Amorphis @ Gagarin 205

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\r\nAmorphis is a very unique case of a band. Combining 70’s heavy rock with atmospheric/gothic elements and death metal certainly makes them completely original, and I was wondering how many people they would attract, once they have the so-called ‘commercial potential’. Although some doubted the success of the gig, the people that showed up at Gagarin205 were quite a lot, between 800 and 900, and that was a relief, because Amorphis is a band with great quality, and they definitely deserve to play in front of big audiences. All in all, they are at the pick of their carrier, and it’s important to see a band playing live at that point. \r\n

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\r\nThe sextet went on stage at about 21:30, and they played a set of 18 tracks, focusing mostly on their last 2 albums (the best ones in my opinion), which made sense, because these are the albums that were recorded with the current line up, including the amazing new singer Tomi Joutsen. Amorphis found in Tomi an excellent frontman, which can easily perform both very emotional clean/gothic vocals and death metal growls. It’s one of the rare cases, when the replacement member is much better than his predecessor, and that have skyrocketed Amorphis on their last 2 albums.
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\r\nAlthough their music has the charisma to spread magic vibes to the audiences, the stage presence of the band was not very alive, apart from singer Tomi and bassist Niclas Etelävuori (which apparently recorded the bass for the last 2 Moonspell albums as a sessionist). Northern Europeans rarely have that characteristic of course, so in a way it was expected. \r\n

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\r\nThe sound was surprisingly good for the Gagarin205 club standards, although overall the level was quite low and the vocals should’ve been brighter so the crowd could understand what Tomi was saying, but that was not very important at the end of the day. The important thing is to be able to listen what all the instruments are playing, and that was what happened that night.
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\r\nHaving such a multidimensional singer, Amorphis performed many tracks from ‘Tales From The Thousand Lakes’ album as well, which has reached a legendary status, but unfortunately it doesn’t have the edge that ‘Tuonela’ and ‘Far From The Sun’ have –let alone ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Silent Waters’. As a result, their 2 best tracks ‘The Way’ and ‘Day Of Your Beliefs’ were not performed, not even during the encore, which literally shocked me! Imagine Black Sabbath (Ozzy era) playing live, without playing Paranoid! ‘Tales…’ and ‘Elegy’ were very good albums, but not mature and complete like all the above mentioned ones. \r\n

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\r\nThe last thing that remained to me was bitterness because of their setlist, but on the other hand there’s no doubt that the tracks they choose to play were well performed and I didn’t regret the fact that I attended the gig. Amorphis is surely one of the most important contemporary atmospheric metal bands, and they should be supported in every way possible.
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\r\nSetlist:
\r\nI of Crimson Blood
\r\nTowards & Against
\r\nDrowned Maid
\r\nDivinity
\r\nUnder A Soil And Black Stone
\r\nPerkele
\r\nThe Smoke
\r\nBetter Unborn
\r\nSilent Waters
\r\nHer Alone
\r\nVulgar Necrolatry
\r\nMy Kantele
\r\nAlone
\r\nThe Castaway
\r\nLeaves Scar
\r\nAgainst Widows
\r\nHouse Of Sleep
\r\nBlack Winter Day\r\n