On Sunday April 9th Swallow the Sun & Amorphis played in Mesa, Arizona at Club Red. It was a very special treat for everyone because it isn’t often that these bands play in the States. Needles to say, the night turned into a very memorable one. At this show we did have some of our local support from Autumn’s End and The Ephemeral.
For a Sunday night I was surprised to see a decent turn out although I did expect more for such a special occasion. Regardless, it was a very exciting show for sure. It kicked off with The Ephemeral which is a fairly young group of interesting progressive metal musicians. Their set was simply short but sweet.
Up next we had Autumn’s End. They were very well organized with both their music and attitude coming across as quite aggresive. As I looked onto the crowd they had quite the following enjoying their music.
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The show continued on as finally the Finns hit the stage. Swallow the Sun has such an interesting variation of sounds. Mikko has such a wide range in his voice. From the low growls to black metal screams and back to clean vocals. They were mesmerizing and as the crowd gazed upon them they began to sway their heads as a pendulum on a clock would. Side to side everyone became one with the music. Their set list was a wide variety of killer tracks. They were very calm on stage besides Juha who seemed to be really energetic and connecting with the fans especially.
As the night came to a close it was time for Amorphis. This was the first time I was able to see them play a small venue compared to when I caught their set at Bloodstock 2014. This was a much more intimate setting for sure. The most interesting thing to say about all the guys when they played is that most of them closed their eyes for a majority of the time they played. I couldn’t figure if it was because Finnish people are usually shy or they were really concentrating and feeling the music. Regardless they were absolutely beautiful and phenomenal. The guys played several tracks off their newer album ‘Under the Red Cloud’ and it was magnificent. Several fans sang along to the songs and we were all standing, calmly, appreciating their performance. Tomi‘s voice was on point and was very clean and crisp. You could hear the echoes bounce off the walls and their set definitely gave you chills down your spine. They left their mark here in Mesa Arizona, for sure.
It was a great night over all. Everybody was blown away from all the Finn‘s performances. We hope they return to the States sooner than later.