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Review: Dragonforce/Amaranthe/Infected Rain, O2 Academy
“It’s been five fucking years since we played this city,” bellows Elena Cataraga (Stage name: Lena Scissorhands). She’s not wrong. Infected Rain were last in Bristol on their first visit to the UK supporting Lacuna Coil and Eluveitie at SWX back in 2019.
Much, ahem, stuff has happened since then and if their music seems rather angry that’s perhaps explained in part by the fact that they hail from Ukraine’s vulnerable neighbour, Moldova.
is needed now More than ever
With new bassist Alice Lane, they’re now reduced to a seemingly permanent quartet, Vadim Ojog playing all the guitar parts in a frenzy of flailing dreadlocks. It’s a wonder he doesn’t get whiplash.
Impressively tattooed Elena wastes no time in getting the venue bouncing and orchestrates an early circle pit. She also demonstrates her vocal versatility, switching effortlessly from menacing growl to clean melodies.
Infected Rain still lack the one killer song necessary to take them to the next level, but they’re surely ready for a proper UK club tour.
A late start means the crew have to scurry around frantically to prepare the stage for Amaranthe. But this tour has been trundling through Europe for more than a month now, so they must have got used to some quick changes. Since this is billed as a co-headlining show, the Swedes have brought their full production, including a particularly impressive lightshow, which is all up and running within minutes.
Like Infected Rain, they haven’t played Bristol for five years, having previously supported Powerwolf at SWX. It’s unlikely we’ll be seeing Powerwolf again, as they now headline giant stadiums across the continent. Amaranthe’s fortunes have also taken an upward turn, with new album The Catalyst charting around the world. Coming up with something completely new in the world of metal is certainly a challenge, and one can hardly blame Amaranthe for sticking with and refining their formula once they’d alighted upon it, giving audiences plenty of time to catch up with them. And that certainly seems to be working. For many in this crowd, they’re tonight’s main attraction.
Theirs is an unlikely but effective blend of metal and electro-pop, with three distinctive vocalists and no shortage of programmed synth sounds. Guitarist Olof Mörck gets the occasional solo, but, unusually, all the pyrotechnics are in those vocals.
Elize Ryd could easily pursue a parallel career as one of those mononymous popstrels beloved by teenage girls, while Nils Molin gives it the full trad metal holler and newcomer Mikael Sehlin contributes harsh vocals. Their voices meld in various powerful combinations, while Mörck, bassist Johan Andreassen and drummer Morten Løwe Sørensen conjure up an enormous sound between the three of them.
The little lad standing next to me, who must be all of about 10 years old, is throwing the horns, headbanging furiously and mouthing all the words, watched by his proud dad. That’s the way to raise ’em.
Highlights include the bouncy PvP (the official anthem for the Swedish esports team), that great title track from The Catalyst and old favourite Amaranthine, with an electric piano intro by Olof. The three song encore includes That Song, with a verse cribbed from its obvious influence, Queen’s We Will Rock You, and concludes with the absurdly catchy Drop Dead Cynical.
“Get that fucking chicken on the balcony!” is not a cry one generally hears at a metal gig. But this is a Dragonforce show, so a certain amount of silliness is to be expected.
Those peculiar people who say they don’t like metal tend to think it all sounds the same. But in fact, there’s as much snobbery within the genre as outside it. Power metal is the sub-genre that tends to be viewed with disdain by the alternative/extreme metal brigade, probably because this most melodic and catchy of music is so hugely popular with audiences.
Dragonforce are the UK’s leading exponents, though they prefer the descriptor ‘extreme power metal’. Their first show in Bristol took place way back in 2003 at the Full Moon pub on Stokes Croft. They returned the following year to blow away lacklustre headliners WASP at the Bristol Bierkeller. Who’d have predicted back then that 20 years on they’d be headlining a sold-out Academy, with lasers, pyro and two giant arcade games consoles acting as posing podiums for the guitarists? Oh, and a pair of inflatable dragons, obviously. Then there’s the chicken. This giant plushy fowl is tossed into the audience with instructions to chuck it around as far as the balcony. Alas, it gets stuck on a ledge between levels. Twice.
They’ve had plenty of line-up changes along the way, most notably replacing original singer ZP Theart with Marc Hudson, who brings considerable falsetto firepower. And tonight marks new bassist Alicia Vigil’s first performance with the band on British soil. But it’s always been about the guitars with Dragonforce, founders Herman Li and Sam Totman’s mesmerising hyperspeed fretboard wizardry being augmented tonight by additional touring guitarist Billy Wilkins.
Revolution Deathsquad opens the show and finds them firing on all cylinders. Cry Thunder is the first of those big chorus singalong numbers, while Power of the Triforce is yet another of their trademark computer game-inspired songs – this time from new album Warp Speed Warriors. And the always-welcome Fury of the Storm has been in their set since those early days.
Of course it wouldn’t be a Dragonforce show without the occasional whiff of fromage, and that comes in the Dragonforce-go-disco stylings of Doomsday Party, to which we’re encouraged to dance along while watching out for that bloody flying chicken.
They barely have time to leave the stage before returning for the encore of two covers and an all-time classic. Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On (aka the Titanic theme song) is followed by a power metal version of Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams, which shouldn’t work but does. Magnificently. Then, inevitably, it’s time for Through the Fire and Flames – aka the song that nobody has ever been able to conquer on Guitar Hero, Totman and Li showing how it should be done, on real guitars.
All pix by Mike Evans
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: March 2024
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