Den Atelier, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg3rd February 2019
Amaranthe, Follow The Cipher, Warkings
A few days ago, AMARANTHE was the support act for POWERWOLF. On Sunday the Pop-Metal band played their fourth show of the “Helix World Tour”. No rest for the band members. After five years they are back in Luxembourg in a full, but not sold out Den Atelier, where WARKINGS and FOLLOW THE CIPHER warmed up the audience on this cold February day.
Warkings
First of all on the stage: WARKINGS. This Power Metal band has only been active since last year, but has already received quite a bit of attention because of the contract with Napalm Records and above all the band members dressed as historical figures, whose identity has not been revealed. Well, you can immediately hear that Georg Neuhauser (SERENITY) gives the band his voice (under the name Tribune). Besides that you have Crusader, Spartan and Viking. Rumours are that they are respectively guitarist Markus Pohl (MYSTIC PROPHECY), drummer Steffen Theurer (SOULDRINKER) and bassist Chris Rodens (SOULDRINKER), but on Sunday they were Odin’s ambassadors.
Music & Performance
The reactions of the audience were split. The one part thinks that WARKINGS is just a cheesy Power Metal band with costumes, which would only go well at festivals. The other part is close to the stage visibly enjoying the active interpretations of the battle songs that can be found on their debut album, ‘Reborn’, especially the song ‘Hephaistos’. It’s nothing original and new, but the songs were already in the ears of the audience during the first listen and they could sing them immediately. Sparta is also one of the highlights. This is mainly due to a guest appearance of the grunting “Queen Of The Damned”, or Melissa Bonny (RAGE OF LIGHT, AD INFINITUM, EVENMORE).
Setlist
01. The Last Battle
02. Never Surrender
03. Battle Cry
04. Hephaistos
05. Sparta
06. Gladiator
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total 7.3 / 10
Follow The Cipher
FOLLOW THE CIPHER is a Power Metal band from Falun, Sweden, that was formed in 2014 by SABATON contributor Ken Kängström, who is also the group’s lead guitarist. The other members include bassist Jonas Asplind, drummer Karl Löfgren, guitarist and backing vocalist Viktor Carlsson, and lead vocalist Linda Toni Grahn. The band released their self-titled debut album on Nuclear Blast Records in May 2018.
Music & Performance
The 2014 founded band from Falun - exactly where SABATON come from - had released a strong debut this year with their self-titled album about Nuclear Blast. The head and founder of the band is Ken Kängström. He also had his influence on SABATON and on the song ‘Carolus Rex’. Accordingly, this was one of the first (cover) songs to be noticed by FOLLOW THE CIPHER and of course attracted the attention of many. With their mix between very hip bands like SABATON but also NIGHTWISH and especially BATTLE BEAST, they didn’t reinvent the wheel but created a very cool mix of different genres. Unfortunately, the electronically pimped up Power Metal hymns seem constructed and soulless, the band plays like a mixed up bunch, who places more value on visual appearance than on the expressiveness of their own music. They still have to work a little bit here, but the band has potential in any case.
Setlist
01. Enter The Cipher
02. A Mind’s Escape
03. Winterfall
04. Play With Fire
05. Carolus Rex (Sabaton-cover)
06. I Revive
07. The Rising
08. Titan’s Call
09. Valkyria
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total 7 / 10
Amaranthe
AMARANTHE is a Swedish Heavy Metal band, originally known as AVALANCHE. The band is notable for having three lead vocalists: Elize Ryd, Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson, and Nils Molin, each presenting a different vocal style. Reviews of AMARANTHE’s style are varied, though they all acknowledge that they are mainly a subgenre of Heavy Metal. According to AllMusic, AMARANTHE’s musical style mixes Death Metal with melodic Pop music, giving for a feel of Metalcore overall. Lead singer Elize Ryd acknowledges the difficulties in trying to ascribe their music to one specific genre and describes AMARANTHE’s sound as “Dance-Rock with a taste of Death and Modern / Melodic Metal,” though she admits that, unlike Death Metal, their focus is on “positive energy” and “open[ing] up minds [and] give[ing] passion, strength and love”. MusicMight classifies the band as Melodic Death Metal and Power Petal. Sputnikmusic’s overview of the band refers to them as an outfit that is a hybrid of Metalcore and Power Metal, more specifically, combining heavy riffs and breakdowns with Ryd’s “soaring vocals”.
Music & Performance
It was clear from the first tones of AMARANTHE that by far the largest part will only come for one band tonight. Surprisingly enough, the opener was not a song from the recent ‘Helix’ album, but ‘Maximize’ from the previous album, ‘Maximalism’. The opening track increased both the temperature and the energy level in the A and the revelry was even greater with ‘Digital World’. The Swedish group of musicians was very mobile; from the head-banging gentlemen Olof Mörck, Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson, the pounding and rolling bassist Johan Andreassen to the dancing Elize Ryd. However, the decoration of the stage is quite standard. The drum kit is central, on both sides is a banner. There was still a lot of room for the band members to move.
What you miss most at the show is a keyboard player. The keyboard parts that can be heard in all songs come from backing tracks. Furthermore, it is striking that Elize and Nils Molin have to put a lot of strength to rise above those parts. Henrik has less trouble with it. His extreme vocals are among the best in Modern Metal. Also the other two vocalists are doing well. For each of the three there was enough scope in the set. Nils proved his value in ‘Unified’, which was definitely one of the strongest of the new tracks. His voice and Elize’s voice also go well together, as can be seen from the ballads ‘Amaranthine’ and ‘Dream’. The band asked for audience participation early in the show and they got that. The hands get up early to clap along and many fans were jumping. The cheering and applause after each song went through the whole hall. AMARANTHE came, saw and conquered!
Setlist (without engagement)
01. Helix Intro
02. Maximize
03. Digital World
04. 365
05. 1.000.000 Lightyears
06. Hunger
07. Amaranthine
08. Helix
09. Drum Solo
10. GG6
11. Invincible
12. Unified
13. Dream
14. On The Rocks
15. Countdown
16. Drop Dead Cynical
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17. The Score
18. Call Out My Name
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10
All Pictures by Elena Arens
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