Children Of Bodom / Amon Amarth
9 April 2011
The Forum, London
By the time we entered The Forum, Machinae Supremacy and Ensiferum had already wrapped up their opening sets and we were confronted by an enormous backdrop of Amon Amarth’s new Surtur Rising album.
As War Of The Gods opened the set, the band were bathed in red and orange light and with the images of a volcano and fire on the backdrop, the furnace effect was quite striking.The sound was also striking and with a band as tight as Amon Amarth, it was fully exploited.As the song concluded the reaction was akin to a headline act.Frontman Johan Hegg simply grinned and recited “When I am dead lay me in a mound…” and Runes To My Memory followed.
Hegg, bassist Ted Lundström and guitarists Johan Söderburg and Olavi Mikkonen lined up across the front of the stage and commenced windmill headbanging. As ever Hegg’s beard was swirling as much as his hair and the effect of the four was quite hypnotic against Fredrick Andersson’s powerful drums.
Hegg’s question, “Are you ready to party?” barely need asking with the state of this crowd, a large portion of which appeared already drunk.Guardians Of Asgaard raised voices before it was back to new album Surtur Rising for Destroyer Of The Universe which felt like an old classic already.However, this set seemed very much geared to whet the appetite, with Amon Amarth only hopping on board the tour for the UK shows.Unsurprisingly then the set concentrated on their more recent material.
The sounds of a thunderstorm erupted through the PA as an introduction to Twilight Of The Thunder God before tonight’s oldest song, The Pursuit Of Vikings from 2004’s Fate Of Norns brought the set to a close with the crowd singing along the chorus.
I strongly suspect Amon Amarth will be headlining this venue when they return and, not only on tonight’s evidence, this is fully deserved.
Amon Amarth setlist:
War Of The Gods / Runes To My Memory / Guardians Of Asgaard / Destroyer Of The Universe / Live For The Kill / A Beast Am I / Varyags Of Miklagaard / Twilight Of The Thunder God / The Pursuit Of Vikings
  
I honestly didn’t expect Children Of Bodom to be able to follow that.Recent experiences haven’t been fulfilling, including a lacklustre show here two years ago.I’d expressed in my review then that I also felt the band’s recorded output had slid downhill.However, although I wouldn’t cite new album Relentless Reckless Forever as a classic, it’s certainly an improvement over the last couple of releases.Blooddrunk was a major let down and it’s pleasing and telling that only the title track remains in the set.
What had become really disappointing was the showboating and rock star posturing had seemed to take over at the expense of the playing and it seemed like the band were pretty drunk on occasion.However, it would appear Children Of Bodom have decided to get their act together as tonight was more focused than I’ve seen them in a long time.
Yes, Alexi Laiho still says “f**k” frequently enough for it to get a bit tiresome, but he’d certainly reined it in and also concentrated on both his guitar and vocal delivery.The same could be said for Janne Wirman who’s dexterous playing impressed again.
A good chunk of the new album featured in the set unsurprisingly and it stood up well.Not My Funeral opened the set with the band bathed in green light on an impressively designed stage set featuring tattered rags hanging from the rig and numerous vari-lites casting blinding light into the crowd.
It wasn’t until after third song Needled 24/7 that Laiho greeted the crowd in typical expletive fashion, “London muthf**king England, how the f**k are you.We f**kking love you, are you ready for this shit?”The crowd certainly seemed up for it and roared the band throughout the set.
“Which one of you guys wants to hear some old school Children Of Bodom stuff”, asked Laiho before treating us to a run through of the band’s signature song from the 1999 Hatebreeder album.It was probably around this point that I had a sudden realisation that I was actually enjoying myself and Blooddrunk aside the band put in a strong run of songs to the conclusion of the set with Hate Crew Deathroll.Welcome back Children Of Bodom!
Children Of Bodom setlist:
Not My Funeral / Bodom Beach Terror / Needled 24/7 / Ugly / Roundtrip To Hell And Back / In Your Face / Living Dead Beat / Children Of Bodom / Hate Me! / Blooddrunk / Shovel Knockout / Angels Don’t Kill / Follow The Reaper / Downfall / Was It Worth It? / Hate Crew Deathroll
  
LINKS:
http://www.cobhc.com
http://www.amonamarth.com
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