Opeth @ The Enmore Theatre,Sydney (16/12/11)

Tue 20th Dec, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Quiet Child, a 4-piece band from Adelaide took the Opeth crowd by surprise. The barely known progressive rock band played a 45-minute jaw dropping performance, leaving those who had made it to the Enmore in time astonished. Their set is a great mixture between mellow, soft songs and heavier metal tunes and the band was only let down by their disengaging stage presence.

As Opeth make their entrance, the house lights dim and the stage is illuminated in a blue glow while abstract artwork shifts to eventually become the infamous Opeth “O” symbol. The band enters the foggy, darkly lit stage and begin a two hour set that would cover work from their new album Heritage and sprawl their extensive back catalogue.

In true Opeth fashion the set is incredibly executed with each intricate song played perfectly without any timing errors. About 45 minutes everyone but drummer Martin “Axe” Axenrot exits the stage, leaving Axenrot to show off his precision drumming with a huge solo.

After the band return and singer Mikael Åkerfeldt regales the crowd with his off-beat humour, Opeth launch into an acoustic set which, while tainted by barely audible guitars, does feature Credence, Slither, and Hex Omega.

Throughout the whole set the lighting is incredible; strobe lights follow the pulse of the music, and colour changes are made to match up with their song set list.

On their umpteenth visit to Sydney Opeth played with such precision and such emotion they continue to cement themselves as one metals finest.