Gig Review: Emperor + The Amenta at the Metro, Sydney

Live Review: Emperor and The Amenta at the Metro Theatre, Sydney May 17 2023

By SCOTT FINCH

A SLIGHTLY wet and chilly Thursday night saw Norwegian black metal maestros Emperor descend on Sydney’s Metro Theatre to perform their seminal debut album, 1994’s In the Nightside Eclipse. Having previously visited these shores in 2019 to perform the similarly classic ‘Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk to a ravenous audience, I am sure both they and the audience knew what lay in store. 

After a brief time loitering under a drizzle we were inside and ready to go. Sydney (though their members span states and countries as I understand it) merchants of industrial death metal The Amenta appeared first to a sizeable crowd. Having played relatively few gigs over the last few years seems to have had a positive effect on the band as they drew from across their storied career to deliver a punishing set.

The Amenta. Pic by Fiona McDonald

Clad in masks and suits The Amenta, anchored by the ferocious Cain Cressall on vocals, kicked off their set with the title track from 2011’s V01D EP. The opener set the mood for what was a brutal set underpinned by Timothy Pope’s industrial keyboards. It really is a testament to how much influence the atmosphere they create has on the foundation of The Amenta itself. They really go a long way towards making The Amenta such an unnerving act to listen to. Said in the most complimentary way.

The band gelled on the tracks from 2021’s Revelator (‘Psoriastasis’ and ‘Sere Money’) but were very much at home playing their career-spanning set, showing just how well this lineup functions together. Set closer ‘An Epoch Ellipsis’ brought The Amenta’s opening set to an end as they walked off to well-deserved applause. They were disparate in sound compared to Emperor but this meeting of genres proved quite effective. 

After a quick changeover and the traditional announcement Telemark, Norway’s, favourite boy band* Emperor walked onstage to rapturous applause and greeted the crowd before launching into why we were all there: Into the Nightside Eclipse. ‘Into the Infinity of Thoughts’ was customarily first up and it saw the band in spirited form. I won’t go into a song by song review since most of you reading this humble review will know the songs already. Just know that Ihsahn, Samoth, stalwarts drummer Trym Torson and bassist Secthdaemon along with keyboardist Jørgen Munkeby do these songs justice and perform them with the absolute passion and integrity befitting the studio versions that that boy band from Telemark recorded when they were mostly in their early 20s.

Emperor have distilled their album performances to a fine art. From the opener to the closer ‘Inno A Satana’ they held the salivating audience in the palm of their hand. The latter track featured the trademark rousing introduction split between Ihsahn and the audience. Sydney gave a spirited rendition of the chant

The remainder of their set drew from across their storied career, including classics from Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk incorporating a spirited ‘The Loss and Curse of Reverence’, IX Equilibrium’s furious opener ‘Curse You All Men!’, and ‘In The Wordless Chamber’ from 2001’s overlooked extreme symphonic opus Prometheus – The Discipline of Fire and Demise.

Emperor. Pic by Fiona McDonald

One of the many things I enjoy about seeing this lineup of Emperor live is how deftly they handle material from each album and ‘era’ of the band. They performed each of the non-Nightside tracks in a way that they all could have come from the same opus. Additionally soaking in the adulation from the crowd, Ihsahn asked if we wanted more after almost each successive track. And the answer was always going to be yes. The only drawback was that things had to come to an end with ‘Ye Entrancemperium’. At that point in my estimation we were too entranced and enthralled, left near-bewitched from the majesty that is Emperor. I felt there was more passion behind the Nightside tracks but that might be down to the band having more familiarity or time to rehearse that material at present. 

From a technical perspective The Metro is a fine venue for these kinds of gigs. Sound is always good, and there’s plenty of space on the floor. Plenty of personal space for punters even at a sold out gig like this one. The clarity in sound (from where I stood) really highlighted the nuances in the performances by both Emperor and The Amenta, particularly highlighting what Pope and Munkeby respectively added to each band’s sound without drowning out the balance of each instrument and vocals.

Overall, the performance from Emperor left me as pleased as the Anthems one did. And it leaves me also pondering the question of new material. Even if Ihsahn has stated that it’d be similar in ways to his solo material, I do wonder if these reenergising live performances could help them strike a balance between the old and the new?

Addendum: In case nobody but this reviewer remembers the “boy band” reference, when performing at Direct Underground 2018 with his solo band, Ihsahn announced renditions of ‘Thus Spake the Nightspirit’ ‘I am the Black Wizards’ and ‘Inno A Satana’ as songs written while he was “in a band with some other boys”. That description stuck with me and I’ve borrowed it since. Who says that black metal and humour can’t mix?