28-03-2014 Amorphis

Supports: Hamferd; Venue: Zakk, Düsseldorf (Germany)
By: Basak Günel

As part of the second leg of the European tour, the legendary metallers Amorphis would be playing at Düsseldorf (Germany). The eager metalheads were quite lucky; the weather in Düsseldorf was beyond amazing, which is quite uncommon for a country like Germany.

The evening started a bit early with the Faroese doom metallers Hamferd. One would especially expect a support act to ‘warm up’ the crowd but this time it was just the opposite; Hamferd started their set in an ‘atmospheric’ manner, there was little headbanging, no “let me see your hands” attitude but just slow and doom-y music from the north. This was not a bad aspect though; I think the band’s style fit perfectly to the theme of the night. Moreover, I liked how the band suited up, they really had the whole ‘dark’ vibe and reflected this into their music, that was well-prepared!

Musically, the band’s melodic and atmospheric but short setlist was captivating. Although the audience was maybe not so eager for the music, the band impressed me with their style and with their music. Surely if the fans expected folk metal or something similar, then Hamferd might have disappointed them but they managed to deliver some great atmospheric doom metal in Faroese language and managed to catch my attention. The live-set was also smooth; normally in doom metal shows, the vocals might get lost but the harsh and clean vocals sung by Jón Aldará could be heard clearly and formed the essence of the live-set.

When it was time for Amorphis, the excitement could be felt in the audience. Since this was the second leg of the tour, the whole setlist did not only focus on the latest album “Circle”, but some of the ‘oldies but goldies’ as well. The band even managed to play a song from the first Amorphis album and pleased the hardcore fans. It was clear that the band was a bit tired since the show in Düsseldorf was one of the last shows; the vocalist Tomi Joutsen was not energetic this time and instead, he mainly just encouraged the audience by letting them sing. However, the overall atmosphere was magical for sure. All in all, when it comes to Amorphis, there is hardly a disappointing show. However, I think that the audience could have been a bit more encouraging; Amorphis’ songs are mainly fast and easy to clap to and this lacked in the audience.

Links:
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Amorphis Facebook