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Live Reviews : Apocalyptica, We Lost The Sea & Hemina @ The Metro Theatre, Sydney 24/09/2016

By on September 25, 2016

It is evident from the get-go that something special is about to go down at the Metro tonight. Everyone is here for Apocalyptica, but the place is almost completely packed by the time that Sydney locals Hemina takes the stage. Granted, the crowd isn’t extremely enthusiastic, but the support in numbers is definitely there. The one thing that really stands out when it comes to Hemina’s performance are the vocals. They all work extremely well together, and I especially like the contrast between lead vocalist Douglas Skene and bassist Jessica Martin. I find myself enchanted by what is going on on stage. There is an underlying groove in every song that just works so darn well live. The music is also diverse enough to maintain my interest throughout the full set. The sound isn’t perfect, but the entertainment on stage is brilliant. 

apocalyptica-australian-tour

Next up is the national special guests We Lost The Sea. I’ll just be frank and say that while I sometimes enjoy instrumental, guitar driven music this wasn’t the right night for it. The music is quite simply to complex for tonight’s audience. There’s not much there to keep them interested which is quite evident by all the murmuring at the back of the venue. The atmospheric music is ultimately a disservice to Apocalyptica as it takes a good while for the audience to get into the main act’s set properly. We Lost The Sea is a band that I might have enjoyed in the right setting, but there are quite a few similar bands out there right now and sadly not many of them work that well live. This being said, I want to see the band on another night, with another type of audience. Brilliant musicians, wrong tour. 
Apocalyptica on the other hand show Sydney why they have lasted so long in this tough industry. Fuelled by equal parts of experience, joy and ridiculous skill the Finnish quartet put on an absolutely unforgettable show. Being a long time fan of the band I do think that they shine the brightest on tracks like “Quutamo” and “Grace”. Franky Perez is a brilliant addition to the band and his charisma puts a smile on everyone’s face, but even his brilliant vocals can’t top the phenomenon that is the 3 cellos + drums. The sound tonight is flawless and once the audience really gets going (why thank you “Master of Puppets”) you can just tell that it’s going to be a damn perfect headliner set. There really is something special about the three celloteers that are Perttu Kivilaakso, Eicca Toppinen and Paavo Lötjönen, the standing ovation they receive after having performed a soul-aching rendition of “Bittersweet” is quite unlike something I’ve heard before and despite having played the song about a billion times, Kivilaakso, Toppinen  and Lötjönen seem truly humbled by the response.
I have seen Apocalyptica in many different settings over the past 10 years but I can honestly say that this was the best they’ve ever been. They were great back in 2015, but this is defintely two or three levels above that. Mikko Sirén is definitely one of the most entertaining live drummers out there today and he’s just mesmerising to watch. He’s really displaying his full arsenal in tracks like Shadowmaker (which is as progressive as Apocalyptica will ever go I imagine) and Inquisition Symphony.

The setlist might not have been perfect in my opinion, but there are plenty of diamonds in there. The absolute highlight of the night is when the four Finnish madmen open up their encore with an absolutely blistering rendition of Sepultura’s Refuse/Resist. I can’t recall the last time I had a goose bump moment like that. At the end of the night, I’m just left in awe, the entire band look like they’ve been playing together for 20 days, not 20 years. Like a fine wine, they are getting better with age. With the final tones of “I Don’t Care” ringing in my ears I can’t help but thinking, “here’s to 20 more”.

Apocalyptica are wrapping up their tour at Max Watts in Brisbane today (Sunday, 25 September). Tickets are available now through Destroy All Lines!

tickets.destroyalllines.com

About

Martin is an aspiring music photographer/videographer. He is originally from the southern parts of Sweden and now he's living in Sydney, Australia. Thanks to his older sister, he got into Rammstein at the age of 9, and since then he's been into all types of metal/rock. He loves to combine photography and music, but also filming concerts and produce live material. Follow him on Twitter and check out his website.