AMORPHIS, BEFORE THE DAWN & AMORAL
LONDON UNDERWORLD10/10/09
Like buses these bands all come at once, actually scrub that, 45 minutes for a bastard bus to get to Camden Grrrr. Anyway what I was meant to be saying is that Ulver were over for the first time ever the night before, admittedly they have hardly ever played anywhere prior to this and tonight it was Amorphis turn for their first ever UK gig. Well they only formed in 1990 so guess it didn’t take them too long (yes sarcasm mode in full swing). No surprise that this was sold out but at least there was a bit of breathing space at first for the supports who were also both also from Finland tonight.
First up were Amoral and although I had a cursory listen to them in the past and to be honest they are not my thing musically, they put on a damn good show. They mix it all up style wise and play a bit of glam, a bit of power and a bit of melodic death metal and combine it pretty well to bring forth some catchy and infectious songs. Sure they only had time to play six of them tonight but threw themselves right into things. Singer Ari was all attitude and no doubt possessing balls of steel, busy on stage posing for those of us with cameras and bassist Pekka struck as particularly flamboyant and often played along with his instrument resting on his knee. I guess the song that I recognised, as did some of the audience was the most was recent hit and single from earlier in 2009 ‘Year Of The Suckerpunch’ and even if they hadn’t quite knocked me out they had caught me out a bit as I hadn’t expected to particularly like this. There’s bound to be a certain amount of cheese involved with songs like ‘Sex n Satan’ which they finished with but they did a good job and got everyone in the venue revved up and ready to party.
Of course the Finns are not always cheesy and are much better known for being miserable sods, cue Before The Dawn. This was a band I had never really encountered before so was interested and again quickly impressed by their brand of deathly laden doom. There was plenty of melody here and the bass sound was particularly chunky giving gravity to those down the front keenly headbanging away in appreciation. There were moments where they simply thrashed away and numbers such as ‘Faithless’ reminded a fair bit of our very own Paradise Lost. They mainly went for clean vocals courtesy of bassist Lars who I note also served time in Khold. The good thing about this is that they managed to use clean vocals without coming across as wimpy in the slightest and although there was a bit of In Flames and Soilwork about this at times they kept it all metal and solid. There were a couple of songs about ‘Suns’ hardly surprising as it dictates so much in Finland and one about Monsters too and I came away from this suitably impressed.
It was at the end of the day all about Amorphis though and for the majority in the audience I think it is fair to say that many were seeing them for the first time. Although I had caught them in 1997 at Dynamo Open Air (where they did a fantastic version of Hawkwind classic Levitation) this was my first encounter with front man Tomi Joutsen. Before you even get to his voice you have to mention his dreadlocks, not sure who would win out of a length competition with him, Chris Barnes and Brian Fair but it would be a close run thing. He also uses an old style microphone and when you can see his face and eccentric moustache he certainly cuts an interesting figure. Aside from this they had come onto recent number ‘Silver Bride’ which if there were any justice in this world would have been a number one all over Europe not just in its home country. In a word ‘wow’ and it was obvious that this band could cut it as well live as they could on disc and no doubt many breathed a sigh of release. I admit after having a really hard job taking photos that were good enough to use (and sorry to anyone I trod) and all I wanted to do was stand on the side with a pint and head bang myself to delirium as each and every song was played. It was a great setlist too and not just tracks from the first three albums. In fact rather than witter away about what they played I shall leave a photo of it in the gallery but lets just say everything from ‘Silent Waters’ to ‘Against Widows’ and the phenomenal ‘Black Winters Day’ pretty much slew and the audience were totally into this, singing along and loving every second.
Although it was hard not to focus on the front-man the rest of the band seemed to be enjoying themselves and playing with almost consummate ease. I guess they have on the whole had plenty of practice over the years even if it not in England. So there is only one way I can fin(n)ish this review and that’s by saying to the band, I think we proved ourselves to you now and you need to come back soon and step up to a slightly bigger venue in London and play some shows elsewhere in the country. I think it’s fair to say that everyone who witnessed them at this show would be very quick to grab a ticket for a repeat performance.
Pete Woods
Click here for photographs
MTUK HOME
