amon_amarth_2011_05

» Amon Amarth 2011 05 17

Reviewed by Martin
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Special guest: The Black Dahlia Murder
Opener: Evocation
City: Copenhagen, Denmark
Venue: Store Vega
Date: 17 May 2011
Evocation set length: 25 minutes
The Black Dahlia Murder set length: 45 minutes
Amon Amarth set length: 88 minutes

Evocation

Evocation from Borås is a fairly new acquaintance to me, and although the band's mix between the more downtuned stockholmscene-esque death metal and the more melodic sounding Gothenburg ditto is nice on record, I quickly get bored by the band in a live situation. Singer Tjompe's delivery leaves much to desire to be frank, and the songs are too generic and steeped in the same mould to make me scream from joy. I find it very unlikely that Evocation are going to rise above the level they're at the moment, the band's music is too watered down to earn much more than a "well played, let's get on with the night" from me.

4 chalices of 10

Setlist:

Sweet Obsession
Silence Sleep
Angel Of Torment
Psychosis Warfare
Feed The Fire
Tomorrow Has No Sunrise
Apocalyptic

The Black Dahlia Murder

The bar of quality gets raised considerably when The Black Dahlia Murder takes to the stage. This band has impressed both on record and live and I must admit that the band is the main reason for me to be at the show. Last time I saw the band they completely destroyed KB in Malmö - and when Everything Went Black tears the place up, I know that this is going to be as good as last time.

The sound is just awesome, and the band is as heavy and supertight as always. The crowd immediately gets into the music, and the moshing is at times very intense - a thing much appreciated by the band. Frontman Brian Strnad is very much into signalling the joy he feels on stage - when he's not singing he almost constantly has a big smile on his face and he has a big part in the concert being as good as it is.

It of course helps that the band has a impressive catalogue of songs to unleash upon the crowd - Necropolis, A Vulgar Picture, What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse, Statutory Ape, Funeral Thirst are all killer songs that amply demonstrates the band's ability to totally shred as well as groove. New song Moonlight Equilibrium from upcoming album Ritual is well received and makes me look forward to the new album even more.

The Black Dahlia Murder truly impresses me - this is a band well deserving of all the recognition it gets. Good songs, executed well by a band that knows how to get a crowd going of course leads to a high mark in my book.

8 chalices of 10

Setlist:

Everything Went Black
Necropolis
A Vulgar Picture
Statutory Ape
Moonlight Equilibrium
Elder Misanthropy
Nocturnal
I'm Charming
What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse
Closed Casket Requiem
Halloween
Deathmask Divine
Miasma
Funeral Thirst
I Will Return

Amon Amarth

I saw Amon Amarth the first time at Sweden Rock Festival in 2007 and was completely blown away by their performance. Since then I have seen the band a few times and sadly with decreasing interest. This has nothing to do with the band itself since I think that they really have taken the next step in their development as performers.

It truly shows that this band has worked their asses off to get where they are at the moment. Oozing of confidence, with record sales and grades being higher for every album - and still I get bored halfway through the concert, mostly because I have drifted away from the music the band plays. It soon gets a bit too obvious that drummer Fredrik Andersson is overly fond of playing all four beats on the snare with 16th notes on the bassdrums underneath. It frankly gets really boring and true enough when I go through my notes I notice that I have written "stop with the 4/4 on the snaredrum for fuck's sake" after Death In Fire.

The crowd, though, is really showing the love for the band which of course is nice - but I still get the feel that the band is on the wrong side of comfort when they are basking in the recognition they are getting with smiles a bit too snug. Music wise there is little I can complain about - all songs are executed beautifully, and we get songs from all albums the band has put out, but as you probably have figured out by now, this was the night when I lost interest in Amon Amarth.

5 chalices of 10

Setlist:

War Of The Gods
With Oden On Our Side
Destroyer Of The Universe
Masters Of War
Live For The Kill
Guardians Of Asgaard
Doom Over Dead Man
Slaves Of Fear
God, His Son And Holy Whore
Varyags Of Miklagaard
For Victory Or Death
Victorious March/Gods Of War Arise/Death In Fire
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Twilight Of The Thunder God
Runes To My Memory
The Pursuit Of Vikings