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Amaranthe – The Catalyst

Posted in CDs, Uncategorized with tags , on March 28, 2024 by Sara Hammerzmith

The year is 2024 and Amaranthe are giving us their seventh studio album “The Catalyst”. As a lot of you know, Amaranthe is one of my absolute favorite bands. They have an incredibly special spot in my heart and I was more than eager to hear another new album from them. Their previous albums has gone from clarity to clarity, so it was with high hopes I dove straight into this album.

The album starts off very typically Amaranthe with a bombastic melodic opener which gives you a bit of a premonition of what is about to come – an explosive album, something not too new, but perhaps not too familiar? Sadly, the first thing I think of when I hear the opening song, as much as I love it, it feels like a mix between “The Score” and something Dynazty would write – which wouldn’t be too odd seeing Nils Molin is now in the band.

Following up strong is one of their singles “Insatiable” which INSTANTLY brought the thoughts straight back to “Drop Dead Cynical” from their third album “MASSIVE ADDICTIVE” – and at this point I’m starting to form a little frown on my forehead as it’s becoming very… same of the same? If this makes sense. The song itself is a banger though – just like “Drop Dead Cynical” is.

“Damnation Flame” – third song of the album – is the first song of the album to actually draw some real attention to me with its Battle Beast like rhythms, is a very interesting song that I wound up enjoying more than I thought I would. Perhaps it’s due to the nature being closer to older Amaranthe? Who knows.

Unfortuneatley, I feel like a large portion of the album that follows is a little bit of the same old same old, and not only that, but also relatively watered down versions. It feels like I heard a lot, or similar shapes, of a lot of these songs before – but the predecessor being far superior than the “new” shape of the song.

My attention isn’t caught again until “Breaking The Waves” which is another one of the more bombastic songs that makes me wanna go out on an adventure – and it has this cozy and eerie vibe to it that I personally highly appriciate in music. Imagine listening to this late at night at the dark seas… Yes. Let me set that picture in your head.

After this, however, the album picks up for a little while in songs like “Outer Dimensions” and “Resistance”. The first mentioned song is a very typical upbeat and fun Amaranthe song that really caught my attention real fast – all of a sudden, it’s not so so-so anymore, but actually makes me bob my head for real and get into it. There is a lot of little productional details that just adds to the atmosphere of the entire song – and that is what I love.

“Resistance” on the other hand is a what I would call more of a “fun” song. This is the song one would be raging around and playing around to live, if they were to play it live that is. Which I truly hope they will. Sadly, the album hits the dip a little with the finishing song of the album “Find Life” which really didn’t… do much for me. I guess it was an ending? Ending on a low note?

Overall – song wise – I’m a little bit underwhelmed. I would not go as far as say that it is bad, but I’m a little underwhelmed. I have a hard time seeing myself find any major favorites on this album (personal favorite songs are songs like ‘Helix’ and ‘MASSIVE ADDICTIVE’) but I guess it is bound to happen to any band at some point. Amaranthe has after all gone from perfection to perfection and every once in a while this needs to happen.

As far as performance, I have nothing to say. I love the energy and chemistry between Elize and Nils in “Stay a Little While” even though I am not an overly huge fan of the song (Yes, I am indeed very biased towards ‘Amaranthine’, ‘Exhale’ and ‘Endlessly’) but the chemistry – absolute perfection. The new Screamer – Mikael – fills the shoes of Henrik wonderfully. He really fits in the other voice vice – I guess this is what I miss, I would have loved to have an equivalent of “GG6” or “Fury” to fully let him show off what he can do – but perhaps next time?

I am looking forward to one day see what they will do with this tourwise – while the songs aren’t strong, I do see a lot of live show potential.

What are your guys thought on the album?

// Sara

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Sabaton @ Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany 31/1 – 20

Posted in Concerts, Music, The Great Tour 2020, Uncategorized with tags , , , on March 23, 2020 by Sara Hammerzmith

[These blogs has been long in the making. And with everything coming to a complete halt at the moment, I’m taking the time to revive it all. Perhaps it’ll even help you all cope? Who knows. Only issue, this particular show I have no photos from as far as I know. And I apologize beforehand for the extreme lack of photos.]

So, it was time for yet another show of this amazing band, or perhaps more this amazing tour. For this day, I gently hopped on the bus in my other homecity of Antwerp to head over to Frankfurt. And the thing is… I have this kind of hate-love relationship with FlixBus. It’s like 50/50. Sometimes its fine, sometimes it’s not. And so far in this tour, I had been in no rush and everything worked smoothly.

But of course, since I was in a rush today – scheduled to arrive approx two hours before door opening, the bus was delayed. Because why not right? So, half an hour delay, I meet up with Daniel at the busstation and then pass by my hotel to check in where I ran into MORE issues because, lets face it, I have a shitty handwriting. But, at the end all was cool.

We headed over to a sushirestaurant for some dinner and light catch up before continuing on to the venue. Seeing that Amaranthe, as mentioned before, is the opening band and it’s a favorite band of both of us we had to make it in time. Which we did!

Amaranthe

Exactly on time they started, “Helix” intro rolling first shortly into “Maximize” intro and the show was a fact. For tonight, we had decided to stay back a bit so we didn’t exactly have the perfect view,or may that be exactly what we did have?

“Digital World” was next song on the list, with an evergreat energy in the crowd as well as on stage! “Hunger” followed suit and then “Amaranthine” before it was time for Henrik to have his little moment in “GG6”. This song has grown so incredibly much on me after seeing more and more live.

