AMON AMARTH, FINNTROLL & OCTAVIA SPERATI
Having not seen a single advertisement with a support listed, as I worked my way to the bar taking side glances at the band currently on the stage, my initial guess was that they had got a local band to open the show. Only later on did it occur to me that opening band were in fact Norwegian band Octavia Sperati. Octavia Sperati are one of those bands whose name I have heard thrown around a lot although never made the effort to investigate what they’re all about. To me, they seemed a strange choice of band to be opening for the likes of Finntroll and Amon Amarth, with their rather insipid brand of gothic metal. Being five parts female, one part male, I can certainly see why they would want to push themselves forward at the moment with the current wave of female fronted bands that are gaining relative success. I really did try my best to enjoy this band, although I have seen better live performances from bands who have been playing for a year, let alone seven years. The vocal delivery of frontwoman Silje seemed to be inconsistent; at her best she has a pleasant tone in her voice which I can imagine sounds fine on CD, although this just fails to be put across in the live environment. Overall they weren’t terrible, but there was nothing about them that really grabbed my attention.
A full UK tour from Finntroll has been long overdue, and the crowd here tonight proves just how many people would agree with that statement. We were already on the third or fourth “Finntroll!” chant by the time the band were anywhere to be seen. The pompous intro of “Gryning” boomed out over the P.A. as the trolls marched onto the stage before swooping into the menacing “Sang”. A few sound problems hampered the beginning of the set, as the keyboard was barely audible for the first song or two. Fairly static throughout the set, the band members mostly confined to their own spot, with the more charismatic Tundra emitting a certain mischievous trollish aura, his hair flailing around as though possessing a life of it’s own as the bassist cavorted around. The replacement of ex-vocalist Wilska with the less corpulent and troll-like Vreth has caused mixed reactions from fans. Vreth has a much darker, and more sombre presence on stage, and as he projects his guttural roar you can’t help but get the feeling that someone has seriously ticked him off and he is about to seek revenge at the expense of everything that stands in his path. Latest album “Ur Jorden’s Djup” has a much more portentous overtone to their previous works and much to my delight they were none too stingy with the new tracks tonight. The monstrous combination of thrashing guitars, rumbling bass and enchanting keyboard melodies are packed together tightly and the sheer power on tracks such as “Ormhaxen” comes at you with sheer intensity as all erupts into an epic fanfare while “En Matik Harr” adds a tropical vibe to the set. More established Finntroll favourites such as “Fiskarens Fiende”, “Kitteldags”, “Nattfodd” and “Trollhammeren” were guaranteed to get the crowd going with the incessant Hummpa beats and folk tinged melodies, and a riotous atmosphere erupted as a kind of mosh/jig spread its way to the back of the room like a contagious disease. The hour seemed to pass by rather rapidly and the time had arrived for the Trolls to leave the stage to make way for Amon Amarth. Time to get some air as the main room was now incredibly packed and therefore incredibly hot.
Only six months ago did Amon Amarth invade British shores when they brought along Wintersun and Tyr as tour support. During their 15 years of putting out albums they have built up an enviable sized army of loyal fans, me not being among them (I should probably start running now before a mob of enraged metalheads in Viking helmets beat my door down!). As the death metal Vikings churn out the likes of “Death in Fire”, “The Sound of Eight Hooves” and “The Fate of Norns” I cannot help but feel as though I have heard it all before although nonetheless, the now sold out crowd do not share my level of apathy as they get an even more fervent reaction than the band that preceded them. Last time I saw Amon Amarth their latest album had only just hit the shelves and so this time there were a few more new songs played tonight, as they delivered “Valhall Awaits Me”, “Asator”, “Cry of the Blackbirds” and title track “With Oden on our Side”, only to have the lyrics shouted back from the pit as the formidable bearded frontman Johan Hegg roared out his signature crushing vocals, not letting up as he howled “Manchester is the metal capital of the UK”. Whilst not being the most interesting band to watch, I cannot deny that Amon Amarth play their instruments with a faultless precision and know how to work the crowd.
Luci Herbert
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY 19/04/07