The Underworld, Camden

4th December 2001

Mean Fiddler, London

27th May, 2002

Opeth / Katatonia / Novembre
Venue: The Underworld, Camden.         Date: 4th December 2001

It's a cold midweek night in north London, and the metal hordes had descended on The Underworld to witness the first UK date in four years from the headliners.  All three bands playing tonight could loosely be described as 'gothic metal', but, in the case of Opeth, that's a very loose description indeed.

The venue was already pretty full by the time I arrived, with Novembre already halfway through their set. The first thing that came to mind was 'Paradise Lost', and the band really do sound like the British gothic metal pioneers did around the early 1990s, to the extent that it's difficult to appreciate them in their own right. Of course there's nothing wrong with showing your influences (most prog bands do after all!) it's just that a bit of originality and showmanship wouldn't have gone amiss.  As it is, Novembre are fairly workaday and although this isn't a bad set it didn't really hold my interest.

Swedish outfit Katatonia (note the 'K' - nothing to do with Cerys Matthews and co!) have gigged in the UK fairly recently, and obviously do a lot of touring if their tight and powerful set is anything to go by.  They play a varied selection of (mostly) mid-paced, melodic metal, and manage to create a haunting, impressive guitar-led sound. Again, Paradise Lost and their ilk are obviously an influence, but it is clear that Katatonia have managed to forge their own identity.  The band also benefit from having an able vocalist who generally sings rather than growls.  Playing tracks for the most part culled from the latest CD 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down', plus some earlier material, Katatonia get a rousing reception, and deservedly so.  Definitely a band worthy of further investigation.

The Underworld is completely rammed by the time fellow Swedes Opeth hit the stage, with the walls literally dripping with sweat. I imagined Opeth would emerge shrouded in dry ice to some sort of backing tape, but they don't, although frontman Mikael Akerfelt remarks that they would have done, had the CD player not messed up! So, without further ado, the band head straight into opener 'The Leper Affinity' and the place goes crazy...

The sound Opeth create is quite difficult to describe - they are sort of half doom - death - goth metal (sort of) and half melodic, symphonic, classically influenced prog rock - and this doesn't come close to describing their sound!  The band have riffs aplenty, and when they are playing heavier parts Akerfelt's vocals are delivered death-metal style; this may seem off-putting to some, but works very well, especially as his other style of vocal delivery is a laid-back, mellow croon.

Even when it is heavy, the music is always enthused with melody which, thanks to the excellent sound tonight, can be heard to full effect. Opeth use very little, if any, synths on their records, so the four piece are able to properly translate their material to the stage - although given the complexity of the arrangements (plenty of time-changes and switches from full on metal to gentle semi-acoustic strumming) it's obvious that Opeth must be fantastic musicians to pull this off.

Surprisingly the band don't concentrate on their recent, Steven Wilson-produced 'Blackwater Park' release, but pull tracks from each of their five albums. Being a recent convert, I expected the earlier tracks to be more primitive in style, and to a certain extent they are, being a bit heavier, but even the earliest material has plenty of melody and quieter sections. Thinking back, this was a clever ploy by the band, as it has now made me keener to pick up their early work.  Highlight of the night (for most of the other fans as well, judging by the reaction it gets) is the majestic 'The Drapery Falls', a stunning piece of music from 'Blackwater Park' which has to rate as one of the best I've heard in the metal field this year.

Finally leaving the stage to loud cheering and applause, the band were clearly pleased with the reception they got here, and it hopefully won't be too long before they're back again. An excellent set by an excellent band.

Tom

Opeth / Arch Enemy / Withering Surface
Venue: Mean Fiddler, London              Date: 27th May, 2002

Arch Enemy: Enemy Within, Heart of Darkness, Bury Me an Angel, The Immortal, Diva Satanica, Pilgrim, Beast of Man, Shadows and Dust, Ravenous
Opeth: The Leper Affinity, Godheads Lament, Advent, The Drapery Falls, Credence, The Funeral Portrait, White Cluster, Demon Of The Fall.

Following their well-received date at the Underworld last year, it was somewhat surprising, but nonetheless encouraging, to see Opeth set out for a 'proper' UK tour this time.  Having sold out The Underworld this gig took place in the larger Mean Fiddler - and it was certainly a good job, as the MF was as packed as I've seen it. The added attraction of well regarded death metallers Arch Enemy on the bill, no doubt helped swell the crowd - I was keen to see this band as well.

Danish metallers Withering Surface kicked the show off with an enjoyable set of melodic thrash metal, which at times veered into In Flames territory. Strangely, Withering Surface seemed to enjoy a better sound than the two headliners - not something you can say about most gigs!

Arch Enemy were a good band before they recently changed vocalists; but they now have an extra "something" in the shape of attractive female singer Angela Gossow. This has undoubtedly helped make the band a bigger live draw, and the roar of approval when she entered the stage was pretty loud!