My own personal favorite in “Helix” – this song will never ever stop being the BOMB. Seriously. It’s massive. Anyway, this song was next, perfect executiom, what else, and then Nils comes out to ask for some audience participation and it’s time for “That Song”.

The show is later wrapped up with “Call Out My Name”, “The Nexus” and lastly “Drop Dead Cynical”.

After the show, I headed out for the bathroom and then had quite an interesting time to find my way back to Daniel, but gladly so I did!

As far as Apocalyptica goes, we only stayed for the songs where Elize sang before going outside to grab some merch as well as taking a little walk for my restless legs. Was handy as hell!

Making our way back into the venue we are at the complete end of the venue, and to be honest I don’t mind in the slightest. Sometimes, the most fun you can have is at the end. And I tend to say to people – if you are always at the front, it means you aren’t touring enough, or doing it the right way.

Sabaton

As the soundtrack version worked its way through the list and later landing in “In Flanders Fields” when the lights went out, the longawaited show was finally about to begin. The new intro for “Ghost Division” echoed and then the show was at large.

“Great War” is shouted out from stage as the pyro set the arena on fire… not literally, but almost.

A gasmask appears on the screen behind them, and the band comes out clad in gasmasks through the green smoke that has been sent out on stage and Joakim comes out in his complete costume ready to gas some Germans… Oh wait.

After we’re done with THAT part, we head over to “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” which is ever such a delight, and then “Diary of an Unknown Soldier” and then it was time yet again for “The Lost Battalion”

The little airplane was yet again rolled out on stage with Joakim singing the beautiful little IKEA song for us before letting the actual Red Baron on stage to excute “The Red Baron” for us.

“The Last Stand” followed suit together with “82nd All The Way”. If those two songs aren’t all the rage, I don’t know which songs are. The intro with the redlights and sirens started off, alerting us of the “Night Witches”.

Apocalyptica came on stage and they started off their part with “Angels Calling”. I have probably said it before, and I will say it again – the song has gotten quite a facelift with these fellas. “Fields of Verdun” was next on the list before moving onto “The Price of a Mile”.

“Dominium Maris Baltici” was executed next with the cello guys and the two songs – “Lion from the North” as well as “Carolus Rex” from the Swedish Empire era was ripped off before it was time for the band to say thanks and good night.

After a little whiles wait the storming of Normandie showed up on the screens, and “Primo Victoria” was fired off. And for the first time in my life – I have practiced my whole life for this – I jumped through the entire song. 40 shows later, I finally achieved what I’ve been training my whole.. well life as a Sabaton fan for. And I did it.

And I will never do it again.

The water started flowing on the screen and we embarked the “Bismarck” once again for the battle. “Swedish Pagans” followed suit and then the show was wrapped up with “To Hell and Back”.

Amazing show. Nothing but an amazing show. After the show, I darted toward the crowd to start collecting propaganda flyers. People even helped me, complete strangers. Daniel managed to meet up with Cyril who had apparently forgotten I was gonna be there and exclaimed excitedly “YOU ARE HERE!!!”.

As I crawled around collecting flyers around the soundguys booth, I hear someone faintly say “Hey”. As I look up, I see one of the guys working handing me a setlist. I thank him the best I can, but in hindsight I can’t decide – did he give it to me because he decided I was a dedicated fan, or did he just think I was pathetic? No matter the reason – I am so thankful.

After all was said and done, we said our good byes and retreated home. I had quite an early bus tomorrow.. And trust me, I was not excited for that.

// Sara

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Sabaton @ Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland 17/1 – 20

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , on January 27, 2020 by Sara Hammerzmith

And here it is at last. The tourstart for The Great Tour. At first, I wasn’t exactly pumped for it, BUT, one day, when walking down the Promenade on deck 5 on the boat, hearing them blast “The Lost Battalion” really made me want this part of my gigantic tour to come.

And then yet, once home in Belgium I lost the will for it again, but this time I blame the jetlag for that. But, inevitably, the time was here now, and I was actually pretty excited. We headed over to the venue to start lining at 12-13 somewhere between there, and there wasn’t a lot of people, but some.

Later on, I found Cyril and met Océane, which was pleasant! Once it was time for us to be let in.. it kind of became chaos. I think people don’t really have much of respect for who was there first and not, and the venue itself was complicated too. First inside and then try to find the hall for the standings. But teaming up with Cyril and Océane helped getting into somewhat the spots we wanted, so at the end of the day, getting sick as a chyte would be worth it.

We took a bit of turns going to the bathroom and quickly checking out the merch before the wait for Amaranthe began, and precisely at 19, it started.

Amaranthe

With the intro of Helix, slowly emerging into the intro of “Maximise” Amaranthe one by one entered the stage and hit it off with aforementioned song. Elize comes out on stage like a regal goddess in her new stage attire, the biggest piece a regal cape. Absolutely stunning.

Surprisingly, the crowd didn’t seem to feel Amaranthe at all. Which.. surprises me. I always took them for being pretty popular in most places, but I guess not here? Well well, more for me!

After this rather grand opening, the band went straight into “Digital World” which is pretty much anyones headbang jam, if they really are headbangers that is, and then into “Hunger” which holds pretty much the same position.

They slowed it down a notch with the next song, “Amaranthine” and we had yet another beautiful moment with this song. This song really is grand, isn’t it? And she executes it so perfectly.  From this, straight into my own personal favorite “Helix” (I’m so happy this one made the cut, I was really worried, haha!) and it was time for Henrik to have his little moment in “GG6” as he and Elize battle it out together.

