So many international metal acts miss the natural window for an Australian tour these days. Of course, this can be attributed to basic economics. By the time a band gets famous enough (read: sells out) to convince the record label honchos to shell out big dollars so the group can play to 1500 meagre punters at a stinkhole like the Palace in St. Kilda – a fiscal disaster in any language – the band is usually some years past its prime.
Arch Enemy is no exception. The five-piece melodic metal brainchild of ex-Carcass guitarist Michael Arnott has been tearing European stages open with headline tours in support of the exceptional Wages of Sin and Anthems of Rebellion albums. Newest offering Doomsday Machine is not the metal masterpiece we were hoping for, however. Arnott’s melodic thrash is now so slickly produced that very little raw aggression remains outside of Angela Gossow’s devil growls.
The band mustn’t be aware of this, however, because a large portion of the album is covered throughout the 17-song set. Nemesis is quickly followed by Enemy Within, the classic opener from Wages of Sin, and Dead Eyes See No Future. After that, it’s back to Doomsday Machine for My Apocalypse. As expected, given their reputation for professionalism, Arnott and crew deliver flawless renditions and the mix is clean and punchy. After the muddy disaster of the first two bands, such precision is refreshing on the ears and the gig never seems too loud.
An excellent light show adds a big-venue aesthetic to the boxy and restrictive Palace but, apart from the requisite drum and guitar solos to break up the set, it’s business as usual for Arch Enemy. Gossow lays off the mid-song banter, sparing us the agony of her fumbled English accent, and the band gains speed with solid reproductions of Out for Blood and Ravenous. While the customary encore delivers the obvious We All Rise, the group closes with the instrumental prelude from Doomsday Machine entitled Enter The Machine. It’s a very strange choice, as it’s a natural trigger for more material but, sadly, there is none. As the final notes cut through the pernicious stench of sweat, beer and hairspray – Arch Enemy requested a no smoking policy – it seemed over a tad to quickly. An empty feeling ensued.
What the members of Arch Enemy lacked in their stage show, they made up for with their performances. The set had a distinct greatest hits feel to it that bands benefit from after half a dozen well-received albums and the near-capacity crowd seemed pleased. It’s just a shame it took the group this long to get out here.
Now a few words about the support acts:
Cyber metal act Synthetic Breed has a complex sound that, I can confidently say, was completely destroyed during the early set, no doubt because Arch Enemy’s engineer locked off a bunch of channels on the mixing desk, banned use of the outboard gear and limited the group’s volume to about half that of the main act. Do bands actually do themselves a disservice by supporting prominent international acts? Guaranteed to sound worse than the headliner, they struggle to overcome an anxious crowd and a shit mix only to have their reputation permanently soiled by unforgiving metalheads who only give bands one chance to impress. Synthetic Breed had headlined a show the previous night at local venue Ding Dong, and it’s a sure bet the group nailed it. Shame about the Arch Enemy support. Let’s hope it doesn’t do too much damage to one of our local up and coming talents.
Next was Five Star Prison Cell, a schizophrenic art metal act with a diverse ex-Frankenbok singer not unlike Mike Patton. With the backing of D.W Norton’s Faultline Records, Five Star Prison Cell has been landing some hot gigs and rightfully so. It’s a very talented band that can swing from death metal blast beats to jazzy interludes without so much as breaking stride. On this occasion, I couldn’t really see the connection with a bill that included Arch Enemy and Synthetic Breed, however. Five Star sounded better than predecessors but still failed to light a fire under the jaded crowd of music policemen that stood motionless with arms folded. Tough crowd, I guess.