Gossow certainly adds some dynamism to the band's performance, prowling around the stage and energetically getting the audience to participate very effectively. Vocally however, she is very reminiscent of many male death metal vocalists - delivering her lines with the standard guttural roar of the genre. I must admit it would have been nice to see her vary her delivery and actually sing some of the time, but that's just a personal preference.

Musically the band play tight, melodic and pretty accessible death/ thrash metal, in a way similar to Withering Surface, but with more variety and with some great soloing by lead guitarist Mike Amott. The pit is a frenzy from first to last, and though the slightly muddy sound blunts the impact a little this was still an impressive set.

Opeth come on surrounded by the customary dry ice, and this time (unlike at The Underworld) they have a suitably moody backing tape as an introduction before ploughing into the heads-down metal of 'The Leper Affinity'.

As I mentioned in my last gig review of Opeth, they are musically unique and hard to classify.  Wisely the band have changed the set a little since The Underworld show; in particular it's great to hear the fantastic 'Godhead's Lament' from the band's '99 album 'Still Life' (probably their best, and highly recommended as an introduction to the band). Elsewhere, the band move from the Floyd-ish atmospherics of 'Advent' to the full-on metallic bluster of 'White Cluster' with ease; it's still astounding to see the band change from quiet acoustic strumming to 150-mph blasts of noise in an instant as if it was second nature to them.

OK, if you were being picky you could criticise certain things:- the sound isn't great, the show is too short (not Opeth's fault - blame the Mean Fiddler's ridiculous curfew times) and, on a bigger stage, the band's lack of stage presence becomes more obvious. But at the end of the day Opeth weave their spell through the music alone, and this is as awesome as ever.

Another fine gig from one of the best metal bands around.

Tom

- o - O - o -

A second review of the same show:-

Well things are certainly changing and, having toured the UK in late 2001, it was surprising to see the Swedish Metal masters Opeth back in the UK so soon and playing not just a couple of dates, but a proper seven date tour covering the length and breadth of the UK.

The tour was backed by TotalRock Radio, who no doubt had some influence in getting their current darlings Arch Enemy assigned the support slot.  Upcoming Danish metallers Withering Surface have also been making an impact at the station and secured the opening slot on what became a very powerful bill indeed.

In fact, given the packed nature of the Mean Fiddler that evening, and the change in atmosphere between the Arch Enemy and Opeth sets, one could easily conclude that the majority of the crowd were indeed there to see Arch Enemy. The downstairs section of the hall was heaving and it was near impossible to get much of a view of the stage at all.

The band play the peculiarly Scandinavian brand of melodic death-metal, which is stylistically not too far away from that of a slightly more thrashy Iron Maiden, but are fairly unusual in that the vocals/growls are handled by a small, but strikingly blond German lady, with an enormous voice called Angela Gossow.  The guitars are handled by the Amott brothers, of whom Michael is particularly well known from his time in Carcass.

By the time I arrived, Arch Enemy were already half way through their set. I did manage to see them play five or so number from the comfort of the upper bar while the crowd below me went crazy for every one of the songs.  As Angela only joined the band for the recording of their most recent disk, 'The Wages of Sin', it was inevitable that the majority of the material would be culled from this disk, but she also acquitted herself extremely well, despite a bad cold, on older tracks such as 'Beast of Man' and 'Diva Satanica'.  Not particularly easy listening, but a dynamic band that is certainly on the way up, right now.

The temperature inside the venue was quite stifling, so it was no surprise to see a long queue of people troop up the stairs and into the hallway/cloakroom area in an attempt to get some fresh air. The merchandise stand was doing great business in CDs and T-shirts and this continued well past the start of Opeth's set; in fact a large proportion of the audience showed little desire to reenter the hall for Opeth's performance, which surprised me since I'd thought they were the better known of the bands on show this evening.

Opeth's set began with the lengthy 'The Leper Affinity', a track which I found extremely difficult to listen to on disk, mainly because of guitarist Michael Akerfelt's menacing vocals, but in this live environment it didn't sound nearly so terrifying.  The two tracks that followed were in a similar vein, mixing the quiet, almost prog-rock side of the band with its heavier and darker side.  The crowd, which had been very quiet and restrained up to this point finally got excited as the band began 'The Drapery Falls', almost as if it was the only song they knew from the band; but it was played well and there was very warm applause at the end.

I was told that the following number was entitled 'Credence', but I almost mistook it for 'Harvest', my other favourite tune from 'Blackwater Park', being one of the quieter Opeth tunes, where Michael delights up with his wonderful clean voice and fantastic guitar playing.  If Opeth played songs like this all the time, then they would be amongst my favourite groups.  The band closed with the big crowd favourite 'Demon of the Fall', another of the longer, darker progressive metal numbers.

Overall, an interesting show.  Unfortunately both bands were playing with hired equipment and the sound, though apparently better than on the previous couple of shows, still required some fine tuning. Having only previously heard the crystal clear studio production of 'Blackwater Park', I have to say that the sound problems did take the edge off the show. However the tide is obviously turning for these bands and given the great turnout, they will probably be back again soon, with better sound to boot.

Charlie