Amorphis

Standing imposingly on stage, dressed head to toe in black with tattoos covering every available surface of their bodies and the lead singer’s dreads being whipped around so ferociously and at such a fast pace I was scared his head was about to fall off… it’s safe to say I was a little intimidated of Amorphis. This six piece band are no laughing matter: six giant blokes with hair longer than mine and voices so low and powerful that they barely seemed real. However, they were real. Real good. Heavy metal fans proceed. All others, proceed with caution. Encompassing several genres, from death to folk metal, I had never heard anything the likes of this band before. Their unique folk twist, derived from Finnish folk stories and legends, added another dimension to the heavy metal. The lyrics were often terrifying and aggressive yet oddly captivating: the band often use the Kalevala, the Epic Poem of their home country Finland, as source material for their lyrics. Amorphis played a number of heavy metal hits, but the stand out tunes were ‘Better Unborn’ which possessed an almost middle eastern tune at the beginning, and ‘Silent Waters’ which had the entire crowd screaming along for more.