Elize is in my eyes always the winner, and she showed exactly why in the next song, “Endlessly” where she pretty much put everyone who ever tried to hate on her to shame. Time for some more upbeat following next in “Call Out My Name” before they wrapped up an amazing “tourstart” with “The Nexus” and “Drop Dead Cynical”.

Thank you so much for an amazing start. This was way too short, and I can’t wait to see them more times on this tour, and then their little headline show later.

And with that, the wait for Apocalyptica began. Which, gladly, wasn’t too long.

Apocalyptica

So, I regret to inform you all that I’m not too familiar with Apocalyptica. I’m very familiar with their concept, and saw them live before, BUT – I am not familiar with their own stuff, so it won’t be a very detailed rundown sadly on their show.

They did however play a very good show, and the few songs performed with Elize was nothing but pure perfection. The show was more enjoyable than I thought it would be, so that is also a huge plus. Thank you so much Apocalyptica!

Throughout the venue, the soundtrack to the Great War started echoing out, as per usual by now I suppose – I don’t mean to sound rude, it’s just that, if you attend one show then you just know how the routine works now, am I right?

As the stage was being set, the album continued before the volume was upped a few notches the “In Flanders Fields” echoes.

Sabaton

After this sweet serenade intro, the newmade intro for “Ghost Division” went on and off they went opening with.. “Ghost Division”. I had hopes. I had hopes. But no more. A bombastic and energetic intro as per usual, not much has changed.

“Great War” was next song on the list, and I don’t think song as well as the execution will ever stop to be as epic as it is. For the next song, Joakim briefly left the stage and let the band start off “The Attack of the Dead Men” themselves, and then he comes back out and he is clad from head to toe in a gasmask and uniform, walking around with a gas dispenser. Wow, what an upgrade! Slowly but surely, the performance is starting to live up to the songs!

He left the stage again to get “undressed” and soon came back to announce that the next song would be “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”. And if this song isn’t all the rage, I don’t know what is. The band left the stage momentarily and “Diary of an Unknown Soldier” and set off with “The Lost Battalion”.

A very interesting looking piano, or apparently organ, was brought on stage. The organ has the shape of Richthovfen’s Albatross plane, or at least some parts of it built like it. Joakim joked around a bit with “Swedish Pagans” and then introduced an organplayer dressed up as Manfred and off they went with “The Red Baron”.

And YES. I just say YES. This is a step in the right direction. This is somewhat something I actually always pictured they’d do. The only thing I personally wish they did was to cut the talking and just shut down the lights and let this dude do his thing amongst blinking red lights… Skip the talk, really!

“The Last Stand”, pretty much my personal highlight on the entire show came next, although these days I can’t really hear it the same way anymore. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a sad thing, but oh well right?

“82nd All The Way” was next on the list, and then “Nightwitches” which actually came as a surprise for me, that it comes THIS early in the setlist. But oh well?

From here on, some familiar faces in the forms of Apocalyptica joined the stage, and the band set off to perform “Angels Calling”. While I never really enjoyed this song, ever, I’m still happy to see some old songs make their way back into their setlist, if they were ever on it from the start.

Joakim figured it’d be a great idea to keep Apocalyptica for a few more songs, and so they did “Fields of Verdun”, “The Price of a Mile” as well as “Lion from the North” and “Carolus Rex” was all performed together with Apocalyptica.

After Carolus, they left the stage and the introvideo to “Primo Victoria” started rolling, and the encores were set ablaze.. literally.

“Bismarck” followed suit and then finally “Swedish Pagans”. Although, I sense that the crowd here didn’t really ask that much for it. It’s finally dying! The whole hype is finally dying!

After this, they wrapped up the set with “To Hell and Back” and the show was over.

It was an amazing show, although sans propaganda flyers for us front rowers? What? Well, anyway. It is what it is, right? After the show I headed over to the merch and bought the posters, and I’ll look into more merch on later shows.

So, once again. An amazing tourstart. Finally things are starting to happen. It’s becoming something. Finally!

// Sara

 

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Amaranthe @ Uddeholmsladan, Uddeholm, Sweden 2/9 – 17

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , on September 2, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, the day was here, Amaranthe playing in Uddeholm, a small town from where I live in Sweden – probably the most unexpected city for me to ever catch a show in to be honest. But here we were.

We left fairly late, decided to stop by my summer cabin to have some barbecue, sort of, before going to the venue. My summer cabin is in the very same city as this venue, so it’s sort of perfect. In a way, you could say I live there.

So, we made it to the venue about an hour or so after the doors had opened because of various delays, but it didn’t really seem to matter and quite frankly, I sort of expected this to happen – that there would still be some spots available at the front row. It’s usually like that, you learn with time.

So, with that said, we claimed our spots at the front, and waited for the support band to begin.

JD Miller

Supportband for tonight was JD Miller, a fairly fresh Swedish band that says to be a mix between Evergrey and Eclipse, and I do feel that description fits them well. They put on a very good show – very energetic and a good vibe from the stage, but I can’t say I enjoyed the music that much. Sorry guys.

After this, the little wait for Amaranthe began and I’ll tell you a little bit about the venue while I’m at it, shall I? So, this is a barn. This is what the venue is called – The Uddeholm Barn, but it is in fact a beautiful barn. It was quite cold, but that aside, it was really nice. A big contender to Le Petit Bain in France, as far as being best and coolest venue goes.

And just like that, it was time for Amaranthe to start. The intro started rolling, and then pouring out into ”Maximize”

Amaranthe

They opened up strongly with ”Maximize”, and then launched themselves right into ”Boomerang” – as they have done the whole tour really. It’s all as if it’s going by routine. Of course, in a way it is, but it’s something about this band that makes everything, everything they do, seem extremely rehearsed.

