One of the most exciting tours happening in the US right now is Uada and Sylvaine, with Finnish melodic metal pioneers, Amorphis, headlining. I caught the show on April 22nd at the Oriental Theater in Denver, Colorado, and had a great first experience seeing these three bands live. The lineup for this tour not only provides a diverse range of sounds for the audience, but also allows both Amorphis and Sylvaine to support their newest releases. Amorphis’s Halo was released back in February and Sylvaine put out Nova in the first week of March. These are two of my personal favorite releases of the year so far, so the chance to see them both live at the same show was exciting to say the least.

Sylvaine

Sylvaine kicked the night off with a short set consisting of three 10-minute long songs, one from each of her three most recent records. She opened with Delusions off of her Wistful album, which allowed the group to pull the energy of the audience in with an intimate vocal passage. As soon as Kathrine Shepard’s angelic voice began filling the room it was clear that the audience was captivated. Things continued then with the much more intense and upbeat Mono No Aware from Nova. Contrasting the more gradual approach of the opener, this track felt absolutely crushing with its waves of heavy guitars, blast beats, and shrieking vocals. Shepard has one of the nastiest banshee shrieks around, which makes for a beautiful duality in her vocal performances. Finally, Sylvaine ended her set with Mørklsgt off of 2018’s Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone, a song which completely captures the essence of her music.

On a personal note, seeing Sylvaine is the main reason that I went to this show. While I like all of the bands on the bill, Sylvaine is the one that really strikes a chord with me. Her take on shoegaze/atmospheric black metal (blackgaze?) is one that I could not pass up the opportunity to see live. That being said, this show completely delivered for me as a fan. I was not prepared for how absolutely overwhelming she would sound live, and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced more emotion at a concert. If you like this style and have the chance to see Sylvaine live, I can’t recommend it enough.

Uada

Following up was Uada, a band which totally reconstructed the room’s energy with their belligerent and aggressive black metal. This band has a really cool aesthetic, which they put on full display live. Completely obscured by black cloaks and fog, Uada’s stage show looks as if they are performing a shamanic ritual. This even translated to their merch table, which was covered in bones, branches, moss, and burning incense. Musically, the band was a blast to experience. A ton of energy goes into their performance, which had the entire room engaged in a synchronized frenzy. Vocalist Jake Superchi sounded as disturbed live as he does on the records, accurately recreating the wide variety of voices that we have heard on all three Uada releases to date. For me this has always been the thing that defines the band’s sound and sets them apart from their peers, so seeing that they do it live too has definitely helped the band stand out in my mind. The setlist spanned all three of the band’s releases, with an emphasis on their earlier material. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t play Snakes and Vultures, but this set was still a blast.

Amorphis

Amorphis is a band that I have personally had a bit of a rocky relationship with over the years. I have always liked them, but I have never really loved them. Of course they are one of the most widely respected bands in the Finnish melodic metal sphere, but their more recent output has felt a little too inconsistent to keep my interest. That being said, their newest release, Halo is one of my most listened to albums of the year so far. Because of this, I was excited to see the band perform their new material live. Amorphis did not disappoint on this front, as their setlist placed a heavy emphasis on the tracks from Halo. The band opened up their set with Northwards and On the Dark Waters, and continued to also include The Moon, Seven Roads Come Together, and the title track, Halo, in their set. I was elated to hear all of these live, as they also happen to be my favorite tracks from the new album.

Aside from new songs, though, Amorphis also played a collection of other songs from their catalog. Most of the setlist was taken from their three most recent releases, which I personally think is the band’s strongest material since they abandoned their 90’s melodic death metal sound. From 2018’s Queen of Time the band played The Bee, Wrong Direction, and Heart of the Giant, and from Under the Red Cloud they played Bad Blood. Sprinklings from older releases made an appearance as well, with Into Hiding from the band’s classic Tales From The Thousand Lakes being the most noteworthy inclusion.

As expected from a band as established as Amorphis, the band’s performances were tight all around. As much as I enjoyed both of the opening acts, both of them dealt with some technical difficulties during their stage time. I’m no expert on live music production, so I don’t know if this is the bands’ fault or the venue’s, but Amorphis had no such issues. It was obvious that they are professionals and everything about their set was seamless and perfect. Vocalist Tomi Joutsen executed all of his parts, both growled and sung, effortlessly and accurately, making the music feel like a spot-on representation of the studio versions. The guitar work of Esa Holopainen was another highlight, as his intricate and delayed leads were all performed flawlessly and perfectly audible in the mix.

This tour features three exciting bands that each have something interesting and unique to offer in their live show. Sylvaine eases things in with her beautiful atmospherics, Uada blasts the audience away with an unmatched energy, and then Amorphis brings it home with their tried and true melodic metal. I had a great time at this one and highly recommend it to others who are considering getting tickets.

Written for The Metalheads Podcast by Joshua Landau Full review of Amorphis’ newest release: https://www.mountainofmetal.com/amorphis-halo-review/

Full review of Sylvaine’s newest release: https://www.mountainofmetal.com/sylvaine-nova-review/