Swedish heavy metal band Amaranthe arrived in Melbourne with a smashing performance at Northcote Theatre last month as part of their Australian tour. Prior to Melbourne, the band had paid a visit to Sydney, Perth and Adelaide, with Brisbane coming after their Melbourne stop.
Amaranthe is known to adopt a lot of genres under the metal umbrella: pop metal, melodic death metal, power metal, symphonic metal, and more. But after their performance, I know for sure a genre that does not fit into their style: boring metal.
First up, a shout out to Northcote Theatre. Although the concert started an hour late, the stage and venue management were impeccably punctual. After a heart-thumping opening act by Melbourne’s own metal group The Last Martyr, the Northcote Theatre staff got to work setting up the stage. After that, the Swedish metal act took to the stage and grabbed the audience’s attention until the end of the concert.
The Gothenburg-based sextet, which consists of vocalists Elize Ryd and Nils Molin, harsh vocalist Mikael Sehlin, guitarist Olof Mörck, drummer Morten Løwe Sørensen, and bassist Johan Andreassen, performed a setlist of 17 tracks. Despite the Northcote show being their first time in Melbourne, it was clear that Elize Ryd and company had gained the love of the Melbourne crowd. This was compounded by the exceptional performances by the band found throughout all the tracks; from the beautifully discordant growls of Mikael Sehlin to the commanding presence of both Ryd and Nils Molin’s vocals, to Olof Mörck’s exhilarating guitar solos.
The band’s setlist was curated to highlight their latest album, The Catalyst, released in early 2024, with tracks such as “Damnation Flame”, “Insatiable”, and “Re-Vision”. But like all great rock shows, there was also a healthy dose of callbacks, such as “Amaranthine” and “The Nexus”, released in 2011 and 2012, respectively. “Amaranthine” and “Crystalline” were the band’s more stand out moments of the night; the ballad-like quality of the songs served as a refreshing change of pace to their more intense performances—while also showcasing both Ryd and Molin’s vocal versatility.
Additionally, the band’s engaging performance prompted me to discover new songs thanks to their on-stage renditions—one such song is “PVP”, which was written as an anthem for the Swedish Esports World Cup team. There was also the concert’s penultimate track, “That Song”, whose emphasis on a strong percussion line is reminiscent of Queen’s “We will Rock You”.
As one of the band’s frontmen, Molin displayed a captivating control over the audience. One standout back-and-forth with the audience came after the track “Boomerang”, an expression of the band’s longtime desire to tour Australia. Following this song, Molin remarked to the audience that even after touring Europe and the USA in the past, Melbourne had been one of the loudest audiences the band had heard. However, he then cheekily doused gasoline by adding that he found Perth to be slightly louder than Melbourne—which caused the theatre to erupt with a combative roar. Of course, it was all good fun at the Northcote Theatre, as the crowd made it clear that they loved the band’s performance that night.
After “The Nexus”, Amaranthe seemingly ended their set early. Although this caused the audience to holler for more songs, this turned out to be a fake-out that allowed the band to segue to one of their more intense songs, “Archangel”. Up until that point, the setlist had been quite uplifting with invigorating songs such as “The Catalyst”, “Interference”, and even “The Nexus”; the fake-out allowed for the band to reset their tone and take up a darker persona with “Archangel”.
After “Archangel” however, the band ‘threatened’ to finish their set prematurely again. This time, it was drummer Morten Løwe Sørensen that ‘convinced’ Molin and Ryd to belt out two more songs to finish up the set. This led to another stirring track in “That Song”, followed by the band’s greatest hit “Drop Dead Cynical” as a closing act.
Overall, Amaranthe’s first outing in Melbourne can only be described as a resounding success. The Northcote Theatre was at capacity and the crowd excitedly engaged with the band throughout the act, making the one-hour wait for the open gate worth it. Here’s hoping the band makes a return to Melbourne in the near future—which may be sooner rather than later, with Molin teasing the band’s world tour next year ending at the land down under.
The Catalyst is available on all music streaming platforms.