The power pack and one of my now personal favorites ”Hunger” was next on the list, which gave them a little bit of response from the crowd. The crowd was bigger than I’d expect it to be in a place like this, but not too responsive. Well, yet that is.

They continued on with ”Invincible”  and quickly followed it up with ”1.000.000 Lightyears” before moving on to my personal favorite album of Amaranthe, ”MASSIVE ADDICTIVE” in the shape of ”Trinity”, and then ”True”.

Nils and Elize do really work well together, voice vice as well as chemistry vice, but I do also have to admit that I miss Jake. No matter how much I love Nils, I’ll always miss his vocals a bit. But don’t get this the wrong way – I love everything Nils does. I couldn’t have found a better replacement. And speaking of Nils, Andreas was missing from the line up today, so Jonathan from Dynazty had filled his place. So glad to see.

The duet between Elize and Henrik, ”Fury” was up next before Elize had her own little solomoment with ”Endlessly”. I do really love this song, and it’s magical when she performs it live, but it’s becoming a little too much focus on Elize, or is it just me? This is a three vocalist band, after all.

Morten had his own little moment before it was time to rip off, what is my favorite song off ”Maximalism” – ”On The Rocks”. I love this song live though, it’s just so good. ”Automatic” was next on the list before my all time favorite song – and I guess almost all of the venues too – ”The Nexus” was ripped off.

Elize came out on her own from the side, started off the sing along that is ”Amaranthine” and it did make me so happy to see they have this kind of following up here. ”Call Out My Name” wrapped up the whole set, and the band left the stage.

The intro for ”Digital World” poured out of the speakers and the band came on stage for their last four encores, starting with ”Digital World” that later turned into ”That Song”. ”Dynamite” was ripped off before they performed the last song for the evening, ”Drop Dead Cynical”. The band thanked for the evening and then walked off stage.

The show was good. I’ve seen this same set a few times now, so I guess it’s starting to get old for me, but that aside it was good. The band still feels a bit rehearsed, a bit off, but I don’t know if it’s just me or this is just really the case.

After the show we headed off right home, slowly, as the rain had attracted the frog invasion and we tried to not kill any. Which was easier said than done.

// Sara

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Tons of Rock, Halden, Norway 24/6 – 17: Part 2

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , on June 25, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

After she left, I headed up toward the hill again to watch the sunset and wait for Amaranthe to start. Linn and My surprisingly joined me after a while, before it was time for me to head down to the tent again.

Amaranthe

The tent was PACKED. Like, I know Amaranthe has had a lot of success, but this was crazy. I wasn’t really expecting to have the Delain kind of treatment, but perhaps Amaranthe should be on the mainstage the next time? I think so.

Right on time the intro started echoing in the speakers and they opened with “Maximize”. And of course, from the instant, my eyes are glued to Nils. I promise, I’m not a crazed fangirl, it’s just that, it’s so odd to see him perform on stage. You know he’s my favorite singer ever, so knowing I’ll be seeing him on a regular basis now is a weird thought.

“Boomerang” followed suite, and the band seemed to have a pretty good night! The energy from the crowd was… okay. I guess. I mean, I’ve seen better. Perhaps I should stop comparing nordic crowds to French or German, as they are always much more my cup of tea, but still. Better than at Delain, I guess that is something?

“Hunger” followed suit, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned it, but this went from being a song I really did not like with them, to one of my favorites. It’s something special about all of a sudden realizing that yeah, it’s not so good on the album, but then you realize what kind of a headbanging song it is, and you instantly fall in love.

“1.000.000 Lightyears” and “Fury” was the next songs on the list, and “Fury” you know… you can’t get enough from that song. Really. “On The Rocks” followed, my personal favorite off “Maximalism”, “The Nexus” was ripped off before it was time for some sing along or karaoke, or whatever you wanna call it with Elize for “Amaranthine”.

“Call Out My Name”, “Digital World” and “That Song” was fired off as the set left for it’s finale and they wrapped up the entire thing with “Drop Dead Cynical”.

It wasn’t exactly the best show I’ve ever seen with them, but it is also far from the worst. Perhaps I have simply seen them too much. I don’t know. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Maximalism” either so maybe it’s just this entire era. Huh.

Right after the show, I headed off to the bathrooms and then over to Sabatons stage. For arriving like ten minutes before it was about to start,  I got some really good spots. Good visually, and I had a lot of space. My hair is a bit like a windmill, so, I kind of need it.

Sabaton

But, lets talk about something for a quick second here. The beauty of the stage I was seeing in front of me. I knew this was a special show – the Carolus Rex kind of special show, Swedish Empire and all of that, but I didn’t think so much about it until I got to the stage and saw it. The three crowns banner that clad Audie, the Swedish banners place here and there, and not to talk about the throne Carolus was about to sit upon later in the show. That’s when it REALLY hit me – this is going to special. And beyond epic.

And it started already at the intro. Instead of the usual “The March To War”, “Dominium Maris Baltici” served as the intro instead. It was a little… odd, because the intro was as quiet here as it is on the album, making it a little awkward. Probably some setting or so, but I guess I shouldn’t be complaining, considering that once Hannes and the rest of the boys were on stage – “Lejonet Från Norden” was the first song to be performed. All this time, I waited for this! For not having “Ghost Division” as the opener!

It was followed by Jocke talking a little bit, the only apparently he was allowed to talk during this special set, as they continued onwards with “Gott Mit Uns”. The energy from the crowd was pretty good. COULD be better, but hey, better than Graspop so I’m shutting up. “En Livstid i Krig” followed suit, and at this time at the show, it still felt like any other Sabaton show. It was first when the next song, “1648” started as it dawned upon me that no, this is not like any other Sabaton show.

