The third AMORPHIS concert in moscow — how did it go? Well, it went like this: whether due to the abundance of concerts in November, or because this was already the third concert, or perhaps due to prejudice against the band's new vocalist, or simply because no new studio work had appeared since the last concert — the hall held at most 350–400 people. And this despite AMORPHIS unquestionably belonging to the first rank of bands.
An enormous amount has been written about the collective; more than a dozen fan sites exist in various countries. On the well-known Metal Archives website, which contains information about thousands of metal bands, there is a small note next to the band: "First band added in the database!"
One way or another, there were very few willing to see AMORPHIS again. The concert began with a short delay; the musicians appeared on stage; Jan Rechberger took his place at the drum kit; Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari armed themselves with their guitars — in the distant year of 1990 these three people had founded a death metal project and named it AMORPHIS; everything that happened after is too well known to require elaboration. Let us say for completeness that after two albums Koivusaari's growling was replaced by the clean vocals (plus occasional growling) of Korhonen, and the endless experiments with electronics, various sounds, and movement away from metal toward rock began. Bassist Niclas and keyboardist Santeri Kallio complete the instrumental lineup. Finally, the vocalist — Tomi Joutsen. Honestly, at the sight of him I had two associations that never left me throughout the concert: Jonathan "HIV" Davis and Bob Marley. Tomi Joutsen — thin and not very tall, with magnificent dreadlocks reaching his waist.
When the concert began I was simply shocked — there were around 200 people in the hall; the rest filtered in only later. So, in a half-empty hall, "Day Of Your Beliefs" from the latest album began to sound, and here a further unpleasant shock awaited everyone — the sound. In different parts of the hall it was diametrically different: in some places bass and keyboards were audible, from the back, for example, only guitar and drums were audible, right at the front of the stage the vocals were more or less audible — overall this was some kind of cacophony in which the vocals were simply almost inaudible for the first 30–40 minutes.
"Greed" from the 1999 album rang out — so everyone could hear the new vocalist's growling. He managed it very, very well, but with one "however": with such catastrophic sound all impression was ruined.
The concert continued; people gradually gathered; a portion of the audience was contemplating what ought to be done with the sound engineer, giving free rein to their depraved imaginations. A pleasant surprise: "In The Beginning" from the second album rang out, then "Against Widows" — songs without which apparently no AMORPHIS concert has gone for many years. Then came one of my personal favourite songs, which was completely ruined by the keyboard sound — on which this particular composition relies so heavily — "The Way" from Tuonela (1999).
"Far From The Sun" — the title track from the latest album — flows into the fan favourite "Divinity." What came next I cannot describe calmly, since your humble servant had been expecting his favourite AMORPHIS song — "Goddess (Of The Sad Man)" — in quite different sound. I simply did not recognise it — something terrible was still happening with the sound. With a considerably ruined mood I continued listening to the concert. "On Rich And Poor" from 1996 rang out, then "The Castaway" from the second album — and then something changed with the sound: suddenly the guitars began to come through, the keyboards appeared, even the instrumental passage sounded normally, and the growling was audible — though it was still impossible to call the sound respectable, even "audible" was stretching it. Nevertheless, from this point until the very end of the concert the tendency toward improving sound was maintained.
The next song I absolutely did not expect to hear: "Smithereens" from the latest album, which I had not seen in any set list from the band's concerts. Following it came the second and final song from Am Universum that day — unlike "Goddess," this was already listenable, in a somewhat heavier version compared to the album. Nevertheless, the composition rang out rather well. The crowd danced plenty to one of AMORPHIS's most electronic compositions.
The fast "Drowned Maid" from Tales From The Thousand Lakes (1994) caused a genuine eruption in the hall — this composition had genuinely been awaited. The sound was finally sorted — one hour! after the concert had begun. The main portion was crowned by "Summer's End" from Tuonela (1999).
The encore was modest — the band appeared before the audience once more. One more unexpected surprise — I would even say a mega-gift for everyone: "Sign From The North Side," a composition from the band's very first album The Karelian Isthmus (1992) — magnificent slow death metal. Then the melancholy "My Kantele" — sound practically ideal, everything audible. What came next was entirely logical: everyone immediately understood this was the final song, because it was the defining AMORPHIS hit throughout the entire history of the band — "Black Winter Day." Commentary here would be pointless. To the communal singalong of the entire hall and the swaying of hair, this concert came to an end.
What can I say overall? I have no complaints about the musicians. Regarding the vocalist: honestly, there is no Pasi-level charisma in him; the voice is, I would say, also weaker — but that is my personal view, perhaps I am wrong. About the sound I have already said everything. Opinions were divided, but overall those who were delighted with the concert were in the minimal minority — some disliked Mr. Joutsen, others were angered by the absence of civilised sound. Personally, the concert rather failed to win me over — unfortunately.
Report by Alan
Special thanks for the accreditation provided.
Setlist:
1. Day Of Your Beliefs 2. Greed 3. In The Beginning 4. Against Widows 5. The Way 6. Far From The Sun 7. Divinity 8. Goddess (Of The Sad Man) 9. On Rich And Poor 10. The Castaway 11. Smithereens 12. Alone 13. Drowned Maid 14. Summer's End
Encore: 15. Sign From The North Side 16. My Kantele 17. Black Winter Day