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For a long time in Perth appearances from international metal bands were sparse. Things seem to have taken a dramatic turn over the last half a decade or so. Take the Swedish Arch Enemy for example, who played their third Perth show in four years on Sunday night at Capitol with distinguished guests from the U.S. Suffocation. Suffocation themselves took 17 years from their formation in 1989 to find the city, but have returned only two years later as part of another delightful Soundworks Touring production.

Death metal veterans Suffocation have been influencing metal acts since the early 90’s, indeed their fame has probably been surpassed by some of their students, and they schooled a few hundred more on Sunday.
Lesson 1: Be heavy, don’t worry. Preparing yourself the usual face hammer-smashing of early death metal is of little use when the mallet thuds into your chest on the backswing. The sound marching from the stage nearly forced people backwards with fantastic live production and crisp execution, but mostly with immense, unabashed heaviness.
Lesson 2: Back up your work. It’s no good being heavy without substance to back it up – the riffs were technical, the solos were plentiful, the performance was impeccable. Spurts of machine gun drums from Mike Smith backed up a clearly well-polished live machine; and apparently reflected vocalist Frank Mullen’s passion for firearms which brings us to our final lesson;
Lesson 3: Be entertaining. There’s something strangely fascinating about a man wearing a pale blue wifebeater repeatedly encouraging everyone to get a gun and shoot things, though hopefully their musical prowess during the songs had more of an impact on the audience than the diatribes in-between. Whether unveiling new tracks from their 2009 release Blood Oath or breathing new life into to older ones such as the classic Pierced from Within Suffocation never missed a beat, or at least played hard and fast enough that no-one was going to notice. They were going to be a hard act to follow

Perhaps Arch Enemy felt the pressure as there was an unsettlingly long break between bands. The crowd was starting to get anxious and just when fidgeting was reaching fever pitch, the ever-glamorous Angela Gossow led her band onto the stage. Not to be outdone in the glamour stakes, founding member and songwriter, guitarist Michael Amott had his unnaturally crimson hair at its velvetiest best. When he started playing, however, it became clear to any who might not have already known that this guy is not just a pretty hairdo. They certainly needn’t have feared following Suffocation for though they shared certain attributes when it came to performance and execution, they played a largely different style. Arch Enemy reminded us that harmony and brutality can share the same space at the same time. The key elements of metal – thrashy riffs, Norse melodies and double kick drumming combined with rock show solos and catchy choruses creating an atmosphere highly conducive to headbanging and horned hand signals. And up front like a beautiful swan rearing up with so much grace and poise; and then regurgitating into the throat of its young, Gossow delivers her guttural growls and bloodcurdling screams to the ravenous mouths that greedily accepted all they could.

Promoting The Root of All Evil, an album consisting of re-recordings from the band’s early career with original vocalist Johan Liiva, the band to no surprise gave a facelift to some older tunes including The Pilgrim and Bury Me an Angel. The Immortal sounded fresher than ever, as though it would somehow stay young forever. Of course there were tracks from there more recent albums which were greeted with obligatory cheers and obligatory groans from certain sections. They opened with Blood on your Hands from the 2007 album Rise of the Tyrant during which Michael Amott and his rebelliously short-haired brother Chris Amott served a dual soloing taster of the main feast that was to follow. The set list was smattered with solos throughout and amongst the songs. With a solid foundation of more than competent musicians and an atmosphere that cannot be recreated in a studio some of the newer tracks benefited from the live setting without the distractions of modern recording techniques, while the old sounded refreshed.

The mood in the crowd was of satisfaction, although not all requests can be met. Some people may not have heard their favourite song and the guy requesting to sight Gossow’s breasts while she tried to tell Perth how friendly they were may have gone home disappointed but he would be in the minority. Simply good live performances was enough for most, top it off with solo sections which were long enough to appreciate but not so long that it became self-fellatio, and a sense is created of getting something for your ticket that you can’t get anywhere else but on the night. Value.

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