“Karolinens Bön” was next, and as I had suspected a bit due to seeing the special show from Rockstad: Falun in a live stream, the caroleans marched onto the stage and took position during this song. Could this show get any better?

Sure it could, because in “Carolus Rex” Carolus himself comes on stage, we witness his coronation and he sits upon his throne. Like, very literally to the song, but oh my god. This is the Sabaton show of my dreams! “Ett Slag Färgat Rött” followed suit, and then “Poltava”.

After “Poltava”, the caroleans exited the stage and Carolus walked down toward the front in order to, well, look out over his land I guess. And that’s when it happened. A pyro shot off as a bullet that has been fired from a gun, and Carolus fell to the ground. “Konungens Likfärd” was the song the band played next, obviously, and the Caroleans came on stage and carried the fallen king out, “back to Sweden” so to put it.

Just as last time, “Ruina Imperii” was in fact not performed live, it simply served as an outro, and as back in Falun, the Caroleans fired off their weapons after the show, and then left the stage for good, for now.

I honestly thought the show was going to be over now, so mind my surprise when the WWII intro started on the screen, with the apropriate pyro and “Primo Victoria” started echoing. At least the crowd woke up a little bit by now, haha!

“Sparta” was next on the list, sadly not with all the theatrics, but if it’s festivals it is festivals I guess – “Swedish Pagans”, of course, because apparently you can never have a show with out this one – “Shiroyama”, “Winged Hussars” and “To Hell and Back” wrapped up the set before it was over.

Jocke asked the Caroleans back out on stage and introduced everyone, including “The Norwegian that shot him” haha. I love this band.

With that said, the show was over and everyone left the stage. And I was just standing there like, what the hell did I just witness. What did I just have the privilige to witness? I have no idea. I headed up toward the stage, and I was very very lucky to get a setlist from a very very kind crew member. I like setlists, but this setlist means so much to me because it was THIS show, you know?

After this, I headed out of the area, to fix the cashless card and pick up Linn, and then we went home right after.

Seriously, this day was so worth it. For Sabaton alone, but I also thank Delain and Amaranthe, Angelina, Linn and My for making it even better! Thank you all!

// Sara

 

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Amaranthe @ The Circus, Helsinki, Finland 8/4 -17

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , on April 8, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

And with that, it was time for me to embark on my last concert for some time. To be honest, I have to admit that it’s going to be pretty nice to have some “time off” from this, as the past weeks has been exhausting. If it was the concerts themselves, or the fact that I also started a new job a town over at the same time, I will leave unspoken of, but something has made it really tiring.

Of course, it was not all fun and games. Firstly, I slept on the bus to the point I actually missed my stop. And it’s funny, because I dreamt that I would miss my stop. And then I wake up to us leaving Terminal 5. So, as you can hear, it wasn’t superbad. All that happened was that I got off at Terminal 4 and walked back to Terminal 5…. only to discover the HUGE LINES everywhere and nowhere.

Yesterday, a terroristattack happened in Sweden and because of this, the security had been increased. So, waiting time for securitycheck was about an hour – and for once, I was even out in good time, and despite that, the airport staff had to escort us ( I found another girl who was in the line for Helsinki) ahead of the line so we could, barely, catch our flight. Oh how good it is to be TWO people when shit like this happens. But I’d like to tell you about something – when I first got in the line, there were a couple ahead of me that were getting on a plane that was taking off at 06.55. The time was 06.40.

I guess I never saw it before, because I was lucky – but the reviews on Arlanda’s websites are true. It is a pretty slow airport, and it doesn’t seem to know how to deal with massive amounts like this.

So, safe and sound and in time, I landed in Helsinki, collected my luggage and headed off into the city for some breakfast or possibly lunch. Basically, I was in Helsinki by 10.30 or so, and my hotel wasn’t open for check in until 16, so you could easily say I had some darn waiting to do. Spent the first two-three hours at Espresso House – in these cases it is real good that I’m such a slow eater – and after that I killed some time in the Forum shoppinggallery. The last hour in Forum I sat and read the sales book by Fredrik Eklund, before I could FINALLY get out and check in the hotel. The gallery is only five minutes away, so it was a looong wait.

Once in the hotel, I quickly got settled and then went to bed. I had had to take an earlier bus than expected, and because of that, I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep and figured I’d be better off actually resting a little bit before the show. Once woken up, I got ready for the show and then went off to The Circus – which is no less than five minutes away – this hotel is nothing but golden.

Ember Falls

I arrived just on time as the first band walked on stage (phew!). So, first opener of the night was Ember Falls, a Tampere based metalband formed in 2010. They delivered a very energetic set, and they actually seemed to have some fans in the audience. Not too common, so it was cool to see! The band was okay. I’m not entirely taken by them, but it could have been worse… as I was about to see.

Blind Channel

Next band on stage was Blind Channel. Based in Oulu, the band was formed in 2013. All clad in white they performed some strange merge of rap and metal. I guess it’s had some nu metal elements to it, but I really could not like this. And it did not get any better, whatsoever, when the singer came out in a robbers hood acting like a basic rapper. I have a hard time for these kind of merges, as the kind and side of metal I like is not the “fuck the police”, and well… Yeah. Simply not for me. But they did seem to have quite some fans in the audience, and they had charisma.

Amaranthe

They left the stage and at 21.15, Amarathe’s very very long intro started and at 21.30, it finally hit off with “Maximize”. It was a pretty…. slow? audience. Like, it wasn’t as much response from it as I would have thought it would be. The opening was quickly followed up by “Boomerang” and their big hit “Hunger”.

