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