AMORPHIS + Hamferð
18.3.2014
*Mixtape 5* club, Sofia

words by: Christina Dimitrova, photo: Elena Nenkova

GALLERY

In previous years, the birthday party of our favourite radio Tangra Mega Rock were sumptuous and lengthy, with 3-4-5 and more concerts, sometimes well into June.

This year, because the financial crunch continues, no matter what government tells you, the concert is only one, but one hell of a fantastic concert.

Amorphis are coming to Bulgaria for the fourth time and for a second time sell out the gig, weeks before the event itself.


photo: Christina Dimitrova

I've seen Amorphis in all sorts of venues – from open air festivals with thousands of rabid and not so rabid fans, sports halls, exhibition halls, former movie theatres, former weaving factories and clubs. Beyond doubt, the best gigs are indeed in the clubs.

There is no point in pretending that Mixtape 5 is not my favourite Sofia club, so its only logical that I expect a wonderful gig. And this is what I got.

Around 3 hours before getting on stage, the support band Hamferd from the Faroe Islands are still in … Serbia. In the end of the day, they manage to arrive on time and get on stage in the previously announced time.



The club is already moderately full, but I bet that half the audience haven't previously heard of the band. Small wonder, considering that the Faroe Islands are just a bunch of remote rocks in Norwegian Sea and are most famous for the fact that the locals gleefully slaughter whales and excuse themselves with cultural peculiarities. 

I, myself, became aware of Hamferd's existence, who, by the way were established in 2008, when their singer Jon Aldara became also the singer of Finnish supergroup Barren Earth.

Hamferð get on stage dressed in black suits, just like for a funeral, which is very appropriate for their heavy dark doom style. All in all, they have one EP, 'Vilst er síðsta fet' from 2010, and one LP, 'Evst', from 2013.



Doom! Doom! Doom!

Clean vocals, growls, screams – all in Faroese. There is something fascinating with the fact that they sing in a totally incomprehensible language, which, on top of that, sounds just right for doom.

It is worth remembering them and following their career, because they got a lot of potential.



The club is already full. Thinking about it, I haven't seen it that full in a while. Apparently Amorphis are well loved in Bulgaria and are always received, to put it mildly, with warmth. This time around, it is no different and the intro of  'Shades of Grey' is accompanied by gleeful screams.

The setlist of the spring leg of the tour is just about the same as the one in the autumn leg supporting Amorphis' recent album 'Circle'.




For the nearly ten years since Tomi Joutsen joined the band, Amorphis, who used to be known as innovators and managed to surprise everyone with each new album, found a pleasant style and set themselves in a comfort zone, which they don't seem inclined to leave.

From the point of view of sales, commercial success and growing number of fans, this is quite explicable, though I know people, who are increasingly annoyed with the rehashing of same old, same old, every other year.

The eighthundred people in Mixtape 5, however, don't seem to mind and, considering their reactions, definitely prefer the “new style”, which is prevailing in the setlist.

But old classics are not lacking, such as My Kantele (the original version), Against Widows, Into Hiding, and of course, Black Winter Day.



Even though I can't say that Vulgar Necrolatry, written by Tomi Koivusaari for his band before Amorphis – Abhorrence – is one of my favourites, during its performance I am overcome by the strange feeling that the year is 1992 and I am present at an early club gig of Amorphis.

However strange it may seem, for me this is one of the culminations of the evening. - Tomi Joutsen is growling his guts out, balancing with one foot on the edge of the stage and the other on the fence, hanging over the audience, which is moshing and crowdsurfing with reckless abandon.

The audience itself seems to be in complete ecstasy. From my comfortable vantage point on the upper level of the club, the people below seem like a sea of smiling faces and arms, moving in complete synchronicity.

The screams are deafening and whenever they subside, Tomi Joutsen, who has nothing to do with the shell-shocked lad on the stage of the first Amorphis concert in Sofia in 2007, with a few flicks of his body and several grimaces, manages to raise the decibels of the screams to somewhat painful levels. Now he is the perfect frontman and, apparently, is enjoying every minute of it.

We are also enjoying it with incredible enthusiasm.

'Circle' is represented by five songs, but, unfortunately, the lovely 'Silent Waters' is completely missing from the setlist. 'The Beginning Of Times' is represented by the exceptionally banal and mildly annoying 'You I Need', and the glorious 'Eclipse' - only by 'The Smoke'.



But let's not overanalyse.
After all, the concert was magnificent and everyone is more than pleased.

It is most apparent, that Amorphis have become a well-oiled commercial mechanism, to the point that Tomi Joutsen does a commercial break promoting the merch stand, which, unlike in previous years, was really well-stocked – there were even baby clothes and ladies' hotpants.

It may have been “just another day in the office” for Amorphis, but for us it was a wonderful concert, filled with joy and magnificent music.

GALLERY

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