So, as you guys probably know, Jake E decided to completely leave the band in February this year after having a hiatus from the band for some time. At the time, the news were heartbreaking, and the initally we all thought the spot would go to Chris Adam who’s been filling in for Jake during the past tour. It turns out, he has in fact turned down the offer, and while he still did some of the Swedish show, it was a new face on stage tonight filling in for Chris Adam, who is filling in for Jake.

And this person is no one less than Nils Molin, the singer from Dynazty. Dynazty is one of my favorite bands that I very very rarely see. They are incredibly hard to catch live, and seeing that Nils personally is one of my all time favorite male vocalist, seeing him on stage with Amaranthe, or seeing him perform all in all was very.. emotional. It was a moment of “Finally.” I was in ecstasy, as well as being smitten by the prescence and just happy. We will see if he will remain in Amaranthe or not.

They followed up with their big hit “Hunger”, and then “Invincible”. These songs had a little better audience response, even though it left much to be desired. The band was really good though – Elize is not as shy as I remember her, which is soo good to see. It’s so good to see her really get out there, connecting with the crowd and everything.

“1.000.000 Lightyears” was next on the list, followed by “Trinity” before it was time for Nils and Elize to have their moment in “True”. And you know, just hearing him work his voice and them two harmonizing together is simply amazing. They work so well together.

Right after this two person song, Henrik got to have his own little moment in “Fury” before everyone left Elize to her own thing with “Endlessly”. The thing is… I’m gonna say this, and get so many haters. Elize can sing. And she can sing well. But I never understood why she keeps stretching things – It’s a lot of, in my eyes, unnecessary screams and extensions, and this happens in almost every song. I don’t see the point in that.

“On The Rocks” was next on the list, and the audience seemed a bit more awake this time around. Morten was left on his own to perform his mandatory drumsolo before it merged into “Automatic”. “The Nexus” was next on the list, followed by the big audience favorite “Amaranthine” before they wrapped up the set with “Call Out My Name”.

After a little bit of wait, Andreas came out and did his… “stand-up-comedy” part before they hit off the encores with “Digital World”, followed by “That Song”, “Dynamite” and then have the whole set wrapped up with “Drop Dead Cynical”.

Speaking of that song. As the band was about to thank for the time and walk off stage, a record label representant came on stage and delivered gold singles for “Drop Dead Cynical” for Finnish sales. Congratulations Amaranthe! Well deserved.

After THAT, the band thanked for the evening and walked off the stage.

And me myself, I hurried off to the hotelroom, had some quick dinner and then went to sleep. Early day tomorrow.

// Sara

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March in Music

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on April 6, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

A little delay, here comes the report of how I listened to music in March. First off, most played bands.

5. Amaranthe

This still doesn’t strike me as a chock, since they are the bands with the most songs total in my on-the-go iPod, even thought it doesn’t feel like I listen to them that much. But apparently, I do!

4. Sabaton

Not a big shocker. I did honestly think they’d be higher seeing I’ve seen quite a few shows with them this month, but I guess not. Still going strong in the top though. I blame my sudden love for “Blood of Bannockburn” for this.

3. Battle Beast

Ah here they are! An excellent release in “Bringer of Pain” and a show that was better than most sends the group up to a higher place. I swear to God, “Bastard Son of Odin” is really MY song. Seriously.

2. Epica

Epica delivered some great shows in Helsinki and Stockholm, and “The Holographic Principle” is such an awesome album.

1. Twilight Force

Well, I guess this answers why Sabaton has been so low this month – it’s the introduction of Twilight Force. I feel so stupid, because I’ve rapidly grown to like them a lot, and well, it feels stupid – this is all honesty, as I have so many friends who are already into them, and here I come a little late. Well, at least I never spoke shit about them. So, with that said, I’m not surprised they are on top!

Lets move onto albums.

5. Bringer of Pain

No surprise! The new little masterpiece by Finlands now, in my eyes, most promising bands. I’m certain my love for “Bastard Son of Odin” is pushing this a little bit higher, but aside that – this is one killer album.

4. The Power of the Ancient Force

Well, considering Twilight Force is amongst the bands in my top artists, it’s not a big surprise their albums would make it onto the list. “The Power of the Ancient Force” is their debut album, and I really like it.

3. As I Lay Me Down (Single)

This is awesome. So, you know how I love Wiktoria? This is the single for that very song, and it has made the third place on most played album. And very well so, the song is just that fucking amazing.

2. Heroes of Mighty Magic

Another one of Twilight Force’s albums, I think this one might be a tad more epic than the previous, but it’s too soon for me to say too much already to be honest. Check back in a month or two, haha.

1 . The Holographic Principle

This album is absolute killer, and not to mention, “Beyond the Matrix”. Seriously, I just love that song so much. This album has quickly climbed to be one of my favorites, but if it’s just a new crush or forever, is yet to see.

And lastly, songs. Last.FM really shows you top ten songs, but I’ll cut it down to five.

3. Touch in the Night – Battle Beast

Battle Beasts flagship is you like, and also my personal favorite. This song has so many memories to it, I can barely count anymore how many trips has this song as their “song of the trip”.

3. Bastard Son of Odin – Battle Beast

Another one of Battle Beast’s, another favorite, but a different album. Seriously, this is my personal bootcamp song.

3. The Real Me – Art Nation

So, you probably noticed how there’s three 3’s, and this is because all of these songs had the same amount of plays.  Art Nation’s first single of the upcoming album, and I just love it that much. I can’t get over it. At all.

