Live Reviews : Amorphis, Datura Curse and The Eternal @ The Factory, Sydney 11/10/2013

With the massive quantity of international bands touring Australia over the last portion of 2013, it’s becoming increasingly harder to choose which bands to try and see. Tonight’s decision was a difficult one, as for tonight in Sydney alone, there were several decent local shows on, as well as two international acts playing at venues only 15 minutes apart from each other. The choice was between the legendary Hevy Devy himself, under the moniker of Devin Townsend Project, or Finnish melodic metal icons, Amorphis. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Devin Townsend Project were only here earlier last year, I think my decision would have been much harder, but ultimately I went with Amorphis as I could not give up the opportunity to a full headlining show by the amazing sextet. While I’ve caught them on a few festivals throughout Europe in the past, each time they were restricted to a small set length, so the excitement within me to potentially see a vast range of songs from their lengthy 20+ year career was enough to make me really eager for this show.

The Eternal

Due to delays with my transport, I arrived at The Factory Theatre in Marrickville with only just enough time to catch a couple of songs from Melbourne’s The Eternal. Touring in support of both their new album and 10^th anniversary of the band, The Eternal were well-received among the melodic metal enthusiasts in the crowd as they performed their blend of dark, doomy metal. Singer Mark Kelson sounded better than ever as the band pounded through the tightest set I’ve heard them play.

The next support up were locals, Datura Curse. After only releasing their debut album, ‘Take the Head of the King’, the previous day, you could tell by their energy alone that the band was ready to showcase the new material to the ever-growing crowd. The band delivered a well-executed set, performing a steady mix of hard-hitting melodic metal with a good dose of brutal vocals thrown in the mix. I really think that with sharing the stages with the right style bands, these guys have a lot of potential to go far.

Datura Curse

With quite the quick changeover time, Amorphis hit the stage to a deafening road, opening with ‘Shades of Gray’, the first track from their latest album, ‘Circle’. Immediately after only a couple of minutes of playing, there were a few things that I found really apparent. First of all, the sound was amazing. Which is was really worried about at first as almost all the bands I’ve seen over the years at The Factory have suffered from sub-par sound. Not tonight though, as the sound was at the perfect level and all instruments and vocals could be equally heard. The other was just how tight the band was. Not just in performance, but they all worked so well in-sync with each other on stage without seeming like they were performing rehearsed stage moves like some over-the-hill cockrock 80s band.

Amorphis

Starting the set with material from the post-Pasi era, I wasn’t too sure how much, if any, they’d delve back into their past and play material from some of my all-time favourite albums. While the unfortunate absence of any ‘Tuonela’ or ‘Am Universum’ material was a shame, it was great to see two tracks from the phenomenal ‘Eclipse’ album make an appearance, and a huge surprise to see not one, but three tracks from the ‘Tales from a Thousand Lakes’ album played. This made for quite the diverse night as it’s not often you see a band play much older material these days, especially when they’ve had a change in singers. Vocalist Tomi Joutsen did a great job with the older songs and an even greater job with the songs from the album he has recorded on. With his unusual steampunk-styled microphone and massive dreadlock windmilling, Tomi commanded the crowd’s attention throughout the night and alongside the five other members, delivered an amazing set that will most likely go down as my show of the year.

Amorphis Setlist:

(Circle Intro)
Shades of Gray
Narrow Path
Sampo
Silver Bride
Against Widows
The Wanderer
My Kantele
Thousand Lakes
Drowned Maid
Nightbird’s Song
The Smoke
You I Need
Hopeless Days
Black Winter Day
Encore:
(Skyforger Intro)
Sky Is Mine
Into Hiding
House of Sleep

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