The opening act was Extol, whom I also saw open up for Mastodon earlier this year. They make something I still haven’t heard the right description for, but it sounds a lot like what Swarm Of The Lotus does. Oceans of peace and violence combined in a Mastodon kind of way. Only this band has, in my eyes, not yet reached the level of Mastodon or SOTL. Their dreamy depressing parts don’t have the tunes to it that can send shivers down your spine, which is a real pity. The hard parts are pretty nice though, because when that drummer starts hitting things, you need to pay attention. But the vocals don’t really add that “5^th instrument” idea to neither the fast or the slow material.

 

Anyway, I was glad when it was over. When Opeth entered the stage, I was kind of disappointed. Not in what the band was doing, but, like usual, the volume coming through the speakers was terribly soft. It gradually got louder during the show, but an overwhelming feeling was excluded for this night.

They started with the album opener “Ghost of Perdition”, which was played with extraordinaire skill and finesse. Which they managed to do with every following track after that. The addition of Per Wiberg behind the keyboards proved to be a success like with the previous tour, only this time he could bang his head. And he has quite some hair to do that with! His backing vocals sounded much better that last time too.

 

Tracks played were “Face of Melinda”, “Deliverance”, “When”, “In My Time Of Need” “Blackwater Park” and a couple of more, which eventually led to a two hour set. The encore was the most brutal track of all (well, perhaps “Deliverance” tops it) “Demon Of The Fall”. With every track I just kept amazing myself how Mikael Akerfeldt can throw out a devastating grunt as well as one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. While playing ten minute songs he wrote from beginning ‘till the end. Quite unique I’d say. And besides that, he has a keen sense of humour to fill up the pauses between the songs. Really, he could do stand up comedy for metalheads.
Also quite impressing was substitute drummer Martin Accelroth from Bloodbath. He played the material just as tight as the original Martin. Damn, there are too many Martins involved in this band.

 

Too bad I couldn’t go to the show in Amsterdam, because I know the sound must have been awesome there. Better luck next time.