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Opeth + Caligulas Horse – Metropolis Perth 11/02/17 (Live Review)
If there is such a mythical, almost unattainable entity as the ‘near perfect show’, Opeth‘s final show of their 2017 Australian tour in Perth certainly came very close to it.
Having stunned the crowds over East, most notably with their Evening of Sorcery, Damnation and Deliverance show at the Sydney Opera House, the bar was set very high leading up to the night’s performance. The Swedish masters of progressive heavy rock, touring on the back of their latest album Sorceress, have played some incredibly memorable shows here over the years, most notably their 2015 Astor Theatre gig, and so expectation was certainly high as the faithful filed into Metropolis Perth on Saturday evening. It was a diverse crowd too, with age and gender demographics having been checked at the door, such is the universal power of Opeth’s own particular brand of dark and enthralling sonic poetry.
As a delicate wash of keys provided a quietly subdued start to the evening, Brisbane’s Caligulas Horse opened the night with a brief set of soaring majestic precision. No strangers to playing out West themselves, the quintet laid down songs from their latest album Bloom like the title track and Marigold. Fronted by vocalist Jim Grey, they exhibited a more modern palette than that of the headliners and yet provided the perfect opening act with enough time changes, spiralling interplay between guitarists Sam Vallen and the departing Zac Greensill (Perth was his final show) and quality songwriting like All Is Quiet By The Wall. Finishing off their set with Rust they bid the crowd a hasty farewell with the promise of a return visit soon.

Caligulas Horse – Photo by Josefin Stolt Westing
As Indian drones filled the air, bassist Martin Mendez and drummer Martin Axenrot stepped to the stage to affect a drum and bass intro to Sorceress, the title track to Opeth’s current album, and an enormous roar from the crowd heralded the arrival of guitarist vocalist Mikael Akerfeldt to the stage and the whole band sounded huge, imposing, and yet calming at the same time. As ominous spectral chords segued into Ghost Of Perdition from 2005’s Ghost Reveries Akerfeldt’s vocals shifted from his melodious soar back into the death growls of old. There’s a depth and clarity to the doom-laden overtones of some of the older songs in their setlist that’s offset by an inherent frailty, almost a tenderness, that belies the very nature of the songs, and yet tracks like this and the following Demon Of The Fall still sit perfectly at home with the latter day 70’s prog inspired style that have seen Opeth elevated from a cult metal band to a world class stage act.
Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt – Photo by Josefin Stolt Westing
With quips about returning to Sweden after the tour “where it’s cold and dark” and talking about his home country as being the land of “all good Swedish bands… and ABBA” Akerfeldt displayed a warmth and humour onstage sorely absent from so many of their peers. But it’s the MUSIC that’s the real deal here; a brutal beauty that’s incomparable in its execution. Every note, every interplay between Akerfeldt and fellow guitarist Frederik Akesson, every timing change, hangs in a precarious balance of harmony and cohesion. It’s a solemnity driven home hard that this is the way heavy music should be played. The front of house sound was clear and crisp even during the heavier numbers, no one instrument dominating the other at any time during the evening.
The setlist was comprised of two songs from Sorceress and one each from almost every album since 1998. The Wilde Flowers was truly a highlight, with its melancholy serenity propelled to a stunning conclusion by Akesson’s guitar soloing that was pure, lyrical and absolutely without pretence. No macho posturing on display here, simply an honest and direct line of communication between band and audience. And the audience hung on every note, enraptured. “We’ll be taking requests now for exactly one second” Akerfeldt announced, before introducing a beautiful version of In My Time Of Need from Damnation. Modern heavy riffs sat side by side with 70’s infused prog perfectly, like a matching pair of bookends. The Devil’s Orchard and Cusp Of Eternity were rendered glorious and darkly dramatic in the live setting, before The Drapery Falls from 2001’s Blackwater Park bought the set to its climax.
Opeth’s Frederik Akesson – Photo by Josefin Stolt Westing
Onstage Mikael was a genteel and calming voice, introducing the band, giving the crowd a quick snatch of AC/DC done in an acoustic style, generally a relaxed presence who worked the crowd with ease before they finished off with an epic “thirteen minutes of noise” reading of Deliverance to close out the set. It’s still one of the ambitious pieces of music Opeth have ever committed to tape and served as incredible and a final clincher that all who were present had witnessed true greatness, as if anyone there needed any more proof.
It was a night that recognised the old, celebrated the new, fused the heavy with the heavenly, the dark, the dirge-like, and the damnation. With such a performance like this Opeth once again proved why they are still so revered and loved by so many across the globe.
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