2. Emergency – H.E.A.T

Oldie but goldie! This song has rapidly risen, and it’s just… When you have so much music around, it’s easy to forget what you have, and then all of a sudden you just rediscover it and realize how much you love it. I’m so happy H.E.A.T is making new music again finally, I cannot wait.

1 . As I Lay Me Down – Wiktoria

Well, no surprise. I’ve been obsessed with this song ever since I first saw her in Melodifestivalen, and I cannot stop listening to this. Honestly. Beyond amazing. I’m eager to check out more of her stuff later.

So. That was that recap. I always find it somewhat facinating to see what songs you do actually listen to, and which you don’t.

// Sara

 

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My month in Music

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , on February 27, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

So! It’s not really the end of the month just yet, but as I’m off to Helsinki tomorrow to watch the incredible Epica, I will have to give you this little update right now. Essentially, what I’ll be doing is collecting my data from LastFM and speak a little bit about the top six bands at the moment, that I’ve listened to the most this past month.

6. Danse dE Sade

So this is a new discovery – at least in a way. This band, together with Tower Guard, were the only of Lordi’s supportbands I did listen to one or two songs prior to the shows, but this band was the only one I remembered at the time (sorry Tower Guard).

Probably because as with most bands  I’ve grown to be fond of- they intrigued me. During our stay in L.A. we saw them twice – first supporting Lordi on their show at the Whisky, which was something I will never, ever forget. Honestly. What a band! What a show! We saw them two days later again at the Viper Room, and enjoyed it just as much this time around.

5. Art Nation

No surprise. Art Nation was a band I first thought “hey lets check them out” at Skogsröjet, and have now rapidly grown into being one of my favorite bands. I am beyond excited for their new album “Liberation”, as their previous one “Revolution” just as with H.E.A.T’s albums, is nothing but pure perfection. They recently released the new single “The Real Me” and I’m addicted to it.

4. Amaranthe

I don’t think I give this band enough credit toward myself on how much I enjoy their music. I must admit I was a little bit disappointed in “Maximalism” as it felt far away from what I’ve gotten to know as Amaranthe, and it felt sloppy – the lyrics weren’t what they once were, and as well as singing style. But then again, it’s hard to follow up a masterpiece like “MASSIVE ADDICTIVE”.

3. Lordi

They need no further introduction. I’m a little personally surprised they are behind Powerwolf, seeing we saw Lordi live this month (ok, we did see Powerwolf as well but) but it was only by three songs, so I can survive.

2. Powerwolf

Doesn’t surprise me too much. This is one of those bands whose album I’ll put on when I need something to listen to, be it in the background or just to enjoy myself. It’s something about the music with this band that drags you in – for every time you see this band, you fall more in love with them. It’s a dangerous thing.

1 . Crystal Viper

This is a bit of a surprise. Crystal Viper recently released a new album, the comeback album if you like just days ago, and it appears I liked it more than I thought seeing the numbers. They have twice the amount of plays compared to Powerwolf, would say something.

So. That sums up my month in music. It is interesting to see where your listening patterns actually are. Huh.

// Sara

 

 

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Amaranthe @ Petit Bain, Paris, France 3/11 – 16

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , on November 3, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

So. The clock had started to run a little bit for me, so it was a very very stressed Sara that was running around in the hotelroom trying to pull everything together (going to prepare it sooo much better for Delain tomorrow, although it’s unnecessary) and then heading off to the venue. As I’m sitting on the metro trying to organize and sort through my stuff, I notice my entire little finger is covered in blood. At first I get startled, because, sure, I know I have sensitive skin and that it breaks easily, especially when cold, but this was just too much blood. Managed to figure out I probably got a papercut from the ticket. So I guess we can all agree that I’d bleed for Amaranthe, huh?

fuckingpapercut

This is what it looks like when cleaned. Damn.

Anyway, because I forgot to charge my phone, I had decided to keep it turned off as much as possible, and written down what metro stations to take and go to, and while being on the last one I kept my eyes open for boats, and I feel so proud of myself for managing to find the venue / boat without using google maps. Sure, it wasn’t a far distance or anything, but I’m still feeling so proud of it.

So, Petit Bain is sure as hell petite. Very, very small, but also very very cozy. I came in right as Smash Into Pieces started playing

Smash Into Pieces

I had listened a little bit to them before the gig, well, as preparations for the gig, so I honestly didn’t know a whole lot of the band, but I enjoyed the show so much. They are very good and entertaining on stage, and I really liked the music once I got to hear it better than me running around at work. Good job guys!

1601103smashparis1

Once they were done, I managed to locate my dear friend Laura, classicly by seeing her Pikachu bag, or, Metal Pika as he’s more known as. And seriously… I haven’t seen this girl in over a year! Last time I saw her was at Delain in Belgium in October last year, how long! How is it possible! It was soooo good to reunite with her again and catch up a little little bit, before it was time for Sonic Syndicate to go on.

Sonic Syndicate

So, this band is also a band that was a bit unknown for me – well, musically. That’s the thing – I’m well aware of both bands since before, but never really bothered to look into them too much. Syndicate, however, I remember that their newest album “Confession” stuck with me when I was doing my prelistening, so I was very excited to see them.

And what a set they delievered! Shit, it was just that good! I enjoyed it from start to finish, and I’ll really try to see them again some time. This was soo good.

161103syndicateparis1

After Sonic Syndicate, the eager wait for Amaranthe began… And.. already at this point they start some sort of intro which consisted of snippest of their old songs, as if someone was changing stations on a radio or so.

Amaranthe

But, at half past 21, the actual intro for the show started, the band got on stage and they hit the show off with “Maximize”. And holy hell! I mean, the crowd had already showed that they got some in them in Sonic Syndicate, but it simply exploded, and then I mean in a pit. People were pushed side to side, but damn I loved it. Finally back at a show with decent people in the crowd – Seriously, I’ve always preferred southern shows (seen from Sweden) because people are so chill.

They followed up directly with “Boomerang”, which isn’t a personal favorite, but they did it so well. Elize was on basic fire. “Hunger” was the third song, and if you thought people exploded in “Maximize”, then… ough. Holy shit! And how warm was it not in here?

“Invincible” was next on the list, followed by “1.000.000 Lightyears” and the band was just on fire. I don’t know how many of you know this – but for this tour Jake E was being replaced by Adam from Smash Into Pieces, and damn. He fits soooo good in. I’m in absolute love with his voice, and it just became so perfect together with Elize and Henrik. And his stagepersona! The way he interact with the crowd! I love him.

161103amarantheparis1

“Trinity” and “True” was next on the setlist before it was time for my personal favorite off “Maximalism” – “Fury”. My adrenaline started pumping so hard as soon as I heard the intro, because you know, this oughta be good. And it was, oh my god. This whole performance with the red lights going all over the venue and Henrik just absolutely slaying it on stage… Damn. Easily the best moment on the whole show.

The song was followed up by the Elize’s ballad “Endlessly”, and I love this song so much. It’s so… epic. Powerfull. BIG. But, one critique. I think Elize needs to back away a little bit from the microphone when doing the louder and higher tones, because it was very unpleasant for the ear as it all just became noise. But aside that, it was a magical moment.

Morten showed off some of his skills before it was time for “On The Rocks”, which is one of my favorites off the new album, and it was soooo good live. Like beyond. I love it even more now. “Automatic” was next on the list before they played my personal favorite, and also the song I discovered Amaranthe with, “The Nexus”. Seriously, this is one of my favorite moments during an Amaranthe show.

It was followed by “Amaranthine”, and just hearing the entire crowd.. I mean, it feels magical for me, how mustn’t it feel for the band? Damn. It’s amazing. They closed up the set with “Call Out My Name”, and seriously…The crowd was WILD.  And it was hot! Like BEYOND! Sure, it gets warm and hot at shows, but I was drowning myself from my own sweat, do you get how hot it actually was?

They left the stage, and soon Johan returned to do some of his… stand up? I don’t really know what it’s supposed to be, but he came back, talked a bit and soon enough the whole band came and they kicked off with “Digital World”. This song is also one of my favorites live, simply because of the “Start a Revolution now!” breakdown. Seriously. As you may have noticed, my personal favorites are the songs that are very very headbang friendly. That’s my kind of live shows. “That Song” followed, and then “Dynamite” before they wrapped up the whole set with “Drop Dead Cynical”. “Endlessly” played in the background as they left the stage, it was beautiful.

This show was sooo good. I can’t get over this band, I simply can’t!

Right after the show I headed to the bar to get some water, because that was necessary. Rejoined with my friends, also said hello to Cyril that I ran into before Laura and I headed off to the merch where we spent a bit of time with the supportbands (both from Sweden, giving us a lot to talk about) and I picked up on Sonic Syndicates new album and Smash Into Piece’s “The Apocalypse DJ”. It was a very pleasant night, and I also went over to say hello to Maffe and catch up a bit with him before we were forced to leave the venue.

merchsipss

Once outside we kept hanging around and after a while Elize came out and said hi to us… And this is something I have to write about because it kind of hit me. When saying hello to everyone she looked at me and says “I have met you before have I not?” and I answered her in Swedish, that yes, in Belgium last year, and she hugged me and said “YES! You are the Swedish one, I knew it was something with you!” and this hits me a bit, because I have only met her once before, well, at least where I talked to her, and I don’t see Amaranthe very often, and we don’t have any tricks like on Lordi shows, which makes it… weird for me that she remembers me. It’s… wow. That’s all I can say.

We hung around a bit, newfound friend Florian got to sing with Elize (might post you a video later!) and just hanging out with new found friends was just amazing. Emilie and I shared a taxi home, and now I’m here in the hotelroom just thinking about what an amazing day this have been, and what a blessed life I’m living.

Tomorrow it’s time for Delain and some more touristing. On it again!

// Sara

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21

Posted in CDs, Uncategorized with tags , on October 24, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, starting off this day pretty bad at work, I was greeted by basic christmas as soon as I came home. Not one, but TWO new albums were waiting for me upon arrival. Seriously, this time is just amazing, as I know I have more albums incoming as well, and just one week til Paris. But enough talk about that – what was in the packages then?

Well first one, was a bit of a surprise.

toreandthenosmokers

Tore and the No Smokers album “Rökning Dödar” (“Smoking Kills”). I won this album in a contest on Facebook, and sure, I knew I won the contest but I wasn’t really aware on what album I was about to get. This was really exciting though, I can’t wait to dig into it.

Second one, was not as much of a surprise. You got it.

maximalism

Amaranthe’s long awaited album “Maximalism”. Finally is it here! I got the signed version as well, so accompanying this CD was an autographed card. God, I have waited for this album so long, and I’m actually listening to it right now as I’m writing this. I’ll give you my thoughts of this album in a few days, don’t worry!

So, I guess you could call it a small Christmas here at home with all these albums arriving. But I love it. New CD’s is like a drug to me – to hold a brand new case, smelling the plastic and knowing you have a load of brand new music on there, about to be listened to… It can’t be better than that.

// Sara

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