Metal Underground.com

Report

Arch Enemy Venture Out To Perth, Australia On First Australian Tour

Band Photo: Arch Enemy (?)

The Perth venue Club Capitol is strangely disturbing. Red velvet curtains, disco balls and red lighting combine to evoke a twilight zone somewhere between sleazy cabaret and low-budget submarine flick. However, there are not many suitable venues in this city for a band like Arch Enemy, so Tuesday night saw the club filled to overflowing with metal fans eager to experience the melodic metal legends.

The opening act, Pathogen, are well-established stars in the local metal scene. They have been around for over 10 years, gigging solidly for the last seven, and are poised to get a lot bigger with the recent release of their first full length studio album. They played a selection of songs, including one new (and as yet unnamed track) to an appreciative crowd. It's hard not to like a band who are so obviously enjoying themselves on stage, and Pathogen most certainly do that.

Arch Enemy took to the stage and vanquished any doubts about the vocal power of frontwoman Angela Gossow - yes, that huge voice comes out of a very tiny woman. Gossow commands the stage, and from this reviewer's female - and completely heterosexual - perspective, she's hot!

The Swedish metallers opened with Nemesis from their latest release Doomsday Machine. Early on, a bottle was thrown from the audience, and in no uncertain terms Gossow let the crowd know that another would signal the end of the show, encouraging anyone who knew the culprit to "make sure he gets a good beating".

Then it was down to business with a brutal set mostly comprised of songs from Doomsday and their release before that, Anthems of Rebellion. A couple of earlier songs, from before Gossow's tenure, were thrown in for the hardcore fans.

An old-school metal band, Arch Enemy are not afraid to defy the recent trend against self-indulgence and include guitar and drum solos - and why not? Both Michael Amott and Fredrik Ekesson are virtuosic guitar players, and drummer Daniel Erlandsson is well-known in drum circles for his unique genre-crossing style. Only bassist Sharlee D'Angelo didn't get a turn in the limelight, although his musical pedigree is also impressive, playing previously for Mercyful Fate.

On their first tour of Australia, the legend on the t-shirt worn by nearly a quarter of the crowd was shown to be true - Arch Enemy are "pure fucking metal" indeed.

Kay Smoljak is an Aussie photographer, geek, metalhead and goat aficioado who is currently hiding out in Berlin. She blogs sometimes at enter the goatlady.