folk ballad of My Kantele, both of which sound fullsome and dynamic in their modern-day interpretations. The irresistibly catchy House Of Sleep brings just over an hour of music to an end, and with it an AMORPHIS set that, whilst undoubtedly having great moments and stellar musicianship, feels like it held back some of what they are capable of.
Rating: 7/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Anne Pfalzgraf here:
