Live Reviews : Amorphis, The Eternal & Datura Curse @ Billboard The Venue, Melbourne 14/10/2013

Images: Anwar Rizk
Words: Jonathon Besanko

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Datura Curse

It’s a Monday night, and through the sporadic bouts of wetness and cold, many have weathered a tired, hard day’s labour. But still, despite all this, the crowds piled into Billboard the Venue to witness a little piece of history in the making: the first time one of Finland’s premiere metal acts, Amorphis, graced Australian shores. As a part of the Circle World Tour promoting their latest release, Amorphis had already turned heads during the Sydney and Brisbane shows only days earlier, and now it was Melbourne’s turn.

Though the Finnish legends wouldn’t arrive on stage until 11 p.m., Melbourne was treated in the interim to two of Australia’s latest up-and-comers: Sydney’s Datura Curse and Melbourne’s The Eternal. Opening with Datura Curse, the relatively new melodic metaller’s took the stage with a thunderous entrance. As strobes of lights accompanied the frantic drumming and double-kicks of John Willmott, the vocals of Sean Bowden coursed through the Venue with harsh clarity.

The riffs, provided courtesy of Nick Fairweather and Daniel Martinez, galloped on with all the power of Amon Amarth and Battlecross. While the heavy bass focus made for a nice change of pace, and allowed bassist Georgie the chance to shine, for all Sean’s efforts, he couldn’t quite excite the crowd, nor start the mosh/circle pit he clearly desired.

I don’t believe the fault here lies though with Datura Curse themselves, but more with the tailoring of their style of music to the crowd congregated before them. With the sound of their band being more akin to a metalcore style, they would’ve perhaps been bettered displayed opening for Lamb of God and Meshuggah during their recent show together as opposed to Amorphis, whose style and fanbase is quite different to their own. Still, I condone Sean’s efforts and persistence to rouse the crowd, and try as he did to coax them towards the stage and floor area. While charismatic, the enthusiasm for their band never quite grew beyond the occasional headbanger and metalhead who’d yell out and throw up the horns.

The Eternal

After their set was concluded, The Eternal took to the stage. Another interesting choice in terms of openers for Amorphis, The Eternal was like a conglomeration of Roy Khan style vocals (ex-Kamelot) with a healthy share of doomy, prog rock and dark metal. It certainly captured not only my attention, but that of many in the crowd who were just as transfixed by this unique blend of metal and rock styles as I was.

There was awesome power to Mark Kelson’s vocals. Able to build great ambience and provide an equally engaging performance, the aural fervour he brewed was matched only by The Eternal’s heady rhythm section that built quite a profound atmosphere. And one that many clearly basked in, as the crowds grew and the excitement of the night built. Coupling gothic vibes with progressive interludes, The Eternal certainly made for an impressive spectacle and garnered an enthusiastic response, especially near the end of their set when Mark pulled out his camera and took a shot of the crowd in the mosh area, all of which merrily obliged his request for a photo.

As the stage was bathed in green light, the intro to Circle began to play throughout the Venue, leading to a cacophony of “fuck yeah’s!” and incoherent screams as Amorphis then took the stage with “Shades of Gray” to uproarious applause. Tomi Joutsen was in fine form as he stirred up the energy of the audience and had everyone in the Billboard chanting “hey!” along with him. His trademark dreads seemed to take on a life of their own between songs like “Sampo” and “Silver Bride” as his nigh-floor length locks flung about in every which-way direction as he windmilled with impressive speed – so much so that they all formed one thick strand.

Amorphis

Playing a broad range of tracks from across their illustrious career, Amorphis was excellent, and Joutsen’s vocals were solid, transitioning perfectly between clean and harsh with no dead space or strained moments in between. And it was on track “Wanderer” that under a wall of drumming and lights, a sea of horns filled Billboard the Venue as Joutsen egged on the crowd with further chanting and fist pumping. A born performer, Tomi Joutsen barely had to try before he pointed out the mike to the crowd and everyone chanted in unison, “Amorphis”.Taking a break from the stage for a moment, the crowd was further roused when instrumental “Thousand Lakes” began to sweep across the Venue. As Amorphis once again took to the stage, an impressively prolonged growl courtesy of Joutsen filled the Billboard as the band exploded into “Drowned Maid”. The rhythm section of Tomi Koivusaari and Esa Holopainen was solid as the bass of Niclas Etelävuori shone through alongside the drum lines of Jan Rechberger and the keys of Santeri Kallio. Beneath the fine direction of Tomi Joutsen, Amorphis gave the night’s performance their all, and in every growl and violent thrust of his neck while headbanging, the crowd was with him on every turn.  There is astounding, raw power in Joutsen’s vocals and it translates to his performance, and no less to that of Amorphis.

An incredibly engaging show, on the last song for the night before the encore, Joutsen readied the crowd for the final growl on “Black Winter Day” before the Billboard was engulfed by a fusion of Australian and Finnish might as the roar waded through the happily embracing crowds.  As the intro to Skyforger heralded in the encore, Koivusaari joined in on vocals for “Sky Is Mine”, and being the original frontman for the band, it was nice watching Koivusaari sing main and backing vocals once more for Amorphis.  Asking the almost rhetoric question, Joutsen queried as to whether the crowd favoured Tales from the Thousand Lakes, the bands’ sophomore release and an influential album in the creation of many subgenres (including folk and melodic death metal). His answer was hastily given by a sea of screaming patrons while Tomi gave an anecdote on how he “loves the tracks” off Tales… and that it’s his “favourite album”.

Closing the night on “Into Hiding” and “House of Sleep” off Skyforger, before the band gave their final hurrah, Joutsen said that the response of the night made him “speechless” before he thanked the crowd, and then cried out, “We have one final song, friends. Let’s sing this one together!”  As the crowd merrily delivered the chorus to “House of Sleep”, Amorphis went silent, and the Billboard was filled with nothing more than the sound of many satisfied Melburnians. It was a spectacle that I’m sure would have made Väinämöinen, the hero of the Kalevala, proud.

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