ARCH ENEMY – Brisbane, Australia 15th February 2023
It’s a packed house as metalheads from across Brisbane descend on The Tivoli for a gig by Swedish melodeath giants Arch Enemy. But first, Brisbane’s own Valhalore display their own personal growth after several years as metal favourites in the esteemed Queensland capital. As a support act to one of the world’s most beloved extreme metal acts, they quite skilfully manage to get the audience on-side, even orchestrating one of their classic “battle moshes” as the crowd literally run into each other like a more benevolent Braveheart scene. Musically, they are on point too, delivering their rousing Celtic-flavoured metal as harsh roars, soaring cleans, crunching guitars and evocative tin whistle take their epic metal directly to the hearts of many gathered this evening.
As the lights dim for Arch Enemy, the crowd goes quite simply insane. And when frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz prowls on the stage, they go ballistic. Alissa effortlessly has the crowd in the palm of her hands throughout, providing a commanding yet affable presence with some between-song banter that Paul Stanley would be proud of. Her energy is relentless, and her vocals never let up, largely sticking to her skillfully delivered death roars but also impressing when required to do a soaring clean vocal as well.
The dual guitars of Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis are spectacular, dive bombing through cataclysmic riffs and perfectly executed harmonised solos. The setlist inevitably takes heavily from the band’s 2022 album Deceivers, which is no bad thing, as that record proves the combo still going strong after nearly 30 years in the business.
From the opening blast of Deceiver, Deceiver, the energy never lets up. The only breathers come in the form of the occasional slower, atmospheric instrumental break or an ambient intro, otherwise it’s galloping, melodic death metal all the way, delivered with an epic scope. Ravenous, War Eternal and My Apocalypse are unleashed as the sure-fire crowd pleasers they are and when Nemesis is duly rolled out in the encore, its classic call-to-arms of “One for all, all for one, we are strong, we are one” is shouted with spirit by practically every person in the room.
Circle pits and crowd surfers abound, but there remains a unified, celebratory air amongst the audience tonight, soaked in with gratitude by Arch Enemy. As the group take a bow and get an obligatory selfie with the audience, the show has ended with a feeling of triumph by both band and audience alike. After the shitty last few years, live music is truly back, and Arch Enemy are positive flag-bearers to that fact.
Reviewer: Matt Thrower
Photographer: Davey Rintala @fastlanephoto
