Swedish metal/crossover band Amaranthe, formerly known as Avalanche, delivered a rockslide at the Powerstation.
Formed in Gothenburg Sweden in 2008, they have found their level in the last four years. The core members and writers are, multi-instrumentalist Olof Mörck, and diva range singer Elize Ryd. Olof does the arrangements and Elize writes the tunes.
While the band takes some Goth out of Gothenburg, they push the boundaries of music.
Drawing on a wide range of Metal, Electronica, and Pop. On the heavy front they sound from the core of Northern European Metal. There are smidgens of British Rock in there as well, but there is much more than that.
Opening at the Powerstation with the song Fearless, the palette of their style was on display. A perfect blend of Metal smash and modern Pop. The modus operandi of the music is brought to light with the lyric…I transcend the blackness that consumed me, I’m beyond it.
Not only are they pushing genre boundaries, but they are also flipping the themes of European churl Rock.
During the first song their aesthetic assets are on up front. The three different singers are spread strongly across the stage. Attacked by a ballistic light show, the entertainers twirl their heads in unison like heavy metal hammerheads.
It’s their first New Zealand gig. The crowd are truly there for them.
To the left is Samy. He is the growler, or as Wicked Pedia categorizes, a harsh singer. He is covering for Mikael Sehlin, unable to make the down under dates due to unforeseen circumstances.
Samy is energized and going for it. The Swedish are smart enough that he must have figured out a way to screech all night without doing a Gene Simmons blood-spitting act for real.
In the centre of the stage is Elize Ryd. A virtuoso, she nails the upper register of her voice, and brings a Britney Spears pop flourish.
During Fearless, the bands style is right there!
Stage right is Nils Molin, also a great tenor singer.
To my ears he brings the touch of UK Metal. Later in the show during the song Crystalline, Nils and Elize compete entertainingly in a duet ballad hitting all their highest notes.
The bands obvious overseer, Olof, has a fat guitar tone, but he holds off lead breaks until the home straight of the gig. He puts the songs first. His arrangements are a real trip.
Giorgio Moroder synth starts a song. In come the chunky riffs and Donna Summer soul, interrupted only by the harsh pissed off voice of Mayhem.
There is also a natural trace of Neo-Classical European guitar playing.
This border crossing of style creates far from boring results.
The song where this approach spiked me the most was Call Out My Name. It started sweetly with Elize singing a lovely melody slathered in delay. Then in stomps Samy with a bit of harshness!!!
Kind of like trying to sleep, but Lord Humongous kicks in the bedroom wall with a chainsaw. Could be a true story for all I know? I would have been interested to see Mikael Sehlin in place. A Lemmy colliding with Katy Perry look.
On drums Morten Løwe Sørensen was super fit. He has obviously put in the hours. He didn’t look overly taxed by what he was doing. It was a workout and solid groove. He was in his space, enjoying it.
Johan Andreassen on bass was slim fit. Looked good, with a nice tone, even when his guitar was shaded in reverb.
Watching the spectrum analyser at the mixing desk, there was a big hump in the bottom end. The front of house guy was carving it out at the top of his game. Everything was carefully sculpted.
Amaranthe are a great example of Sweden investing in their native creative talent, literally and educationally.
The countries creative tech has always been ahead. Sweden’s smarts stretch back before ABBA. ABBA were up there though. Interestingly, I personally find bands like ABBA and Amaranthe use the English language in songwriting better than most.
Amaranthe, like most pop writers, borrow.
That Song is their nod to the beat of We Will Rock You. Nils even throws in a few lines from the song.
Drop Dead Cynical is the riff to The Beautiful People.
The lyric hook is…Drop dead cynical/ Let’s get cynical/ Cynical!
HEY!!! (snarkily). Didn’t Olivia Newton John do that one?
John Kempt
Photography by Leonie Moreland
Amaranthe
Bulletbelt