OPETH w/ Contrive At The Enmore

As I passed by The Enmore around five o'clock, a considerable number of black-clad kids were already lined up outside to see Swedish prog-metal masters OPETH. My stomach flipped-flopped with excitement; this was going to be a great gig. I had caught the band last year at Luna Park's Big Top and they had impressed me then but this was The Enmore, quite possibly the best place in Sydney to see live music. It was going to KILL.

Opening for OPETH was always going to be a tough gig and tonight for Melbourne's CONTRIVE, it proved too tough. After a strong beginning launching into songs off their 2005 release 'The Meaning Unseen' Contrive raced through their set perhaps causing the unfortunate 'technical difficulties' when drummer Andrew Haug (of Three Hours of Power fame) pierced his snare drum skin.

Forced to improvise, the lead vocalist/guitarist battled to entertain the large crowd already gathered uttering the words "Someone tell a joke" several times. After an awkward intermission, snare drums were finally exchanged and Contrive wound up the set nicely, debuting some of the material off their forthcoming new album 'The Internal Dialogue' (reportedly mixed by Devin Townshend). I can report their new direction sounds distinctly proggy.

Opeth's blend of folk, metal, prog-rock, jazz and death has earned them an army of fans worldwide and Australia is no exception. Their 2008 offering 'Watershed' reached number seven on our Aria charts and as the lights dimmed and excitement reached fever pitch, Opeth showed exactly why there are so revered.

Starting off with the haunting 'Windowpane'  the crowd roared in recognition, women began dancing and men back-slapped each other grinning ear to ear; an unspoken collective musical journey was about to begin.

The otherworldly 'Ghosts of Perdition' (vintage Opeth) set the tone for the rest of the set. Each musical interlude bled seamlessly into the next via dozens of well-structured chord progressions, build-ups, choruses and thoroughly satisfying resolutions. This is a thoroughly math-matical band. Varied and complex drum patterns from the skins of 'Martin Axenrot' and the fluid bass-lines of 'Martin Mendez', underpinned the melodic structure of the music, meanwhile 'Mikael Akerfeldt' and 'Frederik Kesson' (ex Arch Enemy) combined their twin guitar harmonies and traded licks, bar after bar with hypnotic riffs and break-neck lead breaks.

It was an astounding display of virtuosity and I felt as if I was witnessing some satanic jazz band summoned to jam from the netherworld. If there is a hell, I would definitely want this band playing at my local..

The band had a bit of fun mid-way through the set, breaking into Judas Priest's 'Victim of Change' for a verse before slamming into 'Hession Peel'. Clearly in his element, charismatic front man 'Mikael Akerfeldt' held the audience in the palm of his hand sharing amusing anecdotes about "fucking (his wife-they honeymooned here) in Sydney", attributing the appearance of more women at their gigs to his pretty face. He's probably not too far off the mark, as evidenced by the women swooning in the aisles, except that this guy is an amazing singer.

Informing the audience of his "gig pimples", Mikael drew energy from the spooky vibe in the room leaping up and down chromatic scales in single breaths and smashing skulls with brutal death growls in the next. The Face of Melinda fully revealed the gorgeous tonal quality of a maestro's powerful tenor and as the night drew to a a close Reverie/Harlequin Forest and Hex Omega commanded movement. Punters moshed and crowd surfed the front of stage greeting the end of every number with rapturous applause.

After a two hour set, Opeth obliged their chanting fans by returning for the ubiquitous eighties encore, indulging in guitar, bass and drum solos finishing up with 'Deliverance'.  The band took a well-deserved bow promising to return with their new album which made me wonder; after such an epic display, how could they possibly top that?