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Amon AmarthRockhal, Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg
2nd December 2019
Amon Amarth - “Berserker World Tour” 2019 - Support: Arch Enemy, Hypocrisy

No need to go to IKEA this week if you needed to feel Swedish. AMON AMARTH had invited to the Rockhal as part of their “Berserker World Tour” and brought no less than their compatriots from ARCH ENEMY and HYPOCRISY on board. A very exiting start in the cold, new week.


Hypocrisy

HYPOCRISY is a Swedish Death Metal band formed in October 1991 in Ludvika, Sweden by Peter Tägtgren. Musically, the band started off with a traditional death metal sound on their early albums, but soon turned into a melodic death metal band. Their early lyrics - written by original vocalist Masse Broberg - dealt with anti-Christian themes and Satanism. However, the band later chose to focus on themes such as the paranormal and extra-terrestrials. Contrary to what some might believe, Magnus didn’t leave because of a shift in lyrical content, but because of a cracked eardrum during their 1st European tour (he later went on to black metal band DARK FUNERAL as Emperor Magus Caligula). Their tenth album, ‘Virus’, contains themes more typical of death metal such as violence, the horrors of reality, insanity, torture, war, drug addiction, and emotional strife. Their twelfth album titled ‘End of Disclosure’ deals with conspiracy and anti-Illuminati themes.

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Music & Performance
First the Death Metal Band HYPOCRISY made the start, who entered the stage punctually at 6.45pm. The stage was bathed in dark light during the show, matching to the sound of the Swedes. Already the entrance with ‘Fractured Millennium’ was very well chosen, the darkened stage light created the right atmosphere and the sound left nothing to be desired: The bass was powerful, the guitars were present and Peter's vocals were also clear and distinct. Among others ‘Fire In The Sky’, ‘Eraser’ and ‘The Final Chapter’ followed. After only seven songs it was already over with ‘Roswell 47’. Even though there has been no new material from HYPOCRISY since ‘End of Disclosure’ in 2013, the classics were still completely convincing.

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Setlist
01. Fractured Millennium
02. Adjusting the Sun
03. Fire in the Sky
04. Eraser
05. War-Path
06. The Final Chapter
07. Roswell 47

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.3 /10

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Arch Enemy

Formed in Sweden in the mid-1990s by former CARCASS/ CARNAGE guitarist Michael Amott, this most explosive and proficient of modern Metal bands have spent the last 20 years propagating an unerring creed of technical excellence, songwriting genius and thunderous, irresistible live performance, accruing a huge global fan base along the way. And in 2017 ARCH ENEMY were ready to rise again and climb ever further up the ladder toward pure metal supremacy. The tenth ARCH ENEMY album ‘Will To Power’ was unleashed in September 2017 and broke all records, entering sales charts on top ranks all over the world. At this time ARCH ENEMY are doing what they do best, hitting the road and taking their latest batch of heroic metal anthems to the people. Achieving longevity is the toughest challenge that faces any band, but ARCH ENEMY have long since established themselves as a permanent fixture on the global metal scene and as standard bearers for upholding and celebrating of the Heavy Metal code.

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Music & Performance
After a short break, Daniel Erlandsson’s striking drums were enthroned on stage. It didn’t last long until he was coming on stage and while the intro ‘Set Flame To The Night’ played ARCH ENEMY went on stage step by step. After the intro faded away, ‘The World Is Yours’ provided a fast start. Alissa performed agile as usual and jumped over the stage. Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis played routinely and surely various solos back to back. This looked good and harmonious, especially as the setlist had a lot to offer: There was a strong ‘War Eternal’, a massive ‘My Apocalypse’ and a ‘Ravenous’ reminding of old days. ARCH ENEMY made use of the complete portfolio. The whole performance of ARCH ENEMY was undoubtedly technically very good this evening, the band had the audience well under control and knew how to do a good and experienced show.

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ARCH ENEMY did an excellent job of interacting with the audience and - how could it be otherwise - a huge ‘Nemesis’, without which no ARCH ENEMY gig is complete, was the end of it. During the song, front woman Alissa screamed together with the fans the chorus “One For All, All For One - We Are Strong, We Are One”. After the fast and again impressive finale the quintet left the stage for the outro ‘Enter The Machine’.

Setlist
01. The World Is Yours
02. War Eternal
03. My Apocalypse
04. Ravenous
05. Under Black Flags We March
06. The Eagle Flies Alone
07. First Day in Hell
08. As the Pages Burn
09. No Gods, No Masters
10. Dead Bury Their Dead
11. Nemesis

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total 8.8 / 10

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Amon Amarth

Formed in 1992, AMON AMARTH became modern Metal greats the hard way. The band takes its name from the Sindarin name of Mount Doom, a volcano in J. R. R. Tolkien′s Middle-earth. Their lyrics mostly deal with Viking mythology and history, and so they have been linked with Viking metal, although the band themselves prefer to be referred to as Melodic Death Metal.

Music & Performance
The change took time and let already assume in advance that the stage decoration of AMON AMARTH will be anything but simple. An oversized banner with the inscription ‘Berserker’ covered the stage. When he finally fell, an oversized Viking helmet appeared as a drum-riser behind which the current band logo with the mirrored ᚨ runes was emblazoned.

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The performance started with ‘Raven’s Flight’ from the new album and went into the full. ‘Runes To My Memory’ slowed down the speed a bit, but with ‘Death In Fire’ it changed quickly again. What used to be an encore was now third place on the setlist and still worked as a hook for the audience. The Swedes staged this well-tried piece with runes burning on the sides of the stage and with cascades of columns of fire running over the audience. The entry succeeded and convinced from the first minutes on. The production was elaborate and varied. In the eye areas of the Viking helmet were screens supporting the respective song: sometimes it was wild looking eyes, sometimes the said smouldering runes, at ‘Fafner’s Gold’ a rain of gold and at ‘Twilight Of The Thundergod’ lightning flashed over it. Before ‘Guardians Of Asgaard’ the stage became dark and only Wallgren’s drums remained visible through a few spotlights, while it was slowly raised at the same time as the drummer’s solo.

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The elaborate stage design was present throughout the entire gig of AMON AMARTH and so the show fight of two Norsemen for the opening of ‘The Way Of The Vikings’ or Loki before ‘Deceiver Of The Gods’ could not be missing. AMON AMARTH offered a show that was second to none and proved that the new songs could be wonderfully put on a setlist and joined the ranks of existing tracks. ‘Shield Wall’, for example, turned out to be very suitable for the public due to the detailed chorus. ‘Crack The Sky’ also worked great on stage and ‘Fafner’s Gold’ was great live. Unfortunately not every show is 100% perfect. So it happened that at the end of the concert the fire took over and a part of the stage decoration caught fire. Thank God the fire was quickly under control again. It was also frustrating that about 40 mobile phones were stolen during the concert. I hope one day the thieves will step barefoot on a Lego brick.

Setlist
01. Raven’s Flight
02. Runes to My Memory
03. Death in Fire
04. Deceiver of the Gods
05. First Kill
06. Fafner’s Gold
07. Crack the Sky
08. The Way of Vikings
09. Prediction of Warfare
10. Shield Wall
11. Guardians of Asgaard
12. Raise Your Horns
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13. The Pursuit of Vikings
14. Twilight of the Thunder God

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9 / 10

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